miss wow wowowin
The construction of the Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology, designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects, is making significant progress. This 46-story tower, located in the heart of Shenzhen’s Futian district, is set to become a pivotal hub for the rapidly growing fintech industry in China. Key Takeaways Architectural Highlights The Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology Tower stands at 199 meters tall and spans approximately 818,000 square feet. Its design is intricately linked to its urban context, with setbacks strategically placed to maximize sunlight exposure to surrounding streets and public spaces. This thoughtful approach not only enhances the building’s aesthetic appeal but also contributes to the overall urban environment. The façade’s unique composition, featuring vertical and angled glazing mullions, reflects the innovative spirit of the fintech sector. The interplay of light and shadow across the building’s surface creates a dynamic visual experience, while the use of black and bronze colors adds a touch of elegance. Sustainable Features Sustainability is a core principle of the Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology’s design. Key features include: Smart Building Technology The integration of smart technology is a standout feature of the tower. The AI-powered system will: This innovative approach positions the Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology as a leader in sustainable and smart architectural design, setting a benchmark for future developments in the region. Community and Collaboration Inside the tower, a series of atria will connect different floors, fostering a collaborative environment. These spaces will not only facilitate interaction among researchers and professionals but also incorporate greenery to improve air quality. The rooftop garden will serve as a versatile venue for events, exhibitions, and relaxation, further enhancing the building’s role as a community hub. As construction progresses, the Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology is poised to become a landmark in the city, symbolizing the intersection of technology, sustainability, and architectural innovation. This project reflects Shenzhen’s commitment to being at the forefront of the global fintech landscape, driving advancements that will shape the future of finance. SourcesThe crypto market is bustling as people hurry to acquire coins that promise significant benefits and new features. With VeChain price prediction indicating steady increases due to growing trading volumes and JasmyCoin’s price rise demonstrating strong confidence, the competitive domain is intensifying. BlockDAG (BDAG) has elevated this competition with its presale reaching over $165 million. Additionally, its Bonus Unchained initiative, starting with a 150% bonus via the BDAG250 code, has attracted numerous crypto enthusiasts. This mix of profitability, innovation, and strategic engagement is transforming the crypto market’s possibilities, pushing its momentum into a new domain. VeChain Price Prediction: Steady Upsurge Expected VeChain has seen a significant uptick in the past month, moving from $0.020 in November to $0.066 in December, placing it as a key competitor this month. However, a climb to $1 would need a 1,450% increase from the current price, a goal that is ambitious in the short term. The VeChain price prediction anticipates a modest increase to $0.086 by Q1 2025, amounting to a 30% gain. With a trading volume of $1.1 billion signaling strong interest, the VeChain price prediction remains conservative, with sustained growth dependent on wider market and economic conditions. JasmyCoin’s Price Jump: What’s Next? JasmyCoin has enjoyed a strong rally, with its price hitting $0.04736—a notable rise in the past week and a 129.81% increase over the last month. This increase in JasmyCoin’s price has elevated its market cap to over $2 billion, indicating growing confidence. Analysts believe a bullish trend could push the coin to $0.2785, highlighting its potential in the fiercely competitive crypto market. Additionally, technological advancements in JasmyCoin, including the forthcoming Janction Layer 2 chain, have spurred optimism. Potential collaborations with Sony’s Soneium project underscore its ambitions to lead Japan’s blockchain industry, further boosting the ongoing JasmyCoin price surge. BlockDAG’s Presale Dominates with Exciting New Incentives BlockDAG’s presale has again become a major focus in the crypto community, achieving over $165 million in sales and distributing a staggering 17.1 billion coins. With prices now at $0.0234 in Batch 26, there’s been a remarkable 2240% increase since Batch 1. This substantial growth not only demonstrates strong market interest but also solidifies BlockDAG’s strong position in the blockchain arena. What distinguishes BlockDAG is its exceptional profit potential. Enthusiasts view it as a prime opportunity to enhance their crypto collections. The current Bonus Unchained promotion encapsulates this enthusiasm, active until January 8, transforming the purchase of coins into an exhilarating endeavor. Purchasers using the BDAG250 code for their initial transaction receive a substantial 150% bonus, with a subsequent purchase yielding an even greater 170% bonus. From there, the rewards take on a secretive nature. Additional bonuses are concealed within “mystery boxes,” revealed progressively as users engage further. The element of surprise is ingeniously