AP News Digest 6:30 p.m.

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. For up-to-the-minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan in AP Newsroom.

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WEEKEND COVERAGE

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For weekend stories, please click here for the Weekend Lookahead digest.

Adds: ELECTION 2024-TRUMP GESTAPO, MEXICO-MISSING FOREIGNERS, WARREN BUFFET’S SUCCESSOR, UTAH OFFICER KILLED, ISRAEL-HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

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TOP STORIES

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ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — The latest round of Gaza cease-fire talks ended in Cairo after “in-depth and serious discussions,” the Hamas militant group said Sunday, reiterating key demands that Israel again rejected. After signs of progress, the outlook appeared to dim as Israel closed its main crossing point for delivering badly needed humanitarian aid for Gaza after Hamas militants attacked it. By Josef Federman and Kareem Chehayeb. SENT: 840 words, photos, videos, audio. With ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-AL JAZEERA — Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment. SENT.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CAMPUS-PROTESTS — Students protesting the war in Gaza left a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after they were surrounded by police and told they could face arrest if they did not leave. The move comes days before commencement. By Philip Marcelo and Denise Lavoie. SENT: 1,080 words, photos, audio. With CAMPUS-PROTESTS-THE-PARADOX and CAMPUS-PROTESTS-COMMENCEMENT-GLANCE. SENT.

TRUMP HUSH MONEY-GAG ORDER — Virtually every day of his hush money criminal trial, Donald Trump talks about how he can’t talk about it. He’s told reporters outside the courtroom that a gag order in the case is “totally unconstitutional” and “a disgrace.” The order bars him from making out-of-court, public comments on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the case. But it hasn't stopped Trump from talking about the allegations against him or commenting on the judge or the elected top prosecutor. By Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz. SENT: 1,070, photos, videos. With TRUMP HUSH MONEY-GLOSSARY — Terms you don’t typically hear in a courtroom. SENT.

ELECTION 2024-SIX MONTHS — It’s six months before Election Day, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump are locked in a presidential rematch. The race is highly in flux as many voters are only just beginning to embrace the reality of the 2024 contest. By Steve Peoples and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1780 words, photos.

ELECTION 2024-TRUMP GESTAPO — Donald Trump told Republican donors at his Florida resort this weekend that President Joe Biden is running a “Gestapo administration.” It’s the latest example of the former president employing the language of Nazi Germany in his campaign rhetoric. By Bill Barrow and Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 950 words, photos.

BRAZIL FLOODS — Massive floods in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 75 people over the last seven days, and another 103 were reported missing, local authorities said Sunday. At least 155 people were injured, while damage from the rains forced more than 88,000 people from their homes. Approximately 16,000 took refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters. SENT: 560 words, photos, video.

SEVERE-WEATHER — Storms in Texas brought additional rain Sunday to the already saturated Houston area where hundreds of people have been rescued from flooded homes and roads, while to the north in the Fort Worth area, a child died after being swept away when the car he was traveling in got stuck in floodwaters. Storms coming through Sunday could bring 3 to 8 inches more of rainfall — adding to the more than 20 inches that have fallen in some areas over the past week. By Jamie Stengle and Lekan Oyekanmi. SENT: 790 words, photos, videos, audio.

MEXICO-MISSING FOREIGNERS — Thieves probably killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday. Three decomposing corpses were found in a remote, 50- foot-deep well. But authorities in Baja California have yet to officially confirm the identities of the bodies. The well also contained a fourth cadaver that had been there much longer. Mexican prosecutors hope family will in the identification process. SENT: 600 words, photos.

RUSSIA-PUTIN-INAUGURATION — Just a few months short of a quarter-century as Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin will put his hand on a copy of the constitution and begin another six-year term as president wielding extraordinary power. Since becoming acting president on the last day of 1999, Putin has shaped Russia into a monolith, crushing political opposition, running independent-minded journalists out of the country and promoting an increasing devotion to prudish “traditional values” that pushes many in society into the margins. By Jim Heintz. SENT: 970 words, photos.

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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

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MISSING INDIGENOUS AWARENESS DAY — From marches and art exhibitions to candlelight vigils, people are gathering across the U.S. to spotlight the high rate of disappearances and killings in Native American communities on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. This year, the federal government is touting the hiring of special prosecutors and coordinators who are addressing systemic issues that have made tackling the crisis a generational challenge. By Susan Montoya Bryan. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.

KENYA-POLLUTION-BAMBOO — Students at a school next to Kenya’s largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks still drive in daily to heap more trash. By Zelipha Kirobi. SENT: 570 words, photos.

SAN FRANCISCO-TENDERLOIN-CHILDREN — San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood is notorious for its open-air drug use and congested sidewalks. But it’s also home to thousands of laughing, playful school children and parents working toward a better life. Mothers in 2008 launched a program to safely shepherd their children from school through dangerous streets. By Janie Har. SENT: 990 words, photos, video.

