Victor Wembanyama plays 1-on-1 chess with fans in New YorkNo. 16 South Carolina 17, No. 12 Clemson 14GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Ryan Forrest's 30 points led N.C. A&T over North Carolina Central 85-72 on Saturday. Forrest shot 12 of 18 from the field, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 7 from the line for the Aggies (4-10). Landon Glasper scored 25 points while going 7 of 17 from the floor, including 5 for 12 from 3-point range, and 6 for 6 from the line. Jahnathan Lamothe went 3 of 7 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with nine points, while adding eight rebounds. The Aggies stopped an eight-game skid with the win. Po'Boigh King finished with 21 points for the Eagles (6-10). Keishon Porter added 11 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina Central. Dionte Johnson also recorded 11 points. N.C. A&T took the lead with 1:28 remaining in the first half and never looked back. The score was 46-39 at halftime, with Glasper racking up 18 points. Forrest scored 18 points in the second half to help lead the way as N.C. A&T went on to secure a victory, outscoring North Carolina Central by six points in the second half. NEXT UP Up next for N.C. A&T is a matchup Thursday with Elon at home. North Carolina Central hosts Saint Andrews (NC) on Tuesday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

Researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) have developed an artificial intelligence model that helps identify depression based on speech and brain neural activity. This offers a new approach to depression diagnosis, according to a press release by KTU. “Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, with devastating consequences for both the individual and society, so we are developing a new, more objective diagnostic method that could become accessible to everyone in the future,” says Rytis Maskeliūnas, a professor at KTU and one of the authors of the invention. The scientists argue that while most diagnostic research for depression has traditionally relied on a single type of data, the new multimodal approach can provide better information about a person’s emotional state. Impressive accuracy The combination of speech and brain activity data achieved an impressive 97.53 percent accuracy in diagnosing depression, significantly outperforming alternative methods. “This is because the voice adds data to the study that we cannot yet extract from the brain,” explains Maskeliūnas. According to Musyyab Yousufi, a PhD student at KTU who contributed to the invention, the choice of data was carefully considered: “While it is believed that, facial expressions might reveal more about a person’s psychological state, but this is quite easily falsifiable data. We chose voice because it can subtly reveal an emotional state, with the diagnosis affecting the pace of speech, intonation, and overall energy.” Moreover, unlike electrical brain activity (EEG) or voice data, face can directly identify a person’s state of severity up to a certain extent. “But we cannot violate patients’ privacy, and also, collecting and combining data from several sources is more promising for further use,” says the professor at KTU Faculty of Informatics (IF). Maskeliūnas emphasises that the EEG dataset used for the research was obtained from the Multimodal Open Dataset for Mental Disorder Analysis (MODMA), as the KTU research group represents computer science and not the medical science field. MODMA EEG data was collected and recorded for five minutes while participants were awake, at rest, and with their eyes closed. In the audio part of the experiment, the patients participated in a question-and-answer session and several activities focused on reading and describing pictures to capture their natural language and cognitive state. AI diagnosis The collected EEG and audio signals were transformed into spectrograms, allowing the data to be visualised. Special noise filters and pre-processing methods were applied to make the data noise-free and comparable, and a modified DenseNet-121 deep-learning model was used to identify signs of depression in the images. Each image reflected signal changes over time. The EEG showed waveforms of brain activity, and the sound showed frequency and intensity distributions. The model included a custom classification layer trained to split the data into classes of healthy or depressed people. In the future, this AI model could speed up the diagnosis of depression, or even make it remote, and reduce the risk of subjective errors. This requires further clinical trials and improvements to the programme. However, Maskeliūnas adds, the latter aspect of the research might raise some challenges. “The main problem with these studies is lack of data because people tend to remain private