Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo left Game 4 against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night after suffering a hyperextended left knee during the third quarter of the contest. The injury occurred when Antetokounmpo went up to block an alley-oop attempt by Clint Capela, and the two-time MVP landed hard on his left leg and injured his knee in the process.
You can see the play where the injury occurred below:
After the Bucks Game 4 loss in which they were blown out by the Hawks 110-88, Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer didn't expand much on his star player's injury.
"It just looked like their legs got tangled up," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said following Game 4. "They both landed awkwardly. That's what I saw live. I haven't seen anything else."
Antetokounmpo was down on the court for several moments after the fall, and he was eventually helped back to Milwaukee's locker room. He returned to the Bucks' bench briefly during the third quarter, but he headed back to the locker room again after a few moments. He was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game due to a left knee hyperextension.
Before exiting the game, Antetokounmpo had 14 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes of action. However, once he went down, the Hawks quickly pulled away from the Bucks to even the series up at two games apiece. Game 5 of the series is scheduled for Thursday night.
While the Bucks can take solace in knowing that Antetokoumpo's injury isn't as severe as some may have originally reported, his status for Game 5 is still up in the air.
"We'll see what happens with Giannis," Khris Middleton said. "It would be great if he plays, but if not, we still have a capable team of going out there and winning."
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ATLANTA -- There is no structural damage to Giannis Antetokounmpo's left knee after his awkward landing during Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe on Wednesday.
An MRI also showed that the ligaments in Antetokounmpo's knee are sound, and a timetable for his return is unclear, sources told ESPN.
He is listed as doubtful for Game 5 in Milwaukee on Thursday night. The series is tied 2-2.
"We'll just take it day by day and see how he's doing," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "When you talk about the range of possibilities, I think where this has landed has to be looked at as a positive. It's still a really difficult fall."
Antetokounmpo left Game 4 against the Hawks with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter with what the Bucks say is a hyperextended knee. He had jumped up to contest an alley-oop from John Collins to Clint Capela, and Antetokounmpo landed awkwardly on his left leg, his knee buckling.
He immediately fell to the floor and stayed down on the ground for several minutes -- with Bucks and Hawks players and coaches surrounding him -- before sitting up. The two-time MVP was helped to his feet by his brother and teammate, Thanasis, and walked gingerly off the court with his help. Television monitors showed Antetokounmpo walking back to the locker room without assistance, but he had a significant limp.
Antetokounmpo has been averaging 28.2 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists in the postseason
"We've played games without Giannis, without Khris [Middleton], without Jrue [Holiday], and hopefully you have a structure and a system where you can function at a high level on both ends of the floor no matter who is playing," Budenholzer said about the possibility of playing without Antetokounmpo in Game 5.
Atlanta had a 10-point lead at the time of the injury and won Game 4 in a 110-88 rout without Young, who was out with a bone bruise in his right foot and will be a "game-time decision" on Thursday, coach Nate McMillan said.
Capela was diagnosed with eye inflammation after taking an inadvertent elbow to his right eye in the closing minutes of Game 4. The Hawks' top rebounder left the court with a towel over his face and did not return. He was checked by the team ophthalmologist and checked again after the team arrived in Milwaukee.
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No structural damage to left knee of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, sources say - ESPN
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OMAHA, Neb. -- Will Bednar and Landon Sims combined on a one-hitter, Mississippi State scored early and built on its lead, and the Bulldogs won their first national championship with a 9-0 victory over Vanderbilt in the deciding third game of the College World Series finals Wednesday night.
Bednar, working on three days' rest, walked three of the first five batters he faced before retiring 15 in a row. He turned the game over to the Bulldogs' star closer to start the seventh, and Vandy broke up the no-hitter when Carter Young singled into center field with one out in the eighth.
It was the first one-hitter at the CWS since 2014, and it seemed like the whole city of Starkville, Mississippi, was at TD Ameritrade Park to witness it.
When third baseman Kamren James threw to first for the final out, the Bulldogs' dugout emptied and about 100 fans jumped out of the stands to celebrate as Josh Hatcher waved a national championship flag around the infield. The players then walked the warning track reaching up to high-five the fans.
