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MOST Wall Street strategists anticipate the 2024 rally gaining stronger momentum in 2025. Unfortunately, in the contrarian world of finance, optimism is not always a good sign. Almost everyone agrees that the US economy and stock market are now in the palm of president-elect Donald Trump’s hand. But what will he do with them all? Trump and his cadre of supporters, including Elon Musk, are determined to shake things up, and make the United States a more business-friendly place. The motto for the second Trump administration seems to be borrowed from Musk’s old stamping ground in Silicon Valley, which is to “move fast and break things”.Sports Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. The trunk of my late-model car is filled with old coats, sweatpants and stocking caps. They're not real flashy and you'll find holes if you look real close. But those clothes have come in handy in the chilly Treasure State, where so many of us take pride in making the most of challenging weather days. I think of the Montana defense the same way I do those 30-year-old wind pants I pull out of the trunk to wear at football games. Both have been largely underappreciated the last five weeks. On Saturday in Bozeman, the Griz defense surrendered 34 points, so nobody is going to be comparing them to Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain of 1975. Certainly fans of the maroon and silver had a lot of reasons to be flustered. But take a step back and consider Montana State possessed the ball for almost two-thirds of the first half. Then the Cats had some good field position in the first 13 minutes of the third quarter and Montana's defense refused to relent, clinging to hope despite a 20-3 deficit. "They chucked it down the field a few times and made two catches — it's not a high percentage play for them and we've gotta live with that," Montana coach Bobby Hauck said coming out of the locker room after halftime. "Other than that we're tackling well. I think we're playing pretty well on defense." The most prolific scoring team in the FCS was limited to 20 points through the first 43 minutes. Kudos to the Montana defense for its hustle and heart. It's just that the Grizzly offense, held scoreless in the first half at home last Saturday against Portland State, was held to three points through three quarters in Bozeman against the best defense in the Big Sky Conference. Sure, we all expected Montana to do better in its 123rd annual rivalry game at MSU. Maybe at least score more than one touchdown with so much motivation. But give credit to Montana's defensive coaches for again coming up with a strong game plan against Montana State senior quarterback Tommy Mellott. And credit the defense for its vast improvement since giving up 55 points at home earlier this season to Weber State (3-8) and 49 at Eastern Washington (4-7). Not to beat a dead horse, but I can't help wondering how things might have been different had Clifton McDowell stayed around. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound quarterback led Montana to the FCS title game last December with a knack for picking up tough yards on the ground and doing just enough with his passing. He entered the transfer portal last winter for reasons unreported. Maybe he was looking for more NIL money. Maybe he disliked Montana's weather. You could say it's all ancient history now and doesn't matter. But it does matter. It matters a lot because Montana could have been much better. The banged-up Grizzlies need to regroup in a hurry now with a playoff game — likely at home — coming up next weekend. If the defense plays the way it did against the Bobcats, I like Montana's chances. But something needs to be done with the offense and I'm not even sure what it is at this point. Maybe go back to Keali'i Ah Yat at quarterback, assuming he's healthy, or give 6-4 sophomore Kaden Huot of Helena a few snaps. Montana has beaten only one conference team with a winning record (Northern Arizona), so maybe Griz fans should be grateful their guys are in the playoff mix with an 8-4 record. Any postseason success would feel like a bonus at this point. Bill Speltz is Missoulian Sports Editor. Email him at bill.speltz@missoulian.com . Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sports Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
2024 was a major year for new vehicle launches, with new generations of key models like the Toyota LandCruiser Prado, plus the first of a new wave of Chinese auto brands entering the market. or signup to continue reading But many models also departed the Australian market, headlined by the departure of what had been the longest-running auto brand in Australia: Citroen. In fact, there were so many discontinuations that we split all the SUVs axed in Australia . Scroll below for all the passenger cars axed this year, or click on one of the links below to take you directly to a vehicle. If you love the look of the , rest assured you'll still be able to buy a car that looks like this – it'll just have electric power. BMW of the 4 Series Gran Coupe and its back in April, but never confirmed timing for the combustion-powered model. Somewhat unusually, the electric version sold in considerably greater numbers than the petrol model. To the end of November, BMW sold 1866 i4s in Australia this year, against just 243 examples of the 4 Series Gran Coupe. That led to BMW pulling the plug on the petrol-powered range. "The high volume of new BMW models introduced to the local market prompts us to constantly assess our product portfolio in line with customer demand and our commitment to offering products that suit individual needs," a BMW Australia spokesperson told in a statement. "This has led us to restructure the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe lineup." The 4 Series Gran Coupe was the second BMW to bear the Gran Coupe nameplate, which has been applied to a five-door liftback (the 4 Series Gran Coupe), a four-door sedan (the ), and what you could arguably call four-door coupes (the and ). This nomenclature was born in a period where BMW was busily chasing niches, including coupe SUVs like the and and the unusual Gran Turismo models which were more upright five-door hatchbacks. The second-generation 4 Series Gran Coupe was revealed in June 2021 and arrived here later that year, sharing the same plunging double-kidney grille as coupe and convertible 4 Series models. While it later gained an electric version, the i4, it never received a full-fat M version like the other 4 Series body styles. There was no M4 version of the first-generation 4 Series Gran Coupe, either. With the axing of the base 420i in 2023, just two variants remained: the turbocharged four-cylinder, rear-wheel drive 430i and the turbocharged six-cylinder, all-wheel drive M440i xDrive. Though the Gran Coupe brought superior practicality over the , if not the Touring wagon, it cost up to $14,100 more than its booted counterpart. 