Israeli probe into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics in Gaza finds 'professional failures'
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said Sunday it found a chain of “professional failures” and a deputy commander has been fired.
The shootings outraged many in the international community, with some calling the killings a war crime. Medical workers have special protection under international humanitarian law. The International Red Cross/Red Crescent called it the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years.
Israel at first claimed that the medics' vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s initial account. Footage shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that earlier came under fire.
The military investigation found that the deputy battalion commander acted under the incorrect assumption that all the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. It said the deputy commander, operating under “poor night visibility,” felt his troops were under threat when the ambulances sped toward their position and medics rushed out to check the victims. The military said the flashing lights were less visible on night-vision drones and goggles.
The ambulances immediately came under a barrage of gunfire that went on for more than five minutes with brief pauses. Minutes later, soldiers opened fire at a U.N. car that stopped at the scene.
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Pope Francis emerges from convalescence on Easter, delights crowd with popemobile tour
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis emerged from his convalescence on Easter Sunday to bless thousands of people in St. Peter's Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause as he continues his recovery from a near-fatal bout of double pneumonia.
“Viva il Papa!” (Long live the pope), “Bravo!” the crowd shouted as Francis looped through the square in his open-topped popemobile and then up and down the main avenue leading to it. He stopped occasionally to bless babies brought up to him, a scene that was common in the past but unthinkable just a few weeks ago as the 88-year-old pope fought for his life.
“Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!” Francis said, his voice sounding stronger than it has since he was released from the hospital March 23 after a five-week stay.
Francis didn't celebrate the Easter Mass in the piazza, delegating it to Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. But after the Mass ended, Francis appeared on the loggia balcony over the basilica entrance for more than 20 minutes and imparted the apostolic blessing in Latin.
The crowd of people below, estimated by the Vatican to be more than 35,000, erupted in cheers as a military band kicked off rounds of the Holy See anthem.
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Zelenskyy says Russia is trying to create an 'impression of a ceasefire' as attacks continue
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Sunday of creating a false appearance of honoring an Easter ceasefire, saying Moscow continued to launch attacks after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a unilateral temporary truce.
“As of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places, it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Despite Putin’s declaration of an Easter ceasefire, Zelenskyy said Sunday morning that Ukrainian forces had recorded 59 instances of Russian shelling and five assaults by units along the front line, as well as dozens of drone strikes.
In later updates, Zelenskyy said that despite Ukraine declaring a symmetrical approach to Russian actions, “the trend of increasing the use of heavy weaponry by Russian forces continues.” He said, however, that it was “a good thing, at least, that there were no air raid sirens.”
He noted that some Ukrainian troops were killed in a Russian "ambush” on Sunday in the Donetsk region, and said the Russian soldiers responsible would be “eliminated."
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Tornado-producing storm deals deadly weather to Oklahoma and Texas
A slow-moving, active storm system brought heavy rain, large hail and tornadoes to parts of Texas and Oklahoma and left three people dead as severe weather warnings Sunday continue to threaten parts of the south-central and Midwest U.S.
On Easter Sunday, communities in Texas and Oklahoma were beginning to assess the damage wreaked by tornadoes. There were 17 reported events Saturday, according to Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Five were confirmed in south-central Oklahoma, including one that inflicted substantial damage on a small town that was still recovering from a March tornado.
The storm also brought heavy rain to a broad swath of north-central Texas across central-eastern Oklahoma, much of which saw 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) accumulate Saturday into Sunday.
Police in Moore, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City, received dozens of reports of “high-water incidents” over the weekend, including two cars stranded in flood waters Saturday evening. One car was swept away under a bridge, and police said they were able to rescue some people, but a woman and 12-year-old boy were found dead.
“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city,” Moore police said in a statement Sunday. Moore has about 63,000 residents.
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Alito's dissent in deportation case says court rushed to block Trump with middle-of-the night order
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court acted “literally in the middle of the night” and without sufficient explanation in blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a sharp dissent that castigated the seven-member majority.
Joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito said there was “dubious factual support” for granting the request in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union. The group contended that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart such removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The majority did not provide a detailed explanation in the order early Saturday, as is typical, but the court previously said deportations could proceed only after those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law,” Alito said in the dissent released hours after the court’s intervention against Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.
The justices’ brief order directed the administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”
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Anti-Trump resistance sees another leader in Van Hollen as Democrats' leadership carousel turns
NEW YORK (AP) — Now, it's Chris Van Hollen's turn.
