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Washington — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the 200th federal judge of President Joe Biden's tenure, about a month earlier than when Donald Trump hit that mark in his term, though Trump still holds the edge when it comes to the most impactful confirmations — those to the Supreme Court and the country's 13 appellate courts.  The march to 200 culminated with the confirmation of Angela Martinez as a district court judge in Arizona. The milestone reflects the importance that Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, placed on judicial confirmations after Trump put his enormous stamp on the federal judiciary with the confirmation of three Supreme Court justices.  "Reaching 200 judges is a major milestone," Schumer said just before the 66-28 vote. "Simply put, our 200 judges comprise the most diverse slate of judicial nominations under any president in American history."  The current pace of judicial confirmations for this White House came despite Biden, a Democrat, coming into office in 2021 with far fewer vacancies, particularly in the influential appellate courts, than Trump, a Republican, did in 2017.  "There is more work to do," Biden said in a statement after the vote. "Going forward, I will continue my solemn responsibility of nominating individuals who have excelled in their professional careers, who reflect the communities they serve and who apply the law impartially and without favoritism."  It's unclear whether Biden can eclipse his predecessor's 234 judges before the year ends, though.  Democrats have solidly backed the president's judicial nominees, but there have been some cracks in that resolve in recent weeks. Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said he would not support nominees who do not have some bipartisan support, and the two Democratic senators from Nevada are opposing a nominee who would become the nation's first Muslim appellate court judge. They did so after some law enforcement groups came out against the nomination.  The White House is aware of the obstacles as they rush to surpass Trump's accomplishment. It's a high water mark that remains a point of pride for the former president and senior Republicans who made it happen, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Filling dozens of judicial vacancies requires time on the Senate floor calendar, which becomes more scarce as senators in the narrowly divided chamber shift into election-year campaign mode.  Of the more than 40 current judicial vacancies nationwide, half are in states with two Republican senators. That matters because for district court judges, home-state senators still can exercise virtual veto power over a White House's nominations due to a long-standing Senate tradition.  White House officials say they have no illusions about the challenges they face but feel reaching 235 is possible. That doesn't please Republicans.  "Unfortunately, they learned from our example about prioritizing lifetime appointments," said Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican. Meanwhile, liberal advocacy groups are thrilled with the results so far.  "I just cannot rave enough about these judges," said Jake Faleschini, who leads nominations work at the Alliance for Justice. "It's been nothing short of transformative of the federal judiciary in terms of both excellence, but also demographic and professional diversity."  At this stage in his term, Trump had two Supreme Court justices and 51 appellate court judges confirmed to lifetime appointments. Biden has tapped one Supreme Court justice and 42 appellate court judges. Biden has more confirmations of the district judges who handle civil and criminal cases. Those nominations tend to be less hard fought.  Biden has emphasized adding more female and minority judges to the federal bench. On that front, 127 of the 200 judges confirmed to the bench are women. Fifty-eight are Black and 36 are Hispanic, according to Schumer's office. Thirty-five judges are Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, more than any other administration, according to the White House.  In the appellate courts, 30 of the 42 circuit judges confirmed during Biden's term are women, according to the White House. Thirteen Black women have been chosen as circuit judges, more than all previous administrations combined.  Under Biden, more Hispanic judges have been confirmed to the appellate courts than any other administration.  As abortion access remains a vital priority for the Biden administration and a key argument for the president's reelection bid, the White House also points to several judges with backgrounds on the issue. They include Judge Julie Rikelman of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who before her nomination argued on behalf of the abortion clinic in Dobbs v. Jackson, the 2022 ruling that dismantled Roe v. Wade; and Nicole Berner, a former attorney at Planned Parenthood who now serves on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  Conservatives say it is fine to have diversity, but that should not be the focus.  "I think the right standard isn't trying to check boxes with nominees, but to try to find the men and women who are going to be faithful to the Constitution and the rule of law," said Carrie Severino, president of JCN, a conservative group that worked to boost support for Trump's nominees.  About a one-quarter of the judges Trump nominated were women and about 1 in 6 were minorities, according to the Pew Research Center.  Asked about the diversity of Biden's nominees, GOP senators said there was too much focus on "identity politics."  "I'm interested in competent lawyers who will administer justice fairly. Now, there are women that can do that. There are men that can do that. There are people of color that can do that," said Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana. "But their primary characteristic that they're proudest of is racial identify or gender identify, and activist. And I just don't think that's what the American people want to see in their justice system."  Proponents of diversifying the federal judiciary counter that people who come before the court have more trust in the legal process when they see people who look like them. They said it's important to diversify the professional backgrounds of judges, too, so that more public defenders and those with a civil rights or non-profit background are considered.  "The American people deserve federal judges who not only look like America, but understand the American experience from every angle," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.

