LOS ANGELES >> Lakers teammates Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul of the Rockets were suspended without pay today for an on-court fight.

Ingram was suspended four games, Rondo will sit out three games and Paul two games. The NBA handed down the punishments a day after the incident in the fourth quarter at Staples Center.

The incident is costliest to Paul, who will be fined a total of $491,782. Paul is president of the NBA Players’ Association. He began serving the suspension today when the Clippers played the Rockets.

Rondo will be fined a total of $186,207, while Ingram’s total is $158,816.

Ingram and Rondo will start their suspensions Monday night when the Lakers host the San Antonio Spurs.

The league said Ingram was suspended for aggressively escalating the altercation and throwing a punch in the direction of Paul, confronting referee Jason Phillips in a hostile manner, and instigating the overall incident by shoving Rockets guard James Harden.

Rondo has been suspended for instigating a physical altercation with Paul, and spitting and throwing multiple punches at the Rockets star. Paul was suspended for poking at and making contact Rondo’s face and throwing multiple punches at him.

The Rockets led 109-108 with 4:13 remaining when Ingram fouled Harden and then shoved him and confronted Phillips after getting a technical foul.

Ingram, Paul and Rondo were all ejected. Houston won 124-115, spoiling the Lakers’ home debut for LeBron James.

Ingram’s suspension is the most for an on-court incident since Metta World Peace leveled James Harden in a game at Staples Center in April 2012.

Paul and Rondo have been adversaries before, going back to 2009 when Paul played for New Orleans and Rondo was with Boston. They got tangled up in the second quarter of a game then, and tensions were high when the game was over, with players like Paul Pierce needing to get between the two before everyone left the court.

A fire that killed a 33-year-old mother and her 9-month-old daughter last week in Kaimuki was caused by leaked propane vapor, the Honolulu Fire Department said today.

HFD Capt. Scot Seguirant said the propane vapor was ignited by an electrical water heater. He said fire investigators have concluded their investigation and determined the cause of the fire was accidental.

The blaze started at about 8:10 a.m. Wednesday at 733 A Laukaha St. and arriving firefighters found the woman’s body in the garage and the baby in the living room.

The victims were identified as Connie Moribe Wharton and her daughter Sophia, the wife and daughter of Honolulu Police Lt. Nathan Wharton, who was not home at the time.

Firefighters estimated the fire caused about $720,000 in damage.

Friends of the family have organized a celebration of life for Connie Wharton and her daughter from 4 to 10 p.m. Nov. 4 at Artistry Honolulu in Kakaako. Organizers said the funds will go to Nathan Wharton for funeral and other expenses.

ISTANBUL >> In a sign of growing pressure on Saudi Arabia, Turkey said it will announce details of its investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday and U.S. congressional leaders said the Gulf kingdom — in particular its crown prince — should face severe consequences for the death of the writer in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The announcement today by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will “go into detail” about the Khashoggi case in a speech in parliament heightened hopes for some clarity in a case that has been shrouded in mystery, conflicting accounts and shocking allegations since Khashoggi, a critic of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared after entering the consulate on Oct 2.

Erdogan spoke after Saudi Arabia, in a statement early Saturday, finally acknowledged that 59-year-old Khashoggi had died in the consulate, though its explanation that he was killed in a “fistfight” was met with international skepticism and allegations of a cover-up designed to absolve Prince Mohammed of direct responsibility. Saudi Arabia said 18 Saudis were arrested and that several top intelligence officials were fired.

Pro-government media in Turkey have reported a different narrative, saying a Saudi hit squad of 15 people traveled to Turkey to kill the columnist for The Washington Post before leaving the country hours later in private jets.

“Why did these 15 people come here? Why were 18 people arrested? All of this needs to be explained in all its details,” Erdogan said.

Meanwhile, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor summoned 28 more staff members of the Saudi consulate, including Turkish citizens and foreign nationals, to give testimony on Monday, Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported. Prosecutors have previously questioned consulate staff; some Turkish employees reportedly said they were instructed not to go to work around the time that Khashoggi disappeared.

Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency reported today that Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, has been given 24-hour police protection.

Also today, images that were obtained by TRT World, a Turkish news channel that broadcasts in English, showed Khashoggi as he arrived at a police barrier before entering the consulate on Oct. 2. The images, taken from security camera video, show the writer being searched before continuing toward the building.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Fox News that Khashoggi’s killing was “a rogue operation” and that “we don’t know where the body is.’”

“The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he said. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable to the government.”

However, a leading U.S. Senate Republican said the Saudi explanation, which followed initial denials from the kingdom that it knew anything about Khashoggi’s fate, wasn’t credible.

Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Saturday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he believed Prince Mohammed, the heir-apparent of the world’s largest oil exporter, was behind the killing.

The crown prince has “now crossed a line and there has to be a punishment and a price paid for that,” Corker said. He also urged Turkey to turn over purported audio recordings of Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The existence of such evidence has been reported in Turkish media in a series of leaks, though Turkish officials have yet to confirm they have recordings.

