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With Wembanyama a player like few others, there’s no debate at the top of this NBA draft

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Wembanyama’s towering shadow has hung over this NBA draft for months, blocking much of what is usually part of the process.There has been no debate about who the San Antonio Spurs should take with the No. 1 pick Thursday night, no discussion of which player might be a better fit, no real attempts to raise any red flags about the presumed selection.When a player like Wembanyama comes along — and maybe none ever has — there’s no real reason to drum up any drama. The Spurs are not going to pass up someone who is listed at 7-foot-4 but has the skills of a player much smaller.The 19-year-old from France has been called the best prospect since LeBron James came out of high school 20 years ago, perhaps with some physical gifts that even the NBA’s career scoring leader didn’t possess.Expectations from the outside world are sky-high. Wembanyama insists that won’t bother him.“I have such high expectations for myself and I’m so determined th...

7 Pakistanis arrested for alleged key role in migrant ship that sank off Greece, leaving 500 missing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities said Wednesday they have arrested seven alleged key figures in a human trafficking ring following last week’s sinking of an overcrowded smuggling vessel off Greece that left more than 500 migrants missing, including Pakistanis.Police told The Associated Press that the ring was engaged in smuggling Pakistanis into Europe and that the arrests took place over the last two days, as part of a government crackdown on traffickers.Thirty other suspects were arrested over the past few days in Pakistan and were being questioned for their role in facilitating smuggling activities.Police continued raids across the country on Wednesday, in an attempt to arrest all involved in the migrant ship disaster. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies are also helping local police in tracking smugglers who went underground.Each of those who tried to make the perilous journey to Europe — hoping for a better life — paid the smugglers between $5,000 to $8,000, Paki...

Indian leader Modi will start his US visit with yoga on the UN lawn, a savvy and symbolic choice

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There will be plenty of time to discuss global tensions during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. this week. But he’s starting his day Wednesday by highlighting a pursuit of inner tranquility.After arriving in New York on Tuesday afternoon and holding private meetings, the leader of the world’s most populous nation kicks off his public schedule Wednesday with a group yoga session on the United Nations’ north lawn. U.N. General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and many other diplomats and U.N. officials are expected to attend the event. It honors the International Day of Yoga, which Modi persuaded the U.N. to designate in 2014 as an annual observance. The yoga-themed U.N. visit is a savvy and symbolic choice for a premier who has made the ancient discipline a personal practice and a diplomatic tool. First practiced by Hindu sages, yoga has now become one of India’s most po...

Poland’s conservative ruling party leader Kaczynski joins the government as deputy premier

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s powerful conservative ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, rejoined the government on Wednesday as the only deputy prime minister in the Cabinet, a move that gives him an enhanced position as the country heads toward a general election this fall.To make way for Kaczynski, four other deputy prime ministers resigned from their positions.Kaczynski’s party, the right-wing populist Law and Justice, appears to be losing some of its momentum with elections four months away. Though it remains the country’s most popular party, opinion polls suggest some of its campaign pledges are failing to gain traction with voters. Meanwhile the main opposition party has been energized after organizing a massive anti-government protest earlier this month.President Andrzej Duda appointed Kaczynski to the post of deputy prime minister in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Warsaw. Duda, an ally of Law and Justice, thanked Kaczynski for his return to ...

Summer arrives today. Environment Canada reveals weather outlook through August

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

Summer officially arrives on Wednesday and it appears Ontarians should be ready for a sweltering few months.The new season will officially begin at 10:57 a.m. — and it will feel like summer in Toronto as humidex values hit 31 this afternoon.“It’s another very warm, humid day,” says CityNews 680 meteorologist Jill Taylor. “It’s not an oppressive humidity, but you may feel it. The wind will be brisk again out of the east.”Sunny start to summer! If officially arrives 10:57am! pic.twitter.com/fEnGmCTRh5— Jill Taylor (@JillTaylorCity) June 21, 2023The CityNews guaranteed high for Wednesday is 26 C. Taylor says we will see increasing clouds starting Thursday and some unsettled weather for the first weekend of summer, with some sunny breaks.Rain could move in on Friday ahead of the weekend. Saturday and Sunday are expected to be warm with a highs in the upper 20s, but there could be some thunderstorms.“One of those weekends where you ju...

