A tentative deal is reached to end the Iran war and Trump orders a stop to the US naval blockade
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement early Monday to open the Strait of Hormuz and further extend a shaky ceasefire in the Iran war, potentially allowing desperately needed oil and natural gas to reach the global market.
Details of the deal were not immediately released and Iran signaled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would occur Friday in Switzerland. It could provide a way to end a war that killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran's theocracy, and sparked a historic energy crisis.
But the memorandum of understanding over the war already faced intense challenges. Israel's continued hostilities with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel bombed Beirut's southern suburbs Sunday, nearly derailed the negotiations.
Meanwhile, the deal gives just 60 days to resolve what to do about Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its atomic program. That took years to resolve in Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from that accord in his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the war.
“Congratulations to all!” Trump wrote on social media as he celebrated his 80th birthday Sunday with a UFC cage match fight at the White House.
Oil and gas supplies could take months to return to normal after Iran deal, energy experts say
NEW YORK (AP) — High oil and gasoline prices and energy supply problems won't be solved overnight, despite an agreement to end the Iran war and open the Strait of Hormuz announced Sunday.
It will likely take months before energy companies can resume operations to the point of meeting the world’s demand, according to energy experts. The slow pace of the process of shipping and refining crude oil, and doubts about the security of traveling through the strait mean the effect won't be seen immediately, they said.
Ships loaded with crude oil have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months, unable to safely travel through the waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gasoline supplies typically traveled before the war began.
“It’s going to take time for people to feel comfortable and for insurance to be in place ... particularly to get people on the ground to restart some of these assets,” said Daniel Evans, global head of fuels and refining research at S&P Global Energy.
Still, oil prices slipped early Monday after the deal was announced.
12 dead in crash of plane on skydiving outing in Missouri, authorities say
BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — A plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed in a field and was engulfed in flames Sunday, killing all aboard, authorities said.
The crash happened shortly after the plane took off from a local airport around 11:30 a.m., and some of the occupants' family members witnessed the crash, said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson.
A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lay in the grass near Butler Memorial Airport with a massive lineup of emergency vehicles gathered on a nearby street. Clergy and volunteers went to the site to assist relatives, Anderson said, and officials were working Sunday afternoon to identify all victims and notify their next of kin.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were also on scene Sunday afternoon, Anderson said, and a team from the National Transportation Safety Board was en route.
The private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, said Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director. It was identified as a single engine turboprop plane.
Trump celebrates his 80th birthday with an Iran deal and UFC cage fights at the White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday on Sunday by hailing an initial agreement to end the war in Iran and staging a once unfathomable cage-fighting show on the White House's storied South Lawn.
Trump had been touting the emerging deal for weeks and the continuing conflict threatened to overshadow the UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza, where combatants inside a wire-mesh octagon tried to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission.
Ahead of the fight starting, however, the president said an agreement to end the conflict “is now complete." He declared that the U.S. will end its blockade of Iran, and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. That could potentially ease high oil prices — but crucial details still need negotiating over the coming weeks.
Top administration officials and Republican leaders attended the fights, including FBI Director Kash Patel and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Polish President Karol Nawrocki was also spotted at the White House.
Trump and UFC chief Dana White walked together from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to survey the Octagon, standing for the national anthem as fighter jets thundered overhead.
In Georgia, Senate hopeful Mike Collins celebrates being Trump's latest 'MAGA' pick in GOP primaries
WOODSTOCK, Ga. (AP) — In the closing stretch of Georgia's Republican U.S. Senate runoff, Rep. Mike Collins celebrated his 11th-hour endorsement from Donald Trump on Sunday and dismissed any ideas that the Republican president's stamp of approval is a risky bet in a potential showdown with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Trump disclosed his choice of Collins over former football coach Derek Dooley in a middle-of-the-night social media post that praised the second-term congressman for his loyalty.
“I’ve always said that President Trump has this just impeccable ability to put his thumb on the scale at the right time,” Collins said at a campaign stop Sunday in the northern Atlanta exurbs.
The Republican candidates are competing Tuesday for the chance to unseat Ossoff in one of the most closely watched campaigns in the November midterm elections. Dooley, a political newcomer, is backed by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who has clashed with Trump in the past.