“The Turks have been talking more to the media than they have us,” Corker said of the NATO ally.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the killing should be a “relationship-altering” event for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which has said it will retaliate against any economic sanctions or other moves against it.

“We ought to suspend military sales, we ought to suspend certain security assistance and we ought to impose sanctions on any of those that were directly involved in this murder,” Schiff said.

U.S. President Donald Trump had also talked about possible punishment but said he didn’t want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia because, he maintained, it would harm U.S. manufacturers. He initially said he believed the Saudi account. Speaking late Saturday after a campaign rally in Nevada, Trump said he needs to learn more about the killing and will be working with Congress on the U.S. response. He also said he will talk soon to Prince Mohammed.

Britain, Germany and France issued a joint statement condemning the killing of Khashoggi, saying there is an “urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened.”

In a statement today, the governments said attacks on journalists are unacceptable and “of utmost concern to our three nations.” They said the “hypotheses” proposed so far in the Saudi investigation need to be backed by facts to be considered credible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin today that she supports a freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

MANILA, Philippines >> A Philippine court has rejected a petition by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration to have his fiercest critic in the Senate arrested, in a legal setback for Duterte that the senator called a victory for democracy.

In Monday’s ruling, Regional Trial Court Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano denied the government’s petition to have opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV arrested after Duterte voided his 2011 amnesty for his role in past mutinies as a former navy officer. Soriano debunked Duterte’s premise that Trillanes never formally applied for amnesty and acknowledged guilt.

A beaming Trillanes said, “The rule of law won and democracy won.”

Another court upheld Duterte’s petition last month and ordered Trillanes arrested for a similar rebellion charge on which he was bailed out.

BOSTON >> Most players are questioned ahead of their World Series debuts. Manny Machado was cross-examined.

October’s villain is especially despised at Fenway Park for planting his spikes into Dustin Pedroia in April 2017 . The Boston second baseman hasn’t been the same.

“That’s old history,” Machado said today, deflector shields raised.

He’s Manny the Masher, Manny the Miscreant and Macho Manny all in one, whacking baseballs, opponents and questions.

Wearing a blue Los Angeles Dodgers World Series hoodie and gray pants, arms crossed, he sat between teammates Yasiel Puig and Ross Stripling, surrounded by a scrum of inquirers in the Pavilion Room on the 106-year-old ballpark’s fourth level. Even with stubble on his chin and lips, Machado’s face looked boyish. His hair was styled into cornrows at the top and a crew cut on the side.

With hard slides at second base against Milwaukee and a foot planted on the heel of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar, Machado acquired notoriety far exceeding the attention he gained as a four-time All-Star infielder with Baltimore. He even earned condemnation from Pete Rose, whose own rambunctious play included running over Ray Fosse in an All-Star Game.

“I don’t think going in hard is the same as dragging your left foot, to kicking the guy’s foot off the bag,” Rose said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t know Manny Machado, so I don’t know if he’s a dirty player or if he’s not. But I just thought when he hit the first baseman’s foot it was kind of unnecessary.”

A few weeks from becoming a free agent at the age of 26, Machado’s actions could signal a giant “caveat emptor” sign to suitors, warning them buyer beware.

When he took out Pedroia during a slide at Baltimore on April 21 last year, Machado spiked his surgically repaired left knee and calf. Pedroia missed the next three games and has been limited to 92 games since.

“I know how I hurt my knee and I know what happened. That’s it. We all know,” Pedroia said.

Machado’s response was out of “The Godfather:” business, not personal.

“We’re not friends,” he said.

Because of what happened?

“That’s a good one, man. That’s a good one. That’s a really good one,” he said, chuckling.

Anger festered. Two days after the slide, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a fastball behind Machado’s head and was suspended for four games.

When the teams met that May 2, Chris Sale threw a pitch behind Machado’s legs, and Machado criticized the Red Sox during a postgame interview that included 22 profanities in a 75-second span. He called Boston’s behavior “coward stuff” and said “I’ve lost my respect for that organization, for that coaching staff, for everyone over there.”

“We have bigger things to worry about now on both sides,” Sale said ahead of his start in Tuesday night’s opener. “We’re not worried about any individual player.”

Machado, as the saying goes, responded with his bat. He homered over the Green Monster and out of Fenway Park later in the series, then took a leisurely 29.8-second stroll around the bases . Machado’s eight homers at Fenway are tied for his most at an opposing ballpark.

“For me to put something over that one, it’s pretty cool,” he said.

Machado drew renewed scrutiny in the NL Championship Series. He failed to run hard on a grounder in Game 2, then made a pair of hard slides into Milwaukee’s Orlando Arcia in Game 3 while the shortstop was attempting to turn double plays. While Arcia made a wild throw on the second after Machado clipped a knee with a hand, umpires called a double play following a video review.