4 Series Gran Coupe sales had peaked in 2015 and 2022 with 858 sales in both years – incidentally, both of which were the first full years of their respective generations. Citroen had been hanging on like grim death in Australia, even as its sales winnowed away each year. From a height of 3803 sales in 2007, Citroen fell below 1000 annual units in 2016 and continued sliding. Its retail network continued to shrink, and Peugeot Citroen Australia's decision to make Peugeot its exclusive commercial vehicle brand here killed one of its higher-volume models, the Berlingo. Most embarrassingly for the brand, it was outsold by Ferrari in 2020 and 2021. But there were signs Peugeot Citroen Australia was taking the brand seriously here, introducing the in 2021 and in 2022. These replaced the old C4 and C5 that hadn't been on sale here for several years, and came after several years of Citroen focusing on more traditionally SUV-shaped models. Not that the C4 and C5 X were conventional passenger cars themselves, with their higher-riding stances blurring the lines between cars and SUVs. Though it was the C5 X that wore the 'X' suffix commonly used for SUVs, it was the C4 that was classified as an SUV in VFACTS industry sales reports. There was a C4 X, mind you, but this was a sedan version of the C4 that we never received. Confused? We were too. Disinterested? Well, it seems Australians were. C4 sales peaked at 94 units in its first full year on sale, before falling; the same happened with the C5 X, with 68 sold in its first full year on sale. From launch to the end of November 2024, Citroen sold just 200 C4s and 168 C5 Xs. The rarest of them all is the C5 X Plug-in Hybrid, for which orders opened in May... just three months before Citroen announced it was pulling up stumps here. Being an order-only vehicle and priced just over $16,000 higher than the regular C5 X, itself not the most affordable vehicle of its size, it may be one of the rarest Citroens ever sold here. The C4 and C5 X may have lacked the clever hydropneumatic suspension of older Citroens, but with their quirky styling and focus on comfort – in suspension tuning and even in the construction of their seats – these cars were distinctively Citroen. Alas, it seems buyers just didn't care. While we received new generations of Citroen's small and medium/large cars, the latest – revealed in October 2023, and in April this year – was kept from us. That was perhaps an early warning that the brand wasn't going to stick around here for long, and in August this year distributor Inchcape Australia announced it would close orders for all Citroen vehicles. The third-generation C3 arrived here in 2017, with an extremely mild facelift coming in 2021. That means the C3 is much the same as when it arrived here around seven years ago, and sales figures have reflected that. From a height of 122 sales in 2018, sales fell to double digits in 2019 and have subsequently remained relatively steady, if very, very low. The price has climbed since launch and this year sat at $32,267 before on-road costs for the single Shine variant, putting it up against vehicles the segment above. But even comparing it with similarly sized vehicles with similarly premium pricing, the C3 comes up short. From its 2017 launch to the end of November this year, Citroen has sold 544 C3s. In contrast, Audi sold 462 and Skoda sold 433 in 2023 alone. Showing just how far Citroen sales have dropped off over the years, as well as the decline in light car sales, the brand sold upwards of 908 examples of the first-generation C3 in 2003. The is cute as a bug, but its ability to survive year after year well after rivals were replaced made it seem like more of a cockroach. It's still being manufactured, but Fiat announced it was axing the petrol-powered 500 in Australia in August. As of December, however, it still has stock at its dealers. The 500 and its hotter sibling are sold alongside the new-generation Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e, electric-only micro cars with similar styling but much more modern underpinnings and technology. With the set to be joined by a mild-hybrid petrol-powered variant in 2026, this should finally spell the end of the old 500, which has been in production since 2007 and which launched here in 2008. In that time, Fiats from the little Panda to the Dodge Journey-based Freemont have come and gone from the Australian market, but the little 500 has kept on ticking with the occasional minor refresh. Though it no longer sells in quite the same volumes as it did in the early/mid 2010s – where it sold between 2000 and 3000 units annually – it still sells in consistent volumes in a segment that consists solely of it and the . Last year, Fiat sold 581 examples of the 500 and its Abarth sibling in Australia, an increase on the year before despite the axing of their cabriolet models. When the E-Type ended production in 1974, it left a hole in Jaguar's lineup. The XJ-S that succeeded it was more of a grand tourer, a tradition which its XK replacement followed in. It wasn't until the , which entered production in 2013, that Jaguar had a genuine spiritual successor to the E-Type. An E-Type successor had existed in development hell during the 1980s and 1990s, before Jaguar revealed the F-Type concept in 2000... only for a planned production version to be scrapped before it could see the light of day. Fast-forward to the 2011 Frankfurt motor show and the F-Type as we came to know it was previewed in concept form, albeit featuring a supercharged V6 hybrid powertrain that never reached production. Instead, the production coupe – which looked essentially identical to the concept – was launched with a choice of supercharged V6 or V8 