compelling. Each new bonus surpasses the previous, keeping participants engaged and anxious to discover the next. This unique approach to rewards gamifies the platform in a manner rarely attempted in the crypto space, creating an interactive and enjoyable experience. For those engaged in crypto, these bonuses offer more than just financial gains—they provide a gateway to an ever-evolving blockchain adventure. Final Analysis: Leading the Crypto Charge VeChain, JasmyCoin, and BlockDAG all demonstrate significant potential to become leaders in the crypto market. However, BlockDAG’s focus on profit-enhancing features has greatly increased its attractiveness in the marketplace, captivating those looking for substantial returns. With its Bonus Unchained providing layered rewards and secretive bonuses, BlockDAG emerges as the premier presale choice for maximizing returns. While VeChain price prediction and JasmyCoin’s price rise confirm their stable market positions, BlockDAG’s unparalleled presale drive and creative incentives position it as a standout cryptocurrency poised for significant impact. The dramatic 2240% rise in price from Batch 1 to Batch 26 showcases BlockDAG’s explosive growth, positioning it as a frontrunner among the top cryptocurrencies of 2024 . Presale: https://purchase.blockdag.network Website: https://blockdag.network Telegram: https://t.me/blockDAGnetworkOfficial Discord: https://discord.gg/Q7BxghMVyu Join our WhatsApp Channel to get the latest news, exclusives and videos on WhatsApp _____________ Disclaimer: Analytics Insight does not provide financial advice or guidance. Also note that the cryptocurrencies mentioned/listed on the website could potentially be scams, i.e. designed to induce you to invest financial resources that may be lost forever and not be recoverable once investments are made. You are responsible for conducting your own research (DYOR) before making any investments. Read more here.Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer and little-known Georgia governor who became the 39th president of the United States, promising “honest and decent” government to Watergate-weary Americans, and later returned to the world stage as an influential human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died. He was 100. When his turbulent presidency ended after a stinging reelection loss in 1980, Carter retreated to Plains, his political career over. Over the four decades that followed, though, he forged a legacy of public service, building homes for the needy, monitoring elections around the globe and emerging as a fearless and sometimes controversial critic of governments that mistreated their citizens. He lived longer than any U.S. president in history and was still regularly teaching Bible classes at his hometown Maranatha Baptist Church well into his 90s. During his post-presidency, he also wrote more than 30 books, including fiction, poetry, deeply personal reflections on his faith, and commentaries on Middle East strife. Though slowed by battles with brain and liver cancer and a series of falls and hip replacement in recent years, he returned again and again to his charity work and continued to offer occasional political commentary, including in support of mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Carter was in his first term as Georgia governor when he launched his campaign to unseat President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. At the time, the nation was still shaken by President Richard Nixon’s resignation in the Watergate scandal and by the messy end of the Vietnam War. As a moderate Southern Democrat, a standard-bearer of what was then regarded as a more racially tolerant “new South,” Carter promised a government “as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.” But some of the traits that had helped get Carter elected — his willingness to take on the Washington establishment and his preference for practicality over ideology — didn’t serve him as well in the White House. He showed a deep understanding of policy, and a refreshing modesty and disregard for the ceremonial trappings of the office, but he was unable to make the legislative deals expected of a president. Even though his Democratic Party had a majority in Congress throughout his presidency, he was impatient with the legislative give-and-take and struggled to mobilize party leaders behind his policy initiatives. His presidency also was buffeted by domestic crises — rampant inflation and high unemployment, as well as interminable lines at gas stations triggered by a decline in the global oil supply exacerbated by Iran’s Islamic Revolution. “Looking back, I am struck by how many unpopular objectives we pursued,” Carter acknowledged in his 2010 book, “White House Diary.” “I was sometimes accused of ‘micromanaging’ the affairs of government and being excessively autocratic,” he continued, “and I must admit that my critics probably had a valid point.” Carter’s signature achievements as president were primarily on the international front, and included personally brokering the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, which have endured for more than 40 years. But it was another international crisis — the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries and the government’s inability to win the release of 52 Americans taken hostage — that would cast a long shadow on his presidency and his bid for reelection. Carter authorized a secret military mission to rescue the hostages in April 1980, but it was aborted at the desert staging