During an interview broadcast on FS1 before Game 4 , Machado admitted, “I’m not the type of player that’s going to be Johnny Hustle and run down the line and slide to first base,” and added: “That’s just not my personality. That’s not my cup of tea. That’s not who I am.”

In the 10th inning of that night’s game, he kicked Aguilar on the back of a leg while running out a groundout. He was fined $10,000 by the commissioner’s office, according to a person familiar with the discipline. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the penalty was not announced.

“He’s a player that has a history of those types of incidents,” Milwaukee star Christian Yelich said. “One time is an accident. Repeated over and over and over again, you’re just a dirty player. It’s a dirty play by a dirty player.”

Booed repeatedly when the series returned to Milwaukee, Machado surprised in Game 7 when he bunted on a 3-2 pitch from Jhoulys Chacín leading off the second inning and reached without a throw in 3.96 seconds, his fastest home-to-first time this year. It was the first full-count bunt single since Kansas City’s Nori Aoki on May 29, 2014, and Cody Bellinger followed with a two-run homer that put the Dodgers ahead to stay.

“I can’t say what I really want to say,” Machado explained in the jubilant clubhouse, “I know you want me to say it. You want a big story to write tomorrow. … He quick-pitched me. I’m going to drop one down. I know it was a little ballsy. But anything to win, and it came out perfect.”

He was acquired from Baltimore on July 18 to replace injured shortstop Corey Seager. Machado hit .297 with 37 homers and 107 RBIs in the regular season, and he batted .250 with three homers and nine RBIs in 11 playoff games.

He’s done what was expected, “has a good way to channel that for the positive,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Machado’s answers to most everything are similar: whatever it takes.

“I’m here to play baseball,” he said. “I’m here to win a World Series. I’m here to bring a parade to the city of Los Angeles.”

And then, perhaps, leave.

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump said today the U.S. would begin “cutting off, or substantially reducing” aid to three Central American nations over a migrant caravan heading to the U.S. southern border.

Trump tweeted: “Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.”

The three countries received a combined more than $500 million in funding from the U.S. in fiscal year 2017, though it was not immediately clear how much Trump is seeking to cut.

The tweets this morning marked the latest escalation by the president, who is seeking to re-inject immigration politics into the national conversation in the closing weeks of the midterm elections.

On a three-day campaign swing to Western states last week, Trump raised alarm over thousands of migrants traveling through Mexico to the U.S. and threatened to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border if they weren’t stopped.

As the migrants continued their northward march about 900 miles from the U.S. border, Trump tweeted that, “Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan.

He added: “I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy.” White House officials could not immediately provide details.

A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, said the Pentagon has received no new orders to provide troops for border security.

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m.

Police have initiated an attempted murder investigation in connection with a shooting that occurred in Waikiki Sunday night.

Police said a man was on break from work when he was shot by an unknown suspect who was a passenger in a vehicle.

The shooting occurred in the area of Dukes Lane and Kalakaua Avenue at approximately 9:27 p.m.

Police said the suspects fled in a blue Toyota. The victim told police the model of the car was either a Camry or an Avalon.

Police said the gunshot victim was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

There are no arrests at this time.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

An 18-year-old man was taken to a hospital after he sustained a gunshot wound in Waikiki Sunday night.

Emergency Medical Services responded to the area of Dukes Lane and Kalakaua Avenue shortly before 9:30 p.m.

Paramedics provided advanced life-saving treatment to the victim and took him in serious condition to a trauma hospital.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Sunday that she changed her mind recently and took a DNA test proving her heritage because Americans’ trust in government is “at an all-time low” and she wanted to help rebuild it by being transparent.

The incumbent Massachusetts senator spoke at her second debate against Republican state Rep. Geoff Diehl in the U.S. Senate race.

She was asked by a moderator why she had said, in March, that no DNA test was needed to prove she had some Native American heritage. She said she ultimately took the test, reporting the result last week that showed a relative six to 10 generations ago was Native American.

Ultimately, she said, she took a DNA test because she believes one way to rebuild trust in government is by posting her full family history online “so anybody can take a look. … I believe one way that we try to rebuild confidence is through transparency.”

Diehl shot back that the issue “is not about Sen. Warren’s ancestry, it’s about integrity in my mind, and I don’t care whether you think you benefited or not from that claim, it’s the fact that you tried to benefit from that claim that I think bothers a lot of people and it’s something you haven’t been able to put to rest since the 2012 campaign,” when she first mentioned having Native American heritage that led President Donald Trump to start mocking her by calling her “Pocahontas.”

He added, “I don’t care what percentage she claims to be Native American; I just care that I’m 100 percent for Massachusetts and will be working for the people of this state.”

Trump’s silent presence dominated the debate, with Diehl saying it’s “obvious” she doesn’t want to be senator, but rather, president. “She’s been campaigning in states that are more important to her than Massachusetts,” he said.

