fortune gems tricks J&K leading country in implementing NEP-2020: LG

What happened President-elect Donald Trump threatened Sunday to retake control of the Panama Canal and said that U.S. "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity" for "national security and freedom." The U.S. handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999, after agreeing to do so in 1977 treaties. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Who said what Trump's comments about the Panama Canal , elaborating on a social media post Saturday, came "atop a list of grievances — some old, some new" — he aired at a conservative conference in Phoenix. "We're being ripped off at the Panama Canal," he claimed, saying the U.S. "foolishly gave it away" and if the "moral and legal principles" of America's "magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States." Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video on X that "every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belongs to Panama and will continue to be so," and "the sovereignty and independence of our country aren't negotiable." Trump hit back on social media: "We'll see about that!" It was "unclear why Trump has focused on the vital shipping passage in recent days," Politico said. "Panama has been a steady ally" for decades and the conservative Mulino took office in August pledging to "deepen ties with the United States." When Trump suggested purchasing Greenland in his first term , "he was publicly rebuffed by Danish authorities before any conversations could take place," Reuters said. What next? Trump's comments "signal that he will pursue a confrontational foreign-policy agenda " featuring "unconventional threats and pointed demands," The Wall Street Journal said. "Short of an invasion," though, "the U.S. government has no ability to restore control of the canal."

Kevin Jonas and wife Danielle get in the Christmas spirit as they decorate a stunning New York mansionSeveral students and job aspirants on Monday protested outside the residence of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, demanding rationalisation of the reservation policy. ET Year-end Special Reads Gold outshines D-St with 20% returns, but 2025 may be different The year of the pause: How RBI maneuvered its policy in 2024 2024, the year India defeated China's salami-slicing strategy The protests were led by National Conference's Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, Ruhullah Mehdi, and he was joined by Opposition legislators, including Waheed Para of PDP and Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh of Awami Ittehad Party, besides PDP's Iltija Mufti. Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also expressed his support for the protest while expressing his willingness to participate in the protest but said that he was not allowed to move out of his residence by the authorities. Abdullah's son Zamir Abdullah also joined the protest briefly. Following the protests, a group of students met the CM at his residence. Abdullah promised that the issue will be resolved in six months as the sub-committee of ministers is working on the matter. ET Year-end Special Reads An Indian's guide to moving abroad as the world looks for 'better' immigrants The year of the HNIs: How India's rich splurged in 2024 (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )

Penn State vs. Boise State: How to watch, picks, odds for College Football Playoff quarterfinal at Fiesta Bowl

French President Emmanuel Macron's office has announced a new government after the previous cabinet collapsed in a historic vote prompted by fighting over the country's budget. Login or signup to continue reading Newly named Prime Minister Francois Bayrou put together the government that includes members of the outgoing conservative-dominated team and new figures from centrist or left-leaning backgrounds. Coming up with a 2025 budget will be the most urgent order of business. The new government enters office after months of political deadlock and pressure from financial markets to reduce France's colossal debt. No single party holds a majority in the National Assembly. Bayrou's decades of political experience are seen as key in efforts to restore stability after Marine Le Pen's far-right party helped bring down the previous government. Macron has vowed to remain in office until his term ends in 2027, but has struggled to govern since snap elections in the summer left no single party with a majority in the National Assembly. Since his appointment 10 days ago, Bayrou has held talks with political leaders from various parties in search of the right balance for the new government. Some critics on Monday were angry at Bayrou for consulting with Le Pen's far-right party, and some argue the government looks too much like the old one to win lawmakers' trust. Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned this month following a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes in the National Assembly, leaving France without a functioning government. Le Pen played a key role in Barnier's downfall by joining her National Rally party's forces with the left to pass the no-confidence motion. Bayrou will need support from moderate legislators on the right and left to keep his government alive. Bayrou has said he supports tax hikes championed by his predecessor, but it's not clear how the new government can find the right calculation for a budget that satisfies a majority of lawmakers angry over spending cuts. Banker Eric Lombard will be finance minister, a crucial post when France is working to fulfil its promises to European Union partners to reduce its deficit, estimated to reach six per cent of its gross domestic product this year. Lombard briefly worked as an adviser to a Socialist finance minister in the 1990s. Hard-right Bruno Retailleau stays on as interior minister, with responsibility for France's security and migration policy. Sebastien Lecornu, who has been at the forefront of France's military support for Ukraine, remains defence minister, while Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who has travelled extensively in the Mideast in recent weeks, also retains his post. Among new faces are two former prime ministers. Manuel Valls will be the minister for overseas affairs, and Elisabeth Borne will take the education ministry. Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. WEEKLY Follow the Newcastle Knights in the NRL? Don't miss your weekly Knights update. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily!COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — Victims' families and others affected by crimes that resulted in federal death row convictions shared a range of emotions on Monday, from relief to anger, after President Joe Biden commuted dozens of the sentences . Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals. Three inmates will remain on federal death row: Dylann Roof , convicted of the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Opponents of the death penalty lauded Biden for a decision they'd long sought. Supporters of Donald Trump , a vocal advocate of expanding capital punishment, criticized the move as an assault to common decency just weeks before the president-elect takes office. Victims' families and former colleagues share relief and anger Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was commuted, said the execution of “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.” “The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” Heather Turner, whose mother, Donna Major, was killed in a bank robbery in South Carolina in 2017, called Biden's commutation of the killer's sentence a “clear gross abuse of power” in a Facebook post, adding that the weeks she spent sitting in court with the hope of justice were now “just a waste of time.” “At no point did the president consider the victims,” Turner wrote. “He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” Decision to leave Roof on death row met with conflicting emotions There has always been a broad range of opinions on what punishment Roof should face from the families of the nine people killed and the survivors of the massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Many forgave him, but they can’t forget and their forgiveness doesn’t mean they don’t want to see him put to death for what he did. Felicia Sanders survived the shooting shielding her granddaughter while watching Roof kill her son, Tywanza, and her aunt, Susie Jackson. Sanders brought her bullet-torn bloodstained Bible to his sentencing and said then she can’t even close her eyes to pray because Roof started firing during the closing prayer of Bible study that night. In a text message to her lawyer, Andy Savage, Sanders called Biden’s decision to not spare Roof’s life a wonderful Christmas gift. Michael Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was killed, told The Associated Press that Roof’s lack of remorse and simmering white nationalism in the country means he is the kind of dangerous and evil person the death penalty is intended for. “This was a crime against a race of people," Graham said. “It didn’t matter who was there, only that they were Black.” But the Rev. Sharon Richer, who was Tywanza Sanders’ cousin and whose mother, Ethel Lance, was killed, criticized Biden for not sparing Roof and clearing out all of death row. She said every time Roof’s case comes up through numerous appeals it is like reliving the massacre all over again. “I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victims' families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal,” Richer said in a statement. Richer, a board member of Death Penalty Action, which seeks to abolish capital punishment, was driven to tears by conflicting emotions during a Zoom news conference Monday. “The families are left to be hostages for the years and years of appeals that are to come,” Richer said. “I’ve got to stay away from the news today. I’ve got to turn the TV off — because whose face am I going to see?” Biden is giving more attention to the three inmates he chose not to spare, something they all wanted as a part of what drove them to kill, said Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action’s executive director. “These three racists and terrorists who have been left on death row came to their crimes from political motivations. When Donald Trump gets to execute them what will really be happening is they will be given a global platform for their agenda of hatred,” Bonowitz said. One inmate's attorney expresses thanks — and his remorse Two of the men whose sentences were commuted were Norris Holder and Billie Jerome Allen, on death row for opening fire with assault rifles during a 1997 bank robbery in St. Louis, killing a guard, 46-year-old Richard Heflin. Holder’s attorney, Madeline Cohen, said in an email that Holder was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. She said his case “reflects many of the system’s flaws,” and thanked Biden for commuting his sentence. “Norris’ case exemplifies the racial bias and arbitrariness