Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby each scored 23 points as the New York Knicks reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000 by steamrolling the visiting Boston Celtics 119-81 in Game 6 of their second-round series.
Mikal Bridges had 22 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points and 12 rebounds for third-seeded New York, which led by as many as 41 points on Friday. The Knicks wrapped up the best-of-seven series with the largest winning playoff margin in franchise history.
“There’s more to go,” Bridges said. “We’re not done. We came out there tonight and played hard and handled business. But our season is not over. We have much more to go.”
New York surpassed a 36-point playoff victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the decisive Game 5 of the 1970 Eastern Division finals.
Josh Hart contributed 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to record New York’s first postseason triple-double since Walt Frazier accomplished the feat in 1972.
“I want to congratulate the Celtics on a terrific season,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Unfortunate injury to Jayson Tatum. They’re a terrific organisation, ownership, front office, Joe Mazzulla is a terrific coach, great players.
“They’re not going to hand you anything. You have to earn it.”
The Knicks will open the conference finals at home against the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
Defending NBA champion Boston was led by Jaylen Brown, who had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists before fouling out late in the third quarter. The Celtics were again short-handed after losing Tatum to a ruptured right Achilles during Game 4 on Monday.
“Upset or not, we beat a great team,” Brunson said. “They obviously lost a huge piece (in Tatum). The way they came out in Game 5, they’re still a good team. Regardless of what anyone thinks – upset or not – we’re just happy to come out of the series with a win and now we’ll prepare for another team.”
Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks drives to the basket during the game against the Boston Celtics during Game 6 [Brian Babineau/Getty Images via AFP]
New York shot 46.2 percent from the field, including 16 of 45 (35.6 percent) from 3-point range. The Knicks held a 55-36 rebounding advantage.
Payton Pritchard scored 11 points and Al Horford added 10 for Boston, which shot 36 percent and was 12 of 40 (30 percent) from 3-point range.
The score was tied at 16 before the Knicks began pulling away.
New York led 26-20 at the end of the first quarter and then opened the second with a 16-4 surge to open up an 18-point lead midway through the period.
After Boston’s Luke Kornet interrupted the burst with a three-point play, the Knicks rattled off 16 of the next 21 points to take a 58-32 lead on a putback dunk by Miles “Deuce” McBride with 1:31 left.
McBride buried a 3-pointer as time expired in the half for a 64-37 lead at the break. That marked New York’s largest halftime advantage at the break since leading the Los Angeles Lakers 69-42 in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals, won by the Knicks.
“You win a championship and you have that target on your back from Day 1,” Celtics guard Derrick White said of falling well short of winning back-to-back NBA titles. “There’s ups and downs through every season. This part sucks and we didn’t complete the goal that we set out to get.”
The contest was effectively over when Brown fouled out with 2:50 left in the third quarter and Boston down by 33. Anunoby poured it on with consecutive 3-pointers to end a 10-0 push as the margin went above 40 at 92-51 with 1:51 remaining in the third.
“They played better than we did,” Mazzulla said. “I’m happy for Thibs [Thibodeau]. He’s been coaching for a long time. That’s the biggest thing. You pay your dues, you put forth everything. That guy is a lifer. He’s what a coach is all about and he deserves it. And they deserve it as a team. You got to take your hat off to them.”
New York Knicks fans celebrate after their team won Game 6 of the NBA playoffs against the reigning champions Boston Celtics outside Madison Square Garden in New York on May 16, 2025 [Leonardo Munoz/ AFP]
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the establishment of a Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre.
In a statement posted on its X handle on Friday, the examination body said the move was to provide additional support to candidates with urgent concerns.
The new centre would complement its existing ticketing platform, which remains the preferred and most efficient means of communication with the Board.
JAMB, however, pointed out that its ticketing platform was still the most reliable option for candidates seeking assistance.
“In addition to our usual and preferred ticketing platform for Candidate Support, JAMB has now opened a Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre (CCESC).