On Sunday, the two candidates also touched on the subjects of climate change, gun safety, health care and racism, with generally opposing views they have exchanged in the past. But a rather surprising topic on which they agreed was the legalization of marijuana, with both supporting the right of states to legalize it.

“I think this is a states’ rights issue,” Diehl said, adding that he is referring to medical and recreational marijuana.

Warren has backed a federal bill that asks the government to cede to a state once it legalizes marijuana.

Warren, 69, is running for her second six-year term in the Senate and is a potential 2020 candidate for president. She has been a frequent critic of Trump.

Diehl, 49, co-chaired Trump’s 2016 Massachusetts presidential campaign.

Independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai is also on the ballot for the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

The debate, the second between Warren and Diehl in three days, was sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Media Consortium in the studios of WGBY-TV in Springfield and moderated by WGBY’s Carrie Saldo.

ISTANBUL >> Just hours after writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, a man strolled out of the diplomatic post apparently wearing the columnist’s clothes as part of a macabre deception to sow confusion over his fate, according to surveillance video leaked today.

The new video broadcast by CNN, as well as a pro-government Turkish newspaper’s report that a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office from the consulate around the same time, put ever-increasing pressure on the kingdom. Meanwhile, Turkish crime-scene investigators swarmed a garage today in Istanbul where a Saudi consular vehicle had been parked.

All this came on the eve of Prince Mohammed’s high-profile investment summit in Riyadh, which has seen a raft of the world’s top business leaders decline to attend over the slaying of the writer for The Washington Post. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also has promised that details of Khashoggi’s killing “will be revealed in all its nakedness” in an address he’ll make before parliament around the same time Tuesday.

“We are faced with a situation in which it was a brutally planned (killing) and efforts were made to cover it up,” said Omer Celik, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party. “God willing, the results will be brought into the open, those responsible will be punished and no one will dare think of carrying out such a thing again.”

The kingdom’s announcement Saturday that Khashoggi died in a “fistfight” was met with international skepticism and allegations of a cover-up to absolve the 33-year-old crown prince of direct responsibility.

Turkish media reports and officials maintain that a 15-member Saudi team flew to Istanbul on Oct. 2, knowing Khashoggi would enter the consulate to get a document he needed to get married. Once he was inside, the Saudis accosted Khashoggi, cut off his fingers, killed and dismembered the 59-year-old writer, according to Turkish media reports.

Surveillance video on CNN showed the man in Khashoggi’s dress shirt, suit jacket and pants, although he wore a different pair of shoes. It cited a Turkish official as describing the man as a “body double” and a member of the Saudi team sent to Istanbul to target the writer. The man walks out of the consulate via its back exit with an accomplice, then takes a taxi to Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque, where he goes to a public bathroom, changes back out of the clothes and leaves. He later eats dinner with his accomplice and goes back to a hotel, where footage shows him smiling and laughing.

The state-run broadcaster TRT later also reported that a man who entered the consulate was seen leaving the building in Khashoggi’s clothes.

In the days after Khashoggi vanished, Saudi officials initially said he had left the consulate by its back door. Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Khalid bin Salman, a brother of the crown prince, wrote Oct. 8 that Khashoggi had left, and that claims the kingdom “have detained him or killed him are absolutely false, and baseless.”

The fact that the Saudi team would allegedly have a man walking around in Khashoggi’s clothes would suggest a premeditated plot to kill the writer.

A separate report today by newspaper Yeni Safak said Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage seen on trips to the U.S., France and Spain this year, made the calls from the consulate. The newspaper said the four calls went to Bader al-Asaker, the head of Prince Mohammed’s office. It said another call went to the United States.

Yeni Safak cited no source for the information. However, pro-government newspapers have been leaking information about Khashoggi’s killing, apparently with the help of Turkish security forces. Yeni Safak reported last week that Saudi officials cut off Khashoggi’s fingers and then decapitated him at the consulate as his fiancée waited outside.

Officials in Saudi Arabia have not answered repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press in recent days, including today. Saudi Arabia so far has not acknowledged or explained Mutreb’s presence in Istanbul or the presence of a forensics and autopsy expert at the consulate before Khashoggi arrived.

Last week, a leaked photo apparently taken from surveillance footage showed Mutreb at the consulate, just ahead of Khashoggi’s arrival. Mutreb’s name also matches that of a first secretary who once served as a diplomat at the Saudi Embassy in London, according to a 2007 list compiled by the British Foreign Office.

By nightfall, Turkish police began searching an underground car parking garage in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district. Surveillance footage on TRT showed what Turkish security officials described as suspicious actions, including an image of a man moving a bag from one vehicle to another.

Meanwhile, Saudi state media reported that both Prince Mohammed and King Salman made calls to Khashoggi’s son, Salah, early today. Statements from the agency said both the king and the crown prince expressed their condolences for Khashoggi’s death.

A Saudi friend of Khashoggi who was in frequent touch with him before his death told the AP that Salah Khashoggi had been under a travel ban and barred from leaving the kingdom since last year as a result of his father’s criticism of the government. The friend spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussion. The Saudi statements did not acknowledge the ban.

