TAPANATEPEC, Mexico — Thousands of Central American migrants took a break Sunday on their long journey through southern Mexico, but vowed to press ahead toward the U.S. border roughly 1,000 miles away, with Mexican government agencies seeming to waver between helping and hindering.

Some rested in the shade of tarps strung across the town plaza, or picked up trash. Others went to soak themselves in the nearby Novillero river.

The tensions of a long trek through searing heat with tenuous supplies of food and other goods spilled over Saturday night when a dispute over a food line evolved into the beating of a man falsely accused of child stealing.

Raul Medina Melendez, security chief for the tiny municipality of Tapanatepec in Oaxaca state said the town was distributing sandwiches and water to migrants camped in the central square Saturday night.

When a man with a megaphone asked people to wait their turn, some men hurled insults at him. “Finally people got really angry and those below began to attack the guy,” Medina said.

As the man ran, a false rumor spread that he had grabbed a child for protection and he was caught and beaten. Police rescued him and took him to a hospital for treatment, though his condition wasn’t immediately clear.

On Sunday, several in the caravan took to microphones to denounce the attack.

Others complained of a few smoking marijuana or complained that images of litter and uneaten food made them appear disrespectful.

Ninth child dies from viral outbreak at rehab facility

TRENTON, N.J. — A ninth person has died at a pediatric rehabilitation center amid an outbreak of a respiratory virus, New Jersey health officials said.

An additional “medically fragile child” who had a confirmed case of adenovirus at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation died Saturday night, the state’s health department said.

Adenovirus has not been confirmed in another person who died Friday afternoon, officials said. A staff member also became ill. New diagnoses bring the total number of cases to 25.

Those affected range in age from toddlers to young adults, with the vast majority under age 18.

Adenovirus usually poses little risk for healthy people and typically causes mild cold or flu symptoms.

IBM buying Red Hat for $34B, expanding its cloud services

RALEIGH, N.C. — IBM says it will acquire North Carolina-based open-source software company Red Hat in a $34 billion stock deal.

The technology and consulting company announced Sunday it would buy all Red Hat shares at $190 apiece — 63 percent above Red Hat’s closing price Friday. The two companies said the deal is subject to Red Hat shareholder and regulatory approval and should be completed in the latter half of 2019.

IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty says the acquisition would make IBM the world’s No. 1 hybrid cloud provider — that’s when companies use a mix of on-site, private and third-party public cloud services.

The two companies said IBM intends to keep Red Hat’s headquarters in Raleigh.

Safety agency investigates Mercedes recall procedures

DETROIT — The U.S. government is investigating Mercedes-Benz, alleging that the German automaker has been slow to mail safety recall notices and file required reports involving recalls of over 1.4 million vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a review found that Mercedes’ U.S. unit exceeded time limits for mailing letters to owners. In documents posted on its website, the agency also said it has questions about the company’s process and cadence for making recall decisions and notifying the government about them.

After an annual audit of recall files, the agency said it sent a letter to Mercedes outlining a list of problems with 2017 recalls.

Company spokesman Robert Moran said that customer safety is Mercedes’ highest priority.

Germany’s two governing parties lose support

BERLIN — Germany’s governing parties lost significant support in a state election Sunday that was marked by discontent with infighting in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s national government and prompted calls for her administration to get its act together quickly.

Projections showed Merkel’s conservatives heading for an extremely lackluster win in the vote for the central Hesse region’s state legislature.

Her center-left governing partners were on course for a dismal result, running neck-and-neck with the Greens for second place.

There was widespread pre-election speculation that a disastrous result for either or both parties could further destabilize the national government, prompting calls for the Social Democrats to walk out and possibly endangering Merkel’s own position.

Assassination plot led to

Sri Lankan PM being fired

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president said Sunday that the main reason he decided to sack his prime minister was the alleged involvement of a Cabinet minister in a plot to assassinate him.

In a televised address to the nation, President Maithripala Sirisena said a person questioned by investigators had revealed the name of a minister in an alleged plot to assassinate him and a former defense secretary.

He said the only choice for him under the circumstances was to dismiss Ranil Wickremesinghe and invite his former nemesis and ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to take over as prime minister.

“This information (received by investigators) contains a number of details hitherto hidden to the people,” Sirisena said. He did not reveal the name of the minister.

Lottery winners: Two tickets were sold that match the winning numbers drawn for Powerball’s $688 million jackpot, one in a rural Iowa town and the other in New York City, lottery officials said Sunday. Powerball officials said the tickets will split the fourth-largest lottery grand prize in U.S. history.

In Pakistan: Pakistani police say at least 17 passengers have been killed when a bus fell into a gorge in northern Pakistan. Officer Abdul Ghafoor said Sunday that the bus was heading to Rawalpindi from Ghiberti when it fell into a deep gorge in Kohistan District. Ghafoor said one woman was slightly injured.