AP-National

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AND ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writers Just as a movie soundtrack helps viewers follow the action of the narrative through each plot twist, hip-hop has done the same for basketball via the NBA. Over the past five decades, the genre has inserted lyrics, beats and culture into the sport’s DNA. Now, as

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The signs of hip-hop’s influence are now everywhere from Pharrell Williams becoming Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director to billion-dollar brands like Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones and retail mainstays like Diddy’s Sean John and the Rocawear line started by Jay-Z. It didn’t start out that way.

By NOREEN NASIR Associated Press BRONX, NEW YORK (AP) — Hip-hop was born in the Bronx, rising from the ashes of a borough ablaze with poverty, urban decay and gang violence. From breaking to graffiti “writing” to MC-ing or rapping, the block parties and various elements of hip-hop served as an outlet for creativity and

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — In the five decades since hip-hop emerged out of New York City, it has spread around the country and the world. And at each step there’s been change and adaptation, as new, different voices came in and made it their own. Its foundations are steeped in

By CHASE BIERENKOVEN Edmunds The Honda CR-V has consistently been one of the most popular small crossover SUVs on sale in America. It’s also highly recommended by Edmunds’ experts. But it’s not the only model worth looking at. The Mazda CX-50 is a new competitor that boasts distinctive styling, a classy interior design, and a

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police say gunmen have attacked police officers providing security for polio vaccination workers during a door-to-door campaign in northwest Pakistan, killing one of them. Wednesday’s attack occurred in Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the third day of a weeklong anti-polio drive to vaccinate 2.7 million children in the province,

By AARON MORRISON AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Hip-hop has been an integral part of social and racial justice movements. It’s also been scrutinized by law enforcement and political groups because of their belief that hip-hop and its artists encourage violent criminality. Free speech advocates see the ongoing persecution of rappers as a

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The signs of hip-hop’s influence are now everywhere from Pharrell Williams becoming Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director to billion-dollar brands like Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones and retail mainstays like Diddy’s Sean John and the Rocawear line started by Jay-Z. It didn’t start out that way.

By NOREEN NASIR Associated Press BRONX, NEW YORK (AP) — Before it was a global movement, it was simply an expression of life and struggle: a culture that was synonymous with hardship and suffering, but also grit, resilience and creativity. Hip-hop rose from the ashes of a borough ablaze with poverty, urban decay and gang

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — In the five decades since hip-hop emerged out of New York City, it has spread around the country and the world. And at each step there’s been change and adaptation, as new, different voices came in and made it their own. Its foundations are steeped in

By NICOLE WINFIELD, RENATA BRITO and FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Forty-one people are believed dead after a migrant boat capsized off Tunisia. That’s according to Italian state RAI television which cited four survivors who were rescued and brought to land Wednesday. RAI and ANSA news agency said the four were first rescued

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Honda says its April-June profit more than doubled on healthy sales of its motorcycles and cars, as the Japanese company also received a perk from favorable exchange rates. Honda’s profit totaled 363 billion yen, or $2.5 billion, up from 149 billion yen. Quarterly sales jumped 21%.

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has strongly condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for its failure to control bloodshed in a remote northeastern state which he said has split into two. On Wednesday in Parliament, Gandhi said the army should have been able to restore peace within

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and LEFTERIS PITARAKIS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nearly 100 Croatian soccer fans have appeared in an Athens court to face serious criminal charges that include murder and membership of a criminal organization, over their alleged involvement in deadly fan violence. They appeared in court a day after a 29-year-old Greek

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president says he will strengthen provincial governments to meet long-standing demands for self-rule from the ethnic Tamil minority, an issue that led to a bloody quarter-century civil war in the island nation. The provincial councils were introduced in Sri Lanka in 1987 after

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A dam in southern Norway partially burst after days of heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the mountainous region and forced downstream communities to evacuate. Authorities initially considered blowing up part of the dam at the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant on the Glåma,

By DASHA LITVINOVA and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Russian rocket attack on Wednesday killed three people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, which is near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said. The number of victims could rise in the attack, which damaged

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Eleven people have died after a fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France. The deputy prosecutor of Colmar said 11 people who were sleeping on the upper floor and in a mezzanine area of the private accommodation were trapped by the