Bednar (9-1), whose 15 strikeouts in his Omaha debut against Texas on June 20 were the most here in 25 years, fanned four against Vandy (49-18) and was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player.
The national championship is the first in a team sport for Mississippi State (50-18) and it came in the Bulldogs' 12th CWS appearance. Only Florida State (23) and Clemson (12) have been to Omaha at least as many times without winning a title.
"It's awesome," said Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis. "For all these kids, for all the players that came before us, and for these fans. It's unbelievable."
Tanner and Clark homered in the four-run seventh inning to put the game out of reach against a Vanderbilt offense that managed just seven hits and three runs over the last 25 innings of the finals.
Mississippi State knocked out Kumar Rocker (14-4) in the fifth. Four of the first five batters in the inning singled, and Rocker left with his team down 5-0. It was the second time in three CWS starts that the projected top-10 draft pick wasn't at his best, in part because of more shaky defense behind him.
The Commodores committed six errors in the second and third games of the finals and 13 in seven CWS games. The Bulldogs were error-free in their seven games.
Wednesday's game ended a CWS unlike any other since it began in 1947. There was no CWS last year because of the pandemic, and COVID-19 was never out of mind during the event's return even though TD Ameritrade Park was at full fan capacity.
Positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing left North Carolina State with only half its roster available in a 3-1 loss to Vanderbilt last Friday. By that night, a total of eight players had tested positive and prompted the NCAA to remove the Wolfpack from the tournament because of COVID-19 protocols.
A second bracket final between NC State and Vandy was declared a no-contest, and the Commodores were advanced to the finals to go for a second straight title and third since 2014.
They won the opener 8-2 after scoring seven runs in the first inning, but they didn't do much the rest of the series.
Mississippi State won 13-2 in Game 2 and then, thanks to Bednar, was able to coast to its title-clinching victory.
It was 36 years in the making, since the still talked-about 1985 Bulldogs with future major league greats Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro became one of the best, if not the best, teams to not win a CWS.
The '85 team won its first two games in Omaha, then dropped two in a row and was gone. The next four MSU teams to make the CWS won no more than one game here.
The 2013 Bulldogs got to the finals and flamed out, swept by UCLA and scoring only one run in the two games. The 2018 team didn't put up much fight in the bracket finals against Oregon State, and the 2019 blew a ninth-inning lead in an elimination game against Louisville.
This team's identity was power pitching. The Bulldogs set a Division I record with 817 strikeouts, with Bednar leading the way with 139, and Sims was nails out of the bullpen. The two combined for a CWS-record 21 Ks against Texas.
SEC player of the year Tanner Allen was steady, and the Bulldogs got contributions up and down the lineup during their stay at the CWS -- be it Kellen Clark homering off Virginia's Griff McGarry to break up a no-hitter in the eighth inning, late-game defensive replacement Tanner Leggett's walk-off single against Texas in the bracket final or Preston Johnson pitching five innings of stellar relief in Game 2 of the finals.
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This year, though, many First Nations communities are calling for a halt to celebrations of the holiday, with some planning a more somber observance instead.
The movement to cancel Canada Day celebrations comes after hundreds of unmarked graves thought to contain the remains of Indigenous children were recently discovered at the sites of two former boarding schools in the country.
"Celebrating Canada Day is being seen as inconsiderate to all the children's lives that were lost and we encourage everyone to consider the price these children had to pay at the hands of the Canadian government," Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said in a June 18 news release.
Some cities have already canceled or postponed their Canada Day plans, and pressure is now growing for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call off national celebrations.
Here's where things stand.
Activists are planning demonstrations
Canada Day, observed on July 1, celebrates the joining of the country's original three provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Canada province, the area that is now Ontario and Quebec) as one dominion in 1867.
It's usually marked with festivities and fireworks across the country, though not everyone sees the day as a reason for celebration. To many First Nations communities, the holiday has long represented the country's history of colonization and violence against Indigenous people -- an issue that has been a subject of national conversation in recent weeks.
The discoveries are a reminder of a dark chapter in Canada's past: the residential school system. From the late 19th to the late 20th centuries, Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend government-funded, church-run boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them and wipe out their culture.