powertrains. Like the E-Type, there was also a convertible; unlike the iconic Jag, there was an all-wheel drive option. Also in a departure from past Jaguar two-doors, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine joined the range. Designed under Ian Callum, the F-Type was widely regarded as gorgeous. Somehow a facelift, revealed in 2019, arguably improved the styling with a more aggressive look up front. The F-Type featured all-aluminium construction, and Jaguar touted the coupe as the most torsionally rigid production car it had ever built. While the four- and six-cylinder powertrains weren't shrinking violets, the supercharged V8 was the star. For 2022, Jaguar Australia dropped the four- and six-cylinder engines entirely, leaving the blown 5.0-litre in 331kW/580Nm P450 and 423kW/700Nm R tunes. In June 2024, Jaguar revealed the final F-Type and what it says will be its final combustion-powered sports car: a supercharged 5.0-litre V8-powered convertible in classic green-over-tan. A total of 87,731 F-Types were produced between 2013 and 2024. When Jaguar used the Ford Mondeo platform to create its first BMW 3 Series rival, many scoffed. To Jaguar's credit, it went back to the drawing board and developed a rear/all-wheel drive sports sedan with tasteful, modern styling and poised dynamics. Look out, BMW! Except the is now being axed almost a decade after it entered production in 2015, as part of Jaguar's pivot to being a more exclusive, electric-only brand. Jaguar is done trying to take on BMW and is aiming higher, with JLR design boss Gerry McGovern saying in 2023: "What we won't worry about is being loved by everybody, because that's the kiss of death." "That's what's put Jaguar where it is today, which is with no equity whatsoever," he said. The XE never could match its German rivals in the sales race, and JLR confirmed the sedan wasn't profitable – something likely not helped by its use of aluminium suspension componentry and a bonded and riveted aluminium unitary structure, unusual for this segment. The 3 Series rival was offered with a range of powertrains, including turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines plus a supercharged V6. Jaguar even developed the limited-run SV Project 8, which featured a supercharged V8 engine. Sadly, the SV Project 8 never came here, nor did it presage a more widely available rival. The six-cylinder and diesel engines were also eventually phased out in Australia. Disappointing sales and the resultant lack of profitability doomed the XE, which was axed in the US in 2020 but grimly held on for a few more years in markets such as ours. Unusually, Jaguar Australia switched the XE from rear-wheel drive to all-wheel drive for 2021 for reasons unclear. For 2023, the XE range was whittled down to a single model and, though it still appears on Jaguar's local website, production ended this year. In its best year, 2016, global sales for the XE reached 44,095 units. The same year, BMW produced over 400,000 3 Series models globally. In Australia, the XE's best year was also 2016 with 1524 sold, beating the Infiniti Q50 and and falling just short of the . But sales fell each year, plunging to double-digits in 2022. Last year, the XE was outsold by every single one of its rivals, with its 58 sales bested by the (81 sales) and Volvo S60 (152). From launch to the end of November 2024, Jaguar sold 4332 XEs in Australia. While rivals received significant facelifts or new generations, the XE was left to soldier on as its lineup shrunk. It's a sad end for what was an extremely promising BMW 3 Series rival. If any car could make Jaguar's XE look like a sales success, it's the second generation of the brand's rival. The first-generation was a breath of fresh air when it was revealed in 2007, with the Ian Callum-penned sedan casting aside the shackles of Jaguar's retro design language in favour of a more modern yet still elegant look inside and out. The second generation wasn't as impactful. Also attributed to Mr. Callum, the design was conservative, looking more like a stretched version of the XE with which it shared its new platform. Unlike the XE, however, there was a wagon version; this made the trip to Australia, even though the first-generation model was offered here only in sedan guise. Globally, the XF was offered with a choice of turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines, plus a turbo-diesel V6 and a supercharged petrol V6. Sadly, there was no supercharged V8 XFR as there had been with the first generation. To Jaguar Australia's credit, it offered almost every available powertrain, and even brought the niche wagon here. But the British 5 Series rival was met with buyer apathy: sales shrunk compared to the outgoing model, with just 433 sold in 2016. That was down from the over 800 units Jaguar shifted in 2013 and 2014. Sales fell below three digits in 2019 with 50 units, and below two digits in 2023 with just 6 sold. By this point the XF range had been shrunk to a single variant, as for model year 2021 Jaguar axed all rear-wheel drive, diesel, six-cylinder and wagon variants in favour of a lone all-wheel drive turbo-petrol four-cylinder. Technically, Maserati didn't sell any in Australia in 2024, with global production wrapping late last year. No further examples were delivered this year but as it appeared on Maserati's local website during 2024, we've included it in this article. The Quattroporte nameplate is taking a leave of absence, with a replacement – featuring electric power – delayed until 2028. It's not the first time the Quattroporte nameplate has taken a lengthy leave of absence, with gaps of several years between the first and second and the third and fourth generations. The Quattroporte competed in an extremely low-volume segment in Australia, battling the likes of the and . Maserati executives would therefore clearly bristle at the mention of the Quattroporte sharing a platform with Chrysler and Dodge. "From the Chrysler 300 we carried over the electrical system, a portion on the platform where seats are hinged and some elements of the air conditioning, that is all," then-Maserati global CEO Harald Wester told back in 2013. The current, sixth-generation Quattroporte entered production that year, underpinned by what Maserati called its M156 platform which was also used by the and . The gorgeous, lithe Pininfarina