The new pro league Overtime Elite is luring young phenoms with hefty salaries, viral success and — perhaps — a better path to the N.B.A.

By Bruce Schoenfeld @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 30

[....] In July, he signed a contract with Overtime Elite, a fledgling league for teenagers with N.B.A. aspirations. Instead of studying for the SAT on the last Friday in October, he was inside a new 1,200-seat arena in midtown Atlanta, where Overtime Elite is based, with eight teammates from around the United States and overseas. As rap music pulsed and video screens flashed on all four walls, he burst through a curtain of smoke. The din was disorienting. The scene was like a video game come to life.

While warming up on the court, Lewis briefly scanned the seats for celebrities who had promised to be there, including the rapper 2 Chainz and the N.B.A. legend Julius Erving. Neither was in the building, but the plush couches that served as V.I.P. seating under each basket were filled with local prep and college basketball players, familiar faces from reality TV series and assorted influencers. “There was a lot going on,” Lewis would tell me later. “You didn’t know whether to be excited, or try to lock in.” Then he stepped up to take the opening jump ball. At 16, he was the youngest professional basketball player in U.S. history. [....]

Leak of 3.5 million documents shows how a Chinese-run company moved millions of dollars to former Congo President Joseph Kabila’s family and allies.

ABC news 7 Miami, Nov. 22

PORT EVERGLADES, FLA. (WSVN) - Drugs seized at sea were brought to a South Florida port in a multi-million dollar bust. Multiple agencies, including Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the United States Coast Guard and the Drug Enforcement Administration, worked together in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The USCG Cutter Hamilton crew was out at sea for 72 days.

“Our ship deployed with a crew of 144 Coast Guard personnel, including our regularly assigned crew, specialized detachment consisting of Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and industry personnel,” said USCG Capt. Matt Brown.

The mission proved to be a successful one with just over 26,000 pounds of cocaine and 3,700 pounds of marijuana seized [....]

By Susannah George @ WashingtonPost.com, Yesterday at 3:49 p.m. EST continues at length and with photos, two Pakistani reporters contributed

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The Taliban has expanded its shadowy war against the Islamic State branch in Afghanistan, deploying hundreds more fighters to this eastern province in an increasingly violent fight and critical test of the group’s counterterrorism abilities after the U.S. troop withdrawal.

More than 1,300 additional Taliban fighters have been deployed to Nangahar province in the past month with orders to increase the tempo of operations, according to Taliban security officials. Taliban night raids against suspected Islamic State-Khorasan members are on the rise, and many of the hundreds arrested have disappeared or turned up dead, according to Jalalabad residents and Taliban fighters.

“The fight is difficult, and yes sometimes it is brutal, but we have to eradicate Daesh not just for Afghanistan, but for the entire world,” said Qari Nurullah Fateh, a Taliban fighter under the group’s intelligence wing in Jalalabad. [....] “If someone doesn’t surrender to us, we kill them.” [....]