
NASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler birdied every hole but the par 3s on the front nine at Albany Golf Club on Friday and finished his bogey-free round with an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge. Two months off did nothing to slow the world's No. 1 player. Scheffler already has eight victories this year and is in position to get another before the end of the year. Scheffler was at 13-under 131, two ahead of Akshay Bhatia (66) and Justin Thomas (67), both of whom had to save par on the 18th hole to stay in range going into the weekend. Scheffler started with a lob wedge to 2 feet for birdie and never slowed until after he went out in 29 to seize control of the holiday tournament against a 20-man field. Scheffler cooled slightly on the back nine, except it didn't feel that way to him. "Front nine, just things were going my way. Back nine, maybe not as much," Scheffler said. "A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things." People are also reading... Asked if he felt any frustration he didn't take it lower — he once shot 59 at the TPC Boston during the FedEx Cup playoffs — Scheffler sounded bemused. "I think in this game I think a lot of all y'all are looking for perfection out of us," he said. "Today I shot 8 under on the golf course, not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there — clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall, I think I'm pretty pleased." Thomas felt his 67 was stress-free, particularly the way he was driving the ball. The wind laid down again, rare for the Bahamas, though it is expected to pick up on the weekend. Thomas wasn't concerned to see Scheffler get off to a hot start, especially with three par 5s on the front nine and a short par 4 that at worst leaves a flip wedge to the green. "You literally can birdie every hole as soft as the greens are," Thomas said. "He's a great player, a great wedge player, and you have a lot of birdie holes to start. I'm honestly surprised he only shot 8 under. It's a sneaky course because if you fall asleep on some shots, you can get out of position. But if you're on and focused and really in control of everything — like these last two days with no wind — you can just make so many birdies." Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had a 67 and was four shots behind. No matter how benign the conditions, it wasn't always easy. Cameron Young, who opened with a 64 for a two-shot lead, followed with a 75 despite making five birdies. That included a double bogey on the final hole when his approach tumbled down the bank into the rocks framing the lake that goes all the way down the 18th hole. Patrick Cantlay was trying to keep pace playing alongside Scheffler, but he had three bogeys over the final seven holes and fell seven shots behind with a 71. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is unofficial but offers world ranking points to all but the bottom three players because of the small field. It's the weakest field in 25 years, but Scheffler at No. 1 gives it enough cachet. He is the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish a year at No. 1 in the world. And even after a layoff — giving him time to tinker with a new putting stroke — it looks like it might be a while before anyone changes that. Be the first to know
Beyond the superficial trappings of fame, Xue Jianing and Zhao Lusi's friendship is a beacon of authenticity in an industry often plagued by superficiality and rivalry. Their willingness to support each other through thick and thin, celebrating each other's successes and offering a shoulder to lean on during tough times, is a rare and precious treasure that deserves to be cherished.
In the case of the bathhouses in Zhengzhou, the sudden onset of symptoms among multiple patrons raises red flags about potential carbon monoxide exposure. This situation not only poses a serious health risk to the individuals affected but also raises questions about the safety measures in place at these establishments.Taobao, the largest online retail platform under the Alibaba Group, is known for its diverse range of products, from fashion and beauty to electronics and home goods. Throughout the Double 12 period, Taobao is pulling out all the stops to attract shoppers with massive discounts on popular items, limited-time promotions, and interactive games that offer additional savings. Consumers can look forward to a seamless shopping experience on Taobao, complete with convenient payment options and fast delivery services.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to experience the magic of "Ming Dynasty: Wings of Abyss" for yourself. Prepare to be dazzled by the beauty of its world, challenged by the intensity of its combat, and drawn into a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Join us as we embark on this unforgettable journey through the annals of history and uncover the secrets of the Ming Dynasty.
One of the crucial factors pointing towards a stock market bottom is the stabilization of economic fundamentals. Despite the challenges posed by the current global economic climate, there are signs of recovery and resilience in various sectors. Companies are adapting to new ways of operating, governments are implementing stimulus packages, and consumers are gradually regaining confidence. These positive developments are laying the groundwork for a potential market rebound.