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AUSTIN, Texas — The families of 19 of the victims in the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response.  The families said in a statement that they also agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city, under which city leaders promised higher standards and better training for local police.  The announcement came two days before the two-year anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Nineteen fourth-graders and two teachers were killed on May 24, 2022, when a teenage gunman burst into their classroom at Robb Elementary School and began shooting.  The lawsuit is the latest of several seeking accountability for the law enforcement response. More than 370 federal, state and local officers converged on the scene, but they waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter.  It is the first lawsuit to come after a 600-page Justice Department report was released in January that cataloged "cascading failures" in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day.  The lawsuit notes state troopers did not follow their active shooter training and responsibility to confront the shooter, even as the students and teachers inside were following their own lockdown protocols of turning off lights, locking doors and staying silent.  "The protocols trap teachers and students inside, leaving them fully reliant on law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively," the families and their attorneys said in a statement.  Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as agonized parents begged officers, some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway, to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.  "Law-enforcement's inaction that day was a complete and absolute betrayal of these families and the sons, daughters and mothers they lost," said Erin Rogiers, one of the attorneys for the families. "TXDPS had the resources, training and firepower to respond appropriately, and they ignored all of it and failed on every level. These families have not only the right but also the responsibility to demand justice."  A criminal investigation into the police response by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell's office remains ongoing. A grand jury was summoned this year, and some law enforcement officials have already been called to testify.  The lawsuit against 92 Texas Department of Public Safety officials and troopers also names the Uvalde School District, former Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez and former Uvalde schools police Chief Peter Arredondo as defendants.  Another lawsuit filed in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors. And at least two other lawsuits have been filed against Georgia-based gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, which made the AR-style rifle used by the gunman.  The settlement with the city was capped at $2 million because the families said they didn't want to bankrupt the city where they still live and to allow the community to continue to heal. The settlement will be paid from the city's insurance coverage.  Under the settlement, the city agreed to a new "fitness for duty" standard and enhanced training for Uvalde police officers. It also establishes May 24 as an annual day of remembrance, a permanent memorial in the city plaza, and support for mental health services for the families and the greater Uvalde area.  Another report commissioned by the city also noted rippling missteps by law enforcement but defended the actions of local police, which sparked anger from victims' families.  "For two long years, we have languished in pain and without any accountability from the law enforcement agencies and officers who allowed our families to be destroyed that day," said Veronica Luevanos, whose daughter Jailah and nephew Jayce were killed. "This settlement reflects a first good faith effort, particularly by the City of Uvalde, to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us."

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Experts say that in Ukraine, there has been a heavy increase in cases of anxiety, depression, adjustment disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems since Russia’s invasion in 2022, and it will likely have a long-term impact. For VOA, Lesia Bakalets has more.

