Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director-general of MI5 and a cross-bencher in the House of Lords, is to chair the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) that will choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury, it was announced on Monday.

He is an “active and communicant member of his local parish church”, Downing Street says.

The vacancy-in-see committee for Canterbury met for the first time last week. It will consider what type of person is needed for the position, and elect three diocesan representatives to the CNC.

In parallel, a public consultation, overseen by Church House and Downing Street, will gauge general opinion about the offce of Archbishop and the qualities required. This is expected to begin in the new year.

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Lord Evans to chair Crown Nominations Commission that will choose next Archbishop of Canterbury https://t.co/c5i9luPULL

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 17, 2024

Other churches across South Carolina were left feeling stuck after the decision. One Midlands church was also in the midst of the “discernment” process, and even had a majority committed to leaving, when the decision came down and “pulled the rug out from underneath us,” according to one church member who asked to remain anonymous because she didn’t want to be identified as speaking out against the conference.

She said the church had almost slept through the 2023 exodus, which didn’t affect their church community, but became more aware once the 2024 general conference approved the ordination of openly gay clergy and allowed the celebration of same-sex marriage.

“There are basically a lot of people in churches who don’t understand what goes on in their denomination, and we got caught with our head in the sand,” she said. “We didn’t realize what was going on, and trusted leadership to make us aware of the friction had been growing for years. … We were kind of sheltered.” While the conference marriage vote was the catalyst, she said her fellow worshipers had become become weary of and disillusioned with the United Methodist hierarchy.

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SC Methodist churches thought they had time to decide to stay or go. The door slammed shut https://t.co/ckTJSDMQHE

— The State Newspaper (@thestate) December 18, 2024

Slowing China’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has been a top priority for Washington for the last three years. To achieve that goal, the Biden administration has escalated controls on the sale of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China, including a fresh salvo of restrictions earlier this week.

Policymakers may be flummoxed to learn, then, that Chinese companies aren’t just keeping up in the AI race: some believe they could overtake American industry leaders as soon as next year.

The latest breakthroughs came late last month, when two Chinese AI companies released new models that perform as well, if not better than their American peers. Developed by tech giant Alibaba and High Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese quantitative hedge fund, the technologies compete directly with OpenAI’s latest o1 model, which can “reason” through problems — a process some researchers have described as a new paradigm.

These achievements by Chinese firms underscore how formidable a competitor the country remains in the global AI race. Buoyed by a wealth of engineering talent and intense domestic competition — plus ample chip supply for now — Chinese AI firms are unlikely to fall back in that race as easily as some in Washington may hope.

Influential figures in the AI community are taking note. On Monday, Clement Delangue, chief executive of HuggingFace, a popular platform that offers tools and data to AI developers, predicted on LinkedIn that China would “start to lead the AI race in 2025.”

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Treasury 10-year yields may climb to 6% for the first time in more than two decades as US fiscal woes worsen and Donald Trump’s policies help keep inflation elevated, according to T. Rowe Price.

The benchmark yield may first reach 5% in the first quarter of 2025 before potentially climbing further, Arif Husain, chief investment officer of fixed-income, wrote in a report. Husain is doubling down on calls for higher yields, citing persistent US budget deficits as Trump cuts taxes during his second presidency, as well as potential tariffs and immigration policies that would sustain price pressures.

“Is a 6% 10‑year Treasury yield possible? Why not? But we can consider that when we move through 5%,” wrote Husain, who helps the money manager oversee $187 billion. “The transition period in US politics is an opportunity to position for increasing longer‑term Treasury yields and a steeper yield curve.”

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10-Year Treasury Yield may soar to 6%, warns T. Rowe Price. The last time this happened? 2000.

Probably Fine pic.twitter.com/NF2XJj27uS

— Barchart (@Barchart) December 17, 2024

Americans’ confidence in their nation’s judicial system and courts dropped to a record-low 35% in 2024.

The result further sets the U.S. apart from other wealthy nations, where a majority, on average, still expresses trust in an institution that relies largely on the public’s confidence to protect its authority and independence.

Between 2006 and 2020, Americans’ perceptions of their courts were most often in line with the median for OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, with a majority in each typically expressing confidence.

Since 2020, confidence in the courts across the other OECD countries has been stable, while the U.S. has seen a sharp decline — 24 percentage points — in the past four years. The resulting 20-point gap in confidence between the U.S. and the median of OECD nations in 2024 is the largest in the Gallup trend, which dates to 2006.

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Americans' confidence in the nation's courts and judicial systems has plummeted 24 percentage points in the past four years, sagging to a record low, per a new Gallup poll.

https://t.co/qAklPE19Su

— Mike Walker (@New_Narrative) December 17, 2024

O Lord our God, in whose hands is the issue of all things, and who requirest from thy stewards not success but faithfulness: Give us such faith in thee and in thy sure purposes, that we measure not our lives by what we have done or failed to do, but by our obedience to thy holy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

Guten Morgen mit einer kleinen Winterimpression aus Danzig.#Polen pic.twitter.com/bmlrEn8Ewv

— Thomas Stiegler (@StieglerThomas) December 18, 2024

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way;
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

–Mark 1:1-8

It rarely gets the centre of attention because of the lantern tower but the 12th Romanesque nave at Ely Cathedral is jaw-dropping – so I put my tilt-shift lens to use.. pic.twitter.com/5HGKtAKhFp

— Andy Marshall (@fotofacade) December 18, 2024