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CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Kobe Knox's 13 points helped South Florida defeat Portland 74-68 on Thursday. Knox also had six rebounds for the Bulls (3-2). Brandon Stroud added 11 points while shooting 4 for 12 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line while he also had six rebounds. Jamille Reynolds shot 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line to finish with 10 points. The Pilots (2-3) were led in scoring by Max Mackinnon, who finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Vincent Delano added 14 points for Portland. A.Rapp also had 11 points and eight rebounds. South Florida went into the half ahead of Portland 38-33. Knox scored eight second-half points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
FSU hires former UCF coach Gus Malzahn as new offensive coordinatorLebanon is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus, the General Security Directorate said Friday. The decision came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged a border crossing in northern Lebanon just days after it was reopened. Separately, Jordan’s interior minister said the Naseeb border crossing with Syria had been closed because of the security situation on the Syrian side. He spoke after Syrian opposition activists said insurgents had captured the main border crossing with Jordan, forcing the Syrian authorities to leave. Israel’s military said it planned to reinforce its positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and near the border with Syria. Israel said it was “monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike.” Meanwhile, Syrian insurgents entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh early Friday just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer Syria’s third largest city, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media both reported. The breakthrough came a day after jihiadi-led opposition fighters captured the central city of Hama , Syria’s fourth largest. In other developments, a Hamas official said international mediators have resumed negotiations with the Palestinian militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war is within reach. Israel's war against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage . Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,600 Palestinians , more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. Here's the Latest: DEIR AL-Balah, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike hit a residential building in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp on Friday evening, killing at least 12 people, including six children and four women, according to officials at Awda Hospital. The strike wounded at least 46 others, including 13 children and 12 women, and damaged several neighboring houses, the hospital said. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,600 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. CAIRO — Israel said Friday that “thousands of food packages and sacks of flour” were delivered to the isolated northernmost reaches of Gaza, where hunger experts warn famine could be underway. The delivery would mark one of the first successful convoys to the area, which is besieged by Israeli troops that have mounted a fierce offensive in Gaza’s north since early October. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls the border crossings into Gaza, said the aid was delivered to the town of Beit Hanoun. Israeli authorities did not publicly say who delivered the aid, and did not provide details on the exact amount of aid involved. COGAT released photos of flatbed trucks driving past rubble, some carrying what appeared to be 25-kilogram (55 pound) sacks of aid and others with cargo covered under tarps. The U.N. has struggled to deliver aid to the area in recent weeks. Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the World Food Program, told The Associated Press that nearly no food has entered the area for two months, and that the agency’s daily requests to enter the area have been denied by Israel. Of two missions that have been approved since Oct. 6, Zaki said, only two trucks of aid were delivered to a shelter that Israeli soldiers ordered to evacuate soon after and then burned. The situation in northern Gaza has prompted hunger experts to warn that famine is either near or may already be underway. BEIRUT — A Kurdish-led force in Syria that's backed by the United States says it has taken positions along the border with Iraq, replacing Syrian government forces. The move by the Syrian Democratic Forces to capture areas on the west bank of the Euphrates River is likely to cut the land line that links Iran with the Mediterranean coast. The SDF said in a statement that its fighters were deployed in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and west of the Euphrates for the safety of civilians. “Our primary objective is to protect our security and the security of our people,” it said about the deployment. SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told The Associated Press that their fighters are not in control of the Boukamal border crossing with Iraq. Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Iran-backed fighters have evacuated the border crossing point of Boukamal and the SDF is expected to control it later. The Boukamal border crossing has been a main supply line for Iran-backed fighters, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who had opened the corridor that links Iran with the Mediterranean in 2017. The developments come as jihadi-led insurgents in northwestern Syria have made stunning advances over the past week that have so far met little resistance from government troops. KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Crowds of displaced Palestinians, some carrying cooking pots and crying children, gathered at an aid kitchen in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Friday, but many left with nothing. “The food ran out,” said Adel Mohammad, who was hoping to get a meal of rice – the only food being served — for his children. “At night they wake up hungry.” After the kitchen shut down, children used their hands to scoop bits of rice left in large empty cooking pots. The World Food Program has warned that the humanitarian response in Gaza is “nearing collapse as famine looms.” The U.N. agency says Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries, along with the breakdown of law and order in Gaza, has made it difficult for aid convoys to reach displaced Palestinians. Concerns are growing with the onset of another winter of war. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many displaced repeatedly by Israeli attacks, are living in tent camps, reliant on international aid. Experts have already warned of famine in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October. BEIRUT -- Lebanon’s General Security Directorate said Friday the country is closing all land border crossing with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus. The decision by the security agency in charge of border crossings came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged the Arida border crossing with Syria in north Lebanon, days after it was reopened. “Border crossings will be closed until further notice for the safety of travelers,” the agency said in a statement posted on X. It said that the only border crossing that will be kept open is Masnaa in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Lebanon’s state news agency said Friday the airstrike on the Arida crossing caused heavy material damage and cut the road. The Israeli military said fighter jets attacked the border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, adding that they were used to transfer munitions for Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. BEIRUT - Syrian opposition activists say insurgents have captured a main border crossing with Jordan forcing Syrian authorities to leave it. Shortly afterward, Jordan’s Interior Minister al-Frayeh said the Naseeb border crossing with Syria had been closed because of the security situation on the Syrian side. Opposition activists posted videos online showing people storming the border crossing with Jordan, which was in rebel hands until government forces regained control of it in 2018. Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in France who covers events in southern Syria, told The Associated Press that local gunmen have captured the Naseeb crossing as well as several other areas in the southern province of Daraa where the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011. Syrian troops have evacuated checkpoints in several areas including the villages of Inkhil, Nawa and Jassem, he added. JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said on Friday that it planned to reinforce its forces stationed in the Golan Heights and near the border with Syria, where civil war has reignited between the government and rebel groups. The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike.” After 13 years of civil war, Syrian insurgents are gaining ground, first taking cities in the country’s north and on Friday entering cities in central Syria. It comes as rebel groups mount new challenges to Russia- and Iran-backed Syrian forces, including in Aleppo, the country’s largest city. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has intermittently struck areas in Syria seen as strongholds of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group it is at war with in Lebanon. The advances of the Syrian insurgents adds new instability on Israel’s northern border, two months after it invaded neighboring Lebanon. Israel’s defense minister and military chief of staff met to discuss the situation Thursday. Israeli media reported there is concern in the country’s security establishment that the rebels would advance until they reached the Golan Heights, territory occupied by Israel, gaining control of Syrian weapons stockpiles along the way. Writing in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahoronoth Friday, veteran military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai wrote that Israel may “prefer” to destroy the weapons storehouses so they won’t fall into the hands of the rebels. Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. Syria has constantly accused Israel of launching attacks against it from territory it occupies in the Golan Heights. Israel has frequently struck Syria over the years. BEIRUT — Syrian insurgents entered two central towns early Friday just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer Syria’s third largest city, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media both reported. The break into Rastan and Talbiseh came a day after opposition gunmen captured the central city of Hama , Syria’s fourth largest, after the Syrian army said it withdrew to avoid fighting inside the city and spare the lives of civilians. The insurgents, led by the jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have said that they will march to Homs and Damascus, President Bashar Assad’s seat of power. The city of Homs, parts of which were controlled by insurgents until 2014, is a major intersection point between the capital, Damascus, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus where Assad enjoys wide support. Homs province is Syria’s largest in size and borders Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. Insurgents are now 