After a far-right pro-Russia candidate secured a surprise lead in Romania's presidential election Monday, the eastern European NATO member is bracing for a high-stakes parliamentary vote on Sunday, amid fears it could bring about a strategic shift in the country. Calin Georgescu was in pole position with almost 23 percent after the first round of voting, a political earthquake in the country of 19 million people that has so far resisted nationalist appeals that have gained traction in Hungary and Slovakia. His victory ahead of centre-right mayor Elena Lasconi -- who scored 19.18 percent -- ended the hopes of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to compete for the presidency in the December runoff. After coming third at 19.15, Ciolacu said his Social Democratic Party (PSD) won't challenge the narrow result, and announced his resignation as party leader. Experts say the far right's surprise success could affect the parliamentary elections later this week, and even influence the chances of forming a future government. In the runoff ballot on December 8, Lasconi will face Georgescu, a NATO critic who in the past expressed his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Georgescu's popularity surged ahead of the vote with a viral TikTok campaign calling for an end to aid for Ukraine, which shares a 650-kilometre (400-mile) border with Romania. In a first reaction on his YouTube channel, the 62-year-old independent candidate insisted "there is no East or West", stressing that neutrality was "absolutely necessary". "I am not an extremist, I am not a fascist -- I am a Romanian who loves his country," he said in reference to media reports that "tried to portray" him in a wrongful way. For his rival Lasconi, the upcoming runoff represents "an existential battle", "a historic confrontation" between those who wish to "preserve Romania's young democracy" and those who want to "return to the Russian sphere of influence". "We must not allow anger to throw us back into the past," she said to thunderous applause from her supporters, vowing to stand up for Europe and NATO. The political earthquake comes amid soaring inflation and mounting fears of Romania being potentially dragged into Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine, as the country has emerged as a key player on the alliance's eastern flank. In Sunday's vote, another far-right contender, AUR party leader George Simion, secured nearly 14 percent. Already pounding the campaign trail for this week's parliamentary elections, Simion said Romania now has "the chance to have a sovereign government and a sovereign president". Overall, the far right won more than a third of all votes in Sunday's presidential ballot. "The far right is by far the big winner of this election," political scientist Cristian Pirvulescu told AFP, predicting a possible "contagion effect" in the parliamentary vote. Extremist forces and Lasconi's centre-right party now have "wind in their sails", sociologist Gelu Duminica said, though "it remains to be seen if they know how to capitalise" on it. The PSD, which has shaped the country's politics for more than three decades, has never before been eliminated in the first round of a presidential election. The National Liberal Party (PNL) party, with whom the PSD currently governs, also suffered a defeat. While many expressed their disbelief over the poll in the streets of the capital Bucharest, others were enthused. Maria Chis, 70, said she was surprised by Georgescu's lead in the first round but had been impressed after watching his TikTok videos. "He seems a man of integrity, serious and patriotic. He inspires seriousness. I think only someone like him can bring change," said the pensioner, who was planning to vote for him in the second round. Alex Tudose, the owner of a construction company, was gloomy. "There is sorrow, disappointment, that after so many years in Euro-Atlantic structures we voted for a pro-Russian by over 20 percent," the 42-year-old said. "There is clearly a strong fragmentation both in society and in the political class, and I think we saw that yesterday," he said. ani-anb-kym/sbka-777 。

MacKenzie Scott continues to make medical debt relief a priority in her mysterious giving. This week, Undue Medical Debt, formerly RIP Medical Debt, announced it had received a rare third gift — $50 million — from the billionaire philanthropist, signaling her satisfaction with the group’s efforts to purchase medical debt in bulk from hospitals and debt collectors. Scott has donated a total of $130 million to the organization since 2020. Medical debt is increasing despite most of the U.S. population having some form of medical insurance. Nearly 100 million people are unable to pay their medical bills, according to Third Way, a left-leaning national think tank. Overall, Americans owe about $220 billion in medical debt, with historically disadvantaged groups shouldering the bulk of the burden. Lower-income people, people with disabilities, middle-aged adults, Black people, the uninsured, and people living in rural areas are among the groups most likely to be affected by medical debt, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation . Undue Medical Debt buys debt at a discounted price, estimating that it erases about $100 in debt for each $1 donated. The group also collaborates with policymakers to encourage the adoption of measures to curb what people owe for medical care. Scott first gave Undue Medical Debt a $50 million donation