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report in 2015 detailing decades of physical, sexual and emotional abuse suffered by children in the country's residential school system. The commission estimated that more than 4,000 died in the institutions, acknowledging that it was impossible to know the true toll.
"The recent discovery at Kamloops residential school has reminded us that Canada remains a country that has built its foundation on the erasure and genocide of Indigenous nations, including children," the Indigenous-led activist group Idle No More says on its website. "We refuse to sit idle while Canada's violent history is celebrated."
Idle No More is encouraging communities to participate in sit-ins, round dances, ceremonies and other such events on July 1 in protest of the holiday.
A number of local governments across the country have postponed Canada Day festivities this year, while some have called them off altogether.
In the province of British Columbia, Victoria and Penticton are among the cities halting celebrations out of respect for First Nations communities. The city of Kelowna, meanwhile, cited Covid-19 restrictions as reason for the change.
In Saskatchewan, at least three leaders "pressed pause" on the holiday and observed National Indigenous People's Day on June 21. Communities in New Brunswick, Ontario and other provinces have canceled or altered Canada Day plans, too.
Other leaders are using the occasion to reflect on Canada's fraught and complicated history.
The city of Pickering, Ontario, is "shifting the direction of Canada Day activities to focus on education, reconciliation and reflection," Mayor Dave Ryan announced in a video. Pickering also plans to fly the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nations flag at half-mast alongside other flags until dawn on July 2.
"This Canada Day, we invite you to contemplate Canada and to take action," Ryan added.
The city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, announced that "Canada Day will be a quiet time of reflection."
National celebrations are so far going ahead
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so far has not announced plans to cancel national Canada Day celebrations, the biggest of which occurs in the country's capital of Ottawa.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, this year's holiday programming is again taking place virtually.
Trudeau addressed the recent discovery of unmarked graves at a news conference last Friday, saying that this Canada Day would be a reflection on the country's achievements, as well as the work that remains to be done.
"With Canada Day coming up next week, a lot of people I think will be reflecting on many different things," Trudeau said at a news conference last week. "Reflecting on the really tough year, we just had with Covid-19, how much we lost, how much we learned, how much we've been there for each other through difficult times."
He continued, "But at the same time, many, many Canadians will be reflecting on reconciliation, on our relationship with Indigenous peoples and how it has evolved and how it needs to continue to evolve rapidly."
Erin O'Toole, leader of Canada's main opposition Conservative Party, opposed calls to cancel Canada Day festivities, saying that the nation could admit its shortcomings while still celebrating and committing to do better.
"We are not a perfect country. No country is," he wrote in a Facebook post. "We must acknowledge where we have fallen short. There is a difference between legitimate criticism and always choosing to run Canada down."
Earlier this year, Canada designated September 30 as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation to commemorate the history and legacy of the country's residential school system.
CNN is being mocked for glowing coverage of the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary and “star” leader Xi Jinping — with critics dubbing it the “Communist News Network” and even “Xi-N-N.”
“The Chinese Communist Party is about to turn 100 but Xi will be the real star,” CNN International tweeted early Wednesday advertising an article with the same headline.
The centenary “is an opportunity for the party to reaffirm its credentials, while ensuring loyalty,” the network’s Ben Westcott wrote, hailing how the party had remained an “ever-present fixture … even as communist parties elsewhere collapse or fade from view.”
The article briefly referred to “some of the darkest chapters of the last century,” including “the brutal repression of student protestors in Tiananmen Square” as well as “millions who starved to death” under CCP economic policies.
But it insisted the “party has much to celebrate, particularly China’s growth from one of the poorest nations in the world into an economy on the brink of overtaking the US.”
CNN has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “star.”Getty Images
“It’s likely that large parts of the day’s events will focus on Xi, arguably the country’s most powerful leader since Mao, and his vision for the country,” Westcott wrote.
The piece was quickly ravaged online, including by US lawmakers.
“In the last 100 years, the CCP has murdered and stolen from millions of people. Xi is committing genocide in Xinjiang, annihilating One Country Two Systems in Hong Kong, and threatening war in Taiwan, to name a few of Xi’s crimes,” Buck added.