The mild-mannered Maryland senator has suddenly emerged as a leading figure in the resistance to Donald Trump’s norm-busting presidency, becoming the latest in a small but growing collection of Democratic officials testing the strength of their political power in a weakened party with no clear leader.
Van Hollen's rise follows his decision to travel 2,000 miles to El Salvador last week to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported and federal courts have said should be returned.
Van Hollen did not secure the release of the Salvadoran citizen who had been living in Maryland. But simply by meeting with him, in defiance of Trump and his ally El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Van Hollen created a new sense of hope and momentum for Abrego Garcia's family and the anti-Trump resistance.
“Sen. Van Hollen’s leadership in this moment is exactly how Democrats should be pushing back against a wannabe dictator like Donald Trump — calling for law and order over chaos and adhering to the Constitution instead of a tyrant," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told The Associated Press. "No matter how much Trump tries to act out his dictatorial fantasies, Democrats will always defend democracy when it’s on the line.”
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Man who fatally shot 23 at El Paso Walmart set to plead guilty to murder nearly 6 years on
DALLAS (AP) — The long-running criminal case against a Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019 is on the verge of coming to a close.
Patrick Crusius, 26, is expected to plead guilty Monday to capital murder and receive a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for the massacre near the U.S.-Mexico border. El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya said last month he was offering Crusius a plea deal and that he wouldn't face the death penalty on the state charge.
Crusius has already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal court after pleading guilty in 2023 to hate crime and weapons charges. Under the Biden administration, federal prosecutors also took the death penalty off the table.
Crusius is expected to serve his time in a state prison. Crusius initially was arrested by local authorities and will enter the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice if he is sentenced on the state charges, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.
Here's what to know about the deadly attack on Aug. 3, 2019, and its aftermath:
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This Midwestern city has long been a federal hub. The pain from DOGE’s cuts is everywhere
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In her 28 years working for the federal government, Shea Giagnorio provided day care for the children of U.S. soldiers, training for employees and oversight for safety net programs.
Public service took her from Germany to Alaska to Kansas City, Missouri, where she moved last year for a long-sought promotion.
But when she reported to a downtown federal building for work one day last month, her access card did not work. After a co-worker let her into the building, she checked her email: Her entire office had been let go in the latest mass firing ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The 46-year-old single mom has canceled her apartment lease, is selling her new furniture and may have to pull her daughter out of college. She wonders what will happen to the at-risk populations her team helped serve at the Administration for Children and Families, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Not only me, but all these peoples’ lives are turned upside down,” Giagnorio said.
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Strollers and other baby products will get more expensive -- and harder to find -- with tariffs
Sam Rutledge and his wife have a baby due in mid-July, so they thought they had a few more months to research and buy the gear they’ll need.
But President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in early April turned the couple’s slow walk into a sprint. In the past few weeks, they’ve bought two strollers, a car seat, a nursery glider, a crib and a high chair. All of them are made overseas.
“These are all pretty expensive under normal conditions, but when it became clear tariffs were coming we decided to buy them in case they became prohibitively expensive,” said Rutledge, who is a high school physics teacher.
Raising a child in America has never been cheap. In the first year alone, it costs an average of $20,384, according to Baby Center, a parenting website. But tariffs – ranging from 10% for imports from most countries to 145% for imports from China -- will make it many times more expensive for new parents.
An estimated 90% of the core baby care products and the parts that go into making baby paraphernalia – from bottles and diaper pails to strollers and car seats – are made in Asia, according to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, a U.S. trade group. The vast majority come from China.
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Marijuana holiday 4/20 coincides with Easter and Passover this year. Here's what to know
Marijuana culture's high holiday, known as 4/20, falls this year on Easter Sunday, as well as the last day of Passover, meaning cannabis fans can celebrate in some unusual ways, including an “Easter nug hunt” in Los Angeles, kosher-style THC gummies in New York and a “blaze and praise” drag brunch in Portland, Oregon.
“It seemed appropriate with egg prices today that we'd be searching for something else,” said Brett Davis, who runs the marijuana tour company Weed Bus Los Angeles and organized the “Easter nug hunt.”
Here’s a look at 4/20’s history and how it's being celebrated this year:
The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky.
Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or was derived from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain of “Everybody must get stoned,” 420 being the product of 12 times 35.
The Associated Press