about their mental health issues,” he says. Another important aspect is getting the algorithm to provide information to a medical professional about what led to the diagnosis. “The algorithm still has to learn how to explain the diagnosis in a comprehensible way,” says Maskeliūnas. According to the KTU professor, due to the growing demand for AI solutions that directly affect people in areas of healthcare, finance, and the legal system, similar requirements are becoming common. This is why explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), which aims to explain to the user why the model makes certain decisions and to increase their trust in the AI, is now gaining momentum. The article 'Multimodal Fusion of EEG and Audio Spectrogram for Major Depressive Disorder Recognition Using Modified DenseNet121' was published in Brain Sciences Journal and can be accessed here . Weekly newsletter every Friday

Overcoming Patent Challenges for AI/ML-Assisted Life Sciences (TechBio) Inventions: Strategies for Navigating Section 101 at the US Patent & Trademark OfficePaddy or rice, a water-guzzling crop partly responsible for heavy winter pollution in northern India, continues to be the most subsidised and profitable crop, which has thwarted a shift to alternatives such as pulses and maize, experts have said. An effective solution will have to come from multi-pronged steps, including sufficient incentives, leading to large-scale crop diversification, experts said. Analysts say satellite monitoring and imposition of fines, known environmental compensation, are not preventive or agricultural solutions and these have not been effective in stopping pollution-causing paddy-residue fires. Another issue scuttling alternatives to stubble burning is the absence of an efficient supply chain and market for the commercial use of paddy leftovers. Effective utilisation of straw requires supply of straw from farmers, robust infrastructure for storing and transporting stubble to end-users and established markets to facilitate transactions between farmers and buyers, said Udhaya Kumar of the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy. Kumar and his colleagues published a report in August analysing the market for stubble. In 2021-22, the profit margin for paddy towered over most summer crops, with differences ranging from ₹ 66,663 a hectare for maize and ₹ 11,462 for moong (green gram) in Punjab to ₹ 68,849 per hectare for bajra (pearl millet) and ₹ 36,295 for cotton in Haryana, according to calculations by Ashok Gulati, an agricultural economist. Agricultural subsidies Since subsidies are heavily skewed towards rice, it will be “difficult” to push dedicated paddy farmers towards other crops unless “agricultural subsidies are re-purposed”, said Gulati of the New Delhi -based think-tank, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, states. In an earlier era, paddy was harvested manually, which meant farmers would cut the whole plant. They now use mechanized harvesters, which cut the grain, leaving behind the straw. The cheapest way to eliminate the stubble is to burn them. Delhi's toxic winter smog triggered by fires to clear paddy residue has also been intensified by the Punjab Subsoil Water Act, 2009, designed to conserve groundwater by delaying paddy sowing. The law mandates that farmers sow paddy only when the monsoon arrives over northern India. This has pushed back harvesting to coincide with a period, around mid-November, when wind speed usually stalls in northern states. Lack of strong winds prevents the disbursal of smog, helping it to blanket Delhi for days. The combined subsidies for paddy from the Centre and the state government in Punjab for power, seeds, fertilizer and irrigation amounted to a staggering ₹ 38,973 per hectare during 2023-24, the highest for any crop, according to ICRIER’s calculations. Not all crops get the same benefits of subsidies. In 2021-22, cultivators in Punjab and Haryana used more fertilizers on paddy than other crops, suggesting that a substantial portion of the fertilizer subsidy is funnelled into paddy, according to Gulati’s study. Farmers prefer paddy also because of a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP), a floor rate, which makes it a high-income crop The government buys out paddy and wheat at MSP rates. “This assurance is absent for other crops, leaving them vulnerable to the whims of the market,” economist Gulati said, adding paddy subsidies needn’t be eliminated but repurposed. India is a major exporter of rice, which makes up for over 40% of global shipments. In 2021-22, the country exported nearly 22 million tonne of the grain, about a sixth of its total output. The country had banned exports of the grain in August 2023 to cool rising cereal inflation, which was lifted in October this year.