“Members of the public, particularly Candidates with genuine concern, can reach out to any of these officials: a. Gbenga b. Yusuf C. Dubem d. Tony e. Ogbonna and f. Emma on 07002200016,” it stated.
The development comes as the Kuliya Ngeri of Ilorin, Prof. Yusuf Ali, yesterday, defended the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, following his recent admission to a system glitch.
The glitch had affected over 300,000 students who sat for the 2025 JAMB examination.
In a statement yesterday, titled ‘Prof Is-Haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, The Uncommon Person’, Ali noted that Oloyede’s decision to own up to the mistake and show empathy to the affected candidates was a rare occurrence in Nigeria’s public service.
READ ALSO: Ghana Detains Over 2,200 Undocumented Migrants In Crime Crackdown
The statement read: “Let me confess that Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede the Registrar and Chief executive of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been a personal Friend of about 50 years, I need to make this disclosure, so that no one will accuse me of writing this testimonial, without the disclosure of our affinity.
“Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is one of the very few individuals for whom I can swear with the Holy Quran about their honesty, integrity, transparency, incorruptibility, Human empathy and selflessness.
“It was unfortunate that a technical glitch engendered by 3rd parties negatively affected the conduct of the 2025 JAMB examination in some places in the South East and Lagos. This unfortunate incident has led to the decision to conduct a new examination for about 300,000 candidates out of the over 1.5 million candidates who wrote the examination.
“Many of the commentators seem to forget the clime in which Oloyede operates, that he decided not to take the path of most public servants in our country by treating the complaints about the examination with impunity, has led a few of the commentators to ask for his head.
“I dare say that the path he had chosen on this unfortunate matter of admitting that there were mistakes, owning up and showing genuine empathy to the victims of this unfortunate event, is a rare occurrence in our part of the world.
“Oloyede has shown that those who operate in our national space are also fallible like all humans and that perfection belongs only to Almighty Allah.
“He has shown candour, honesty, transparency, humanness, and leadership by accepting full responsibility for the acts of others because he happens to be the head of the organisation.
“We who know Oloyede closely can attest to the sleepless nights he usually has, at least three months before any of these examinations, moving physically, sometimes at very unreasonable hours of the day, to visit the various offices of JAMB all over Nigeria in preparation for these examinations.
“No serious leader will abandon his people at the time of a crisis, which is what his resignation at this point will translate to. This unfortunate incident happened under his watch, and it makes a lot of sense that he should not abandon ship but be manly enough to see the end of the problem. Good leadership is not about taking flight when negative issues arise.
A Russian drone strike on a civilian bus has killed nine people, says Ukraine, with the attack coming hours after the two countries held their first direct peace talks in years.
Four others were injured in the attack in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, officials said on Saturday, as Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had targeted Ukrainian military equipment.
“This is not just another shelling – it is a cynical war crime,” Ukraine’s National Police said in a post on Telegram messaging app, which featured photos of the badly damaged vehicle.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha denounced the attack as an “deliberate and barbaric war crime”, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of continuing “to wage a war against civilians”.
Russia’s TASS news agency, citing a statement from the Defence Ministry, said Russian drones had struck a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in Sumy.
Russia denies targeting civilians since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, although thousands have been killed.
The strike in Sumy came shortly after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday to broker a temporary ceasefire.
The 90-minute talks failed to reach a breakthrough, but ended with both sides agreeing to swap 1,000 prisoners in what would be the largest such exchange since the start of the war in 2022.
Vladimir Medinsky, the lead Russian negotiator, expressed satisfaction with the talks and said Moscow was ready for further negotiations, including on a ceasefire. “We have agreed that all sides will present their views on a possible ceasefire and set them out in detail,” he said after the meeting.
A source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters news agency that Russia’s demands were “detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed”.
