Viral News Drift

0 of 15 Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The NBA and NBPA pushed Christmas in July six hours earlier this season in an agreement that will give fans plenty to celebrate without the disadvantage of sleeping in front of the yuletide log, waiting to see if their favorite free agent snags the milk and cookies.  But the start of free agency promises more presents under the tree than normal this offseason as the NBA shares $474 million in available cap space between the 30 franchises—more than the previous two summers combined, per The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor. This class (including Anthony Davis) almost promises the best collection of available talent since the 2010 group, according to  FiveThirtyEight .  Teams’ shopping lists will be stacked with more than 200 free agents to choose from. With the start of the negotiating period nearly upon us (6 p.m. Sunday), the B/R Staff gives its best guess at where each of...

Relatives of Alan Kurdi, the two-year-old Syrian boy whose drowning while trying to reach Europe in 2015 shook consciences around the world, have objected to a new film about the toddler. The boy perished in September 2015, along with his mother Rehanna and four-year-old brother Ghalib, when their small rubber boat capsized in the Aegean Sea while attempting to reach  Greece  after f leeing the war in  Syria . The heartbreaking photo of the boy’s lifeless tiny body, face down on a beach in Turkey, sparked a deep emotional reaction and became a rallying point for activists and others to offer assistance in Syria’s  refugee crisis . It also pushed the  European Union  to temporarily open its borders to  Syrian refugees . Tima Kurdi, an aunt of the boy, told the told the Canadian Broadcasting Network in an article published Friday that no one had asked the family’s permission to make the new movie about her nephew. “I’m really he...

Egypt ‘s former presidential candidate Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh has suffered two heart attacks in prison, his son said, adding his father may die there because of the harsh conditions under which he is held. Aboul Fotouh’s son, Ahmed, wrote on Facebook on Saturday his father, who is a leading opposition figure, may succumb to the “deliberate” abuse in Cairo’s Torah prison “at any time”. A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood  and leader of the centrist Strong Egypt Party, Aboul Fotouh ran as an independent candidate in the 2012 presidential elections, gaining nearly a fifth of the vote in the first round. Aboul Fotouh was detained in February 2018, ahead of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s re-election, on charges of being part of a banned group, unspecified by Egypt’s prosecution, but widely believed to be the Brotherhood. He is also being accused of spreading false news. “Today, while we were waiting to visit him, he had a heart attack,” Ahmed Aboul Fotouh said on Fa...

Israel has detained and questioned the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs, Israeli police have said. Palestine ‘s Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Fadi al-Hadami was detained for “activities in Jerusalem”, Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told AFP on Sunday. Palestinian media reported that Israeli police had arrested al-Hadami from his home in Jerusalem in the early hours of Sunday morning, after searching the premises. The sources said five other Palestinian men were also arrested on Sunday, from areas across Jerusalem, Bethlehem and south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The detainees identified by Palestinian media included Haydar and Alaa Dirbas who were arrested at the Maqasid Hospital in Occupied East Jerusalem, and Ihab Saeed who was arrested from his village near Jerusalem.  The Israeli authorities did not comment on why the men were arrested. Hadami meets Chile’s president  A source close to the minister told AFP that al-Hadami’s arrest i...

Albanians have begun casting ballots in local elections that have taken on more importance than usual amid high tensions between the ruling and opposition parties. Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama had been campaigning energetically ahead of the polls on Sunday, despite a boycott by the main opposition party, effectively paving the way for his party’s victory. The opposition bloc, led by the conservative Democratic Party, has been demonstrating – often violently – for months, demanding Rama’s resignation and calling for new general elections.  Rama is accused of electoral fraud in a 2017 vote and of corruption, charges he denies.  President Ilir Meta   tried to stop Sunday’s vote with a decree earlier this month, saying that the heated atmosphere would prevent a truly democratic vote, but the country’s highest election authority, the Electoral College, overruled him last Monday. Meta then said he wanted to reschedule the elections for October, but Rama immediately...

Saudi Arabia has intercepted two drones launched by Yemen ‘s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a Saudi-led coalition spokesman has said. The first drone targeted the province of Jizan, while the second was aimed at a residential area in Asir province, the coalition said in a statement released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency late on Saturday. Turki al-Maliki, the  spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said the drones caused no damage or casualties.  The Houthis’ Almasirah satellite news channel also  said  late on Saturday  the drones targeted Saudi airports in Abha and Jizan with Qasef-2K drones. The  Houthis  have stepped up drone and missile attacks on cities in neighbouring Saudi Arabia in recent months as tensions have risen between  Iran and Gulf Arab states allied with the  United States further afield across the  Middle East . Earlier this month, the group fired a missile at the kingdom’s Ab...

Ben Margot/Associated Press The Los Angeles Clippers are entertaining the possibility of inking two of the best two-way players in the game shortly. That’s per  Marc Stein of the New York Times , who tweeted that the Clips are “ exploring the feasibility” of landing Toronto Raptors free-agent forward Kawhi Leonard and Philadelphia 76ers free-agent guard/forward Jimmy Butler after free agency begins Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. Stein added more context: Marc Stein @TheSteinLine Leonard wants to be joined by a top-flight free agent if he decides to leave Toronto for the Clippers and Butler’s rugged two-way game makes for an intriguing pairing. Clippers adviser Jerry West is also a known admirer of Butler Leonard averaged 26.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game en route to leading the Raps to their first NBA title. Butler posted 18.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season for the 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves . The Clippers finished 48-34 and pushed the Weste...