As the final seconds expired in Minnesota’s Game 7 victory against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, Karl-Anthony Towns processed an onslaught of emotions.

The Timberwolves’ first conference finals appearance in two decades; the responsibility Towns felt for getting the team into this position; his commitment to the franchise and the Twin Cities; the blame he absorbed in season’s when the Timberwolves didn’t reach expectations; the loss of his mom, Jacqueline, from COVID-19 in 2020, and the all-important role he played in Game 7.

It was a fitting conclusion to the series for Towns, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds and played outstanding defense on NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

After a 36-46 season in 2018-19, Towns posted on social media, “Minny deserves better. I plan to give it to them.” Five years later, through sorrow, joy, recovery and rediscovery, Towns delivered.

“It's a feeling that I've been waiting for a long time just to have that moment,” Towns told USA

The Senate will vote Thursday on a border security bill that is dividing the Democratic caucus and failed earlier this year, exposing rifts within the party even as they try to shift the narrative on border security.

As immigration remains top of mind for voters, the White House and top congressional Democrats have discussed a series of moves aimed at strengthening their hand on border security ahead of the first presidential debate next month. Sources say those talks included reviving the stalled border security measure that initially failed after former President Donald Trump told GOP lawmakers to knock it down.

Democrats have pointed to the failure of the bill – which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis – to argue that Republicans are not serious about trying to fix problems at the southern border and are ready to ramp up that argument after the bill stalls out a second time as expected.

But without Ukraine tied to the measure, some Democrats and immigrant advocates are casting

When Kenyan President William Ruto touched down in Beijing seven months ago, he was welcomed on the tarmac with a red carpet and cordons of Chinese troops standing at attention. Among the goals of his three-day state visit in October: securing another $1 billion in loans from China to help complete infrastructure projects.

On Wednesday, when he arrived at Joint Base Andrews to begin another state visit – this time to Washington – he again found a red carpet and troops. This time, however, a special emissary was sent to greet his plane: first lady Dr. Jill Biden.

President Joe Biden is leaning on the highest trappings of American diplomacy this week to boost ties with the East African nation, including designating Kenya a major non-NATO ally – the first in sub-Saharan Africa – and hosting a sunset state dinner on the White House South Lawn.

Looming over the pomp and circumstance is China’s expanding role in Africa, which has become a central testing ground for the world’s two largest

Republican lawmakers in states across the U.S. have been rejecting Democrats’ efforts to protect or expand access to birth control, an issue Democrats are promoting as a major issue in this year’s elections along with abortion and other reproductive rights concerns.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, pushed the issue into the political spotlight this week when he said in an interview that he was open to supporting restrictions on contraception before he reversed course and said he “has never and never will” advocate to restrict access to birth control. He went further in the post on his social media platform, saying “I do not support a ban on birth control, and neither will the Republican Party.”

But recent moves in governor’s offices and state legislatures across the country tell a more complicated story about Republicans’ stances on contraception amid what reproductive rights advocates warn is a slow chipping away of access.
“Contraception is not as strai

One passenger died and 71 people were injured when their Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence Tuesday, throwing passengers and crew around the cabin and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.

The Boeing 777-300ER was about 10 hours into its flight and midway through meal service when it hit turbulence while flying over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin, according to the airline.

Andrew Davies, a passenger onboard flight SQ321 who was traveling to New Zealand for business, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that it had been a “perfectly normal” flight when the seatbelt sign came on and seconds later “all hell broke loose.”

“The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling. The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad.
Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.

In Tehran, Iran’s capital, businesses were open and children attended school Monday. However, there was a noticeable presence of both uniformed and plainclothes security forces.
Later in the day, hundreds of mourners crowded into downtown Vali-e-Asr square holding posters of Raisi and waving Palestinian flags. Some men c

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad.
Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.

In Tehran, Iran’s capital, businesses were open and children attended school Monday. However, there was a noticeable presence of both uniformed and plainclothes security forces.
Later in the day, hundreds of mourners crowded into downtown Vali-e-Asr square holding posters of Raisi and waving Palestinian flags. Some men c

Pro-Palestinian encampments have been cleared from more US college campuses as school officials have called in law enforcement in recent weeks to quell mounting demonstrations over the institutions’ ties to Israel amid its military action in Gaza. Here are the latest developments:

Arts and sciences faculty at Columbia University have passed a vote of no confidence in the Ivy League school’s president, Minouche Shafik, who has been under intense scrutiny for her handling of campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and her congressional testimony on the subject.
Sixty-five percent of participants said they had no confidence in Shafik, a spokesperson for the New York university confirmed to CNN on Thursday, adding some 900 of its 4,600 full-time faculty voted.

Among their concerns were that Shafik’s leadership had “not only endangered our students; more broadly, it represents a serious threat to the core values of the university: academic freedom, shared governance, freedom of expres