ISLAMABAD — With one end of a rope tied to a tree and the other in her hand, Zareena Bibi steps into the canal that cuts through Lahore, Pakistan’s major eastern metropolis. Bibi does not know how to swim, but with the mercury rising, a dip in the muddy water of the tree-lined canal is the only way for her to cool off with her kids.  “It is such a relief. How do I describe? It feels very good,” Bidi told VOA. “We were so hot, children were crying so we came to bathe in the canal,” she said, complaining of a lack of electricity and running water at home.  The Pakistan Meteorological Department, or PMD, has predicted heat wave conditions until May 27 in most of the country, with parts of Punjab and Sindh — the two most populous provinces — slated to experience extreme heat.  “May is usually a hot month. But this time we are expecting temperatures to hit 50 to 51 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some parts,” Mahr Sahibzad Khan, director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told VOA. “The sudden rise in temperatures has forced us to alert everyone.”  The PMD expects daytime temperatures to soar by 6 to 8 degrees Celsius above May’s average. Khan, however, told VOA he did not expect the severe heat to be deadly.  Still, authorities in Punjab closed schools for the week. Earlier, they reduced school timing and delayed board exams.  Provincial disaster management authorities in Punjab and Sindh have ordered hospitals to set up heat wave units to treat people for heat-related illnesses like dehydration and heatstroke.    In 2022 and 2018, unusually high temperatures between March and May killed dozens, mostly in Sindh. In 2015, more than a thousand people in the southern province perished due to heat-related illnesses.  The high temperatures not only affect lives, but livelihoods as well.  Rana Asif, a farmer with land in Okara, a city in Punjab, is watering his rice and corn crops more frequently this week to keep them from drying.  “We are forced to water our crops daily with cool, fresh water from the ground,” Rana, who usually waters his fields every other day, told VOA. “This is driving my cost up.”   Extreme heat in South Asia during the pre-monsoon season is becoming more frequent, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. According to its research, climate change is making heat waves in Asia more frequent and extreme.  The latest spell of high heat, the second this month, comes on the heels of the wettest April that Pakistan recorded in six decades. The above-average rainfall killed dozens and destroyed vast areas of farmland.  Khan, too, held climate change responsible for the extreme spikes in temperature.  “High pressure and clear skies intensify the impact of the sun’s rays. … because of climate change, this phenomenon feels more intense,” Khan said.  While Pakistan contributes extremely little to climate change, it is among countries most vulnerable to the impact of changing weather patterns. However, Khan also blamed Pakistan’s urban sprawl for the miserable weather.  “The bigger problem is that cities are expanding horizontally. This is leading to the erosion of green areas. Even grass has a role,” Khan said. “You are losing that [green cover] and cities are expanding. Of course, that is causing problems.”    Despite high heat accelerating glacial melt, Khan said his department is not expecting floods anytime soon.  “We don’t expect flooding as our reservoirs have plenty of room at the moment. Even if more water comes down we have space to store it,” Khan said, cautioning that “if the monsoon component is added to it and temperatures also run high then we can have flooding.”  In 2022, Pakistan suffered catastrophic flooding as unusually heavy rains, blamed largely on climate change, submerged nearly a third of the country and caused $30 billion in damage.  Authorities are urging people to stay indoors and hydrated during the hottest hours of the day this week. But Khursheeda Bibi, who commutes for nearly 1.5 hours every day to her job as a cleaning lady at a private hospital, said she must step out to earn a living for her children.  “It’s so difficult to travel,” Bibi, a widow, told VOA. “But when I think that I have to do it for my children, then the heat doesn’t feel so bad.”  The PMD expects the heat wave to subside by May 28. However, another spell of extreme heat is slated to hit early June.

For over four decades, Costa Rica's farmers markets have been promoting local agriculture, creating vital economic lifelines and fostering a sense of community. Donaldo Hernández explores their enduring appeal in this story narrated by Veronica Villafañe.

