US airstrikes killed 12 people in Yemen’s capital, the Houthi rebels say

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s capital killed 12 people and wounded 30 others, the Houthi rebels said early Monday.

The deaths mark the latest in America’s intensified campaign of strikes targeting the rebels. The U.S. military’s Central Command declined to answer questions about the strike or discuss civilian casualties from its campaign.

The Houthis described the strike as hitting the Farwa neighborhood market in Sanaa’s Shuub district. That area has been targeted before by the Americans.

Footage aired by the Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel showed damage to vehicles and buildings in the area, with screaming onlookers holding what appeared to be a dead child. Others wailed on stretchers heading into a hospital

Strikes overnight into Monday also hit other areas of the country, including Yemen's Amran, Hodeida, Marib and Saada governorates.

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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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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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Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike, New York Times reports

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, The New York Times reported.

A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press.

The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. They also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ' Team Huddle.”

The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth's wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

The White House late Sunday dismissed the report as a “non-story," suggesting that disgruntled former Pentagon employees were spreading false claims.

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Salvadoran President Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro for Venezuelan deportees

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela on Sunday, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the United States his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela.

In a post on the social media platform X, directed at President Nicolás Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year.

“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold.”

Among those he listed were the son-in-law of former Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González, a number of political leaders seeking asylum in the Argentine embassy in Venezuela, and what he said were 50 detained citizens from a number of different countries across the world. Bukele also listed the mother of opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose house the political leader has said was surrounded by Venezuelan police in January.

Bukele said he would ask El Salvador’s foreign ministry to be in contact with the Maduro government.

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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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3 Haitian soldiers warring with gangs are slain outside of Port--au-Prince

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — At least three Haitian soldiers were killed in what appeared to be a gang ambush in a town on the outskirts of Haiti's capital on Sunday, Haitian authorities confirmed.

The area of Kenscoff has been under heavy fire in recent days as Haitian law enforcement have warred with the gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm. It's just the latest explosion of violence as Haitian authorities and foreign forces scramble to reign in gang warfare in the Caribbean nation.

Haiti's government in a post on the social media platform X wrote that the soldiers died “on the front line ... weapons in hand.”

"These soldiers are not just members of our armed forces. They are worthy sons of the Nation, defenders of our sovereignty, whose ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten. Their commitment is a powerful reminder that freedom and security come at a price, and that this price is sometimes paid in the blood of our bravest," wrote the Haitian government in a statement.

Local media reported earlier in the day that a military reinforcement mission, traveling in an unarmored car, was transporting soldiers to a conflictive area in Kenscoff, when the soldiers were violently targeted by heavily armed men.

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In Nigeria’s floating slum, ‘The Herds’ tour spotlights climate change where it's felt the most

MAKOKO, Nigeria (AP) — Several canoes paddle toward Makoko, a vast floating slum built on stilts in the lagoon at one end of Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos. Riding on the vessels are giant cardboard puppet animals along with their puppeteers dressed in black.

Once on the water, the animals — a gorilla, a leopard, an elephant, a wildebeest, a giraff and a donkey — all come alive. The gorilla hoots, the donkey brays and wags its tail as the leopard bends its neck toward the surface as if to drink but halts just before its face meets the water and then turns to look around.

It is Saturday, the second day of “ The Herds” theatrical tour stop in Nigeria on a journey 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles) from Africa's Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle with puppet animals. It's a journey organizers say is meant to bring attention to the climate crisis and “renew our bond with the natural world.”

The tour started last week in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, and will continue across the world with Dakar, the Senegalese capital, as the next stop.

The story goes that the animals will be forced out of their natural habitats due to global warming and displaced north, stopping in cities along the way and being joined by more animals.

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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.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025