area; during the withdrawal, eight servicemen were killed when a helicopter crashed into a transport aircraft. The hostages were held for 444 days, a period that spanned Carter’s final 15 months in the White House. They were finally freed the day his successor, Ronald Reagan, took the oath of office. Near the end of Carter’s presidency, one poll put his job approval rating at 21% — lower than Nixon’s when he resigned in disgrace and among the lowest of any White House occupant since World War II. In a rarity for an incumbent president, Carter faced a formidable primary challenge in 1980 from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a favorite of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing. Although Carter prevailed, his nomination was in doubt until the party’s August convention. The enmity between Carter and Kennedy, two of the most important Democratic political figures of their generation, continued throughout their lives. In Kennedy’s memoir, published shortly after his death in 2009, he called Carter petty and guilty of “a failure to listen.” While promoting the publication of “White House Diary,” Carter said Kennedy had “deliberately” blocked Carter’s comprehensive healthcare proposals in the late 1970s in hopes of defeating the president in the primary. In the 1980 general election, Carter faced Reagan, then 69, who campaigned on a promise to increase military spending and rescue the economy by cutting taxes and decreasing regulation. Carter lost in a 51% to 41% thumping — he won just six states and the District of Columbia — that devastated the man known for his toothy smile and sent him back to his hometown, an ex-president at 56. A year later, he and Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, which pressed for peaceful solutions to world conflicts, promoted human rights and worked to eradicate disease in the poorest nations. The center, based in Atlanta, launched a new phase of Carter’s public life, one that would move the same historians who called Carter a weak president to label him one of America’s greatest former leaders. His post-presidential years were both “historic and polarizing,” as Princeton University historian Julian E. Zelizer put it in a 2010 biography of Carter. Zelizer said Carter “refused to be constrained politically when pursuing his international agenda” as an ex-president, and became “an enormously powerful figure on the international stage.” When Carter appeared on “The Colbert Report” in 2014, host Stephen Colbert asked him, “You invented the idea of the post-presidency. What inspired you to do that?” “I didn’t have anything else to do,” Carter replied. He traveled widely to mediate conflicts and monitor elections around the world, joined Habitat for Humanity to promote “sweat equity” for low-income homeownership, and became a blunt critic of human rights abuses. He angered conservatives and some liberals by advocating negotiations with autocrats — and his criticism of Israeli leaders and support for Palestinian self-determination angered many Jews. A prolific author, Carter covered a range of topics, including the Middle East crisis and the virtues of aging and religion. He penned a memoir on growing up in the rural South as well as a book of poems, and he was the first president to write a novel — “The Hornet’s Nest,” about the South during the Revolutionary War. He won three Grammy Awards as well for best spoken-word album, most recently in 2019 for “Faith: A Journey For All.” As with many former presidents, Carter’s popularity rose in the years after he left office. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts” and to advance democracy and human rights. By then, two-thirds of Americans said they approved of his presidency. “Jimmy Carter may never be rated a great president,” wrote Charles O. Jones, a University of Wisconsin political scientist, in his chronicle of the Carter presidency. “Yet it will be difficult in the long run to sustain censure of a president motivated to do what is right.” :::: The journey for James Earl Carter Jr. began on Oct. 1, 1924, in the tiny Sumter County, Georgia, town of Plains, home to fewer than 600 people in 2020. He was the first president born in a hospital, but he lived in a house without electricity or indoor plumbing until he was a teenager. His ancestors had been in Georgia for more than two centuries, and he was the fifth generation to own and farm the same land. His father, James Earl Carter Sr., known as Mr. Earl, was a strict disciplinarian and a conservative businessman of some means. His mother, known as Miss Lillian, had more liberal views — she was known for her charity work and for taking in transients and treating Black residents with kindness. (At the age of 70, she joined the Peace Corps, working in India.) Inspired by an uncle who was in the Navy, Carter decided as a first-grader that he wanted to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He became the first member of his family to finish high school, then attended Georgia Tech before heading for the academy, where he studied engineering and graduated in 1946, 59th in a class of 820. Before his last year in Annapolis, while home for the summer, he met Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth’s. He and a friend invited the two young women to the movies, and when he returned home that night, he told his mother he had met “the girl I want to marry.” He proposed that Christmas, but Rosalynn declined because she felt she was too young (she was 18 and a sophomore in college). Several weeks