Miami, Florida — A Florida judge was holding a hearing Wednesday on a bid by former U.S. President Donald Trump to dismiss the charges he faces for allegedly mishandling classified documents. The hearing is being held in Fort Pierce, Florida, before District Judge Aileen Cannon, who has already indefinitely postponed Trump's criminal trial in that case. Trump, who is seeking to recapture the White House in November, and a co-defendant, his valet Walt Nauta, have filed separate motions with Cannon seeking to have the case thrown out. Trump pleaded not guilty in Florida in June to the federal charges of unlawfully retaining national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. He kept the classified files — which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency — unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and thwarted official efforts to retrieve them, according to the indictment. Trump — who is currently on trial in New York, accused in a separate case of falsifying business records to pay hush money to a porn star — is not expected to attend Wednesday's proceedings. The dismissal motion is the latest of several that Trump's lawyers have unsuccessfully filed with Cannon in a bid to have the charges tossed out. The hearing is the first in the case since Cannon, on May 7, indefinitely postponed Trump's trial, which had been scheduled to begin this month. Cannon, a Trump appointee, said the planned May 20 start date was not possible because of the number of pretrial motions before the court. The postponement was a major setback for special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against Trump, and makes it unlikely the case will be heard before the presidential election — now less than six months away. Trump's attorneys have sought to delay his various criminal cases until after the election, when Trump could potentially have the federal charges against him dropped if he wins. In addition to the New York and Florida cases, Trump has also been charged in Washington and Georgia with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, his likely November opponent.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee judge on Wednesday blocked the auction of Graceland, the former home of Elvis Presley, by a company that claimed his estate failed to repay a loan that used the property as collateral.  Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued a temporary injunction against the proposed auction that had been scheduled for Thursday this week. Jenkins' injunction essentially keeps in place a previous restraining order that he had issued after Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough filed a lawsuit to fight off what she said was a fraudulent scheme.  A public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate in Memphis posted earlier in May said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Keough, an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.  Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough, on behalf of the Promenade Trust, alleged in her lawsuit that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023.  Neither Keough nor lawyers for Nassauny Investments were in court Wednesday.  "Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments," Keough's lawyer wrote in a lawsuit.  Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Nassauny's documents, indicated that she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, the court filing said.  Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Elvis Presley, the singer and actor who died in August 1977 at age 42. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. 

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WASHINGTON — The headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington was briefly evacuated Wednesday morning after a suspicious package containing two vials of blood was delivered to the building, the police said.  The RNC, the parent organization of the Republican Party, is playing a major role in the campaign of former President Donald Trump, who will face Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in the November 5 presidential election.   The authorities initially closed off one downtown block and directed staff and other personnel to avoid the area. By midmorning, employees were reentering the building and police were leaving the scene, according to a Reuters witness.   "The source of the package and its contents will be further investigated," the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement.  The RNC did not respond to a request for comment. 

Washington — A house-cured smoked salmon, red grapefruit, avocado and cucumber starter. Dry-aged rib eye beef in a sesame sabayon sauce. Salted caramel pistachio cake under a layer of matcha ganache. While President Joe Biden and his guest of honor at a White House state dinner chew over foreign policy, the female chef duo of Cris Comerford and Susie Morrison take care of the culinary diplomacy. They pulled off the above menu for Japan's leader in April, and they'll have a new array of delicacies for Kenya's president on Thursday night. Comerford, the White House executive chef, and Morrison, the executive pastry chef, are the first women to hold those posts, forming a duo that has tantalized the taste buds of guests at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with their culinary creations for nearly a decade. Comerford is also the first person of color to be executive chef. “Both are just exceptional examples of success in their field,” said Bill Yosses, who was the executive pastry chef for seven years before his departure in 2014 cleared the way for Morrison to be promoted. “They excel at what they do.” Comerford and Morrison get to do it again Thursday when Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, host