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Jeff Chiu/Associated Press The era of Vinsanity may be nearing an end, but it’s not over yet. Vince Carter announced his intentions to return for a 22nd NBA season on the latest episode of the Winging It  podcast, (h/t the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ‘s Chris Vivlamore ):  “I’m coming back.” After signing a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks last summer, he can explore his options this offseason. A return to Atlanta is under consideration, though. “I would like to,” Carter added. “We’ll see what happens.”  After previously writing in a  diary entry with   Marc J. Spears   of The Undefeated in April 2018 that he was “90 percent” sure he would call it quits after 2018-19, he mentioned on ESPN’s  Pardon The Interruption  in March that he may have one more year in him: Now it’s official. After being drafted fifth overall in 1998 by the Golden State Warriors and subsequently traded, the North Carolina product spent the first six-plus...

Americans by nearly 2 to 1 oppose Donald Trump ’s attempts to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border and just three in 10 in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll support making it harder for undocumented immigrants to request asylum protection in the United States. Interested in Immigration? Add Immigration as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Immigration news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Sixty-four percent oppose Trump declaring a national emergency in order to build a wall without congressional approval, while 34% back him. That includes 55% who “strongly” disapprove, vs. 28% who strongly support. See PDF for full results, charts and tables. Just 30%, moreover, favor making it harder for undocumented immigrants to seek asylum, as Trump has proposed. Essentially as many, 27%, would make it easier, while 34% favor leaving the law as it is now. Majority opposition to Trump’s policies stands even as a sense of the seriousness of the situation has rise...

Japan’ s new Emperor Naruhito has formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, a day after his father Akihito abdicated from the world’s oldest monarchy and ushered in a new imperial era. Naruhito officially became emperor at the stroke of midnight local time (1500GMT Tuesday) but the process will be formalised on Wednesday with the 10-minute ritual, which is off-limits to female royals – even his wife Masako. It took place on the first day of the new imperial era of Reiwa , meaning “beautiful harmony”, which will last throughout Naruhito’s reign. The 59-year-old was presented with the sacred imperial treasures of a sword and a jewel, as well as the seal of state and his personal imperial seal, at a solemn ceremony in the Room of Pine in the Imperial Palace at 10:30am local time (01:30 GMT).  Shortly afterwards, joined by Masako and other royals, Naruhito addressed the nation for the first time as its 126th emperor, as he vowed to stand with the Japanese people. He swore to ...

Aaron Gash/Associated Press After finding a new franchise cornerstone in Luka Doncic this past season, the Dallas Mavericks have big hopes for free agency this summer to boost their surrounding talent.  According to  Marc Stein of the  New York Times , the Mavs are looking for “s hooters, athleticism and veterans.” Stein mentioned Khris Middleton and Kemba Walker as two of their top targets.  The Mavericks should have ample salary-cap space to sign free agents. They currently have only $45.9 million in guaranteed salary on their books for next season, per   Basketball Insiders , although they’ll also have to re-sign Kristaps Porzingis this summer.  Per   Shams Charania   of The Athletic and Stadium, the NBA ‘s projected salary cap for 2019-20 is $109 million, while the luxury-tax threshold is projected to be $132 million.  Stein said the Mavs are hopeful they will have a shot at signing one of either Middleton or Walker.  D...

Steve Luciano/Associated Press The National Football League filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office last week in an effort to obtain exclusive rights to the Duluth Eskimos, a defunct franchise that operated during the 1926 and 1927 seasons.  Trademark attorney Josh Gerben provided analysis of the filing, though he later noted the NFL released a statement noting no team will use the name during the 2019 campaign as he initially suggested: Josh Gerben @JoshGerben The NFL has filed a trademark application for DULUTH ESKIMOS. The trademark application suggests that a NFL team could play a game as the DULUTH ESKIMOS this coming year. Here is my analysis of the filing #nfl https://t.co/67jHP6nlME Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk reported it’s part of a larger effort to secure rights to former franchises as part of the league’s 100th-anniversary celebration. The NFL could face resistance in its Duluth efforts because t...

Sudanese protest leaders have called for a mass rally amid mounting tensions over the composition of a joint civilian-military council to run the country following the removal of Sudan ‘s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir.  In a statement on Tuesday, the political parties and movements behind the months-long anti-government protests urged supporters  to gather for a “million-strong march” on May 2 to keep up the pressure for civilian rule. The appeal came hours after Sudan’s military rulers warned against “chaos” and called on protesters to clear roads and railways, saying seven provinces were running low on essential supplies.  Mohamed  Naji al-Assam, spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the main protest group, said the ruling military council  was “not serious” about transferring power to civilians. “With the passing of time the powers of the military council are expanded and this is a very big danger for the Sudanese revolution,” he s...

