sinks

It was a night when defenders draped over Kelsey Plum, her path to the rim often crowded. And when she turned to the officials for relief, the whistles were elusive.

But when it mattered most — that being with 3.3 seconds to play and the Sparks trailing by one — Plum lowered her shoulder and slipped between swiping arms and lunging bodies.

One defender stumbled, another bit on a fake and Plum glided almost untouched into the lane, kissing a floater off the glass as the horn sounded in an 81-80 Sparks escape over the Dallas Wings.

“Just a heck of a finish by her,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said.

Plum’s teammates mobbed her, embracing the veteran who appeared unsatisfied during her seven minutes on the bench and frustrated after Dallas defenders batted away her attempts at the rim. All of it faded, though, once she poured in 10 fourth-quarter points en route to 20 on the night.

“I feel like that’s what basketball is all about — putting on a show for [fans],” the Sparks’ Rickea Jackson said. “Both teams truly did that and everyone enjoyed themselves and got their money’s worth tonight.”

But before the buzzer, the night belonged to Plum, Crypto.com Arena belonged to Paige Bueckers of Dallas. In fact, at times Wednesday night, it seemed as though the Sparks had six players on the floor.

Bueckers drew ovations fit for a home star. With swaths of fans flaunting her face on a T-shirt and spilling over railings for autographs pregame, the Wings rookie rode that backing into a career-high 44 points — tying Cynthia Cooper for a most by a WNBA rookie.

“She’s a phenomenal player, point blank period,” the Sparks’ Cameron Brink said.

The Sparks (17-18) entered Wednesday’s affair with a blueprint for Bueckers, Roberts recognizing pregame that “we let Paige get to the middle which is what she wants to do,” in reference to Bueckers’ then-career-high 29-point performance last Friday against her Sparks.

But Bueckers solved every look the Sparks threw at her. Double-team her high, and she threaded the ball to cutters. Leave her one-on-one, and she buried mid-range jumpers with a composure that belied her rookie tag.

“Paige was unbelievable tonight,” Roberts said. “Did we make some mistakes defensively? Sure. Was she just unconscious and playing at another level? Yes. Just kind of have to tip your hat.”

Yet across the floor from the rookie, L.A. leaned on a pair who had worn that tag just last season.

They were a product of the 2024 draft, a haul that featured Brink at No. 2 and Jackson at No. 4. Their pairing never had the chance to fully bloom last year, Brink suffering a season-ending injury just a month in.

A year later, with Brink healthy and Jackson entrenched in the starting lineup, the Sparks finally cashed in on their draft night selections. On Tuesday, the sophomores saved their team from a five-minute scoring drought to open proceedings against the Wings, spurring a 15-5 spree that stifled the noise that followed Bueckers.

“On both ends, we just looked like we’ve been off for a couple of days,” Jackson said. “I said, ‘Why does it feel like we haven’t played in a minute?’ But we picked it up. The first five minutes was crazy, but we picked it up.”

Applause followed Bueckers all game, but the final word — and the final bucket — belonged to L.A.

Aug. 4 (UPI) — Dozens of migrants were killed off the coast of Yemen after their vessel went down in the Gulf of Aden in bad weather.

At least 68 people died and many more are missing after the boat capsized and sank late Sunday with 157 mostly Ethiopian nationals on board off the southern province of Abyan, the International Organization for Migration said.

The IOM’s Yemen chief, Abdusattor Esoev, said a major search and rescue operation by provincial authorities had plucked 12 survivors from the sea.

Abyan officials said a large number of bodies had washed up on the coast of the province. They said the vessel was overloaded.

“The bodies of the dead and at least a dozen survivors, including two Yemeni smugglers, were taken to hospitals in Abyan,” Abdul Kader Bajamel, a health official in the Abyan town of Zinjibar, told The New York Times.

“Because the hospital’s morgues could not accommodate this large number of bodies, and to avoid an environmental crisis, the governor of Abyan ordered the immediate burial of the dead and formed an emergency committee to search for the missing.”

A health official in Khanfar district said the remains of one migrant had been brought to the hospital there and doctors had treated 11 survivors, all of whom had since been discharged.

Calling for more protection for migrants and safe legal routes to prevent them falling into the hands of people-smuggling gangs, Esoev said the stricken boat was making a perilous journey in waters routinely used by smugglers.

“What we are advocating for all member states is to enhance their regular pathways so people can take legal ways in order to migrate, instead of being trapped or deceived by smugglers and taking those dangerous journeys,” he said.

IOM said the so-called Eastern Route moving migrants from countries in the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, to Gulf countries, for which Yemen is the gateway, was one of “busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world,” with 60,000 making the journey last year.

