Chinese Smartphone Brands Struggle To Break Into India’s Premium Segment Dominated By Apple & Samsung

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. From left, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., gather after Senate Democratic leadership elections for the next session of Congress on Tuesday in Washington. Schumer faced no opposition in the party leadership elections, in which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was also reelected to the No. 2 spot and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the new No. 3. In a statement, Schumer, of New York, said he was honored to move the party forward “during this crucial period for our country.” “Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” While Schumer remains popular with his colleagues, it is a bleak moment for Senate Democrats, who were hopeful they could hold the majority for the third election in a row. Instead they lost four seats and will be in the minority, 53-47, as Trump takes office. Trump dialed in Tuesday with Senate Republicans as they began laying the groundwork for control of government. The brief call was more celebratory than a prescriptive policy agenda, according to those attending the private GOP retreat, urging senators to confirm his Cabinet nominees as they launch an agenda of tax cuts, deportations and other priorities. "It was a love fest," said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. “There was a real sense of unity in the room.” Republicans want to notch an early accomplishment after Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. Incoming Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota outlined a potential roadmap during the private retreat at the Library of Congress, detailing a potential strategy that would have senators working on an initial legislative package — energy, border security and defense priorities — that could be approved in the first 30 days of the new administration. Next, he explained that the senators would turn to reviving the expiring tax cuts from Trump's first term. The new Congress convenes Jan. 3, and the Senate expects to quickly begin holding confirmation hearings for Trump’s top Cabinet nominees. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also addressed the GOP senators — noting his slim majority in the House. He “emphasized the need for unity heading into the first 100 days agenda,” his spokesman Taylor Haulsee said. Unlike eight years ago, when opposition to Trump’s narrow election win fueled enthusiasm in their party, Democratic lawmakers and many of their voters are exhausted and looking for answers. So far, Democrats stayed relatively quiet on Trump’s nominees and plans for office. Schumer declined to comment on specifics of any nominees, instead allowing Republican reaction to dominate the conversation. On Monday, Schumer wrote a public letter to Thune, asking him to resist Trump’s pressure to allow him to appoint some of his nominees without a Senate vote and to insist on full FBI background checks for all nominees. But he has said little else about Trump’s upcoming presidency. While some have been more aggressive — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a former chairwoman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, said that Trump’s nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is “dangerous” and “nothing short of disaster” — several Democratic senators say they are saving their strength and figuring out a focus. “Everybody’s in kind of a wait-and-see mode right now,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, part of Schumer’s leadership team. “Under the previous Trump administration, there was chaos all the time, all the time. And I do think it is important to pick your battles.” It’s still unclear which battles they will pick, and Democrats have differing opinions on how to fight them. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is also in Democratic leadership, says “anyone who has a grand strategy is full of crap” but thinks Democrats, for now, “need to keep things simple.” “We need to talk about people, protect people, advocate for people,” he said. “Do not talk about protecting institutions. Do not talk about advocating for institutions. It’s a not just a rhetorical shift, but an attitudinal shift. We have to remind ourselves, that we’re not fighting for programs and projects and line items and agencies or norms. We’re fighting for people.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said he’s spent a lot of time reflecting, and “I don’t think anyone can claim this was a policy election,” and Democrats need to look at cultural issues. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says Democrats just need to “pace ourselves” and avoid the “massive freakout” of Trump's last term. Democrats should be preparing, says Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. He says Schumer is picking his battles “very thoughtfully and strategically.” “We’re thinking about how we protect against using the FBI, or the prosecutorial authority of the Justice Department for retribution against critics,” Blumenthal said. “How we elevate these issues in a way that American people understand them.” Democrats know better now “the extraordinary challenges we’re going to face,” Blumenthal said. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. compete in the ice dance rhythm dance program at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series competition in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae) A discarded plastic bag floats in the waters of Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado) China's President Xi Jinping, left center, and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, walk into the Alvorada palace after attending a welcoming ceremony in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova competes against Great Britain's Katie Boulter during a Billie Jean King Cup semi-final match at Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., closes a door to a private meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A surfer rides on an artificial wave in the river 'Eisbach' at the 'Englischer Garten' (English Garden) downtown in Munich, Germany, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) A woman carries a gift basket as she arrives at a park to attend a friend's birthday party, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Kampala, Uganda. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Tania hugs her brother-in-law Baruc after rescuing some of their belongings from their flooded house after the floods in Paiporta, Valencia, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris looks at a monitor backstage, just before taking the stage for her final campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President-elect Donald Trump listens during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) A resident returns to his burned village, Monday Nov. 25, 2024, one day after a fire broke out leaving about 2,000 families homeless at a slum area in Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Isaac Young rests his cheek on the family horse Rusty's forehead during farm chores before homeschooling, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Students from anti-discrimination movements attack an Awami League supporter in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) A young girl holds a "Black Voters for Harris-Walz" sign outside of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris' election night watch party at Howard University, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams) A man looks from a damaged building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Ramat Gan, central Israel, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Venezuelan migrant Alvaro Calderini carries his niece across a river near Bajo Chiquito, Panama, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia on their way north to the United States, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) An aerial view shows a packed parking lot at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, as early Black Friday shoppers arrive at the mall. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Israeli soldiers holding their weapons bathe with residents in a hot water pool coming from a drilling project which exposed a subterranean hydrothermal spring near Mount Bental in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, on the first day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Voters stand in line outside a polling place at Madison Church, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York) Molten lava flows on the road to the Blue Lagoon, Grindavik, after the volcanic eruption that started Wednesday, on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco) Firefighters and sheriff's deputies push a vintage car away from a burning home as the Mountain Fire burns in Camarillo, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Supporters of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) celebrate the victory of candidate Yamandú Orsi in the presidential run-off election in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) People gather at the site where former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israeli airstrikes late September during a memorial ceremony in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Katia, 11, with her grandmother and mother sit in an armored minivan during en evacuation by the "White Angels" police unit in Kurakhove, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton Shtuka) People clean mud from a house affected by floods, in Algemesi, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Cattle stand on a heap of textile waste at the Old Fadama settlement of Accra, Ghana, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu) Family members accompany the coffin that contain the remains of Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, during a memorial service at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. Pinal, an actress from Mexico's Golden Age of cinema in the 1940s and 50s, died Thursday. She was 93. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario) A family arrive to cross into Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, between Syria and Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

Jaguars place QB Trevor Lawrence (concussion) on IRMany auto brands have jumped head-first into completely overhauling their top-sellers and icons, and fallen flat. Volkswagen, for example, has had issues with its latest Mk8 Golf , which lost the number one sales spot in Europe after 14 years in 2022; the current Land Rover Discovery was a big departure from its predecessors and has paid the price for it in terms of sales; and Mercedes-AMG has tuned away V8 lovers by plopping a four-cylinder PHEV powertrain into its C63 and GLC63 . Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Porsche avoided such blunders by making its first all-electric vehicle, the Taycan, a dedicated EV with no predecessor for loyalists and statisticians to benchmark it against. But now, the hallowed German performance vehicle brand’s top-selling Macan has gone EV-only as key markets around the globe continue to tighten emissions regulations. Since the nameplate debuted 10 years ago, the Macan has cemented itself as the world’s favourite Porsche. Over its decade-long lifespan it offered a range of four-cylinder and six-cylinder (inline and V6 respectively, not boxer) engines, and has long been lauded as the driver’s pick in the mid-sized premium SUV class. Fast forward to 2024, and the second-generation ‘Macan Electric’ has thrown the internal combustion engine out the window and adopted an all-electric platform and powertrains. Like the original, however, it was co-developed with Audi and has strong genetic links to a sister SUV from the Ingolstadt brand – this time in the Q6 e-tron rather than the Q5 . Regardless, the Stuttgart carmaker reckons the battery-powered MkII Macan is better than its ICE forebear in just about every metric. It’s quicker and more tech laden, thanks in part to Porsche’s learnings from the standard-setting Taycan sedan and wagon. This sounds like a sure-fire recipe for success, but is it? To find out, we attended the Australian media launch of the new Macan in Brisbane to see if the new and much more expensive Macan EV is a fitting sequel to the popular original. How much does the Porsche Macan cost? The move to entirely battery-electric powertrains has bumped up the price of the Macan significantly, with even the entry-level single-motor ‘Macan’ costing over $30,000 more than the outgoing petrol variant it replaces. For reference, the previous Macan petrol range remains on sale while stocks last – see below for MY25 pricing. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool What is the Porsche Macan like on the inside? If you’ve sat in the latest Cayenne or the Taycan , you’ll feel at home in the new Macan. A big part of the generational jump here includes an increased level of interior digitalisation, as seen in Porsche’s larger models – think Cayenne and Panamera, as well as the Taycan. But while the cabin tech upgrades are significant, the overall design and execution isn’t all that different to the most recent iteration of the old Macan, with familiar ergonomics and switchgear. Perhaps the biggest change is the new 12.6-inch digital instrument cluster, which is taken straight from those aforementioned models. It’s super sharp with buttery smooth animations, and offers a range of customisable layouts to suit different tastes. You can also option a swish augmented reality (AR) head-up display, but it’ll cost you $4120! The central infotainment system is likewise a sharp unit, based on the Android Automotive operating system. With its 10.9-inch touchscreen cleanly integrated into the dashboard, it offers connected services, third-party app compatibility, and requisite functions like wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, and embedded navigation. If you’re the particularly techy type, or have kids (or other passengers) in need of something to distract them while you’re on the road, you can also option an additional 10.9-inch touchscreen ahead of the front passenger, which is like a ‘lite’ version of the central display. Personally, I think it’s a bit naff and not worth the $2700 spend. As you’d expect, the overall ambience and sense of quality is right up there with the best in this segment, even if the piano black surfaces are vulnerable to fingerprint marks and hairline scratches after wiping dust off. The toggle-style climate controls mixed in with touch capacitive buttons is very modern Porsche, and while the latter are fiddly there’s nice clicky feedback from both the physical toggles and the touch buttons. Storage is pretty good but not overwhelmingly so, with a range of nooks and crannies to stow your odds and ends. I like the damped drawer lid over the wireless phone charger, which stops your phone flying around when you’re giving it a squirt up a winding B-road or on the racetrack – unlike the Polestar 4 we drove recently. Up front we sampled a couple of different seat specs in various vehicles, and the standard Comfort seats with 14-way electrical adjustment are fine – though the 18-way adaptive sports seats are even better. The optional ventilated front seats helped quite a bit during a hot and humid Queensland day, though $1710 is a pretty penny. You can even get massaging with ventilation, for a ‘cool’ $2860. In the second row, the Macan has never offered limousine levels of passenger space, but nor have rivals like the Q5, BMW X4 or Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe. Thankfully though, there has been a small but noticeable improvement to most dimensions, which now allow 6’1′′ me to sit behind 6’1′′ me snugly. Standard rear seat amenities include a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders, bottle holders in the doors, and directional air vents. You can option luxe four-zone climate control, but that’ll cost you $810 on all but the Turbo. It’s disappointing that the added 86mm in wheelbase hasn’t resulted in a similar improvement in rear passenger accommodation, given the Macan is often bought by families with multiple children. Further back, the Macan’s boot has grown to 540 litres with all seats in place, which is up around 50 litres on the old model. That grows to 1348 litres with the rear seats folded. There’s additional 84 litres of storage under the bonnet, in lieu of an internal combustion engine. It’s accessed via a touch-capacitive lid that can be opened by swiping your hand across the lower end of the shut line – though my attempt to film it for an Instagram reel required a few takes because it didn’t seem to respond every time. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool What’s under the bonnet? Gone is the internal combustion engine, which is replaced by the aforementioned front storage area that’s more in line with the company’s rear-engined sports cars, come to think of it... It’s worth noting that all Macan variants offer an overboost function that raises the maximum power output by about 10 per cent when using launch control. The claimed 0-100km/h times above are using launch control, too. Also worth noting is that Porsche Cars Australia’s range claims are based on the ECE standard, which is more closely based on the older NEDC measurement than the newer, more accurate WLTP protocol. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool How does the Porsche Macan drive? Perhaps the most important question here is: “does it still drive like a Porsche Macan?” In short, the answer is “mostly yes”. There’s certainly added urgency from its various electric drivetrain options to go with the welcome boost in interior tech levels, which brings the new Macan into line with the best rivals from premium and luxury brands. Our two-day launch event started with a drive from Brisbane airport down to Norwell Motorplex south of Queensland capital, followed on day two by a picturesque road drive from Brisbane through the hinterlands to the Gold Coast. The launch program centred around the Macan 4 and Turbo, since the base Macan and the 4S are still on the way to Australia despite already being on sale. We’ll bring you reviews of those when we can get behind the wheel. On the freeway, the Macan felt solid, secure and responsive. We started in a Turbo fitted with a number of options including big 22-inch wheels with carbon-fibre inserts, which cost nearly $15,000 (eek!) according to the local configurator. Even with the big rims and liquorice-thin rubber, the air-sprung Macan Turbo was comfortable over road imperfections and maintained great body control at everyday cornering speeds and on the highway. Road noise and wind noise were also impressively hushed. It’s worth calling out here the Macan’s impressive 0.25Cd drag coefficient figure, which no doubt aids the latter. And I continue to marvel at the ability of Porsche engineers to calibrate what I believe to be the perfect steering calibration when it comes to balancing response, weight and feedback, even in an SUV like the Macan. The Macan’s tiller feels incredibly accurate and the quick ratio means you aren’t twirling the wheel to do basic manoeuvres like you might in some other SUVs. It also has a great, weighty feeling about centre. At Norwell Motorplex we were given ample time to test out the Macan’s dynamic capabilities across a variety of exercises including a motorkhana-style handling course, drifting on the wet skid pan, 0-100km/h runs using launch control, and guided laps around the tight and technical circuit. The motorkhana was good fun and a great opportunity to test out the Macan 4’s sweet handling balance, while the launch control tests really demonstrated the Turbo’s monstrous 1130Nm of torque from standstill. We didn’t hook up timing gear, but it feels every bit as quick as the official 3.3-second claim, which based on Porsche tradition is likely a low-ball figure. On the skid pan we got the chance to get the Turbo a little sideways, upsetting the balance of the vehicle by opening the throttle on a rotating plate then getting skiddy on the wet concrete. The final exercise comprised a couple of guided laps around the tight circuit in the 4 and the Turbo, which again revealed the 4 to be the more balanced and sweeter steerer; the Turbo in comparison felt a little too powerful and heavy to be thrown around at pace on a circuit better suited to lightweight sports cars. On the road drive the following day, both variants proved to be lovely tourers, combining superb general comfort and refinement with strong performance, great steering feel, and eager handling. The Macan 4’s circa-75kg weight advantage is due to the smaller and less powerful electric motor on the rear axle relative to the Turbo, and there definitely is a sense that it is the lighter and more agile handler of the two. Keep in mind that even a V8-engined Cayenne is lighter than the Macan Electric... As we experienced on track at Norwell, the Turbo almost feels like too much in the sense that it’s so quick you can’t have much fun with it. Plus, its 2.4-tonne heft can’t defy physics in the kind of tight and technical conditions we drove it on during this event. I’m also not sure that many existing Macan owners will be particularly enamoured by the Porsche Electric Sport Sound, even if the old car’s turbocharged V6s weren’t particularly pleasing to the ear. The synthesised ‘engine’ note is standard in the Turbo and optional in lower grades, and while it works in the Taycan it lacks a bit of soul compared to the new Macan’s petrol forebears. The lack of one-pedal driving might also be irksome for a traditional EV buyer, but I’d imagine Porsche customers prefer the more conventional experience of controlling the brakes themselves. I’m also in the latter camp when it comes to driving an EV in a more dynamic manner. While it has grown in most dimensions, the Macan handles mostly like a smaller car, with the quick steering pointing a nose that’s eager to turn in, and a taut chassis that minimises body roll even during spirited on-road driving. As I noted earlier, it’s a really sweet thing to steer, and you don’t have to be driving at 10-10ths to enjoy it. To be frank, you’d almost never be driving the Macan at the limit anyway – it just isn’t that kind of vehicle. There’s heaps of grip and even in the 4 you can blast out of apexes early than anticipated with immediate, clinical effect, thanks to 650Nm of twist from the moment you prod the throttle. It really gives you the confidence to have a little fun on tight and twisty roads in a way that not a lot of SUVs do. That said, something like a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N delivers a more focused and sports car-like experience that will better suit keen drivers looking to dip their toes into the EV world – yes, Hyundai’s electric SUV is that good. Porsche has never been known for its ‘hands-off’ driving tech, but when the roads straighten out you can make use of the expanded and intuitive suite of driver assistance functions available in the new Macan. The adaptive cruise control does an excellent job of maintaining a set speed while managing the distance between you and a vehicle in front, without jerking the brakes or seesawing the speed. However, there’s no Active Lane Keeping function like in the Cayenne, which basically facilitates semi-autonomous driving on the freeway. There is a more basic lane keep assist system, which will counter-steer and alert you if you start drifting out of your lane, and there are handy blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert sensors that compensate for the Macan’s coupe-like roofline and thick C-pillar. Even better, the surround cameras (standard in Australia) make parking this 4784mm-long, 1938mm-wide electric SUV a much easier process – there are no excuses for dinged bumpers or scraped alloys. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool What do you get? Porsche is pretty vague about the standard specifications of its vehicles, though Porsche Cars Australia does detail additional equipment for our market compared to the global spec. Macan equipment highlights: Macan 4 adds: Macan 4S adds: Macan Turbo adds: Australian additional equipment – all models: Australian additional equipment – select models: To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool Is the Porsche Macan safe? The new Macan Electric hasn’t been tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP yet. Its predecessor scored five stars in 2014, though this rating for the outgoing model has expired. Standard safety features include: As noted earlier, some standard safety features in Australian-spec Macans are in addition to the global standard specification. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool How much does the Porsche Macan cost to run? Porsche Cars Australia persists with a three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which lags behind its competitors. Also unlike its key rivals, Porsche doesn’t do advertised or capped service pricing, meaning prices can vary between Porsche Centres. Sadly, there’s also no official partnership or charging subscription tied to any public charger providers. To see how the Porsche Macan lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool CarExpert’s Take on the Porsche Macan Porsche has managed to maintain the essence of the Macan in this all-electric sequel, but it didn’t quite wow me like I thought it would, given how much I loved the heavily upgraded Taycan. Make no mistake, it feels unmistakably Macan in flavour, in that it’s a comfortable, refined and punchy mid-size luxury crossover wagon with one of the sweetest steering calibrations in the segment. Despite its weight, that shouldn’t come as a surprise since the old Macan was widely regarded as one of the world’s most dynamic SUVs. So the new all-electric underpinnings have unlocked more performance, but not necessarily better or more engaging handling. It’s quick – bloody quick in Turbo guise – but it’s also quite heavy and you can feel its mass more so than in the Taycan, particularly when you put it on a tight circuit like Norwell. Things get much better and more fun on a winding B-road, even if it’s a lot heavier than the old MLB-based original, making you hesitant to push like you would in one of Porsche’s sports cars, which is to be expected given this is an SUV. I’ve only driven the Macan 4 and the Turbo, but the lower-spec variants could well be my pick given they’re more than quick enough for the target demographic and will save you a big wad of cash for options and anything else you might want to funnel your funds towards. While the rear-drive Macan range-opener is the lightest and should be the most dynamic, the incoming 4S shapes as a potential sweet spot because of its improved performance while still maintaining a big price gap to the Turbo. Keep in mind, the 4S is quicker than even the fastest previous-generation Macan GTS. As you’d expect, the cabin is lovely and the new Macan offers more space than the old one, which has long been a key criticism. There’s also a much improved tech suite that brings the smaller and more attainable SUV in line with the larger Cayenne, as well as the likes of Porsche’s Taycan e-hero. But it’s still not all that big inside compared to some of its German rivals, and the lower grades in particular need a number of option boxes ticked to make the Macan feel properly special – and that can add up to some serious cash, on top of the substantial price increase for the new model, which means you’re pushing into Taycan territory. Then there’s the superficial stuff like the new exterior design, which appears to be polarising if the commentary on our site and socials is any guide, and the fact the departure of the old model’s combustion engines has taken a lot of the Macan’s soul with them. But with a more objective lens, the new Macan does a great job of transitioning into a sporty electric crossover, and continues to offer Porsche hallmarks like strong performance and fulsome handling. It will be interesting to see how warmly the original Macan’s traditional buyer demographic embraces the much more expensive and far quieter replacement for Porsche’s best-seller. Interested in buying a Porsche Macan? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here MORE: Everything Porsche Macan Pros ConsHow to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Thursday, December 5Building an investment portfolio worth $1 million or more is a dream many people share, yet relatively few will achieve. In fact, when asked what a "high net worth" looks like in a 2023 survey by Empower, the median response was $400,000 -- and 74% of survey participants believed they'd never reach that threshold. Investing in the stock market is one of the most attainable ways to generate serious wealth, and you don't need to be an expert at choosing stocks or timing the market. Sometimes, all it takes is one investment that can transform your finances. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are bundles of securities grouped into a single investment, often containing dozens or even hundreds of stocks. Investing in just one share of an ETF, then, can allow you to gain exposure to a wide variety of stocks at once with minimal effort. While not all ETFs are strong investments (and what you choose to buy will depend heavily on your risk tolerance and overall goals), there's one fund that could potentially turn $300 per month into $1.2 million or more over time. A growth fund with built-in protection Many investors of all experience levels buy ETFs based on the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC 1.09% ) . These funds contain slices of every company within the benchmark index . The S&P 500 is reserved for only the strongest and largest companies in the U.S., and most of these businesses are industry-leading juggernauts -- ranging from tech giants like Apple and Amazon to longstanding brands like Coca-Cola and 3M . While investing in an S&P 500 ETF can be a wise choice, if you're looking to supercharge your potential earnings, a growth fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF ( VOOG 1.18% ) could be an even better option. This ETF contains only the fastest-growing companies within the S&P 500. There are a total of 234 stocks in the fund, with close to half of them coming from the technology industry. The three largest holdings are Apple, Nvidia , and Microsoft , which collectively make up roughly 35% of the entire fund. The Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF can be a wise choice if you're looking to balance risk and reward. Because all of the stocks in this fund are also in the S&P 500, they have a strong track record and are more likely to survive market turbulence. However, they're also more likely to earn above-average returns over time. Building a $1.2 million portfolio There are never any guarantees with any investment, and growth funds, in particular, can carry more risk. While these particular growth stocks are among the strongest out there, many fast-growing companies will still experience intense volatility -- especially in the short term. That said, if you're willing to ride out any stock market storms for the chance to earn above-average returns, a growth ETF could be a fantastic option. VOOG data by YCharts Over the past 10 years, the Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF has earned an average rate of return of 14.95% per year, as of this writing. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF , by comparison, has seen an average return of just 13.30% per year in that time. It's unclear whether this growth ETF will continue earning these types of returns going forward, so it's wise to keep your expectations in check and assume you might see lower earnings in the future. For simplicity's sake, let's assume you could earn either 13%, 14%, or 15% average annual returns. (While the fund has only been around since 2010, it earned an annualized return of roughly 12.6% from its inception through the bottom of the most recent bear market.) If you're investing $300 per month, here's approximately how those contributions could add up over time: Number of Years Total Portfolio Value: 13% Avg. Annual Return Total Portfolio Value: 14% Avg. Annual Return Total Portfolio Value: 15% Avg. Annual Return 20 $291,000 $328,000 $369,000 25 $560,000 $655,000 $766,000 30 $1,056,000 $1,284,000 $1,565,000 Data source: Author's calculations via investor.gov. To reach $1.2 million in total savings, you'd need to invest consistently for around 30 years while earning a 14% average annual return -- slightly less than what the Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF has achieved over the last decade. Even if this ETF earns much lower returns going forward, you could still earn a lot of money over time. Say, for example, you only earn 8% average annual returns -- which is lower than the market's historic average of around 10% per year . With $300 per month, you could still accumulate around $400,000 after 30 years. While that's far less than $1 million, it's still a life-changing amount of wealth for most people. If you're putting off investing because you're worried about earning below-average returns, you could be missing out on serious gains. The right investment can supercharge your savings, and ETFs require next to no effort on your part other than investing consistently. By keeping a long-term outlook and choosing the right investment, you could earn more than you might think in the stock market.

WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) — Namibia elected its first female leader as Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was declared the winner Tuesday of a presidential election last week that was tarnished by technical glitches that caused a three-day extension to allow votes to be cast, and rejected as illegal by opposition parties. The 72-year-old Nandi-Ndaitwah won with 57% of the vote, defying predictions that she might be forced into a runoff. Her ruling SWAPO party also retained its parliamentary majority, although by a very thin margin, and extended its 34-year hold on power since the southern African country gained independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990. Namibia, a sparsely populated country of around 3 million on the southwestern coast of Africa, has a reputation for being one of the continent's more stable democracies and the problems around the election have caused consternation. Last Wednesday's vote was marred by shortages of ballot papers and other problems that led election officials to extend voting until Saturday. Opposition parties have said the extension is unconstitutional, and some have pledged to join together in a legal appeal to have the election invalidated. The Electoral Commission of Namibia, which ran the election, rejected opposition calls for a redo of the vote. It has undermined Nandi-Ndaitwah's place in history. She is set to become her country's fifth president since independence and a rare female leader in Africa. She was a member of Namibia's underground independence movement in the 1970s and received part of her higher education in the then-Soviet Union. She was promoted to vice president in February after President Hage Geingob died while in office . Nangolo Mbumba, who became president after Geingob's death, didn't run in the election. The ruling SWAPO party won 51 seats in the parliamentary vote, only just passing the 49 it needed to keep its majority and narrowly avoiding becoming another long-ruling party to be rejected in southern Africa this year. It was SWAPO's worst parliamentary election result. A mood of change has swept across the region, with parties that led their countries out of white minority or colonial rule in neighboring South Africa and Botswana both losing their long-held political dominance. South Africa's African National Congress, which freed the country from the racist system of apartheid, lost its 30-year majority in an election in May and had to form a coalition. Botswana's ruling party was stunningly removed in a landslide in October after governing for 58 years since independence from Britain. Mozambique's long-ruling Frelimo has been accused of rigging an October election and has faced weeks of violent protests against its rule. SWAPO faced similar challenges as those countries, with frustration at high unemployment and economic hardship, especially among young people, driving a desire for era-ending change. In a brief speech after the results were announced late Tuesday night, Nandi-Ndaitwah said Namibians had voted for peace, stability and youth empowerment. “We are going to do what we promised you during the campaigns. Thank you for your confidence and trust in us," she said. Nandi-Ndaitwah was also due to address the nation on Wednesday morning. “SWAPO Wins. Netumbo Wins. Namibia Wins. Now Hard Work,” the ruling party posted on its official account on social media site X. Some opposition parties boycotted the announcement by the Electoral Commission of Namibia at its results center in the capital, Windhoek. The commission has been roundly criticized for its running of the vote, with many angry Namibians complaining they had to wait hours and sometimes over multiple days for the chance to vote. Just over 1 million votes were cast out of 1.4 million registered voters, according to the electoral commission. Panduleni Itula, the leading opposition candidate from the Independent Patriots for Change party, was second in the presidential election with 25% of the vote. His party won the second-largest number of seats in Parliament behind SWAPO. Itula and his party have led the criticism of the vote and said they will lodge their appeal against the election this week. Other opposition parties said they will join that legal challenge. Itula has said that thousands of voters may have been prevented from voting as only some polling stations allowed an extension. "This election has violated the very tenets of our Electoral Act. Namibians deserve the right to choose their leaders freely and fairly, not through a rigged process,” he said. Namibia is a former German colony that came under South African control after World War I and its Black majority was later subjected to some of South Africa’s apartheid policies. SWAPO was at the forefront of the battle for independence from South Africa. While the country has swaths of desert running through it, it has diamond and uranium resources and untapped oil and gas off its coast that is being explored by international companies and could make it a major producer of both. AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africaIt takes more than rhetoric to shrink the stateMaruti Suzuki teases its first eBorn Electric SUV; Signals robust EV ecosystem for seamless ownership experience

TOKYO , Dec. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Representatives from China and Japan shared their insights on promoting artificial intelligence (AI) governance and data sharing at a sub-forum of the 20th Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Tokyo recently. The sub-forum contributed eastern wisdom to AI governance and digital social development, demonstrating the significance of international cooperation for the development of the digital economy, according to Gao Shaolin, advisor at Peking University's Legal Artificial Intelligence Research Center. AI governance framework The participants agreed that the next 10 years will be a critical period for the development of AI. Gao Wen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), said since China's State Council issued a guideline on developing AI in 2017, the nation has made significant progress in AI research and development and industrial layout, especially in computing power and 5G network construction. By the end of 2023, China had over half of the world's 1.57 billion 5G users, according to the World Internet Development Report 2024. It ranked second globally in AI and computing power scale, which has laid a solid foundation for the rapid development of AI. Tatsuo Yamazaki , project professor at the International University of Health and Welfare, said it was very meaningful for Japan and China to discuss strengthening AI governance rules. Fumihiko Kamio , research director of the Nomura Research Institute, echoed his view. He emphasized that the core goal of AI technology is to improve productivity and eliminate obstacles to social development, and called on Chinese and Japanese experts to work together to build an AI governance framework to cope with the global challenges. Deepening international cooperation China put forth the Global AI Governance Initiative in October last year. In July, the UN General Assembly adopted a China -sponsored resolution on enhancing international cooperation on AI capacity-building. The participants spoke highly of the Global Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation Initiative recently proposed by China . They agreed that AI governance requires global collaboration, especially in the formulation of international standards and the construction of ethical frameworks, where China and Japan can play an active role. Ding Wenhua, academician of the CAE, said China and Japan have both similarities and differences in technology development and governance priorities, so deepening cooperation will bring unique value to global AI governance. " China and Japan should deepen AI technology cooperation between enterprises, work together in AI security research, talent exchange, and jointly explore more possibilities for the application of technology," Wang Zhongyuan , president of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, said. Balancing development & risks AI governance refers to the guardrails