Marwan Barghouti’s popularity is unsurpassed. His message of democracy, unity, and resistance to occupation increasingly resonates today with Palestinians who are under attack, distrust their leadership, and would vote for him if given the chance.

• Airstrike on Iran’s Embassy in Syria: Warplanes bomb the consular section of Iran’s Embassy in Syria in an apparent escalation of Israel’s war against Iran’s regional proxies, flattening a building in a strike that Tehran said killed a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander and several diplomats. 
• Israeli protesters call for election: Tens of thousands demonstrate in Jerusalem against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and against exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service.
• AT&T data breach: The provider says that a data set found on the dark web includes some Social Security numbers and passcodes for about 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. An investigation is underway. 
• California hikes a minimum wage: Most fast-food workers are set to be paid at least $20 an hour with a new law mandating the increase in that sector as of April 1. 
• Pressure on South Korea’s president: Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed not to back down in the face of protests by doctors seeking to derail, through strikes, his plan to drastically increase medical school admissions.

Read these news briefs.

Comments from Pakistan’s foreign minister hint at a softening stance on trade with India, putting a spotlight on the countries’ fraught relationship and the consequences of closing the border to commerce.

Data suggests marriage can be a strong foundation for happiness and prosperity. Recent declines in marriage rates mirror similar declines in birthrates, a topic that the Monitor explored in a three-part series. 

The first in the series looks at why U.S. parents are having fewer children. The second shows how immigrants are powering a population boom in rural Iowa. The third looks at the tumbling global birthrate and hard societal choices ahead.

Here’s Erika’s story from Madrid, where one man is helping people contemplate the heavens – and their own small corner of the universe – by way of glimpses through his telescope.

Genres can become gatekeeping when they are used to determine who has a right to sing certain songs. Houston native Beyoncé’s new album has her riding a horse through those gates as she offers her takes on everybody from the Beatles to Dolly Parton.

When a democracy faces a leader or a candidate who sows fear and division to gain power, what is the best response? A good answer can be found in a remarkable election on Sunday in Turkey, where voters chose the antithesis of fear.

The country’s main opposition parties easily won elections in 35 municipalities, notably Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. It was a big defeat for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the populist president who has held power for 21 years with the rhetoric and actions of an authoritarian. While voters certainly held the president accountable for a bad economy, they also endorsed the opposition’s style of governance – one that embraces Mr. Erdoğan’s supporters out of humility and respect rather than shuns them.

That inclusive, nonpolarizing approach is summed up by the campaign slogans of the main opposition leader, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul: “Everything will be fine” and “Love will win.”

Or as his wife posted on social media after her husband’s reelection by a wide margin: “Love and kindness won.”

Mr. İmamoğlu’s party, the center-left Republican People’s Party, adopted a strategy in 2019 called “radical love.” It is a way of listening to the bread-and-butter concerns of Erdoğan supporters while not reacting to the language of hate coming from the ruling Justice and Development Party.

“This is more than a mayoral election,” Mr. İmamoğlu said during the campaign. “It is consigning a mentality to history.” After his win in Istanbul, he said, “With this election, we have brought democracy out from within us.”

As for the president, he seemed unusually contrite after his party’s major election losses in urban areas. Mr. Erdoğan expressed “respect” for the election results – a big change from his reaction to losses in 2019 – and pledged to exercise “self-criticism.” Perhaps the opposition’s use of love tactics is not so radical.