Newswatch

Swollen rivers are flooding towns in the US South after a prolonged deluge of rain

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Rivers rose and flooding worsened across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already waterlogged and badly damaged by days of heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people. From Texas to Ohio, utilities scrambled to shut off power and gas, while cities deployed sandbags to protect homes and businesses. Forecasters warned that flooding could persist for days, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Some rivers that inundated towns rose to near-record levels and were expected to crest on Monday.

Israeli strike on media tent outside Gaza hospital kills and wounds journalists

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian hospitals say Israel has hit a media tent outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing two people including a local reporter and wounding six other journalists. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a man it says was a Hamas militant posing as a journalist. Medics say 28 other people were killed in separate strikes. Israel has carried out waves of strikes across Gaza and ground forces have carved out new military zones since it ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month. Israel has barred the import of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid for well over a month as it seeks to pressure Hamas.

‘Little suns in the classroom’: Ukrainian city mourns children killed by Russian missile

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) — Anger and outrage are gripping the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as it holds funerals for some of the 20 people, including nine children, killed by a Russian missile that tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground. More than 70 were injured in the attack last Friday evening on Kryvyi Rih. The children were playing on swings and in a sandbox in a tree-lined park at the time. Bodies were strewn across the grass. “We are not asking for pity,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city administration, wrote on Telegram as Kryvyi Rih mourned Monday. “We demand the world’s outrage.”

American YouTuber who left a Diet Coke can for a reclusive tribe on an island is arrested in India

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have arrested a 24-year-old American Youtuber who visited an off-limits island in the Indian ocean to try to establish contact with an isolated tribe known for attacking intruders. Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, a resident of Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after he set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island, part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He left an offering of a Diet Coke can and a coconut in an attempt to meet people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe, who have has been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years.

Miami’s ‘Little Venezuela’ fears Trump’s moves against migration

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Since Feb. 3, the Trump administration ended two federal programs that together allowed more 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work in the U.S. It’s all anyone discusses in Doral, Florida, the largest Venezuelan community in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people dread what could face them if lawsuits against the government fail. They would have to remain illegally at the risk of being deported or return home, an unlikely route given the political and economic turmoil in Venezuela. A federal judge ordered Monday that temporary protected status would stand until a legal challenge’s next stage in court. At least 350,000 Venezuelans were temporarily spared becoming illegal.

Rescue efforts from Myanmar’s deadly earthquake wind down as death toll exceeds 3,500

BANGKOK (AP) — Long-shot efforts to find survivors from Myanmar’s devastating March 28 earthquake are winding down, as rescue efforts get supplanted by increasing relief and recovery activity, with the death toll from the disaster surpassing 3,500 and still climbing. People in the capital Naypyitaw cleared debris and collected wood from their damaged houses under drizzling rain on Monday, and soldiers removed wreckage at some Buddhist monasteries. Myanmar Fire Services Department said Monday that rescue teams had recovered 10 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city. It said international rescuers from Singapore, Malaysia and India had returned to their countries after their work to find survivors was considered completed.

WNBA mock draft: Paige Bueckers goes No. 1 to Dallas and Seattle selects French star Malonga 2nd

NEW YORK (AP) — There’s no doubt who’s going first in the WNBA draft next Monday with Paige Bueckers the consensus top pick. After that it gets interesting with Olivia Miles’ decision to enter the NCAA transfer portal instead of the draft. The Washington Mystics, with a new coach and general manager, control the direction of the draft with the third, fourth and sixth pick. Here’s a look at how the first round could look on April 14.