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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Best record in the NBA. A team that won the Eastern Conference and went to the NBA Finals last season. A pair of All-Stars, including the MVP. And a coach who isn’t an interim coach anymore. The Boston Celtics have much to like about where they are right now. Jayson Tatum’s All-Star scoring records — 55 points in the game, 27 points in the third […]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The air-conditioning gave out as students returned from summer break last year to Jim Hill High School in Jackson, Mississippi, forcing them to learn in sweltering heat. By Thanksgiving, students were huddling under blankets because the heat wasn’t working. Along the way students dealt with broken showers in locker rooms, plumbing issues and a litany of other problems in the nearly 60-year-old school building. “There’s been […]

Among Kshama Sawant’s earliest memories of the caste system was hearing her grandfather — a man she “otherwise loved very much” — utter a slur to summon their lower-caste maid. The Seattle City Council member, raised in an upper-caste Hindu Brahmin household in India, was 6 when she questioned her grandfather about it. He responded that his granddaughter “talked too much.” Now 50, and an elected official in a city […]

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy based on one’s birth that is tied to concepts of purity and social status. Its history, evolution and current state are complicated. A move to outlaw caste-based discrimination in Seattle has thrust this complex — and often misunderstood — system into the spotlight. If the Seattle City Council votes Tuesday to approve an ordinance that will include caste in its anti-discrimination laws, […]

One of Kshama Sawant’s earliest memories of the caste system was hearing her grandfather — a man she “otherwise loved very much” — utter a slur to summon their lower-caste maid. The Seattle City Council member, raised in an upper-caste Hindu Brahmin household in India, was 6 when she asked her grandfather why he used that derogatory word when he knew the girl’s name. He responded that his granddaughter “talked […]

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — A cyclone which is intensifying as it approaches the southeastern African coast has been labeled as “dangerous” by the United Nation’s weather agency on Monday as nations brace for landfall. Cyclone Freddy is projected to reach Madagascar on Tuesday evening and hurtle toward Mozambique by the end of the week. The tropical cyclone is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to dump heavy […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Gulf nation of Bahrain plans to put three religious reformers on trial Tuesday for allegedly questioning the foundations of Islam, a case that has divided the Shiite majority of the country ruled by a Sunni monarchy. The three are members of Tajdeed, a local Shiite cultural society that advocates open discussion of religion, and whose members have questioned Islamic jurisprudence and scholarly opinions. […]

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf is doing well after undergoing a planned surgical procedure “in the heart area,” the palace said Monday. The surgery “went according to plan and the King is doing well,” the royal household said. “The king thanks for all the support and the warmth shown to him and feels grateful for Swedish healthcare.” The official announcement did not elaborate on the nature of […]

PARIS (AP) — The trial of Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred, who is accused of aggravated rape and assault, started in Paris on Monday. The 37-year-old Lamjarred, who is famous on the Arab pop music scene, allegedly raped a French woman at a luxury hotel on the Champs-Elysees in October 2016 while he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. He has denied the allegations. If convicted, he faces up […]