Not sure what there is to celebrate.
In the last 100 years, the CCP has murdered and stolen from millions of people. Xi is committing genocide in Xinjiang, annihilating One Country Two Systems in Hong Kong, and threatening war in Taiwan, to name a few of Xi's crimes. https://t.co/XSlHUnn8kj
“Xi is a TYRANT, not a STAR,” one follower replied to the network, while trial attorney Marina Medvin complained that there was “no mention of how many Chinese people the communist regime has killed.”
“Hint: Mao was the biggest mass murderer in the history of the world,” Medvin said, with many others sharing memes showing his death toll.
Some suggested CNN was acting as the Communist Party’s PR mouthpiece, while conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza asked, “Can this be distinguished in any way from the kind of propaganda the CCP itself might put out?”
A Chinese paramilitary police officer stands guard while a light show is seen from the Bund in Shanghai on June 30, 2021, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.AFP via Getty Images
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The NFL and NFLPA agreed on June 22 to amend the adjustments to the 2020 collective bargaining agreement made last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Players have until Friday (July 2) at 4 p.m. eastern to opt out of the 2021 season by giving written notice their teams.
These rules have given quarterback Aaron Rodgers a nuclear option in his well-publicized rift with the Packers that would be more advantageous to him financially than holding out or retiring .The biggest drawback to Rodgers opting out of the 2021 season voluntarily is the decision is irrevocable and final. This means Rodgers couldn't decide to play later in the season after voluntary opting out, whereas he could still play in 2021 by ending a hold out or retirement.
Financial cost
Rodgers wouldn't be subject to a mandatory $50,000 fine for each day of training camp missed by opting out. For fining purposes under the CBA, training camp runs from the mandatory reporting date (July 27 for Green Bay) through the Sunday before the first regular-season game (Sept. 5). Skipping Green Bay's entire training camp in a holdout would cost Rodgers $2.05 million.
The Packers would also have the right to start recovering a portion of the $57.5 million signing bonus Rodgers received in his 2018 contract extension with a training camp holdout and the $6.8 million roster bonus he earned in March. Recoupment would be at Green Bay's discretion.
The maximum of signing bonus a team can recover in a season is the entire prorated amount for the player in that contract year, which is $11.5 million in Rodgers' case. The Packers only have rights to the roster bonus because he would be breaching his contract in the same year this money is being earned. Because of this, the Packers aren't allowed to recapture any of Rodgers' roster bonuses from 2018, 2019 and 2020. Maximum recoupment amount for 2021 is determined by dividing the $6.8 million by Rodgers' three remaining contract years, which is $2,266,666. Rodgers would have to withhold his services a significant portion of the regular season for these maximum amounts to be reached.
Retirement, which would be a more expensive proposition, is reportedly an option for Rodgers, although he has previously stated on several occasions he plans on playing into his 40s. If Rodgers never returned to the NFL, the Packers would be entitled to the remaining $23 million of signing bonus proration in his 2021 and 2022 contract years as well as the $6.8 million roster bonus for a total of $29.8 million
Green Bay wouldn't be allowed to recoup any of Rodgers' signing bonus with him opting out. The $6.8 million roster bonus, which is scheduled to be paid in equal installments for a 36-week period once the regular season begins, would also be off-limits for the Packers this year.
The Packers would still be obligated to pay Rodgers this bonus. In all of these cases, Rodgers wouldn't earn any of his $14.7 million base salary for this year.
By opting out, Rodgers would make $6.8 million thanks to the roster bonus. A lengthy holdout would cost Rodgers $15,816,666 if Green Bay exercised its rights to the fullest extent with recoupment and he complied through payment. The difference in the two approaches, opting out versus a holdout, is $22,616,666.
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Salary cap ramifications
Rodgers' contract would toll for the season by opting out. Essentially, his contract would be frozen and resume in 2022 with tolling. Rodgers' 2021 contract year would become his 2022 contract year and additional years in the contract also would get pushed back one year. He is currently under contract through the 2023 season. Rodgers' contract would expire after the 2024 season instead if tolling occurred.
