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James’ 18-year-old record comes to an end

Reuters

LeBron James’ incredible run of 1, 297 regular-season NBA games with 10 or more points came to an end with a 123-120 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

James, 40, recorded the game-winner against the Raptors by converting the pass for Rui Hachimura, who had eight points.

James, who is in his unheard 23rd season, described “just playing the game the right way.”

Always choose the best option. That is how the game was taught to me.

James last set a record for double-digit scoring in January 2007, surpassing Michael Jordan’s previous 431-game mark.

James struggled with his shot the majority of the night, missing all five of his three-point attempts and connecting on just four of them.

Austin Reaves added 44 points and 10 assists for the Lakers despite Luka Doncic’s personal absence as the NBA’s top scorer.

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Lions beat Cowboys to boost play-off hopes

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With a 44-36 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at Ford Field, the Detroit Lions maintained their play-off hopes.

Jared Goff completed 25 of his 34 passes for 309 yards and one touchdown while Jahmyr Gibbs scored three touchdowns for the Lions.

Detroit improved to third in the NFC North with eight wins and five losses after losing three of their previous six games.

Goff remarked, “They’re the most talented team in this league.”

“We kind of regained some of who we are,” the sentiment continued. Perhaps we can change into that now.

The Cowboys started the season with a three-game winning streak in Detroit, but their chances of making it to the postseason were hampered by their sixth defeat of the campaign.

In the third quarter, Dallas was 18 points down, but when Dak Prescott’s touchdown pass was followed by a two-point conversion, the deficit was 30-27.

However, Gibbs, 23, scored twice more to increase the Lions’ lead, bringing his total score in NFL history to 47 and moving on to the highest mark for a player before their 24th birthday.

“The work went on throughout the week.” The guys don’t get panicked, but the intensity and urgency make it always. They simply go to work, according to Lions coach Dan Campbell.

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    • August 16
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China, France pledge cooperation as Xi joins Macron in trip to Chengdu

As the leaders met ahead of France’s upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit, both the Chinese president and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, pledged to work together more on global issues.

In a rare instance of the world’s second-largest economy traveling with a guest beyond Beijing, Xi hosted Macron on Friday in the southwest city of Chengdu, according to state media.

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Macron and his wife Brigitte met the Chinese president for lunch in a more secluded setting than the previous day as he wrapped up his three-day visit to China.

Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed that Macron had surprised fellow joggers in Chengdu on Friday before joining Xi at the Dujiangyan dam, according to state media. Since the third century BC, the dam has managed the flow of water around Chengdu.

After hosting Xi in the Pyrenees in May 2024, where Macron spent time as a child, he said he was “very touched” by Xi’s gesture, which is against official protocol.

At a time when international tensions are rising and trade imbalances are widening to China’s advantage, he said, these are all indications of mutual trust and a desire to “act together.”

Andy Mok of Beijing’s Center for China and Globalization stated in an interview with Al Jazeera that the visit was important for both expanding “trade cooperation” between France and China and greater Europe and China.

The two leaders had a more solemn meeting on Thursday at Beijing’s more solemn Great Hall of the People, where important discussions were held regarding ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine and promoting international trade.

Following a recent diplomatic rout centered on a US-led peace plan, Macron has been trying to get Beijing to cooperate in pressure Russia on to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine.

The dialogue between China and France is even more crucial than ever, Macron said on Thursday. “We are facing the risk of the international order that has kept peace around the world for decades.

He said, “I hope China will follow our call and join us in achieving, as soon as possible, at the very least a ceasefire in the form of a moratorium on strikes against critical infrastructure.”

China supports all efforts that seek to achieve peace, according to Xi, who did not respond to France’s request for a peace deal that all parties would agree to.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, China has extended an economic lifeline to Russia, increasing trade, and strong diplomatic support.

Twelve cooperation agreements were reached on Thursday at Xi and Macron’s meeting in Beijing that addressed issues like panda conservation and population ageing.

Macron is being accompanied by the heads of some of France’s most important companies for his fourth state visit to China, though no money was disclosed.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the two countries signed a pact on the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for French alfalfa exports to China on Friday. According to CCTV, the two nations “important progress” in registering French exporters of pig white viscera for Chinese trade.

Macron will meet with students in Chengdu, China’s fourth-largest city with 21 million residents and regarded as one of the most diverse and socially diverse cities in the world.

For her part, Brigitte Macron will stop by the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where two 17-year-old pandas that were loaned to France in 2012 as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” recently came back.

More heavy rain slows Sri Lanka’s recovery after deadly cyclone

Memorable O’Sullivan moments as snooker great turns 50

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Ronnie O’Sullivan is undoubtedly the best snooker player there is.

The Englishman turned 50 on Friday, breaking almost every record in the sport since becoming a professional in 1992. He is regarded as the sport’s greatest-ever player.

The Rocket has won eight Masters titles, eight victories, and seven world titles overall, making it the record for the most Triple Crown victories in the UK Championship.

He has also compiled more century breaks and maximum 147s than anyone else.

Additionally, he holds a record number of ranking positions, five more than Stephen Hendry’s previous total of 36.

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Winner of the youngest ranking event

Ronnie O'SullivanBBC Sport

O’Sullivan won the UK Championship title just over 32 years ago, making him the youngest competitor to win a ranking contest.

