Month: August 2022

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Bill Russell, the cornerstone of a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA titles and a powerful voice for social justice, died Sunday at the age of 88, his family said. 

“Bill Russell, the most prolific winner in American sports history, passed away peacefully today at age 88, with his wife, Jeannine, by his side,” said a statement posted on Russell’s Twitter page. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama – who awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 – were among those who paid tribute to Russell’s contributions on and off the court. 

“The promise of America is that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives,” Biden said in a statement. “We’ve never fully lived up to that promise, but Bill Russell made sure we never walked away from it.”

Eight titles in a row 

Russell’s 11 titles with the Celtics included eight in a row from 1959-1966. Today’s NBA Finals MVP award is named for him. 

He averaged 15.1 points and 22.5 rebounds per game for his career, building a famed rivalry with Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s. 

Russell became the first Black coach in the NBA when he served as player-coach of the Celtics in 1966 and the first Black player inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. 

His skills revolutionized the NBA game, but Biden noted that throughout his stellar career Russell “faced the hostility and hate of racism embedded in every part of American life. Yet, he never gave up. Throughout his life, he forced us to confront hard truths. And on this day, there are generations of Americans who are reflecting on what he meant to them as someone who played for the essential truth that every person is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.” 

Russell’s family said his “understanding of the struggle is what illuminated his life.” 

“Bill called out injustice with an unforgiving candor that he intended would disrupt the status quo, and with a powerful example that, though never his humble intention, will forever inspire teamwork, selflessness and thoughtful change.” 

Obama said the world had “lost a giant.” 

“As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher – both as a player and as a person,” Obama said in a statement posted on Twitter. 

“Perhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead. On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. Off of it, he was a civil rights trailblazer, marching with Dr. King and standing with Muhammad Ali,” said Obama. “For decades, Bill endured insults and vandalism, but never let it stop him from speaking up for what’s right. I learned so much from the way he played, the way he coached, and the way he lived his life.” 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Russell “the greatest champion in all of team sports,” but added that his accolades “only begin to tell the story of Bill’s immense impact on our league and broader society. 

“Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he stamped into the DNA of our league,” Silver said. 

‘Making things better’ 

Those beliefs, more than his prowess on the court, were what inspired Magic Johnson’s love of Russell, the Lakers legend said on Sunday as he joined in an outpouring of tributes. 

“He was one of the first athletes on the front line fighting for social justice, equity, equality, and civil rights,” Johnson said. “Over the course of our friendship, he always reminded me about making things better in the Black community.” 

Current Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown remembered the franchise legend, the club saying in a statement that “Bill Russell’s DNA is woven through every element of the Celtics organization.” 

Michael Jordan, who for many inherited the mantle of greatest-ever NBA player from Russell, said Russell “paved the way and set an example for every Black player who came into the league after him, including me.”

In a sentiment echoed by former New York Knicks great Patrick Ewing, “the world has lost a legend,” said Jordan.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

New York has declared a public health emergency due to a monkeypox outbreak.  Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan made the announcement Saturday.

The two officials said in a joint statement that “New York City is currently the epicenter of the outbreak, and we estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure.”

“Over the past few weeks, we have moved as quickly as possible to expand outreach and access to vaccines and treatment to keep people safe,” the officials said.  “We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as soon as they become available. This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment.”

On Friday, New York state Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency because of the monkeypox outbreak. In her executive order, Hochul said that “More than one in four monkeypox cases in this country are in New York State.”  Her declaration also expanded the number of health care individuals who can administer the monkeypox vaccines.

The World Health Organization has declared the global monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently that while 98% of global monkeypox cases “are among men who have sex with men, anyone exposed can get monkeypox, which is why WHO recommends that countries take action to reduce the risk of transmission to other vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant women and those who are immunosuppressed.”

Tedros said, “In addition to transmission through sexual contact, monkeypox can be spread in households through close contact between people, such as hugging and kissing, and on contaminated towels or bedding.” 

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Rescuers in Kentucky are taking the search effort door to door in worsening weather as they brace for a long, grueling effort to locate victims of flooding that devastated the state’s east, the governor said Sunday.