that led the President to commute federal death sentences,” Cohen said. “Norris has always been deeply remorseful for the pain his actions caused, and we hope this decision brings some measure of closure to Richard Heflin’s family.” ___ Swenson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report. Jeffrey Collins And Ali Swenson, The Associated PressWhen the bowl games were announced on Dec. 8, the matchup in the Holiday Bowl between Washington State and Syracuse looked enticing. Two teams that were ranked at one point throughout the season with explosive offenses were set to make their way to Snapdragon Stadium for the Dec. 27 bowl game. The bowl game will look a lot different now however, with many changes coming to the product on the field, in particular with Washington State. Since the regular season has ended, the Cougars have lost their head coach Jake Dickert, who took the same position with Wake Forest. On top of that, starting quarterback John Mateer announced he will transfer to Oklahoma. Both the coach and quarterback will not be with the team for the Holiday Bowl. When Mateer announced his entrance to the transfer portal, an immediate connection with Oklahoma was made, due to both offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski making the move to coach the Sooners next season. We have launched our year-end campaign. Our goal: Raise $50,000 by Dec. 31. Help us get there. Times of San Diego is devoted to producing timely, comprehensive news about San Diego County. Your donation helps keep our work free-to-read, funds reporters who cover local issues and allows us to write stories that hold public officials accountable. Join the growing list of donors investing in our community's long-term future. On top of that, over 11 starters from WSU announced their intention to enter the portal, further putting into doubt what the 8-4 Cougars will see in San Diego Friday. In a release from Washington State it was announced assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach Pete Kaligis will assume the interim head coach role for the bowl game. Wide receivers coach Nick Edwards will call offensive plays. On the other sideline, Syracuse has not seen nearly as many changes to their team. Their starting quarterback Kyle McCord will play, as rumors circle on whether or not he will remain with the team heading into 2025. The 2024 Holiday Bowl is set to kick off Dec. 27 at 5 p.m. PST on FOX. Get Our Free Daily Email Newsletter Get the latest local and California news from Times of San Diego delivered to your inbox at 8 a.m. daily. Sign up for our free email newsletter and be fully informed of the most important developments. Sign Up (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

The NFL's security division is warning players to be aware of professional burglars targeting the homes of pro athletes. The Athletic reported Thursday that the NFL sent a memo to teams that outlines the threat. "The homes of professional athletes across multiple sports leagues have become increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups," read the memo, which was obtained by The Athletic. "Law enforcement officials have noted these groups appear to exploit team schedules to target athletes' homes on game days." NBC News reported Wednesday that law enforcement is working to figure out whether an international crime syndicate is involved. The Athletic reported that the memo includes tips for home security and also gives recommendations about the use of social media, such as not posting photos of items that would attract thieves. Players also learned via the memo how homes are targeted and how burglars enter. Mahomes hasn't said much about the burglary, other than to call it "disappointing" and "frustrating." "I can't get into too many of the details because the investigation is still ongoing," he said. "But obviously something that you don't want to happen to really anybody, but obviously yourself." It's not clear what was stolen from Mahomes' home in Belton, Mo., during the Oct. 6 incident. But Kelce apparently lost $20,000 in cash in the burglary at his home in Leawood, Kan., the following day when the Chiefs played the New Orleans Saints on "Monday Night Football," according to a police report. The burglary at the home of Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis in River Hills, Wis., occurred Nov. 2 during the Bucks' home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He said the perpetrators "took most of my prized possessions" and is offering a reward for the return of his property. "Any info that leads to the return of any of my belongings will be rewarded handsomely," Portis said. "Let me know, thank you." --Field Level MediaPM forms panel to resolve issues with PPP Committee will chalk out future action plan after holding talks PPP representatives ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a committee to resolve political issues and cooperation on different matters between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The committee comprises Deputy Prime Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for State Frontier Regions Engineer Amir Muqam, Advisor to Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and Bashir Ahmad Khan. The prime minister has assigned the task of political cooperation and resolution of different issues after consultation with the PPP leaders, the media wing of PM Office in a statement said. The committee will chalk out future action plan after holding talks the PPP representatives. It may be pointed