Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 against the team that traded him last month, and the Clippers won their third in a row, 130-107 over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome.
Brook Lopez had 17 points for the Clippers while Darius Garland had 12 in his first home game since being acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers last month. He and Mathurin, who made eight of 11 shots, provided an effective backcourt off the bench, and center Isaiah Jackson added 10 points, four rebounds and three blocks against his old team as well.
The only negative on the night was when rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was helped to the locker room after he suffered a right foot injury. He didn’t return. The Clippers said he’d undergo further evaluation and won’t join them for a two-game trip.
Pascal Siakam had 29 points in his return after sitting out three games because of a left wrist sprain to lead Indiana, but the Pacers lost their seventh in a row and fell to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 15-47 record.
Jay Huff had 18 points and was four for eight on three-pointers, and Jarace Walker added 17 points.
The Clippers (30-31) led 42-25 after one quarter and 63-51 at halftime, with Leonard racking up 20 points. The Clippers pulled away with a 16-2 run in the third quarter to extend a seven-point lead to 21.
The Clippers shot 55.1% to the Pacers’ 42.9% as L.A. pulled within a game of .500 for the second time since recovering from a 6-21 start. The Clippers play at San Antonio on Friday and at Memphis on Saturday.
Norchad Omier, a 6-foot-7 forward on a two-way contract, became the first Nicaraguan to score in the NBA, according to the Clippers, when he made a late jump hook in the lane.
The packing technique called the “brick method” allows you to pack four weeks’ worth of clothing in a small carry-on suitcase.
Clever suitcase packing trick helps you fit 1 month’s worth of clothes in small suitcase(Image: Oscar Wong via Getty Images)
For those plotting a brief spring or summer escape this year, splashing out on a hefty suitcase for the aircraft hold often feels like overkill. This is where honing your packing prowess becomes essential, whether you’re taking a small carry-on, a rucksack, or a holdall into the cabin.
Packing cubes have become a hit amongst globe-trotters on social media for their ability to organise belongings and optimise space. Yet, you must deploy them correctly to reap their full benefits.
Kelsey captioned the video: “How to pack one month’s worth of clothes in only a carry-on suitcase.”
In this packing hack, dubbed the “brick method”, fold the trousers to a consistent size, then roll them up until they take on the appearance of a brick, thus explaining the name, reports the Express.
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When it comes to bottoms with tie strings, fold them in half to conceal the ties first before rolling them up. Then, align the bottoms in a packing cube so the straps will compress the clothes.
Kelsey recommends wearing your bulkiest layers, like denim, on travel days to preserve space. Alternatively, lay them flat over the top before zipping your packing cube shut.
For tops and shirts, follow the same method as trousers – fold everything into a uniform size. Fold button-down shirts with buttons facing you to reduce bulk.
Tuck any hoods and vest straps inwards to minimise bulk. Kelsey explains: “Your items should become similarly sized ‘bricks’, so they’ll fit uniformly in the cubes.”
For those seeking alternative packing strategies to try out this summer and who’d rather skip the packing cubes, influencer Chantel Mila offers an excellent tip.
She suggests standing your suitcase upright instead of laying it flat on the floor, and arranging your belongings vertically in columns.
This approach not only maximises space but also provides a clearer view of all your items, making the unpacking process far simpler once you reach your destination.
The United Kingdom’s government is investing in spyware developed and tested on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank despite its public criticism of Israeli action there.
In addition to the Corsight facial recognition technology used to track, trace and detain thousands of Palestinian civilians passing through checkpoints in Gaza and the West Bank, the UK government has disregarded its own public concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza and de facto annexation of the West Bank and has purchased spyware from at least two other Israeli-linked manufacturers: Cellebrite and BriefCam.
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Cellebrite
Cellebrite is an Israeli company closely linked to that country’s military. It has developed software that can bypass passwords and security protocols on smartphones and computers and access data from them.
That software has been used extensively by the Israeli military on Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank, including to harvest data from the phones of thousands of detained Palestinians, many of whom have been subjected to systematic torture, a report by the American Friends Service Committee said.
Cellebrite is also reported to have received support from the United States Department of Defense to work on technology designed to map underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
Despite its stated public concerns over Israeli action in Gaza and the West Bank, records show the UK has entered into several agreements to take advantage of the technology used by Israel in Palestinian territory.