In the 1993 final, O’Sullivan defeated Stephen Hendry 10-6, Alan McManus, Nigel Gilbert, Ken Doherty, Steve Davis, and Darren Morgan.

O’Sullivan records 147th most quickly.

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O’Sullivan has made 17 maximum breaks in his glittering career, but his first professional break is unquestionably his most memorable and quickest ever recorded.

His name became a thing when he recorded a 147 against a stunned Mick Price in the first round of the 1997 World Championship.

Maximum commotion

O'Sullivan and referee Jan VerhaasImages courtesy of Getty

How about stopping play after eight points to inquire about a maximum break prize?

O’Sullivan defeated Mark King at the 2010 World Open, and that’s exactly what he did.

defending the world crown from the cold

O'Sullivan with his son RonnieImages courtesy of Getty

O’Sullivan won the 2013 World Championship admirably despite only playing one competitive game the entire season after taking a sabbatical from snooker.

Amazingly, he won the tournament without losing one session, and Mark Selby became the fourth player to do so after beating Barry Hawkins 18-12 in the final to claim his title at the Crucible.

O’Sullivan goes back 1000 years.

O'Sullivan graphicImages courtesy of Getty

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the first to surpass 1,300 century breaks, surpassing Judd Trump, John Higgins, and Neil Robertson, who all have attained that milestone.

The Rocket launches in the air.

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In 2020, O’Sullivan set a new record for the fastest match in Crucible history by taking just 108 minutes to finish the 10-1 first-round demolition job on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

regaining the position of first place.

O'Sullivan graphicBBC Sport

O’Sullivan, who has since made his first appearance at the top of the world rankings since 2019, arrived at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2022.

And it was unique. With his Tour Championship victories over Neil Robertson, he reclaimed the top spot in the world in March 2019 after a nine-year hiatus.

Crucible seventh heaven, in which O’Sullivan matches Hendry’s mark

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It only seemed a matter of time before O’Sullivan reached his seventh Crucible title, which he won in 2020 after earning his sixth.

And after making an appearance in his 30th game against David Gilbert in the famous Sheffield venue in his 2022 first-round appearance, he won 18-13 against Judd Trump to set Hendry’s modern-era record for titles.

youngest and oldest winners of the UK

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With a record-extending eighth title in York, O’Sullivan defeated Ding Junhui to become the oldest UK champion.

The Englishman won the UK Championship just two days before his 48th birthday, just three years after becoming the youngest player to do so at the age of 17 years old.

Win over Wakelin in the semi-finals with two 147s

Ronnie O'SullivanImages courtesy of Getty

Imagine winning the best-of-11 match not once but twice. In their earlier this year’s Saudi Arabia Masters semi-final, O’Sullivan defeated Chris Wakelin 6-3 to win the same thing.

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RSF kills dozens, mostly children, in war-torn Sudan’s Kalogi: SAF sources

According to two military sources in the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the death toll from Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on a kindergarten and other locations in the city of Kalogi in South Kordofan state has increased to 47 people, mostly children, and to 50 others have been injured.

The RSF attacked the kindergarten on Thursday, according to the sources, before turning its attention to the civilians who had gathered to offer assistance in the chaos. A government building and a hospital in the city were also bombed.

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Due to some of the serious injuries suffered by some of the treated, the sources said this toll is not yet definitive.

At least nine people were killed, including four children and two women, in “deliberate suicide-drone attacks carried out in Kalogi town” by the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (al-Hilou), according to a report released on Thursday by the Sudan Doctors Network.

They continued, “This attack constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, and it continues to target civilians and vital infrastructure.”

In the most recent instance of the brutal civil war, which pits the SAF against the paramilitary RSF, atrocities against civilians. Additionally, it is suspected that the SAF engaged in atrocities during the conflict.

Kordofan’s “history repeating itself”

The UN warned on Thursday that fierce fighting between rival armed forces could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe in the Sudanese Kordofan region.

After last month’s fall of el-Fasher, Sudan’s capital, where international community warnings of impending violence were largely ignored before widespread killings occurred, UN human rights chief Volker Turk claimed that history was “repeating itself” in Kordofan.

According to Turk, it is truly shocking to see history repeat itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El-Fasher, and he urged other countries to stop the area from experiencing the same fate.

At least 269 civilian deaths have been documented by the UN as a result of aerial bombardment, artillery fire, and summary killings since late October when the paramilitary RSF seized Bara in North Kordofan state.

The actual cost of the incident is probably much higher because of regional communication blackouts, which have led to reports of revenge attacks, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, and child forced recruitment.

The RSF claimed earlier this week that it was in charge of Babnusa, West Kordofas, with footage showing its fighters rushing through the military base. The city’s fall was not claimed by the army.

Attention has turned to Kordofan in central Sudan now that it is the last major city under the army’s and its allies’ control since the fall of el-Fasher.

Due to its strategic significance, both sides are in a crucial position in Kordofan. The region serves as a crucial link between the conflicting factions’ heartlands and government-held territory in the west of RSF-controlled Darfur in the west.

The RSF would have a direct route to Khartoum, which government forces captured earlier this year, if they had control of major cities like El-Obeid.

The UN issued urgent warnings about potential atrocities before el-Fasher  fell&nbsp in November. Those warnings were largely ignored.

Mass murders broke out after the city’s capture, with corpses emerging from satellite imagery, which prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to refer to it as a “crime scene.”