There would be significant favorable salary cap consequences for Green Bay with Rodgers opting out. His remaining 2021 compensation and 2021 bonus proration would be removed from Green's Bay 2021 salary cap. The 2021 bonus proration would also shift to 2022 with the rest of the 2021 contract year.
Rodgers' total compensation in 2021 is $22 million on a $37.202 million salary cap number. The $22 million consists of a $14.7 million base salary, the $6.8 million roster bonus and a $500,000 workout bonus that wasn't earned because of lack of participation in the offseason workout program. The other $15.202 million making up Rodgers' cap number is the $11.5 million of signing bonus proration from the 2018 extension, $2.852 million of signing bonus proration from a 2019 contract restructure for cap purposes and $850,000 in incentives classified as likely to be earned.
Rodgers' $14.7 million base salary, the unearned $500,000 workout bonus, $850,000 in likely-to-be-earned incentives and $14.352 million of bonus proration would come off Green Bay's books for this year. Only the $6.8 million from the roster bonus would remain as a cap charge. The Packers would pick up $30.402 million of 2021 salary cap room because of Rodgers opting out and his contract tolling.
The $30.402 million in unexpected 2021 cap room would really come in handy for Green Bay since unused cap space can be carried over from one year to the next. The Packers have the NFL's most challenging salary cap situation for 2022. They have a league-high $237.75 million in 2022 cap commitments with 50 players under contract, according to NFLPA data while the top 51 salaries (i.e.; cap numbers) matter with offseason salary cap accounting rules. A salary cap ceiling of $208.2 million was recently set by the NFL and NFLPA. Some of the salary cap windfall could be allocated to an extension for All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams or the $20.12 million it will cost to designate him as a nonexclusive franchise player in 2022 should his contract expire.
Rodgers' existing 2022 cap number is $39.852. Since Rodgers' 2021 contract year would become his 2022 contract year with tolling, his 2022 cap number would be $30.402 million. Green Bay would pick up an additional $9.45 million of 2022 cap space this way. Green Bay's combined cap swing through tolling would be $39.852 million. Although Rodgers would have already received payment of the $6.8 million roster bonus and it wouldn't be part of the 2022 cap number, the Packers would have recovery rights with a contract breach occurring next year.
The Packers traded up to the 26th overall pick last year to take Love as Rodgers' potential successor at quarterback. The future would become now if Rodgers opted out. Love showing signs of living up to the potential that made him a first-round pick would make Rodgers expendable through a trade in 2022.
The Packers would have a $31.556 million cap charge from the remaining proration of his $57.5 million signing bonus and the $14.26 million converted into signing bonus during the 2019 contract restructure with a 2022 trade of Rodgers in a conventional time frame next March when the league year begins. This would be a $1.154 million increase to Green Bay's salary cap since Rodgers' 2022 cap number after opting out would be $30.402 million.
Although it would be extremely beneficial for Green Bay cap-wise to trade Rodgers after June 2 or agree to trade him beforehand becoming effective on June 2, any draft capital obtained for him would come in 2023 under this scenario. Trading Rodgers before next year's NFL Draft would be a necessity if Green Bay wanted 2022 draft picks to move him.
A poor 2021 season by Love, which would most likely result in Green Bay missing the playoffs, could provide an avenue for Rodgers to finish his career in Green Bay. The jobs of president and CEO Mark Murphy and/or general manager Brian Gutekunst, who are reportedly a primary source of Rodgers' discontent, could be in jeopardy under those circumstances.
Final thoughts
Rodgers punting on the 2021 season through opting out would be a major surprise. The earliest a resolution will occur with Rodgers' situation will most likely come near the end of July as the start of training camp is approaching. If not, Rodgers and the Packers will be engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken with each side waiting for the other to blink first.
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The 2021 NBA Draft is less than a month away, the lottery balls have worked their magic and the Draft Combine is complete, which means we've entered the most reliable and predictable pre-draft phase: smokescreen season.
They've already started, but expect reports to come flying in hot and heavy over the next few weeks mentioning how certain teams are higher than others on certain players, and vice versa. Make sure you take all of them with a grain of salt, as there are countless motivations for teams to send out false signals to somehow make their position more advantageous. Remember last year when the Golden State Warriors reportedly weren't blown away by James Wiseman? They ended up taking him No. 2 overall.
