AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Hurricane Irma: Punishing winds, rain lash much of Florida

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Irma gave Florida a coast-to-coast pummeling with winds up to 130 mph Sunday, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions and toppling massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.

The 400-mile-wide (640-kilometre-wide) storm blew ashore in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys, then marched up its western coast, its punishing winds extending clear across to Miami and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic side.

Irma was nearing the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area late Sunday, though in a much-weakened state. While it arrived in Florida a Category 4 hurricane, by nightfall it was down to a Category 2 with winds of 100 mph (160 kph). Meanwhile, more than 160,000 people waited in shelters statewide as Irma headed up the coast.

There were no immediate reports of deaths in Florida. In the Caribbean, at least 24 were people were killed during Irma’s destructive trek.

Bryan Koon, Florida’s emergency management director, said late Sunday that authorities had only scattered information about the storm’s toll, but he remained hopeful.

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10 Things to Know for Monday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday:

1. HURRICANE IRMA PUMMELS FLORIDA COAST TO COAST

Irma was expected to hit the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area early Monday, though in a much-weakened state. By nightfall it was down to a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph (177 kph).

2. TAMPA FEARS STORM SURGE

As Irma looms, residents worry about what the storm will do to a city that hasn’t taken a direct hit from a major hurricane since 1921.

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Waves from Irma flood Havana coast even as storm moves away

HAVANA (AP) — Powerful waves and storm surge from Hurricane Irma topped Havana’s iconic Malecon seawall and left thousands of homes, businesses and hotels swamped Sunday, even as the storm moved away from the island.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities in Cuba, where the government prides itself on disaster preparedness and said it had evacuated more than 1 million people.

Authorities warned that the floodwaters could linger for more than a day, and there was as-yet uncalculated damage to sugarcane and banana fields in central Cuba and to northern cays studded with all-inclusive resorts, potentially dealing a major blow to the country’s key tourism industry.

The storm ripped roofs off homes, collapsed buildings and caused floods along hundreds of miles of coast after cutting a trail of destruction across the Caribbean. Irma has killed at least 24 people in the region, leaving officials scrambling to bring aid to shattered communities.

In Havana, home to some 2 million residents, central neighbourhoods along the coast between the Almendares River and Havana harbour suffered the brunt of the flooding, with seawater penetrating as much as a half-kilometre (one-third of a mile) inland in places.

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Irma set records; luckily, late weakening dampened its power

Before crashing into Florida, Hurricane Irma set all sorts of records for brute strength as it flattened Caribbean islands and swamped the Florida Keys. Irma’s assault — so soon after Harvey’s deluge of Houston — marked the first time the U.S. was hit by two Category 4 storms in the same year.

Irma hit the Sunshine State as a big wide beast, though not quite the monster it once was shaping up to be. Earlier, it was the most powerful recorded storm in the open Atlantic. But as the once-Category 5 storm neared the U.S. mainland, it lost some oomph after running into the northern coast of Cuba.

Winds dropped to a quite potent 115 mph (185 kph) by the time Irma made landfall on Marco Island, on the Florida peninsula, still a major and dangerous hurricane yet not near its 185 mph (297 kph) former self when it set a record Tuesday for the most powerful storm in the open Atlantic. And on top of that, Irma avoided what could have been its most destructive paths along the Florida peninsula — over Miami and the heavily developed Atlantic seaboard. Still, at about 400 miles (640 kilometres) wide, it raked much of the state with devastating storm surge, destructive winds and drenching rains.

“There’s a huge difference between a (Category) 3 and 5 when it makes landfall,” said private meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBell Analytics. “Barbuda is an example of that. It was wiped.”

“This is obviously not the worst case scenario for Florida overall,” Maue said. Had the centre of Irma hit Florida 20 to 30 miles (32-50 kilometres) to the east “it would have been much worse.”

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Bangladesh hospital struggles to cope with Rohingya wounds

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — The 7-year-old Rohingya boy lies on a tattered mattress on the floor of a crowded government hospital in Bangladesh, bandages covering the spot where a bullet fired by Myanmar troops tore through his chest a week earlier.

He is one of 80 Rohingya patients — most males with gunshot wounds — being treated at this overwhelmed medical facility in a coastal city now deluged with nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a two-week surge in violence and a lifetime of persecution in neighbouring Myanmar’s Rakhine state. He is the youngest of six patients with gunshot wounds interviewed by The Associated Press on two recent visits.

“The soldiers just started firing he said. I saw my son on the ground,” the boy’s father Abu Tahir said.

In the chaos that followed they lost track of the rest of their family before Tahir carried his son across the border to safety. Now he watches as his child’s ribs rise and fall in the hospital, praying that he recovers.

