Trump pauses US guides at strait

to finalize deal to end war in Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening he has paused the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to finalize an Iran deal, but that the American forces’ blockade of the Iranian ports would remain in place. Trump announced the decision in a social media post, saying he was pausing the effort for a short period to give space for U.S. efforts to finalize a settlement with Iran to end the war. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment offering further detail about the progress in negotiations.

2 killed in shopping center shootings

CARROLLTON, Texas — Texas police say a man shot five people and two of them are dead at a shopping mall north of Dallas.

The shooting happened Tuesday in area known as Koreatown in Carrollton. Police say it wasn’t a random act of gunfire and that the attacker knew the victims. The suspect ran away but was later arrested. Video posted online showed officers with their guns drawn as they walked past doors at K Towne Plaza. Agents from the FBI and another federal agency were among law enforcement at the scene.

Ex-FedEx driver sentenced to death

DALLAS — A former FedEx driver has been sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift.

Jurors decided Tuesday on the sentence for 34-year-old Tanner Horner. He had pleaded guilty to capital murder just as his trial began in Fort Worth in the 2022 killing of Athena Strand. Her body was found two days after she was reported missing in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth. Horner’s attorney had asked jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison and said Horner suffered from “various mental illnesses.”

$1B targeted for ballroom security

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are pushing $1 billion in White House security upgrades for President Donald Trump’s ballroom project. A Republican bill released late Monday would give the U.S. Secret Service money for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the ballroom.

Trump and Republicans have been pushing the project since an incident last week at a media dinner where a man was charged with trying to assassinate the president. Republicans say the president needs the ballroom as a secure location to hold events. Democrats oppose funding the ballroom and The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop it.

DC shooting suspect faces new charge

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man accused of trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and attempting to kill President Donald Trump has been indicted on a new charge that he fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer during the attack. Cole Tomas Allen initially was charged in a complaint with attempting to assassinate the president and two additional firearms counts. Allen’s indictment on Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., includes the same three counts but also adds a charge of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon.

The Associated Press