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In the news today: Trump shifts from threatening Iran with “annihilation” to making a 14-day ceasefire agreement; Republican Clay Fuller wins Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former House seat in Georgia; and the wife of a U.S. soldier is released from federal immigration detention. Also, stunning views of the moon and Earth taken by the Artemis II astronauts.
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The White House is seen in Washington, Tuesday, at 8:00 p.m. EDT. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
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How Trump went from threatening Iran’s annihilation to agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran
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President Donald Trump over the course of a day went from threatening Iran with “annihilation” to proclaiming that the battered Islamic Republic’s leadership had presented a “workable” plan that led him to agree to a 14-day ceasefire that he expects to pave the way to end the nearly six-week-old war. Read more.
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- The dramatic shift in tenor came as intermediaries, led by Pakistan, worked feverishly to head off a further escalation of the conflict. Even China — Iran’s biggest trading partner and the United States’ most significant economic competitor — quietly pulled strings to find a pathway toward a ceasefire, according to two officials briefed on the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The ceasefire announcement came after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks to allow diplomacy to advance while also asking Iran to open the strait for two weeks. “The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump declared in a social media post announcing the temporary ceasefire.
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Trump-endorsed Republican Clay Fuller wins Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former House seat in Georgia
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Fuller turned back a Democratic challenge with the help of President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite uneasiness over the war in Iran. Read more.
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In a deep red district that Greene won by 29 points and Trump carried by almost 37 points two years ago, Fuller was on track to prevail by about 12 points with almost all votes counted. The result added to a string of special elections where Democrats performed better than expected, a track record that the party hopes will create momentum toward November’s midterm elections when control of Congress hangs in the balance. Fuller insisted that his victory over Democratic candidate Shawn Harris in Georgia was a testimony to Trump’s staying power.
In another election held Tuesday, a Democratic-backed candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court won by double-digit margins, growing the liberal majority there.
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Wife of US soldier released from federal immigration detention
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22-year-old Annie Ramos, the Honduran-born wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant preparing to deploy, was released Tuesday from a federal immigration detention facility where she had spent nearly a week after being taken into custody on a Louisiana military base. Read more.
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Her detention prompted public backlash from critics of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign who warned it demoralized troops during an ongoing war. Ramos, who married Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank in March, had been detained by federal immigration agents while attempting to register at his base to receive military benefits and ultimately obtain a green card. She had lived in the country since she was under 2 years old. DHS said Ramos had been ordered removed by a federal immigration judge in 2005 after her family failed to appear for a hearing.
Ramos and her husband say she has been attempting to gain legal status, including by applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2020. But her application remained stalled amid legal battles to eliminate the program.
- DHS told the AP that Ramos had been released with a GPS monitor “while she undergoes further removal proceedings.” “She will receive full due process,” DHS said.
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The Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday. (NASA via AP)
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Mark
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