later, while she was visiting Carter at the academy, he asked again. This time she said yes. Carter applied to America’s new nuclear-powered submarine program under the command of the icy and demanding Capt. (later Adm.) Hyman Rickover. During Carter’s interview, Rickover asked whether he had done his best at Annapolis. “I started to say, ‘Yes, sir,’ but ... I recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy and so forth,” Carter wrote in his autobiography. “... I finally gulped and said, ‘No, sir, I didn’t always do my best.’” To which Rickover replied: “Why not?” Carter got the job, and would later make “Why not the best?” his campaign slogan. The Carters had three sons, who all go by nicknames — John William “Jack,” James Earl “Chip” and Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff.” Carter and Rosalynn had wanted to have more children, but an obstetrician said that surgery Rosalynn had to remove a tumor on her uterus would make that impossible. Fifteen years after Jeffrey was born, the Carters had a daughter, Amy, who “made us young again,” Carter would later write. While in the Navy, Carter took graduate courses in nuclear physics and served as a submariner on the USS Pomfret. But his military career was cut short when his father died, and he moved back to Georgia in 1953 to help run the family business, which was in disarray. In his first year back on the farm, Carter turned a profit of less than $200, the equivalent of about $2,200 today. But with Rosalynn’s help, he expanded the business. In addition to farming 3,100 acres, the family soon operated a seed and fertilizer business, warehouses, a peanut-shelling plant and a cotton gin. By the time he began his campaign for the White House 20 years later, Carter had a net worth of about $800,000, and the revenue from his enterprises was more than $2 million a year. Carter entered electoral politics in 1962, and asked voters to call him “Jimmy.” He ran for a seat in the Georgia Senate against an incumbent backed by a local political boss who stuffed the ballot box. Trailing by 139 votes after the primary, Carter waged a furious legal battle, which he described years later in his book “Turning Point.” Carter got a recount, the primary result was reversed, and he went on to win the general election. The victory was a defining moment for Carter, the outsider committed to fairness and honesty who had successfully battled establishment politicians corrupted by their ties to special interests. In two terms in the Georgia Senate, Carter established a legislative record that was socially progressive and fiscally conservative. He first ran for governor in 1966, but finished third in the primary. Over the next four years, he made 1,800 speeches and shook hands with an estimated 600,000 people — a style of campaigning that paid off in the 1970 gubernatorial election and later in his bid for the White House. In his inaugural address as governor in 1971, Carter made national news by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” He had a portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hung in a hall at the Capitol in Atlanta. But when Carter launched his official campaign for the White House in December 1974, he was still so little-known outside Georgia that a celebrity panel on the TV show “What’s My Line?” couldn’t identify him. In the beginning, many scoffed at the temerity of a peanut farmer and one-term governor running for the highest office in the land. After Carter met with House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., the speaker was asked whom he had been talking to. “Some fellow named Jimmy Carter from Georgia. Says he’s running for president,” O’Neill replied. In a meeting with editors of the Los Angeles Times in 1975, Carter said he planned to gain the presidency by building a network of supporters and by giving his candidacy an early boost by winning the Iowa caucuses. Until then, Iowa had been a bit player in the nominating process, mostly ignored by strategists. But Carter’s victory there vaulted him to front-runner status — and Iowa into a major role in presidential nominations. His emergence from the pack of Democratic hopefuls was helped by the release of his well-reviewed autobiography “Why Not the Best?” in which he described his upbringing on the farm and his traditional moral values. On the campaign trail, Carter came across as refreshingly candid and even innocent — an antidote to the atmosphere of scandal that had eroded confidence in public officials since the events leading to Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. A Baptist Sunday school teacher, Carter was among the first presidential candidates to embrace the label of born-again Christian. That was underscored when, in an interview with Playboy magazine, he made headlines by admitting, “I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.” Carter had emerged from the Democratic National Convention in July with a wide lead over Ford, Nixon’s vice president and successor, but by the time of the Playboy interview in September, his numbers were tumbling. By election day, the contest was a dead heat. Carter, running on a ticket with Walter F. Mondale for his vice president, eked out a victory with one of the narrower margins in U.S. presidential history, winning 50.1% to 48% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes, 27 more than needed. Many of Carter’s supporters hoped he would usher in a new era of liberal policies. But he saw his role as more of a problem-solver than a politician, and as an