Some areas in the mountainous region are still inaccessible following flooding that turned roads into rivers, washed out bridges, swept away houses and killed at least 28 people, according to state officials. Poor cell phone service is also complicating rescue efforts.

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history. … And at a time that we’re trying to dig out, it’s raining,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it,” Beshear said.

The number of dead in the flooding, caused by torrential rain that began on Wednesday, is expected to rise further.

“We’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile-plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said.

The governor toured flooded areas in three counties on Sunday. Across the rain-battered areas of the state, more than 350 people are living temporarily in shelters, he said.  

In the town of Jackson, seat of hard-hit Breathitt County, state, local and federal rescue teams along with aid workers were gathering Sunday morning in a Walmart parking lot as they prepared to fan out.  

Some were distributing bottles of water to those in need. A boat marked “FEMA Rescue 4” sat on a trailer, indicating the presence of federal emergency crews.

Receding floodwaters had left a thick coating of dust on the streets as an ominously dark cloud cover presaged more rain ahead.  

The floods hit a region of Kentucky that was suffering from grinding poverty — driven by the decline of the coal industry that was the heart of its economy — taking everything from people who could least afford it.

“It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with,” Beshear said.

Some areas in eastern Kentucky had reported receiving more than 20 centimeters of rain in a 24-hour period.

The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 6 meters within hours, well above its previous record of 4.5 meters.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warned of the potential for flooding across a swath of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky, into Monday.

“The threat of flash flooding will continue through the afternoon and early evening hours from showers and thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall rates,” it said in a forecast.

President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky flooding, allowing federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The eastern Kentucky flooding is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are an unmistakable sign of climate change.

Nearly 60 people were killed in western Kentucky by a tornado in December 2021, a disaster that Beshear said informed the current efforts on the other end of the state.

“We learned a lot of lessons in western Kentucky on those devastating tornados about seven months ago, so we are providing as much support as we can and we are moving fast from all over the state to help out,” he told CNN on Saturday.

The Kosovo government postponed implementation of a decision that would oblige Serbs in the north of the country to apply for car license plates issued by Pristina institutions after tensions rose between police and local communities that set roadblocks.

Late on Sunday the protesters parked trucks filled with gravel and other heavy machinery on the roads leading to the two border crossings, Jarinje and Bernjak, in a territory where Serbs form a majority. Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings.

“The overall security situation in the Northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense,” NATO-led mission to Kosovo KFOR said in a statement.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the heightened tension on what she called “groundless discriminatory rules” imposed by Kosovo authorities

Fourteen years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, some 50,000 Serbs living in the north use license plates and documents issued by Serbian authorities, refusing to recognize institutions under the capital, Pristina. Kosovo has been recognized as an independent state by more than 100 countries but not by Serbia or Russia.

The government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti said it would give Serbs a transitional period of 60 days to get Kosovo license plates, a year after giving up trying to impose them because of similar protests.

The government also decided that as of August 1, all citizens from Serbia visiting Kosovo would have to get an extra document at the border to grant them permission to enter.

A similar rule is applied by Belgrade authorities to Kosovars who visit Serbia.

But following tensions on Sunday evening and consultations with EU and U.S. ambassadors, the government said it would delay its plan for one month and start the implementation on September 1.

Earlier on Sunday, police said there were shots fired “in the direction of police units but fortunately no one was wounded.”

It also said angry protesters beat up several Albanians passing on the roads that had been blocked and that some cars had been attacked.

Air raid sirens were heard for more than three hours in the small town of North Mitrovica inhabited mainly by Serbs.

A year ago, after local Serbs blocked the same roads over license plates, Kosovo’s government deployed special police forces and Belgrade flew fighter jets close to the border.

Tensions between the two countries remain high, and Kosovo’s fragile peace is maintained by a NATO mission that has 3,770 troops on the ground. Italian peacekeepers were visible in and around Mitrovica on Sunday.

The two countries committed in 2013 to a dialog sponsored by the European Union to try to resolve outstanding issues but little progress has been made.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.