established to ensure AI systems and tools remain safe and ethical and respect human rights. Xu Zhilong , editor-in-chief of Science and Technology Daily, stressed that AI, as a revolutionary technology, has far-reaching impacts on all areas of society and economy. However, its potential risks such as data leakage and the spread of false information should not be ignored. "Technological progress and security ethics should be developed in a balanced way to ensure that AI technology always serves the progress of human civilization," Xu said. AI governance should not only heed the current technological ethics issues, but also prevent possible long-term risks, such as AI going out of human control, according to Toshio Iwamoto , senior corporate advisor of NTT DATA. He said AI R&D and application should abide by the principles of fairness, transparency, safety and availability. Yuan Yue, chairman of Beijing Dataway Horizon, shared his view from the perspective of regulatory models. "Policy choices should be based on the current status and goals of national technological development," Yuan said, adding that China prefers to provide a more friendly development environment for enterprises while ensuring an effective response to risks. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/science-and-technology-daily-promoting-ai-governance-jointly-302332050.html SOURCE Science and Technology DailyThe Pittsburgh Steelers have been desperate to effectively draft the cornerback position for several years. There have been many swings and misses throughout the 21st century, but an individual consistently mocked to the franchise throughout the 2023 pre-draft process was Joey Porter Jr. It was clear, coming out of Penn State, that the then-prospect made sense for the decision-makers in the Steel City. Head Coach Mike Tomlin loves familiarity, and the entire fan base is familiar with Porter's father. This made it a no-brainer to select the defender when he fell out of the first round and into the Steelers' lap. The scouting report on Porter was clear as he came out of college. Every team in the NFL knew he would be a physical, potential lockdown cornerback, but his hands are often involved from the moment the football is snapped. This led to scouts believing that he would draw several flags for both pass interference and defensive holding/illegal contact. That was proven more true than ever in Pittsburgh's Week 13 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite the victory for the Steelers, Porter was flagged six different times overall. Tomlin expressed that his top corner can be looked at as someone with a serial killer mentality , and that the coaching staff has no plans to try and change his style of play, despite the aggressiveness. Porter's tendencies could be tested even more so on Sunday in another divisional game versus the Cleveland Browns. Land Clark and his officiating crew are tasked with working the contest, and it just so happens that when it comes to defensive penalties, pass interference and holding are a mainstay in the group's repertoire. Additionally, Tomlin and his squad could even be at a disadvantage as the home team. Teams hosting games are expected to win more often than not at the NFL level. The advantage of playing in a home city shouldn't fly under the radar, but Clark's crew has somehow seen the opposing franchise win more often than the one at home. It's a very slight advantage, with each home team holding a winning percentage of just 48.87. On top of the tough draw for Porter, Jerry Jeudy is coming off an absolutely monster game against the Denver Broncos. The wideout had nine catches for 235 yards and a touchdown on Monday Night Football . The pass-catcher will look to build off of this and upset the Steelers once again on Sunday. Porter will likely be tasked with keeping him in check for the majority of the Browns' offensive snaps. Despite the loss, Jerry Jeudy put up a historic performance on Monday Night Football His 235 receiving yards are the most for an NFL player against his former team. pic.twitter.com/qtRPa2gLFQ Clark's officiating crew has called a combined 20 defensive pass interference and holding penalties. There are other trends to worry about such as the unit's desire to also call holding on the offensive side, but Porter has put a target on his back with a very handsy and aggressive style of play. This will be tested once again as the Steelers take on the Browns, and it appears as if Clark's crew will have no toleration for defenders attempting to get away with too much. Steelers Tolerating Porter's Penalties Due To His Domination Everywhere Else Porter has been incredible since he was drafted. Defensive backs are going to get flagged from time to time, and it's clear that Tomlin and the coaching staff have accepted that reality when it comes to Porter. Regardless of whether the yellow marker is thrown a couple times a game, the cornerback has allowed the defense to finally rely on a sole individual to guard a top receiver week in and week out. Clark's crew might not be interested in dealing with Porter on Sunday, however. Are you concerned with Porter's aggressive style of play? This article first appeared on SteelerNation.com and was syndicated with permission.

The 13 office buildings in Richmond, B.C.’s Airport Executive Park – a business park located on 35 acres of green space – date back to a time when climate change and carbon footprints weren’t part of mainstream discussions and long-term environmental control programs. But as more companies set climate and sustainability targets, many are actively working toward reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions within their operations and supply chains. Fiera Real Estate Canada – the current owner of Richmond’s Airport Executive Park (AEP) – is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, partly through the installation of electric heat pumps that will replace its gas-fired heating systems, which date back to the 1980s and early 2000s. The company’s net-zero ambitions are emblematic of the significant commitments national building owners are making that will help Canada reach its target of net-zero building emissions by 2050. And while 25 years from today may seem like a long time, experts warn Canada isn’t making progress fast enough to achieve its goal. The clock began ticking in 2021 when the federal government adopted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act , aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050, with an interim target of GHG reductions hitting at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Released this year, the Canada Green Buildings Strategy says there are more than 564,000 commercial and institutional buildings across the country, and because the majority are expected to still be in use in 2050, most will require extensive upgrades and retrofitting to reach Canada’s net-zero goal. “It’s hard to see how we’re going to achieve the interim standards for the building sector by 2030, and if we don’t reach them, the climb to 2050 is going to be a lot harder,” says Thomas Mueller, president and chief executive officer of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC), which supports the building industry’s transition to green structures and sets national standards for zero-carbon buildings. Updated in July, the council’s Zero Carbon Building standards focus on maintaining high energy efficiency in new buildings and reducing carbon emissions in older structures by replacing fossil-fuel-burning equipment. It estimates that Canada needs to convert at least 3 per cent of its buildings to net-zero emissions a year and invest billions in making buildings greener. A recent study from CAGBC and the Delphi Group – a Canadian climate and sustainability consultancy – identifies the most-needed upgrades in buildings to be LED lighting, triple-glazed windows, roof insulation, high-efficiency ventilation systems, as well as computer control systems that reduce heating and cooling when rooms are not in use. These upgrades require major structural changes and are why most building owners are conducting feasibility studies and putting refits into their 10-year plans, says Tonya Lagrasta, vice-president and