First Thing: Fear in Rafah as Israel orders 100,000 to evacuate

Good morning.

Israel’s military sparked fears for an upcoming ground invasion after issuing calls for residents and displaced people to evacuate Rafah’s eastern neighbourhoods and head to an “expanded humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza.

An IDF spokesperson has issued an “urgent appeal to all residents and displaced people” to evacuate a number of neighbourhoods of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. The UN’s relief agency for Palestine refugees Unrwa warned of “devastating” consequences, saying: “An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths.”

Meanwhile, in ceasefire negotiations in Egypt, Hamas reiterated its demand for an end to the war in exchange for the freeing of hostages.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said that if a ceasefire deal was not reached with Hamas, Israel would “in the very near future” launch an offensive into Rafah, where about 1.4 million people in Gaza have sought shelter.

• News from the border into Gaza: One of the main crossings used to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza was closed after a rocket attack claimed by Hamas killed three soldiers, the Israeli military said, with a reprisal strike on a house in Rafah killing multiple Palestinians.

• News from inside Israel: Israeli authorities shut down the local offices of Al Jazeera, which critics calls a “dark day for the media”. The network, funded by Qatar, has accused Israel, which it denies, of deliberately killing its journalists for their coverage of the war.

• The war’s humanitarian cost: After the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostage, the Israeli assault on Gaza has killed about 35,000, destroyed much of the coastal strip’s infrastructure and housing stock, and is causing a “full-blown famine,” according to the director of the UN World Food Programme.

Flooding death toll in south Brazil rises to 75 as more than 100 remain missing

At least 75 people have died in flooding in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, with more than 100 people still missing.

The state’s civil defence authority said more than 80,000 had been displaced after record-breaking floods swept across the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, arrived in Rio Grande do Sul on Sunday, along with most members of his cabinet, to discuss rescue and reconstruction works with local authorities. Rescue workers are racing against the clock to save people from raging floods and mudslides.

• Just how bad is the flooding? The flooding across the state has surpassed that seen during a deluge in 1941, according to the Brazilian Geological Service. In some cities, water levels were at their highest since record-keeping began almost 150 years ago, the agency added. In some areas as much as 15cm (6in) of rain fell in 24 hours.

• Is global heating a factor? The state of Rio Grande do Sul sits at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, giving rise to a weather pattern that includes periods of intense rain and drought. Local scientists say the pattern has been intensifying as a result of the human-made climate crisis.

The Democrats lost the White House in 1968 amid anti-war protests. What will 2024 bring?

Scenes of tumult have played out in recent weeks at colleges nationwide, resulting in clashes with police, mass arrests and a directive from President Joe Biden to restore order. The unrest has unfolded on a scale unseen since protests against the Vietnam war.

There are inescapable parallels with 1968, a tumultuous year when anti-war demonstrations led to chaos at the DNC in Chicago. Democrats lost the White House to the Republican “law and order” candidate Richard Nixon. Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, told CNN: “This may be Biden’s Vietnam.”

It’s six months until Biden and former president Donald Trump go head-to-head. What should we expect?

• Here’s what the polls are saying: Trump is on 41.7%, with Biden on 40.6%, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages.

• Here’s what some Democrats are saying: Several Democrats rallied to the defense of Biden on Sunday over his response to pro-Palestinian student protests and his handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.

• Here’s the latest from the University of Southern California: Police over the weekend dismantled the student-led Palestinian solidarity encampment at USC, with as many as 100 LAPD in riot gear raiding the encampment at dawn as student demonstrators slept in the tents.

In other news …

• About 1.6 million people packed Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night, for a free Madonna concert that was the largest of her career.

• Mexican authorities confirmed three dead bodies found in a well were the missing Australian brothers and their American surfing companion.

• The shadow of war hung over celebrations of Orthodox Easter in Ukraine and Russia at the weekend, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying God had a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder”.

• UK local elections produced a drubbing for the Conservative party, losing control of 10 councils, in a curtain-raiser for this year’s general election.

• At least 400 people were rescued from flooding in Texas, as waters continued rising.

Don’t miss this: Scottish artist receives hundreds of copies of Orwell’s 1984 in the post

The artist Hans K Clausen is collecting 1,984 copies of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four for an exhibition in Scotland. Copies have been arriving from Ukraine, Hong Kong, Peru, Germany, Cape Cod and Sarajevo. The project marks 75 years since publication.

… or this: ‘My role was to be a truthful witness’ – portraits of women prisoners

Photographer Jack Lueders-Booth’s moving portraits from inside progressive women’s prisons are collected in a new book. Lueders-Booth said he often detected “a sadness that many of the women carried, even though they would bring a brave face to the camera”.

Climate check: Texas-Mexico border’s ecosystem devastated by anti-migrant operation

Texas governor Greg Abbott’s strategy to deter immigration isn’t just harming people and costing billions – it’s ruining the Rio Grande’s ecosystem, Michael Gonzalez reports from Eagle Pass. One scientist said it could take hundreds of years for nature to repair itself.

Last Thing: Voilà! France breaks bread to reclaim world record for longest baguette

For the past five years, the record for the world’s longest baguette has belonged to Italian bakers. On Sunday, 12 French bakers tried to reclaim the title. At 3am, they began kneading, shaping and baking their way to victory. “The world record for the longest baguette has been broken,” the announcement said, now standing at 140.53 metres.

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