In his Sunday message, Pope Francis said these are men and women like us seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited victims of war. Francis spoke after the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the Italian coast guard has conducted a search and rescue operation. An estimated 700 people had been on board the rickety boat, but only 28 were rescued. The latest tragedy comes as the migrant influx is surging. In just the last week, Italy rescued and gave shelter to 11,000 people. Aid agencies believe 900 have died at sea this year, a large increase over the same period in 2014. Italy has repeatedly asked its EU partners to do more to tackle a continent-wide crisis. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome. 

 

Yemen’s Houthi leader vowed in a televised speech that his group will not surrender. NPR’s Leila Fadel reports the speech comes some three weeks into a Saudi-led air campaign targeting Houthi rebels. 

In his televised speech, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi yelled with anger as he accused the United States of allowing and directing what he calls Saudi’s aggression against Yemen. He accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the extremist group al-Qaeda and said Yemenis have the right to resist. His angry comments indicate just how distant the possibility of the ceasefire remains as Yemenis run out of fuel, water and food. Saudi Arabia accuses the Houthi rebels of being an Iranian proxy. The Houthis denied the allegation and accused Saudi Arabia of trying to empower al-Qaeda and destroy Yemen. Meanwhile, hundreds of civilians have been killed in both airstrikes and street fighting between rival factions. Leila Fadel, NPR News, Riyadh. 

 

Around 1,000 people gathered at the memorial ceremony in Oklahoma City this morning on the 20th anniversary of the bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people. Former president Bill Clinton was there. He says Oklahoma City has done something good out of something evil.

“You had to choose far-sighted love over blind hatred. You had to choose to redeem your terrible losses by beginning again.” 

The bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001. His accomplice Terry Nichols is serving a life sentence. 

 

Widespread power outages in parts of Texas and Oklahoma today after severe storms with winds up to 90 miles an hour hit that area. 

 

This is NPR News. 

 

The killing of a teenager in Indian-administered Kashmir triggered demonstrations in the valley yesterday claimed by both India and Pakistan. NPR’s Julie McCarthy reports tensions have been running high in the disputed area following the arrest of a separatist leader who allegedly hoisted the Pakistani flag at a rally last week.

Central Kashmir remained shut down Sunday but the area around the capital Srinagar is reported to be calm. That following the arrest of two policemen who were booked for the murder of the young Kashmiri killed Saturday. He’s identified as 15-year-old Suhail Ahmad Sofi. Local media quote his family saying police shot him at close range. Police said crowd-control procedures restrain security forces from using live ammunition and admitted that the rules had been violated. The swift arrest of the two policemen is seen as a bid to keep anger from spinning out of control in disputed Kashmir. In 2010 more than 100 civilians were killed in firings during demonstrations. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, New Delhi. 

 

Residents near a wildfire in southern California are being allowed to go home. The Riverside Fire Department lifting evacuation orders that covered around 300 houses. Captain Mike Mohler with the CalFire tells KNBCTV it will take time to get the fire under control. 

“We’ve brought in additional resources both ground and air. We are going to hit it really hard today. But people have to remember this is a difficult access and it’s a very difficult fire fight.”

The fire was reported last night around the Prado Dam flood-controlled basin and grew to 980 acres by this morning.