Barnstable scores 23 as St. Thomas downs Bowling Green 93-68After years of being a mobile-only series, Infold Games is launching the big new open world adventure Infinity Nikki on PC next month. The developer is celebrating the near fruition of several years of work with a short documentary looking back on Nikki's journey to a bigger new Miraland and way more platforms. Infinity Nikki's development journey began in December 2019, Infold Games' chief technology officer Fei Ge says, when the series' producer expressed interest in working on an open world Nikki game. "At that time the project was kept a secret," Fei says. "So we rented an additional workspace of about 50 to 60 square meters separate from our main office. Then we gradually began recruiting and assembling our initial team, working on ideas, laying the foundation and building the infrastructure. We continued in this way for over a year." It's common enough for developers to work on a game for multiple years before publicly announcing it—which Infold Games did with the first Infinity Nikki trailer two years later in 2022—but it does sound a little like this massive new direction for the series was at least a little secret from the rest of the team for a period of time, too. I've no doubt it was quite the undertaking for a formerly mobile gacha dress up series to expand into the whole open world adventure that Infinity Nikki has become. Infold details some parts of that journey in the rest of the development documentary: how its producer sculpted a miniature version of its giant Millewish Tree area out of clay as inspiration for developers in the office and how its musicians traveled to Hungary to incorporate certain instruments into the soundtrack. You'll also spot in the doc some of the external talent that Infold worked with: Kentaro "Tomiken" Tominaga, designer on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Andrzej Dybowski, a concept artist from The Witcher 3. Those are some powerful resume namedrops to call in. As it goes for pre-release development docs, this is of course mostly fluff and getting to hear from developers all the parts of the game they were excited to work on. Though I will say I'm pretty psyched to see the Millewish tree area in-game at launch. Truly, nothing beats a really bigass tree with a village inside it. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Infinity Nikki has been referring to itself as "the coziest open-world game" and though I had some initial fears about the freemium gacha game style barging into cozy gaming, I am ultimately as weak as anyone else and have wound up rather excited about the possibility of Nikki leading the way for dress-up games on PC . We'll find out soon enough if my called shot has any merit, because Infinity Nikki is launching on December 5 on mobile, PS5, and PC through Epic Games or its standalone launcher. Oh, and not for nothing, but if you're a gacha pro who knows the ropes, make sure to bookmark my list of Infinity Nikki codes where I'll be logging the launch giveaways you'll be able to redeem as soon as they're announced.Stock market today: Wall Street rises to records despite tariff talk
Cowboys set to host Bengals under open roof after falling debris thwarted that plan against TexansNoneEvion Group raising up to $2.7 million to fund graphite expansion and development
NoneB.C. Conservative leader faces test after colleagues' letter attacks Surrey MLA
That bowl berth against Iowa State is a let-down for fans with dreams of a sixth national title in their minds, as well as players hoping to compete for a championship. However, Miami’s trip to Orlando and the lead-up to it are still crucial periods for the Hurricanes for multiple reasons. First, it’s a chance for the program to achieve something it has not done in more than two decades: win 11 games. Although the 11th win won’t get them closer to a championship, it is a good sign of the program’s progress over Mario Cristobal’s tenure. It would also end UM’s five-game losing streak in bowls. “We’re not satisfied,” Cristobal said. “We want to win every single game. We won 10. We were close on the other two, but close isn’t good enough. We want progress. We’re hungry and driven to get better, and so that’s what our focus is on: to improving as a football program, to getting better, to moving into the postseason with an opportunity against a great football team like this and putting our