India's Modi prepares for record 3rd term as nations congratulate his government on election victory (2024)

China, Ukraine and other nations have sent congratulations as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government began preparations for his swearing-in for a record third term following the world’s largest democratic election. Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party planned to meet with allies on Wednesday to discuss the government’s formation. Official resultsfrom the Election Commissionshowed the BJP-led National Democratic alliance won294of the 543 seats, more than the 272 needed for a majority but far fewer than had been expected. For the first time since the BJP swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own, winning 240 seats, far fewer than the record 303 it won in the 2019 election.

The NBA Finals were too late for Dallas' Luka Doncic to watch as a kid. Now, he's in them

Amanda Knox is re-convicted of slander in Italy for accusing innocent man in roommate’s 2007 murder.

Antonio Conte has been announced as the new Napoli coach. He becomes the team’s fifth manager in little more than a year following a season of turmoil for the deposed Serie A champion. Napoli says Conte has signed a three-year contract. Conte has been away from the dugout for more than a year after leaving Tottenham by mutual consent in March 2023. He led Juventus to the Serie A title three times and won it once with Inter Milan. Napoli has had Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona as coaches following the departure of Luciano Spalletti shortly after leading the team to the Serie A title last year.

A South African Cabinet minister who is a senior member of the African National Congress party has appeared in court over allegations of bribery. His appearance Wednesday comes just as his party is meeting for talks to work out a way forward for the country after an election deadlock. Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa faces charges of taking bribes of around $90,000. He appeared in a courtroom in Johannesburg alongside another suspect in the case. Kodwa is a member of the ANC’s internal National Working Committee, which met Tuesday as the party discusses how it might form a coalition government after losing its 30-year majority in an election last week.

Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” is one of those movies that just picks you up immediately and sweeps you away; it’s made with an irresistibly breezy confidence. Both comedy caper and sexy film noir, it’s the story of Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a mild-mannered psychology professor in New Orlea…

SAN DIEGO — A small start. A big impact. A far-reaching, if sometimes underappreciated, legacy.

PHILADELPHIA — Joe Gidjunis is a regular guy. So like most people, when fatherhood hit, he was winging it.

It would be foolish to count Novak Djokovic out of any match, no matter how dire the circ*mstances or how big the deficit. He’s shown that, over and over again, as recently as his last two wins at the French Open. It also would be a mistake to write off Djokovic after a torn meniscus in his right knee forced him to withdraw from the clay-court tournament where he was the defending champion and was supposed to play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. And it would not make much sense at all to begin pondering whether this could presage the real and true end of the Big Three era.

University of California throwing coach Mohamad Saatara is at the center of a diverse team of throwers based in Northern California. The man known as Coach Mo hopes to have as many as 15 of his athletes at the Paris Olympics this summer representing multiple countries. Among the athletes he trains are discus world record-holder Mykolas Alekna. Alekna moved across the world from Lithuania to Berkeley so he could train under Saatara and attend school. Caisa-Marie Lindfors is from Sweden and transferred from Florida State. Olympic hammer thrower Camryn Rogers came from Canada. And Carolina Visca is from Italy.

New York Jets safety Chuck Clark missed all of last season after tearing the ACL in one of his knees on the final play of the final practice of voluntary organized team activities. It ended Clark's first season with his new team before it was even close to beginning. The 29-year-old Clark is healthy again and ready to prove himself. He also hasn't forgotten the disrespect he felt from the Baltimore Ravens that led to him being traded to the Jets last offseason. Clark says he still has a chip on his shoulder.

Luka Doncic didn’t stay up all night to watch NBA Finals games as a kid. They usually started at something like 3 a.m. in his native Slovenia. He had school to get to a few hours later. He’d wake up and find out who won. Make no mistake, though: Doncic was paying attention. The 25-year-old makes his NBA Finals debut for the Dallas Mavericks when they take on the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of this year’s title series on Thursday night. He could become the first player to win a scoring title and a championship in the same season since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000.

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2024--

At one point in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” Miami police detective Mike Lowrey enters a panic attack-induced trance while bullets are flying. There’s only one way out. Martin Lawrence smacks Will Smith in the face not once, not twice, but three times, so that the man with top billing can shake …

DULUTH, Minn. — I miss the crackle of the marine radio in the corner of the cabin at the lake.

