Jimmy Carter dies at the age of 100

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Americas. Right this moment we’re overlaying:

• The demise of former US president Jimmy Carter

• A surge in US bank card mortgage defaults

• Elon Musk’s intervention in German politics

• The 12 months of democracy in charts

We begin immediately with the unhappy information that the thirty ninth US president Jimmy Carter has died on the age of 100. He handed away peacefully at his house in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by household, the Carter Middle mentioned in a press release launched yesterday.

Carter was the longest-living president in US historical past, having celebrated his one centesimal birthday on October 1 this 12 months, and his demise comes a 12 months after his spouse, Rosalynn Carter, handed away at the age of 96.

President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump led tributes to the life-long Democrat who defeated Gerald Ford within the 1976 election.

Carter “saved, lifted and altered the lives of individuals all throughout the globe”, President Biden mentioned. Trump additionally paid tribute to the previous president. “The challenges Jimmy confronted as president got here at a pivotal time for our nation and he did all the pieces in his energy to enhance the lives of all Individuals. For that, all of us owe him a debt of gratitude,” Trump wrote on his Fact Social platform.

Carter’s one-term presidency was marred by spiralling inflation at house and a hostage disaster in Iran.

However after his defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980 he rebuilt his life and devoted his energies to establishing the Carter Middle, which turned a mixture of worldwide think-tank and battle decision organisation. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Here’s more reaction to the death of President Carter.

Right here’s what else we’re retaining tabs on immediately:

• Financial information: Brazil’s central financial institution releases outcomes of a weekly financial survey with greater than 100 monetary establishments. This can embody forecasts for GDP, curiosity and inflation charges. Chile’s statistics company INE publishes unemployment information for the September-November interval.

5 extra prime tales

1. South Korea’s appearing president Choi Sang-mok has ordered emergency security checks on the nation’s airline operation system as investigators study why the twin-engined Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air didn’t deploy its touchdown gear, killing all however two of the 181 folks on board. Here’s what we know so far about the crash.

2. Defaults on US bank card loans have hit the best degree because the wake of the 2008 monetary disaster, in an indication that lower-income shoppers’ monetary well being is waning after years of excessive inflation. Bank card lenders wrote off $46bn in severely delinquent mortgage balances within the first 9 months of 2024, up 50 per cent from the same period in the previous year.

3. Friedrich Merz, the person in pole place to change into Germany’s subsequent chancellor, has condemned Elon Musk over his opinion article praising the far-right Various for Germany, calling it “overbearing and presumptuous”. Merz’s remarks come after German newspaper Welt am Sonntag printed an article by Musk describing the AfD because the “final spark of hope” for Germany. Here’s more on Musk’s comments.

4. A bunch of JC Penney bondholders are searching for to re-litigate its Chapter 11 case, claiming {that a} scandal that has since ensnared one of many nation’s prime chapter judges tainted the US retailer’s 2020 reorganisation. The case was overseen by David Jones, who left the bench in October 2023 after confirming he secretly lived with a prime companion at a agency which frequently appeared in his court.

5. Mexico is sitting on greater than half a billion litres of tequila stock because the fast-growing business reckons with slowing demand and the prospect of tariffs on exports to the US below Donald Trump. Client demand for tequila grew rapidly over the previous decade, with celebrities comparable to George Clooney launching their very own manufacturers. However drinkers have now lowered their consumption, leaving the industry with a hangover.

Right this moment’s massive learn

The inauguration of Donald Trump as president falls on the identical day because the opening of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos. Trump’s “America First” nationalism is the antithesis to the values of the elite-driven, globalisation discussion board. Trump’s views are a profound problem to the liberal worldwide order, making the US a number one disrupter and a geopolitical threat on a scale with Russia and China.

We’re planning to publish a particular version of FirstFT Americas within the run-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 and are on the lookout for your assist. Please e mail any questions you’ve gotten concerning the incoming administration to firstft@ft.com and we’ll ask our specialists in Washington and New York to reply them.

We’re additionally studying and watching . . . 

• Trump 2.0: The incoming US president is selecting nominees with vested curiosity to be in command of key regulatory areas, presenting a systemic financial risk, writes Patrick Jenkins.

• AI and androids: The know-how’s rise does not imply the robots are coming — not less than not but, writes Robin Harding.

• 🎥The CEO succession drawback: Turnover of chief executives is at a report excessive however many firms should not coaching new leaders. This new movie appears at the costs of poor succession planning.

Charts of the 12 months

With greater than one-and-a-half billion ballots solid in elections throughout 73 international locations, 2024 provided a uncommon alternative to take the social and political temperature of just about half of the world’s inhabitants. Here’s what the “year of democracy” taught us, in six charts.

The preferred tales of 2024

As 2024 attracts to a detailed, right here’s a glance again on the FT’s most-read tales this 12 months. Our protection of November’s US presidential election claimed the highest spots, main with the live results map which confirmed outcomes as they got here in state by state. This was intently adopted by our interactive story on polling information, which allowed readers to chart possible paths to victory for both candidate.

And out of doors the political realm, Claer Barrett’s piece on how to protect your financial data with the rise of cellphone theft was the preferred. Her recommendation is as helpful now because it was when the story was first printed in Might.