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So when you hear that the Houston Rockets, who hold the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, reportedly favor Jalen Green over Evan Mobley, it would behoove you to keep a somewhat skeptical eye on the situation. One thing remains steadfast, however, and that is the belief that Cade Cunningham will in fact be the No. 1 pick in the draft. There could always be a curveball trade, but as the lottery currently stands, that means he'll be suiting up for the Detroit Pistons.
After that it's much murkier, with an incredible amount of talent loaded at the top, and a few dark horses who are making their way up draft boards, thanks to strong combine performances and workouts. With that in mind, here is my latest mock draft, with some significant changes from my pre-lottery edition completed a few weeks ago.
In today’s Dave and Dia Podcast, co-hosts Dave Deckard and Dia Miller share their thoughts about the press conference. They examine it from a public relations standpoint, its effect on fans and listeners, and the not-so-veiled message to people with questions, especially victims of assault or sexual violence. Whether the event succeed or failed depended on what it was designed to do. Dave and Dia look at the set-up, the statements of both participants, and the reactions to media questions, positing that the press conference did exactly what it was meant to do.
Most observers concentrated on the team refusing (in obvious and pre-planned fashion) to respond to inquiries. The actual comments were either praised or given a pass. If you listen closely, perhaps they shouldn’t have been. A consistent line ran through the event, and it was neither empathetic nor pretty.
If you’re at all interested in these issues, or want to learn something about the reality of dealing with sexual assault in the world at large—or just being a woman in the male-dominated world of sports and sports media—you need to listen to this podcast. There’s an argument to be made that EVERYTHING about the day, including the post-event analysis, was part of the problem...a problem that needs addressing not just here, but across the NBA.
You can listen to the episode by clicking here or on the embed below.
It was the first time in the three decades of the tribunal’s history that top officials in the wartime Serbian government were found guilty of playing a role in atrocities in neighboring countries.
For the first time high-ranking officials from the 1990s wartime government in Serbia were linked to involvement in atrocities in neighboring countries, as a war-crimes tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday convicted two former Serbian officials of aiding and abetting war crimes committed in the wars that ravaged the Balkans at that time.
The case was the final one to be heard by the international criminal tribunal established by the United Nations to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Balkan wars. The verdict capped dozens of trials that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, a conflict that unleashed waves of sectarian and ethnic fighting.
Coming nearly three decades after the tribunal was established, the case was also a coda for the protracted legal struggle to hold accountable the architects and perpetrators of the worst bloodletting in Europe since the end of World War II. It was the last chance for prosecutors to tie officials from the Serbian state to atrocities in neighboring Bosnia and Croatia.
Few Serbian officials played as critical a role during the conflicts as the defendants Jovica Stanisic, the former head of Serbia’s state security, and Franko Simatovic, his deputy.
The presiding judge, Burton Hall, announced the findings on Wednesday afternoon, saying that the court found that the defendants were guilty of participating in a “joint criminal enterprise” to remove non-Serbs from areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In so doing, the court found, they created “an atmosphere of terror, arbitrary detentions and forced labor.”
“This common criminal purpose,” the judge said, “was shared by certain senior political, military, and police leadership in Serbia” as well as others in parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Although he named no individuals, lawyers at the court said this inevitably also pointed to President Slobodan Milosevic.
Tying the crimes to Belgrade was a significant legal victory, but the findings were limited in scope, focusing on one Bosnian municipality, and the court rejected a vast majority of the prosecution’s charges. The sentences also fell far short of what prosecutors wanted: Mr. Stanisic and Mr. Simatovic were both sentenced to 12 years in prison, including time served.
Jovica Stanisic, center, and Franko Simatovic, right, on Wednesday in court in The Hague.Pool photo by Piroschka Van De Wouw
Despite that, Wayne Jordash, Mr. Stanisic’s lawyer, said he would appeal the conviction and called the sentences “manifestly excessive.”
