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World/Nation

| September 11, 2015 9:00 PM

Iran nuclear deal survives key Senate vote

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats voted to uphold the hard-fought nuclear accord with Iran on Thursday, overcoming ferocious GOP opposition and delivering President Barack Obama a legacy-making victory on his top foreign policy priority.

A disapproval resolution for the agreement fell two votes short of the 60 needed to move forward as most Democratic and independent senators banded together against it. Although House Republicans continued to pursue eleventh-hour strategies to derail the international accord and Senate Republicans promised a re-vote, Thursday's outcome all but guaranteed that the disapproval legislation would not reach Obama's desk.

As a result the nuclear deal will move forward unchecked by Congress, an improbable win by Obama in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans who control Capitol Hill, GOP candidates seeking to replace him in the Oval Office and the state of Israel and its allied lobbyists in the U.S.

Beginning next week, Obama will be free to start scaling back U.S. sanctions to implement the agreement negotiated by Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers. The accord aims to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions.

"This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security and for the safety and security of the world," the president said in a statement. "Going forward, we will turn to the critical work of implementing and verifying this deal so that Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon."

Asylum seekers' road to Europe turns wet, cold

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Soaked to the bone and ankle deep in mud, thousands of people seeking refuge in Europe are finding that their path to a new life is growing harder by the hour.

Torrential rains poured as an unprecedented 7,000 trekkers crossed the Greek border into Macedonia on Thursday past rows of camouflage-jacketed police. Children stumbled into mud-filled potholes and had to be pulled back out, bawling, into their mothers' arms. People struggled to find anything - plastic sheets, garbage bags, even a beach umbrella - to shield themselves from an unrelenting deluge.

And yet nothing could dampen their hopes of reaching the heart of Europe, where asylum and border security systems are already in danger of being overwhelmed in the migration crisis.

"I'm not going to be afraid of anything," said Waseem Absi, a 30-year-old from Ariha in northern Syria, as he held a disassembled pup tent over his head and trudged up a muddy slope alongside four friends. He said he hopes to reunite with relatives in the Netherlands.

11 Republicans to share stage in next debate

WASHINGTON - Eleven Republican presidential candidates have qualified for next week's primetime debate, a slate that features the full diversity of the GOP's 2016 class and is believed to be the largest group to share a presidential debate stage in modern political history.

The candidates scheduled to meet for Wednesday's primetime affair, announced Thursday night by debate host CNN, will include former technology executive Carly Fiorina, whose weak polling numbers kept her off the main stage of the first debate. But a bump in the polls and an aggressive lobbying effort persuaded CNN to broaden its participation criteria, a coup for Fiorina and GOP officials eager to feature the party's only 2016 female candidate in the nationally televised clash.

But don't expect Fiorina to get as much airtime as Donald Trump, who will be positioned front and center when the candidates meet at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The undisputed leader in national polls, Trump is generally considered the biggest reason why Fox News Channel reached 24 million people for the first GOP presidential debate last month - the most watched program in Fox News history.

Sharing the stage with Trump and Fiorina at next week's 5 p.m. PDT debate will be former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Republican National Committee officials have praised the diversity of the field, which includes a woman, an African-American and two Hispanics.

Police report 11th shooting on Phoenix freeways

PHOENIX - The search for a suspect in a string of Phoenix freeway shootings took on a frenzied pace Thursday, with a panicked public flooding a police hotline with tips.

Police confirmed one of these reports as a shooting, raising to 11 the number of vehicles struck on Phoenix-area freeways since Aug. 29. Eight were hit by bullets and three by projectiles such as BBs and pellets.

One girl's face was cut by glass as a bullet shattered her window.

Authorities are appealing for help, and thousands of tips have come in - many proving to be false leads based on routine road hazards like windshields cracked by loose rocks sent airborne by the tires of other vehicles.

- The Associated Press