Powell: Fed's independence from politics is vital to its interest rate decisions WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve’s ability to set interest rates free of political interference is necessary for it to make decisions to serve “all Americans” rather than a political party or political outcome. Speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook summit, Powell addressed a question about President-elect Donald Trump’s numerous public criticisms of the Fed and of Powell himself. During the election campaign, Trump had insisted that as president, he should have a “say” in the Fed’s interest rate policies. Despite Trump’s comments, the Fed chair said he was confident of widespread support in Congress for maintaining the central bank’s independence. UnitedHealthcare CEO kept a low public profile. Then he was shot to death in New York NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the US but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk Wednesday became a mystery that riveted the nation. Police say it was a targeted killing. Thompson was 50. He had worked at the company for 20 years and had run health care giant UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s insurance business since 2021. It provides health coverage for more than 49 million Americans and brought in $281 billion in revenue last year. Thompson's $10.2 million annual compensation made him one of the company’s highest-paid executives. Trump nominates cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as SEC chair President-elect Donald Trump says he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner. Trump calls Atkins a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation. The SEC oversees U.S. securities markets and investments. If confirmed next year by the new Republican-led Senate, Atkins would replace Gary Gensler, who's been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry. Atkins was widely considered the most conservative SEC member during his tenure and known to have a strong free-market bent. Australia is banning social media for people under 16. Could this work elsewhere — or even there? It is an ambitious social experiment of our moment in history. Experts say it could accomplish something that parents, schools and other governments have attempted with varying degrees of success — keeping kids off social media until they turn 16. Australia’s new law was approved by its Parliament last week. It's an attempt to swim against many tides of modern life — formidable forces like technology, marketing, globalization and, of course, the iron will of a teenager. The ban won’t go into effect for another year. But how will Australia be able to enforce it? That’s not clear, nor will it be easy. White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaign WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered the new details Wednesday about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that a number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could still grow. Pete Hegseth's mother says The New York Times made 'threats' by asking her to comment on a story A basic tenet of journalism — calling someone for comment on a story — was seen as a threat by defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth's mother. Penelope Hegseth appeared on Fox News Channel to talk about her son, whose nomination by President-elect Trump to lead the Pentagon is threatened by a series of stories about his past behavior. One came this past weekend, when The New York Times wrote about a private email Penelope Hegseth sent to her son about his treatment of women. She said on Fox News that she felt threatened when the Times called her about the email, which she had quickly regretted sending. The Times said they were engaging in routine journalism. District of Columbia says Amazon secretly stopped fast deliveries to 2 predominantly Black ZIP codes The District of Columbia is alleging in a lawsuit that Amazon secretly stopped providing its fastest delivery service to residents of two predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city. The district says the online retailer still charged residents of two ZIP codes millions of dollars for a service that provides speedy deliveries. The complaint filed on Wednesday in District of Columbia Superior Court revolves around Amazon’s Prime membership service. The lawsuit alleges Amazon in mid-2022 imposed what it called a delivery “exclusion” on the two low-income ZIP codes. An Amazon spokesperson says the company made the change based on concerns about driver safety. The spokesperson says claims that Amazon's business practices are discriminatory are “categorically false.” Biden says 'Africa is the future' as he pledges millions more on the last day of Angola visit LOBITO, Angola (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged another $600 million for an ambitious multi-country rail project in Africa as one of the final foreign policy moves of his administration. He told African leaders Wednesday that the resource-rich continent of more than 1.4 billion people had been “left behind for much too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future.” Biden used the third and final day of his visit to Angola to showcase the Lobito Corridor railway. The U.S. and allies are investing heavily to refurbish train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola in a region rich in critical minerals to counter China's influence. The end of an Eras tour approaches, marking a bittersweet moment for Taylor Swift fans NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to an end after the popstar performed more than 150 shows across five continents over nearly two years. Since launching the tour in 2023, Swift has shattered sales and attendance records. It's even created such an economic boom that the Federal Reserve took note. But for many who attended the concerts, and the millions more who eagerly watched on their screens, the tour also became a beacon of joy. It's become a chance not only to appreciate Swift’s expansive music career, but also celebrate the yearslong journey fans have taken with her. US senators grill officials from 5 airlines over fees for seats and checked bags A U.S. Senate subcommittee is taking aim at airlines and their growing use of fees for things like early boarding and better seats. Members of the Senate Permanent on Investigations say airlines have raised billions of dollars by imposing fees that are getting hard to understand and even harder to avoid paying. The senators and the Biden administration call them “junk fees,” and they say the extra charges are making travel less affordable. Some senators expressed frustration during a hearing on Wednesday hearing when airline executives couldn't explain how they set various fees. Airlines say fees let consumers pay for things they want, like more legroom, and avoid paying for things they don't want.