head of ESG at commercial real estate services company Colliers Canada. However, she says: “The price tags for things like window replacements can have owners of older buildings falling off their chairs.” The Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think tank, estimates that decarbonizing Canada’s commercial and residential building sector will require more than $400-billion in upgrades. It also concludes that more incentives must be put in place. Since grants are often difficult for governments to finance and administer, tax credits to stimulate investment are more practical, says Mr. Mueller. However, a challenge is that several provinces and cities have building codes that include specifications that vary from the federal standards. “It is a real hodgepodge of standards across the country and that is contributing to confusion,” says Terry Bergen, Victoria-based managing principal of RJC Engineers, a building science consultancy. For retrofits, there is also a misconception that high efficiency comes with higher operating costs. But recently, a lot of studies have been released that demonstrate a high return on investment by making these changes, says Duncan Rowe, a Toronto-based principal with RJC Engineers. At the same time, Mr. Rowe acknowledges that it’s not economical or ecologically practical to speed up the replacement of nearly-new equipment just to meet a standard. In other words, upgrades should be aligned with the life cycle of equipment. In the case of Airport Executive Park, the heating systems were several decades old and in need of replacement. While the newly installed systems are less than a year old, the expectation is that annual energy cost savings for all the property’s buildings will be as much as 50 per cent. In the long term, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is an interim step toward a goal of being fully net-zero energy – producing as much clean energy as consumed with on-site clean and renewable sources, such as solar, wind or geothermal, Ms. Lagrasta says. Net-zero energy is achievable because technology is advancing, says Mr. Rowe. For instance, solar technology is becoming affordable and can be efficient at powering some buildings, but it needs the right conditions. If a building owner has a large roof area, solar is a practical solution, though it won’t be sufficient for an office tower with a small roof. However, there are also developments in photovoltaic glass that can turn windows into power sources, Mr. Rowe says. Ultimately, economics – not politics – will persuade building owners to invest in green technology, Ms. Lagrasta says. A study by Colliers found tenants are willing to pay a premium of an average of 8 per cent to be in a building with a high sustainability rating. “Building owners value their assets and political winds come and go. But it will become harder to attract and retain tenants in an older building that is falling behind the curve,” Ms. Lagrasta says.Lance Morrow, a journalist, author and essayist who helped define Time magazine’s once-dominant place in American commentary, using a historian’s eye and taut prose to distill the country’s tragedies, triumphs and evolving culture, died Nov. 29 at his home in Spencertown, New York. He was 85. The cause was prostate cancer, said his wife, Susan Brind Morrow. Morrow was both observer and narrator during a more than seven-decade career that included books and memoirs, more than 20 years with a coveted back-page column in Time, and, later, time as a contributing writer to outlets such as the Wall Street Journal. His reportage and essays were often written with a grand and literary sweep that sought to capture a moment or a mood, whether the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or the collective grief after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. “The shuttle crew, spectacularly democratic (male, female, black, white, Japanese American, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant), was the best of us, Americans thought, doing the best of things Americans do,” Morrow wrote in Time. “The mission seemed symbolically immaculate, the farthest reach of a perfectly American ambition to cross frontiers. And it simply vanished in the air.” As an author, meanwhile, Morrow peered deeply inward – giving readers a sense of a man who felt privileged and burdened. In his 2023 autobiography “The Noise of Typewriters,” he recounted his place in a golden age of print journalism when Time ruled the newsstands. He was, he said, a proud chronicler of the American Century. Yet there were shadows. In “Heart: A Memoir” (1995), written after a second heart attack, he turned his health crises into a deeper exploration of his psyche: despair from his witness to bloodshed in the Balkans and elsewhere and his long-held anger at his parents, a well-connected Washington couple he described as distant and constantly bickering. “An accumulation of palpable rage” had churned up and tried to “kill” his heart, he wrote. “Taking it as a kind of tribute, a sacrifice of myself to the rage god.” (He had a third heart attack shortly after the book was published.) Morrow arrived at Time magazine in 1965, two years after landing a job out of college at the Washington Star. The magazine was near the peak of its influence, with co-founder Henry Luce no longer editor but serving as chairman of parent company Time Inc. Morrow soon became a star byline, covering the 1967 riots in Detroit and the Vietnam War. As the Watergate scandal began to unfold before the 1972 presidential election, Morrow and Hugh Sidey ended a piece with a cri de coeur to the American electorate. “There is a somewhat depressing loss of innocence in failing to expect more from the nation’s public officials,” they wrote. “Somewhere in all of this huge indifference, the principle of moral leadership may be sinking without a trace.” In 1976, Morrow became a regular essayist for Time’s back page – a showcase spot that was seen as the magazine’s intellectual touchstone for the week. Morrow embraced the role. He infused his columns with references as diverse as Archimedes and Elvis. A column in 1979 on Iran’s Islamic Revolution avoided geopolitical hand-wringing and tried to put the toppling of the Western-supported monarchy in the context of other revolutions through history. In 1981, he wrote about modern celebrity gossip and followed the historical trail back to the Olympian quarrels of Zeus and Hera. Morrow’s views leaned conservative at times, including questioning the continued need for affirmative action. But he could give his imprimatur to liberal-backed initiatives such as environmental regulations and efforts to battle climate change. After the 9/11 attacks, Morrow issued what amounted to a call to arms. His piece, “The Case for Rage and Retribution,” was part of an entry that won Time a National Magazine Award for special issue coverage. “A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Let’s have rage,” Morrow wrote. “What’s needed is a unified, unifying, Pearl Harbor sort of purple American fury – ruthless indignation that doesn’t leak away in a week or two, wandering off into Prozac-induced forgetfulness or into the next media sensation.” Morrow left the Time staff in the mid-1990s but remained for more than a decade as a special writer on contract. Over his career, he was part of more than 100 cover stories and seven “Man of the Year” (now “Person of the Year”) profiles, including one of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988. (He also wrote a “Women of the Year” story in 1976 that included first lady Betty Ford and tennis champion Billie Jean King.) Until earlier this year, Morrow produced a steady flow of columns for the Wall Street Journal, City Journal and others. In one of his last pieces, he took stock of President Joe Biden’s decision in July to bow out of the presidential race. “In this debacle, Biden’s laurels are withered; he does not deserve much glory,” he wrote in City Journal. Morrow also adopted the journalistic profile of an elder statesman – with a slightly jaded take on the profession’s trajectory in the internet age. “Being there is one of the imperatives of journalism,” he wrote in “The Noise of Typewriters.” “Or it used to