Kada Hotic, a representative for a Bosnian war victims association, told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network that she was satisfied with the verdict even if disappointed by what she said was a light sentence.
“All in all, they are guilty,” she said. And Serbia, she said, had finally been shown to be involved in the crimes.
Prosecutors said Mr. Stanisic was the second most powerful man in Serbia from 1992 to 1995, when Mr. Milosevic was president. He was a trusted consigliere and keen strategist who was nicknamed “Ledeni” — Serbian for “ice man.”
Known for his sharp suits and dark sunglasses, Mr. Stanisic presented an image of calm. By contrast, Mr. Simatovic, the head of special operations, was a more effusive man who preferred camouflage uniforms and, according to evidence presented during the trials, could be heard bragging about attacks on villages.
Prosecutors accused the pair of organizing hit squads, permitting the killing of prisoners and signing off on covert weapons shipments. Mr. Stanisic and Mr. Simatovic were charged with creating and running a series of covert operations using brutal paramilitary groups and acting on the orders of Mr. Milosevic.
Prosecutors said that they were part of a criminal conspiracy to force non-Serbs out of large sections of Croatia and Bosnia — a campaign that brought a new term to the grim lexicon of warfare: “ethnic cleansing.”
The tribunal expanded on the body of international law established at the trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II. And as other courts followed it, dealing with Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cambodia, many believe the tribunal provided the momentum for the founding of the permanent International Criminal Court.
In all, the tribunal has conducted more than 80 trials, many with multiple defendants. It has convicted 91 people and acquitted 18, while others have died while in custody in The Hague, at least three by suicide.
More than 100,000 people died during the conflagrations from 1991 to 1995, and about two million people were displaced from their homes.
The tribunal was founded in 1993 in response to the mass atrocities unfolding at the time in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the outset, it has faced criticism, skepticism and political pushback.
Bosnians fleeing the town of Jajce in 1992. More than 100,000 people died during the conflagrations from 1991 to 1995, and about two million people were displaced, the majority of them Bosnian Muslims.Patrick Baz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In Serbia, it has effectively been branded as anti-Serb. Across the region, many of those who have been convicted of war crimes are still viewed as heroes. And in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rulings have done little to repair the deep divisions still tearing at the seams of the divided society.
But the tribunal did establish a robust historical record and made clear that Bosnian Muslims made up by far the wars’ largest group of victims.
The trials and convictions of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the supreme political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, were widely viewed as rare victories for international justice.
They were convicted of the gravest crimes that have come under the purview of the court, and of those that had by far the largest number of victims, including the massacre of about 8,000 unarmed men and boys in Srebrenica, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Still, the leaders of Serbia itself — long accused as the main instigators of the wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia — have largely escaped prosecution. Before Wednesday’s verdict, no officials of the Belgrade government during the war had served time for the atrocities in Bosnia or Croatia.
The verdict session in the trial of Ratko Mladic was broadcast this month in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.Fehim Demir/EPA, via Shutterstock
Some senior Serbian officials have been convicted of crimes in the conflict over the independence of Kosovo in 1999.
Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues, said that to end the work of the tribunal “without holding the Serbian enablers of the crimes accountable would have left the tribunal’s task incomplete.”
The closest the court came was in the conviction of Mr. Milosevic’s chief of staff, Gen. Momcilo Perisic, who was sentenced to 27 years for aiding and abetting war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia. But the verdict was overturned on appeal in 2013.
The judges did not dispute the evidence of Serbia’s wartime role, or of its continuous supply of weapons, money, fuel and personnel to its allies in Bosnia and Croatia. But the judges argued that there was no evidence that this extensive support was intended to be used for crimes, rather than for what they deemed to be legitimate war efforts.
Since that verdict was overturned, prosecutors have been struggling to find a way to establish the crucial link that legally tied many war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia to the Serbian State Security and by extension to its boss, Mr. Milosevic.
It has been more than three years since the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague closed, and the successor institution, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, was the official venue for the last trial.
