Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
Obama says Iran could cut time needed for bomb to near zero after 13 years under nuclear deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defending an emerging nuclear deal, President Barack Obama said Iran would be kept a year away from obtaining a nuclear weapon for more than a decade, but conceded Tuesday that the buffer period could shrink to almost nothing after 13 or more years.
Obama, whose top priority at the moment is to sell the framework deal to critics, was pushing back on the charge that the deal fails to eliminate the risk because it allows Iran to keep enriching uranium. He told NPR News that Iran will be capped for a decade at 300 kilograms — not enough to convert to a stockpile of weapons-grade material.
"What is a more relevant fear would be that in Year 13, 14, 15, they have advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium fairly rapidly, and at that point, the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero," Obama said.
Breakout time refers to how long it would take to build a bomb if Iran decided to pursue one full-bore — in other words, how long the rest of the world would have to stop it. The framework deal expands Iran's breakout time — currently two to three months — to at least a year. But that constraint would stay in place only for 10 years, at which point some restrictions would start phasing out.
Although Obama acknowledged that Iran's breakout time could shrink, he said at least the world would have better insight into Iran's capabilities because of extensive inspections in the earlier years.
Fifth national title for Duke, Coach Krzyzewski leaves fans with several things to remember
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — One by one, the grandchildren filed onto the court. One by one, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski lifted them high into the air, never once worrying about his 68-year-old back.
He'll have plenty of time to ice it later.
In one of those saccharine moments that make the Final Four so special, the sight of Coach K inside Lucas Oil Stadium after the Blue Devils beat Wisconsin 68-63 on Monday night for his fifth national championship made one thing clear: His program really is about family.
"He's kept us all, you know, in the moment of this team," said Quinn Cook, his senior guard. "It's great to get him his fifth, but I know he's happy that this is his first with us.
"It's just something that you dream of," he said, "winning the national championship."
Discredited rape story testing Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone
NEW YORK (AP) — Through decades of digging into the private lives of rock stars and providing a forum for colorful writers like Hunter S. Thompson and P.J. O'Rourke, Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner has never been afraid to push boundaries.
Now Wenner, who founded the magazine as a 20-year-old college dropout, is weathering the stiffest test of Rolling Stone's credibility that the magazine has faced in its 48-year history.
On Sunday, the magazine retracted last November's story on sexual assault at the University of Virginia in advance of the release of a damning Columbia University report about its reporting and editing, and on Monday, a fraternity named in the story threatened a lawsuit.
The magazine also faced criticism Monday for what some critics deemed a muted response to the problems outlined in Columbia's exhaustive report.
The sharply funny O'Rourke, who worked at Rolling Stone from 1985 to 2000, said he found the editing and fact-checking there to be as rigorous as the legendarily tough New Yorker magazine.
Stepfather: Man and 7 children died in home he tried to warm with generator after power cut
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (AP) — A man found dead with his seen children in a Maryland home where power was cut due to an outstanding bill had tried to keep the family warm with a generator, a relative said.
Lloyd Edwards told The Associated Press that his stepson, 36-year-old Rodney Todd, had bought the generator after the power was shut off to the home in Princess Anne on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He said those who died were Todd and Todd's two sons and five daughters.
"To keep his seven children warm, (Todd) bought a generator, Edwards said, adding: "The carbon monoxide consumed them."
Lloyd and Bonnie Edwards spoke with an AP report outside the home, identifying themselves as the mother and stepfather of the 36-year-old Todd, whom they identified as the adult who died. They said Todd had seven children, including five girls and two boys.
Princess Anne Police Chief Scott Keller told The AP a generator was found without gasoline in the home's kitchen when the bodies were found Monday.
Sen. Rand Paul ready to join the 2016 presidential campaign
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Sen. Rand Paul, a tea party favorite and frequent antagonist of leaders of his Republican Party, is ready to test how much change voters want, both for their government and for the GOP.
Paul is set to begin his White House campaign on Tuesday, kicking off the presidential run with a rally in downtown Louisville, then jetting to early nominating states with a pitch aimed at the libertarian corners of the GOP. Paul begins the 2016 race as the second fully declared candidate, behind Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, but he could face as many as 20 rivals for the nomination before the lead-off Iowa caucuses early next year.
Along the way, the first-term senator is likely to challenge his fellow Republicans' views on both foreign and domestic policy, as well as the nuts and bolts of how campaigns are run. Tech savvy and youth-focused, Paul is expected to be an Internet juggernaut his competitors will be forced to chase.