out here that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had accused the PMLN of sidelining the PPP on key decisions, including the controversial approval of a new canal project from the Indus River, an issue the PPP claims was decided without consultation or achieving a consensus. The PPP also demanded that the prime minister take all stakeholders into confidence on key issues and immediately call a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and Bashir Ahmad Khan. The prime minister has assigned the task of political cooperation and resolution of different issues after consultation with the PPP leaders, the media wing of PM Office in a statement said. The committee will chalk out future action plan after holding talks the PPP representatives. It may be pointed out here that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had accused the PMLN of sidelining the PPP on key decisions, including the controversial approval of a new canal project from the Indus River, an issue the PPP claims was decided without consultation or achieving a consensus. The PPP also demanded that the prime minister take all stakeholders into confidence on key issues and immediately call a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).Bill Belichick, the former NFL head coach who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl wins, will be the new head coach of the University of North Carolina's football program. The school announced the news on social media Wednesday night. He's agreed to a five-year deal with the Tar Heels, which is pending approval from the university's board of trustees and board of governors. A press conference was held at the school on Thursday to formally announce Belichick as the new head coach, which he described as a dream come true. UNC Chancellor Lee H. Roberts and Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham jokingly gifted Belichick a Tar Heels sweatshirt with his trademark short sleeves. RELATED STORY | Bill Belichick 'moves on' from coaching New England Patriots "I grew up in college football with my dad," Belichick said, showing off one of his father's old sweatshirts from when he was an assistant coach at the school for a couple of years before he went on to coach at the U.S. Naval Academy for over three decades. He said Carolina was home and his family always joked when he was growing up that his first words were "beat Duke" — the Tar Heels' rival school. Belichick won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants before continuing his career with the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. But he's known for his career with the Patriots, where he was the head coach for 24 seasons and won 13 AFC championship titles and made nine Super Bowl appearances. He retired from the NFL as the second-winningest coach in NFL history.

United Airlines travelers with lost luggage have a new tool to track their bags. If the lost bag has an Apple AirTag in it, that information can now be passed directly to United, the airline announced Thursday. The new feature, called Share Item Location, allows travelers with an AirTag or other Find My network accessory to share the location with the airline’s customer service team to help locate their luggage in the event it’s misplaced. United says more than 99% of its customers pick up their luggage without a hitch. The feature is now available with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 or macOS 15.2. “Apple’s new Share Item Location feature will help customers travel with even more confidence, knowing they have another way to access their bag’s precise location with AirTag or their Find My accessory of choice,” said David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer. Travelers on United whose bags do not arrive at their destination can file a delayed baggage report with United and share the link to the item’s location either through the United app or via text message. After the report has been submitted, customer service agents will be able to locate the item on an interactive map alongside a timestamp of a recent update. The shared location will be disabled after a customer has the bag, and customers can also stop sharing the location of the item at any time on their own. The location link will also automatically expire after seven days. Using AirTags or other tracking devices on luggage is increasingly popular among frequent travelers, with a significant boom following the 2022 Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown , which displaced thousands of travelers over Christmas and into 2023, alongside much of their belongings. United says lost bags are rare, with more than 99% of its customers arriving with their bags. It says the new technology will help those with lost bags to recover them more quickly because the airline will have more information about them. Apple previously announced the new service will also be integrated at other air carriers, including Delta Air Lines. Others include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Vueling. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!Suspended soccer coach Bev Priestman has broken her silence, saying she hopes something positive comes out of the ongoing Canadian drone-spying scandal. “I hope out of a really tough situation, this is a turning point for our game,” she wrote in an Instagram post via her verified account. “There has been a standard and precedent set now, irrespective of gender, tournament or associated revenues that will hopefully clean up our game.” She did not address her role in the affair in the six-paragraph post. Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi are all serving one-year FIFA bans for their role in the scandal, which saw the Canada women’s team use a drone to spy on two New Zealand training sessions at the Olympics. Canada Soccer says the three won’t be back in the wake of the recent independent report into the scandal. Lombardi is already gone, having resigned his position after the Olympics. “The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the incident itself was a symptom of a difficult and unacceptable past culture within the national teams,” Canada Soccer chief executive officer and general secretary Kevin Blue and president and board chair Peter Augruso said in a statement when the report was released earlier this month. Canada Soccer continues to investigate the roots of the spying scandal and has initiated a disciplinary process against former men’s and women’s coach John Herdman, currently coach of Toronto FC. The governing body has said it “has initiated a proceeding with respect to Mr. Herdman under its Disciplinary Code.” Herdman did not speak to Sonia Regenbogen, who wrote the report. Priestman signed a new contract in January that runs through the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The 38-year-old Priestman took over the Canadian women on Nov. 1, 2020, and was initially appointed “through the next quadrennial.” She had been working on a rolling contract — until the new deal. “It has and will continue to take some time to process, heal, find the right words and step back into a public setting but I felt I should say something irrespective of ongoing circumstances,” Priestman wrote. In addition to the suspensions, FIFA docked the Canadian women six points in the group stage at the Olympics and fined Canada Soccer 200,000 Swiss francs ($312,815). Despite that, defending champion Canada still managed to make the knockout round before losing a penalty shootout to Germany in the quarterfinals. “I know that amazing group was ready to reach the top again this summer, but in many ways what they did was even more special under such difficult circumstances,” Priestman wrote. She also thanked those who had reached out to her. “You continue to help me through some dark days,” she said. Canadian under-20 coach Cindy Tye has been named interim coach for the sixth-ranked Canadians’ upcoming friendlies in Spain against Iceland and South Korea.

United, Apple rolling out new way to track lost luggage with AirTags

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — Victims' families and others affected by crimes that resulted in federal death row convictions shared a range of emotions on Monday, from relief to anger, after President Joe Biden . Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals. Three inmates will remain on federal death row: , convicted of the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber, ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Opponents of the death penalty for a decision they'd long sought. Supporters of , a vocal advocate of expanding capital punishment, criticized the move just weeks before the president-elect takes office. Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was commuted, said the execution of “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.” “The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” Heather Turner, whose mother, Donna Major, was killed in a bank robbery in South Carolina in 2017, called Biden's commutation of the killer's sentence a “clear gross abuse of power” in a Facebook post, adding that the weeks she spent sitting in court with the hope of justice were now “just a waste of time.” “At no point did the president consider the victims,” Turner wrote. “He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” There has always been a broad range of opinions on what punishment Roof should face from the families of the nine people killed and the survivors of the massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Many forgave him, but they can’t forget and their forgiveness doesn’t mean they don’t want to see him put to death for what he did. Felicia Sanders survived the shooting shielding her granddaughter while watching Roof kill her son, Tywanza, and her aunt, Susie Jackson. Sanders brought her bullet-torn bloodstained Bible to his sentencing and said then she can’t even close her eyes to pray because Roof started firing during the closing prayer of Bible study that night. In a text message to her lawyer, Andy Savage, Sanders called Biden’s decision to not spare Roof’s life a wonderful Christmas gift. Michael Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was killed, told The Associated Press that Roof’s lack of remorse and simmering white nationalism in the country means he is the kind of dangerous and evil person the death penalty is intended for. “This was a crime against a race of people," Graham said. “It didn’t matter who was there, only that they were Black.” But the Rev. Sharon Richer, who was Tywanza Sanders’ cousin and whose mother, Ethel Lance, was killed, criticized Biden for not sparing Roof and clearing out all of death row. She said every time Roof’s case comes up through numerous appeals it is like reliving the massacre all over again. “I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victims' families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal,” Richer said in a statement. Richer, a board member of Death Penalty Action, which seeks to abolish capital punishment, was