best on the field.” There are signs the Hurricanes will show up at close to full strength for the bowl game. Running back Damien Martinez announced he was going to play, and star quarterback Cam Ward said in a video call posted on social media that he intends to play, as well. “We’re trying to win our first bowl game in 20 years,” Ward said in the video, mistaking the length of UM’s long bowl losing streak. “We’re going hard.” Playing in the bowl game also provides the opportunity for the Hurricanes to get in several practices between now and the game. That means Miami can develop its young players and prepare them for next season during both the practices and the bowl game itself. “It’s extremely valuable,” Cristobal said. “You really don’t have many opportunities throughout the course of the year — time is limited more and more each season with your student-athletes. I want to state this and be very clear: it’s very important, it’s ultra-important for the University of Miami to continue to develop and grow and progress by stressing the importance of offseason opportunities ... You learn a lot about your team and learn a lot about your people and your program when you head to the postseason.” Of course, there are potential negatives. Players can get hurt; Mark Fletcher Jr. suffered a foot injury in the Pinstripe Bowl last year that cost him all of spring practice. A poor performance can also potentially set the tone for next season, like how Florida State, fresh off a playoff snub last year, suffered a devastating loss against Georgia in the Orange Bowl and went on to a dismal 2-10 season this year. “This is the ending of ’24 and the beginning of ’25,” Cristobal said. “This is the last opportunity to be on the field and carry some momentum into the offseason. So it is, in essence, it is the most important game because it’s the next game. “There’s a lot of excitement in the form of opportunity for our guys. Our guys love to play football. The chance to play one more time with this special group — this is a special group of guys now. They’ve worked hard to really change the trajectory of the University of Miami, and they want to continue to elevate the status and the culture at the University of Miami. So certainly a ton to play for.” ____Greene to lead subcommittee taking on government spending
Ruben Amorim reiterated Manchester United's commitment to the Rainbow Laces campaign but also defended the squad for showing solidarity with Noussair Mazraoui. Mazraoui refused to wear a rainbow-themed Adidas anthem jacket in support of the LGBQT+ community before the Premier League win over Everton last week, citing his Muslim faith. Rather than make Mazraoui feel isolated, the United players decided to scrap plans to wear the jacket during the Premier League's Rainbow Laces initiative. The Rainbow Devils supporters group said it was "a great disappointment... to all those who had worked hard at the club to deliver this event" and expressed their "worry what kind of negative effect this incident might have on any player at the club who may be struggling with their sexuality". Amorim addressed the nuanced issue at his pre-match press conference for the Nottingham Forest game on Friday. READ MORE: Amorim close to settling on United first XI READ MORE: United missing three players as Amorim pays tribute to Kath Phipps "I wasn’t," Amorim replied when asked if he was involved in the discussions. "It was a group decision as players, as it should be. and then there’s three difficult things to manage. "On one side, it’s club values and I think all can agree that it’s not an issue. But then you have religion, which you have to respect. It’s our values to respect other opinions. "And then the third thing is the group thing: 'I won’t leave Nous alone, we’re a team'. The majority of the players believe in one thing but they saw one guy alone and said let’s be together. "It’s three things we have to manage and respect. It’s a hard issue to address. I think we did it in a good way. We need to respect everything but we also to respect the religion of Nous and his culture." When the prospect of a repeat was raised ahead of the next Rainbow Laces campaign next season, Amorim added: "I don’t know if Nous is going to change his religion and his beliefs. I don’t know. "We will address at the time if it comes but it’s a really hard decision. But there’s no doubt what this club believes and fights for."
