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Worldnews

Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers Lose To Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets ended their seven-game losing streak with an upset victory against the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers. With an injured LeBron James sidelined for Los Angeles, Cameron Johnson scored 18 points, including a clutch foul-line jumper over Luka Doncic with 59.6 seconds remaining as the Brooklyn Nets snapped a seven-game losing streak by holding on for a 111-108 victory over the Lakers in New York. Johnson made 6 of 14 shots on Monday, none bigger than the 14-footer he hit over Doncic to put the Nets ahead 106-100. Johnson’s shot gave Brooklyn some breathing room when Doncic sank an open 35-foot 3-pointer off an inbounds play with 11.5 seconds left to bring Los Angeles within 108-106. Following a three-point play by the Nets’ Noah Clowney, the Lakers’ Austin Reaves hit a layup with 3.2 seconds remaining, cutting the gap to three. Johnson then missed two free throws with 2.3 seconds left. The game ended when Doncic was well short on a 77-foot desperation 3-point heave. Doncic recorded his second triple-double as a Laker by totalling 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists but shot 8-for-26. Los Angeles struggled most of the final three quarters in the first game since James injured his left groin. Three other Lakers starters – Jaxson Hayes, Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura – did not play against the Nets due to injury. Gabe Vincent scored a season-high 24 for the Lakers, who shot 43.5 percent as a team while taking their second loss in a row. Rookie Dalton Knecht added 19, but Reaves made only 3 of 14 from the field and finished with 17 points and 10 assists. Clowney led the Nets with 19 points and Keon Johnson finished with 18. Tyrese Martin contributed 14 and Nic Claxton chipped in 12 as the Nets shot 41.1 percent and overcame an early 15-point deficit. Vincent scored 13 points while Doncic missed six of nine shots as the Lakers held a 28-16 lead through the opening quarter. The Nets outscored the Lakers 32-19 in the second and took a 48-47 lead into halftime after Cameron Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 66 seconds left. Brooklyn took a pair of eight-point leads in the opening four minutes of the third. Following 12 lead changes, the Nets held an 81-79 lead into the fourth when Martin sank a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left. The Nets took a 92-85 lead when Cameron Johnson easily went by Doncic for a dunk with seven minutes left. Three free throws by Reaves cut the lead to 97-95 with 3:51 but D’Angelo Russell hit a 3 with 91 seconds left to push Brooklyn’s lead to 104-98 before Johnson’s clutch hoop. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Worldnews

Anti-Muslim Hate Hits New High In US: Advocacy Group

CAIR reports record 8,658 discrimination complaints in 2024 as war in Gaza stirred up Islamophobia. Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Arabs in the United States hit a new record in 2024 amid the Israel-Gaza war, an advocacy group has reported. A report released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday said that the 8,658 complaints regarding anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents last year – representing a 7.4 percent rise year on year – was the highest number since the group began compiling data in 1996. Complaints regarding employment discrimination were the most common at 15.4 percent of the total. Complaints regarding immigration and asylum constituted 14.8 percent, education 9.8 percent and hate crimes 7.5 percent. Rights advocates have highlighted an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab bias and anti-Semitism since the Hamas attack in October 2023 saw Israel launch a devastating onslaught on Gaza. “For the second year in a row, the US-backed Gaza genocide drove a wave of Islamophobia in the United States,” CAIR said. Israel denies genocide and war crimes accusations. Last month, a man was found guilty of a hate crime for the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy 18 months ago. Other alarming incidents since late 2023 include the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, the stabbing of a Palestinian American man, also in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York, and the shooting of two Israeli visitors, whom a suspect mistook to be Palestinian, in Florida. CAIR also noted a crackdown on pro-Palestine protests on university campuses. Demonstrators have for months demanded an end to US support for Israel. Through the summer of 2024, classes were cancelled, university administrators resigned, and student protesters were suspended and arrested. Notable incidents include violent arrests by police of protesters at Columbia University and a mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles. President Donald Trump has demanded a step-up in action against the protests. Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who served as a negotiator between pro-Palestine protesters and Columbia University in New York’s administration, was arrested this week by immigration officials despite holding a permanent residency green card. Trump has written on social media that Khalil’s was “the first arrest of many”. “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” he added. Executive Director of CAIR New York Afaf Nasher condemned the arrest as a “shocking escalation” that “sets a dangerous precedent and threatens the civil liberties of all”. Follow Al Jazeera English:...