be, before the age of screens, which changed everything. Being there is still a good idea.” ‘THINGS HAVE HAPPENED’ Lance Thomas Morrow was born in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 1939, and raised in Washington. His father was a journalist whose jobs included Washington editor of the Saturday Evening Post and who later worked as a speechwriter and adviser to Nelson Rockefeller during his tenures as New York governor and vice president. His mother was a syndicated journalist for Knight newspapers and a writer. In books and essays, Morrow described his parents’ marriage as roiled by arguments and overshadowed by their mutual career ambitions. He recounted that for one summer, before he turned 10 years old, he and his older brother were left nearly alone at a family cottage with no electricity on Chesapeake Bay. Once a week, his father brought in supplies by car. “The past was full of grievances,” Morrow once said. “It lashed out, sometimes in the dark. The past was insane.” But his childhood also put him at the center of Washington’s political life. He was a Senate page, sometimes hustling down to the cafeteria to bring dishes of vanilla ice cream to Lyndon B. Johnson, then a Democratic senator from Texas. Morrow’s father sometimes loaned his car to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when the civil rights leader was visiting the capital. As a teenager, Morrow was once part of a touch football game in Georgetown with the Kennedys. “I have done nothing memorable in my life, and yet all around me, things have happened,” he said. Morrow received a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard University in 1963. He already had his first bylines before college working a summer job at the Danville News in central Pennsylvania. From 1963 to 1965, he was on the staff of the Washington Star, where one of his colleagues, future Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, became a lifelong friend. Morrow won the National Magazine Award in the essays and criticism category in 1981 for his columns at Time. He was finalist for the same award in 1991 for a cover story on the nature of evil – a project that included extensive interviews with Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel. Morrow returned to the subject in the book “Evil: An Investigation” (2003), which examined how factors including religion, literature and politics have influenced perceptions of malice and hatred through the ages. His other books include “The Chief: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons” (1985), a recollection of his relationship with his father; “Fishing in the Tiber” (1988), essays on American myths and history; and “The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Nixon, and Johnson in 1948” (2005), on how events in 1948 shaped three future presidents. From 1996 to 2006, Morrow was a professor of journalism at Boston University. His marriage to Brooke Wayne ended in divorce. He married Susan Brind, a journalist and writer, in 1988. Other survivors include two sons from his first marriage; and three grandchildren. In “The Noise of the Typewriters,” Morrow described journalism in almost Zen terms as a hunt for a defining moment of clarity. “Never be certain there is no meaning. Never be certain about anything too quickly. All journalism implies a concealed metaphysics – even a theology: All truth is part of the whole,” he wrote. “All is in motion. Be tolerant of chaos. Be patient. Wait for stillness. This is Journalism 101, according to me.” We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous

ASHBURN, Va.— Former Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn has the Washington Commanders rolling. The Falcons (8-7) are set to face the Commanders (10-5), one of the hotter teams in the NFL, at 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., with NFC playoff implications on the line. The Commanders, who are led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, are coming off a 36-33 victory Sunday over the Eagles, which snapped their 10-game win streak. The Commanders still are in the hunt for the NFC East title, two games behind the Eagles (12-3) with two games to play. The Falcons are tied for the lead with the Bucs (8-7) in the NFC South. The Falcons hold the tiebreaker over the Bucs with two head-to-head wins. The Falcons need to beat Washington and then the Panthers in the regular-season finale to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 season. Quinn, who was the Falcons coach from 2015-20, is one of two coaches to take the franchise to the Super Bowl. After he was fired five games into the 2020 season, Quinn was hired as Dallas’ defensive coordinator the next year. Quinn took over in Washington this season and is benefiting from the spectacular play of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, a former Arizona State and LSU standout who was taken with the second overall pick in the NFL draft. “It’s been awesome,” Commanders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, a former Falcon, said to The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently about playing for Quinn. “He is, honestly one of my favorites that I’ve ever played for. The energy and the culture he builds here is just very fun to be a part of. I’m really enjoying myself.” Daniels has completed 301 of 432 passes (69.7%) for 3,303 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has a passer rating of 101.3. A crafty runner, Daniels also has rushed 128 times for 737 yards and six touchdowns. He’s a near lock for the Associated Press rookie-of-the-year award. “He’s done a great job,” Mariota said. “He’s deserves a lot of credit for how he’s come in. His demeanor and the way he works. I think that there are no surprises as to why he’s good.” Former Falcons wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus caught five passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. He also is a big supporter of Daniels. “It’s been great,” Zaccheaus told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think he’s handled a lot of things very, very well. ... It’s been cool to see. It’s great to play alongside of him. He’s just going to continue to grow as he gets more games under his belt.” Cornerback Marshon Lattimore, who was acquired in a trade with the Saints in early November, played in his second game for the Commanders in the win Sunday. He covered A.J. Brown and was called for three defensive pass-interference penalties. Quinn was fine with how Lattimore competed. “He has a real edge about him, a strength about him, and he really fits in well to how we want to play,” Quinn told Washington media members Monday. “So, I was pretty pumped to see him.” Lattimore likely will cover Falcons wide receiver Drake London, who’s 22 yards from his first 1,000-yard receiving season. Quinn has won over his locker room. “I’m grateful for DQ reaching out to me and bringing me in,” Zaccheaus said. “I know what he wants things to look like. I’m helping him build a culture here. We want to win. We are just building that culture day in and day out. I know what that should look like. I know what he wants it to look like. So, I’m just helping him do that.” Falcons coach Raheem Morris was on Quinn’s staff with the Falcons and took over as the interim head coach in 2020. He then went to the Rams and helped them win a Super Bowl as their defensive coordinator. He was hired in January to replace Arthur Smith. Morris and Quinn, while with the Rams and Cowboys, have faced each other before. “We played the Cowboys, I want to say twice,” Morris said. “It could be just once, but for sure once. They kicked our butts a bit last year.” The Cowboys won 43-20 on Oct. 29, 2023 at home. Both made their return to the head-coaching ranks this season from previous head coaching jobs. “Man, it’s always fun to play against your friends, your confidants, your mentors — whatever you want to look at it as — that we’ve been able to grow up with throughout this whole process,” Morris said. “You know, Dan coaching me in college (at Hofstra) and then having a chance to work together, then having a chance to really follow the same path to the National Football League.” ©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.