Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
President Trump says he's extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely at Pakistan's
“request as he waits for a peace plan proposal from Tehran.”
This comes as last minute talks between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan, looked uncertain, and a day before the two weeks ceasefire was to have expired. And Pierce Franco or Donas has more. The President said Pakistan, which is mediating the talks, asked him to hold off on the attacks, but that the U.S. military would continue to stick around and that he was extending
the ceasefire until the talks were concluded, quote, "one way" or the other. And this is quite a pivot from just a few hours ago when he warned that he was ready to restart the bombing. It's not the first time that Trump has made a big threat before pulling back, such as he did two weeks ago when he threatened to wipe out the Iranian civilization before announcing
the original ceasefire. And Pierce Franco or Donas, Trump says the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues and an advisor to the Iranian parliamentary speaker set on X that the extension by Trump quote has no meaning.
“A group of voting rights, organizations, or suing the Justice Department to stop the”
agency's efforts to scrutinize state election data.
As in here's Miles Parks reports, the DOJ has never collected data of this kind before,
and the organization say it's part of a broader plan to interfere with the midterms. As part of the Justice Department's efforts to search for voter fraud on their President Trump, the agency has sought to acquire the voter registration lists of every state. Despite the fact that those states have constitutional authority to run their own elections, a few Republican controlled states have turned over their data, but most haven't.
DOJ is sued to try to compel those that are resisting, but has yet to be successful. And a handful of lawsuits have already been dismissed. Now, a group of voting rights organizations led by Common Cause is suing to stop the broader project. Arguing that DOJ is illegally building a national voter registration list that could lead
to people being erroneously removed from voter rolls. Miles Parks and Pair News, Washington. In Virginia, polls closed at this hour in a special election with national implications a redistricting measure that could net Democrats for more seats in Congress. Jog Khalil from VPM News has more.
Democrats started the push to get this on the ballot in October. The campaigns for and against redistricting Virginia have received tens of millions of dollars from opaque political nonprofits, and have employed campaign tactics that have confused voters. There's no clear outcome. The only polling out there is very close in Virginia is relatively purple.
Virginia could be one of the last states to take aside in the national redistricting contest before the midterms. Florida lawmakers are scheduled to take up redistricting in a special session next week. Friend Pair News, I'm Jad Khalil and Richmond Virginia. This is NPR News.
After Nevada, West Virginia and Alabama also reached settlements with the popular children's online gaming platform, Roblox. Chris Schultz of West Virginia Public Broadcasting Reports, the settlement requires the platform to implement age verification and other safety features.
West Virginia will receive more than $11 million from Roblox over several years to address
concerns of child and engagement and exploitation on the platform. But state attorney general J.B. McCusky says the settlement was reached before a lawsuit was ever filed because Roblox was willing to collaborate on the issue. These guys understood that there was something going wrong and worked with us to not only solve the problem but to provide us with the resources we need to accomplish the goals
that we've set forth. McCusky says the money will be used in part to teach children, parents and educators about online safety. Nevada and Alabama are the two other states receiving about $12 million each from Roblox under the settlements.
For NPR News, I'm Chris Schultz in Morgan Town, West Virginia. Choppers increased their spending in March from February, but a good chunk of that money will spend at gas stations. The Commerce Department says spending rose 1.7% after revised 7/10% increase in February. It's the first spending report that captures the effects of the U.S. Israeli war on Iran
and excluding gas prices, retail sales were up 6/10% getting a boost from income tax refunds and also from warm weather. I'm Jeanine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. You know, every day on up 1st NPR's Golden Globe nominated morning news podcast, we bring
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