NEW YORK (AP) — He's making threats, traveling abroad and negotiating with world leaders. has more than a month and a half to go before he's sworn in for a second term. But the Republican president-elect is already moving aggressively not just to fill and outline policy goals, but to achieve . Trump has on goods from Canada and Mexico, prompting emergency calls and a visit from Canada's prime minister that resulted in what Trump claimed were commitments from both U.S. allies on new border security measures. The incoming president has if, before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, Hamas does not release the hostages being held in Gaza . He has the purchase of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, warning "Buyer Beware!!!” And this weekend, Trump was returning to the global stage, for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral five years after it was ravaged by a fire. On Saturday, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron — joined at the last minute by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and had plans to see Britain's Prince William also in Paris. Absent in Paris: lame duck President Joe Biden, who has largely disappeared from headlines, except when he issued a , Hunter, who was facing sentencing for gun crimes and tax evasion. First lady Jill Biden is attending in his place. “I think you have seen more happen in the last two weeks than you’ve seen in the last four years. And we’re not even there yet,” Trump said in . For all of Trump's bold talk, though, it is unclear how many of his efforts will bear fruit. The pre-inauguration threats and deal-making are highly unusual, like so much of what Trump does, said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University. “Transitions are always a little complicated in this way. Even though we talk about one president at a time," he said, “the reality is one president plus. And that plus can act assertively sometimes." Zelizer said that is particularly true of Trump, who was president previously and already has relationships with many foreign leaders such as Macron, who invited both Trump and Biden to Paris this weekend as part of the Notre Dame celebration. “Right now he’s sort of governing even though he’s not the president yet. He’s having these public meetings with foreign leaders, which aren't simply introductions. He's staking out policy and negotiating things from drug trafficking to tariffs," Zelizer said. Trump already has met with several foreign leaders, in addition to a long list of calls. Argentinian President in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club in November. After the tariff threat, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a three-hour dinner meeting. Canadian officials later said the country is ready to make new investments in border security, with plans for more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers. Last Sunday, Trump dined with Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister. Incoming Trump aides have also been meeting with their future foreign counterparts. On Wednesday, several members of Trump's team, including incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz, met with Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelenskyy, in Washington, as Ukraine tries to win support for its ongoing efforts to defend itself from Russian invasion, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Yermak also met with Trump officials in Florida, . That comes after Trump's incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, about a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza, according to a U.S familiar with the efforts, meeting with the prime ministers of both countries. There is no prohibition on incoming officials or nominees meeting with foreign officials, and it is common and fine for them to do so — unless those meetings are designed to subvert or otherwise impact current U.S. policy. Trump aides were said to be especially cognizant of potential conflicts given their experience in 2016, when interactions between Trump allies and Russian officials came under scrutiny. That included a phone call in which Trump's incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, discussed new sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, suggesting things would improve after Trump became president. Flynn was later charged with lying to the FBI about the conversation. Trump’s incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, “All transition officials have followed applicable laws in their interactions with foreign nationals.” She added: “World leaders recognize that President Trump is returning to power and will lead with strength to put the best interests of the United States of America first again. That is why many foreign leaders and officials have reached out to correspond with President Trump and his incoming team.” Such efforts can nonetheless cause complications. If, say, Biden is having productive conversations on a thorny foreign policy issue and Trump weighs in, that could make it harder for Biden “because people are hearing two different voices” that may be in conflict, Zelizer said. Leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin and Netanyahu may also anticipate a more favorable incoming administration and wait Biden out, hoping for more a better deal. It also remains unclear how extensively the Biden administration has been kept apprised of Trump transition efforts. Although there is no requirement that an incoming administration coordinate calls and meetings with foreign officials with the State Department or National Security Council, that has long been considered standard practice. That is, in part, because transition teams, particularly in their early days and weeks, do not always have the latest information about the state of relations with foreign nations