MINNEAPOLIS — Muskie fishing opened in Minnesota this past weekend, but excitement for the season's first days isn't what it once was. That's because the state's lakes and rivers hold fewer muskies than they did a decade and more ago.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tyreek Hill, the Miami Dolphins’ speedy wide receiver who, in my opinion, is the best and most important player on the team, wants to remain one of the NFL’s highest-paid wideouts.

PITTSBURGH — Pardon me if I am confused about Major League Baseball’s stance on gambling.

MIAMI — The hockey and basketball playoffs are on a welcome pause until later in the week — time to anticipate and appreciate. Or, more likely, time to bemoan why your own favorite team disappointed you yet again.

(Table for June 9-June 23)

PITTSBURGH — My conservation roots run deep. In my world, fishing isn't about catching, stocking up on food or achieving some mastery over the environment. It's not the fish, it's the fishing.

ATLANTA — It wasn’t like drafting Marvin Williams over Chris Paul or trading Pau Gasol for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Former Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk didn’t end up with a only decent player instead of a generational talent after the 2018 draft. The player he picked has multiple All-Sta…

LOS ANGELES — A media-obsessed woman who wore visors and roller skates. An octogenarian billionaire with memory problems. An NBA team that nearly boycotted their playoff run.

CHICAGO — WNBA fans, let’s talk.

DALLAS — Of the notables who have come and gone from Boston, that city hates Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving almost as much as it despised King George III, General Charles Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2024--

I like a good sports story as much as the next TV critic, but when it comes to actual professional sports, my lack of interest is exceeded only by my ignorance. All I could have told you about the Clippers the day before yesterday was that they're an L.A.-based basketball team known for losi…

The Israeli military said it has started “operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible broadening of its monthslong ground offensive against Hamas. The military said Wednesday the operation began with airstrikes on militant infrastructure, after which troops began a “targeted daylight operation” in both areas. The eight-month offensive has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians who are facing widespread hunger. International mediators wait for Israel and Hamas to respond to a new cease-fire and hostage release proposal, according to Qatar, which has played a key role in negotiations alongside Egypt and the United States.

- On a winning streak, until an injury sidelined him, Lukas Bechyne was nearly defeated by drugs. Now he shares his passion for sports and the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle with thousands of kids and speaks frankly about how drugs nearly ruined his life. -

UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA baseball tournament moves to the best-of-three super regionals this weekend. Series starting Friday have Evansville at No. 1 national seed Tennessee, UConn at No. 8 Florida State, Kansas State at No. 12 Virginia and West Virginia at No. 4 North Carolina. Series starti…

Wednesday

Australia’s online safety watchdog has dropped her Federal Court case aimed at forcing X Corp. to take down a video of a Sydney bishop being stabbed. But eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Wednesday that she will continue her legal action in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal against the platform that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk bought. Musk welcomed the decision, posting on X that “freedom of speech is worth fighting for.” The case before the tribunal, which reviews bureaucrats’ administrative decisions, had been brought by X and had been running in parallel with the Federal Court case. Inman Grant says cost is a factor in her decision to “consolidate” her commission’s legal action against X.

Philippine officials say four police officers in the capital region have been arrested for kidnapping for ransom that victimized four foreign tourists. Two of the officers onboard motorcycles flagged down a luxury car carrying three Chinese and a Malaysian over the weekend, while their armed civilian cohorts handcuffed and dragged the four tourists into a van. Police say two of the Chinese managed to escape and notified authorities. The remaining captives were beaten by the kidnappers but freed overnight after a ransom was paid.

WASHINGTON -- For James R. Jones, Congress was a tale of two internships. His first was great, with senior staffers who mentored him and gave him real work to do. His second was “demoralizing.”

A young woman with a golden arm and a dark reputation is giving away money. “You might’ve seen her mean white pony car parked up in some vacant lot,” Kent Wascom writes in the opening of his new novel, “The Great State of West Florida.”

“Lake County” opens with the aroma of orange blossoms, but it’s not long before you catch the scent of death.

A well-known orca was recently spotted off the Cape, according to researchers who say “time will tell” whether killer whales end up attacking local great white sharks.

MARIETTA, Ga. — Just after 3 p.m. on the third Tuesday of May, Lamont Hart began his shift outside a suburban precinct as a scorching Georgia sun reflected heat off the white-bricked Worship with Wonders Church.

PHILADELPHIA — As housing affordability debates have heated up across the United States, a rash of recent polls has shown the complex politics surrounding the issue.

Stephen King has been scaring the spit out of us for half a century now.