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from Homs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor. “The battle of Homs is the mother of all battles and will decide who will rule Syria,” said Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory’s chief. MANAMA, Bahrain — Iran said Friday it conducted a successful space launch, the latest for its program the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile technology. Iran conducted the launch using its Simorgh program , a satellite-carrying rocket that had had a series of failed launches, at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province. That’s the site of Iran’s civilian space program. The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system,” as well as two research systems to a 400-kilometer (250-mile) orbit above the Earth. A system that could change the orbit of a spacecraft would allow Iran to geo-synchronize the orbits of its satellites. Tehran has long sought that ability. Iran also put the payload of the Simorgh at 300 kilograms (660 pounds), heavier than its previous successful launches. There was no immediate independent confirmation the launch was successful. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as an uneasy ceasefire holds in Lebanon. MELBOURNE, Australia — Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister condemned as an antisemitic attack on Australian values. The blaze in the Adass Israel Synagogue is an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since the war began between Israel and Hamas last year. Cars and buildings have been vandalized and torched around Australia in protests inspired by the war. A witness who had come to the synagogue to pray saw two masked men spreading a liquid accelerant with brooms inside the building at 4:10 a.m., officials said. About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which police said caused extensive damage. Investigators have yet to identify a motive, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blamed antisemitism. “This was a shocking incident to be unequivocally condemned. There is no place in Australia for an outrage such as this,” Albanese told reporters. “To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue is an act of antisemitism, is attacking the right that all Australians should have to practice their faith in peace and security,” he added. ISTANBUL — A Hamas official says international mediators have resumed negotiating with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war was within reach. Ceasefire negotiations were halted last month when Qatar suspended talks with mediators from Egypt and the United States because of frustration over a lack of progress between Israel and Hamas. But there has been a “reactivation” of efforts in recent days to end the fighting, release hostages from Gaza and free Palestinian prisoners in Israel, according to Bassem Naim, an official in Hamas’ political bureau who spoke with The Associated Press in Turkey on Thursday. Another official familiar with the talks confirmed the return of Qatari mediators. The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media. Since the talks broke down, there have been significant shifts in the global and regional landscape. Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, and a ceasefire was declared last week between Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump is a staunch supporter of Israel, but Naim said he believes the incoming administration could “affect the situation positively” given that Trump had made halting wars in the region part of his campaign platform. Trump this week called for the release of all hostages held in Gaza by the time he takes office on Jan. 20, saying there would be “hell to pay” if that doesn’t happen. WASHINGTON -- Three U.S. service members were being evaluated for potential traumatic brain injuries following an attack near a base in eastern Syria this week, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday. Ryder said U.S. Central Command is still evaluating who was behind the attack near Mission Support Site Euphrates, which prompted the U.S. to conduct counter strikes on Tuesday. At the time, the Pentagon said rockets and mortars had landed in the vicinity of the base. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic Stage group. By Lolita Baldor
I hear that the National Assembly has approved the external borrowing of $2.2 billion for the Tinubu administration to address the fiscal deficit in the 2024 Budget” “Bros, I tire. I just tire. What on earth do they do with all these borrowings?” “There is actually a deficit of $9.17 billion deficit in the 2024 budget when you add Eurobonds, interest on Ways and Means, foreign debt and domestic debt, and I hear that Nigeria can borrow more in line with Section 21(1) and Section 27(1) of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Establishment Act of 2003.” Related Stories Nigeria raises $2.2 billion from latest Eurobond auction FG Promissory Notes rise to N1.65 trillion, up 114% in one year under Tinubu “The DMO will quote anything to please any government in power. Is that woman still there? My concern is what they do with all the money” “They want to service debts and finance capital projects” “In November? I would have thought that by now, we should have been talking about Budget 2025. This is November. We are rushing to borrow more money as the year ends. Don’t they want to maintain the budget cycle again? I am confused. And which capital projects is anyone talking about? SUVs, for the lawmakers? Presidential jets? Foreign trips? I am sorry I can’t see any capital projects. They just want to borrow more money for consumption, not productivity. The roads are bad. Nobody talks about the railway system in the country anymore. Air travel is a nightmare. The refineries are still not working. The cost of living is high. The average man cannot breathe, cannot eat, cannot live. Yet, the Federal Executive Council approved more external borrowing and it took the National Assembly 48 hours to rubber-stamp the loan.” “Did you expect anything different? The National Assembly is an extension of the Executive arm of government. It will rubber stamp anything that comes from the Executive and that is the case with the VAT Bill too.” “But if it is a bill on things that would pave the way for good governance, the same National Assembly could spend years huffing and puffing, but anything that would benefit the elite and make it easier to have access to more of the state’s resources, the APC-dominated National Assembly would act quickly. The real wonderful in wonderland.”