styling of its predecessor made way for an in-house design that was more fuller-figured and conservative, with a clear kinship with the cheaper Ghibli. If it looked bigger than the previous Quattroporte, that's because it was – in length alone, the Quattroporte VI grew by over 200mm. A Ferrari-developed twin-turbo V8 remained available, along with a twin-turbo V6 developed with the Prancing Horse brand. This was also the first Quattroporte to offer a diesel engine, a turbocharged V6 mill sold here from 2014 to 2019. While the Quattroporte had a decade-long production run, there were updates made during this time. In 2016, the Quattroporte received a new infotainment system and more standard equipment including a suite of active safety features. This suite was expanded in a subsequent update in 2018. In 2020, Maserati revealed a hot Trofeo version of its luxury limo, featuring a 433kW/730Nm tune of the twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 – up 43kW and 80Nm on the GTS. This coincided with another minor facelift for the Quattroporte line that saw the old Chrysler-derived infotainment system swapped for one running on Android Automotive. The Quattroporte consistently sold in the double digits each year in Australia, before slumping to just three units in 2023. Even in a low-volume segment, that was very low. The was first a stunning coupe and convertible in the 1960s, then a rather brutalist two-door in the 1990s, before being revived as a BMW 5 Series sedan rival that was revealed at the 2013 Shanghai motor show. It represented a return to a segment which Maserati last occupied in 1995 with the 430, a descendant of the Biturbo. With the introduction of the Ghibli and Levante, which entered production in 2013 and 2016 respectively, Maserati was chasing broader market appeal and therefore greater sales volumes. By the 2000s, after the end of the Biturbo era, its lineup had receded to a small, more exclusive one. In 2013, it announced plans to sell 50,000 vehicles each year around the world in 2015, more than eight times as many as it sold in 2011. The Ghibli used the M158 platform of the new sixth-generation Quattroporte, and shared its twin-turbocharged V6 petrol and turbocharged V6 diesel engines. There was a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive, while an eight-speed automatic transmission was standard across the range. The Quattroporte's twin-turbo V8 wasn't added until 2020, while at the other end of the spectrum the Ghibli gained a turbocharged four-cylinder mild-hybrid powertrain. Other changes to the Ghibli during its lengthy run mirrored those of the Quattroporte: new infotainment and a suite of active safety tech for 2017, and an expanded suite in 2018 enabled by the switch to an electric-assisted power steering setup. The Ghibli helped Maserati reach its 50,000-unit target, albeit a couple of years late. Alas, the brand's sales dropped from then. In 2022, Maserati announced its plans to transition to an EV-only lineup by 2028, but conspicuous by its absence from these plans was the Ghibli nameplate. Instead, both it and the Quattroporte are set to be replaced by a single sedan model bearing the latter's nameplate, though this has subsequently been delayed to 2028. In Australia, from a height of 345 sales in 2015, the Ghibli gradually declined before an uptick in 2021 to 152 sales. They then slumped to double digits, and just 17 Ghiblis found homes in Australia this year to the end of November. From its debut year, the Levante took over as Maserati's best-selling vehicle locally, a title it maintained until the launch of the smaller SUV in 2023. The Ghibli remains on Maserati's local website, but with production having ended it's only a matter of time before the nameplate is retired for a third time. Even as it rolls out new electric vehicles (EVs) like the , Mini has updated its long-running three- and five-door hatchbacks and convertible and given them a slightly fresher look. The same treatment hasn't been extended to the long-running , which Mini ended production of in February after two generations. It's probably best to blame the as, in many markets including ours, given the choice of a wagon or an SUV most buyers will opt for the latter. BMW launched Mini as a standalone brand in 2000, and for the first several years of its life it only sold a hatchback. A convertible followed, before the Clubman was launched as Mini's third body style. It came during a period where Mini was rapidly and creatively expanding its lineup or, to put it less charitably, throwing things at a wall and seeing what stuck. If debuted in 2007, and was followed in 2010 by the Countryman SUV (which did stick) and the Roadster, Coupe and Paceman (which didn't). Mini wisely added a pair of conventional rear passenger doors with the second-generation Clubman, which launched in Australia in 2015, replacing the suicide door setup of its predecessor. A more practical alternative to the hatchback it was based on, the second-generation Clubman stuck with the rear barn doors of its predecessor – highly unusual for a wagon in 2024. The second-generation Clubman moved to the UKL2 platform underpinning vehicles like the . While this platform was used for a raft of vehicles including BMW and Mini-branded hatchbacks, sedans and even a people mover, the quirky Clubman was the only wagon. While it offered a choice of petrol powertrains (though as with its predecessor, no diesel in Australia), including a hot John Cooper Works model with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive. Between the launch of the second-gen model and the end of November 2024, Mini Australia sold 3143 Clubmans. It was a steady if unexceptional seller, but over the same period Mini sold around twice as many Countryman SUVs. The may have been the prettiest mid-sized Peugeot since the 406 Coupe of the 1990s, but that wasn't enough to save it. While it lives on in Europe, in September Peugeot Australia pulled the plug on the liftback and wagon "in response to changing consumer preferences in the segment". It arguably wasn't a surprise, given Ford, Kia and Volkswagen, among other brands, had already exited the mid-sized segment. Peugeot sales have also been broadly on a downward trajectory over the past decade. Peugeot Australia added a plug-in hybrid version of the 508 Fastback in 2022, with a