Arsenal star Gabriel mocks Man Utd transfer target during Champions League heroics - The MirrorMANCHESTER, England — Manchester City’s players were booed by their own fans Tuesday after blowing a three-goal lead against Feyenoord in the Champions League to extend their winless run to six games. Jeers rang around the Etihad Stadium after the final whistle of a dramatic 3-3 draw. After five-straight losses in all competitions, City looked to be cruising to victory after going three up inside 50 minutes. But Feyenoord mounted an improbable comeback and leveled the game in the 89th minute to leave the home crowd stunned. While the worst losing streak of Guardiola’s managerial career was brought to an end, his wait for a first win since Oct. 26 goes on. Erling Haaland had scored twice, with Ilkay Gundogan also on target to put City in control. But goals from Anis Hadj Moussa in the 75th, Santiago Gimenez in the 82nd and David Hancko in the 89th turned the game on its head. City’s players, including Bernardo Silva, Josko Gvardiol and Haaland looked visibly frustrated as they left the field to cheers of the delirious traveling Dutch fans in the away section of the stadium. City plays Premier League leader Liverpool on Sunday — defeat would leave it 11 points adrift of its title rival. Source: APSixth-year seniors preparing for final home game
Hill scores 26 as Arkansas State knocks off Coastal Carolina 97-67A high-tech factory in central Russia has created a new, deadly force to attack Ukraine: a small number of highly destructive thermobaric drones surrounded by huge swarms of cheap foam decoys. The plan, which Russia dubbed Operation False Target, is intended to force Ukraine to expend scarce resources to save lives and preserve critical infrastructure, including by using expensive air defense munitions, according to a person familiar with Russia’s production and a Ukrainian electronics expert who hunts them from his specially outfitted van. Neither radar, sharpshooters nor even electronics experts can tell which drones are deadly in the skies. Here’s what to know from AP’s investigation: Unarmed decoys now make up more than half the drones targeting Ukraine and as much as 75% of the new drones coming out of the factory in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, according to the person familiar with Russia’s production, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the industry is highly sensitive, and the Ukrainian electronics expert. The same factory produces a particularly deadly variant of the Shahed unmanned aircraft armed with thermobaric warheads, the person said. During the first weekend of November, the Kyiv region spent 20 hours under air alert, and the sound of buzzing drones mingled with the boom of air defenses and rifle shots. In October, Moscow attacked with at least 1,889 drones — 80% more than in August, according to an AP analysis tracking the drones for months. Russia launched 145 drones Nov. 16 across Ukraine, just days after the reelection of Donald Trump threw into doubt U.S. support for the country. Since summer, most drones crash, are shot down or are diverted by electronic jamming, according to an AP analysis of the Ukrainian military briefings. Fewer than 6% hit a discernible target, according to the data analyzed by AP since the end of July. But the sheer numbers mean a handful can slip through every day — and that is enough to be deadly. Tatarstan’s Alabuga zone, an industrial complex about 600 miles east of Moscow, is a laboratory for Russian drone production. Originally set up in 2006 to attract businesses and investment to Tatarstan, it expanded after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and some sectors switched to military production, according to satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press. In social media videos, the factory promoted itself as an innovation hub. But David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said Alabuga’s current purpose is purely to produce and sell drones to Russia’s Ministry of Defense. The videos and other promotional media were taken down after an AP investigation found that many of the African women recruited to fill labor shortages there complained they were duped into taking jobs at the plant. Russia and Iran signed a $1.7 billion deal for the Shaheds in 2022 after President Vladimir Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine, and Moscow began using Iranian imports of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in battle later that year. Soon after the deal was signed, production started in Alabuga. The most fearsome Shahed adaptation so far designed at the plant is armed with thermobarics, also known as vacuum bombs, the person with knowledge of Russian drone production said. The plan to develop unarmed decoy drones at Alabuga was developed in late 2022, according to the person with knowledge of Russian drone production. Production of the decoys started earlier this year, said the person, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Now the plant turns out about 40 of the unarmed drones a day and about 10 armed ones. From a military point of view, thermobarics are ideal for going after targets that are either inside fortified buildings or deep underground. They create a vortex of high pressure and heat that penetrates the thickest walls and, at the same time, sucks out all of the oxygen in their path. Alabuga’s thermobaric drones are particularly destructive when they strike buildings, because they are also loaded with ball bearings to cause maximum damage even beyond the superheated blast. Serhii Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian electronics expert more widely known as Flash whose black military van is kitted out with electronic jammers to down drones, said the thermobarics were first used over the summer and estimated they now make up between 3% and 5% of all drones. They have a fearsome reputation because of the physical effects even on people caught outside the initial blast site: collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage, according to Arthur van Coller, an expert in international humanitarian law at South Africa’s University of Fort Hare. For Russia, the benefits are huge. An unarmed drone costs considerably less than the estimated $50,000 for an armed Shahed drone and a tiny fraction of the cost of even a relatively inexpensive air defense missile. One decoy with a live-feed camera allows the aircraft to geolocate Ukraine’s air defenses and relay the information to Russia in the final moments of its mechanical life. And the swarms have become a demoralizing fact of life for Ukrainians. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s Cabinet begins to take shape, those on both sides of the abortion debate are watching closely for clues about how his picks might affect reproductive rights policy in the president-elect’s second term . Trump’s cabinet picks offer a preview of how his administration could handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail. He attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to states on abortion policy, even while boasting about nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down the constitutional protections for abortion that had stood for half a century. In an NBC News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he doesn’t plan to restrict medication abortion but also seemed to leave the door open, saying “things change.” “Things do change, but I don’t think it’s going to change at all,” he said. The early lineup of his new administration , including nominations to lead health agencies, the Justice Department and event the Department of Veterans Affairs, has garnered mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups. Abortion law experts said Trump’s decision to include fewer candidates with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement could indicate that abortion will not be a priority for Trump’s administration. “It almost seems to suggest that President Trump might be focusing his administration in other directions,” said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood Action Fund , said while many of the nominees have “extensive records against reproductive health care,” some do not. She cautioned against making assumptions based on Trump’s initial cabinet selections. Still, many abortion rights groups are wary, in part because many of the nominees hold strong anti-abortion views even if they do not have direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They’re concerned that an administration filled with top-level officials who are personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and funding. After Trump’s ambiguity about abortion during his campaign, “there’s still a lot we don’t know about what policy is going to look like,” said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. That approach may be revealed as the staffs within key departments are announced. Trump announced he would nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which anti-abortion forces have long targeted as central to curtailing abortion rights nationwide. Yet Kennedy shifted on the issue during his own presidential campaign. In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports abortion access until viability , which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks, although there is no defined timeframe. But he also said “every abortion is a tragedy” and argued for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a stance he quickly walked back. The head of Health and Human Services oversees Title X funding for a host of family planning services and has sweeping authority over agencies that directly affect abortion access, including the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The role is especially vital amid legal battles over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President Joe Biden’s administration has argued requires emergency abortion access nationwide, and FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Kennedy an “unfit, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and reproductive freedom of American families.” His potential nomination also has caused waves in the anti-abortion movement. Former Vice President Mike Pence , a staunch abortion opponent, urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the group had its own concerns about Kennedy. “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary,” she said. Fox News correspondent Marty Makary is Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, which plays a critical role in access to medication abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups have accused him of sharing misinformation about abortion on air. Russell Vought , a staunch anti-abortion conservative, has been nominated for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025 , a right-wing blueprint for running the federal government. Among other actions to limit reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, cutting Medicaid funding for abortion and restricting access to contraceptive care, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUD’s. Despite distancing himself from the conservative manifesto on the campaign trail, Trump is stocking his administration with people who played central roles in developing Project 2025. Trump acknowledged that drafters of the report would be part of his incoming administration during the Sunday interview with NBC News, saying “Many of those things I happen to agree with.” “These cabinet appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was in fact the blueprint all along, and the alarm we saw about it was warranted,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All. Dr. Mehmet Oz , Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former television talk show host who has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products. He voiced contradictory abortion views during his failed Senate run in 2022. Oz has described himself as “strongly pro-life, praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade , claimed “life starts at conception” and referred to abortion as “murder.” But he also has echoed Trump’s states-rights approach, arguing the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves,” he said during a Senate debate two years ago. An array of reproductive rights groups opposed his Senate run. As CMS administrator, Oz would be in a key position to determine Medicaid coverage for family planning services and investigate potential EMTALA violations. Related Articles National Politics | Honor after exoneration: Port Chicago sailors’ fight for justice isn’t over National Politics | In promising to shake up Washington, Trump is in a class of his own National Politics | Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results National Politics | Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president National Politics | With Trump on the way, advocates look to states to pick up medical debt fight As Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi defended abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. Now she’s Trump’s choice for attorney general . Her nomination is being celebrated by abortion opponents but denounced by abortion rights groups concerned she may revive the Comstock Act , an anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that, among other things, bans mailing of medication or instruments used in abortion. An anti-abortion and anti-vaccine former Florida congressman, David Weldon, has been chosen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects and monitors abortion data across the country. Former Republican congressman Doug Collins is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid a political battle over abortion access and funding for troops and veterans. Collins voted consistently to restrict funding and access to abortion and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “This is a team that the pro-life movement can work with,” said Kristin Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion organization Students for Life.