driven to tears by conflicting emotions during a Zoom news conference Monday. “The families are left to be hostages for the years and years of appeals that are to come,” Richer said. “I’ve got to stay away from the news today. I’ve got to turn the TV off — because whose face am I going to see?” Biden is giving more attention to the three inmates he chose not to spare, something they all wanted as a part of what drove them to kill, said Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action’s executive director. “These three racists and terrorists who have been left on death row came to their crimes from political motivations. When Donald Trump gets to execute them what will really be happening is they will be given a global platform for their agenda of hatred,” Bonowitz said. Two of the men whose sentences were commuted were Norris Holder and Billie Jerome Allen, on death row for opening fire with assault rifles during a 1997 bank robbery in St. Louis, killing a guard, 46-year-old Richard Heflin. Holder’s attorney, Madeline Cohen, said in an email that Holder was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. She said his case “reflects many of the system’s flaws,” and thanked Biden for commuting his sentence. “Norris’ case exemplifies the racial bias and arbitrariness that led the President to commute federal death sentences,” Cohen said. “Norris has always been deeply remorseful for the pain his actions caused, and we hope this decision brings some measure of closure to Richard Heflin’s family.” Swenson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.CENTURION: South Africa tailenders Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen hung in against relentless fast bowler Mohammad Abbas for a tense two-wicket win in the first test on Sunday to seal the Proteas' place in next year's World Test Championship final. Jansen (16 not out) overshadowed Abbas' brilliant figures of 6-54 with a square driven boundary against the fast bowler as South Africa reached 150-8 just after lunch on Day 4 and escaped with a close win in the opener of the two-match series. “Quite an emotional moment for me, good advert for test cricket,” said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma, who made 40. “We haven't been ruthless but have found a way to ensure the result was on our side. Lot of joy and happiness on our side, a bit of a rollercoaster, glad that we were able to get the result.” Abbas, making a comeback after more than three years in the test wilderness, had knocked back South Africa's tricky chase of 148 runs in a marathon 13-over spell before lunch on Day 4 as the home team limped to 99-8, losing four wickets for three runs. However, Rabada changed gears in an unbroken 51-run stand with Jansen and made an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls with five fours to seal a memorable victory and denied Pakistan its first test win in South Africa in almost 18 years. South Africa had started this WTC cycle with a 1-1 drawn series against India before getting swept 2-0 in New Zealand. But since then the Proteas have beaten West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to stay on top of the table. “It (WTC final) is a big one, not just for myself but also the team and the coach," Bavuma said. "The way we started our campaign, against India and then New Zealand with a not-so-strong team, and the way we have gone through with our performances, not many gave us a chance.” India, Australia and Sri Lanka are the other teams still in contention for next June's WTC final against South Africa at Lord's. Captain Temba Bavuma (40) and Aiden Markram (37) had thwarted Abbas for an hour after South Africa resumed at a wobbly 27-3, still needing 121 for victory. Bavuma's controversial dismissal punctuated a South Africa collapse in the latter half of first session with Abbas grabbing three off his six balls in a sensational home team collapse. Bavuma, who made 40, surprisingly didn't request a television review when replays suggested that Abbas' ball had brushed the batter's pocket and didn't make contact with the inside edge of the bat but the South African skipper walked back to the dressing room. Abbas bowled an unchanged marathon spell of 13 overs, but had to wait as Markram and Bavuma saw off eight overs from the fast bowlers. Resuming at 27-3, Bavuma and Markram showed plenty of patience against Abbas' probing line and length before the fast bowler finally got the breakthrough after the first drinks break. Abbas was rewarded for his brilliant seam bowling when he beat the outside edge of Markram's bat and knocked back the off stump. Bavuma survived a couple of close chances when he successfully overturned an on-field lbw decision against him early in the day and Naseem Shah couldn't hold onto a sharp catch at fine leg as he overstepped the boundary cushion while grabbing the ball over his head. South Africa had controlled the game at 96-4 before Bavuma's dismissal saw Abbas finding the outside edges of David Bedingham (14) and Corbin Bosch's (0) bat off successive deliveries and in between Kyle Verreynne dragged Naseem Shah's delivery back onto his stumps. Abbas found the outside edge of Rabada's bat in his first over after lunch that fell just short of wicketkeeper Rizwan before both tailenders took the team home. “Extremely proud of the efforts, but going forward we need to be ruthless,” Pakistan captain Shan Masood said. “We keep making the same mistakes but we have to get over the line, seize moments.” The second test begins at Cape Town on Friday.