USA Today
Abortion will officially be on the ballot in Florida this fall, after the state's Supreme Court on Monday issued one ruling approving a ballot measure that could expand access to the procedure, but another that paves the way for a strict six-week ban.
The ballot measure – which advocates say they are confident will pass in the Sunshine State – would guarantee abortion access through viability, often 24 weeks of pregnancy. With this, Floridians have the chance to essentially vote on whether to reinstate what was once the federal standard set by Roe v. Wade, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark case in 2022.
The decision in Florida also gives abortion access advocates the chance to add to their list of state-level victories.
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BBC
Iran's Revolutionary Guards says seven officers have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate building in Syria's capital, Damascus.
Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the elite Quds Force, and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy, were named among the dead.
Iran and Syria's governments condemned the attack, which destroyed a building next door to the Iranian embassy.
The Israeli military said it did not comment on foreign media reports.
However, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in recent years on targets in Syria that it says are linked to Iran and allied armed groups which are armed, funded and trained by the Revolutionary Guards.
The Israeli strikes have reportedly been stepped up since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and Syria.
But Monday's attack will be seen as a serious escalation.
BBC
Nearly a week after Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, almost two dozen sailors remain stranded on-board the vessel involved in the accident.
Most of the crew of the Dali, a 948ft (289m) container ship, are from India. One was slightly injured when the ship collided with the bridge.
Six people were killed in the collapse.
Investigators are working to determine exactly what caused the collision, and it is unclear when the crew will be able to leave the vessel.
Here's what we know about the men on-board the Dali and their current situation.
NPR
Livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that's likely spread to at least five states.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Friday that cows in Texas, Kansas and Michigan had been sickened by the virus, and there were presumptive positive test results for additional herds in New Mexico and Idaho.
It's the first time the disease has been found in dairy cattle, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
NPR
It's one of the few days of the year where the executive branch becomes a child's playground — and this year, the White House Easter Egg Roll drew kids to the South Lawn despite some intermittent rain.
The White House expected 40,000 people this year – which it said was a record for a tradition that goes back to 1878.
This year's event marks the third time President Biden and first lady Jill Biden have hosted it since it was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Playing up this year's theme – "EGGucation" Roll – means the White House is featuring a reading nook, a station to learn about the solar eclipse, science projects, and, of course, a visit from the Easter Bunny.
Reuters
JERUSALEM/DOHA, April 2 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday to shutter the local office of Qatari satellite television network Al Jazeera while the war in Gaza continues.
Hours after his party spokesperson said parliament would be convened to ratify the necessary law, the Knesset approved the bill allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security.
Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government, called the Israeli measure an "escalation" and said it "comes as part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera," according to a statement late on Monday.
The law approved on Monday would allow Netanyahu and the security cabinet to shut the network's offices in Israel for 45 days, which could be renewed, and would stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza
The Guardian, Australia
Four foreign nationals have been killed in a strike in central Gaza, according to health officials in the occupied territory.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office reported the deaths late on Monday.
The foreign aid workers were reportedly from Poland, the United Kingdom and Australia. The nationality of the fourth aid worker was not immediately known. A Palestinian translator was also reportedly killed.
The group was working for World Central Kitchen when a convoy in which they were travelling was hit by a strike south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, local officials said.
Footage showed the bodies of the five dead at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Several of them wore protective body armour with the charity’s logo. Hospital staff showed the passports of three of the dead – British, Australian and Polish.
The Guardian, UK
An avalanche at the top Swiss ski resort of Zermatt has killed three people and injured one, as authorities warned of the risk of more disasters due to heavy winds and snowfall.
Video images on social media showed a wall of snow crossing an off-piste sector of the Riffelberg sector of Zermatt, one of the most luxurious ski resorts in the Alps. A major rescue operation was launched despite the bad weather.
The search was suspended in the evening, Valais canton said on X, confirming three people had died and one was injured.
The Guardian, US
Newly released law enforcement footage captures the moment Californiapolice fatally shot an unarmed 15-year-old girl who was a reported kidnapping victim.
On 27 September 2022, San Bernardino county sheriff’s deputies were searching for Savannah Graziano, who was feared abducted by her father Anthony Graziano after he had fatally shot her mother the day before.
Deputies cornered Anthony Graziano’s vehicle on the side of a freeway in Hesperia, 80 miles east of Los Angeles. When Savannah exited the vehicle, they opened fire and killed her. The
shooting sparked national concern, with critics questioning how officers wound up killing the teenage girl they were tasked with rescuing.
Sheriff’s officials claimed following the shooting that it was unclear whether Savannah was shot by deputies or her father, and they said deputies didn’t realize it was her when she got out of the car. For nearly two years, they refused to release footage of the shooting.
Al Jazeera
Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed the country’s first-ever female prime minister, naming planning minister Judith Suminwa to the role.
An economist, she takes over as prime minister from Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, following Tshisekedi’s sweeping re-election as president on December 20.
Tshisekedi’s inauguration for a second term in January kick-started a lengthy search for a majority coalition in the National Assembly – a key step before a prime minister could be named and a government formed.
“I am aware of the great responsibility … We will work for peace and the development of the country,” Suminwa said on national television on Monday.
Al Jazeera
Ugandan cartoonist Jim Spire Ssentongo didn’t know what he was starting last April when he sent out a tweet encouraging people to post photos of the ubiquitous potholes across the country’s capital.
“A friend of mine is organising a mega KAMPALA POTHOLE PHOTO EXHIBITION” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on April 15 last year. “Share here photos of potholes in Kampala city, with: location, depth, circumference, and estimated age of the pothole.” He asked his followers to tag the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and their counterpart responsible for the country’s roads.
Back in 2005, there were efforts to stage physical exhibitions of the country’s infamous potholes – what locals call “ponds” in the roads because of their size. But these attempts were thwarted by the police, recalls Ssentongo.
Deutsche Welle
A car bomb has killed a Moscow-installed official in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, local authorities said on Monday.
The local branch of Russia's Investigative Committee said the deputy head of a state-run education agency was killed when "an unidentified device detonated in a car."
Municipal head Vladimir Chernev named the victim as Valery Chaika.
"Our comrade is dead," Chernev said in a Telegram post.
Russia claimed to have annexed the Luhansk region in September 2022, alongside neighboring Donetskand the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine.
Duetsche Welle
Some 70 marches or events calling for peace took place around Germany on Saturday, an annual tradition at Easter in a country that developed a strong pacifist movement in the decades following its defeat in World War II.
The motto chosen this year is "Now more than ever, together for peace."
Leaders of the coalition government in Berlin, themselves from parties with close traditional connections to this movement, issued Easter messages trying to reconcile their desire for peace in principle with their policies of providing weapons to Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia and increasing German defense spending and weapons supplies.
NY Times
The New York judge overseeing Donald J. Trump’s upcoming criminal trial expanded an existing gag order on Monday to bar the former president from attacking the judge’s family members, who in recent days have become the target of Mr. Trump’s abuse.
Justice Juan M. Merchan last week issued an order prohibiting Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives. That order, however, did not cover Justice Merchan himself or the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, who brought the criminal case against the former president.
And although the ruling issued on Monday still does not apply to the judge or the district attorney, Justice Merchan, granting a request from Mr. Bragg’s office, amended the gag order so that it does now cover their families.
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