Storms, flooding kill 7 in Tenn., 4 in Miss.

Storms, flooding kill 7 in Tenn., 4 in Miss.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Seven people were killed in Tennessee and four in northern Mississippi by a line of storms that brought heavy flooding and tornados to the region over the weekend. More rain and storms loomed Sunday as emergency officials in Tennessee sought help from the state’s Army National Guard.

At a Sunday news conference, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said it will likely be days before floodwaters recede enough to thoroughly assess damage.

Tennessee officials have confirmed 7 deaths. At least three people are missing after getting swept away by floodwaters, and one of them is presumed dead by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, which would bring the death toll to 8.

Pope all but endorses shroud’s authenticity

TURIN, Italy

Pope Benedict XVI all but gave an outright endorsement of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin on Sunday, calling the cloth that some believe is Christ’s burial shroud an icon “written with the blood” of a crucified man.

During a visit to the Shroud in the northern Italian city of Turin, Benedict didn’t raise the scientific questions that surround the linen and whether it might be a medieval forgery. Instead, he delivered a powerful meditation on the faith that holds that the Shroud is indeed Christ’s burial cloth.

After attacks, China raises school security

BEIJING

When classes resume in China this week, police officers and vans will be stationed outside school gates in the bustling southwestern city of Chongqing while newly installed video surveillance and intruder alarms will be keeping watch over classrooms in eastern Fujian. Guards patrolling school premises in southeastern Jiangxi will carry police batons and pepper spray.

Chinese authorities have ordered school security to be tightened nationwide, part of the government’s effort to assert control and calm public fears after three back-to-back attacks on schools last week that left a few dozen children injured. The measures start Tuesday when schools reopen after a three-day public holiday.

US prison gangs aid Mexican traffickers

el paso, texas

When Mexican drug traffickers need someone to be killed or kidnapped, or drugs distributed in the United States, they increasingly call on American subcontractors — U.S.-based prison gangs that run criminal enterprises from behind bars, sometimes even from solitary confinement.

Prison gangs have long controlled armies of street toughs on the outside. But in interviews with The Associated Press, authorities say the gangs’ activity has expanded beyond street-level drug sales to establish a business alliance with Mexican cartels.

“They’ll do the dirty work that, say, the cartels, they don’t want to do” in the U.S. “They don’t want to get involved,” said a former member of Barrio Azteca, a U.S. prison gang tied to Mexico’s Juarez cartel.

Israel’s top official welcomes progress

jerusalem

Israel’s prime minister on Sunday welcomed Arab nations’ endorsement of indirect, U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, saying he is ready to restart negotiations “at any time and at any place.”

Israeli and Palestinian officials said they expect the talks to begin by early next week. Details on the exact timing and scope of the talks were still being finalized Sunday.

Associated Press