10 things you need to know today: March 28, 2016

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1. Scores die in Pakistan suicide blast targeting Christians on Easter
2. Hooligans disrupt vigil for Brussels attack victims
3. Syrian government forces retake ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS
4. Deal reportedly will raise California minimum wage to $15 an hour
5. French suspect in foiled attack arrested in Holland
6. Petition calls for allowing guns at GOP convention
7. Italian police arrest alleged forger suspected of ties to Belgian terrorists
8. Alaska volcano erupts, sending ash rising 20,000 feet
9. Legends of the Fall author Jim Harrison dead at 78
10. Syracuse and UNC advance to the Final Four

published 28 March 2016

1. Scores die in Pakistan suicide blast targeting Christians on Easter

A suicide bomber killed at least 70 people in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore on Sunday. Many of the victims were children. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-e-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the Easter attack, saying they had targeted Christians. The blast hit a park in the heart of the city in the evening, when families were gathered to celebrate the holiday. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price called the bombing "cowardly."

Belgian riot police on Sunday used water cannons against about 340 right-wing hooligans who disrupted a vigil for the victims of last week's Brussels suicide bombings. Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur called the actions of the hooligans, who carried an anti-Islamic State banner and shouted Nazi slogans, disgusting. "The police were not deployed to protect people from these hooligans but a whole other threat," Mayeur said. Anti-terror police arrested three more suspects in Sunday raids as the death toll from the bombings rose to 35.

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Syria said Sunday that government forces supported by Russian air power had driven the Islamic State out of the ancient city of Palmyra. The government victory marks one of the biggest battlefield setbacks for the Islamist extremist group since it declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. ISIS had been using Palmyra as a base to launch attacks and expand its turf. Clashes continue on the edge of the city. Antiquities experts are assessing damage ISIS did to ancient ruins in the 10 months they held the city.

California lawmakers have reportedly reached a deal with labor unions to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years, starting with an increase from $10 an hour to $10.50 next year. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is expected to make a formal announcement as early as Monday. The tentative agreement would avert a potentially costly campaign to let voters consider a proposal to hike the state minimum wage this fall.

Dutch police on Sunday arrested a 32-year-old Frenchman in a raid in the port city of Rotterdam. Anti-terror police took the man and three others into custody after French authorities requested the suspect's arrest for alleged "involvement in planning a terror attack" that was disrupted by police near Paris last week, prosecutors said. Another Frenchman, Reda Kriket, was captured by French police last week. He remained in custody through the weekend.

A petition calling for allowing people to openly carry guns at the Republican National Convention had gathered 35,000 signatures at Change.org as of Sunday. GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he was "a very, very strong person for Second Amendment," but that he wanted to study the petition to "read the fine print" before commenting further. His rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, have not commented on the petition, which was possibly started as satire. Ohio is an open carry state, but the convention venue — Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena — strictly forbids guns.

Police in southern Italy arrested an Algerian man wanted by Belgian authorities on suspicion of being part of a Belgian network that provided forged IDs for participants in the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks, Italian authorities said Sunday. The suspect, Djamal Eddine Ouali, was arrested in the town near the port city of Salerno. He did not appear to be aware that he was wanted in Belgium, said Luigi Amato, the head of Salerno's police anti-terrorism squad. Ouali had been in Italy since December.

A volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands erupted on Sunday, sending ash 20,000 feet into the air about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage. Authorities issued a warning to pilots, urging them to stay clear. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said the Pavlof Volcano is "one of the most consistently active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc." It erupted several times in late 2014 with ash plumes rising as high as 35,000 feet and drifting hundreds of miles.

Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and more than three dozen other books, died Saturday in Patagonia, Arizona. He was 78. Harrison was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and spending time at a cabin close to the Michigan town where he grew up. His most famous work, Legends of the Fall, was a collection of three novellas, and Harrison worked on the script for the 1994 movie, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. Harrison was also a poet and sports journalist, and was good friends with Jack Nicholson.

Syracuse, a No. 10 seed, beat top-seeded Virginia in a stunning 68-62 upset Sunday night to earn a spot in the Final Four of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Virginia was up by 15 points with under 10 minutes left to play when Syracuse launched a full-court press and began slowly coming back. In Sunday's other Elite Eight game, North Carolina, another top seed, held off Notre Dame 88-74. Villanova and Oklahoma advanced to the Final Four with wins on Saturday.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.