A Marine Corps reservist is under investigation for posting a photo on Instagram that showed four pairs of boots in the shape of a swastika. “We can confirm that Pfc. Anthony D. Schroader is a member of the Selected Marine Corps Reserve and is assigned to 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, Force Headquarters Group, Marine Forces Reserve located in West Palm Beach, Florida,” Marine Forces Reserve confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday. Schroader allegedly sent the photo to Marine veteran Maximilian Uriarte last week, asking him to post it on the social media pages for “Terminal Lance,” a popular comic series by Uriarte about the Marine Corps. Instead, Uriate tweeted the photo to Marine Corps officials, asking them to investigate. He then deleted the tweet after he got confirmation from the Corps that they would look into the photo, according to Task & Purpose which first reported the story . “There is no place for racial hatred or extremism in the Marine Corps,” Marine Forces Res...

Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is taking drastic measures to ensure he’s healthy enough to play against the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA playoffs. Embiid told ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan he was going through six separate treatment sessions daily on his left knee. The two-time All-Star added he sets his alarm for 5 a.m. ET to begin the regimen. “ Normally, sleep helps me a lot,” he said. “B ut right now sleep is secondary. I’ve got to take care of my body. I’ll sleep later.” In addition to the knee treatment, 76ers coach Brett Brown revealed Embiid received IV fluids before the team’s Game 2 94-89 win over the Raptors. Embiid missed Philadelphia’s Game 3 win over the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. In his four appearances during the series, he averaged 24.3 minutes per game in the series, a noticeable drop from his usage in the regular season (33.4 minutes). Prior to the start of the second round, Embiid indicated he wanted to see the...

The Trump administration is working to designate the  Muslim Brotherhood a foreign “terrorist” organisation, the White House said on Tuesday, which would bring sanctions against Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement. “The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi  had urged US President Donald Trump to take the step during an April 9 visit to the White House,  the New York Times  reported  on Tuesday , citing officials familiar with the matter. After the meeting, Trump praised Sisi as a “great president,” as a bipartisan group of US politicians raised concerns about Sisi’s record on human rights. The Muslim Brotherhood, or Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, is a revivalist Islamic movement, formed in Egypt in 1928. One of the oldest and most i...

Torrential rain continued to batter northern Mozambique  on Tuesday, several days after Cyclone Kenneth, as the United Nations said aid workers faced “an incredibly difficult situation” in reaching thousands of survivors. The rains grounded aid operations for a third consecutive day leaving some of the worst-hit communities cut off with very limited supplies. A planned World Food Programme (WFP) flight to the island of Ibo was on standby until the weather improved, according to Deborah Nguyen, spokeswoman for the agency. “We are really concerned about the situation for people on Ibo island,” she said, as they had been left out in the open after the majority of homes were destroyed, and with very limited food. “For us, it’s a frustrating day … There is not much we can do to reach these islands now,” she said. The government again urged residents of the main city of Pemba to flee to higher ground as flooding continued.  More than 570 millilitres has fallen in Pemba since ...

President Donald Trump has called for new rules for asylum seekers , including charging them a fee, limiting their ability to work legally and demanding that the courts resolve their claims within 180 days. Interested in Donald Trump? Add Donald Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Donald Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News. The plan, outlined in a White House memo released late Monday, is the administration’s latest attempt to deter a massive influx of families migrating to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s mandate is one of several steps the administration is considering as part of a broader strategy at the border. Last week, Trump has issued a separate memo aimed at combating visa stays. The administration also has discussed the possibility of building tent cities along the border and is examining an external study that suggests the president use “emergency regulation” to detain families longer. “This strategic exploitation of our Nation’s humanitar...

Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council has said the army will not accept unrest in the country, a day after protesters said soldiers were trying to disperse a sit-in in capital Khartoum. “We will not accept chaos. We will deal with it firmly in accordance with the law,” Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the Transitional Military Council’s vice president, said in a press conference on Tuesday. “We do not want to escalate the situation. We are committed to negotiation. After today, there will be no chaotic scenes,” he added. Thousands of protesters have been camping outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, almost three weeks after the military and security forces removed former president Omar al-Bashir from power on April 11 On Monday, Sudan’s main protest group said the military was trying to remove barricades at the sit-in outside the army headquarters. “The military council is a copy cat of the toppled regime. The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades,”...

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets with activist Leopoldo Lopez and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers early Tuesday in a bold and risky call for the military to rise up and oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. Interested in Venezuela? Add Venezuela as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Venezuela news, video, and analysis from ABC News. “I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers,” said Lopez, who had been detained since 2014 for leading anti-government protests. “Everyone should come to the streets, in peace.” Lopez said he has been freed from house arrest by members of the military responding to an order by Guaidó, whom the U.S. and dozens of other governments recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader. As he spoke on a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro sporadically fired tear gas from inside the adjacent Carlota air base as the crowd of a few hundre...