in 2020, followed by a $30 million donation in 2022. With that money, the group has relieved nearly $15 billion in debt for more than 9 million people, CEO Allison Sesso said. That’s a significant leap from the $1 billion in debt relieved from 2014 to 2019, she noted. “I’m frankly astounded by this most recent gift from MacKenzie Scott and feel proud to be a steward of these funds as we continue the essential work of dismantling the yoke of medical debt that’s burdening far too many families in this country,” said Sesso. The continued funding has allowed Sesso “to not have to worry about my next dollar,” she said, and “think more strategically about the narrative around medical debt — she has helped us push that conversation.” Undue Medical Debt was started in 2014 by two former debt collection executives, Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico, who were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement’s advocacy for debt relief. Growth initially was slow. But with Scott’s gifts, the nonprofit has been able to staff up, produce more research, and develop relationships with policymakers who have pushed for changes to hospital billing practices to relieve debt and prevent people from accumulating it in the first place, Sesso said. Undue Medical Debt’s public policy arm has worked with lawmakers in North Carolina, which in July became the first state to offer additional Medicaid payments to hospitals that agree to adopt debt relief measures, she said. The policy change followed the publication of a 2023 report from Duke University, which found that one in five families in the state had been forced into collections proceedings because of medical debt. Since 2020, the organization’s staff has grown from three to about 40, Sesso said. Those hires included an anthropologist who collects stories from people set back by medical debt to inform the group’s research and advocacy work. Scott’s gifts also have helped improve Undue Medical Debt’s technology to identify people eligible for debt relief and to find hospitals from which it can purchase medical debt, among other things, Sesso said. “This coming year, because of this MacKenzie Scott grant, we’ll be able to add more people, making sure that we can support that growth on an ongoing basis,” Sesso said. Few organizations have received more than one gift from Scott. Other multi-grant recipients include Blue Meridian, an intermediary group that has directed billions of dollars to nonprofits around the world, and GiveDirectly, which provides no-strings-attached cash payments to low-income people globally. GiveDirectly has received $125 million from Scott since 2020. Blue Meridian has not disclosed amounts for the four gifts it’s received since 2019. Scott’s contributions to those two organizations were for specific causes like GiveDirectly’s U.S. poverty relief fund, said Christina Im, a senior research analyst at the Center for Effective Philanthropy. In the case of Undue Medical Debt, the timing of Scott’s first gifts in 2020 and 2022 seemed to correspond with COVID-relief efforts, she said. Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is worth an estimated $32 billion but provides few details about her grantmaking decisions. Without further information, it’s hard to know what prompted this third donation to Undue Medical Debt, but Scott has said in public statements that she wants to help those who are most in need and bear the brunt of societal ills, said Elisha Smith Arrillaga, the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s vice president for research. “I have not seen a lot of other folks funding in this area,” Smith Arrillaga added. Scott’s latest gift to Undue Medical Debt comes amid national debates about medical insurance and the cost of medical treatments. The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 in Midtown Manhattan has heightened these conversations, with some lionizing the man who allegedly committed the crime. “That’s no way to get change, full stop,” Sesso said in reference to Thompson’s murder. “But I think the anger around insurance companies and having access to care is very clear.” The U.S. has one of the most expensive health care systems in the world. And the amount of medical debt carried by individuals seems to be increasing, noted Adam Searing, a public interest attorney and associate professor at Georgetown University, where he focuses on Medicaid and other health coverage programs. Searing previously served for 17 years as director of the Health Access Coalition at the nonprofit North Carolina Justice Center, advocating for the uninsured and underinsured. During that time, he heard from people losing their homes due to liens from hospitals. Sometimes those liens could be delayed, but it still meant that the debtors couldn’t pass those homes along to their children or grandchildren, he said. “Those stories stuck with me,” he said. “It really has an impact on families.” Relieving debt allows people to get their lives back on track and become financially secure after a major illness or series of expensive bills, Searing said. For philanthropists, it’s also a cause that is largely nonpartisan. Scott shining a spotlight on the issue is undoubtedly “a good thing,” he said. “I think it will have a big effect.” Stephanie Beasley is a senior writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment Inc. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy . Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.