the administration's sixth state dinner, for Kenyan President William Ruto and his wife, Rachel. It will be the first such honor for an African head of state since 2008 and the first for Kenya since 2003. A lavish state dinner is a tool of U.S. diplomacy, a high honor reserved for America's longstanding and closest allies. In the case of Kenya, Biden wants to elevate a relationship that he sees as critical to security in Africa and far beyond. Jill Biden planned to preview the dinner setup for the news media on Wednesday afternoon. State dinner planning is done by the first lady's staff and the White House social office, and starts months in advance. Ideas are kicked around before the chefs propose a few different menus. The meals are prepared, plated as they would be served and tasted by the social secretary and the first lady, who makes the final call on what will be served. The menus change, but the overarching goal has stayed the same. “We're trying to showcase American food, American regions, American farmers,” while incorporating small tributes to the guest of honor, Yosses said. “It would be rare that we would really try to imitate something from the guest's country.” Ingredients for April's state dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, came from California, Maryland, Oregon and Ohio. The wines were from Oregon and Washington state. At the media preview for that glitzy event, Comerford explained that the diets of the Bidens and the visiting dignitaries are factored into the preparations, along with those of other guests. “When we formulate and we create the state dinner menu, we take into consideration all the principals and most of our guests,” she said. “We also take into consideration the season because this is the perfect time for some beautiful bounties right now, with the spring coming up, with all the morels and the mushrooms, and Susie's cherries and all the stuff she has on her plate.” The chefs contact their regular purveyors to find out what's in season, and go from there. The salmon appetizer served in April was inspired by the California roll, which Comerford said was invented by a Japanese chef. Morrison's dessert highlighted Japan's gift of cherry trees to the United States, many of which are planted in Washington, and its matcha tea. She decorated the pistachio cake with sugary mini cherry blossoms. “We wanted to bring a little bit of the cherry blossoms that are here on the Tidal Basin right here to our dessert in order for everyone to enjoy the cherry blossoms that we enjoy every year,” she said. Serving dinner to hundreds of guests at once comes down to timing. Thursday's event will be held in an expansive pavilion put up on the South Grounds of the White House. Sam Kass, who was an assistant chef during President Barack Obama's administration, said tradition holds that the president is the first one served and that plates are cleared away when he is finished eating. “You have to have a service that is so efficient and quick to get those plates out so that the last table has a chance to eat,” he said. Comerford, 61, sharpened her culinary skills while working at hotels in Chicago and restaurants in Washington before the White House brought her on in 1995 as an assistant chef. A naturalized U.S. citizen and Filipino native, she was named executive chef in 2005. Her responsibilities include designing and executing menus for state dinners, social events, holiday functions, receptions and official luncheons. Morrison, 57, started at the executive mansion as a contract pastry employee in 1995 while she was working at a hotel in northern Virginia. She was named an assistant pastry chef in 2002 and became the executive pastry chef in November 2014 — just in time to sweat over the details of that year's gingerbread White House for the holiday season. The pair has worked together at the White House for nearly 30 years. Yosses recalled at least one instance where the honoree's wishes dictated the menu selections. In 2015, China's Xi Jinping wanted a very American menu, “which I think was a polite way for him to say that he didn't think we could do Chinese food very well," Yosses said. The Chinese leader was served butter-poached Maine lobster and grilled Colorado lamb.

GREENFIELD, Iowa — Multiple people were killed when a tornado tore through a small town in Iowa and left a wide swath of obliterated homes and crumpled cars, while the howling winds also twisted and toppled wind turbines.  After devastating Greenfield, a town of 2,000, on Tuesday the storms moved eastward to pummel parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers in the two states.  Greenfield's hospital was among the buildings that were damaged in the town, which meant that at least a dozen people who were hurt had to be taken to facilities elsewhere, according to Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla.  "Sadly we can confirm that there have been fatalities," Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night, without specifying how many. "We're still counting at this time."  He said he thought they had accounted for all of the town's residents but that searches would continue if anyone was reported missing. The Adair County Health System said in a Facebook post Tuesday night that it had set up a triage center at the Greenfield high school and that people who need medical attention should go there.  