--:-- Mark Garrison: Good morning. It's Monday, April 1st. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Coming up, on the ground in Gaza where children are suffering, how to fix America's broken politics, and the final stretch of March Madness. But first, let's take a quick look at a few stories in the news.
--:-- Turkey's main opposition party is celebrating big wins in several local elections. The surprise result is a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a sign that after two decades in power, Erdogan may be weaker than expected. Analysts say a key driver of yesterday's vote was frustration with Erdogan's economic policies.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Turning now to Gaza, where the Israeli military has withdrawn from Al-Shifa Hospital following a two-week raid. Palestinians report mass destruction left behind in the hospital, Gaza's largest. Israel says it killed Hamas fighters operating there and denies that civilians were harmed. But the World Health Organization says at least 21 patients died, and many more were put at risk.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Also, in some of the biggest demonstrations since the start of the war, protesters in Israel flooded the streets. They were calling for immediate elections and for the government to negotiate the release of more than 100 hostages held by Hamas. Sky News reported on the protest movement speaking to one demonstrator who didn't believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough for the captives.
--:-- Demonstrator: I think a person that has so much power and has had so much power for so long, I don't believe a single word that he says.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Netanyahu has said that holding elections now would disrupt the war effort. And there are also developments related to the weapons the U.S. provides to Israel. Last week, America's top uniformed officer said the U.S. hasn't given Israel all the weapons its leaders asked for. That set off speculation that the Biden administration may be reconsidering arms policy. But soon after administration officials released information that Washington has authorized more weapons transfers. It's a signal that even though there are growing policy disagreements between the U and Israel about the war, the Biden administration is making clear that it still willing to provide Israel with arms to fight it.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The weapons Israel uses have devastating effect on children. Recent UN numbers show that children make up around 40% of those killed by Israel. That's 13,000 kids. And then there are the children of Gaza who are alive and need care. We spoke with Amy Lee Potter, a nurse with Doctors Without Borders. She recently returned from Gaza.
--:-- Amy Lee Potter: When I first got there, I was struck by just how many kids were in the streets, in camps, living through a war that's wiped out their usual routines. There's nowhere for them to go. There's no school. There's no organized activities. There's nothing to do. And so the kids would be out running around all day long playing.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Potter told us about how the children of Gaza have managed to find ways to still play like children, even through all the violence and suffering around them.
--:-- Amy Lee Potter: I would see them flying kites from soon as I woke up in the morning till the sun went down. Beautiful, elaborate kites. And I used to wonder, where they got these kites from? They make them. They just make them from the garbage that they find lying around.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In the clinic, Potter's team saw close to 500 patients a day, treating a range of injuries and conditions, often working without water or electricity. Some of their youngest patients are now orphans. Potter remembers one nine-year-old girl in terrible pain from a broken leg. Her parents and siblings had been killed.
--:-- Amy Lee Potter: I remember we moved her over to the table to try and do some physiotherapy on her and she was crying and screaming. And somebody interpreted for me what she was saying and she said, just let me die. I want to die.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Potter says the young girl survived and made progress with her injuries, but she faces a difficult future without her family. Beyond those injured in attacks, there are also the children suffering because they can't get enough to eat. Humanitarian aid is still in short supply. Doctors are warning about the lasting impact of the war on Gaza's children, both physical and psychological.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In the U.S., polling shows that about 7 in 10 Americans feel our political system is messed up, either barely working or not working well at all. And there's plenty to dislike. Gridlock in Congress, outsized influence of special interest groups, and a rematch of two presidential candidates that a lot of Americans have issues with. But there are potential changes that could make our system work better. That's the focus of the latest episode of Apple News In Conversation with guest host Brian Stelter.
--:-- Brian Stelter: I'm Brian Stelter, guest-hosting Apple News In Conversation. Today, we're talking to New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein about his top five ideas to improve U.S. politics.
--:-- Ezra Klein: One of those ideas is eliminating the Senate filibuster. This is my white whale. I care about this more than I care about almost anything else in changing the system. The filibuster means legislation needs a 60-vote supermajority to move forward. That makes it very, very hard to pass anything in the closely divided Senate.
--:-- Brian Stelter: Does it feel to anybody else like American politics has become really compromise-oriented? Like we're doing a great job in the Senate agreeing on bills together. And of course not.
--:-- Ezra Klein: So one, we know we can look at it and say this is not encouraging compromise. Klein argues getting rid of the filibuster would allow parties to actually do what they said they'd do on the campaign trail. The things that voters would notice is that more legislation would pass that is closer to what the parties have promised. And they might not always like that right. I mean everybody always says look like the other party could then come in and pass more of their legislation. And I always say, yes, like that is how a democracy is supposed to work. People are supposed to see what the parties do. That becomes information in how they think about their vote in the next election.
--:-- Mark Garrison: If you want to hear Klein's other ideas to improve American politics, check out this week's episode of Apple News In Conversation. You can find it in the podcast app, or if you're listening in the news app right now, it's queued up to play for you at the end of the show.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Let's end on March Madness, where the stakes are getting higher after the games over the weekend. In the men's tournament, the final four is now set. NC State will take on Purdue, and UConn faces off against Alabama. UConn was last year's tournament winner, and they were in championship form in their last game. In one stretch, they pulled off a run of 30 unanswered points on their way to knocking out Illinois.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In the women's tournament, two teams are in the Final Four so far. South Carolina will take on NC State. South Carolina is undefeated. Camila Cardozo was a key player in their win over Oregon State.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Back to Cardoso. Beers has that one foul. Cardoso able to get it in off the window. After today's games, we'll know the rest of the women's Final Four. Southern California, the other USC, takes on UConn. And in one of the most anticipated matchups of the year, Iowa plays LSU. That'll have two of the most exciting players facing off, Iowa's Kaitlin Clark and LSU's Angel Reese. It's a rematch of last year's championship game, which LSU won.
--:-- Mark Garrison: You can find more college basketball coverage in the Apple News app that includes a much-anticipated Washington Post report on the controversial LSU coach Kim Mulkey. Also, as we mentioned, the In Conversation episode is playing next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