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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

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ISRAEL-HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.” SENT: 680 words, photos, video.

ISRAEL-POLAND-HOLOCAUST-MARCH — Judith Tzamir, a Holocaust survivor from Germany now living in Israel, will join 55 other survivors for a memorial march in Poland, called March of the Living. The event recreates the 2-mile march from Auschwitz to Birkenau death camps. This year, Israeli hostages released from captivity in Gaza and families whose relatives are still being held captive will also march. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia launched a barrage of drones against the country, concentrated in Ukraine’s east where the situation on the front line is worsening. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in an Easter address to be united in prayer and called God an “ally” in the war with Russia. SENT: 330 words, photos.

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MORE NEWS

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BRITAIN-CORONATION-ONE-YEAR — King Charles III’s openness about cancer has helped him connect with people in the year after his coronation. SENT: 990 words, photos.

WHITE-HOUSE-GATE-CRASH — Law enforcement authorities say a driver has died after crashing a vehicle into a gate at the White House. SENT: 170 words, photo.

UTAH OFFICER KILLED — A truck driver allegedly killed a police officer during a traffic stop on a Utah highway Sunday by driving his rig into the officer, police said. SENT: 250 words.

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NATIONAL

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REBUILDING THE REFUGEE SYSTEM — The American refugee program long served as a haven for people fleeing violence around the world. Today, it’s rebounding from dwindling arrivals under the Trump administration. If President Joe Biden meets his target for arrivals, it would mark the most refugees that have come to the United States since 1992. SENT: 1,270 words, photos, video.

METHODISTS UNCERTAIN FUTURE— It took just a few days for United Methodist delegates to remove a half-century’s worth of denominational bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriages. But when asked at a news conference about the lightning speed of the changes, the Rev. Effie McAvoy took a longer view. “Oh, it didn’t take days, honey,” she said. It took decades of activism. SENT: 1,320 words, photos. With METHODISTS UNCERTAIN FUTURE-TIMELINE. SENT.

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INTERNATIONAL

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EUROPE-CHINA — Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a three-country trip to Europe on Sunday with the continent divided over how to deal with Beijing’s growing power and the U.S.-China rivalry. SENT: 400 words, photos, videos.

PANAMA-ELECTIONS — Voters in Panama on Sunday waited to hear who will be their next president after an election consumed by unfolding drama surrounding the country’s former president, even though he was not on the ballot. Eager for change after months of political turmoil and protests, Panamanians weighed promises of economic prosperity and migratory crackdowns against a corruption scandal. SENT: 750 words, photos, video.

HUNGARY-OPPOSITION — Some 10,000 people gathered in Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, in support of Péter Magyar, a political newcomer who in less than three months has shot to prominence on pledges to bring an end to official corruption and declining quality of life under the rule of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán . SENT: 520 words, photos.

TOGO-ELECTION — Togo’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in the West African nation’s parliament, the election commission said as it announced provisional results of last week’s vote that was rejected by the opposition as part of a move to extend President Faure Gnassingbe’s tenure. SENT: 320 words, photo.

BRITAIN-ELECTION-EXPLAINER — Millions of voters in England have voted in local elections, the last big test before a looming U.K. general election. All indicators suggest the Labour Party will then return to power after 14 years in the wilderness. SENT: 940 words, photos.

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BUSINESS

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WARREN BUFFET'S SUCCESSOR — This year’s Berkshire Hathaway meeting gave shareholders their best chance yet to hear from the man who will one day take over as CEO when Warren Buffett is gone, but Buffett said for the first time Saturday that Greg Abel should also take responsibility for the company’s investments after he takes over, raising new questions about the succession plan. SENT: 980 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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FILM-BOX OFFICE — ‘The Fall Guy’ gives Hollywood a muted summer kickoff with a $28.5M opening. SENT: 680 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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The Nerve Center can be reached at 800-845-8450, ext. 1600. For photos, ext. 1900. For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.

Real Madrid's Arda Guler, right, vies for the ball with Cadiz's Joseba Zaldua during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A woman, who only gave her name as Lisamarie, checks on two of her puppies after her neighborhood was evacuated due to severe flooding on Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Channelview, Texas. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator wears goggles and a mask as police with riot shields and protesters stand across from one another on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Police lift a pro-Palestinian demonstrator from the ground on the University of Virginia campus, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinian medics evacuate wounded children in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip by ambulance to the Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A divisive mobilization law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive that some fear could close in on Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The legislation, which was watered down from its original draft, will make it easier to identify every conscript in the country. It also provides incentives to soldiers, such as cash bonuses or money toward buying a house or car, that some analysts say Ukraine cannot afford.