Sportwagon PHEV following in 2023. But with one hand Peugeot Australia giveth, and with one another it taketh away. Later in 2023, Peugeot axed the petrol-powered 508s, leaving only the pricier PHEVs. Unusually, the Sportwagon PHEV was introduced after Peugeot revealed a facelifted version of the 508 in Europe, for which it conspicuously didn't announce specific local launch timing. The facelifted model never came, and when Peugeot UK announced earlier this year it was axing the 508, its local demise appeared inevitable. The second-generation 508's best year in Australia was 2021, with 240 sold. That was a far cry from the first-generation model which in 2012, its first full year on the market, recorded 1085 sales. In fairness to the 508, mid-sized passenger car sales have fallen over the past decade or so. But in 2023, the 508's 156 sales saw it outsold by the and , and even more niche models like the You can still buy a in Australia, but it's quite a different creature. The last examples of the RS Trophy hot hatch, the sole remaining member of the combustion-powered Megane range, were sold earlier this year as the new electric joined the local lineup. The RS-badged Megane hatch, sent off with a special-edition RS Ultime, was the last member of a once significantly wider lineup of small Renaults. The current, fourth-generation Megane was revealed in 2015 and went on sale locally late in 2016. Wagon and sedan models, introduced in 2017, were dropped in 2019 along with the entry-level Zen hatch, while the RS Sport and RS Cup hatchbacks were axed in 2021. That left just the RS Trophy. Not only was the Australian Megane lineup winnowed down locally, the car was discontinued in almost every market. Turkish production continues, however, of the sedan. This mirrors what happened with the , with a once-wide lineup continually chipped away at in Australia until a single hot hatch was left, before the nameplate was axed entirely. The Focus is also being discontinued globally. Renault only sold 69 Meganes in Australia in 2023. That was well down on the 1259 units it shifted in 2017, its first full year on sale. The Megane RS Trophy (and RS Ultime) used a turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine, mated with either a six-speed manual or six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, producing 221kW of power and 420Nm of torque (400Nm in the manual) Those outputs remained competitive even among a growing contingent of hot hatches on the local market. While Renault is moving away from hot petrol-powered models, it's entering the hot electric hatch fray with both its namesake brand and its Alpine spinoff. It remains to be seen whether these hot EVs will come here, however. Content originally sourced from: Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . AdvertisementBy KAREEM CHEHAYEB BEIRUT (AP) — In 2006, after a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militant group, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution to end the conflict and pave the way for lasting security along the border. But while there was relative calm for nearly two decades, Resolution 1701’s terms were never fully enforced. Now, figuring out how to finally enforce it is key to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal approved by Israel on Tuesday. In late September, after nearly a year of low-level clashes , the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiraled into all-out war and an Israeli ground invasion . As Israeli jets pound deep inside Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets deeper into northern Israel, U.N. and diplomatic officials again turned to the 2006 resolution in a bid to end the conflict. Years of deeply divided politics and regionwide geopolitical hostilities have halted substantial progress on its implementation, yet the international community believes Resolution 1701 is still the brightest prospect for long-term stability between Israel and Lebanon. Almost two decades after the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the United States led shuttle diplomacy efforts between Lebanon and Israel to agree on a ceasefire proposal that renewed commitment to the resolution, this time with an implementation plan to try to bring the document back to life. In 2000, Israel withdrew its forces from most of southern Lebanon along a U.N.-demarcated “Blue Line” that separated the two countries and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, which most of the world considers occupied Syrian territory. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL , increased their presence along the line of withdrawal. Resolution 1701 was supposed to complete Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and ensure Hezbollah would move north of the Litani River, keeping the area exclusively under the Lebanese military and U.N. peacekeepers. Up to 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers would help to maintain calm, return displaced Lebanese and secure the area alongside the Lebanese military. The goal was long-term security, with land borders eventually demarcated to resolve territorial disputes. The resolution also reaffirmed previous ones that call for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon — Hezbollah among them. “It was made for a certain situation and context,” Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general, told The Associated Press. “But as time goes on, the essence of the resolution begins to hollow.” For years, Lebanon and Israel blamed each other for countless violations along the tense frontier. Israel said Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and growing arsenal remained, and accused the group of using a local environmental organization to spy on troops. Lebanon complained about Israeli military jets and naval ships entering Lebanese territory even when there was no active conflict. “You had a role of the UNIFIL that slowly eroded like any other peacekeeping with time that has no clear mandate,” said Joseph Bahout, the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy at the American University of Beirut. “They don’t have permission to inspect the area without coordinating with the Lebanese army.” UNIFIL for years has urged Israel to withdraw from some territory north of the frontier, but to no avail. In the ongoing war, the peacekeeping