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1 Trump Agrees To Attack Plan On Iran
President Trump approved attack plans for Iran on Tuesday night but has not made a final decision on whether to actually strike the country, according to senior intelligence and Defense Department sources who spoke to CBS News yesterday. The president is holding off on ordering strikes in case Iran agrees to abandon its nuclear program. Trump told reporters yesterday that he likes to make final decisions at the last second because "things change, especially with war." He said he may or may not strike Iran and that nobody knows what he's going to do. The president added that he would prefer Iran negotiate a deal to end its nuclear program. Iran responded to yesterday’s comments from Trump by saying it "does NOT negotiate under duress" and would "respond to any threat with a counter-threat." Iran has long claimed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. Intelligence officials say Iran has prepared missiles and equipment to strike U.S. bases in the Middle East if America joins Israel's campaign against them. Trump has been considering a U.S. strike on Fordo, an underground uranium enrichment facility in Iran.
2 Fed Holds Interest Rate Steady Yet Again
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady yesterday, keeping it between 4.25-percent and 4.5-percent and continuing a wait-and-see approach as it watches for effects from President Trump's tariff policies. The central bank hasn't changed rates in four meetings over the past six months, maintaining much of the sharp increase that was put in place to fight pandemic-era inflation. The Fed's decision came just hours after Trump called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell a "stupid person" and urged the central bank to cut interest rates. Trump told reporters he should go to the Fed himself, saying he'd "do a much better job than these people." However, the president is legally barred from appointing himself head of the independent federal agency. The Fed faces a challenging situation because tariffs could cause what economists call "stagflation," which is when inflation rises while the economy slows down. This puts the central bank in a tough spot; raising rates to fight inflation could hurt the economy more, while cutting rates to help the economy could make inflation worse.
3 Karen Read Acquitted Of Murdering Her Boston Police Officer Boyfriend
Karen Read was cleared of murder charges yesterday in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe. A jury found her not guilty of second-degree murder and other serious charges but convicted her of drunk driving. Read got one year of probation for the drunk driving charge, a standard first-time offender penalty. Prosecutors said she hit O'Keefe with her car and left him to die in a snowstorm in January 2022. Read's lawyers said police didn't investigate properly and blamed other people for his death. Her first trial ended with a hung jury last year. The case got lots of attention because of questions about whether the police did their job right.