Erik Prince – the founder of the controversial private security firm Blackwater and a prominent supporter of US President Donald Trump – has been pushing to deploy a private army to help topple Venezuela ‘s socialist president, Nicholas Maduro , four sources with knowledge of the effort told Reuters. Over the last several months, the sources said, Prince has sought investment and political support for such an operation from influential Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan exiles. In private meetings in the United States and Europe , Prince sketched out a plan to field up to 5,000 soldiers-for-hire on behalf of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido , according to two sources with direct knowledge of Prince’s pitch. One source said Prince has conducted meetings about the issue as recently as mid-April. White House National Security Council Spokesman Garrett Marquis declined to comment when asked whether Prince had put his plan to the government and whether it would be consid...

Akihito  in his final address as emperor thanked the Japanese people for their support during his 30-year reign and said he would “pray for the peace and happiness of all the people in Japan and around the world”. The formal abdication came in the “Room of Pine” in Toyko’s Imperial Palace when Akihito announced his retirement standing next to his wife, Empress Michiko and in the presence of his son  Crown Prince Naruhito, other members of the royal family and top government officials. He is the first Japanese emperor to abdicate since Kokatu in 1817, a move that had to be approved by parliament.    The monarch had started his abdication rituals at a Shinto shrine on Tuesday morning. Television images showed Akihito in a traditional robe entering the main Shrine of Kashikodokoro to report his abdication to the gods. The shine is where the goddess Amaterasu, said to be the direct ancestress of the imperial family, is enshrined. Only part of Akihito’s shrine ritu...

New Delhi, India – India ‘s general elections, the world’s largest democratic exercise, is past its halfway mark. The country’s election commission says nearly 900 million voters are eligible to vote in the seven-phase voting , which started on April 11 and will go on till May 19 for 543 parliamentary constituencies. But nationwide reports of voters finding they were unable to vote after being deleted from, or deemed ineligible to be included in, the electoral rolls have raised concerns. Voter turnout this year has been high, particularly in the state of Assam which recorded an impressive 80 percent polling. But those left out of the voting process in India’s northeastern state have not been able to join in the enthusiasm. “I feel neglected. It’s very painful and I can’t explain it,” says Saleha Begum, a 60-year-old resident of Assam’s Baksa district. Saleha is one of around 125,000 “D” or “Doubtful” voters in Assam deemed ineligible to vote by the authorities, who say they wer...

Ron Turenne/Getty Images And  that is why the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Jimmy Butler . It wasn’t just because they could, or because the Markelle Fultz experiment went belly up before it ever started, or because Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons aren’t enough on their own. It was all those things and more, and then even more than that. After dealing for Butler in November, acquiring Tobias Harris in February and once again leaning on late-season additions to flesh out a rotation begging for substance beyond the starting five, the Sixers are as close as it gets to an NBA contender assembled on the fly.  They are shallow yet teeming with star power, terrifyingly talented yet unavoidably unfamiliar. That top-heavy slapdashery doesn’t always work, but it can work. It has worked—often just barely, though it’s worked all the same. Butler is the primary reason why. He gives the Sixers a line to potential dominance. He also affords them a margin for error. They can fall behi...

Japan’s  85-year-old Emperor Akihito prayed to a Shinto sun goddess, starting a day of ceremonies to mark the end of a three-decade reign in which he sought to ease painful memories of World War II and bring the monarchy closer to people. Akihito, 85, was the first monarch to take the Chrysanthemum Throne under a post-war constitution that defines the emperor as a symbol of the people without political power. Akihito will end his three-decade reign on Tuesday when he abdicates to his son Crown Prince Naruhito. Only part of the ritual was released to the public. In a palace ritual later in the day, he will announce his retirement before other members of the royal family and top government officials. He’s the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years. The last abdication by a Japanese monarch was in 1817. Naruhito will become emperor on Wednesday, but his formal enthronement will take place at a more elaborate ceremony in October. Why is Akihito abdicating? In August 2016, Aki...

Kemba Walker hates losing. Like, really hates it. This, of course, is an emotion that all players claim, a line off the script they believe they’re supposed to read. Sort of like an offseason tweet with the hashtag #riseandgrind. But Walker is different than many of his peers. Just ask those who’ve been around him. “He’s the first NBA player I’ve ever seen, like, actually break down after a loss,” said Chris Whitney, who played 11 seasons in the NBA and spent four as a player development coach with the Charlotte Hornets , where he grew close to Walker. That breakdown—which included literal crying—happened during Walker’s rookie season, where the Bobcats (the franchise was rebranded the Hornets in 2014) won just seven games. Walker has learned to maintain his composure over the years, but that change has mostly been cosmetic. “He’s a guy who gets beat down by losing,” said Hornets broadcaster Gerald Henderson, who played four years alongside Walker in Charlotte. The Hornets draft...