It can be hard to know what to cook for everyone in the family. But on Tuesday, Sarah Di Lorenzo shared ideas to help please the entire family. Sarah shared recipes for gluten-free eaters, vegans and vegetarians. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Viewers can follower Di Lorenzo on Facebook or her website . Recipe below: Gluten-free stuffing Makes 8 cups of stuffing Ingredients 1 loaf of gluten free bread or 2 gluten free baguettes 3/4 cup of butter 1 chopped white onion 4 sticks of celery 2 teaspoons of dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage Salt and pepper 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary 2 cups of chicken stock or broth Method Let the bread air dry for a few hours or even days and then cut into 2 cm pieces. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Over a medium heat melt the butter, add onion and celery. Next add the herbs, salt and pepper. Add the bread cubes and make sure they are all covered well. Add the broth or stock over the bread mix. Cook for a few minutes, Next add to a casserole dish and bake for 40 minutes. Dark Chocolate Bark Ingredients 2 bars of dark chocolate 1 tablespoon of coconut oil 1 cup of nuts, seeds and chopped dried fruit of choice Method Line a baking sheet or a pan with baking paper. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil. Spread the chocolate over the baking paper and then distribute the nuts/ seeds mix. Sprinkle over the top some sea salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Break up and serve or wrap up into cellophane bags with ribbons as a perfect Christmas gift. Nut Free Fruit Cake Ingredients 400 mixed dried fruit 125 g of butter at room temp 3 eggs 60 ml milk 250 g of self-raising whole meal flour 1/2 cup of maple syrup 2 teaspoons of mixed spice Method Preheat the oven to 170 degrees or 150 degrees fan forced. Grease a loaf tin with and line with baking paper. Add all the ingredients except the fruit onto a bowl and mix well in a blender or mixer. Add the dried fruit at the end by hand, you don’t want to break this up. Add the batter to the prepared tin and make a depression line down the centre of the mix. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Test with a toothpick. Once cooked through, turn out to a wire rack and cool. Roasted Whole Cauliflower Ingredients 1 cauliflower leaves removed and stalk trimmed 3 tablespoons of olive oil 2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs 2 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika 1 tsp garlic 1/2 juiced lemon 3 tablespoons of tahini Handful of chopped parsley to serve Pomegranate seeds to serve Method Fill a large saucepan that has a lid big enough to fit the cauliflower whole and 3 cm of water salted. Bring to the boil over a medium heat. Lower the cauliflower into the pan and cook for 3 minutes covered. Remove and then pat off any water with a sheet of kitchen paper. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (200 fan forced) and mis the herbs, spices, oil, salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower to a roasting tin and brush this mix over the cauliflower. Roast for 20 minutes. Next mix the lemon juice, yoghurt, salt and pepper and chill. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and baste with the oil from the tin. Roast for another 20 minutes until the cauliflower looks golden and crisp. Drizzle with the tahini, scatter the parsley and pomegranate seeds and cut into wedges to serve.More than a half-century ago, Noam Chomsky's seminal essay, "The Responsibility of Intellectuals," appeared in a Feb. 23, 1967, special issue of The New York Review of Books. That was then, at the height of the controversial war in Vietnam, when the question was who bore responsibility for speaking truth to power, for holding to task those responsible for prosecuting such an undeclared, unpopular and unwinnable war. This is now, today, when We the People are enjoined to raise this question anew, in light of the results of the recent presidential election and in anticipation of those who will soon occupy the corridors of power, presuming to do so on our behalf. The United States is not now at war in any traditional sense of the term; but the country is in an acute state of turmoil and drift, at home and abroad, that is every bit as serious and demanding as anything we have faced in recent memory. The incoming president will have all three ostensibly coequal branches of the federal government in his pocket, staffed with political and personal loyalists who have essentially forsaken their institutional responsibilities for checking and balancing one another in order to secure self-interested presidential favor. It promises to be a heretofore unequaled imperial presidency — unitary executive theory made real, but on steroids. As it was then in 1967, so it is now: The responsibility of "intellectuals" is, at least arguably, to act as the vanguard of republican democracy by filling the institutional void we have inherited, to serve as a mediating mechanism between government and the people, provide voice for the voiceless, think for the unthinking legions among us and perhaps thereby enable the public to live out the true meaning of popular sovereignty through informed civic engagement. Two questions that have forever encumbered treatment of intellectual responsibility remain with us. First, who are we talking about? Who are these privileged, specially endowed... Gregory D. Foster