An eight-year process to rehabilitate Roy’s Redwoods Open Space Preserve in San Geronimo Valley has been completed. The $3.5 million effort realigned the trail network and planted thousands of native plants to increase the resilience of the old-growth grove. It also made it more accessible for visitors with mobility difficulties. “The Roy’s Redwoods preserve is one of our more popular open space preserves, and really, what’s been happening, is it’s been getting loved to death,” said Chris Chamberlain, director of the county parks department. “That’s ultimately the impetus behind this project, to help protect this amazing resource that we’ve got that the community really loves.” The project was funded by a $1.5 million California State Parks grant; a $1.2 million California Wildlife Conservation Board grant; $500,000 from the Marin County Disability Access Program; county Measure A funds; and donations to One Tam, a partnership of public agencies. County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who represents the San Geronimo Valley, said the project is a “win-win” for the environment and the community. “I’m just excited to see it all done,” Rodoni said. “A lot of thought and kindness and tenderness went into the project, and I think you could certainly see that when you’re out there taking a look at it.” Roy’s Redwoods is one of 34 open space preserves in Marin and one of four old-growth redwood groves. The redwoods there are more than 300 years old and reach heights of about 200 feet. In 1978, the Marin County Open Space District acquired 293 acres, including the 9.5-acre Roy’s Redwoods, and created the first open space preserve in the valley. Chamberlain said one of the main issues in the area was that it didn’t have a clear path for visitors and instead had multitudes of unofficial social trails. “It was like a bowl of spaghetti out there as far as the trails go,” Chamberlain said. “You just kind of just went anywhere and everywhere because there was no real definition, so you just went wherever it was convenient at the time.” Chamberlain has been part of the project since the idea arose around eight years ago. A big goal of the project was to create a designated path of travel that kept it an immersive experience — and avoided creating another Muir Woods, which was a clear concern of the community. Rodoni said he believes that goal was accomplished. “It’s still Roy’s Redwoods there, but it just gives much better access and protects the environment,” Rodoni said. The social trails caused erosion and compacted the soil, impeding rainfall absorption and causing water to flow at higher speeds. The project upgraded and realigned about 5,670 feet of trails and removed 6,465 feet of social trails from sensitive areas. To help reduce erosion, slow water flow and spread water throughout the floodplain, fallen redwood logs were moved or new ones were placed in Larson Creek. About 1,900 feet of trails were improved specifically for disabled visitors with measures such as raised redwood boardwalks, ramps and compacted soil. “Which means folks that have mobility challenges that historically haven’t been able to get out into this redwood grove are now going to be able to get out and experience what it’s like to be in the interior of a redwood grove,” Chamberlain said. “We’re really excited about that.” Roy’s Redwoods is home to more than 480 native species of plants and animals. It is also habitat for the northern spotted owl, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Other rare, threatened or endangered species include the olive-sided flycatcher bird, the oak titmouse bird, the California giant salamander the American badger and the pallid bat, according to a site analysis by One Tam. After years of planning and community workshops, construction began two years ago. The work was performed between August and the start of the rainy season because of the nesting period of the northern spotted owl, Chamberlain said. The project also restored a meadow that was filled with invasive species. “Now we’ve had a chance to hit a reset button on that meadow and we’ve got a bunch of cool native grasses and stuff out there,” Chamberlain said The work isn’t quite over. Before construction began, vegetation was carefully removed and kept at the Civic Center nursery, and more than 7,000 native flora will be planted over the next two years to help restore the area’s understory. Nona Dennis, president of the Marin Conservation League, said the project has been ideal from conception to completion. She said it accomplished the main goals of restoring the hydrology, enhancing the habitat and keeping the “wild” ambiance of the area. It also involved extensive public input. “Visitors will be able to enjoy Roy’s Redwoods while a natural understory, with the help of extensive revegetation, reestablishes,” Dennis said. “This trail system will help secure the long-term health of the redwoods.”Freedom and democracy can vanish quickly if unchecked power is allowed to do whatever it wants, says activist Nathan Law. As a college freshman, Law led a student boycott demanding Hong Kong be allowed to elect its own leader. When the five days of peaceful civil disobedience turned into the Umbrella Revolution, he was singled out as a revolutionary and became Hong