Fix: Update to Ubuntu24.04, CS9, and Podman driver

Fix: Update to Ubuntu24.04, CS9, and Podman driver

- Switch from Docker to Podman driver for Molecule tests
- Add Ubuntu 24.04, CentOS Stream 9 support
- Remove EOL distributions (CentOS 7/8, Ubuntu 18.04/20.04)
- Add CentOS Stream 9 and RedHat 9 var files with native parallel package
- Fix Node.js repo installation for CentOS 7/8 only (not EL9)
- Update workflow to use requirements.txt and Python 3.11
- Add ansible.cfg to disable inject_facts_as_vars deprecation
- Set MOLECULE_PROJECT_DIRECTORY for dynamic role lookup
- Add gather_facts: true to converge.yml

CentOS 9 changes:
- Use native 'parallel' package instead of CERN RPM
- Restrict Nodesource Node.js repo to EL7/8 only
- Add separate vars files for CentOS Stream 9 and RedHat 9

Change-Id: I82a9520b86c357686ebd6b53686081ec04d2b7eb
Signed-off-by: Anil Belur <abelur@linuxfoundation.org>