and may not have the resources, including interpretation and logistical ability, to handle such meetings efficiently. Still, the Biden and Trump teams have been talking, particularly on the Middle East, with the incoming and outgoing administrations having agreed to work together on efforts to free hostages who remain in held in Gaza, according to a U.S. official, who, like others, was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. That includes conversations between Witkoff and Biden’s foreign policy team as well as Waltz and Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Last month, Biden administration officials said they had kept Trump’s team closely apprised of efforts to broker a on the Israel-Lebanon border. “I just want to be clear to all of our adversaries, they can’t play the incoming Trump administration off of the Biden administration. I’m regularly talking to the Biden people. And so, this is not a moment of opportunity or wedges for them," Waltz said Friday in a Fox Business interview. But when it comes to immigration, Biden administration officials haven’t been entirely in the loop on discussions around how to execute on Trump’s pledge to deport millions of migrants, according to four administration officials with knowledge of the transition who spoke on condition of anonymity. That’s not terribly surprising given how differently the teams view migration. Trump’s team, meanwhile, is already claiming credit for everything from gains in the stock and to a decision by diversity, equity and inclusion policies Trump opposes. “Promises Kept — And President Trump Hasn’t Even Been Inaugurated Yet,” read one press release that claimed, in part, that both Canada and Mexico have already pledged "immediate action” to help “stem the flow of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and deadly drugs entering the United States." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has stopped short of saying Trump mischaracterized their call in late November. But she said Friday that Trump “has his own way of communicating, like when we had the phone call and he wrote that we were going to close the border. That was never talked about in the phone call.” Earlier this week, Mexico carried out what it claimed was its largest seizure of fentanyl pills ever. Seizures over the summer had been as little as 50 grams per week, and after the Trump call, they seized more than a ton. Security analyst David Saucedo said that "under the pressure by Donald Trump, it appears President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is willing to increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures that Washington is demanding.” Biden, too, tried to take credit for the seizure in a statement Friday night. ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Colleen Long and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.Musk's millions for Trump make him biggest US political donorWe regularly answer frequently asked questions about life in the era of COVID-19. If you have a question you’d like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: “Coronavirus Questions.” See an archive of our FAQs here. I just never got the latest COVID booster. Should I go for it? And when should I get it for maximum holiday protection when traveling and partying? If you’re among those who haven’t rolled up a sleeve for the latest version of the vaccine — which rolled out in September — you’ve got plenty of company. A Dec. 2 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that in the U.S., for example, just under 20% of eligible people have gotten the updated vaccine, which was formulated to include a strain of the original virus and one from recently circulating variants. “That uptake is nowhere near where it should be,” says Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. And who’s eligible? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, everyone 6 months and older. You may be wondering: Do I really need it if I’m in good health? Data shows that COVID vaccines are protective against severe disease and long COVID, reducing the risk of an emergency room or clinic visit — and the risk of death. Plus, “potentially preventing any COVID infection keeps you from being sick, getting long COVID and making someone sick who could really be at risk,” says Jeffrey Townsend, a professor of evolutionary biology and head of a lab at the Yale School of Public Health that has been studying COVID throughout the pandemic. But maybe you’ve just had COVID...And you’re wondering. Isn’t that giving me enough protection? Just as protection from the COVID-19 vaccine decreases with time, so does immunity after an infection.. Philadelphia-area health experts see shift in attitudes on vaccination in ‘post-COVID’ era Misinformation, distrust in medical providers, politics and experiences during the height of COVID are playing into people’s views of vaccination, experts say. 3 months ago If you’re ready to go for a jab, you might have a few questions. Like: Which of the three available vaccines to go for? There are MRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna and a non- MRNA version from Novavax. (mRNA vaccines use mRNA created in a laboratory to teach our cells how to make a protein — or even just a piece of a protein — that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. The Novavax vaccine is based on an older technology. “Between the two mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer, there is no reason to get one over the other,” says Andrew Pekosz, vice chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “The [MRNA vaccines] target the same variant, are similarly effective and elicit similar side effects.” Pekosz adds that the Novavax protein-based vaccine will also “generate immune responses that recognize current variants,” noting adding that people who have had a particularly