Kong’s youngest elected official. At 26, he was put on the “most wanted” list and considered a threat to the country. His story — captured in the documentary “Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?” — has inspired young people everywhere to look closer at the motives of those in power. Now living in Great Britain and maintaining a low profile (there’s a $140,000 bounty on his head), he still longs for the kind of freedom that fueled his interest in politics. “Even though I’m a refugee and a wanted person, I still need to meet up with friends,” he says by satellite. “Maintaining mental well-being is an extremely important topic but most of the time overlooked in activism. We are often portrayed as heroic, willing to put everything at risk for a collective good.” In truth, Law didn’t want to be political but was pushed to speak out. “I don’t have the superpower of always being optimistic or free from harm,” Law says. “The governments arrested my friends in Hong Kong, harassed my family, broke into my family home and took away my mom and my brother.” “There’s been a lot of trauma,” he adds. “One thing that keeps me sane, keeps me going, is that I recognize how important the issue is and the way we fight for it. Everything we do is larger than ourselves.” The documentary, which aired on PBS’ “POV” earlier in the year and is considered a front-runner for an Oscar, began when producer Matthew Torne met Joshua Wong, a 14-year-old at his first protest. “He captivated me with how articulate he was,” Torne says. “I spoke to him, and I spoke to his parents, and we started talking about the possibility of a documentary.” That led to “Joshua, Teenager Versus Superpower,” which came out in 2017. Aligned with Law, Wong introduced him to those in the Umbrella Revolution, and in 2019, 2 million people came out into the streets. “We were like, ‘Wow. OK. The story is not over,’” Torne says. “We always kind of felt the first film was like ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ and, unfortunately, this film was more like ‘The Empire Strike Back,’ in that there’s no happy ending — Joshua is in jail; Agnes Chau, who’s the third key member of this group, has fled, and Nathan is doing his activism in the U.K. as a refugee.” To complete the film, Torne and company had to rely on friends and other contacts to obtain the necessary material. Scenes with Law were shot in what looks like an abandoned building. “We were looking for something that didn’t immediately scream London and that could pass, perhaps, as Hong Kong,” Torne says. “It’s not exactly glamorous, but there’s nothing to distract you from him and what he’s saying.” Law thinks the situation fits the documentary’s theme. “Protesting is not heroic,” Law says. “It’s very rare that I really spill things from the bottom of my heart. Protest is filled with suffering and trauma and failed attempts and unachievable hopes in many instances. I’m a reflection of the movement of Hong Kong. Many people never wanted to protest — not until the Beijing government really forced them and persecuted them to do so. I never wanted to also be a politician.” While a third film — a “Return of the Jedi” look at the situation — is possible, Torne doesn’t hold out hope. “Having said that, authoritarian regimes are notoriously brittle, and they look impenetrable, but they can collapse overnight,” he says. “We saw that with the end of the Berlin Wall. It’s entirely possible that there could be a time when Nathan and I are able to go back to Hong Kong, when Joshua is out of jail, and who knows? But at the same time I would never want to put a date on when that could happen. Even the best academics don’t know.” Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Law continues his efforts. In China, “there are a lot of problems that are unnoticed or unadvertised on the news,” he says. “We are seeing the People’s Republic of China getting in a lot of trouble in terms of its growth, its economic downturn. We will be witnessing a lot of changes in the next decade or two, and maybe some of those changes could lead to a free and democratic Hong Kong and China. The main point is how we can be prepared when it comes.” Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal. Get local news delivered to your inbox!World Chess Championship 2024: D Gukesh, Ding Liren Play Out Another Draw, Scores Tied After Five Games

LPGA, USGA to require players to be assigned female at birth or transition before pubertyIceland is experiencing a crucial electoral moment after a call for early elections, driven by ongoing political instability since the 2008 financial collapse. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson disbanded his coalition following disagreements on key issues, prompting this political shake-up. Despite fierce weather conditions, polling stations remained operational with counting taking place after polls closed. This election, the sixth since the crisis, may signal a major shift, as opinion polls predict a decline in support for current governing parties. Central issues include rising inflation, immigration pressures, and housing shortages, exacerbated by a recent volcano eruption and a booming tourism sector, placing Iceland's political future in a pivotal position. (With inputs from agencies.)

