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MIAMI — Nikola Jovic has been out of view, but Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday that doesn’t mean the third-year big man has been out of mind. Entering Saturday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at Kaseya Center, Jovic has been held out six consecutive games, including two due to a sprained left ankle, when he was not with the team for this week’s road losses to the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics. But the reduction in playing time goes back even further, with just 8:06 of action in the 106-89 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov.

By TRAVIS LOLLER A U. S. Justice Department investigation into the Memphis Police Department after the beating death of Tyre Nichols found a pattern of unlawful use of excessive force and discrimination against the Black residents of the majority-Black city in Tennessee. The Memphis case is one of 12 similar investigations of state and local law enforcement agencies opened by the DOJ since April 2021.

By COLLEEN LONG WASHINGTON (AP) — Soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump said Friday that preparing to enter the White House for the second time looks a lot different from the first go-around. Now, she and her husband know what to expect. “You know what you need to establish, you know what kind of people you need to hire for your office,” she said on “Fox & Friends” in a rare television appearance, where she showed off holiday ornaments she’s selling and her memoir as Christmas approaches. She said the pace has been fast, as Donald Trump works to build his administration: “It’s incredible and we are very, very busy.” She’s packing up so “we can start on Day 1.” She said her husband’s attitude after his 2024 win was not the same as when he won in 2016.

By BRIAN MELLEY LONDON (AP) — An alternative healer who advocated “slapping therapy” to treat a range of maladies was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the death of a 71-year-old diabetic woman who stopped taking insulin during one of his workshops. Hongchi Xiao, 61, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence for failing to get medical help for Danielle Carr-Gomm as she howled in pain and frothed at the mouth during the fourth day of a workshop in October 2016. Xiao, of Cloudbreak, California, promoted paida lajin therapy, getting patients to slap themselves repeatedly to release “poisonous waste” from the body.

A woman was killed in a police shooting in Lauderhill Friday afternoon, police say. Just before 12:30 p.m., officers received a call for service at the 4000 block of Northwest 16th Street, where the Majestic Gardens condominiums are located, according to property records. The caller provided only a first name and a location, then disconnected, according to a media release. The first responding officer arrived just after 12:30, saying over radio that a woman there was armed with a knife.

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s governing party chief expressed support Friday for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing martial law this week, in a bombshell reversal that makes Yoon’s impeachment more likely. Opposition parties are pushing for a parliamentary vote on Yoon’s impeachment on Saturday, calling his short-lived martial law declaration an “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup.” But they need support from some members of the president’s People Power Party to get the two-thirds majority required to pass the impeachment motion. The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s nighttime martial law decree has frozen South Korean politics and caused worry among neighbors, including fellow democracy Japan, and Seoul’s top ally, the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader. During a party meeting, PPP leader Han Dong-hun stressed the need to suspend Yoon’s presidential duties and power swiftly, saying he poses a “significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law, which could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.” Han said he had received intelligence that Yoon had ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities” when martial law was in force. “It’s my judgment that an immediate suspension of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties is necessary to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” Han said. Impeaching Yoon would require support from 200 of the National Assembly’s 300 members.