The tornado destroyed much of Greenfield, which is located about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines, during a day that saw multiple tornadoes, giant hail and heavy rain in several states. The National Weather Service said it received 23 tornado reports Tuesday, with most in Iowa, and one each in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  In Wisconsin, the weather service's Green Bay office dispatched a staffer Wednesday morning to survey storm damage near the village of Unity in western Marathon County after law enforcement received a report from the public about a tornado on the ground about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in that community about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of Eau Claire, said meteorologist Roy Eckberg. He said staffers would also be visiting Outagamie County near the city of Kaukauna, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Green Bay, to investigate significant wind damage there.  Eckberg said high winds were reported Tuesday night across parts of central Wisconsin, with a wind gust of 70 mph (113 kilometers per hour) in the city of Marshfield and with wind damage also reported to the northwest in the city of Wausau.  Weather service staff would also be assessing storm damage Wednesday in southeastern Minnesota after radar indicated that a tornado touched down Tuesday night in Winona County, said Kate Abbott, a meteorologist with the agency's La Crosse, Wisconsin, office.  "With that one we did have a radar confirmed tornado, but we're going out and survey there to make sure the damage is consistent with a tornado," she said.  Authorities announced a mandatory curfew for Greenfield and said they would only allow residents to enter the town until Wednesday morning. They also ordered media representatives to leave the city Tuesday night.  In the aftermath of the storm, mounds of broken wood from homes, branches, car parts and other debris littered lots where homes once stood. Some trees still standing were stripped of their limbs and leaves. Residents helped each other salvage furniture and other belongings that were strewn in every direction.  Rogue Paxton said he sheltered in the basement of his home when the storm moved through. He told WOI-TV he thought the house was lost but said his family got lucky.  "But everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped," Paxton said. "Then you see all these people out here helping each other. ... Everything's going to be fine because we have each other, but it's just going to be really, really rough. It is a mess."  A tornado also apparently took down several 250-foot (76-meter) wind turbines in southwest Iowa. Some of the turbines caught fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air. Wind farms are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and other powerful winds.  Mary Long, the owner of Long's Market in downtown Greenfield, said she rode out the storm at her business in the community's historic town square, which largely escaped damage. Long said there appeared to be widespread damage on the east and south sides of town.  "I could hear this roaring, like the proverbial freight train, and then it was just done," she said.  Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. ahead of the storm.  "I can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road," she said of the tornado.  Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she planned to visit Greenfield on Wednesday morning.  "It was just a few weeks ago that tornadoes hit several other Iowa communities, and it's hard to believe that it's happened again," she said in a statement. "Iowans are strong and resilient, and we will get through this together."  Iowa had braced for severe weather after the weather service's Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes. The storms and tornado warnings moved into Wisconsin on Tuesday evening and night.  Across the US Earlier in the day, residents to the west in Omaha, Nebraska, awoke to sirens blaring and widespread power outages as torrential rain, high winds and large hail pummeled the area. The deluge flooded basements and submerged cars. Television station KETV showed firefighters rescuing people from vehicles.  In Illinois, dust storms led authorities to shut down stretches of two interstates due to low visibility.  The storms followed days of extreme weather that have ravaged much of the middle section of the country. Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes swept parts of Oklahoma and Kansas late Sunday, damaging homes and injuring two in Oklahoma.  Another round of storms Monday night raked Colorado and western Nebraska and saw the city of Yuma, Colorado, blanketed in hail the size of baseballs and golf balls, turning streets into rivers of water and ice.  In Texas, deadly storms hit the Houston area last week, killing at least eight people. Those storms last Thursday knocked out power to hundreds of thousands for days, leaving many in the dark and without air conditioning during hot and humid weather. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to debris and shattered glass in downtown skyscrapers.  Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the weather service, said the system is expected to turn south Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's supreme leader and representatives of militia groups he backs in the Middle East prayed Wednesday over the coffins of the country's late president, foreign minister and other officials killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week. Hundreds of thousands of people later followed a procession honoring the dead down Tehran's main boulevard.  Iran's Shiite theocracy views mass demonstrations as crucial evidence of its legitimacy and the people's support.  Still, Wednesday's funeral service for President Ebrahim Raisi and others saw a turnout that onlookers described as noticeably lower than the 2020 procession honoring Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.  