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Police appeared to use pepper spray while trying to break up a wild postgame brawl between Ohio State and Michigan . The Fox Sports broadcast caught Wolverines Tavierre Dunlap and Jason Hewlett on the sideline with tearing eyes after apparently being pepper sprayed by police officers on the field. Multiple reports said pepper spray was used to de-escalate the skirmish after the Wolverines’ 13-10 upset of the No. 2 Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday. Other footage showed Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham seemingly getting pepper sprayed amid the chaos. A third angle shows a police officer pepper-spraying a group of Ohio State players as they try to break up the skirmish. Sports Illustrated senior writer Pat Forde said he was caught in the crossfire. “Just got secondhand pepper sprayed,” Forde wrote on X . The brawl broke out moments after Michigan upset Ohio State as Wolverines players tried to plant their flag on the Buckeye’s logo at midfield. “I don’t know all the details of it, but I know these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t not gonna let that happen,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said after the game. “I’ll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. We certainly were embarrassed of the fact that we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys on this team that weren’t just gonna let that happen.” Multiple players could be seen going at it as security, police and team staff tried to separate them. “For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings said. “That’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose. “You can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game. All that fighting, we had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting. And now people want to talk and fight, that’s wrong. It’s just bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People gotta better.” The ugly scene went on for several minutes before tempers calmed. “Unnecessary gesture by the Wolverines,” Fox play-by-play man Gus Johnson said. “They won the game, no need to be disrespectful.”NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Narin An handled the windy conditions with a hot putter on Thursday, making four straight birdies around the turn and finishing with an 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead in the CME Group Tour Championship. At stake for the 60-player field is a $4 million prize to the winner, the largest single-day payoff in women's golf. Nelly Korda already has won more than that during her sterling season of seven wins. Now she faces an eight-shot deficit over the next three days at Tiburon Golf Club if she wants to end her year in fitting fashion. Korda, coming off a victory last week, couldn't make amends for her three bogeys and had to settle for an even-par 72. She has come from behind in four of her victories, and still has 54 holes ahead of her. But it has made the task that much tougher. Everything felt easy for An, a 28-year-old from South Korea who has never won on the LPGA and has never cracked the top 10 in any of the 16 majors she has played. “Today my putt really good,” An said. “The speed was good and the shape was good. I just try to focus a little bit more.” She had a one-shot lead over Angel Yin, who shot 30 on the back nine, including an eagle on the par-5 17th hole that most players can easily reach in two. Former U.S. Women's Open champion Allisen Corpuz and Marina Alex were at 66, with Lydia Ko leading the group at 67. Despite the wind so typical along the Gulf Coast of Florida, 27 players — nearly half the field — shot in the 60s. “It's a good head start for the big ol' prize we get at the end of the week,” Yin said. Whoever wins this week is assured of breaking the 17-year-old LPGA record for most money earned in season. The record was set by Lorena Ochoa in 2007 at $4,364,994, back when the total prize money was about half of what it is now. Ochoa earned $1 million for winning the Tour Championship in 2007. The opening round followed a big night of awards for the LPGA Tour, where Korda officially picked up her first award as player of the year, which she clinched earlier this month . Ko was recognized for her big year, highlighted by an Olympic gold medal that put her into the LPGA Hall of Fame. She regained plenty of focus for the opening round on a course where she won just two years ago. “The course isn't easy,” Ko said. “I set a goal of shooting 3 under today, and somebody shot 8 under. I was like, ‘OK, maybe I need to make a few more birdies.’ It's a course that can get away from you as much as you can shoot some low scores, so I’m just trying to stick to my game plan and go from there.” Also in the group at 67 was Albane Valenzuela of Switzerland, already celebrating a big year with her debut in the Solheim Cup and her first appearance in the Tour Championship. She made a late run at her first LPGA title last week at Pelican Golf Club, and kept up her form. And she can see the finish line, which is appealing. “I everyone is looking at that $4 million price tag,” Valenzuela said. “I try not to look too much at the result. I feel like in the past I’ve always been stuck on results, and ultimately all I can do is control my own round, my own energy, my own commitment. “It's the last week of the year. It’s kind of the bonus week. No matter what, everyone is having a paycheck.” AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golfThe lack of adequate funding has left many of Levuka’s historic buildings in disrepair, says Special Administrator Nemani Bulivou. He claims that dilapidated structures frequently greet visitors to Levuka, undermining Levuka’s potential as a major tourism destination. Bulivou says the council is grappling with limited funding and unclear responsibilities for maintaining the town’s heritage assets, including over 22 buildings and 11 monuments that date back over a century. Bulivou says the council has identified a need for improved macro-level coordination between local and national agencies. Bulivou highlighted this while making submissions before the Standing Committee on Social Affairs.