mission has accused Israel, as well as Hezbollah , of obstructing and harming its forces and infrastructure. Hezbollah’s power, meanwhile, has grown, both in its arsenal and as a political influence in the Lebanese state. The Iran-backed group was essential in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power when armed opposition groups tried to topple him, and it supports Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen. It has an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles pointed at Israel, and has introduced drones into its arsenal . Hanna says Hezbollah “is something never seen before as a non-state actor” with political and military influence. Israel’s security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The ceasefire is set to take hold at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday. Efforts led by the U.S. and France for the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah underscored that they still view the resolution as key. For almost a year, Washington has promoted various versions of a deal that would gradually lead to its full implementation. International mediators hope that by boosting financial support for the Lebanese army — which was not a party in the Israel-Hezbollah war — Lebanon can deploy some 6,000 additional troops south of the Litani River to help enforce the resolution. Under the deal, an international monitoring committee headed by the United States would oversee implementation to ensure that Hezbollah and Israel’s withdrawals take place. It is not entirely clear how the committee would work or how potential violations would be reported and dealt with. The circumstances now are far more complicated than in 2006. Some are still skeptical of the resolution’s viability given that the political realities and balance of power both regionally and within Lebanon have dramatically changed since then. “You’re tying 1701 with a hundred things,” Bahout said. “A resolution is the reflection of a balance of power and political context.” Now with the ceasefire in place, the hope is that Israel and Lebanon can begin negotiations to demarcate their land border and settle disputes over several points along the Blue Line for long-term security after decades of conflict and tension.
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Whitehall Coach: Tim Cunningham, 22nd year; 30th year overall, Whitehall and Pleasant Valley, 364-213 2023-24 record: 18-3 Class: 3A Twitter/social media: Twitter @zephyrwrestling; Instagram @zephyrswrestling Returning wrestlers: Jr. Wilmont Kai (114-121); Jr. Kade Pascoe (121-127); So. Rocco Delucia (133-139), Sr. Nolan Schmeckenbecher (133-139), Sr. Trokon Kai (133-145), Jr. James Hopkins (189-215), Sr. Elijah Brito (170), So. Justin Heckert (285) Newcomers: Jr. Tyrell Hoff (145-152), So. Layony Sanchez (172), Fr. Rocco Fonzone (139-145), Jr. Adam Gasteratos (114-121), Jr. Jacob Figueroa (172), Sr. Dayvion Marshmon (127-133), Sr. Alex Medina (160), Sr. Joel Guerrero Pena (114), So. Josiah Wright (121), Jr. Tyler Tehonica (215), Jr. Jahleel Garcia (189-215), Jr. Messiah Lugo (285), So. Bayne Brian (285) Top records from 2023-24 (SQ: state qualifier, RQ, regional qualifier): W. Kai 39-7 (PIAA 7th), Hopkins 34-10 (RQ); Pascoe 29-15 (RQ); Delucia 21-13, Schmeckenbecher 22-10, T. Kai 21-11 (RQ); Heckert 6-3 Wrestler you don’t know now, but will by March: So. Bayne Brian (285) Dual match to watch: Parkland, Jan. 16 Outlook: Last year’s impressive Zephyr squad showed the box Whitehall is in pretty well. 18 wins, a trip to the D-11 duals, the first state medalist since 2010 in the slippery, dynamic, fun-to-watch Kai, four regional qualifiers; all terrific accomplishments. The three losses? Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth, then Northampton in the D-11 duals. We like to refer to the Zephyrs, Parkland, Emmaus, the Bethlehem public schools and Stroudsburg as the EPC’s “middle class” – they are several cuts above the rest of the league and they compete against each other with zeal and elan, but they are not near scaling the top of the league. Nothing would be better for D-11 wrestling than for some of the “middle class” to become elite, but that’s an enormous ask. Whitehall’s start to 2024-25 is typical: a 58-12 loss to Nazareth, then romping to win the Case Flynn Duals at Pottsville with six dual triumphs, the closest by 21 points. The Zephyrs can, and will, beat anybody outside of the very elite. But the D-11 3A powers – to which Notre Dame is now added – are just at another level. Whitehall’s focus for improvement could be in getting more state qualifiers and medalists, and with all four regional qualifiers from last back, including state medalist Wilmont Kai, that seems a reasonable ask. A prediction or two: Another fine season, perhaps at the head of the “middle class”. A couple more state qualifiers (Pascoe and Hopkins?) perhaps; Kai higher on the state medal stand. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a subscription. Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com . ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit lehighvalleylive.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Stock market today: Wall Street rises with Nvidia as bitcoin bursts above $99,000
WKU_D.Smith 9 pass from Veltkamp (Carneiro kick), 13:17. LIB_Lucas 2 run (Karhu kick), 9:30. LIB_Cooley 22 run (Karhu kick), 2:05. LIB_J.Gray 11 pass from Salter (Karhu kick), :10. WKU_Hart 2 run (Carneiro kick), 10:33. LIB_Cooley 2 run (Karhu kick), 9:44. WKU_K.Johnson 16 pass from Veltkamp (Carneiro kick), 3:44. LIB_FG Karhu 29, 11:13. LIB_Salter 3 run (Karhu kick), 2:59. A_17,930. RUSHING_W. Kentucky, Young 9-60, Veltkamp 8-30, Jal.Hampton 2-20, Sanders 1-2, Hart 5-1, (Team) 1-(minus 1), Hutchinson 1-(minus 6). Liberty, Cooley 24-166, Lucas 19-131, Salter 11-66, Blue 4-38, J.Gray 3-14, Jointer 2-4. PASSING_W. Kentucky, Veltkamp 20-34-3-262. Liberty, Salter 6-11-0-108, Burger 1-1-0-29. RECEIVING_W. Kentucky, K.Johnson 7-94, D.Smith 4-63, Messer 4-53, Young 3-26, Hutchinson 1-25, Sanders 1-1. Liberty, J.Gray 2-47, Lee 2-38, Sibley 1-29, R.Smith 1-16, Blue 1-7. MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.
