by Eddie Pells DENVER  — The Denver Nuggets don’t brawl with other teams or bicker among themselves. It’s been almost a decade since they fired a coach. Their most spectacular highlights often involve sublime skip passes across the court — or a backward, half-court shot from their mascot, Rocky, during a break in the action. Some might call them downright boring. The Nuggets call it beautiful. Their no-drama way of doing business, both on and off the court, doesn’t grab tons of headlines. But it has set the franchise up for success and brought it to its first NBA Finals…

by Jill Colvin and Steve Peoples NEW YORK — When Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina launched his campaign for the White House last week, the notoriously prickly former President Donald Trumpwelcomed his new competitor with open arms. There were no accusations of disloyalty or nasty nicknames from the GOP front-runner like the barrage he unleashed when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered his leading rival, joined the race two days later with a bungled Twitter announcement. “Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race,” Trump said. “It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big…

by Felix Onuah and MacDonald Dzirutwe ABUJA  –     Bola Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday, facing mounting calls to improve economic and security conditions which many complain worsened under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari. Soon after the 71-year-old took his oath in an open-air ceremony in the capital’s Eagle’s Square, Buhari left for the airport on his way to his home village in Katsina state, where he says he will spend his retirement. Tinubu, the former Lagos state governor and a member of Buhari’s party, has promised to be a better steward of Africa’s biggest economy…

by MacDonald Dzirutwe LAGOS  –     Bola Tinubu will be sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday under the cloud of a disputed election and pressure to quickly improve economic and security conditions, which many complain worsened under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari. Two of Tinubu’s main opponents in the February election are challenging his victory on the basis of fraud claims, and a tribunal will on Tuesday start hearing their main arguments. A ruling is not expected before September. Buhari, a taciturn former military ruler, leaves Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation deeply divided. The election had galvanised…

by Steve Peoples CHICAGO  — During Donald Trump’s first visit as president to Chicago, a frequent target in his attacks on urban violence, he disparaged the nation’s third largest city as a haven for criminals and a national embarrassment. At a recent town hall, Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy sat alongside ex-convicts on the city’s South Side and promised to defend Trump’s “America First” agenda. In return, the little-known White House hopeful, a child of Indian immigrants, found a flicker of acceptance in a room full of Black and brown voters. The audience nodded when Ramaswamy said that “anti-Black racism is on the…

by Agency reports May 28 – The Boston Celtics were three seconds away from being eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals when Derrick White inbounded the ball to Marcus Smart. Instead of being a spectator, White darted toward the left corner and with no Miami Heat players around him, headed toward the basket as Smart’s shot went in and out. His instincts put him in perfect position to score on a tip-in just before the buzzer sounded as Boston scored an unlikely 104-103 victory. “It doesn’t do no good to stand in the corner there whether he makes it or…

by Adam Kealoha Causey DALLAS  — When Tina Turner died at age 83, I found myself drifting back to the fourth grade, to the day I truly discovered her voice. I was on Thanksgiving break — bored — when I decided to rummage through my parents’ old cassette tapes in search of entertainment. What I found was astonishing: an album called “Private Dancer.” “I look up to the stars with my perfect memory. I look through it all and my future’s no shock to me.” “Who was this magnificent woman?” I thought as the lyrics of the song “I Might…

by Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Zeke Miller and Kevin Freking WASHINGTON  — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and resolve the looming debt crisis ahead of a June 5 deadline, the House speaker said. A deal would avert a catastrophic U.S. default, but risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it. The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke earlier Saturday evening by phone, said McCarthy, speaking Saturday night. The country…

by Ben Finley NORFOLK, Va.  — Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Auto club AAA said in a travel forecast that this holiday weekend could be “one for the record books, especially at airports,” with more than 42 million Americans projected to travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more. Federal officials said Friday that the number of air travelers had already hit a pandemic-era high. But for Manuel Castañeda Jr.,…

by Agency reports SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  — Illinois lawmakers finally approved a new state budget early Saturday, sending it to Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature with just over a month to spare before it takes effect with the new state fiscal year July 1. The Indiana House approved the $50.5 billion spending plan on a 73-38 vote just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday after it passed the Illinois Senate 34-22 early Friday. The General Assembly delivered the budget to Pritzker more than a week late after lawmakers failed to meet a self-imposed May 19 deadline to adjourn despite Democrats controlling…