NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

US/ MISSISSIPPI CRESTS IN MEMPHIS: The Mississippi River crested in Memphis at nearly 48 feet this mornig, falling short of its all-time record but still soaking low-lying areas with enough water to require a massive cleanup. To the south, residents in the Mississippi Delta prepared for the worst yet to come. The National Weather Service said the river reached 47.85 feet at 2:00am and is expected to stay very close to that level for the next 24 to 36 hours. Hitting the high point means things shouldn't get worse in the area, but it will take weeks for the water to recede and much longer for inundated areas to recover. The Memphis crest is below the record of 48.7 feet recorded during a devastating 1937 flood. The flooding was isolated to some downtown areas, pictured, and low-lying neighborhoods. Hundreds of people from forced from their homes, but no new serious flooding was expected. Officials trusted the levees would hold and protect the city's world-famous musical landmarks, from Graceland to Beale Street. Other popular sites were also spared, including Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley made some of the recordings that helped him become king of rock 'n' roll and Stax Records, which launched the careers of Otis Redding and the Staple Singers. Further downstream, farmers built homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers diverted water into a lake to ease the pressure on levees around New Orleans. Inmates in Louisiana's Angola Prison, the largest in the state, were also evacuated to higher ground. The Army Corp in New Orleans has opened a spillway that diverts the Mississippi into a lake to ease pressure on the levees in the city. The Corps has also asked for permission to open a spillway north of Baton Rouge for the 1st time since 1973. Officials warned residents that even if it is opened, they can expect water 5 to 25 feet deep over parts of 7 parishes. Some of Louisiana's most valuable farmland is expected to be inundated in the days ahead.

US/ WISCONSIN JUDGE'S COMMENTS DRAW IRE OF GAY GROUPS: A Wisconsin judge has come under fire for remarks made when he sentenced a child molester to 7 years in prison. Among other things, the judge told him he was "gayer than a sweet-smelling jockstrap". The 71 year old former school bus driver insisted that he was heterosexual in official reports, despite the allegation that he had abused young boys. But in controversial comments while sentencing the man, Wisconsin judge Philip Kirk told the man there was as much likelihood of him being straight as the judge having worn a prom dress that year. Gay rights in the US are furious about the remarks, which they said suggested the man's abuse of children was somehow related to his sexuality. The man, who worked as a school bus driver in New London for 33 years, pled no contest in January to charges relating to sexual assaults of 4 boys. He admitted to police he had sexually assaulted students over a period of more than 20 years but the convictions are specifically for abusing 4 children from 2006 to 2010. Sentencing the man at Waupaca County Court, Judge Kirk said: 'I was looking through one of the reports. It described you, your self-description, as a heterosexual. That's about the only piece of information in these 3 reports that I would correct as, in my opinion, patently incorrect. I think you were born gayer than a sweet smelling jock strap". He added: "I think that if anyone believes that in the last 10 years or 15 years all of a sudden you developed an interest in homosexuality and young boys, then I must have looked ravishing in my prom dress this year". The judge went on to spark further controversy by describing the man as a "victim". The judge said he believed the 71 year old, who is married to a woman, had turned out as he had because of the problems he must have faced coming to terms with his sexual preferences in the 1940s and 1950s. I think you are one of the victims here as well. I think you are a victim of society. I think you lived your life as a lie all of your years," he said. "No one knew there was a closet to come out of in those days. You know you had to be very careful, because you could have found your penis floating in the Wolf as walleye bait. It was a terrible life to have to live".