Five Turkish employees of the consulate also gave testimony to prosecutors today, Turkish media reported. Istanbul’s chief prosecutor had summoned 28 more staff members of the Saudi Consulate, including Turkish citizens and foreign nationals, to give testimony. Some Turkish employees reportedly said they were instructed not to go to work around the time that Khashoggi disappeared.

MEXICO CITY >> Authorities rushed to evacuate low-lying areas and set up shelters as an “extremely dangerous” Hurricane Willa with winds of 145 mph (230 kph) headed toward a Tuesday afternoon landfall along a stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast dotted with high-rise resorts, surfing beaches and fishing villages.

Farther south, meanwhile, Mexican officials reported late tpday that there had been 12 deaths related to heavy rains from Tropical Storm Vicente.

Willa briefly reached Category 5 strength, then weakened a bit to Category 4. But the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that it still was likely to bring “life-threatening storm surge, wind and rainfall” to parts of west-central and southwestern Mexico.

Workers taped up windows in hotels and officials ordered schools closed in a low-lying region where towns sit amid farmland tucked between the sea and lagoons. A decree of “extraordinary emergency” was issued for 19 municipalities in Nayarit and Sinaloa states, the federal Interior Department announced.

Officials said 7,000 to 8,000 people were being evacuated from low-lying areas, mostly in Sinaloa state.

The hurricane was expected to first pass over or near the Islas Marias, a group of islands about 60 miles (96 kilometers) offshore that include a nature preserve and a federal prison. Forecasters said Willa would then blow ashore in late afternoon somewhere along a 140-mile (220-kilometer) stretch from the resort city of Mazatlan to San Blas.

Enrique Moreno, mayor of Escuinapa, a municipality of about 60,000 people lying on Willa’s potential track, said officials were trying to evacuate everybody in the seaside village of Teacapan. He estimated 3,000 were affected but he expected some would try to stay.

“The people don’t want to evacuate, but it’s for their security,” he said.

About 60 miles (100 kilometers) up the coast in Mazatlan, with a metropolitan-area population of about 500,000, Mayor Jose Joel Boucieguez said officials prepared shelters and were closely monitoring low-lying areas. Mazatlan is a popular vacation spot and home to a large number of American and Canadian expatriates.

Late Monday, Willa was centered about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of the Islas Marias and 195 miles (310 kilometers) south-southwest of Mazatlan. It was moving north at 9 mph (15 kph), but was forecast to make a turn to the northeast during the night.

Hurricane-force winds extended 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the storm’s core, and tropical storm-force winds were up to 125 miles (205 kilometers) out.

The U.S. hurricane center warned that Willa could bring 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain — with up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) in some places — to parts of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa states, with flash flooding and landslides possible in mountainous areas.

Farther to the south, a weakening Tropical Storm Vicente was expected to dissipate soon, but it still caused heavy rainfall that caused dangerous flooding in southern and southwestern Mexico.

Officials in Oaxaca state said seven adults and five children had lost their lives in drownings or mudslides.

CLEMSON, S.C. >> The floor of a condominium clubhouse near Clemson University collapsed during a large private party early Sunday, hurtling dozens of people into the basement, authorities said.

About 30 people were taken to local hospitals after the center of the floor caved in at the clubhouse near the South Carolina university. Clemson City Police said nobody was trapped and none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Video posted on social media shows a large part of the first floor falling as people danced, causing many of them to tumble to the floor below.

Clemson sophomore Larissa Stone told the Independent Mail of Anderson that the room was “packed” and a popular song was playing when the floor collapsed.

“So everyone was jumping. The beat was about to drop and literally the whole floor collapsed,” she said. “It happened so quickly. I stood up, and everyone was trying to climb out. People are under other people. People are hurt. People are bleeding. I had blood on my sneakers. It was really bad.”

Partygoers screamed, and those who didn’t fall stood around the remaining edges of the floor and stared below in shock. Some people standing on the sidelines pulled out their cellphones to record the floor collapse.

A witness who attended the party said people were jumping and he heard a sudden “boom.”

“All you seen was falling, everybody’s hands up in the air,” Franzie Pendergrass told WYFF News 4.

Leroy Pearson said he went to try to help injured people and saw what he thought looked like broken ankles and legs.

“It was crazy,” Pearson said.

Police said the clubhouse at The Woodlands, about three miles from Clemson, had been leased for a private party.

Property manager Tal Slann told The Associated Press that the condominium complex was built in 2004-2005. He said he could not comment on whether there was a limit on the number of people who were supposed to use the clubhouse at one time.

“I can tell you there was a party. I can tell you there was a floor collapse. There were injuries. They were not life-threatening. Nobody was trapped,” he said.

Police said they were called about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Ambulances rushed to the scene.

Slann sent residents of The Woodlands an email saying the floor in front of the clubhouse fireplace had collapsed during a party.