The source told the agency Moscow had issued ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its own territory to get a ceasefire, “and other non-starters”.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Kyiv, said Medinsky had sent a clear message during the negotiations that Moscow was ready to continue the war for years – and had no problem in continuing to conduct the war at the same time as it held talks.
“And that is exactly what they have done,” said Basravi.
In his post on social media after the Sumy attack, Ukraine’s Sybiha called for additional pressure on Russia.
“There should be no illusions. Pressure on Moscow must be increased to put an end to Russian terror,” the foreign minister wrote.
Krakow, Poland – As Adrian Zandberg, leader of Poland’s left-wing Razem (Together) party, prepared to speak to the large crowd at his rally in one of Krakow’s central squares on Wednesday this week, he wasn’t just getting ready to contest Sunday’s presidential election.
Speaking with a revolutionary zeal to the cheering crowd, Zandberg put forward his ideals: Quality public services, affordable housing for all, investment in education and science and the end to a toxic right-wing duopoly in Polish politics.
Zandberg is one of two presidential hopefuls of Poland’s left – the other is Magdalena Biejat of the Lewica (The Left) party. Between the two of them, they represent a political force that has long remained on the margins of politics. Sunday’s contest is also a fight for the leadership of this movement which is popular with urban, generally younger people.
Opinion polls suggest that the final presidential battle – first-round voting takes place on Sunday – will be between the two favourites, Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki, representatives of right-wing parties Civic Platform and Law and Justice (PiS) which have dominated the country’s political scene for the past 20 years.
Nevertheless, Zandberg was confident and full of passion as he addressed his supporters.
“I believe that we can build a different, better Poland. I believe that we can afford for Poland to become a country with decent public services,” he declared. “That we can afford for people in the 20th economy in the world to stop dying in line to see a doctor. That we can afford for young, hard-working people to be able to rent a roof over their heads for a normal price, so that they can afford to start a family.”
Calling the current system “unconstitutional” and one which “explodes with inequalities”, he called for a change. The system, he said, “is a threat to the future of Poland”.
Like other left-wing politicians, he has been a staunch critic of the neoliberal views of the two main candidates, their lack of commitment to securing affordable housing for people (which is a constitutional right), attempts to privatise the healthcare system, and their seeming embrace of rising anti-migrant sentiment within the country.
Adrian Zandberg, leader of Razem party, reacts after exit poll results for the parliamentary elections are announced in Warsaw, Poland, on October 13, 2019 [Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters]
Having a ‘real’ effect on Polish politics
The day before, in another square in central Krakow, Biejat, Zandberg’s main competitor for the hearts and minds of Poland’s left and deputy marshal of the Senate, stood before her own crowd of supporters. Unlike Zandberg’s Razem, her party, Lewica, is part of the ruling Civic Coalition along with the centre-right Civic Platform.
Lewica’s decision to enter the coalition government in late 2023 prompted criticism among some on the left, and has become the main bone of contention between the two leftist presidential candidates.
Speaking at her rally on Tuesday, Biejat defended the decision to join the coalition as the right one. According to her, it has allowed her party to have a real effect on politics in Poland.
She listed their achievements: “It is thanks to Lewica being in the government that we managed to introduce a pension supplement for widows. We managed to introduce a pilot programme which shortened working hours. We managed to increase the funeral allowance,” Biejat said.
“We have changed the definition of rape, so that women no longer have to explain to the judges that it was not their fault that someone had hurt them. Thanks to us, parents of premature babies have received additional leave days for each week spent in hospital with a small child.”
The Krakow crowd, albeit smaller than Zandberg’s, cheered Biejat’s declarations of support for the rights of women, LGBTQ people and those with disabilities and for affordable housing.
Magdalena Biejat of the Lewica party speaks at her rally in Krakow on May 13 [Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska/Al Jazeera]
A fragile resurgence?
