Former US first lady Rosalynn Carter dies at 96
Former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter, who President Jimmy Carter called “an extension of myself” owing to her prominent role in his administration even as she tirelessly promoted the cause of mental health, died on Sunday at age 96, the Carter Center said.
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Congo former PM drops presidential bid, backs joint opposition candidate
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Turkish ship with 12 crew missing in Black Sea
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Three more journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli offensive, relatives say
The head of a prominent media institution in Gaza and two other journalists were killed during the weekend in Israel’s offensive in the territory, their relatives said on Sunday, adding to the dozens of reporters who have died in the six-week conflict.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter dead at 96
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died with her family by her side at her home in Plains, Georgia on Sunday, according to a statement by The Carter Center. She was 96. The wife of the 39th President of the United States died after she was admitted to hospice care on Friday. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Carter said. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.” She is survived by her husband, her four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. ROSALYNN CARTER CELEBRATES 96TH BIRTHDAY WITH HUSBAND JIMMY CARTER, PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM AND BUTTERFLIES Born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith on Aug. 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia, she was the oldest of four children in the family of Allethea Murray Smith and Wilburn Edgar Smith. When she was 13, her father died and her mother became a dressmaker to help support her family. Carter worked alongside her mother and helped take care of her young siblings. After completing high school, she enrolled in Georgia Southwestern College at Americus. In 1945, after her freshman year, she first dated Jimmy Carter, who was home from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. “She’s the girl I want to marry,” President Carter reportedly told his mother after his first date with Rosalynn Smith, who had grown up as a friend and neighbor of the Carter family in Plains. The couple married in July 1946. JIMMY CARTER HAD ONE OF THE ‘GREATEST SECOND ACTS’ IN AMERICAN HISTORY, CONSERVATIVE HISTORIAN SAYS A biography of Carter credited to the White House Historical Association describes her “quiet, friendly manner” which made her “an effective campaigner” for her husband. As first lady of Georgia and later the United States, Carter worked tirelessly to create what she called “a more caring society,” a biography by The Carter Center, a nonprofit she and Jimmy Carter co-founded in 1982, notes. JIMMY CARTER, LONGEST LIVING US PRESIDENT, TURNS 99 “An activist first lady with her own bold agenda, she created a distinct East Wing office from which she set about helping disadvantaged people. Her efforts challenged age discrimination for older adults, encouraged opportunities for people with developmental disabilities, and advanced women’s equality,” the Center states. “Above all, she devoted herself to improving treatment and services for those coping with mental health conditions, a cause she adopted when her husband was governor and that remained her priority for the rest of her life,” the Center says. Her family announced that Carter was diagnosed with dementia in May 2023. She spent her final days with her husband and family.
Texas Gov. Abbott endorses Trump for 2024 GOP presidential bid
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, announced in a social media post on Sunday that he is “proud to endorse” former President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. “Today, I am proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President,” Abbott said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Now more than ever, America needs a President who will secure the border and prioritize national security. President Trump is the clear choice to get the job done.” The former president joined the governor in Edinburg, Texas on Sunday for Abbott’s annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition of serving tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guardsmen deployed along the southern border under the governor’s Operation Lone Star program. TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT TO ENDORSE TRUMP FOR 2024 GOP NOMINATION WHEN THEY TEAM UP SUNDAY NEAR US-MEXICO BORDER The visit is intended to spotlight the combustible issue of illegal immigration and border security. The border has been a major issue for Republican voters and GOP leaders and politicians for two and a half years, leading to harsh criticism of President Biden’s administration’s handling of the crisis and a surge in border crossings by migrants. Trump pledged to launch the largest mass deportation effort in American history if he is re-elected and would reinstate travel bans and his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican asylum seekers aiming to enter the U.S. at the southern border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases. GAME ON IN IOWA AS DESANTIS AND HALEY BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE BEHIND TRUMP In 2021, Trump endorsed Abbott as the conservative governor who was seeking re-election and faced multiple primary challenges from the right. He overwhelmingly won the renomination in March 2022 before defeating his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke last November to secure a third term as governor. Abbott was grateful for Trump’s early endorsement last cycle, according to those in the governor’s political orbit, and he’s now apparently returning the favor. WITH CLOCK TICKING TOWARDS FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT Trump is making his third straight White House run and is currently the commanding front-runner for the Republican 2024 nomination, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley currently vying for a distant second place in the polls. Trump’s lead expanded over the spring and summer as he made history as the first former or current president in American history to be indicted for a crime. Trump’s four indictments – including in federal court in Washington D.C. and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss – have fueled his support among Republican voters. Paul Steinhauser of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
NSC leader claims US ‘closer’ than ever to hostage deal despite ongoing Hamas standoff
The U.S. is “closer than we have been in quite some time” to broker a deal with Israel and Hamas to release hostages being held in Gaza, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Sunday. “I believe we are closer than we have been in quite some time, maybe closer than we have been since the beginning of this process, to getting this deal done. And we are following this minute by minute, hour by hour, and have been for a number of weeks,” Finer said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Finer was responding to questions regarding Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani telling reporters Sunday that negotiations for hostage releases have improved, and only “very minor” logistical hurdles stood in the way. FAMILIES OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES MARCH TOWARDS JERUSALEM DEMANDING ACTION FROM GOVERNMENT “The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks,” the Qatari leader said. “But I think that you know I’m now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal that can bring the people safely back to their home.” UN SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR EXTENDED PAUSE IN ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR AS IDF STRIKES HAMAS LEADER Finer explained that he would not go into more details on the negotiations until they are finalized. ISRAELI FORCES STRIKE ISLAMIC JIHAD STRONGHOLD IN GAZA, KILL HAMAS TERRORISTS IN SCHOOL “Sensitive negotiations like this can fall apart at the last minute. So we’re not going to outline all the details of what is still being discussed. We believe that this needs to get done, that people are being held in unconscionable conditions inside Gaza, including a number of Americans. And that they need to be allowed to come home,” the Biden administration official said. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Hamas was close to agreeing to release at least 50 hostages in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting. Soon after the report, the White House highlighted that no deal had yet been reached. There are an estimated 240 hostages being held in Gaza. Finer would not detail how many hostages could be released under a potential deal. “I’m not going to give a lot more detail, other than to say we are talking about considerably more than 12 [hostages]. But beyond that, I want to see where this goes and don’t want to say anything that would jeopardize the actual completion of the deal,” he said.