Once migrants reach Yemen, they try to cross into Saudi Arabia to find employment and go underground in a huge grey economy in the oil-rich Gulf states.

More than 180 migrants were killed in March after two vessels sank in the Red Sea off the coastal town of Dhubab in western Yemen. The only survivors were two members of the crew.

IOM said it had documented the deaths or disappearance of more than 3,400 migrants undertaking the Eastern Route since 2014, of whom 1,400 had drowned.

Yemen is in the midst of a decade-long internal conflict that has seen the country carved up among several factions, notably Iran-backed Houthi rebels who seized control from the internationally recognized government, which in turn was, and continues to be, backed by a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed military coalition trying to restore it to power.

The fighting triggered one of the worst of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with almost 20 million people in need of food, medical and other assistance, more than half of them children, and more than 4.5 million people internally displaced, according to UNICEF.

Dominican authority says 17 other refugees and migrants rescued from the boat heading for Puerto Rico, a US territory.

Four refugees and migrants have died and about 20 were missing after their boat capsized off the coast of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, authorities said, as Haitians and Dominicans continue to take life-threatening risks to make the crossing to what they hope is a better life.

The Dominican civil defence authority was quoted by AFP news agency as saying on Friday that 17 other people were rescued from the boat, which was carrying about 40 people and headed for Puerto Rico, a United States territory.

The Caribbean nation’s navy said it had rescued 10 Dominicans and seven Haitians. A child was among the survivors.

So-called “yola” migrant boats, such as the one that ran into trouble, are constructed from wood or fibreglass and do not comply with safety regulations, according to authorities.

Refugees and migrants pay as much as $7,000 for a one-way trip to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with crisis-torn Haiti.

Illegal migration from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico has been a growing phenomenon in the last decade.

In 2022, at least five people drowned and another 66 were rescued in an incident involving a suspected human smuggling boat near the uninhabited island of Mona, west of Puerto Rico.

Mona Island, a nature reserve, is located between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and has, over the years, been used by smugglers carrying people between the two. Those on that route are typically Dominican or Haitian.

At least four people have died and dozens are missing after a ferry sank off Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali, rescuers said.

The boat was carrying 53 passengers and 12 crew members when it sank at 23:20 local time (15:35 GMT) on Wednesday while on its way to Bali from Banyuwangi on the eastern coast of Java island, the Surabaya office of the National Search and Rescue Agency said.

Twenty-nine survivors have been rescued, authorities say, as the search continues.

Photos published by Antara news agency showed ambulances on standby and residents waiting for updates by the roadside.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the sinking.

The ferry operator told local media that the vessel had reported engine trouble shortly before it sank.

The vessel’s route is often used by locals going between the islands of Java and Bali.

Four survivors who were found on a lifeboat were all residents of Banyuwangi, the Surabaya search and rescue team said.

Marine accidents are frequent in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of around 17,000 islands, where uneven enforcement of safety regulations is a longstanding concern.

An Australian woman died in March after a boat capsized off Bali with 16 people on board.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

National Search and Rescue Agency says rescuers searching for 43 people after vessel sank off resort island.

Rescuers are searching for 43 people missing in rough seas overnight after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java’s Ketapang port late Wednesday, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

It was bound for Bali’s Gilimanuk port, a 50-kilometre (30-mile) trip.

The ferry carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks, it said.

Two bodies have been recovered and 20 were rescued, many of them unconscious after drifting in choppy waters for hours, said Banyuwangi police chief, Rama Samtama Putra.

Nine boats, including two tug boats and two inflatable boats, have been searching for the missing people since Wednesday night, battling waves up to two metres (6.5ft) high in the overnight darkness.

Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse.

More to follow…

The Adam Marine 12 was being transported to a new location when it capsized, leaving 22 injured.

An oil-drilling barge has sunk in the Gulf of Suez, killing at least four crew members and leaving four others unaccounted for.

The Egyptian government said on Wednesday that 22 people were injured when the Adam Marine 12 sank the previous night in the Gebel el-Zeit area in the Gulf of Suez.

The barge was being towed to a new location when it capsized, Egyptian media reported.

Four of the injured people were airlifted to hospital, with 18 others transported by ambulance, Egypt’s Ministry of Health said on social media.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources posted pictures of Minister Karim Badawi visiting survivors in El Gouna hospital in Hurghada on Wednesday, accompanied by Labour Minister Mohammed Jibran and Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi.

Hanafi said ships from the Egyptian navy joined the search-and-rescue efforts for the missing crewmen.

Gebel el-Zeit is a major Egyptian oil production site about 300km (186 miles) south of the Suez Canal.

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