American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped in Baghdad last week, has been released. That's according to an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He says Kittleson was freed in the afternoon. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that prior to her release, she had been held in Baghdad. The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier in the day that it had decided to free the journalist.
On March 17, 1992, white South Africans voted 68.7% to 31.3% to end over 40 years of apartheid in a national referendum. (Voters of all races were allowed to vote two years later in the general election that resulted in Nelson Mandela becoming president.)
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA STELLA MARTANY and RASHID YAHYA Associated Press
Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials have told The Associated Press. Kurdish party leaders have also discussed the Iran crisis with President Donald Trump, according to Iraqi Kurdish officials. One official says Trump has asked them to open the border and back the groups militarily. Iraqi Kurdish leaders fear Iranian retaliation. Recent drone and missile strikes have already hit the region, damaging homes, and disrupting electricity. Iraq also reinforces the border and the Iraqi government has vowed to stop infiltrations.
In Dick Cheney's hands, the vice presidency became a nexus of influence and manipulation — no longer the timid office where its occupants had tended their boss's ambitions. For George W. Bush's vice president, bunkering in secure undisclosed locations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was less an inconvenience than a metaphor for a life of power that he exercised to maximum effect from the shadows. Cheney died Monday at age 84. Cheney defended until his death the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed after the 9/11 attacks. The Republican also became a fierce critic of President Donald Trump, branding him a "coward" who tried to steal the 2020 election.
By STELLA MARTANY and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press
Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decadeslong insurgency in Turkey have begun laying down their weapons. About 30 fighters took part in a symbolic ceremony Friday in northern Iraq. The move was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process. The Kurdistan Workers' Party announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict to end four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm. Öcalan has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999.
By SALAR SALIM and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press
A Kurdish militant group has announced plans to start disarming as part of a peace process with Turkey. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, says its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons next week in a ceremony in Iraq's Kurdish region. The number of fighters who will take part has not yet been determined but might be between 20 and 30. This marks the first concrete step toward disarmament after decades of conflict. The PKK announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict after the group's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called for an end to the fighting.
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
Updated
A fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appears to be holding. The deal initially faltered, and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration Tuesday with both sides, saying they have fought "for so long and so hard" that they do not know what they are doing. Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect. The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning. An Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted.
By JOSEPH KRAUSS and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
As President Donald Trump floats "regime change" in Tehran, previous U.S. attempts to remake the Middle East by force in recent decades can offer stark warnings about the possibility of a deepening involvement in the Iran-Israeli conflict. Trump posted over the weekend: "If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" The White House insists Trump, who spent years railing against "forever wars," isn't doing an about-face and that Iranian citizens could revolt against its government. But that's a delicate, perilous path that other U.S. administrations have been down before. And it's a long way from Trump's dismissal of "stupid, endless wars."