According to public records, a number of UK police forces have purchased access to Cellebrite software, including the City of London Police, which renewed its one-year contract with the Israeli company for more than 95,000 pounds ($128,600) in June. Leicestershire Police also renewed its contract with the Israeli spyware company in March for 328,688 pounds ($445,300). The British Transport Police, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, Kent and Essex police, and Northumbria Police have also entered into contracts with Cellebrite.
Inquiries from Al Jazeera to the UK Home Office, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and the UK Police’s commercial agent, Blue Light Services, have all gone unanswered.
However, while declining to comment on “specific customer relationships or contracts”, Victor Cooper, Cellebrite’s senior director of corporate communication, rejected the characterisation of the company’s activities as “hacking”, instead saying, “Cellebrite’s solutions are forensic tools used in legally sanctioned investigations and require physical possession of the device. They do not enable remote access.”
Rights groups have raised concerns over Cellebrite exporting its technology to hardline states worldwide, including Myanmar, Serbia and Belarus, where it has been used to extract information from the phones of opposition figures, journalists and activists.
BriefCam
The Israeli-founded company BriefCam, which was acquired by Canon in 2018 and then by the Danish company Milestone Systems last year, has been providing the UK’s Cumbria Police with surveillance software since at least 2022.
A further disclosure by Police Scotland in June confirms that Scotland’s police service is also considering using the service.
BriefCam was founded in 2007 by Shmuel Peleg, Gideon Ben-Zvi and Yaron Caspi based on technology developed at Israel’s Hebrew University.
The company provides video synopsis programmes to law enforcement agencies, governments and companies. Police forces and private firms can use BriefCam’s Protect & Insights platform to sift through and condense hours of CCTV and home-surveillance footage, making it easily searchable.
The system includes facial-recognition and licence-plate search tools and allows police to build “watch lists” of specific faces or vehicle plates.
The technology has been used in East Jerusalem, Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel.
According to undated files accessed by the research centre Who Profits, a tender document published by the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction inviting companies to bid for maintenance contracts for 98 security systems within East Jerusalem specified that the successful bidder must be able to maintain BriefCam’s software. Israeli public records also show that in 2021, Israeli police committed to a contract valued at $1m for BriefCam’s video analysis systems.
A May 2023 report by the rights group Amnesty International documented how surveillance technology, such as that provided by BriefCam, was instrumental in maintaining Israel’s subjugation of Palestinians.
According to the report, the use of surveillance software is critical in maintaining the “continued domination and oppression of Palestinians … [w]ith a record of discriminatory and inhuman acts that maintain a system of apartheid”.
While not mentioning BriefCam by name, the report continued: “The Israeli authorities are able to use facial recognition software – in particular at checkpoints – to consolidate existing practices of discriminatory policing, segregation, and curbing freedom of movement, violating Palestinians’ basic rights.”
According to the company, the software can also filter footage by a wide range of characteristics, including gender, age group, clothing, movement patterns and time spent in a given location.
And that, despite the technology’s links to the oppression of Palestinians, is what makes it attractive to UK police forces.
Cumbria Police has said it does not currently use the facial recognition capabilities of BriefCam’s technology.
A spokesperson for Cumbria Police also clarified that the force has been using BriefCam for “several years” and, before introducing the technology, it had “consulted Cumbria’s independent Ethics and Integrity Panel and Strategic Independent Advisory Group”.
A request for a copy of those findings went unanswered.
Police officers are deployed in occupied East Jerusalem, where, records show, technology supplied to the UK has been used extensively [File: Atef Safadi/EPA]
Corsight
As previously reported by Al Jazeera, the Israeli company Corsight, through a subcontract with UK company Digital Barriers, has also been selected by the UK Home Office to play a key role in its expansion of facial recognition vans.
In March 2024, long before the UK government chose to include Corsight within its rollout of facial recognition technology, The New York Times revealed that misgivings over Corsight’s facial-recognition technology in Gaza had led to various members of the Israeli military voicing objections to its use by Unit 8200, Israel’s cyberintelligence branch.
The expansion of systems such as those marketed by Corsight, Cellebrite and BriefCam is part of a global trade in Israeli spyware, developed and refined through prolonged surveillance of Palestinians, that is now being exported worldwide.
