LOS ANGELES — Big Boy ‘Bron bangs another basket, and no one seems to object: Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dunks during the first half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Nevertheless, the Nuggets won 112-105 and now have a 3-0 lead in this segment of the playoffs.

The two teams play Game 4 on Saturday night and Game 5 on Monday, April 29.

LOUISIANA — Baby gator waits for an errant ball to be used as a palate cleanser: A baby alligator peers from the water along the ninth green during the first round of the PGA Zurich Classic golf tournament at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, LA, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Originally begun in 1938, The PGA Zurich Classic became an annual event two decades later.

 If the alligator appears often enough, it could qualify as an extra hole.

CHINA — “To infinity and beyond …”: Chinese astronauts for the Shenzhou-18 mission, from right, Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu wave as they attend a send-off ceremony for their manned space mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, Thursday, April 25, 2024. It carried three taikonauts on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. According to SpaceNews, the Shenzhou-18 mission will last roughly six months. During this time, the crew will conduct more than 90 experiments, perform two to three extravehicular activities, and make six cargo outbound deliveries via the station’s cargo airlock. The Tianzhou-8 spacecraft will re-supply the mission in August.

This mission is the 13th crewed Chinese spaceflight and the 18th flight overall of the Shenzhou program.

AUSTIN — The passion of youth, and this time it’s not rock n’ roll: A demonstrator participates in a chant outside the Main Building on campus with hundreds of other students. Professors, students, and supporters of UT-Austin demonstrate on campus, on Thursday, April 25, 2024, in defiance of the university administrators’ removal of about 50 other protestors the previous day who were denouncing the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Since Friday, professors on some campuses have joined the protests — and have also been arrested. Texas Congressman Greg Caesar, a Democrat representing the 35th District, also joined the protesters. Congressman Caesar had on April 14 issued a statement denouncing the Israeli Prime Minister’s “reckless escalations,” asserting that the reverse approach is called for.

Caesar is the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress.

DETROIT — Some fans roar, Bear fans growl and howl: Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams celebrates after being chosen by the Chicago Bears with the first overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. Football fans will be seeing a lot more of the 22-year-old’s leadership and keen field awareness.

Born in Washington, D.C., Williams played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners and USC Trojans.

ARLINGTON — Brief courtship before the marriage of ball and glove … OUT! Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford makes a leaping catch on a fly out by Seattle Mariners’ Mitch Haniger in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Seattle won that game, beating the reigning World Series champions. 

The Seattle Mariners currently rank number 1 in the American League West.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Adorned by robes, rendering judgment and protest: Demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court as the justices prepare to hear arguments over whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, on Capitol Hill Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Washington.  At the heart of the issue is whether a president can claim absolute immunity without destroying democracy and whether trying to overturn a lost election can be considered an official presidential act. If the Supreme Court rules that Trump does have absolute immunity, that would abort special prosecutor Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump on charges he conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump and his legal team hope that the Supreme Court delays its ruling in a way that will prevent him from going to trial before November’s elections. 

BEIJING — King of Air Miles keeping options open: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. Blinken, President Xi and senior Chinese officials discussed stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” disagreements between the United States and China over issues such as Taiwan’s autonomy, South China Sea territorial rights, human rights and the production and export of synthetic opioid precursors.

The two sides also had moments of concord and will start a dialogue on ways to reduce risks from the rapidly spreading artificial intelligence technology.

ISRAEL — A request for peace met with violence: A protester gestures as she is carried to a police car after blocking a road along with a delegation of American and Israeli rabbis from Rabbis for Ceasefire marching towards the Erez crossing to the Gaza Strip with food aid for Gaza civilians and to call for a ceasefire, in southern Israel, Friday, April 26, 2024. Timing their action to dovetail with the eight-day Passover festival, the rabbis and their allies were trying to bring food into the northern section of Gaza to ease the humanitarian crisis that the six-month Israel-Hamas war has caused. The group had tried to drive into Gaza with a pickup truck carrying half a ton of rice and flour but was stopped roughly a third of a mile from the border, Rabbi Spitzer said.

Notwithstanding imminent famine in Gaza, the supplies will be donated to needy Palestinians but in the West Bank instead.

MADRID — Form, power and a cloud of red dust: Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, returns the ball to Magda Linette, of Poland, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Friday, April 26, 2024. Sabalenka won the round’s two games.

The Madrid Open, which runs through May 5 and is played on clay courts, is an ATP Masters 1000 event.

INDIA — In line for voting: Elderly voters sit as others stand in a queue to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in the Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. Voters braved 100+ temperatures to cast ballots in this crucial round for incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. There are 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states, including some of the BJP strongholds in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Running against Modi are the Indian National Congress and its broad opposition alliance, including some powerful regional parties.

NEW ORLEANS — A clash of colors and cultures — Native Americans definitely got rhythm: Honey Bannister of the Golden Sioux Mardi Gras Indians performs with Cha Wa during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians) are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana. They dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by Native American ceremonial apparel. This year’s festival, which runs through May 5, also features the not-to-miss Food Heritage Stage, which offers visitors the chance to watch some of Louisiana’s best chefs in action and to learn more about Louisiana’s rich cultural and culinary history.

Louisiana is rich in Native American culture. Since the beginning of Jazz Fest, local tribal craftspeople have showcased their crafts at the Festival since its inception.

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Gentleman named interim, until they can find a tough guy: Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister by the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, toasts during the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional council tasked with selecting Haiti’s new prime minister and cabinet in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. A transitional council tasked with bringing political stability to Haiti was also installed Thursday in the capital of this Caribbean country, which is marred by gang violence and soaring hunger and poverty. The newly sworn-in council will appoint a new prime minister and Cabinet and create a road map that will enable the country to eventually hold long-awaited general elections. Its mandate expires Feb. 7, 2026, when a new president would be sworn in.

Boisvert holds degrees in accounting and economics and has worked both at the Bank of the Republic of Haiti during the 1990s and as Director of Tax Inspection during the last decade.

TANZANIA — Nature’s revenge, delaying some, killing others: Schoolchildren were stranded on a damaged River Zingiziwa bridge in Dar Esalaam, Tanzania, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Flooding in Tanzania caused by weeks of heavy rain has killed 155 people and affected more than 200,000 others, the prime minister said Thursday. Moreover, the floods have damaged or destroyed about 10,000 buildings (many of them schools) across the country, according to ReliefWeb. Several roads and bridges have been damaged.

The flooding is exacerbated by continuing heavy rainfall during the next 24 hours over most of Tanzania.