. “Have you heard?” “You and your rumours.” “This one is hot oh” “The problem with you people in this country is rumour-mongering. Una too dey carry gist. Una carry gist so tey, you even carry phone spread rumour that Otunba Mike Adenuga had died. This is a man who gave many of you the opportunity to use mobile phones in your life. The Spirit of Africa. A Patriot. I am sure it must have been one yeye man, using a useless, miserable phone. Nigerians are something else.” “In Yoruba culture, when your death is prematurely and wrongly announced, it means the person will live long. We pray for a long life for Otunba Mike Adenuga, in very good health, upstairs and downstairs and in all ways, with more grace and prosperity. Do you remember the story of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, nationalist, founding father of the nation, pan-Africanist. On November 8, 1989, his death was announced meanwhile the man was hale and hearty and working on a book in his library when he read his own obituary. NTA had rushed to do a documentary on the life and times of the inimitable Zik. Newspapers showed up the following morning with editorials. Columnists wanted to be the first to announce Zik’s death. Such was the force of his impact in politics, business and newspapering. Except that Zik was alive and he lived for another seven years. A burial committee was even announced. Bros, some of the members of that burial committee died before Zik. In Yoruba culture, when people wish you dead, they are actually praying inadvertently for your longevity. May Otunba Mike Adenuga live longer than those who want him buried before his time. So shall it be. Amen.” “Is it not journalists? When journalists are not killing people, they are sending them to jail, without conviction. Who is a journalist these days?” “I don’t know. I guess things are so bad now that anybody with access to the internet can put any information out there on social media. It is the price that the world is paying for the democratization of the information process, the Indomie-nation of news, the collapse of traditional media systems and the emergence of charlatans in what was once a sacred profession. But let me give you my gist now?” “Okay. Fire! Just make sure it is not a fabrication by some ignoramus”. “Hen. Hen. I hear that” “You heard. Hen Hen.” “I heard that principal officers of the National Assembly, in fact, two of them from the South, locked horns, with one holding the other’s agbada around the neck, both trying to suffocate each other. A blow. A jab. I don’t want to mention names. One Northern Senator had to wade in to prevent bloodshed.” “The story sounds fabulous. Mention names” “I hear they are trying very hard to cover it up and to prevent pictures of the ugly tiff from getting to the media. My source is impeccable.” “Oh. Oh. Oh. Story. Story. But what has this got to do with the external borrowing approval? What we hear is that the lawmakers all agreed on that. So, what could be the problem after they passed one of the fastest pieces of legislation in Nigeria? No public hearing. Nothing.” “It was a fight over who could show that he was more loyal to the Presidential Villa.” “Must be a fight over who gets what for his own stomach or for his own people. After all, you said a Northern Senator waded in. He shouldn’t have if that is true. What is wrong with that Senator? Who asked him to stop whatever could have been like a Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight or a Joshua/Dubois fight, He should have allowed the two gladiators to beat each other up, and by now, we would have known more. I like it when politicians fight. We get to know more because it is we, the people who suffer in the long run.” “Just as the people of Rivers state are the ones going to suffer if the Court of Appeal declares when it delivers its reserved judgement in the FAAC Allocation matter, that the Rivers State Government led by Governor Sim Fubara cannot receive any further Federal Allocations if it does not have a properly presented, passed and legally valid Budget. Who suffers?” “The people suffer, and that is because we are running a bowl-in-hand Federation. The states are so dependent on the Federal Government for manna. But nobody should blame the judiciary. The source of the problem is the political gladiators of Rivers State and the elders in that state who talk from both sides of the mouth and serve both Wike and Fubara. One state. Two masters. They have all managed to turn Rivers State into an atomistic society perpetually at war against itself.” “I know that phrase. It sounds familiar. That must be Professor Emmanuel Ayandele, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar describing the old Cross Rivers state of the 80s, in the days of late Professor OkonEdetUya who used to talk about Oron-phobia But those ones were even intellectualizing the politics of Cross Rivers State. What