Suspected drones used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack 2 more ships

TEL AVIV, Israel>> Two ships traveling in Middle East waters were attacked by suspected Yemen Houthi rebel drones early on Tuesday, authorities said, the latest assaults in the Iranian-backed fighters’ campaign of targeting vessels over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The first attack happened in the southern part of the Red Sea, west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida, with the projectile causing “slight damage” to the vessel’s windows on the bridge, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.

A second ship came under attack later Tuesday off Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, the UKMTO reported. Ambrey identified it as a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned vessel coming from the U.S. heading to India.

Los Angeles records more than 400 mudslides

LOS ANGELES>> One of the wettest storms in Southern California history unleashed at least 475 mudslides in the Los Angeles area after dumping more than half the amount of rainfall the city typically gets in a season in just two days, and officials warned Tuesday that the threat was not over yet.

Officials expressed relief that the storm hadn’t yet killed anyone or caused a major catastrophe in Los Angeles despite its size and intensity, with nearly 400 trees toppling. There were seven deaths reported elsewhere, including several people crushed by fallen trees in Northern California. Someone trying to enter the United States was swept up by a swollen Tijuana River channel and died early Tuesday as the California-Mexico border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

A blaze in a fireworks factory kills 11 people and injures scores of others

NEW DELHI>> A fire raced through a fireworks factory in central India on Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring about 150 others as it sparked other explosions, officials said.

Pawan Kumar Sharma, the area’s top administrative officer, told reporters that at least 11 people died in the blaze and rescuers were scouring the debris to check whether anyone was trapped. About 150 people were injured, senior police officer Ishad Wali said.

Cult leader is charged in the deaths of 191 children

NAIROBI>> A doomsday cult leader whom Kenyan authorities say ordered his congregants to starve themselves to death was charged Tuesday, along with 29 others, with the murder of 191 children in a case that brought widespread scrutiny over religious freedoms in the East African nation.

The decision, by a court in the coastal town of Malindi, was handed down almost a month after a judge ordered that the cult leader, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, and the others who are accused undergo mental health evaluations before facing any charges.

Sheriff: A deputy killed bank hostage-taker

FORT MYERS>> A deputy shot and killed a man Tuesday after he took people hostage and claimed to have a bomb at a Florida bank, authorities said.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a Bank of America branch in Fort Myers shortly before noon, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said during a news conference Tuesday. Officials deployed a robodog, the SWAT team, electronic surveillance and drones.

As deputies entered the bank, dozens of people ran out, Marceno said. A man armed with a knife, later identified as 36-year-old Sterling Ramon Alavache, still had two hostages and claimed to have a bomb, the sheriff said.

— Denver Post wire services