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What to know entering the NBA playoffs, which start Saturday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

Here’s a rarity: All five teams from one division are going to the NBA playoffs.And they pulled that off in a year where a division champion almost didn’t get there.All five teams from the Pacific Division — Sacramento, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers — have made the playoffs, which start Saturday.But Miami, the champion of the Southeast Division, almost missed out. The Heat got there Friday night by closing on a 15-1 run to beat Chicago 102-91 in the final Eastern Conference play-in game.Had the Heat lost, it would have been the first time in NBA history that a division winner wasn’t going to the playoffs.On the other end of the spectrum, the whole-division-goes feat had happened only two other times since the NBA went to the six-division, five-teams-in-each format starting with the 2004-05 season.The Central Division did it in 2006, and the Southwest Division pulled it off in 2015. It almost happened in the Northwest Division in 2018 when...

DeMar DeRozan’s daughter received online threats after the play-in win in Toronto, the Chicago Bulls star says: ‘It’s sad’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

After garnering unexpected fame during Wednesday’s play-in game against the Toronto Raptors, the daughter of Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan needed to be escorted out of Scotiabank Arena by team security because of online threats.DeRozan confirmed the TNT story after Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat, emphasizing his frustration with the negativity aimed toward Diar, his 9-year-old daughter.“What’s crazy is it’s just the world that we live in,” DeRozan said. “No matter how good something could go, how good something could be, you still got miserable people out here who just don’t have a life. It’s sad.”Diar quickly caught attention during Wednesday’s game when she utilized her position under the basket to distract Raptors players during their free-throw attempts by screaming.Attention around her antics was escalated when the Raptors finished 18-for-36 from the free-throw line, which ultimately cost them the game. The s...

Matlow, Bailão, Chow leading pack of Toronto mayoral candidates: poll

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

A new poll suggests that former city councillors Josh Matlow, Ana Bailão and longtime Canadian politician Olivia Chow are leading the pack regarding hopeful Toronto mayoral candidates.Mainstreet Research Poll surveyed just 746 residents in Toronto. Former police chief Mark Saunders is firmly in the mix, currently in fourth place.The automated phone survey named 15 registered or potential candidates for mayor and was carried out from Wednesday to Thursday. The results show Matlow has the support of 18.1 per cent of decided and leaning voters, followed by Bailão, a close ally to former mayor John Tory, at 16.8 per cent, respectively.RELATED: Mayoral candidates lay out visions for Ontario Place landChow, the former federal NDP Leader expected to officially announce her candidacy in the coming days, is directly behind Bailão, receiving 16.2 per cent of the vote.Saunders, meanwhile, received 12.6 per cent support in the latest poll. The former police chief has the trust of those surveyed...

Japan auteur Kitano’s latest samurai film headed to Cannes

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Takeshi Kitano’s new film, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival next month, is a samurai story without heroes, mercilessly portraying human greed, betrayal and cruelty. Kitano, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his “Hana-Bi” in 1997, wanted to make a different kind of period piece in “Kubi,” or “neck,” a reference to traditional Japanese beheadings.“Most samurai films portray famous people and don’t focus on the dirty side of human existence or show how evil people don’t care a hoot about slaughtering regular people,” Kitano told reporters Saturday.The story features a 16th-century feud centered around Oda Nobunaga, a powerful warlord — well known in Japan but not as familiar for overseas audiences. But the Shakespearean intrigues are familiar enough.The spectacular battle scenes evoke Akira Kurosawa classics like “Seven Samurai” and “Kagemusha,” according to Takeshi Natsuno, president of Kadokawa, the production company behind “Kubi.”Kitano, 76,...

Arrest made in animal rights plot to disrupt Grand National

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — A woman was arrested in connection with a plan by animal rights activists to disrupt the Grand National at Aintree racecourse on Saturday.Merseyside Police said the 33-year-old London-area woman was arrested on “suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.”The group Animal Rising had called on protesters to gather outside the racecourse to demand an end to “animal cruelty for entertainment.”The woman was arrested Saturday morning in the Greater Manchester area “in connection with potential co-ordinated disruption activities” at Aintree, police said. Her name was not publicly disclosed.“She is currently in custody where she will be questioned by officers,” the police statement said.Police said they have been working with race organizers ahead of and during the Grand National Festival.“We are aware of some people planning to protest at the event,” a police spokesperson said. “This has been factored into our plans. We respect the right to peaceful protest...