“The Clubhouse and pool area is OFF LIMITS to all,” said a copy of the email texted to the AP. “The clubhouse will be inspected by structural engineers as soon as possible. From there, the homeowner’s association will determine how to rebuild the clubhouse to make it safe for all residents. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who were injured and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

RALEIGH, N.C. >> Kansas coach Bill Self sees big holes when he looks at his roster after losing three starters, including Associated Press All-American Devonte’ Graham.

The voters in the AP Top 25 poll see something different: a roster restocked so well that Jayhawks will start the season as the nation’s top team.

Kansas checked in at No. 1 in the preseason poll released today, earning the top spot to start a season for the third time in program history, all under Self. The Jayhawks topped the ballot for 37 of 65 voters, nearly double that of No. 2 Kentucky.

“Obviously we lost a lot off last year’s team with Devonte’, Svi (Mykhailiuk) and Malik (Newman), so I’m a little surprised that the writers put us there this preseason,” Self said in a statement to the AP. “It’s definitely a spot we welcome and certainly know the goal is to be playing to that ranking by when it counts the most.

“With the young players, we know it’s going to take some time before we’re anywhere close to where we’re going to be, but I do like this team and I think we have a chance to be very good.”

The Jayhawks return veteran starters in junior 7-footer Udoka Azubuike and senior Lagerald Vick from a team that reached its first Final Four since 2012. They’re also adding transfer help from Memphis twins Dedric and K.J. Lawson as well as California’s Charlie Moore — all double-digit scorers on their previous teams.

And yet, the previous two times the Jayhawks started at No. 1 didn’t end well. The 2004-05 squad lost to Bucknell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And the 2009-10 team that held the top spot for 15 of 19 weeks overall and won 33 games lost to Northern Iowa in the second round.

The ranking comes as the program finds itself entangled in the federal corruption case tied to payments used to steer recruits to certain schools. Testimony during the recent first trials included references to Self and sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa, though Self isn’t charged with wrongdoing and it’s unclear if De Sousa’s status will be affected.

CLEAR CHOICES

Voters established a clear top tier: Kansas, Kentucky, No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 4 Duke. Those four teams appeared in some combination at the top of nearly half the ballots (32 of 65).

John Calipari’s latest group of touted recruits helped the Wildcats earn 19 first-place votes to open as a top-5 team for the eighth straight season.

Gonzaga’s ranking is the program’s highest in a preseason AP poll, though the Zags have reached No. 1 during the regular season before. As for Duke, the Blue Devils had started No. 1 in each of the past two preseason AP polls.

The points gap between the Jayhawks and the Blue Devils (129 points) at fourth was slimmer than between Duke and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference program Virginia (166 points) at No. 5.

FRESH START

Speaking of Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers, one of the biggest things to watch will be how well Virginia responds to the most historic of tournament losses.

The Cavaliers ended the regular season as the unanimous AP No. 1-ranked team and the No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed, yet somehow became the first 1-seed to lose to a No. 16 against UMBC. Bennett said all the right things about learning from that moment. And his team returns Kyle Guy (14.1 points), Ty Jerome (10.6 points) and its best NBA prospect in sophomore De’Andre Hunter.

Virginia has its highest preseason AP ranking since Ralph Sampson’s final team opened at No. 1 in 1982-83.

LOFTY START

The Martin twins are back along with Jordan Caroline, and that has Nevada starting the year with the program’s highest ever AP poll ranking at No. 7 after last year’s NCAA Sweet 16 run .

CHAMPS AT 9

No Jalen Brunson, no Mikal Bridges, no Final Four most outstanding player Donte DiVincenzo. And yet reigning national champion Villanova checks in at No. 9.

The Wildcats still have Eric Paschall and Phil Booth back while adding Albany graduate transfer Joe Cremo. There’s also a bit of respect built into this ranking, both for the stature of program Jay Wright has developed (two national championships in three seasons) and for the Wildcats’ dominating romp through the postseason.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The ACC had the most teams ranked of any conference: Duke, Virginia, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 15 Virginia Tech (its highest spot since the 1995-96 season), No. 16 Syracuse, No. 17 Florida State and No. 22 Clemson.

The Southeastern Conference was next up with five teams: Kentucky, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 11 Auburn (the program’s highest ranking since 2000), No. 18 Mississippi State and No. 23 LSU.

The Big 12 had four (Kansas, No. 12 Kansas State, No. 13 West Virginia and No. 20 TCU), while the Big Ten and Pac-12 each had three, led by No. 10 Michigan State and No. 14 Oregon, respectively.

THE WATCH LIST

Hello again to Porter Moser, Sister Jean and Loyola (Chicago), last year’s Final Four surprise. The Ramblers were only three points behind No. 25 Washington, putting them just outside the poll.

Marquette was next with high-scoring junior Markus Howard back, while Archie Miller’s second year at Indiana has the Hoosiers lurking nearby as well.

