Israel launched a major attack on Iran. Early morning strikes targeted the country’s nuclear program and killed at least two top military officers, raising the potential for a larger war between the two adversaries. Israel began intercepting Iranian drones launched in retaliation. Israel, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan shut down their airspace.

Israeli leaders cast the preemptive assault as a fight for the nation’s survival that was necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks will continue “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

The strikes came days before a sixth round of talks were planned between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program on Sunday in Oman. The Trump administration had cautioned Israel against an attack during the negotiations. – The Associated Press
Our coverage: Check back at CSMonitor.com soon for reports from our correspondents covering the region.

A plane crash in India put the spotlight back on Boeing. Only one passenger survived one of India’s worst aviation disasters that killed 241 people on board and others on the ground in Ahmedabad. Another Boeing jet, the 737 Max, has been the source of persistent troubles after two fatal crashes in recent years. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department reached a deal to allow Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the Max before the crashes. – AP

A California senator was dragged out of a news conference. Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday was forcefully removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles and handcuffed by officers as he tried to speak up about immigration raids that have led to protests in California and around the country. Ms. Noem told Fox LA afterward that she had a “great” conversation with Padilla after the scuffle, but called his approach “something that I don’t think was appropriate at all.” – AP

The Supreme Court issued notable unanimous opinions. In Martin v. U.S., it ruled Thursday that a family can bring suit against the federal government after an accidental FBI raid on its house. In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, the justices made it easier for children with disabilities to sue school districts, including under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Children bringing such lawsuits “are not required to make a heightened showing of ‘bad faith or gross misjudgment’” by the school district, the court held. – Staff

South Korea took a step to ease tensions with North Korea. The new left-leaning president, Lee Jae-myung, ordered the military to halt anti-North propaganda blasting over the border between the wartime rivals. Pyongyang appears to have stopped its broadcasts as well but has not officially responded. The move by Seoul is aimed at signaling a desire to resume dialogue between the two countries, divided since 1945. Relations have deteriorated in recent years as North Korea pursues an ambitious nuclear weapons program and South Korea has stepped up military cooperation with Japan and the U.S. – Staff

Most of the Fulbright board resigned. They are protesting what they call the Trump administration’s meddling with the selection of award recipients for the international exchange program. A statement said the administration has denied substantial awards and is reviewing 1,200 already approved. – AP

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has emerged as one of the loudest Democratic voices sounding the alarm about what he sees as the authoritarian tendencies of the Trump administration. Increasingly, he’s put his own personal story at the center of his argument. He has drawn on his family’s history as Jewish refugees, and his decade working on Holocaust issues, to warn in stark terms about the administration’s aggressive moves to crack down on immigrants and suppress dissent. How might his message resonate? We spoke with him, and with others, about that.

President Donald Trump seems confident that the chill in U.S. political relations with Africa won’t hinder his economic and strategic goals in countries there. The reasoning: Their economies need America more than America needs them. But the chill is intensifying, partly due to the effects of U.S. policy shifts, especially the ending of aid programs. Also because of a dismissive tone and the messaging, which may be popular with his base at home but that have at times been offensive to African leaders.

We look today at a case study in deal-making: Somaliland, a self-governing breakaway region of Somalia, is not recognized as a country. But after talks with the Trump administration, its leaders say change is imminent. Why does the United States care about Somaliland’s sovereignty? Contributor Kate Bartlett explains.

A grand parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army has been in the works for awhile. Now, as President Donald Trump prepares to preside over this event Saturday, it is coinciding with controversy over the unusual deployment of troops elsewhere on U.S. soil. The commander-in-chief this week has taken the highly unusual step of calling active-duty Marines to Los Angeles amid protests over his immigration policies. And he has sought to unilaterally mobilize National Guard troops against the wishes of state officials. Some worry that such moves create risks for civilians and soldiers alike.

Writer-director Celine Song’s follow-up to her Oscar-nominated “Past Lives” is another film that focuses on the nature of love. If you’ve seen the trailer, you might mistake this for a Nora Ephron-esque rom-com. But it seeks to be more than that. “Materialists,” our critic observes, poses the question, What kind of life do its characters deserve?

From showing us how to handle life’s curveballs to encouraging us to challenge deep-seated worldviews, fathers impart fundamental lessons, often by simply living their values. Here, heading into a weekend for celebrating fathers, a handful of writers honor their dads and the lessons they passed down.

Clanging doors, public announcements, loud conversations through cell walls: The daily sounds of prison life are jarring. Amid such dissonance, a variety of music education initiatives are introducing incarcerated individuals to new tones – those of harmony, concord, and coordinated rhythm. In the process, inmates are tapping their feet – and tapping into their creativity. They’re embracing moments of joy and of self-reflection.

“I fell in love with opera at Sing Sing,” wrote Joseph Wilson in The Marshall Project news site. At the prison in New York state, he participated in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program, learning to lean in to the sounds of his surroundings. He composed an aria later performed by an award-winning opera singer. In doing so, he confronted the harm his crimes had caused, their roots in an abusive childhood, and his responsibility to share lessons. 

For many in prison, creating music with compassionate teachers can be deeply transformative. One such tutor, Dante Coluccio, has taught at a New Jersey youth correctional facility where young adults learn about instruments, music theory, and sound technology – as well as the discipline and shared decision-making that a group performance demands. “With opportunity, these men can find out who they really are,” Mr. Coluccio said.

In the United Kingdom, a charity offers in-prison music programs and additional training and business support to released ex-offenders who want to pursue a music career. In the central African nation of Cameroon, a nonprofit co-founded by a former detainee produces albums of music created by those in prison. Jail Time Records offers studio facilities both inside and near one port city’s overcrowded central prison.

The universal language of music doesn’t just transform the outlook of those behind bars. Volunteer teachers and artists also find liberation – from preconceptions. Music professor Mark Katz co-wrote “Rap and Redemption on Death Row” with Alim Braxton, who is on death row. The collaboration was “life-changing for me,” Dr. Katz said at an event at Brandeis University. It deepened “my appreciation of the power of music, of the possibilities of redemption and self-actualization, and of the humanity of incarcerated people.”

Such evolution and elevation of thought needn’t be surprising. As acclaimed musicologist and author Daniel Chua has said, “Music is a call toward relationship, toward a new understanding of what it means to be in the world and to be with one another.”