Mediators propose deal in German public sector pay dispute

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A panel mediating between German public sector employers and labor unions put forward a compromise proposal Saturday to avert further strikes over pay.Mediators proposed a raise of 5.5% on top of a fixed 200-euro monthly increase for the millions of people that work in the public sector. The overall increase should result in employees getting at least 340 euros ($378) more every month under the proposal, which would run until December 2024, the panel said. The mediators also recommended a one-off payment of 3,000 euros ($3,331) — with lower sums for trainees — to balance out the inflation workers in Germany and elsewhere have suffered from recently.The non-binding proposal is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations between employers and unions representing some 2.5 million workers.A 24-hour walkout over pay paralyzed trains, planes and public transit systems in Germany last month.The Associated Press

Starving followers found at Kenyan pastor’s property; 4 die

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in coastal Kenya found 15 emaciated parishioners on the property of a church pastor, and four of the people died after the group was rescued and taken to a hospital, authorities said. Police officials said investigators received a tip that dozens of people were starving to death after their pastor told them it was a way to meet Jesus. Most of the followers could not walk or talk when officers found them.The pastor of Good News International Church, Paul Makenzi, surrendered Friday to police in the town of Malindi. Makenzi was arrested and charged last month in the deaths of two children whose parents were members of his church. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond while proceedings in the case continued. The people who died Friday have not been identified, and their bodies were taken to a morgue in Malindi. Residents had complained to local authorities about the pastor, accusing him of fostering growing cultism in the area. Cults are common in ...

Christian faithful flock to ‘Holy Fire’ under restrictions

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Christian worshippers thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on Saturday to celebrate the ceremony of the “Holy Fire,” an ancient, mysterious ritual that has sparked tensions this year with the Israeli police.In the annual ceremony that has persisted for over a millennium, a flame — kindled in some miraculous way in the heart of Jesus’ tomb — is used to light the candles of fervent believers in Greek Orthodox communities near and far. Little by little, the darkened church is irradiated by tiny patches of light, which eventually illuminate the whole building as the resurrection of Jesus is proclaimed. Chartered planes then ferry the flickering lanterns to Russia, Greece and beyond with great fanfare. Many trying to get to the church — built on the site where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected — were thrilled to mark the pre-Easter rite in the city where it all started. But for the second consecutive ...

Guitarist Mark Sheehan of Irish band The Script dies at 46

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s president has led tributes to Mark Sheehan, guitarist with Irish rock band The Script, after his death at the age of 46.The band said Sheehan died in a hospital on Friday after a brief illness. In a statement, The Script called him a “much loved husband, father, brother, band mate and friend.”Formed in Dublin in 2001 by Sheehan, singer Danny O’Donoghue and drummer Glen Power, The Script topped U.K. and Irish charts with its self-titled debut album in 2008. It included the hits “We Cry,” “Breakeven” and “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved,” which reached No. 1 in five countries.The band’s pop-inflected rock sound made it one of Ireland’s biggest bands in the 2010s. The Script went on to have six Top 10 albums in the U.K. and one top three album in the U.S.Irish President Michael D. Higgins praised the band’s “originality and excellence” and sent condolences to Sheehan’s family.“Through their music, Mark and The Script have played an outstanding part in continuing and ...

2 teens shot, 1 fatally, in Bronzeville

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:31 GMT

CHICAGO — Two teenagers were shot, one fatally, by a group of unidentified men in Bronzeville Friday night.According to police, two boys, 15 and 16, were walking on the street near the 3700 block of South Wabash Avenue when a group of five to six men approached and fired shots at them. Police said the 15-year-old sustained a gunshot wound to the left foot and was transported to Comers Hospital in good condition. Driver dies after falling out of Jeep, being struck by 2 vehicles on Dan Ryan Expressway The 16-year-old was shot in the abdomen and transported to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. He was later pronounced dead. There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.