Several power-conference teams like Florida, Nebraska, Maryland and Wisconsin could find their way into the poll with a few early wins.

WASHINGTON >> LGBT leaders across the U.S. reacted with fury today to a report that the Trump administration is considering adoption of a new definition of gender that would effectively deny federal recognition and civil rights protections to transgender Americans.

“I feel very threatened, but I am absolutely resolute,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Rights, said at a news conference convened by more than a dozen activist leaders. “We will stand up and be resilient, and we will be here long after this administration is in the trash heap.”

The activists, who spoke amid posters reading “#Won’tBeErased”, planned a protest march to the White House later in the day.

The Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged months ago that it was working to rewrite a federal rule that bars discrimination in health care based on “gender identity.” It cited a Texas-based federal judge’s opinion that the original rule went too far in concluding that discrimination based on gender identity is a form of sex discrimination, which is forbidden by civil rights laws.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the agency was circulating a memo proposing that gender be defined as an immutable biological condition determined by a person’s sex organs at birth. The election-year proposal would define sex as either male or female, and any dispute about one’s sex would have to be clarified through genetic testing, according to the Times’ account of the memo.

The department was terse in its response, saying it did not comment on “alleged leaked documents.” It did release a statement from Roger Severino, the head of its Office for Civil Rights, saying his agency was reviewing the issue while abiding by the 2016 ruling from the Texas-based federal judge, Reed O’Connor.

LGBT activists, who pledged legal challenges if the reported memo leads to official policy, said several other courts had issued rulings contrary to O’Connor’s.

“For years, courts across the country have recognized that discriminating against someone because they are transgender is a form of sex discrimination, full stop,” said Diana Flynn, Lambda Legal’s litigation director. “If this administration wants to try and turn back the clock by moving ahead with its own legally frivolous and scientifically unsupportable definition of sex, we will be there to meet that challenge.”

Shannon Minter, a transgender attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the reported plan a “cynical political ploy to sow discord and energize a right-wing base” before the Nov. 6 election.

“The fact that the court ruling by a single federal district court judge was issued nearly two years ago only underscores the suspiciousness of this timing,” Minter said.

LGBT-rights leaders viewed it as the latest Trump administration attack on transgender Americans. Among the others are an attempt to ban them from military service; a memo from Attorney General Jeff Sessions concluding that civil rights laws don’t protect transgender people from discrimination on the job; and the scrapping of Obama-era guidance encouraging school officials to let transgender students use school bathrooms that matched their gender identities.

According to Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, the proposed rule change appears to be undergoing White House review and would need to be signed off by the departments of Justice, Labor and Education, which are also involved with civil rights enforcement.

He said “the purpose of this rule is to erase transgender people from existence, to write them off from federal law, and to institute a definition that is contrary to case law, contrary to medical and scientific understanding, and contrary to the lived experience of transgender people.”

While social mores enter into the debate, medical and scientific experts have long recognized a condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from sex-reassignment surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.

According to an estimate by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, there are about 1.4 million transgender adults in the United States.

WASHINGTON >> Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, has stepped back from public life.

For more than a decade after leaving the court in 2006, O’Connor kept up an active schedule: serving as a visiting federal appeals court judge, speaking on issues she cared about and founding her own education organization. But the 88-year-old, for more than two decades often the deciding vote in important cases, is now fully retired. She made her last public appearances over two years ago.

This summer she turned over an office she had kept at the Supreme Court to the court’s most recently retired justice, Anthony Kennedy.

Her son Jay O’Connor said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press that his mother, like many who reach their upper 80s, began to have challenges with her short-term memory. That made some public events more difficult. Hip issues have meant she now primarily uses a wheelchair. And she now stays close to her home in Phoenix, he said.

“When she hit about 86 years old she decided that it was time to slow things down, that she’d accomplished most of what she set out to do in her post-retirement years, that she was getting older physically and her memory was starting to be more challenging, so the time came to dial back her public life,” said Jay O’Connor. His mother is no longer doing interviews.

Over about the past year, Jay O’Connor and his brother Brian cleared out O’Connor’s Supreme Court office and went through hundreds of boxes of files and other items she had in the building’s basement. A gavel used at her 1981 confirmation hearing, her Presidential Medal of Freedom and T-shirts made annually by an exercise class she started at the high court are among the items O’Connor has now donated to the court’s collection, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.

O’Connor was a state court judge before being unanimously confirmed to the Supreme Court at 51. She had graduated third in her class from Stanford Law School and was the first woman to lead the Arizona state senate. On the Supreme Court, her votes were key in cases about abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance as well as the Bush v. Gore decision effectively settling the 2000 election in George W. Bush’s favor.

She was 75 when she announced her retirement from the court in 2005. It was a decision influenced by the decline in the health of her husband, John O’Connor III, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Her departure was a moment not unlike Kennedy’s retirement this summer. The fellow Reagan appointees were moderate conservatives who often held the key vote in high-profile cases. O’Connor’s retirement and replacement by Justice Samuel Alito shifted the court right, making Kennedy’s vote the often-pivotal one. Kennedy’s replacement by Justice Brett Kavanaugh is expected to shift the court right again.