The policies, which begin in 2025, follow more than a year of study involving medicine, science, sport physiology and gender policy law. The updated policies would rule out eligibility for Hailey Davidson, who missed qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open this year by one shot and came up short in LPGA Q-school. Davidson, who turned 32 on Tuesday, began hormone treatments when she was in her early 20s in 2015 and in 2021 underwent gender-affirming surgery, which was required under the LPGA's previous gender policy. She had won this year on a Florida mini-tour called NXXT Golf until the circuit announced in March that players had to be assigned female at birth. “Can't say I didn't see this coming,” Davidson wrote Wednesday on an Instagram story. “Banned from the Epson and the LPGA. All the silence and people wanting to stay ‘neutral’ thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence.” By making it to the second stage of Q-school, Davidson would have had very limited status on the Epson Tour, the pathway to the LPGA. The LPGA and USGA say their policies were geared toward being inclusive of gender identities and expression while striving for equity in competition. The LPGA said its working group of experts advised that the effects of male puberty allowed for competitive advantages in golf compared with players who had not gone through puberty. “Our policy is reflective of an extensive, science-based and inclusive approach,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, who announced Monday that she is resigning in January. "The policy represents our continued commitment to ensuring that all feel welcome within our organization, while preserving the fairness and competitive equity of our elite competitions.” Mike Whan, the former LPGA commissioner and now CEO of the USGA, said it developed the updated policy independently and later discovered it was similar to those used by swimming, track and field, and other sports. “It starts with competitive fairness as the North star,” Whan said in a telephone interview. “We tried not to get into politics, or state by state or any of that stuff. We just simply said, ‘Where would somebody — at least medically today — where do we believe somebody would have a competitive advantage in the field?’ And we needed to draw a line. “We needed to be able to walk into any women's event and say with confidence that nobody here has a competitive advantage based on their gender. And this policy delivers that.” The “Competitive Fairness Gender Policy” for the USGA takes effect for the 2025 championship season that starts with the U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball on May 10-14. Qualifying began late this year, though there were no transgender players who took part. “Will that change in the years to come as medicine changes? Probably,” Whan said. “But I think today this stacks up.” The LPGA “Gender Policy for Competition Eligibility” would apply to the LPGA Tour, Epson Tour, Ladies European Tour and qualifying for the tours. Players assigned male at birth must prove they have not experienced any part of puberty beyond the first stage or after age 12, whichever comes first, and then meet limitation standards for testosterone levels. The LPGA begins its 75th season on Jan. 30 with the Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida.Bali Nine members could continue sentences in AustraliaGoalkeeper heads Leyton Orient into FA Cup third round

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DAMASCUS — Thousands of Syrian insurgents moved into Aleppo on Saturday, taking control of significant landmarks such as the historic citadel and the city center, a day after entering Syria's largest city with little resistance from government forces. Residents and fighters reported the insurgents deploying in armored vehicles and pickups across the city. The Syrian military issued a statement acknowledging the insurgents’ advance and announced a redeployment to absorb the attack and prepare for a counteroffensive. The military stated the insurgents had not yet established bases or checkpoints but emphasized its intent to restore security. The insurgents' surprise takeover is a major blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad, who had regained full control of Aleppo in 2016 after a brutal campaign. The city, a former opposition stronghold, had been under government control since then, making the insurgents’ push a significant setback. The offensive, launched Wednesday in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside, saw insurgents capture dozens of villages before reaching Aleppo. Fighters were seen removing posters of Assad and raising opposition flags over the Aleppo Citadel, a symbol of the city’s heritage and history. Late Friday, airstrikes targeted insurgent reinforcements on Aleppo’s outskirts, killing 20 fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Residents reported clashes and sporadic gunfire in parts of the city. Some civilians fled the fighting, with schools and government offices closing on Saturday. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that Aleppo’s airport was shut down, flights were suspended, and hospitals were overwhelmed with patients, while many private medical facilities closed due to the instability. Opposition fighters were seen celebrating in Aleppo’s streets, firing into the air but deploying security forces to prevent looting. Videos shared on social media showed insurgents visiting residents to reassure them of their safety. The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in eastern Syria reported that nearly 3,000 people, most of them students, had fled Aleppo for Kurdish-controlled areas. The city has a sizable Kurdish population, adding another layer of complexity to the ongoing conflict. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its warplanes killed 200 militants during strikes on Friday but provided no further details. — Agencies < Previous Page Next Page >