Sadar Hospital is the main medical facility for the Cox’s Bazaar area. At the best of times it’s stretched to the limit, with 20 doctors responsible for the treatment of hundreds of patients. Now it’s at nearly twice its capacity and for the first time its doctors are dealing with injuries like gunshot wounds, blunt force trauma and stab wounds on a massive scale as Rohingya refugees pour in.

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North Korea warns of harsh response if new sanctions imposed

TOKYO (AP) — North Korea says it will make the United States pay a heavy price if a proposal Washington is backing to impose the toughest sanctions ever on Pyongyang is approved by the U.N. Security Council this week.

The North’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement early Monday saying it is watching the United States’ moves closely and threatened it is “ready and willing” to respond with measures of its own.

The United States has called for a vote Monday, New York time, on new U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

Last Tuesday, the U.S. circulated a draft resolution proposing the toughest-ever U.N. sanctions on North Korea, including a ban on all oil and natural gas exports to the country and a freeze on all foreign financial assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un.

Security Council diplomats, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly because talks have been private, said the U.S. and China were still negotiating the text late Sunday.

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Death toll now at 90 as aftershocks rattle southern Mexico

JUCHITAN, Mexico (AP) — Life for many has moved outdoors in the quake-shocked city of Juchitan, where a third of the homes are reported uninhabitable and repeated aftershocks have scared people away from many structures still standing.

The city on Sunday was littered with rubble from Thursday night’s magnitude 8.1 earthquake, which killed at least 90 people across southern Mexico — at least three dozen of them in Juchitan itself.

Officials in Oaxaca and Chiapas states said thousands of houses and hundreds of schools had been damaged or destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people were reported to be without water service.

Many people continued to sleep outside, fearful of more collapses, as strong aftershocks continued to rattle the town, including a magnitude 5.2 jolt early Sunday.

Some Juchitecos seeking solace trekked through the destruction to find an open-air Mass on Sunday since many of the churches were either damaged or left vacant until they could be checked.

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Intriguing matchups mark opening week of NFL season

Real pro football is back, with one upset already on the ledger and several intriguing Week 1 matchups upcoming.

After Kansas City stunned the Patriots in New England on Thursday, the schedule Sunday has such standout early games as Oakland at Tennessee and Arizona at Detroit. Later in the day, it’s NFC favourites Seattle and Green Bay at Lambeau Field, and the Giants at Dallas in the prime-time game. We know that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will play as his six-game suspension has been placed in limbo by a restraining order, but we don’t know if star Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., has recovered sufficiently from a preseason ankle injury to suit up.

And Monday night, the Saints bring their newcomer running back, one Adrian Peterson, to Minnesota, where he was a Vikings superstar. Then, the Chargers represent Los Angeles for the first time since 1960 when they play at Denver.

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For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

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Sweet 16: After 2 rough years, Nadal back on top at US Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal entered the 2017 Grand Slam season on a 2 1/2-year drought without so much as one appearance in a major final, let alone a title. He ends it having reasserted himself, capped by a U.S. Open final that shaped up as quite a mismatch — and turned out to be exactly that.

His game at a higher level than it needed to be by the end of an unusually easy path through the field, Nadal overwhelmed Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win his third championship at Flushing Meadows.

“Of course, after a couple of years without competing at this very high, high level,” Nadal said, “very happy to be back.”

The No. 1-ranked Nadal collected his 16th Grand Slam trophy overall and at his news conference, he wore a white T-shirt listing the date and site of each one. Among men, only Roger Federer has more, with 19. Each of those two longtime rivals won two of the four majors this season, marking their return to the heights of their sport.

Nadal has dealt with knee and wrist problems, both likely a result of his physical brand of play, over his career, but 2015 and 2016 were his first seasons without reaching at least one Grand Slam final since 2004, when he was still a teenager.

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Macron to visit Caribbean as France defends hurricane prep

MARIGOT, St. Martin (AP) — The French government on Sunday defended its hurricane preparations for the hard-hit Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts, rejecting criticism by political opponents and by islanders who felt abandoned as their homes and towns were devastated.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would be travelling to St. Martin on Tuesday on an Airbus carrying aid supplies to show that Paris is committed to both helping and rebuilding its far-away territories pummeled by Hurricane Irma.

Some Caribbean officials said Britain was also too slow in responding to destruction on the British Virgin Islands and the Dutch government faced criticism for not acting more quickly to evacuate tourists stranded on St. Maarten, the Dutch side of St. Martin. The Dutch king is also heading to the region.

The hurricane killed at least nine people on St. Martin as it hit Wednesday, destroying a huge number of houses, cars and boats and cutting off all water and electricity for days. Extra troops had to be sent to stop the looting of stores. Another four people were killed on St. Maarten.

The arrival of Hurricane Jose, a Category 4 that passed by on Sunday, only delayed recovery efforts across the Leeward Islands.