Slobodan Milosevic in 1992, when he was the president of Serbia. He is considered the main architect of the Balkan wars.Chip Hires/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images
Like many war crimes trials, the case against Mr. Stanisic and his deputy has been complex and drawn out, stretching back to their indictment in 2003. The two men were acquitted at a trial in 2013, but appeals judges, finding fundamental legal and factual errors, overturned that verdict two years later and ordered a full retrial.
The prosecution relied on dozens of witnesses, scores of videos and radio and telephone intercepts to try to establish that the two men were part of an organized conspiracy that orchestrated the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs from parts of Croatia and Bosnia.
Prosecutors introduced newly obtained records from Serbian secret police archives, which included details about the paramilitary recruits and payments to them. Payments to a group called the Red Berets were signed by Mr. Simatovic.
The secret records were provided by Belgrade, and prosecutors said that they showed that these groups — with names like Arkan’s Tigers, the Scorpions, the Gray Wolves and the White Eagles — were not informal bands of criminals or men who spontaneously took up arms, but well-trained, well-equipped and well-paid men in uniforms.
Prosecutors said that these groups were tasked with doing the dirty work during ethnic cleansing operations.
North Korea was one of the few places to claim it has had zero cases of Covid-19.
But its leader, Kim Jong Un, now says his secretive country faces "a great crisis" related to the pandemic, blaming this on the mismanagement of his own party bureaucrats, state media reported Wednesday.
Officials in the United States and elsewhere have questioned whether North Korea has actually escaped the virus entirely. The only other nonisland nation to make this Covid-free claim is the authoritarian and secretive Turkmenistan, in central Asia.
Shedding some rare light on his own country, Kim criticized "senior officials in charge of important state affairs" who had "neglected" certain unspecified decisions related to the "emergency epidemic prevention campaign associated with the worldwide health crisis," the state-controlled KCNA news agency reported Wednesday.
While Kim did not used the words "Covid-19" directly, according to KCNA, he said that the actions of his officials had caused "a great crisis" in terms of "ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people," warning that this had "entailed grave consequences."
During the meeting Kim also replaced several members of the politburo, although the KCNA report did not say whether this was related to the charges of "chronic irresponsibility and incompetence" that he leveled at party cadres during the meeting.
Kim did not go into detail about the "crisis" that he described. As is often the case, it is up to outside officials and experts to try to decipher the tidbits published by KCNA.
Kim speaks in Pyongyang, North Korea.KCNA / Reuters file
When asked about Kim's remarks, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said officials in Seoul were aware of the report but had nothing to add.
"During this pandemic era we have publicly expressed our willingness to help, ranging from PCR tests to whatever you can imagine," he told reporters.
Isolated and largely impoverished, North Korea has told the World Health Organization that it hasn't found a single case despite having tested more than 30,000 people. Experts disagree on how credible this is.
"It is a closed-off nation, so we can’t say emphatically that they have cases, but we're fairly certain they do," U.S. Army Gen. Robert Abrams told reporters at the Pentagon last year.
North Korea imposed drastic restrictions on foreign trade, travel and internal movement that would not be open to other nonauthoritarian states. South Korea's spy agency said Kim's regime even had two people executed as part of its frantic bid to keep out the virus.
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"The 'crisis' Kim mentioned might just be a minor violation of quarantine measures," said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and the director of NK News, which covers North Korea. "Or maybe they have had a really large outbreak, they are afraid they won't be able to bring it under control and this is Kim's way of warning his own population."
Other North Korea watchers believe this may have been a message to the outside world.
This month, during an appearance at the plenary meeting of the Workers' Party's Central Committee, Kim warned that North Korea's food situation "is now getting tense." Kim's own health has been the subject of international speculation after he appeared in recent photographs to have lost weight, and one North Korean was quoted by KCNA saying they were worried that he looked "emaciated."
Some experts believe Kim's statement on the pandemic this week may be laying the groundwork to request additional assistance from China, Pyongyang's uneasy ally. Or it might be telegraphing its need for Covid-19 vaccine donations.
North Korea was originally in line to receive nearly 2 million vaccines from COVAX, a global charitable shot-sharing program co-run by the WHO.
This was later downgraded to 1.7 million doses to be delivered in May. But supply problems that have plagued the COVAX project mean that — as with many other poorer nations across the world — these are yet to be delivered.