The two-term presidency of the left-wing Aleksander Kwasniewsk, an independent but also one of the founders of the Democratic Left Alliance, was highly successful. Under his presidency, which ended in 2005, Poland joined NATO and the European Union and introduced a new constitution. Since his departure, however, the left has been in crisis.
While the ideals of the left-wing candidates barely differ from those of left-wing candidates in other European countries, their appeal in Poland is limited these days as people have become disillusioned with immigration, and resentment towards the one million Ukrainian refugees taking shelter from the war with Russia has grown. According to Politico’s latest aggregate poll, the two leftist candidates are each expected to win 5 percent of the vote.
In the most recent European election in 2024, Lewica secured just 6.3 percent of the vote, the lowest score in its history. In the most recent parliamentary elections of 2023, the party secured just 5.3 percent of the vote. The question now is whether leftist parties can start to make a comeback.
Some observers see signs of a possible resurgence – but it is fragile.
“Any result above 5 percent for each of the candidates [in the upcoming presidential contest] would be a good score. And below 4 percent – a bad one,” said Bartosz Rydlinski, a political scientist at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.
He credits Zandberg with “restarting the Razem party project” by appealing to younger voters. “Recent studies show that he is competing with Slawomir Mentzen [the highly popular ultraconservative and free-market-enthusiast leader of the Confederation Party] to be number one among the youngest voters.
“Magdalena Biejat, on her part, represents women from the middle class, living in large cities. She is their mirror image. The election will show which one of them is more popular,” Rydlinski said.
Limited appeal
At the last presidential election five years ago, Robert Biedron of Lewica, who now serves as a Polish member of the European parliament (MEP), won just 2.2 percent of the vote. This time around, the left is expected to do better, but its appeal remains limited.
According to experts, the left has lost much of its traditional support base to the nationalist conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which attracted voters with generous welfare packages. In this presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by PiS, is expected to take 25 percent of the vote in the first round, according to Politico’s aggregate poll.
This is despite the fact that Nawrocki has abandoned Law and Justice’s commitment to social welfare and has embraced free-market thinking with a focus on strengthening an alliance with the US while distancing Poland from the EU.
His main competitor,Rafał Trzaskowski of the centre-right Civic Platform, is polling at 31 percent.
“The left is continuously trying to win back pro-social Law and Justice voters, but so far it has failed,” Jakub Majmurek, a commentator at the left-wing Krytyka Polityczna media outlet, told Al Jazeera. “First of all, because these voters are often calculating and feel that the Law and Justice is a much more credible welfare provider than the weak left.
“Second, these voters are largely pro-church and much more conservative when it comes to social issues than the left.”
A good result for the left in the Sunday election could have the effect of bringing left-wing politics back to the agenda, analysts say, and make some inroads into reversing the long-term trend of far-right and centre-right politicians dominating government.
“If the combined result of Biejat and Zandberg is around 10 percent, in the second election round, Trzaskowski or even Nawrocki will have to try to claim this left-wing electorate somehow,” Majmurek explained.
Ghanaian immigration officials said they had detained more than 2,000 undocumented foreign nationals in Accra on Friday in an operation to dismantle criminal networks and curb street begging.
Of the 2,241 arrested during the early morning raids, 1,332 were children, immigration services said in a statement.
Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak said in a Facebook post that the operation was “to address the growing concern of organised street begging involving foreign nationals.
“This activity poses a national security risk and damages the image of our country,” he added.
Many of those arrested had entered Ghana via “unapproved routes, bypassing essential immigration”, he said.
Many of those caught in the raid were from neighbouring junta-led Sahelian country of Burkina Faso, as well as from Togo. Some of the others were from as far away as Nigeria.
They will undergo security and medical screening before repatriation to their home countries, with the authorities promising to treat them with “the highest professionalism, with respect for their human rights”.
Some local people welcomed the action.
John Gyamfi, a 43-year-old Ghanaian spare parts dealer, said the arrests were “long overdue”.
“Some of these foreigners engage in prostitution and street begging,” he said.