How should Arab Americans deal with Trump administration?On March 28, 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a new directive to banks on recapitalisation. Under the new directive commercial banks with international license are to raise their capital to N500 billion. Commercial banks with national license are to raise their capital to N200 billion. The new capital for commercial banks with regional license is N50 billion while merchant banks with national license will raise their capital to N50 billion. The new capital for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively. The apex bank has fixed March 31, 2026 as deadline for banks to attain the new capital base. CBN expects the banks to source funds for the new capital through rights issues, offers for subscription, mergers and acquisitions and change of license to meet the new requirement. The CBN’s new directive on banks’ capital is designed to reposition Nigerian banks for big ticket investments while at the same time positioning them to compete favourably with international and pan-African banks particularly in the area of trade financing. While the banks are still battling to meet the new directive on recapitalisation and the CBN warming up to whip the banks into line, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) is already reaping the proceeds of the recapitalisation directive from the CBN. From all indications the NGX may be the first beneficiary of the recapitalisation directive on banks from the apex bank. The first gain of the recapitalisation directive came by way of massive boost to the NGX capitalisation. Four banks with international licenses have raised a total of N1.2 trillion from the NGX in a desperate bid to meet the CBN new directive on recapitalisation. The banks are Fidelity Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), First City Monument Bank (FCMB), and Access Bank. The four banks have consequently raised the NGX capitalisation by a staggering N1.2 trillion. Many other banks are still sourcing for funds for the new capital base through offer for subscriptions and right issues in the NGX. Consequently, the CBN recapitalisation directive to banks could boost NGX capitalisation by N2 trillion. Another area through which the NGX is gaining from the recapitalisation directive of the CBN to banks is its strange penetration of the Nigerian youth segment. The Nigerian stock market had for decades been the exclusive preserve of retirees and other elderly people in the society. These were the only people who were buying shares. This group of shareholders developed the strange culture derisively tagged “buy and hold”. They hardly trade on their shares. In the days of hard copy share certificates, the elderly shareholders would laminate their share certificates and hang on the wall like an award. Ironically, the capital market presents a very fertile ground for business transactions. Those who understand the market buy shares when the prices are low and sell when they appreciate. The elderly shareholders are not aware of the huge gains that accrue from such timely buying and selling. The NGX attraction of young shareholders into the market through the banking recapitalisation exercise will change all that. The youth were lured into the market through a new device known as “NGX Invest”. The App is a digital platform designed to streamline public offerings and right issues in the market. NGX Invest targets the youth who are bored with the rigid paper work involved in traditional share purchasing. It allows them to buy their share on-line. That is how the NGX has been able to capture the youth who had for decades shunned the nation’s capital market. The new App which its innovation coincided with CBN recapitalisation directive to banks enhances transparency and accessibility in primary market transactions. That is what lured the youth to the banks shares. It has consequently boosted retail participation in the market. In an exciting response to the NGX new App, the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) noted: “Young people are beginning to embrace the market, we are excited about that”. Everyone is excited about the emergence of youths in the capital market. Market watchers contend that the trend will stimulate the market and confine the “buy-and-hold” mentality of elderly shareholders to the dustbin of history. NGX’s gains from the banking recapitalisation directive of the CBN are numerous. There are strong indications that it will boost domestic participation in the nation’s capital market. There has been a long standing contest between domestic and foreign portfolio investors in the NGX with foreign portfolio investors gaining the upper hand. The recent disorderly depreciation of the naira gave foreign portfolio investors the upper hand in the NGX as it cheapened share prices for them. is excited that the banking recapitalisation exercise will attract more domestic investors and at least reduce the widening gap between domestic and foreign investors holdings in the NGX.
Odia Actor Manoj Mishra, Director Bobby Islam Fight Outside Police Station, Video Goes ViralLOADING ERROR LOADING A hallmark of Donald Trump’s first presidency was the way major policy developments would sometimes get almost no attention, because they were competing with the flurry of higher-profile, mind-blowing controversies swirling around him and his team. Evidently Trump’s second presidency is going to unfold in the same way. For the past week, the political world has focused mostly on the controversies over Trump’s planned appointments for top positions in his administration. And that’s understandable, given his plan to put the nation’s health in the hands of a noted vaccine skeptic and to hand the national intelligence apparatus over to someone who likes to repeat talking points from Russian propaganda . Advertisement But that conversation has left virtually no space for discussion about policy changes — including one that should raise a lot of questions about exactly whose interests Trump will represent in government and exactly who has influence over him. The policy in question is a federal tax credit for buyers of new electric vehicles. It exists thanks to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature legislative accomplishment, and is part of that law’s effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by promoting EV use. Last week Reuters reported that Trump’s transition team was recommending he ask Congress to kill the tax credit. And while