LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul Jabbar to become NBA’s all-time scoring leader

 LeBron James became the NBA’s all-time points record holder a few hours ago, after surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 38,387, 20 seasons on from his debut.

The points came on Tuesday night for the LA Lakers at a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 130-133 defeat where he put up 38.

Based on his points per game average of 29.8 this season, James was projected to break Jabbar’s record on Thurday when the Milwaukee Bucks come visiting the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles

But with after scoring 26 and 27 points in each of the previous games, and the record in site, James poured in 38 points – two more than he needed to break the record.

James scored 20 points in the first half with a full showcase of the offensive talent that still shines blindingly after two decades in the NBA, and he tore through the record in a 16-point third quarter capped by a pretty jumper with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter.

He pushed his career total to 38,388 points and broke the record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly four decades.

The game was stopped for around 10 minutes as members of James’ family, including his mother, his wife and their three children, took the floor for a ceremony recognizing the moment.

The 38-year-old had been nursing a sore ankle in the run-up to the game, an injury that he manages day to day, which makes the feat all the more impressive. True to his word, James played through the pain and pulled off a historic feat at the Crypto.com Arena.

Surrounded by cameras, James addressed the crowd in the late third quarter as he surpassed the record, emotionally stating: “I thank you guys so much for allowing me to be a part of something I’ve always dreamed about. I would never in a million years dreamt this to be even better than what it is tonight.”

 

James then greeted Kareem who had been watching from courtside. The pair had verbally sparred in the past on issues not related to sport, but they seemed to put their differences aside as Kareem presented LeBron with the basketball, as a sign of passing on the torch and thus extending his legacy:

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Russia’s Lavrov vows aid for W Africa fight against armed groups

 Moscow is seeking to expand its influence in Africa as a diplomatic tug-of-war between global powers continues on the continent.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pledged assistance to West African states battling armed groups, as Moscow seeks to expand its influence on a continent in a diplomatic tug-of-war between global powers.

Lavrov on Tuesday hailed the alliance that has been forged between Moscow and Bamako in fighting armed groups on his first visit to Mali, which Russia’s top diplomat described as “historic”.

“The fight against terrorism is, of course, an issue for the other countries in the region,” Lavrov told a news conference in the capital, Bamako.

“We are going to provide our assistance to them to overcome these difficulties. This concerns Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad and the Sahel region generally and even the coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea,” he said.

Mali had long relied on former colonial power France for military assistance in fighting the armed uprising. But Paris pulled troops out of the West African nation last year as tensions with the military government reached a breaking point.

Since seizing power in 2020, Mali’s military government has brought in Russian planes, helicopters and paramilitaries to strengthen its fight against armed rebels.

France says the Russian operatives are Wagner mercenaries – a private military group that Moscow has deployed in Syria and Ukraine, experts say.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the United Nations have implicated Wagner and the Malian army in an alleged massacre at Moura in central Mali last March in which several hundred people were rounded up and killed.

The landlocked state is the epicentre of a conflict that began in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.

Thousands of civilians have died across the three countries, and millions have fled their homes.

Discontent within the military in Mali and Burkina Faso has spurred two coups in both countries.

Sporadic cross-border attacks have also taken place in Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast in recent years, spurring fears that the rebels are seeking to push southwards to the Gulf of Guinea.

After France wound down its long-running military presence in Mali, similar tensions have broken out with the Burkina Faso military government.

The French military contingent there, a unit of special forces numbering about 400 men, is to be withdrawn this month.

Lavrov promised Mali further military support and declared Russia’s wider backing for Africa in the face of what he described as the West’s “neocolonial approach”.

“We are going to provide our support for resolving problems on the African continent,” he said.

“We always start from the basis that African problems must be resolved by African solutions.”

While Moscow woos African leaders – some of whom have refused to publicly condemn the war in Ukraine – the United States has launched a diplomatic offensive on the continent, which is also being courted by China.

Before leaving Mali, Lavrov also met Colonel Assimi Goita, head of the government, who is due to attend a Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg in July.

At a joint news conference with his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop, Lavrov told journalists that, thanks to Russian support, “Mali has been able to carry out effective operations” against the armed fighters.

Diop also hailed Moscow’s provision of cereals, fertiliser, and fuel to the poor, landlocked nation. “Mali stands in solidarity with Russia on the issue of sanctions” it faces due to its invasion of Ukraine, he said.

The two men defended their alliance and dismissed accusations of human rights violations by foreign fighters in the country.

“We are not going to continue to justify our choice of partners … Russia is here at Mali’s request, and Russia responds effectively to Mali’s needs by strengthening its defence capabilities,” said Diop.

Less than 48 hours before Lavrov’s visit, the military government announced the expulsion of the UN’s human rights envoy to the country.

“Human rights are being instrumentalised, politicised for hidden agendas,” said Diop.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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Death Toll From Turkey-Syria Earthquakes Surpasses 16,000

 The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday is now at least 16,035, according to authorities.

In Syria, the total number of fatalities is at least 3,162, including 1,900 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the “White Helmets” civil defense group. Some 1,262 deaths have been recorded in government-controlled parts of the country, according to Syrian state media.

In Turkey, the toll has risen to at least 12,873, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said on Thursday.