Rights groups warned that techniques pioneered in Israel are being used by governments to target activists, journalists and political opponents as concerns deepen over the spread of unregulated cyberwarfare tools.
“The government and police should not be awarding contracts to Israeli spyware firms under any circumstances,” Palestine Solidarity Campaign Deputy Director Ryvka Barnard told Al Jazeera. “These companies develop and test their products through Israel’s regime of military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. It is unacceptable for public money to be given to these companies, allowing them to profit from and develop new products used to surveil and harm Palestinians.”
Their frustrating midseason slump was finally in the rear-view mirror, their season finally feeling back on the right track.
Any reservations about USC righting the ship after losing six of seven had largely been forgotten on the heels of a four-game winning streak. Victories over No. 8 Iowa, Rutgers, Northwestern and Illinois, two of which came on the road, had cemented its place on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble.
But as the Trojans were reminded in a 79-73 win over Indiana at Galen Center, now is no time to get comfortable — even if Thursday’s victory had marked their longest winning streak of the season.
The Hoosiers certainly never let USC settle in, even as freshman Jazzy Davidson poured in another stat-stuffing performance that would have to carry a stagnant Trojan offense for much of the way. It would take an aggressive defensive effort, too, complete with 19 forced turnovers, to put Indiana away.
That it took such a hard-fought effort to escape a team that’s 3-11 in the Big Ten and was without the Big Ten’s leading scorer, Shay Ciezki, was not exactly reassuring, as USC (16-9 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten) enters the final four games of their regular season slate. Two of those four are against top 10 teams, Ohio State and UCLA.
But where the Trojans might have slipped up earlier in the season, they held tight Thursday.
“We were tough where we needed to be when shots weren’t falling,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Our confidence to get it done when it’s not always prettiest is something that we’re proud of.”
Outside of a stellar second quarter, Thursday’s win certainly would not be remembered for being aesthetically pleasing. Over the rest of the game, Trojans shot under 32% from the floor. Their issues from three-point range persisted, as they made just three of 19 from behind the arc. Over their last four games, they’ve knocked down just 11 of 68 (16%).
They wouldn’t need them Thursday, not with Davidson looking as dynamic as ever. The freshman sensation followed up a career-high, 27-point performance with 24 points, along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. She did so while playing all 40 minutes.
“You talk about overdelivering,” Gottlieb said, “To be a freshman and carry the load for us and continue to grow, the numbers are really showing it … she’s just capable of doing almost anything on a basketball court.”
That much has been abundantly clear over the last seven games, with Davidson as she’s averaging 20 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks per night. She credited that outburst with being more comfortable down the final stretch of the season.
The Trojans will likely go as far as their dynamic freshman can take them as March approaches. But of late that’s been a pretty successful strategy.
“She’s unique,” Gottlieb said. “I know there are several good freshmen in the country. We know how good she is. We see it every day, and we think there’s no one better.”
USC didn’t look early on like a team that had found solid ground . The Trojans went six straight minutes in the first without a single field goal, then gave up an 8-0 run to Indiana in the final 1:22 of the quarter.
It was until Davidson turned it on in the second quarter that USC seized control. Fresh off her fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, Davidson tallied 10 points in the second alone, while the Hoosiers had just 13 total, USC’s defense clamping down after a sloppy start.
With Indiana’s attention on Davidson, Kara Dunn and Kennedy Smith would help the Trojans fire out front, as they combined for 20 points after half. But the Hoosiers tied the score just one possession into the fourth quarter.
An elbow to the face of guard Malia Samuels gave the Trojans free throws and a seven-point lead with just four minutes remaining in the game. Still, a foul from Dunn on a corner three-pointer by Indiana’s Maya Makalusky opened the door for the Hoosiers.
Makalusky, who led all scorers with 29, hit another three to once again cut the lead to a single possession.
But USC held on, with Smith applying the punctuation mark, snagging a driving Indiana lay-in out of mid-air with just a minute remaining. It was the sort of play that reminded what USC might be capable of, with everything working in concert.
It’ll need that to be the case, if it hopes to make noise come March.
“We’re in position to do all the things we set out to do,” Gottlieb said. “We’re as good and set up as any team outside of maybe the top group to get a great seed.”
