obscene

NEW YORK — Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was fined $35,000 by the NBA on Thursday for making an obscene gesture on Tuesday night.

Ball was assessed a technical foul for making the gesture with 4:02 to play in the fourth quarter of a 144-117 loss to Miami. He finished the game with 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Ball leads the Hornets in all three categories through their first four games with averages of 26.3 points, 9.5 assists and 8.3 rebounds.

Charlotte hosts the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been fined, external $250,000 (£186,000) by the National Football League for making an obscene gesture towards fans on Sunday.

The 82-year-old was caught on camera raising his middle figure at the crowd during the Cowboys’ 37-22 win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

But Jones says he intended to put his thumb up instead, and was signalling to his own supporters – not those of the Jets.

“That was unfortunate. That was kind of an exchange with our fans out in front of us,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan.

“There was a swarm of Cowboys fans out in front – not Jets fans, Cowboys fans.

“There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that. I just put up the wrong show on the hand. That was inadvertently done.

“I’m not kidding. If you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental. But it got straightened around pretty quick.

“The intention was ‘thumbs up’, and basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down.”

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper was fined $300,000 (£223,000) for throwing a drink on fans during the 2023 season, while then Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 (£186,000) in 2009 for gesturing at Buffalo Bills fans.

UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese tells Al Jazeera Washington’s move is retaliation for ‘pursuit of justice’ in Israel’s war on Gaza.

United Nations expert Francesca Albanese has slammed the decision by the United States to sanction her as “obscene”, saying she is being targeted for calling out Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday, Albanese, who serves as the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said she would not be cowed into silence by the US move against her on Wednesday.

Albanese stressed that the penalties imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration would not stop her “quest for [the] respect of justice and international law”.

The special rapporteur said Washington’s tactics reminded her of “Mafia intimidation techniques” before suggesting that “sanctions will only work if people are scared and stop engaging”.

“I want to remind everyone [that] the reason why these sanctions are being imposed is the pursuit of justice,” Albanese said.

“Of course I’ve been critical of Israel. It has been committing genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes,” she added.

While announcing the sanctions on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio charged Albanese with waging a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel”.

The UN rapporteur hit back on Thursday, noting that the atrocities being committed in Gaza were not just down to “the unrelinquished territorial ambitions of Israel” and the backing of its supporters but also “companies who are profiting from it”.

Last week, she released a report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza in breach of international law.

Albanese told Al Jazeera that she was still evaluating the effects the US sanctions would have on her.

However, she said her problems are nothing compared with what Palestinians face in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing bombardments, ground operations and blockade of the territory.

Albanese also took aim at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), calling it a “death trap”. The Israeli- and US-backed group runs the aid distribution sites where hundreds of Palestinians have been shot and killed since late May while queueing for food.

Move against Albanese ‘a dangerous precedent’

The UN expert also defended the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) investigation into Israeli actions in Gaza and its decision to call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest on charges of war crimes.

Rubio has described Albanese’s push for the prosecution of Israeli officials at the ICC as the legal basis for the sanctions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman was among those to criticise the US sanctions on Albanese.

While highlighting that Albanese reports to the UN Human Rights Council rather than the secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric called the decision “a dangerous precedent”.

“The use of unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable,” he said.

UN Human Rights Council Ambassador Jurg Lauber also lamented the move against Albanese.

“I call on all UN member states to fully cooperate with the special rapporteurs and mandate holders of the council and to refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal against them,” Lauber said.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has destroyed most of the territory and killed more than 57,575 Palestinians over the past 21 months, according to local health officials.