outsider who promised to shake things up in Washington, he often acted unilaterally. A few weeks into his term, Carter announced that he was cutting off federal funding to 18 water projects around the country to save money and protect the environment. Lawmakers, surprised by the assault on their pet projects, were livid. He ultimately backed down on some of the cuts. But his relationship with Congress never fully healed. Members often complained that they couldn’t get in to see him, and that when they did he was in a rush to show them the door. His relationship with the media, as he acknowledged later in life, was similarly fraught. Carter’s image as a reformer also took a hit early in his presidency after he appointed Bert Lance, a longtime confidant, to head the Office of Management and Budget. Within months of the appointment, questions were raised about Lance’s personal financial affairs as a Georgia banker. Adamant that Lance had done nothing wrong, Carter dug in his heels and publicly told his friend, “Bert, I’m proud of you.” Still, Lance resigned under pressure, and although he was later acquitted of criminal charges, the damage to Carter had been done. As Mondale later put it: “It made people realize that we were no different than anybody else.” When Carter did score legislative victories, the cost was high. In 1978, he pushed the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties to eventually hand control of the canal over to Panama. But conservatives criticized the move as a diminution of U.S. strength, and even the Democratic National Committee declined to endorse it. Carter’s most significant foreign policy accomplishment was the 1978 Camp David agreement, a peace pact between Israel and Egypt. But he followed that with several unpopular moves, including his decree that the United States would not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, as a protest against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. It was the only time in Olympic history that the United States had boycotted an Olympics; the Soviets responded by boycotting the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Carter had taken a series of largely symbolic steps to dispel the imperial image of the presidency. After he took the oath of office on a wintry day, he and the new first lady emerged from their motorcade and walked part of the way from the Capitol to the White House. He ended chauffeur-driven cars for top staff members, sold the presidential yacht, went to the White House mess hall for lunch with the staff and conducted town meetings around the country. He suspended the playing of “Hail to the Chief” whenever he arrived at an event, though he later allowed the practice to resume. On the domestic front, he was saddled with a country in crisis. Inflation galloped at rates up to 14%, and global gasoline shortages closed service stations and created high prices and long lines. Interest rates for home mortgages soared above 14%. In his first televised fireside chat, he wore a cardigan sweater and encouraged Americans to conserve energy during the winter by keeping their thermostats at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night. He also proposed a string of legislative initiatives to deal with the crisis, but many were blocked by Congress. In what would become a seminal moment in his presidency, Carter addressed the nation — and a television audience of more than 60 million — on a Sunday evening in 1979, saying the country had been seized by a “crisis of confidence ... that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” He outlined a series of proposals to develop new sources of energy. The address, widely known as the “malaise speech” even though Carter never used that word, was generally well-received at the time, though some bristled at the implication that Americans were to blame for the country’s problems. Any positive glow disappeared two days later, when Carter fired five of his top officials, including the Energy, Treasury and Transportation secretaries and his attorney general. The value of the dollar sank and the stock market tumbled. Sensing that Carter was politically vulnerable, Kennedy moved to present himself as an alternative for the 1980 Democratic nomination, publicly criticizing the president’s agenda. But Kennedy damaged his own candidacy in a prime-time interview with CBS’ Roger Mudd: Asked why he was running for president, Kennedy fumbled his answer, and critics cited it as evidence that the senator didn’t want the job so much as he felt obligated to seek it. A few months after the malaise speech, in late 1979, revolutionaries loyal to Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. Weeks stretched into months, with Iran refusing all efforts to negotiate a hostage release. In April 1980, Carter approved Operation Eagle Claw, a secret Delta Force rescue mission. But it ended in disaster — mechanical trouble sidelined three helicopters and, after the mission was aborted, one of the remaining helicopters collided with a transport plane on the ground, killing eight soldiers. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance resigned before the mission, believing the plan too risky. Negotiations to free the hostages resumed, and Carter desperately tried to win their release before the November election. But the Iranians prolonged the talks and the hostages weren’t released until Jan. 20, 1981, moments after Carter watched Reagan being sworn in. The journey home for Carter was painful. Of those who voted for Reagan in 1980, nearly 1 in 4 said they were primarily motivated by their dissatisfaction with Carter. :::: Carter faced “an altogether new, unwanted and potentially empty life,” as he later put it. He sold the family farm-supply business, which had been placed in a blind trust during his presidency and was by then deeply in debt. Then, as Rosalynn later recalled, Carter awoke one night with an idea to build not just a presidential library but a place to resolve global conflicts. Together, they founded the nonprofit, nonpartisan Carter Center. His skill as a mediator made Carter a ready choice for future presidents seeking envoys to navigate crises. Republican President George H.W. Bush sent him on peace missions to Ethiopia and Sudan, and President Bill Clinton, a fellow Democrat, dispatched him to North Korea, Haiti and what then was Yugoslavia. Carter described his relationship with President Barack Obama as chilly, however, in part because he had openly criticized the administration’s policies toward Israel. He felt Obama did not strongly enough support a separate Palestinian state. “Every president has been a very powerful factor here in advocating this two-state solution,” Carter told the New York Times in 2012. “That is now not apparent.” As an election observer, he called them as he saw them. After monitoring presidential voting in Panama in 1989, he declared that Manuel Noriega had rigged the election. He also began building houses worldwide for Habitat for Humanity, and he wrote prodigiously. The Nobel committee awarded Carter the Peace Prize in 2002, more than two decades after he left the White House, praising him for standing by “the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international cooperation.” During his 70s, 80s and even into his 90s, the former president showed an energy that never failed to impress those around him. In his 1998 book “The Virtues of Aging,” he urged retirees to remain active and engaged, and he followed his own advice, continuing to jog, play tennis and go fly-fishing well into his 80s. When his “White House Diary” was published in 2010, he embarked on a nationwide book tour at 85, as he did in 2015 with the publication of “A Full Life: Reflections at 90.” When he told America he had cancer that had spread to his liver and brain, it was vintage Carter. Wearing a coat and tie and a pair of blue jeans, he stared into the television cameras and was unflinchingly blunt about his prognosis. “Hope for the best; accept what comes,” he said. “I think I have been as blessed as any human being in the world.” Former Times staff writers Jack Nelson, Robert Shogan and Johanna Neuman contributed to this report. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
49ers RBs Christian McCaffrey, Jordan Mason placed on IRA company that makes superconducting wire for the energy sector has pledged to invest $193.7 million in a production facility in Chatham County that it expects will create 333 jobs, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Tuesday. MetOx International Inc., which has headquarters in Houston, Texas, is a leader in high-temperature superconducting, or HTS, technology across multiple industries. HTS is an advanced power delivery technology capable of transmitting extremely high power at low voltage with zero heat generation or energy loss. The state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier Tuesday approved a Job Development Investment Grant of about $3.18 million over 12 years if MetOx hits job and investment targets. Chatham County is providing incentives of $5.7 million. The company’s Chatham County manufacturing center will produce the company’s Xeus HTS wire, which can make transmission cables up to 10 times more efficient than traditional copper cables, said Bud Vos, CEO of MetOx. “Establishing our new large-scale manufacturing facility in Chatham County is a pivotal step toward securing a reliable, domestic supply of HTS wire for the development of critical infrastructure in the United States,” Vos said. “This facility will not only deliver transformative energy technologies that strengthen our grid and reduce carbon emissions but also create high-paying manufacturing jobs in a community eager to lead in innovation. We are proud to partner with North Carolina to drive forward a resilient energy future built on cutting-edge science and strong local collaboration.” HTS technology is expected to revolutionize critical energy sectors, including power transmission, distribution and grid expansion, while also meeting the high-power demands of AI-driven applications and large data centers, the governor’s office said in a press release. HTS is also pivotal in enabling high-field magnet applications such as next-generation wind turbines, motors and generators for clean aviation and aerospace, advanced defense systems, and magnetic confinement fusion energy. Although specific wages will vary depending on job role, the average salary of the new positions is $75,132, bringing more than $25 million of annual payroll growth to the region. The current average wage in Chatham County stands at $48,413. Over the course of the 12-year term of the state incentives grant, economists in the Department of Commerce estimate the project could grow the state’s economy by $987.8 million. State payments will only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. MetOx’s JDIG agreement could also move as much as $1.06 million into a fund that helps rural communities across the state attract business in the future.Who is FBI Director Christopher Wray?
