Black Balled: The NBA is investigating racist remarks on an audio recording attributed to LA Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling. On the recording the voice reported to be Sterling’s chides his girlfriend saying, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people.” There were other comments as well.

Stirling is 81 and married to the same woman his whole adult life. The girlfriend, V. Stiviano, who appears to be in her 20s, is Black and Mexican.

Who made the tape has not been revealed. But it sounds like a private conversation between two people.

Sterling is a prominent LA millionaire oddball who frequently takes out newspaper ads touting his philanthropic efforts. But Sterling’s opinion of nonwhite people is no secret. He’s been sued by the Justice Department for trying to keep minorities out of his apartment buildings.

President Obama jumped into the fray saying, “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.” Former Laker Magic Johnson, who is a minority owner of the Clippers in two senses of the word, said he will not attend another game until Sterling is no longer the primary owner.

Sainthood: Pope Francis today canonized two popular 20^th Century popes, John XXIII, and John Paul II. John is credited with saving many Jews during World War II, and called the Second Vatican Council, which is said to have brought the Catholic Church into the modern world.

John Paul II, from Poland, considered the conservative of the two, was the first non-Italian pope in 500 years whose international engagement is believed to have helped bring down communism.

Some analysts say the two were named saints together to heal a rift in the church between factions left by the two papal philosophies.

Sainthood doesn’t come just with being a good guy. A requirement is that two miracles be attributed to the candidate after his death. If you believe, you believe.

World: In a rare break with previous leaders, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called the Holocaust “the most heinous crime” of modern history and expressed sympathy for victims of the Nazi genocide. Abbas’s statement was released just hours before the annual Israeli commemoration of the Holocaust.

According to the official Palestinian news agency, Abbas made the remarks to American Rabbi, Marc Schneier during a meeting last week. Abbas is quoted as saying, “The Palestinian people, who suffer from injustice, oppression and denied freedom and peace, are the first to demand to lift the injustice and racism that befell other peoples subjected to such crimes.”

> Afghan Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, a supporter of the US and opponent of current President Hamid Karzai, has emerged as the front-runner with 45 percent of the vote. Both Abdullah and the second place Ashraf Ghani present the potential to reverse the deteriorating relationship with the US under Karzai. Both Abdullah and Ghani have said they would sign a security agreement with the US, which Karzai has refused to do.

Ferry Disaster: South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, the number two person in South Korea, resigned yesterday as the government continues to take fire for lax regulations that may have contributed to the severity of the disaster, and for fumbling in the early hours of the rescue operation. Chung said, “When I saw the people’s sadness and fury, I thought it was natural for me to step down with an apology.”

Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Perpetual bachelor George Clooney is engaged to his girlfriend of less than a year, British lawyer Amal Alamuddin. Needless to say she fits the Clooney beauty standard, but the 36-year-old British lawyer speaks French and Arabic, and evidently she’s also able to talk turkey with George.

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