wild aces motorcycle club Donald Trump savaged Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed White House bid in his Time “Person of the Year” interview — saying her biggest mistake was “taking the assignment” at all. The president-elect — who was given the magazine’s lofty title on Thursday — said Harris’ campaign was doomed from the start “because you have to know what you’re good at.” Trump said what he believes also cost her the election was her failure to reach a wider audience on the campaign trail by speaking to streamers and podcasters — such as Joe Rogan — as he did. “When she wouldn’t talk to anybody, it shone a light on her,” Trump said. “You know, she didn’t do anything. And people said, ‘Is there something wrong with her?’ Why would they? I mean, I’m doing this interview with you. I did interviews with, if I had the time, anybody that would ask, I’d do interviews,” he said. “I think the Joe Rogan interview, you know, went on for almost three and a half hours.” Trump was declared the magazine’s 2024 Person of the Year after his stunning political comeback — which the magazine described as “unparalleled in American history.” Originally published as Time ‘Person of the Year’ Donald Trump gives savage three-word takedown of Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaignTHE TIMING COULDN’T have worked out better for Ireland’s political parties. A general election round the corner, and lo and behold! A €14 billion Apple has fallen from the magic money tree. The first €3 billion of the sum was transferred to the Irish Exchequer earlier this very month, with billions more to come before the end of the year. Just before the Budget in October, Finance Minister Jack Chambers said the extra cash would be invested in a variety of infrastructure projects, including housing, energy, water and transport. The official spending plan was meant to be approved in early 2025. But where’s the fun in that? The decision to call an election before Christmas, rather than allowing the government to run its full term until early in the new year, means the pot of gold is now up for grabs. That’s why we’ve asked all of Ireland’s major political groups how they would spend the Apple tax money – here’s what they had to say. On housing, €4 billion will go to the Land Development Agency (LDA), the state body tasked with getting affordable homes built on state sites. €2 billion will also go to a new ‘Towns Investment Fund’. €2.5 billion is to be spent improving Ireland’s creaking electricity grid, while €3 billion is to go to Irish Water for similar reasons. On transport, €3.6 billion will go to the slightly vague area of ‘the improvement of transport networks countrywide’, while €2 billion will go towards improving digital technology in the healthcare system. The party wants most of the Apple money to go into housing. Part of this will go into extending two grants for first-time buyers: the Help-to-Buy grant will be increased from a maximum of €30,000 to €40,000 until 2030; and the First Home Scheme will be extended to second-hand homes for five more years. Another part of the money for housing will go into increased building. While €4 billion will go on various energy, water and transport projects. The party said it will give a more detailed plan for the allocation of the funds ‘within 100 days of taking office’. Sinn Féin’s premier idea for the Apple tax money is to start an ‘Equality for Communities Fund’. The money would be allocated on the basis of the Pobal Index, the national deprivation index. The funds would be used for the likes of sports facilities, arts facilities and public spaces. It also said slightly over half the money, €7.6 billion, would be used to build affordable housing. Other key areas the money would be spent on include €2 billion in health, €2.5 billion on a renewable energy fund and €1 billion on redress for Celtic Tiger-era housing defects. Like many parties, housing features heavily in Labour’s plans for the Apple tax money. €6 billion would go towards setting up a new state construction company, which would be developed through the LDA. €1 billion would go on works, such as developing water infrastructure, which would make the land suitable for development. On the climate front, €1 billion would be reserved for offshore wind, while €2.5 billion each would go towards a National Retrofitting Plan and then to developing large-scale transport projects. Finally, €1 billion would be set aside for modernising the health service, such as by digitising records. Approximately €7 billion will go towards major transport projects in urban centres. The party has suggested that this could include the likes of a Luas tram line in Cork. This would be part of a €10 billion transport plan, with the remaining €3 billion coming from unidentified ‘other sources’. The focus would be on major infrastructure projects, such as Metrolink, Luas extensions and heavy rail projects. As mentioned, the €14 billion would be split between housing and climate measures. The party told : ‘50,000 affordable purchase homes and 25,000 affordable rental homes would be delivered’. On the climate side of things, the party said potential projects would include ‘investing in State-owned renewable energy’ and additional grants for retrofitting and solar panels. “Infrastructure, Infrastructure Infrastructure,” leader Peadar Tóibín wrote on X, formerly Twitter, recently, adding that Ireland is “creaking at the seams”. Key areas aligned with those identified by other parties – housing, transport, energy and health. Similar to Labour, PBP wants to use the Apple tax money to set up a state building company. An indication of the scale envisaged is indicated from their comparison to Ireland’s two biggest private housebuilders, Cairn and Glenveagh. “[They] build less than 2,500 homes a year – we need tens of thousands,” the party said. “Funded with the Apple tax revenues, such a body can easily access the land, finance and labour that are needed at scale to directly build at least 35,000 social and affordable homes per year.” The group has not given a detailed breakdown on the Apple funds. Richard O’Donoghue, one of Independent Ireland’s TDs, said in a recent Dáil debate that the Apple tax money should be used for infrastructure, specifically highlighting the lack of affordable housebuilding.

After pulling out of the Philippines in October, foreign investors came back in November, putting money into the country's stock market and government bonds, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed. Foreign portfolio investments registered with the central bank reached $96.59 million in November, reversing the year-high net outflow of $529.68 million in October. Last month, the country recorded $96.59 million in net foreign investment inflows, with $1.86 billion entering and $1.76 billion exiting, according to BSP data. This signals improvement from October's outflow-dominated record. These foreign portfolio funds—commonly referred to as "hot money" due to their short-term, speculative nature—include tradable money market instruments. Foreign investments in November climbed 25.8 percent from October’s $1.48 billion, with 71.4 percent going to peso-denominated government securities. The remaining 28.6 percent was invested in Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed sectors, including banks, holding firms, property, transportation services, and the food, beverage, and tobacco industries. The bulk of November’s hot money inflows (90 percent) came from the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Luxembourg, and Norway. Meanwhile, gross outflows in November totaled $1.76 billion, down $244.73 million (12.2 percent) from $2.01 billion the previous month. As in October, the United States remained the top destination for outflows in November, receiving $914.20 million, or more than half (51.8 percent) of total remittances. Shrinking net inflows On a yearly basis, hot money inflows last month increased by $286.55 million (18.2 percent) to $1.86 billion. However, gross outflows nearly doubled, increasing by $861.72 million (95.4 percent) from $903.10 million in November of last year to $1.76 billion. As a result, net inflows in November dropped significantly to $96.59 million, down $575.18 million (85.6 percent) from $671.77 million recorded in the same period last year. For the January-to-November period, foreign investments registered with the BSP saw net inflows of $2.59 billion, a significant turnaround from the $43.66 million net outflow during the same period in 2023. Foreign investors may choose not to register with the BSP unless they need to buy foreign currency from authorized banks to repatriate profits or capital. The BSP expects net hot money inflows to total $4.2 billion by the end of 2024 and projects $2.9 billion in 2025.Miss Congo’s director surprised with a dress made of condoms: “Some of them were used”

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