Union calls on Liberals to allow CBSA to patrol entire border, but LeBlanc says it's not a priority
By Marissa Dederer More than 500 online courses are available through Thompson Rivers University (TRU)’s Open Learning department. Each course is crafted with care, and just like in Oz, there’s a powerful being behind the curtain making it all happen. Their work, however, isn’t always obvious. “My work is somewhat hidden. It’s not always obvious in the finished course,” says Melissa Jakubec, one of 10 instructional designers. “You have to dig under the surface to see it.” The courses they produce are popular. Last academic year, more than 16,000 Open Learning students enrolled in over 35,000 courses. The subject matter is vast. Students can earn an MBA, get a veterinary technology diploma or learn about celestial bodies. The sky’s the limit. Students go at their own pace Flexibility is the name of the game in Open Learning. While there are a handful of courses and programs that are cohort based, the majority are self-paced. “We’re creating a course so that if the student sits down at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night because that’s the time they have available to finish something, they can do it without having to wait for resources or answers,” says Jakubec. “We try to anticipate their needs.” TRU’s instructional designers work with subject matter experts to develop course material. They also work with members of the larger Open Learning team, including editors, copyright specialists, multi-media developers, e-learning support technicians and more. “It’s part project management, part pedagogical guidance,” she says. Designing with heart In 2018, Jakubec was recognized with a national award for course design innovation . The course, ENGL 3991: Voices of Protest and Rebellion in Contemporary American Literature, was presented on a WordPress website rather than a traditional learning management system, like Moodle. She worked with subject matter expert, the late Dr. Cameron Reid. “Cameron had this idea of doing a course where the students could choose their own adventure,” she says. “We ended up creating a course where the beginning sets the stage and then students are able to choose to do the readings and the assignments in any order they want.” Jakubec continues to look for opportunities to present coursework creatively. “A lot of the job is seeing the potential in a course,” she says. “As I work with a developer, I might review some course material and suggest it would work well as an interactive media piece or that students would benefit from the addition of a short video to explain a challenging concept.” She approaches her work while keeping student care front of mind. Care is one of the Instructional Design team’s shared core values, along with connection, openness and active learning. These are articulated in their learning design framework . That means using materials that are accessible to students, both in cost and content. Jakubec and other instructional designers strive to incorporate and create open educational resources (OER) whenever possible. German 1111 , for example, was developed as an OER. Students work through the lessons on the website and complete their assessments in Moodle. Student care is also evident in ensuring accessibility: videos are captioned, images have alternate text and colour contrast is carefully considered. Students are given clear expectations to guide their learning. Educational excellence through innovation These principles of design have served Jakubec well. She’s designed more than 100 courses for Open Learning and is exploring topics of engagement and care in open entry courses in her studies in the Doctor of Education in Learning Sciences program at the University of Calgary. Innovation at TRU will continue as a demand for flexible learning opportunities keeps instructional designers busy.The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described the member of the House of Representatives from Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere as a “political hushpuppi produced by part of the aberrations in the party.” The minister was reacting to remarks credited to the former spokesman of the Conference of United Political Parties (CUPP) in Imo State on the current crisis in the PDP. Ugochinyere had in a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Friday alleged that Wike and his supporters in G5 are determined to destroy the PDP. He also berated the former Rivers State Governor and members of the G5 for playing childish politics. “I don’t understand why you have a national chairman and secretary of a party who seems to be in bed with the ruling party and people are comfortable with that. “They are filing cases to keep themselves in office, Wike and his G-5 people are working for APC while they are still struggling for control of PDP with us,” the lawmaker stated. In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the minister urged Ugochinyere to face the reason for which he was elected into the House of Representatives so that his constituents would stop passing votes of no confidence on him. The statement read: “This is one of the things you get when people who joined the PDP today are awarded the ticket of the party tomorrow morning. If not for the aberration in the PDP that produced a character like Ugochinyere, someone who only joined the party in 2022 wouldn’t be the one to lecture us about who is loyal to the party and who’s not. “If PDP had functioned properly, would a ‘political hushpuppi’ like Ugochinyere have gotten the party’s ticket while still in another party? Even today, as a PDP Rep member, Ugochinyere is still holding on to his Action Peoples Party (APP) in Rivers State. “Therefore, we on this side are not bothered because we understand why Ugochinyere must now mount the podium and accuse Wike of playing childish and kindergarten politics. He must satisfy those feeding him from the resources of Rivers State. “In saner climes, such character would have been arrested, tried and jailed for impersonation. “When he got to the House of Representatives and there was no title under which his political hushpuppism would continue, he awarded to himself a non-existing title of ‘Spokesperson of Opposition Lawmakers Coalition in the 10th National Assembly,’ claiming to