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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will return to the table for cease-fire talks with Hamas. Friday’s announcement marks yet another attempt to reach a deal with the militant group that would pause Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. Several rounds of negotiations have faltered. Netanyahu says he has spoken with Israel’s lead negotiators and authorized Israeli delegations to join talks in Qatar and Egypt over the coming days. With the war now grinding through a sixth month, the United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to negotiate another cease-fire and hostage release. But those efforts appear to have stalled.

Forensic investigators in South Africa are searching for the bodies of victims after a bus carrying pilgrims to an Easter gathering plunged off a bridge and caught fire. An 8-year-old child was the only survivor of Thursday's crash that killed at least 45. The victims had been on their way to the town of Moria for a popular Easter pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers who follow the Zion Christian Church. Forensic investigators were working through the wreckage, but while some bodies had been recovered, others were believed to be still inside what was left of the bus, which was almost crushed flat. An investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched.

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87. Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He also was a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964 and recently played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”

Hundreds of Christians have joined the Good Friday procession in Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorating one of the faith’s most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Squads of Israeli police set up barricades along the Way of the Cross, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion. The celebrations coincided with the third Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with worshippers once again flocking to the revered Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer. Despite fears the ongoing war would spark clashes at the revered Al-Aqsa mosque, the month has so far passed peacefully under tight Israeli security.

France says it has asked 46 countries if they can supply more than 2,000 police officers to help secure the Paris Olympics. Organizers are finalizing security planning for the July 26-Aug. 11 Games, the French capital’s first in a century, while on heightened alert against potential attacks. The Interior Ministry said Friday that the request for foreign security assistance was made in January, seeking 2,185 reinforcements. It said the officers are sought for Games security and what it called “the spectator experience” and that such assistance is common practice for major international events. Separately, the French Defense Ministry has also asked foreign nations for “small numbers” of military personnel who could help with tasks including sniffer dog teams.

While eclipse watchers look to the skies, people who are blind or visually impaired will be able to hear and feel the celestial event. Devices that can translate the eclipse on sound and touch devices will be available at public gatherings on April 8 when a total solar eclipse crosses North America. An astronomer who is blind collaborated with a Harvard astronomer to design the LightSound box, which translates changing light in the sky into differing musical notes. Another device  allows users to feel the eclipse through rows of dots that move up and down.

A Texas appeals court has overturned a woman's voter fraud conviction and five-year sentence for casting an illegal provisional ballot. The court ruled that Crystal Mason of Fort Worth did not know that being on probation after serving in prison still made her ineligible in 2016. The appeals court found that even if she had read an affidavit on the ballot confirming that she had “fully served” any felony sentence, that alone doesn't prove she knew she was ineligible. Mason is overjoyed. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas released her statement saying she was thrown into a political ploy where minority voting rights are under attack.