Trump has not said anything publicly, auto industry leaders and investors saw the report as a trial balloon and indicator of what the president-elect is likely to do. It was not exactly a shocking development. Trump has been speaking out against Democratic support of EVs ― or what he has called, deceptively, an “ electric vehicle mandate ” ― for years. Especially when speaking in states like Michigan, cradle of America’s auto industry, he has portrayed the EV effort as elite Democrats imposing a tree-hugging agenda that will ruin the U.S. auto industry and, in the process, wipe out jobs for U.S. workers. Advertisement Still, Trump never said explicitly whether he’d actually seek to eliminate the tax credit. And there were reasons to think he might not pursue the idea after the election. One is that a number of House Republicans support the EV incentives. Many come from places like Georgia, Ohio, Indiana and Nevada ― states that Trump won and where the EV effort has led to a boom in factory construction. The recent EV push has “created good jobs in many parts of the country — including many districts represented by members of our conference,” the House members wrote in a summer letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Then there are the feelings of the auto industry itself. Both Ford and General Motors, the two legacy car companies still based in Detroit, have supported the tax credit because they think a global shift towards EVs is inevitable. The real question now, they argue, is not whether there will be many more EVs in the future, but who will produce and sell them. The U.S. carmakers are particularly worried about losing ground to Chinese companies. Thanks to two decades of financial support from their own government, Chinese carmakers can now produce EVs more cheaply and, as a result, are poised to dominate the worldwide market. The new federal tax credit, worth up to $7,500 per vehicle but only valid for EVs produced here in the U.S., is giving Ford and GM a chance to compete on a more even playing field among U.S. consumers. Good jobs in the districts of House Republicans, a chance to help American industry compete with China ― those sure sound like ideas that might resonate with Trump. Advertisement But those aren’t the only appeals Trump is hearing. He’s also hearing from some of his biggest, and richest, allies. And they have a very different view. Hamm, Musk And EVs One of the co-leaders of the transition team on EV policy, according to Reuters, is Harold Hamm , a billionaire oil tycoon who was a prodigious Trump fundraiser during the campaign (and donated plenty of his own money, too). Hamm opposes support for EVs, whose growth over the long term would reduce demand for gasoline ― i.e., the financial lifeblood of his enterprises. Elon Musk, another Trump megadonor, also has the president-elect’s ear. And although Musk is the CEO of Tesla, the nation’s top electric carmaker, Musk has said his company doesn’t need the subsidies because it’s not trying to retool from making gas-powered cars and isn’t at the same disadvantage internationally as the legacy Detroit automakers. “I think it would be devastating for our competitors and for Tesla slightly,” Musk told investors over the summer. But he said that in the “long term, it probably helps” Tesla if Trump does away with the tax credit, since that could allow Tesla to more thoroughly dominate the U.S. market. Corey Cantor , a senior auto industry analyst at BloombergNEF, told HuffPost he thinks Tesla sales benefit from the tax credits more than Musk lets on. But he agrees Tesla has “far more flexibility” and would suffer less. Advertisement One reason for that is that Musk has fought unionisation at his auto plants and, according to outside analysts, pays his workers less than competitors . A major goal of the Biden EV push was to support unionised companies in the U.S. and, in the process, guarantee better pay for manufacturing workers. It’s impossible to know just how much Trump’s opposition to the EV tax credit reflects the influence of Hamm and Musk, given his own longstanding skepticism of measures to prevent climate change. But Trump has a lengthy , well-chronicled history of heeding or helping donors who want policy favors, or offering them positions in his administration. And that’s to say of nothing of how Trump and his family profited personally when, for example, lobbyists and foreign dignitaries would stay at Trump’s Washington hotel. One w atchdog group determined through public disclosures that his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, made as much as $640 million in outside income during Trump’s first term. Now Trump is on his way back to the White House, with a transition team led by and stocked with billionaires . Musk, along with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, are leading a so-called Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) task force that, though not an official government entity, will identify targets for big cuts in government spending. The Political Game Lobbyists and analysts familiar with the transition told The New York Times they thought Ford and GM (and Stellantis, the other Detroit company, which is now part of a foreign conglomerate) still had a chance to save the tax credit, if they’re strategic enough. Advertisement As these sources explained it to the Times, part of Trump’s motivation for killing the tax credit was his grudge against the Detroit companies because of their past support for auto emissions policies he opposed. To get on Trump’s good side, the companies needed to make amends ― or, as the Times put it, “bow to Mr. Trump.” Trump has always been unabashedly transactional . The variable is which kind of currency will get him to respond. Campaign contributions? Family enrichment? Personal abasement? Some combination of the above? The future of EVs, like so many other issues in policy for the next four years, may depend on who figures out the answer. Related Donald Trump elon musk 2024 elections 5 Things To Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick For Attorney General Trump's New ‘Nepotism’ Line Has Critics In Disbelief Trump Is Filling His White House With Men Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
No. 11 Miami pulls away late to beat Wake Forest 42-14 and move one win from the ACC title game