have been so appointed by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP). “But the question is, is CUPP a political party with members in the House of Representatives? Where and when was CUPP registered? Apart from the positions of Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip, is there anything like a spokesperson for opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly? “Being the political hustler that he has always been, Ugochinyere knew that he would be contravening the rules of the National Assembly by allocating to himself, a non-existent position, but he just must have a title to keep his hustle going, and indeed, it has been booming. “In saner climes, such character would have been arrested, tried, and jailed for impersonation.” The name Hushpuppi was made famous by a convicted fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, who is serving a prison term for high-wired frauds in the United States. Opinions Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs. As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake. If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause. Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development. Donate NowAlberta RCMP officer charged with sexual assault after 2022 hotel party LEDUC, Alta. — Alberta's police watchdog says an RCMP officer is facing sexual assault charges stemming from a hotel room party two years ago. Canadian Press Dec 2, 2024 2:22 PM Dec 2, 2024 2:50 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message The RCMP logo is seen on the shoulder of a superintendent during a news conference, Saturday, June 24, 2023 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld LEDUC, Alta. — Alberta's police watchdog says an RCMP officer is facing sexual assault charges stemming from a hotel room party two years ago. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team says its investigation into the Leduc-based Mountie revealed evidence that gives reason to believe sexual assault offences happened and that the officer should be charged. It says they allegedly took place in an Airdrie hotel room while a group of people socialized in the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 2022. Const. Bridget Morla is charged with two counts of sexual assault. She has been released on the condition that she appear in court next week. The police watchdog says no further information would be released as the matter is before the courts. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024. The Canadian Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Alberta News Edmonton Elks hire longtime Stampeders assistant Mark Kilam as head coach Dec 2, 2024 1:54 PM Alberta to end use of photo radar on provincial highways as of April 1 Dec 2, 2024 1:39 PM Hockey Canada invites 32 players to national junior team selection camp Dec 2, 2024 11:41 AM
None'We saw India being defamed before the world': PM Modi attacks previous Congress govt
Climate talks reach endgame on new finance deal
Sen. Wyden talks President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks, tariffs plansKhunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has been handed the title of "Olympic Queen" by the Thai Sports Journalists' Association (TSJA). This exercise is a part of the association's annual tradition of giving unique nicknames to notable sports figures and important personalities. For 2024, 12 prominent individuals were named, including Khunying Patama, who is also deputy president of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and president of the Badminton Association of Thailand. Khunying Patama is the sole Thai female IOC member and the fourth Thai to achieve this prestigious position. She earned the title of "Olympic Queen" for her outstanding contributions to international and Thai sports and has been acknowledged by the IOC for her expertise and commitment to sports development. Recently, she was approached to run for the position of IOC president after the end of Thomas Bach's term, but she declined, prioritising her dedication to Thai sports instead. Over her seven years as an IOC member, Khunying Patama has made all-out efforts to promote sports and culture. Known for her generosity and friendly demeanour, she has provided significant financial support to sports federations, contributing over 100 million baht annually. Her charisma extends internationally and has earned her the honorary citizenship of South Korea -- a rare honour for foreigners. Given her extensive network and unifying approach, many in Thailand's sports community see her as a natural candidate to lead the Thai Olympic Committee. Her independence, ability to work across political divides, and passion for developing Thai sports make her a true "Olympic Queen." Other notable nicknames given by the TSJA included former prime minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, who earned the title "Pom Samlucknam" (Pom struggles to stay afloat). It refers to his actual nickname, "Pom," and his defeat in the election for president of the Thailand Aquatics Association. The loss has significantly diminished his chances of vying for a third term as president of the Thai Olympic Committee during the general meeting in March 2025, as he no longer holds the position of president of any national sports association. Nualphan Lamsam, known as Madame Pang, was given the nickname "Pang Yuennueng" (Pang stays No.1"). The title refers to her being elected as the first female president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) in its 108-year history. She is also the first female president of a football association in Asia. Known for her strong media presence, she consistently stays in the limelight. Pimol Srivikorn, president of the Taekwondo Association of Thailand, was given "Thongtone Pheuthai" (single gold medal for Thais), celebrating his leadership as the head of the national federation. During his tenure, Panipak Wongpattanakit secured Thailand's only gold medals at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games in Tokyo and Paris. Pimol also serves as the head of the sports strategy for the Pheu Thai Party and has overseen initiatives like the "One Sport, One State Enterprise" programme.
Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100
- Previous: mar wowowin
- Next: new wowowin