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A historic day for African basketball, with South Sudan, Cape Verde getting World Cup wins

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation, only gaining its independence 12 years ago. Cape Verde is one of the world’s least-populated nations, with fewer residents than any country that qualified for the Basketball World Cup.They stood tall on Monday at the World Cup — both nations winning games at FIBA’s biggest tournament for the first time.It was a double-dose of history for African basketball: South Sudan beat China 89-69 at Manila and Cape Verde beat Venezuela 81-75 at Okinawa, Japan. The wins kept both teams in contention for berths in the second round of the World Cup, and they remain very much in the race to be Africa’s automatic qualifier for next summer’s Paris Olympics.“I’m still speechless,” said Cape Verde’s Will Tavares, a Rhode Island-born forward who scored 20 points in Monday’s win. “I feel like I’m in a dream right now, but the win was so big for us and our country and our families. We ma...

South Sudan’s 7-foot-1 Khaman Maluach becomes one of the youngest to play in World Cup at only 16

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

South Sudan’s 16-year-old Khaman Maluach scored one point and played 16 minutes in his team’s 89-69 victory over China on Monday to become one of the youngest to ever play in the basketball World Cup.The 7-foot-1 Maluach, who is widely considered a 2025 NBA draft prospect, turns 17 next month. The only players younger than Maluach in World Cup history were Ivory Coast’s Georges Lath (16 years, 3 months in 1986) and China’s Gao Ailun (16 years, 9 months in 2010).Underdogs like South Sudan and Cape Verde picked up wins Monday to stay in contention for the second round. New Zealand and Ivory Coast also stayed alive.Five teams have already advanced to the second round: Latvia, Canada, Germany, Montenegro, and Lithuania. Eleven places are still open while Tokyo Olympic silver medalist France was knocked out on Sunday.GROUP B — SOUTH SUDAN 89, CHINA 69At Manila, Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones scored 21 points as South Sudan beat China to record its first-ever World Cup victo...

4 hospitalized after BSO Fire Rescue helicopter crashes in Pompano Beach triplex

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

Police responded to an aircraft emergency after a Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue (BSFR) helicopter went down. Officials said at least two people onboard have been hospitalized and a family said two of their loved ones were hospitalized after the chopper crashed on a triplex building. The incident happened around 8:45 a.m. in the area of 1201 NW 6th Ave. where video footage showed a trail of smoke coming off the chopper that went down fast. The chopper ultimately landed on a triplex apartment building. Live video footage from 7SkyForce showed several fire rescue trucks on the scene as they worked to manage the blaze as it is believed the helicopter did go up in flames when it crashed into the residential building. A family who lives in the building said the helicopter landed right in their living room where two family members were staying. Their family said they were rushed to the hospital. “My brother was in my mom’s house,” said the family member. “They...

2 injured when a fire rescue helicopter crashes in Pompano Beach, Florida

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

(CNN) — A Broward County, Florida, sheriff’s fire rescue helicopter crashed Monday morning, sending two people to the hospital, local authorities said.The crash occurred near an airfield just north of Fort Lauderdale, authorities said.“At approximately 8:46 a.m., emergency personnel responded to a call of an aircraft alert located southwest of the Pompano Beach Airpark. The helicopter involved in the crash is a BSO Fire Rescue helicopter. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue transported two people to an area hospital,” the Broward County Sheriff’s department said in a news release.Video posted to CNN affiliate WPLG appeared to show the chopper just before it crashed, the aircraft was smoking and on fire near the rear.Authorities did not disclose the condition of the two people taken to the hospital.

Singer Florence Welch reveals she had life-saving emergency surgery

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

(CNN) — Florence Welch, the lead singer of Florence and the Machine, has revealed she underwent life-saving emergency surgery, forcing her to cancel live shows.“I had to have emergency surgery for reasons I don’t really feel strong enough to go into yet, but it saved my life,” the 37-year-old wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. She apologized for canceling the band’s “last couple of shows.”“I will be back to close out the Dance Fever tour in Lisbon and Malaga (maybe not jumping so much but you can do that for me),” she added, confirming her return to performing on September 1 and September 2.“Suffice to say I wish the songs were less accurate in their predictions,” she said. “But creativity is a way of coping, mythology is [a] way of making sense. And the dark fairytale of Dance Fever, with all its strange prophecies, will provide me with much-needed strength and catharsis right now.”British indie rock group Florence and the Machine has been nominated for ...