Aid agencies have warned the toll is likely to rise significantly higher, especially in Syria, as search and rescue teams sift through the rubble of thousands of collapsed buildings amid freezing weather conditions, faced with the risk of aftershocks.
Tens of thousands of people have been reported injured across the region, according to officials.

Source: CNN

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Turkiye Earthquake: We Still Can’t Find Christian Atsu in Any Hospital – FIFA Agent ‘Cries’

 

Christian Atsu’s whereabout still seem to be shrouded in uncertainty.

Christian Atsu and other members of the Turkish football club Hatayspor were caught up in an earthquake in Turkey.
The 7.8 magnitude tremor struck the region and northern Syria early on Monday morning, before a subsequent 7.5 magnitude quake.
It was a sigh of relief when news broke on Tuesday that Atsu has been rescued from under the rubble.

According to the Vice President of Hatayspor, Atsu is alive and had been taken to a hospital in Turkey.
However, according to Morat, a Fifa Agent, the Vice President later indicated that “he heard he was at the hospital but he didn’t see him so he can’t give 100 percent confirmation about it”.

Search For Atsu
Morat further stated that “We started to search through hospitals everywhere but we still couldn’t get any information so we are still waiting . . . there’s no confirmation; so it’s not clear yet . . . I checked all hospitals, I gave his name, passport ID, and everything, but there’s still no news about him. We are pushing to get the correct news about him”.
According to him, all the other team members affected by the disaster “are safe except Christian Atsu and the Sports Director”.

“Let’s wait for official information,” he added.

Source: Peacefmonline

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Australia strips Chinese-made security cameras from defence sites

 Australian Defence Minister said Chinese-made cameras will be removed to ensure the security of ministry buildings.

Australia’s Department of Defence will strip its buildings of Chinese-made security cameras to ensure they are “completely secure”, the government says.

The decision to remove the camera equipment follows similar decisions in the United States and the United Kingdom, which have also taken measures to ban Chinese-made cameras at sensitive sites fearing Chinese companies could be forced to share intelligence with Beijing’s security services.

“It’s a significant thing that’s been brought to our attention and we’re going to fix it,” Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said of the decision on Thursday.

“It’s important that we go through this exercise and make sure that our facilities are completely secure,” Marles told national broadcaster ABC.

An audit found that at least 913 Chinese-made cameras had been installed across more than 250 Australian government buildings, including the departments of defence, foreign affairs, finance, and attorney general, according to official figures.

The cameras and security equipment made by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology Co were found in almost every department except the Agriculture Department and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Hikvision and Dahua, which are partly state-owned Chinese firms, have been blacklisted in the US for allegedly helping the Chinese government carry out a “campaign of repression” against the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region through “high-technology surveillance”.

In the UK, a group of 67 parliamentarians and members of the House of Lords called for the government to ban Hikvision and Dahua in July last year, following reports their equipment had been used to track Uighurs.

Hikvision said it was “categorically false” to paint the company as “a threat to national security”.

“No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion,” the company told AFP news agency. “Our products are compliant with all applicable Australian laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.”

The Chinese embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was not concerned about how China might react to the removal of cameras.

“We act in accordance with Australia’s national interest. We do so transparently and that’s what we will continue to do,” Albanese told reporters.

Australia, in 2018, was one of the first countries in the world to block Chinese telco Huawei from its 5G mobile network. Similar Huawei bans are now in place in the US, the UK and Canada, which along with New Zealand and Australia form the secretive Five Eyes spying alliance.

Opposition Liberal Party’s cybersecurity spokesman James Paterson said he had prompted the audit by asking questions over six months after the Department of Home Affairs was unable to say how many of the Chinese-made cameras, access control systems and intercoms, were installed in Australian government buildings.

“We urgently need a plan from the … government to rip every one of these devices out of Australian government departments and agencies,” Paterson said.

Both companies were subject to China’s National Intelligence Law which requires them to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies, he said.

“We would have no way of knowing if the sensitive information, images and audio collected by these devices are secretly being sent back to China against the interests of Australian citizens,” Paterson said.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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Dismiss naira lawsuit Nigeria Attorney General says

 Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by three state governors which has halted the introduction of new naira notes.

The attorney general’s office argues that the Supreme Court lacks the jurisdiction to rule on issues the suit raises.

With the crucial forthcoming elections, Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner of Nigeria’s electoral body Inec, told the BBC this will not affect the general elections and “the dates fixed by the commission for the conduct of the general election are fixed and firm.”

Last November, Nigeria’s Central Bank redesigned the 200, 500, and 1,000 naira banknotes aimed at curbing soaring inflation, cash hoarding and counterfeiting.

Source: BBC

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Kenya ex-interior minister seeks to block detention

 Kenya’s former interior minister Fred Matiang’i has sought anticipatory bail, saying he fears he could be arrested and arraigned in court for political reasons.

His lawyer filed an application at a high court in the capital, Nairobi, seeking to bar the police from arresting or harassing the former minister.

The court has not ruled on the request.

It comes as police denied a reported security operation at the ex-minister’s home on Wednesday night.

Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome said the police force had not deployed any officer to the home of the former minister.

But Mr Matiang’i’s family said that a group of men who declined to identify themselves arrived at their home on Wednesday night and did not explain their mission.

The family says they pressed the men to identify themselves and produce a summon or search warrant which they failed to.

They say the men took off shortly after the family lawyers and media arrived at the home.

Source: BBC

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