you have in Rivers State is sheer elite thuggery, politics without conscience, agbero politics and the dictatorship of one man who thinks he is the lord and master of Rivers politics.” “So, I insist that whatever the judiciary decides is not the problem. The problem in Rivers state will not go away whatever the Court of Appeal decides except President Tinubu intervenes and cuts off the oxygen that is fuelling the chaos in that state.” “No. President Tinubu is not the headmaster of any state of Nigeria. It is the people of Rivers State that should resolve their own problems. Let the critical actors solve their own problems. For all I care at this stage, they should lock themselves up in a room and have a slugfest. Whoever comes out alive is the winner.” “What kind of talk is that? You are recommending jungle justice. Do you want to kill someone? Just look at it. If you lock up Sim Fubara and Nyesom Wike, who says nobody can take Rivers away from him in a room, what will be the likely outcome?” “I don’t know. This is no longer a matter for the courts. Let them fight, and let us know who the man is” “This is a democracy. Only Barbarians resort to a fist-fight.” “Then let President Tinubu wade into the matter. This is the point I am making. Wike is his Minister. He is so powerful in Rivers State because he is a big chief in the Federal Capital Territory. The President should remove the rug from his feet. Take the oxygen that makes it possible for him to Buga oh, from him and you will see there will be peace in Rivers State.” “Now, I am convinced that you do not understand politics. That is not how politics works. President Tinubu needs Wike as much as Wike needs him. It is not about Tinubu sacking Wike. Who told you that will guarantee peace in Rivers? Why should Rivers be important to Tinubu? Is it possible that a strong, properly empowered Wike is politically more relevant to Tinubu than the whole of Rivers state put together?” “How can one man be so important?” “In politics, what you don’t know, you don’t know. Politics is the ultimate magic, the topmost art of illusion, known to man. Why do you think President Donald Trump is on his way back as the President of the largest economy in the world, despite his many shortcomings including being a convicted felon?” “Politics does not always throw up the best people in the society. I know. I guess we must know that. And the people who vote have their own ideas. We just need to let the people know that whatever you decide, you must be ready to live with it. In four years, you can change your mind.” “Yeah. Yeah. I hope the people of Rivers State are learning and learning good. And we will see how the Americans would learn their own lessons under Trump 2.0 too.” “Trump has just named his full complement of Ministerial nominees, 15 in total.” “I saw that, but I won’t say I am impressed with the list. Just a collection of MAGA loyalists, yes men and women and a few old rivals, completely eclectic. What is Robert Kennedy Jr. doing as nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services for example? Another nominee is a wrestling CEO, named as Linda McMahon to take charge of the Education Department, a more or less inexperienced choice. Pete Hegseth has sexual abuse issues, like MattGaetz, hanging around his neck. At least Gaetz stepped down before he could be openly disgraced by the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives. And then this Scott Bessent – an openly gay man appointed by Trump who touts Christian evangelism and far-right ideology even when he may not be able to quote the Bible. Politicians are the same everywhere. They just look out for themselves first. America first in my view means Donald Trump first. But let the Americans live with it. They have made their choice.” “All said and done, America has nominated just 15 people, not a nominee per state or per ethnicity. I have not seen anybody saying their own ethnic group has not been represented. No Black. No Latino. No Arab-American and yet no issue.” “It is their Constitution and their culture. We are talking about America not your “whatever” countries in the Third World, please. This is the richest country. The budget that Brooke Rollins as Agriculture Secretary will control is more than the annual budget of some three African countries! What matters is what a Trump Presidency means for the world, climate change, global peace, and competition with China. But I don’t even want to beat myself over other people’s problems. In two days, America will celebrate Thanksgiving. I have been seeing some pictures of very regal, fleshy Turkeys. Chop time! Fun time.” “You like food too much. You are reading about American Thanksgiving and you are already doing a long throat. I don’t have Thanksgiving on my mind. I am thinking of Christmas. Will there be money for Christmas? School fees? Money for gifts. I hope you know that today, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria is going to announce their usual benchmark rate, CRR, MPR, and asymmetric corridor which will tell us how hard life is, how harder it may become and whether or not we can breathe a little. With an inflation rate close to 40%, may the Lord help us.” “You may be surprised. Benchmark rate may actually come down” “I want to be surprised. But I actually also know this country so well that when things go up, they don’t come down.” “Not quite my friend. The ex-depot price of fuel has just come down from N990 per litre to N970 per litre. And that is a fact. Christmas gift from Dangote Refinery through the now peaceful oil marketers to us” “What a wonderful fact!” “Our God has answered our prayers, He has sent to us, early ahead of Christmas, a Father who cares.” “You are right. You are absolutely right.” “Hear! Hear!”