Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

LONDON (AP) — A little more than two years ago, Amanda Anisimova took a break from tennis because of burnout. A year ago, working her way back into the game, the American lost when she had to go through qualifying for Wimbledon because her ranking of 189th was too low to get into the main bracket automatically.Look at Anisimova now: She’s a Grand Slam finalist for the first time after upsetting No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a compelling contest at a steamy Centre Court on Thursday.In Saturday’s final, Anisimova will face Iga Swiatek, who is a five-time…

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has pledged not give up on the Formula 1 title fight until it’s mathematically impossible for Max Verstappen to win, even after Christian Horner was fired as team principal.In the first sign of the team’s ambitions after ending Horner’s 20-year tenure and appointing Laurent Mekies, Marko dismissed suggestions Thursday that the move might mark a shift of focus to 2026.“As for the current sporting situation: there are still twelve races to go, and we will continue to fight for the drivers’ championship as long as it’s mathematically possible,” Marko said in comments released by…

Violet Benson always struggled to hear in her left ear, but it took her years to realize how big the problem was — and even longer to do something about it. The Daddy Issues meme account creator, podcaster and author — her book comes out next year — kept her hearing loss secret from most people until her 30s. It was only this summer that Benson revealed to her millions of Instagram followers that she’d recently been fitted with a hearing aid.Getting the device, and opening up to her audience, gave Benson back much more than her hearing. In this interview…

Elon Musk’s company, xAI, launched its generative chatbot, Grok, in November 2023, joining competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic in the global AI race.People interact with Grok on X, where users of Musk’s social media site can ask the bot questions and receive answers. Because Grok’s answers are more visible than those of its competitors, it has seen more public scrutiny.From the instructions Grok’s “tutors” are given to help train the chatbot to the AI’s latest update, here’s everything we know about xAI’s Grok.What is Grok?Grok is actually two different things. First, Grok is xAI’s large language model, which has so far…

As the AI talent wars rage on, Google and other tech giants are shelling out top dollar to lure top talent.Google has long been revered within Silicon Valley for its generous compensation packages, and its DeepMind unit even resorted to aggressive noncompetes in the UK.At the same time, Google has made changes to its compensation processes in recent months as others in the tech industry — like Meta and Microsoft — have sought to weed out low performers.In April, the search giant changed the way it ranked employees in their yearly performance reviews. Its head of compensation told staff in…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — One hundred years ago, a public high school teacher stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching human evolution. His nation is still feeling the reverberations today.The law books record it as State of Tennessee v. John T. Scopes. History remembers it as the “ Monkey Trial.” The case ballooned into a national spectacle, complete with a courthouse showdown between a renowned, agnostic defense attorney and a famous fundamentalist Christian politician who defended the Bible on the witness stand.In a sweltering, pre-air conditioning courtroom, the trial became a linchpin for a tense debate that wasn’t just a…

Google has launched a suite of its AI-powered advertising tools in India, which debuted in the U.S. in May, as the repeal of the “Google tax” has made the South Asian market more attractive to global tech firms selling online ads. In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, as a move to address some of the trade concerns raised by the Trump administration. The United States Trade Representative had criticized the levy by calling it “discriminatory and unreasonable,” as domestic companies were exempt. Its repeal would ease costs for tech giants, including…

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, late on Wednesday released its latest flagship AI model, Grok 4, and unveiled a new $300-per-month AI subscription plan, SuperGrok Heavy. Grok is xAI’s answer to models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and can analyze images and respond to questions. In recent months, Grok has become more deeply integrated into Musk’s social network, X, which was recently acquired by xAI. However, that has also put Grok’s misbehavior front and center for millions of users. The expectations are high for Grok 4. The latest AI model from xAI will be stacked up against OpenAI’s forthcoming AI model, GPT-5,…

GENEVA (AP) — Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday in her seven-year legal fight against track and field’s sex eligibility rules.The court’s 17-judge highest chamber said in a 15-2 vote that Semenya had some of her rights to a fair hearing violated at Switzerland’s Supreme Court, where she had appealed against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in favor of track’s World Athletics.Her case should now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne — to be watched closely by other sports which…

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian universities would lose government funding unless they address attacks on Jewish students and potential immigrants would be screened for political affiliations under recommendations to the government made public on Thursday aimed at curbing antisemitism.Antisemitic incidents including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation had surged more than threefold in Australia in the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported.Synagogues and cars have been torched, businesses and homes have been graffitied and Jews have been attacked in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities where 85% of the…