adverse response to a previous mRNA vaccine might consider the Novavax vaccine as an alternative, as protein-based vaccines generally don’t induce as strong side effects. As for timing, if you’d like maximum protection for end-of-year travel and partying, keep in mind that it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to be fully effective. And while COVID isn’t surging at the moment in the U.S. and other places, Dr. Hopkins says winter outbreaks are expected — a winter surge has always been part of COVID’s timetable. Meanwhile, if you’ve had a recent COVID infection you have a different vaccine timeline. Because you develop antibodies to the virus after a COVID infection, the CDC says people “may wait” three months after an infection to get the vaccine. That’s because the immune response to the new dose will be strongest if your antibodies are waning. There’s a new study that looks at vaccine timing. The study is geared toward a future time when COVID has a clear season where it regularly peaks (as flu does), but it does contain relevant info on so-called “breakthrough” infections — when you catch COVID soon after being vaccinated. In the study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases , study author Jeffrey Townsend and his team recommend a timetable: for someone who got a booster in September, then caught COVID between October and April. The optimal time for the next dose is the following mid-to-late September. For breakthrough infections between mid-May and early September, the wait time before the next booster falls to six months because of the likelihood of a winter outbreak. Townsend says the study’s recommendations are different than the CDC’s because the agency looked at when antibodies begin to fall, and the study looked at when antibodies fall to the level where you’d be vulnerable to reinfection. But the study does not offer official guidance so a conversation with your doctor might be in order. “Many of my colleagues have discussed that timing of vaccination relative to infection is something we need to be taking into account more,” says Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease researcher at Stanford Medical School. He advises people to test if they have COVID symptoms in part so they can fine tune their vaccine schedule. “Doctors have to take into consideration what’s unique to the patient in front of them,” says Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health For example, people who are immunocompromised may be advised to boost more frequently since their antibodies can wane faster. And people who are 65 and older have been advised by the CDC to get a second dose of the new booster six months after the first. Montgomery County faith leaders and independent pharmacists bring vaccines to people’s homes with new program The vaccine program is open to all county residents and offers shots for COVID, flu, RSV and other diseases. 2 months ago Of course, even having a debate over whether to get an updated vaccine is a rich world problem. Rachel Weintraub, an associate professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School says that while most countries haven’t reported their uptake of booster doses, the educated guess is that boosters are not widely available in low- or middle-income countries. For one thing, COVAX, the program that deployed vaccines in lower- and middle-income countries, closed up shop at the end of 2023. “In many countries,” says Weintraub, the COVID vaccine shifted into the regular immunization program with some countries choosing to prioritize vaccines for other conditions.” Weintraub says that when COVAX closed, only 57% of eligible folks had received two doses in low- and middle-income countries, compared to a global average of 67%. And even in the U.S. there’s no guarantee that the supply of boosters or messaging to promote them will continue. Jennifer Kates, senior vice president and director of the Global Health & HIV Policy Program at health research group KFF, says the next administration “has significant authority to affect both the availability of COVID vaccines and messaging about their importance, authority that will undoubtedly influence individual behavior and state and local decisions.” Kates says the FDA Commissioner has the authority to approve and authorize new formulations of COVID vaccines and the CDC Director has the authority to set recommendations for the public. “Messaging around vaccines is an important [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] function, and the frequency, cadence, content, and channels of such messaging will set the scene for how vaccines are received by the public.” And while doctors’ offices often no longer stock COVID vaccines, says Rebecca Weintraub, many pharmacies do, and you can often schedule an appointment on line. If you are insured, your insurance will cover the cost so long as the pharmacy or doctor is in network. No insurance? Call your local health department to ask about free or low-cost options. (Without insurance the cost is over $200 — the federal government no longer covers the cost for everyone as it did at the height of the pandemic.) Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., and a regular contributor to NPR. She also reports for the Washington Post and Verywell Health . Find her on Twitter: @fkritz Never miss a moment with the WHYY Listen App! Play, pause, and rewind the live radio stream, access on-demand audio features, and dive into podcasts from both local and national sources. WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.
Furthermore, Kounde's adaptability and willingness to contribute in the final third have not gone unnoticed by his teammates. Captain Sergio Ramos praised the young defender for his dedication and work ethic, stating that Kounde's attitude on and off the pitch sets a positive example for the rest of the squad.