Lawmakers dragged their feet for months and only passed the law in mid-April, a week after Ukraine lowered the age for men who can be drafted from 27 to 25. The measures reflect the growing strain that more than two years of war with Russia has had on Ukraine’s forces, who are trying to hold the front lines in fighting that has sapped the country’s ranks and stores of weapons and ammunition.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also signed two other laws Friday, allowing prisoners to join the army and increasing fines for draft dodgers fivefold. Russia enlisted its prisoners early on in the war, and personnel shortages compelled Ukraine to adopt the new, controversial measures.

Oleksii, 68, who runs a car repair shop in Kyiv, worries his business will have to shut down as he expects 70% of his workers will be mobilized. He asked that only his first name be used to allow him to speak freely.

“With the new law, people will be mobilized and we will have to shut down and stop paying taxes,” Oleksii told The Associated Press on Saturday. He said it's very difficult to replace workers because of their specialized skills. Most of them are already in the armed forces, he said, adding that the law is “unfair” and “unclear.”

Even essential municipal services will be affected. Viktor Kaminsky, the head of a municipal service department in Kyiv that fits households with heating and repairs utilities in public buildings, said he will struggle to replace mobilized staff and meet demand, even though the law allows him to retain half of workers deemed fit for service.

He said 60 of the 220 people working in Kaminsky's department will be eligible to be called up. “If they take 30 people from what we have, the problem is we don’t have anyone to replace them," he said.

“There are pros and cons to this law,” Kaminsky said. “It's hard to avoid the mobilization process now, compared to before when people were trying to get around it.” But, he said, it would be better if essential workers like his were granted more exemptions.

Ukraine has struggled for months to replenish depleted forces, as Russian troops are pushing ahead with a ground offensive that opened a new front in the northeast and put further pressure on Kyiv’s overstretched military. After weeks of probing, Moscow launched the new push knowing that Ukraine suffered personnel shortages, and that its forces have been spread thin in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that the Russian push aims to create “a buffer zone” rather than capturing Kharkiv, the local capital and Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Still, Moscow’s forces have pummeled Kharkiv with strikes in recent weeks, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure and prompting angry accusations from Zelenskyy that the Russian leadership sought to reduce the city to rubble. On Friday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that Russian guided bombs killed at least three residents and injured 28 others that day.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but thousands have died or suffered injuries in the more than 27 months of fighting.

The U.S. last week announced a new $400 million package of military aid for Ukraine, and President Joe Biden has promised that he would rush badly needed weaponry to the country to help it stave off Russian advances. Still, only small batches of U.S. military aid have started to trickle into the front line, according to Ukrainian military commanders, who said it will take at least two months before supplies meet Kyiv’s needs to hold the line.

Rusyn is the head of recruitment for the 3rd Assault Brigade, one of the most popular among Ukrainian volunteers. He told AP that he saw a 15% increase in men joining the brigade, which fights in eastern Ukraine, in the past months. Most recruits are aged between 23-25, he said. For security reasons, he and his recruits asked to be identified by their call signs only.

“There is no alternative (to mobilization),” said Rohas, a 26-year old recruit. “One way or another, I believe that most men will end up in the ranks of the armed forces and by joining as a volunteer, you still get some preferences.”

“Those who are afraid of being mobilized are not the ones hostage to this situation, it's those (soldiers) who are standing in formations of three where there should be 10. Those guys are hostages to this situation and they should be replaced, so that’s why we are here," Rohas said.

Many Ukrainians have fled the country to avoid the draft since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022.

The Supreme Court last month said that 930 people were convicted of avoiding mobilization in 2023, a fivefold increase from the previous year.

Around 768,000 Ukrainian men aged 18-64 had been granted temporary protection in European Union countries as of last November, according to data from the bloc's statistical agency, Eurostat.

Kyiv has barred men under 60 from leaving the country since the start of the war, but some are exempt, including those who are disabled or have three or more dependents. The Eurostat data does not specify how many of the men who have qualified for protection belong to these categories, nor how many others reached the EU from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories in the east and south.

Unable to cross the border legally, some Ukrainian men risk death trying to swim across a river that separates Ukraine from neighboring Romania and Hungary.

Late on Friday, Ukraine’s border service said that at least 30 people have died trying to cross the Tisza River since the full scale-invasion.

Romanian border guards days earlier retrieved the near-naked, disfigured body of a man that appeared to have been floating in the Tisza for days, and is the 30th known casualty, the Ukrainian agency said in an online statement. It said the man has not yet been identified.

Kozlowska reported from London. Associated Press writer Alex Babenko in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Newly recruited soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade train in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Newly recruited soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade train in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A newly recruited soldier of the 3rd assault brigade trains, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Newly recruited soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade train in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Newly recruited soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade train in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Oleksii, 68, director of the auto repair shop poses for photo in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 18, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

A newly recruited soldier of the 3rd assault brigade trains, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers after Russia launched a new offensive. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Smoke rises after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk on a street while smoke rises after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Foreign journalists report from an observation point while smoke rises after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)