For her part, O’Connor wasn’t always delighted with the court’s more conservative direction after she left. Asked at a 2009 event how she felt about the court retreating from or undoing rulings she was instrumental in shaping, she responded: “What would you feel? I’d be a little bit disappointed. If you think you’ve been helpful, and then it’s dismantled, you think, ‘Oh, dear.’ But life goes on. It’s not always positive.”

After the court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling allowing corporations to spend freely on elections for Congress and president, she told an audience: “Gosh, I step away for a couple of years and there’s no telling what’s going to happen.” Still, that year she told an interviewer that she didn’t “regret for one minute” retiring when she did.

O’Connor found other ways to make a mark off the court. In 2009, the same year her husband died, she founded the group iCivics, which promotes civic education in schools through free, educational online games. O’Connor has called it “the most important work I’ve ever done.” Last year, the group’s 19 games were played by 5 million students.

Even as she was championing iCivics, O’Connor was working on other projects. She wrote a children’s book and a book about the history of the court. She served as a visiting appeals court judge, participating in more than 175 cases on appeals courts nationwide. And she campaigned to persuade states that judges should be appointed, not elected, to preserve judicial independence.

One of the last times O’Connor made public comments was in 2016, after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. Interviewed by an Arizona television station, O’Connor was asked what she thought about Republican senators’ argument that the conservative justice’s seat should be filled not by President Barack Obama but his successor because the vacancy happened in a presidential election year. She said she disagreed.

“I think we need somebody there, now, to do the job, and let’s get on with it,” she said, a recommendation Republicans didn’t heed, holding the seat open until President Donald Trump could choose Scalia’s successor, Neil Gorsuch.

Though O’Connor has stepped back from public life, the court’s other retired justices have varying degrees of public presence. David Souter, 79, lives in New Hampshire but rarely speaks publicly. Kennedy, 82, has already started making post-retirement appearances. Florida resident John Paul Stevens is still making appearances at 98.

Three women now serve on the Supreme Court, a development O’Connor approved of.

“It’s all right to be the first to do something, but I didn’t want to be the last woman on the Supreme Court,” she said in 2012.

MANCHESTER, England >> Speaking publicly for the first time since being accused of rape, Cristiano Ronaldo defended himself against the allegation and said today he is confident the truth will come out in the case.

The soccer superstar has been accused of rape in the United States. Kathryn Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit last month in Nevada claiming Ronaldo raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police also reopened an investigation into the allegation at her request.

Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter S. Christiansen, issued a statement on Oct. 10 denying wrongdoing by his client.

“I’m not going to lie in this situation,” Ronaldo said at a news conference ahead of a Champions League match between his Italian team, Juventus, and former club Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday. “I’m very happy. My lawyers, they are confident and of course I am, too. The most important, is I enjoy the football, I enjoy my life. The rest, I have people who take care of my life.

“Of course, the truth is always coming in the first position.”

Christiansen declined comment. Attorneys Leslie Mark Stovall and Larissa Drohobyczer, representing Mayorga, did not immediately respond to messages.

Ronaldo previously had confronted the allegations in an Instagram video posted Oct. 3, hours after the suit was filed.

“Fake. Fake news,” the five-time world player of the year said at that time.

Christiansen has branded documents that led to media reports about the rape claim “complete fabrications” and asserted that the encounter in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse bedroom was consensual. Attorneys for Mayorga have challenged Ronaldo’s legal team to prove that documents are false.

Ronaldo joined Juventus in the offseason from Real Madrid. He has scored five goals in nine matches for the Italian champion, and two in three matches since being accused of rape.

Asked about his status as a soccer role model, the 33-year-old Ronaldo said today: “I know I am an example. I know, 100 percent. On the pitch and outside the pitch. So I am always smiling, I am happy man. I’m blessed that I play in a fantastic club, I have a fantastic family, I have four kids, I am healthy. I have everything.”

“So the rest, it doesn’t interfere on me,” he added, before saying with a smile: “I’m very, very well.”

Ronaldo is returning to Old Trafford for the second time since leaving United to join Real Madrid in 2009. The first time was for the second leg of a Champions League last 16-match between United and Madrid in 2013, when he was given a standing ovation by United fans and introduced as the “magnificent seven” — a reference to the number he had at the English club.

Ronaldo scored the winning goal that night, eliminating United.

The Portugal forward has won the Champions League five times, once with United in 2008 and then at Madrid in 2014, ‘16, ‘17 and this year.

“I remember what it was like in Manchester. My history, we won lots of trophies, cups, leagues and the Champions League. I remember the support of the fans. (Then-United manager) Sir Alex (Ferguson) is someone I will never forget. He was a huge lift in my career.

“When I knew we were playing Manchester United, it was a huge thing for me.”