German woman convicted of keeping Yazidi woman as a slave in Iraq

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German woman was convicted Wednesday of keeping a Yazidi woman as a slave during her time with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and sentenced to nine years and three months in prison.The state court in the western city of Koblenz convicted the 37-year-old of crimes against humanity, membership in a foreign terrorist organization and being an accessory to genocide, German news agency dpa reported. Authorities have identified her only as Nadine K. in line with German privacy rules.The court found that the defendant for three years abused a young Yazidi woman “in her own interests as a household slave.” It said that her husband brought the woman to their home and regularly raped her, and that the defendant enabled those assaults and should have intervened.Prosecutors have said that the defendant traveled to Syria with her husband in 2014 and joined IS. In 2015, the couple moved to the Iraqi town of Mosul, where they allegedly kept the Yazidi woman.The defendan...

Pentagon documents leak suspect Guardsman Jack Teixeira is due back in court on federal charges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

The Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking highly classified military documents is due back in court on Wednesday after being indicted on federal felony charges. Jack Teixeira is scheduled to be arraigned in the Worcester federal court on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Teixeira, of North Dighton, has been behind bars since his April arrest on charges stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years. He was indicted by a grand jury last week.Teixeira is accused of sharing classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other national security issues on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. The stunning breach exposing closely held intelligence has sparked international concern and raised fresh questions about America’s ability to safeguard its secrets.The Pentagon has called the security breach a “very serious risk to national security.”A magistra...

Eastern Caribbean islands prepare for heavy flooding as Tropical Storm Bret grows stronger

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Bret grew stronger on Wednesday as it moved toward islands in the eastern Caribbean that braced for torrential rainfall, landslides and flooding.Bret had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) early Wednesday morning and was moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean at 16 mph (26 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.The storm was located some 645 miles (1,040 kilometers) east of the Windward Islands and is expected to grow stronger before lashing several eastern Caribbean islands on Thursday at near hurricane strength. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica, as officials in the region urged people to prepare for Bret.“We all know the uncertainty with forecasting intensity, movement and impact of weather systems,” Fitzroy Pascal at Dominica’s office of disaster management said.The hurricane center said it was too soon to know where Bret’s center would pass through...

Warning of storms, intense rainfall and possible tornadoes in Germany

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany warned Wednesday that the country could experience severe storms with significant amounts of rainfall in the coming days after a suspected tornado struck the western town of Ruesselsheim overnight.Germany’s national weather service, DWD, said strong winds and hail are expected in the southwest, slowly moving eastward throughout the day.Further storms are forecast to sweep in from neighboring France going into Thursday, with “intense or extremely intense rainfall” in some areas, it said.The weather agency warned that locally confined tornadoes are possible.Police said a suspected twister uprooted numerous trees in Ruesselsheim, west of Frankfurt, late Tuesday. The Associated Press

From zero to NIL: How student-athletes can manage name, image, likeness income

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:11:00 GMT

When University of Notre Dame sophomore Calyn “KK” Bransford takes the court this upcoming basketball season, she’ll do so with a touch of glam thanks to her false lashes. She wants to look good while hooping, but wearing the lashes is also her job.Bransford is under contract as a brand ambassador for Opulence Lashes and earns money by promoting the company’s products. That’s possible thanks to a sea change in NCAA rules governing college athletes, who can now make money from their “ NIL ” — name, image and likeness.Prompted by a Supreme Court decision that invalidated restrictions on certain payments to student-athletes, the NCAA changed its rules on NIL income in 2021. While student-athletes still can’t be paid to play their sport or attend a specific school, they can receive money for things like ad deals, endorsements and appearances. Student-athletes’ NIL earning opportunities are governed by a patchwork of state laws and school and conference rules.Before Bransford went to col...