After his speech in Louisville, Paul was set to answer questions from voters on his Facebook page.
On the eve of his launch, Paul was a frequent poster on Twitter.
Iraqi experts start exhuming bodies at Tikrit mass graves of soldiers killed by Islamic State
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forensic teams in the newly liberated city of Tikrit have started exhuming bodies from mass graves believed to contain some of the hundreds of soldiers killed by Islamic State militants last year, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Kamil Amin, from Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said the work started on Monday on eight locations inside Tikrit's complex of presidential palaces, where much of the killing is believed to have taken place.
IS militants overran Saddam Hussein's hometown last June, capturing around 1,700 soldiers as they were trying to flee Camp Speicher, an air base previously used by U.S. troops on the outskirt of Tikrit. The fall of Tikrit was part of the IS onslaught that stunned Iraqi security forces and the military, which melted away as the militants advanced and captured key cities and towns in the country's north and west.
Later, the Islamic State group posted graphic images online that appeared to show its gunmen massacring scores of the soldiers after loading the captives onto flatbed trucks and then forcing them to lay face-down in a shallow ditch, their arms tied behind their backs.
Other videos showed masked gunmen bringing the soldiers to a bloodstained concrete river waterfront inside the presidential palaces complex in Tikrit, shooting them in the head and throwing them into the Tigris River.
Obama unveils pledges from Google, Microsoft to prepare for health effects of climate change
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will ask Americans to think of climate change as a threat not just to the environment, but also to their health.
Obama on Tuesday was to announce a series of steps that private entities like Google and Microsoft are taking to better prepare the nation's health systems for the inevitable effects of a warmer, more erratic climate. He was to be joined at Howard University Medical School by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy.
Warning of the perils to the planet has gotten the president only so far; polls consistently show the public is skeptical that the steps Obama has taken to curb pollution are worth the cost to the economy. So Obama is aiming to put a spotlight on ways that climate change will have real impacts on the body, like more asthma attacks, allergic reactions and injuries from extreme weather.
Microsoft's research arm will develop a prototype for drones that can collect large quantities of mosquitoes, then digitally analyze their genes and pathogens. The goal is to create a system that could provide early warnings about infectious diseases that could break out if climate change worsens.
Google has promised to donate 10 million hours of advanced computing time on new tools, including risk maps and early warnings for things like wildfires and oil flares using the Google Earth Engine platform, the White House said. Google's camera cars that gather photos for its "Street View" function will start measuring methane emissions and natural gas leaks in some cities this year.
Lawyers to deliver closing arguments in murder trial of ex-New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Lawyers in the murder trial of former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez are set to deliver closing arguments to the jury, after a trial that has lasted more than two months and featured testimony from 135 witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence.
Hernandez is accused in the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Lloyd was shot six times and died in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home. At the time, Hernandez had a $40 million contract with the Patriots.
Both sides have 90 minutes on Tuesday to make their case to the jury. Hernandez's lawyer will go first, followed by the prosecution.
Prosecutors said Hernandez and two friends drove to Boston to pick up Lloyd at his home, then drove him to the industrial park in North Attleborough and killed him. Surveillance video along the way showed Hernandez driving a rented silver Nissan Altima shortly before Lloyd's sister saw him get into a silver car. Soon after, a toll booth camera caught the Nissan leaving Boston. Lloyd's phone pinged several cell towers before stopping in North Attleborough for good.
Surveillance video at Hernandez's home minutes after the shooting showed him holding a black item that appeared to be a gun. A joint found near Lloyd's body had Hernandez's and Lloyd's DNA on it.
UN agency: Escalation in Yemen fighting kills 74 children, displaces more than 100,000 people
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — More than 100,000 people in Yemen have left their homes in search of safety and at least 74 children have been killed since fighting in the country intensified almost two weeks ago, the U.N. children's agency said.
UNICEF said the violence has disrupted water supplies in areas of southern Yemen and that sewage is overflowing in some locations, raising the risk of disease outbreak.
Hospitals are struggling to treat large numbers of wounded with insufficient supplies and some medical facilities have come under attack, the agency. It said at least three health workers, including an ambulance driver, have been killed in attacks.
Children are especially vulnerable, said the agency's Yemen representative, Julien Harneis.
"They are being killed, maimed and forced to flee their homes, their health threatened and their education interrupted," Harneis said in a statement, released Monday in Amman, Jordan.
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