Collins called it “encouraging” to have the president's approval. Looking past Dooley to the potential matchup with Ossoff, the congressman said he planned to invited Trump to Georgia, despite the president's sagging approval ratings.
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Alabama's GOP dismisses a residency challenge to Tuberville's bid for Alabama governor
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Republican Party said U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville will remain the party’s gubernatorial nominee, rejecting a claim on Sunday that he had not lived in the state long enough to run for governor.
The unanimous decision came after the party's 21-member steering committee heard a challenge filed by Tuberville’s former primary opponent, Ken McFeeters. The challenge argued that Tuberville did not meet the Alabama Constitution’s seven-year residency requirement.
“We looked at it with the facts. The contest was unsuccessful. And Coach Tuberville will be our nominee for governor," said Scott Stadthagen, the state Republican Party chair. Tuberville is often referred to as “Coach” because of his background coaching college football.
Stadthagen did not take questions from the news media. The hearing was not open to the public.
Tuberville has long faced accusations of living in Florida rather than the state he represents in Washington. He has faced the same claim as he runs for governor.
Trump tried to block state AI regulations, but some states are forging ahead
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Six months after President Donald Trump warned states not to regulate artificial intelligence, they are increasingly doing just that.
Congress has stalled on producing federal regulation of artificial intelligence as states forge ahead and scrutinize how chatbots interact with children, how AI systems are used by employers and what developers must do to try to prevent an AI-caused catastrophe.
State lawmakers have stepped back from earlier, wider-ranging attempts to regulate AI that were vetoed or otherwise derailed by governors who viewed the measures as too onerous toward the industry's development, including efforts to hold developers accountable for bias in AI systems.
But they are returning with legislation that is more targeted and, often, probes the corners of life where Americans interact with AI but may not know it.
Trump’s move to restrain states’ actions on AI drew criticism from members of both political parties and civil liberties and consumer rights groups who worried that banning state regulation would amount to a gift to AI giants, who enjoy little to no oversight.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 73,000 as Israel launches strikes despite ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 73,000, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday, as Israeli military operations continued despite a stalled and fragile ceasefire in place since October.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat, and in response to ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.
Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, according to the health ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce.
The number of deaths since the beginning of the war is now 73,001, according to the health ministry's tally. Over 173,200 people have been wounded since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, following the Hamas-led attack into Israel. That attack killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
The health ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.
Daichi Kamada's late header gives Japan a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in World Cup opener for both
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Daichi Kamada and his Japanese teammates were minutes away from a World Cup -opening loss that wouldn't have been unexpected considering the opponent.
His tying goal will be remembered for a long time in his homeland, especially if the country with some soccer momentum reaches the round of 16 again.
Kamada scored on a header off Koki Ogawa's corner kick in the 88th minute, sending the Samurai Blue fans into a frenzy and giving Japan a 2-2 draw with the higher-ranked Netherlands on Sunday.
While the Dutch extended their unbeaten streak to 17 games in group play, the orange-clad Oranje supporters were stunned by the late goal that left them at 21-2-11 in group play at the World Cup.
“Our players managed to be tenacious but at the same time be patient and just keep calm and finding and seizing an opportunity,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said through an interpreter. His team reached the round of 16 for the fourth time in 2022 in Qatar.
Tyra Banks sues Netflix over 'America's Next Top Model' documentary, alleging defamation
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and the directors of its docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model,” alleging that the producers stripped down hours of interview footage to construct a false narrative.
In the lawsuit filed Saturday in Los Angeles federal court, the model who created and hosted “America's Next Top Model” said she was interviewed for 3 ½ hours, during which she took responsibility for some of the show's controversial decisions. Those interviews were edited down to 16 minutes and manipulated “to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed,” the lawsuit said.
“The accountability Ms. Banks took ended up on the cutting room floor. It was there, but viewers were never given the opportunity to see it,” her lawyers wrote.
Banks is seeking damages in her lawsuit against Netflix, the directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy and EverWonder Studio. She’s also seeking an injunction barring the use of her image in connection with the docuseries’ soundtrack, released as an album.
Emails seeking comments were sent Sunday to the defendants’ representatives.

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