The Kings headed into Saturday’s rubber match of their three-game homestand with serious concerns about their power play as well as some individual offensive performers that they hoped to get back afloat against the surging Seattle Kraken. They disposed of the dead-tired Detroit Red Wings to kick off the homestand – which is part of nine straight games to be played in California – but were shut out for the first time this season by the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday. The black and silver became the not-so-proud owners of the NHL’s worst power play since Nov. 10 – they’ve scored no power-play goals since Nov. 9 and that one was an empty-netter – and have the fourth-worst conversion rate over all of 2024-25. Their 0-for-5 performance as they were bageled 1-0 by Buffalo was their third such display this season, including an 0-for-6 showing in a loss to lowly San Jose . They’ve gone 0 for 4 on four other occasions, and went without a power-play goal in 13 of their 20 games so far. Their newly assembled top unit of five forwards has had the vibe of Dean Smith’s four-corner offense at times and, at its best, has produced nothing but near misses. The second unit’s struggles have been season-long, with the ineffectual play of both groups rendering meaningless the Kings’ numerous bromides about “looks” and “movement.” Their struggles haven’t been limited to the power play either. Overall, they’ve lost four of their past six games, and in those defeats they’ve managed a meager 1.25 goals per game. Since Nov. 10, they’ve been the NHL’s lowest scoring team on a per-game basis (1.75). Forward Quinton Byfield signed a lucrative extension this summer with the expectation that he’d push upward into the top tier of the Kings’ scoring leaderboard. But instead of chasing captain Anže Kopitar, Byfield’s production has more closely mirrored that of checker Trevor Lewis. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft surmounted several setbacks: a broken ankle and not one but two viral illnesses, one of which robbed him of about 25 pounds. Last season, he appeared poised for a breakout, but mixed form, tentativeness and tough luck have inhibited him in the first quarter of this campaign. “He’s had tough stretches before that he’s come out of,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “If anybody’s faced adversity, it’s been him through the first run of his career here. So, he’s been through that, he’ll get through it.” Hiller remarked that Byfield “wasn’t alone” among players who could not convert Wednesday. He also wasn’t unaccompanied in a crowd of slumping Kings. Winger Kevin Fiala has gone pointless in six straight games and defenseman Jordan Spence has spent much of the season turning the puck over as if he were cooking it on a grill. Meanwhile, Brock Faber, whom the Kings dealt along with a first-round pick for Fiala, has been the No. 1 defenseman for the West’s second-best team to date, the Minnesota Wild. Even the Kings’ early-season scorchers have cooled significantly. Brandt Clarke has been held scoreless in four straight games and six of his past seven. In his last two games, he and the top power-play unit have clearly missed each other. Related Articles Alex Laferriere remained in that grouping, but his production continued to sag. After a torrid stretch of eight goals in 10 games, he has one goal in his last eight appearances and no points in his four most recent outings. Slumping totals and shoulders alike will have to straighten up against leading scorer Jared McCann and Seattle, which rebounded from a four-game winless skid to capture five of its past six decisions. The Kraken have killed 90% of its penalties during their ascent, good for sixth in the NHL, and allowed a miserly 1.67 goals per game, the fourth-best mark in the league during that span. When: 1 p.m. Saturday Where: Crypto.com Arena How to watch: FDSNW

Stock market today: Wall Street rises toward more records

