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Israel's risky strike, Florida's abortion fight and human-bovine-bird flu

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Iran vows revenge after Israel's consulate strike

What happened
An Israeli airstrike Monday on Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, killed seven officers of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, head of operations in Syria and Lebanon, and his deputy, Iranian state media said. Israel, as customary, had no comment on the attack.

Who said what
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad condemned Monday's "heinous terrorist attack," and Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari threatened a "harsh" response. Hezbollah, Iran's proxy force in Lebanon, said Israel's "crime" will be met with "punishment and revenge." The U.S. "had no involvement" or advance knowledge of the strike, a National Security Council spokesperson told Axios.

The commentary
Israel has struck Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria for years, but "Monday's attack stood out both because of its location — in a diplomatic compound, traditionally exempted from hostilities — and because of the seniority of the apparent target," The Washington Post said. While the violence between Israel and Iran is "not yet an all-out regional conflict," Israel appears to be working to "expand" the battlefield, International Crisis Group's Ali Vaez said. 

What next?
Monday's "reprehensible" attack could inflame the region and "potentially ignite more conflict involving other nations," said Iran's U.N. ambassador, Zahra Ershadi. Iran will strike back, but will it "target Israel, Israelis, U.S. regional assets … or something else?" said Charles Lister at Washington's Middle East Institute.

 
 
Today's NATIONAL story

Florida court OKs abortion ban, referendum to reverse it

What happened
The conservative Florida Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Monday that contrary to decades of rulings, the Florida Constitution's right to privacy does not prohibit limits on abortion. The ruling allows a six-week abortion ban, passed last year, to take effect May 1. The court simultaneously ruled 4-3 that a ballot measure prohibiting restrictions on abortion until about 24 weeks can go before voters in November.

Who said what
The six-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and fetal abnormalities, "is a compromise that addresses where I think many Floridians are," state House Speaker Paul Renner (R) said. Allowing this "extreme" law to take effect "demonstrates how precarious our personal freedoms are in the state," said Rep. Anna Eskamani (D). 

The commentary
The dual decisions "will all but eliminate abortion access in the South" and "ensure that abortion is a major issue in Florida during the presidential election," likely boosting Democratic turnout, The Washington Post said. 

What next?
The referendum to enshrine abortion rights in Florida's Constitution needs 60% support to pass. "Early polling has shown that more than 60% of Floridians support the amendment," The Wall Street Journal said.

 
 
Today's HEALTH Story

Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow

What happened
A dairy worker in the Texas Panhandle developed a mild case of H5N1 avian influenza after working with infected cows, Texas health officials said Monday. The patient is only the second person known to have contracted this strain of bird flu in the U.S. and the first anywhere infected through mammals, The Associated Press said.

Who said what
"Initial testing has not found changes to the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans," the CDC, FDA and USDA said jointly. "This indicates that the current risk to the public remains low."

The commentary
The Texas patient exhibited only eye inflammation, but the case "has alarmed disease trackers monitoring for the worst-case scenario: human-to-human transmission," The Washington Post said. Bird flu has been spreading through wild animals and, since March 25, dairy herds in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico, so the jump to humans "really wasn't a question of if but when," UTHealth Houston's Dr. Luis Ostrosky told the Houston Chronicle.

What next?
The dairy worker is expected to fully recover. And there is no current plan to cull the infected herds, the USDA said. Pasteurized milk is believed to be safe.

 
 

It's not all bad

After witnessing his first solar eclipse in 1963, Laverne Biser was hooked and has since traveled the world to experience 12 more. "You see one, you want to see them all," Biser told CBS Texas. "They are so pretty." The 105-year-old does not have to go far for his 13th eclipse; he lives in Fort Worth and will see it from his backyard. The astronomy enthusiast takes photos of each eclipse; his favorite was captured in Williston, South Dakota, in 1979.

 
 
Under the radar

Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" revived a slumping box office at the beginning of March and has been heralded as a generally impressive book-to-film translation. But the epic cinematic journey likely appeared strikingly familiar to "Star Wars" fans. Quite a few people believe that "Star Wars" ripped off Frank Herbert's "Dune" universe, including Herbert himself. 
 
"The two share an enormous amount of similarities, from their galactic setting to their character journeys and more," said Lindsey Romain, who compiled a list of the elements "Star Wars" borrowed from "Dune" for Nerdist. The most obvious, perhaps, is the dual settings of inhospitable desert planets. "Star Wars" protagonist Luke Skywalker is from Tatooine, while the central figure in "Dune," Paul Atreides, moves to Arrakis. More environmental resemblances include these planets' desert-dwelling people and deadly sand-dwelling creatures. Plus, the heroic young protagonists are both "chosen one" hopefuls and descendants of a presiding villain. 

No art exists in a vacuum, of course. While George Lucas pretty clearly borrowed from Herbert — and has never publicly acknowledged the inspiration, which is a chief complaint among "Dune" fans — he was also influenced by the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. "Every fantasy reflects the place and time that produced it," said Hari Kunzru for The Guardian. Kunzru notes that Herbert and a number of his colleagues "formed a joke organization called the We're Too Big to Sue George Lucas Society," lamenting the imperviousness of Lucas' "money-spinning franchise." 

Despite the longstanding grumbles, no one can deny that both of these series are essential science fiction.

 
 
On this day

April 2, 1917

President Woodrow Wilson asked a joint session of Congress to declare war on Germany. Four days later, Congress obliged with a declaration of war that passed with a bipartisan majority, marking the United States' entrance into World War I. The U.S. declared war against Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary, in December 1917.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

As former President Donald Trump "ramps up his attacks" on judges and their families, "experts warn that faith in the legal system is at stake," The Washington Post says on Tuesday's front page. The New York Times says "Trump rallies are evolving into a church," especially near the end, when Trump's audience becomes "his congregation" and he "their pastor," evoking "an evangelical altar call" where people attending a service traditionally "come forward to commit to their savior." President Joe Biden, The Boston Globe says, is starting to "tweak Trump" in his speeches.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Toying with evidence

Lego has asked the Murrieta Police Department in California to stop altering images of suspects by putting Lego figurine heads over their faces. This is done to obscure identities in social media posts. The toy company reached out after several images went viral in March. Lt. Jeremy Durrant said the department was complying with the request and "exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers."

 
 

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: Louai Beshara / AFP via Getty Images; Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images; Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Alamy