Many of the participants said they came to Tehran for the ceremony from other cities and towns across the Islamic Republic, an indication of how those in Iran's capital viewed Raisi, who won the presidency in a record low turnout and later oversaw repeated crackdowns on dissent — including in the wake of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which sparked street protests over Iran's mandatory hijab, or headscarf.  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had openly wept for Soleimani, also remained composed while reciting the standard prayer for the dead.  "Oh Allah, we didn't see anything but good from him," Khamenei said in Arabic, the language of Islam's holy book, the Quran. Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, stood nearby and openly cried.  The death of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six others in the crash on Sunday comes at a politically sensitive moment for Iran, both at home and abroad.  Raisi, who was 63, had been discussed as a possible successor to Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei. None of Iran's living past presidents — other than Khamenei, who was president from 1981 until 1989 — could be seen in state television footage of Wednesday's prayers. The authorities gave no explanation for their apparent absence.  Following the deadly helicopter crash, Iran set June 28 as the next presidential election. For now, there's no clear favorite for the position among Iran's political elite — particularly no one who is a Shiite cleric, as Raisi was.  During Raisi's term in office, Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel last month as its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip continued. Iran has supported Hamas throughout the war and provided weaponry to the militants.  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended the prayers Wednesday morning, just two days after the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said he would seek an arrest warrant for him and others over the October 7 attack that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war. In the unprecedented assault on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and seized 250 hostages.  The ICC prosecutor is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their conduct in the war, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and hundreds in the West Bank.  Haniyeh recounted Raisi telling him this year that the October 7 attack was an "earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity." In a later meeting with Khamenei, the supreme leader told Haniyeh that the "destruction of the Zionist regime is feasible and, God willing, the day in which Palestine will be created from the sea to river will arrive."  Haniyeh's presence likely signaled Khamenei intends to continue his policy of arming militant groups in the wider Mideast — including Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels — to pressure adversaries such as Israel and the United States. Mourners at the ceremony chanted: "Death to Israel!"  Hezbollah and Houthi representatives were also in attendance.  Statesmen from the Mideast and beyond, including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Tunisian President Kais Saied, attended a later memorial service.  Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was there. Cairo and Tehran have been discussing reestablishing ties severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.  A single black turban was placed over Raisi's casket during the morning service, which signifies he was considered a direct descendent of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. People then carried the coffins out on their shoulders as chants of "Death to America!" erupted outside.  People openly wept during the procession and beat their chests, a common sign of grief in the Shiite culture. They tossed scarves and other possessions up to the semitruck driving the caskets through Tehran, with coffin attendants brushing the items against the caskets in a gesture of blessing.  One man said he and his friends took a nearly seven-hour bus trip to attend the procession. Many expressed their sympathies for the dead, including Raisi.  "He was our president, the others were pilots and a minister, how can I be indifferent about their loss?" asked Sima Rahmani, a 27-year-old Tehran woman wearing a loose headscarf despite the risk of detention by police.  Prosecutors have warned people against showing any public signs of celebrating Raisi's death, and a heavy security force presence has been seen in Tehran since the crash. Many shops and stores noticeably remained open while some took off early for a long weekend despite bulk text messages and state TV broadcasting times for the procession.  "I did not vote for Raisi in 2021 election, but he was the president of all people," said Morteza Nemati, a 28-year-old physics student at Tehran Azad University. "My presence is a way of paying tribute to him."  Meanwhile, an Iranian official offered a new accounting of Sunday's crash, further fueling the theory that bad weather had led to it. Gholamhossein Esmaili, who traveled in one of the two other helicopters in Raisi's entourage, told state TV that weather had been fine when the aircraft took off. But Raisi's helicopter disappeared into heavy clouds, and the others couldn't reach the aircraft by radio.  The Friday prayer leader from the city of Tabriz, Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, who was also on board, somehow answered two mobile phone calls after the crash, saying he was hurt, Esmaili said.  It wasn't clear why Iran could not at that point track the phone signal. A Turkish drone helped find the crash site. Tehran had even asked the United States, its longtime foe, for help.  "The conditions of the bodies found showed that they [died] immediately after the incident," Esmaili said. "But Ayatollah Ale-Hashem [died] a few hours after the incident."

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