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces a two-month suspension of GST on selected goods, in Sharon, Ont., on Nov. 21. This boondoggle will change what people will buy and when, incentivizing them to minimize their tax burden rather than maximize their welfare, and imposing administrative and compliance costs that are a drag on our already struggling economy. Chris Young/The Canadian Press William Robson is president and chief executive of the C.D. Howe Institute. Don Drummond is the Stauffer-Dunning Fellow and an adjunct professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, and fellow-in-residence at the institute. Canadian governments are loudly zealous about protecting us from potentially addictive stuff that could hurt our physical and mental health – think of junk food, booze and other drugs, or misinformation and other online “harms.” Yet they themselves are pushing fiscal junk. The federal government’s latest – a goods and services tax holiday from mid-December to mid-February, 2025, and a $250 handout to everyone with earned income under $150,000 – is yet another feel-good move that undermines our fiscal and economic health. As with the Ontario government’s recent pledge of a $200 handout for its taxpayers, one big question is: Will the bribe buy the government a bounce in the polls? If the move works tactically – if they hook us on this junk – there’s trouble ahead for our tax system, government finances and economic growth, and even our democratic politics. Taxes are a necessary evil. We need them to fund government programs. But taxes do harm – the obvious direct cost to people paying them and less obvious indirect costs, such as less reward from working, saving and investing, and distorted decisions about what and when we make, sell and buy. The best taxes raise the most revenue with the least harm – taxes with broad bases, low rates and predictable application, such as the federal GST and the harmonized sales tax that works alongside it in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. But populist pushers are poking holes in bases. The federal government’s exemption of home heating oil from the carbon tax was particularly egregious because the comprehensiveness of the carbon tax was a key legal as well as economic argument for the federal government levying it in the first place. The base for the GST/HST has been under constant pressure as well – and with every new exemption, the rates of these taxes, and on all other taxes governments need to fund their programs, will inevitably be higher than they would otherwise need to be. Now the federal government proposes a temporary suspension of the GST on certain items over the holiday season. This boondoggle will change what people will buy and when, incentivizing them to minimize their tax burden rather than maximize their welfare, and imposing administrative and compliance costs that are a drag on our already struggling economy. And alcoholic beverages are on the list! In the bad old days, political parties offered free drinks at the polls. How is this any different? The feds’ $250 handouts are no better. Like tax breaks on specific items and at specific times, they will need to be paid for – with higher taxes now, or with borrowing that brings higher taxes later, and with the discouragement of work, saving and investment that higher taxes inevitably create. Being so widely available so far up the income scale, the payouts do relatively little for the poor and will not even accomplish much redistribution. They are also crazy expensive – the total cost of the handouts and the two-month GST holiday will be one-quarter more than two months’ worth of Canada’s defence spending over that period. Proponents of Ontario’s and Ottawa’s handouts need to tell us why, if the payouts are such good things, we should not double or triple them and finance the extra spending with higher personal income taxes. Most proponents would think that is silly – yet that is the path we are on. Populist fiscal policy isn’t just about goodies. It is also about additional taxes aimed at unpopular groups or businesses, such as special levies on cars, boats and airplanes or banks and insurers. It is also about piling up huge debts for programs we want now while passing the bill forward. The common element is that populist policies appeal to the wrong part of our brains – instant gratification no matter the long-term cost. These latest tax doodles and handouts make more acute the question: Are the pushers of this stuff getting better at hooking us? Maybe not. The exemption of home heating oil from the carbon tax caused too much resentment and controversy to rate as a political success. Deep down, Canadians still want their governments to tackle deep and persistent challenges such as stagnant productivity and wages, inadequate access to health care and unaffordable housing. But like sugary snacks, drugs and online idiocy, junk fiscal policy can condition us to want more. If we vote for it, we will get it. Canadians need to break the cycle before the pushers of fiscal junk make the Canadian economy and Canadians sicker.