A second cyclone slams southern Africa

MOZAMBIQUE: Cyclone Kenneth hit northern Mozambique Thursday with gusts of up to 174 miles per hour—equal to a Category 4 hurricane—just weeks after another powerful storm, Cyclone Idai, killed more than 1,000 people. Officials said 30,000 people had been evacuated, with reports of homes collapsing and the provincial capital of Pemba losing power. Before reaching the mainland, Cyclone Kenneth killed three people on the island nation of Comoros overnight.

SYRIA: The United States and Turkey may jointly patrol a buffer zone at the border between Turkey and Syria, marginalizing the Syrian Kurdish fighters who defeated ISIS in the area and giving U.S. forces a stepped-up role. In December, President Donald Trump announced he wanted a full withdrawal of U.S. military personnel in Syria.

SRI LANKA: With the Easter attacks, ISIS demonstrates its strength apparently doesn’t depend on controlling territory. “Building explosives that are as reliable as what we saw in Sri Lanka is actually quite difficult,” with eight suicide bombers all detonating their charges with deadly effect. Officials have lowered the death toll, from 359 to about 250.

HONG KONG: Baptist pastor Chu Yiu-ming, 75, recalls the day democracy in Hong Kong died, and what sacrifices he’s made to save it, in WORLD Magazine’s latest cover story.

RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin became the fourth major head of state to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as both leaders sought to leverage negotiations between Kim and Trump that ended abruptly in February in Vietnam.

GHANA: A U.S.-based unmanned aerial vehicle company will launch what it calls “the largest drone delivery network on the planet,” operating 30 drones to distribute vaccines, blood, and life-saving medications to 2,000 health facilities.

FRANCE: Notre Dame’s organ, dating to the 1400s and with almost 8,000 pipes, has been spared.

GERMANY: The quest to secure original Gutenberg Bibles has spanned the globe, and now is told in Margaret Leslie Davis’ bestselling book, The Lost Gutenberg: “The copy now in Estelle Doheny’s possession is the first issue of the first edition of the first book printed with movable metal type, in near-pristine condition, its pages fresh and clean.”

I’M READING Virgil Wander by Leif Enger.

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