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Turkey talks, Johnson promises and the eclipse without sight

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Erdogan set back in key regional elections

What happened
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a political setback Sunday after the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) flipped or held Turkey's five biggest cities, including Istanbul, and took the largest share of votes nationwide for the first time since the 1970s. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu beat the candidate of Erdogan's Justice and Development party (AKP) 51% to 40% despite a push by Erdogan to win back control of Turkey's most important city.

Who said what
"Istanbul has given its message," Imamoglu told supporters. "Turkey will blossom into a new era in democracy as of tomorrow." Erdogan, who won reelection in 2023, said he and his allies are disappointed and "will examine the reasons for this setback."

The commentary
This was "the most decisive opposition victory of the last quarter century," Selim Sazak of Ankara's Sanda Global consultancy told The Wall Street Journal. The unexpectedly large win will "inject new life into the CHP" and cement Imamoglu as opposition star, Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, told Politico. "He is the only politician who succeeded in beating Erdogan three times."

What next?
Imamoglu will be a strong presidential contender in 2028. Erdogan said this would be his last term, but critics said a victory in this election "would have encouraged him to revise the constitution so he could stand again," the BBC said. "After such a dramatic defeat that is looking very unlikely."

 
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Today's POLITICS story

Johnson vows Ukraine aid vote, details to come

What happened
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday he will bring a Ukraine aid bill to the floor after the House returns April 9.

Who said what
"When we return," Johnson said on Fox News, "we'll be moving" a Ukraine package with "some important innovations." It's "very likely that after this Ukraine bill," Republicans "may have a standoff with the speaker," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who supports Ukraine funding, told NBC. "It's possible" he'll be ousted.

The commentary
The holdup of aid by "Mr. Johnson will really cost thousands of lives there — children, women," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Washington in March. "He must be aware of his personal responsibility."

What next?
Democrats say "they will save Johnson if he moves a Ukraine bill they can support," but if not "he risks putting off both Democrats and right-wing Republicans," CNN said. Any bill that differs from what the Senate passed in February would ping-pong back to the upper chamber, causing "additional delays," ammunition rationing and lost "towns and lives," said Doug Klain at the Atlantic Council.

 
 
Today's SCIENCE Story

Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse

What happened
As millions of people watch the April 8 total solar eclipse, blind and visually impaired people will feel and listen to it with special tools.

The commentary
Paperback-sized LightSound devices measure and translate the sky's brightness into music, with "a flute sound for intense light, a clarinet sound that lowers in pitch as the light fades, and a slow, percussive clicking during the darkness of totality," The New York Times said. Cadence tablets have "rows of dots that pop up and down," The Associated Press said. During the eclipse, said Wunji Lau at Cadence maker Tactile Engineering, people can "feel the moon slowly move over the sun."

Who said what
"The sky belongs to everyone," Wanda Díaz Merced, an astronomer who is blind and developed LightSound with Harvard astronomer Allyson Bieryla, told AP. "I want students to be able to hear the eclipse, to hear the stars."

What next?
The U.S. mainland won't experience another total eclipse until 2044, but LightSound handhelds will be available to use or build during eclipses around the world.

 
 

It's not all bad

Scientists have found that scattering volcanic dust on crops boosts yields by up to 20% while also removing carbon dioxide from the air. Following thousands of years of anecdotal evidence, Newcastle University and carbon removal company Undo put fine basalt to the test. Researchers believe the dust improved harvests by replenishing minerals and micronutrients, The Telegraph said. This helps farmers, who often cannot spot small deficiencies.

 
 
Under the radar

The latest in Mexican timeshare scams

The U.S. Treasury Department and FBI have both sent out bulletins warning of a widespread timeshare scam being perpetrated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The cartel, based in the Mexican state of Jalisco, has scammed timeshare owners out of $288 million, according to the FBI.

The scheme, while widespread, is "relatively simple," The New York Times said. CJNG members "posing as sales representatives call up timeshare owners, offering to buy their investments back for generous sums." They then "demand upfront fees for anything from listing advertisements to paying government fines," said the Times. This often leads to victims wiring "large amounts of money to Mexico, sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars." By the time the victims realize what has happened, the scammers have vanished. 

The cartel "hires call center workers who speak perfect English and teaches them to lure unsuspecting Americans into believing they are steps away from freeing themselves from their timeshares," USA Today said.

The U.S. has tried to get ahead of the game by warning timeshare owners about the scam. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which the scammers often try to impersonate to demand timeshare funds, released a document noting that Americans, or anyone who owns a timeshare in Mexico, should neither "share any personal or confidential information, such as account information, with nor make any payments to any person purporting to represent OFAC." It also encouraged potential victims to report any scams to the Treasury Department.

 
 
On this day

April 1, 2004

Google launched its email service, Gmail. While some believed that the announcement was a prank due to it falling on April Fools' Day, Gmail proved to be anything but. The service grew like wildfire and surpassed 1 billion users within five years. Today, Gmail is the most widely used email service in the world.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

Monday's newspapers put Israel's large protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Baltimore's early progress in clearing the collapsed Key Bridge on their front pages. Several papers — including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Dallas Morning News — feature large photos of hats and costumes from Manhattan's Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival. The Miami Herald says Haiti's rampaging gangs are destroying hospitals and pharmacies, "leaving chronically ill with no alternatives to care" and for many, a "countdown to death."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Furball follies

A good Samaritan who thought they rescued a baby hedgehog was actually caring for a pom-pom that fell off a hat. The bobble was taken to the Lower Moss Nature Reserve and Wildlife Hospital in the U.K., where volunteers quickly figured out it was a case of mistaken identity. The rescue shared a photo online showing the pom-pom in a box with the caption "This adorable 'hoglet' still got all the love, complete with some cozy TLC."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Ozan Guzelce / dia images via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Orlando Sierra / AFP via Getty Images; Alfredo Estrella / AFP via Getty Images