Christie insists antisemitism in US not a ‘rise’ but ‘unmasking’: ‘It’s been there’
GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie insisted on Sunday that antisemitism in the United States is not on the rise, arguing that it has been there all along. Christie, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” responded to the controversy surrounding X owner Elon Musk and antisemitism espoused on TikTok and by American college professors since Hamas terrorists launched their October 7 attack against civilians, killing about 1,200 people and dragging some 240 more into Gaza as hostages. “I think that what we’re seeing in this country, Kristen, and with Iran, with the incredible unmasking of antisemitism, I don’t want to say it’s a rise. I think it’s been there,” Christie told host Kristen Welker. “And I think what we’re seeing now, due to what’s happening in Israel at the moment, is that unmasking of that, we’re seeing it all over college campuses.” DEM CHAMPIONS POSSIBLE ISRAEL-HAMAS HOSTAGE DEAL AHEAD OF THANKSGIVING, BUT STAUNCHLY REJECTS CEASE-FIRE CALLS “We’re seeing it on social media sites like X and TikTok and other social media sites. And it is horrific,” he said. “I think the president, United States needs to be much stronger than he’s been in speaking out against antisemitism in this country. This is an outrageous, outrageous type of hate that’s being expressed. And we need to be speaking out against it no matter who does it, whether it’s Elon Musk, whether it’s professors on our college campuses or students that they are misleading or whether it’s individuals who are speaking out in an antisemitic way on the streets of our cities. This is unacceptable. And the president has not been strong enough in this view and in this point.” Musk was accused of endorsing a post on X in which another user appeared to have espoused the antisemitic trope of claiming Jewish people hate White people. Musk later issued a clarification, claiming he was only addressing left-wing organizations, not Jews in general, and said that anyone advocating for the genocide of any group of people on X would be suspended from the platform. Christie, the first Republican presidential candidate to visit Israel since the war began, called on the Israeli and United States governments to work on a deal to bring hostages home. NETANYAHU WAR CABINET STIFLES REVOLT FROM FAR RIGHT OVER SENDING GAZANS FUEL WITHOUT HOSTAGE DEAL: REPORT “I would support a deal that – that was fair and equitable and one that gets these people home now,” Christie said. “I absolutely do think Israel is following international law,” Christie added, rejecting allegations from the United Nations human rights chief who accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza. “Unlike a lot of other people who are expressing opinions about this, I was there and spoke to the leaders in Israel, spoke to the president of Israel. I spoke to members of the Israeli Defense Forces. I was 600 yards from the Gaza border. I went everywhere in Israel to see what’s going on. And they are doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties,” Christie told Welker. “The problem is that Hamas is forcing these civilians to stay in places where Israel is warning them out of dropping thousands of leaflets, sending hundreds of thousands of text messages to warn people away from areas before they’re attacked,” he said. “It is Hamas that’s doing this. And let us not forget, for those who are advocating for a ceasefire, there was a ceasefire on October 6 and it was Hamas that broke it on October 7.”
DeSantis says Trump is ‘high risk,’ ‘low reward’ GOP presidential nominee
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said former President Donald Trump would be a risky 2024 GOP nominee, saying he has a “small” chance of beating President Biden, and would have a tough time attracting the necessary talent to “get the job done” should he win. DeSantis, who is locked in a heated battle for second place in the Republican primary race with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, was asked about his thoughts on the frontrunner Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Donald Trump is a high-risk proposition as a nominee because I think the chance of him getting elected is small, but it’s a low reward because he’s going to be a lame duck on day one – that even if he could get elected, he would not be able to attract the type of talent to work in his administration and he’d be saddled with all these distractions that it’d be virtually impossible to get the job done,” DeSantis said. DeSantis also likened Trump to Biden in terms of age, saying the position of commander in chief is “not a job for an 80-year-old.” STATE OF THE RACE: GAME ON IN IOWA AS HALEY BATTLES DESANTIS FOR SECOND PLACE BEHIND TRUMP Biden, 80, is roughly three and a half years older than Trump, 77. Should Trump win the presidency, he will be 79 years old when taking office. DeSantis is 44. “Father time is undefeated,” the governor said. “Donald Trump is not exempt from any of that. I think with somebody like me, you go in, you know, I’m in the prime of my life. I go in day one, I’ll serve two terms, deliver big results and get the country moving again. That’s what Republican voters want to see.” HALEY RISES BUT TRUMP REMAINS DOMINANT IN EARLY GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE: POLL DeSantis claimed that the Trump running today “not the same guy” who would “barnstorm” debate stages in 2016 and was “really going to shake things up.” Now Trump is “wedded to the teleprompter,” unwilling to debate and is running on many of the same issues he failed to deliver on in 2016, the governor said, citing the construction of the border wall and “draining the swamp” in Washington, D.C., among the former president’s failures. Meanwhile, Trump continued to attack both DeSantis and Haley during his appearance Saturday in Iowa, urging those in attendance to turn out on caucus day to “make sure we have a big victory” that would signal to other candidates that they should drop out. The Associated Press contributed to this report.