“It’s embarrassing: they come here and people think they are Ghanaians and they embarrass the good name of Ghana. If they go, the streets will be neat again,” he added.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Jihadists Turn To TikTok To Spread Propaganda
But some undocumented migrants say desperation, not crime, was behind their arrival in Ghana.
“Finding food has become a problem for us,” Chamsiya Alhassan, a mother from Niger told AFP as she queued for a bus.
“Our husbands and relatives have been killed. We are here only to find something to eat,” she added.
Jihadists in northeastern Nigeria are surging — and using social media to spread the word of their campaigns and recruit fighters.
At least 100 people were killed in the new wave of jihadist attacks in April alone, as the governor of Borno, the epicentre of the violence which has raged since 2009, said the state is losing ground to armed groups.
At the same time, apparent jihadists and their boosters on TikTok were flaunting rifles, grenades and stacks of cash, according to easily accessible videos reviewed by AFP that same month.
They broadcast live in joint videos with accounts run by men preaching anti-Western ideologies in a style reminiscent of the videos released by deceased Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in the early days of the 15-year-old insurgency.
Criminal gangs that carry out raids on villages and kidnap for ransom in the northwest of the country have used TikTok in the past.
“It started with bandits,” Bulama Bukarti, a vice president at Texas-based Bridgeway Foundation wrote on X. “Now, Boko Haram members are hosting live TikTok shows — spreading propaganda, justifying their violence and threatening anyone who dares speak against them.”
A Boko Haram fighter threatened Bukarti himself in a now-deleted TikTok video for speaking against the group, he said.
While many of the accounts on the video sharing app have been flagged and taken down, the capability of broadcasting live streams on the platform adds another layer of difficulty to monitoring the content they put out.
A TikTok spokesperson said it was difficult to quantify the number of accounts linked to terrorist organisations that have been taken down.
While some of these accounts have been deleted, several others remain active, according to accounts viewed by AFP at the time of publication.
“Terrorist groups and content related to these groups have no place on TikTok, and we take an uncompromising stance against enabling violent extremism on or off our platform,” a spokesperson for the company told AFP in an emailed statement.
– ‘It’s paying off’ –
Among the 19 accounts reviewed by AFP were men dressed as clerics, their faces revealed to the camera even as they called for violence against the government and teamed up with accounts that showed off weapons hauls.
Accounts also post old footage of the original Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, and those of Isah Garo Assalafy, who was banned from preaching in public places in Niger state for using violent rhetoric against democracy and Western civilisation.
These accounts frequently go live, interacting with followers, answering questions and receiving digital gifts that can be converted into cash.
Nigeria’s jihadist conflict, which over the years has expanded to include a rival Islamic State group, has killed more than 40,000 and displaced some two million people in Africa’s most populous country.
Saddiku Muhammad, a former jihadist who has since defected, told AFP that armed groups are turning to TikTok in part because security forces cracked down on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
They also know TikTok is popular with young people.
“Jihadists realised that to capture the minds of young people, they need to speak to them in the language they understand — instead of the traditional didactic and demagogic styles that are boring and unattractive to them,” Muhammad said.
“From all indications, it is paying off. They are reaching out to young potential recruits.”
Analysts told AFP that the use of TikTok by members of armed groups is a direct challenge to the government.
Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based security analyst at the pan-African think tank Good Governance Africa, said it is a common Boko Haram tactic to use the group’s young members to spread propaganda.
“I believe showing their faces is strategic — to show that they aren’t afraid and to let their target know that they are engaging with real people,” Samuel said.
Islamic State West Africa Province, however, still appears to follow a more polished, top-down communication strategy than the apparent Boko Haram jihadists posting on TikTok, he said.
TikTok said it has partnered with UN-backed Tech Against Terrorism to improve the detection and removal of violent extremist content.
“Our community guidelines clearly state that we do not allow the presence of violent and hateful organisations or individuals on our platform,” it said.