Officers assaulted by juveniles during response to South Bay disturbance, police say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

Police responding to a massive disturbance at the South Bay shopping center Sunday were assaulted by juveniles at the scene, and ultimately arrested eight teens amid the mayhem.Police responded to the unruly group at about 4:52 p.m. near the movie theaters at South Bay,  calling in officers from districts across the city and state police in an effort to disperse the crowd.Officers originally responded to the area for a report of a fight. Upon arrival, and in response to police efforts to get the crowd to disperse, members of the crowd became “confrontational” and multiple teens assaulted police, according to BPD.In total, eight juveniles were arrested. They include a 12-year-old-girl for assault, a 12-year-old boy for assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct; a 14-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy  for assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct; another 14-year-old boy for assault on a  police officer, disturbing the police and resisting arrest, another 14-year old...

Poland, Baltic states warn they could seal borders with Belarus if military, migrant tensions grow

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO members Poland and the Baltic states will seal off their borders with Russia’s ally Belarus in the event of any military incidents or a massive migrant push by Minsk, the interior ministers warned Monday.The ministers said they were seeing growing tensions on NATO’s and the European Union’s borders with Belarus, which has taken in thousands of Russia’s military mercenaries and is pushing Middle East and African migrants into Europe, despite various forms of barriers having been put up.They warned of swift and concerted response in the case of a military incident or large migrant push.The ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia addressed the media following their talks in Warsaw. In a joint statement they demanded that the government of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko immediately remove from its territory the Wagner Group mercenaries. They also demanded the removal of migrants from border areas and their return to their h...

Revelers pack London streets as Notting Hill Carnival celebrates Caribbean culture

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of revelers packed the streets of west London on Monday for the climax of the Notting Hill Carnival, one of the world’s biggest celebrations of Caribbean music and culture.Organizers say up to 2 million people are expected to take in the music, parades, dancing and food over the two days of Europe’s largest street party, which began Sunday with a children’s parade.The carnival traces its history back to 1958, when Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones began organizing a gathering to unify the community after a series of racist attacks on Black people in the Notting Hill neighborhood.Launched in 1964 with a few Trinidadian steel bands, it has grown into a huge annual street party involving colorful floats, thousands of calypso dancers in spectacular feathered costumes, almost 20 steel bands and more than two dozen sound systems.The carnival returned to the neighborhood’s narrow streets last year after two years when it had to be held onli...

Military leader Burhan visits east Sudan in first tour outside of capital since conflict erupted.

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The head of Sudan’s army made a rare public speech Monday in his first tour outside of the capital since the conflict with a rival general erupted in mid-April.Sudan was plunged into chaos after monthslong tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting on April 15. In the eastern coastal city of Port Sudan, Burhan said a military operation that included naval and air forces enabled him to leave the capital’s army headquarters safely. Two people were killed in the operation, he said.The conflict has reduced the capital to an urban battlefield, with the RSF controlling vast swaths of the city. The military command, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict, besieged by RSF forces.Burhan said no agreement had been reached “with the traitors or with any party outside of the Sudanese people” t...

AP Was There: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 draws hundreds of thousands

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:28:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — EDITOR’S NOTE — On Aug. 28, 1963, AP reporter Raymond J. Crowley went to the National Mall and chronicled the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which went on to become one of the most famous political rallies in U.S. history. Writing in the language and style used by journalists of his era, Crowley duly noted a wide range of details about the event, from the size of the crowd and the songs the marchers sang to President John F. Kennedy’s reaction, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and the three arrests made by police. Sixty years after its original publication, the AP is running the story in its original form.___WASHINGTON (AP) — In a great, dramatic demonstration, more than 200,000 Negroes and white sympathizers massed before the Abraham Lincoln Memorial today and demanded across-the-board abolition of race discrimination.Then, after the “march for jobs and freedom,” President Kennedy asserted that “the cause of 20 million Negroes ...