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fice, declared his vision of a world without nuclear weapons.
• Obama has won Senate ratification of the New START treaty, the most significant arms control pact in nearly two decades. The treaty, which took effect in February 2011, requires the U.S. and Russia to reduce the number of their strategic nuclear weapons to no more than 1,550 by February 2018.
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First lady responds to critics of healthier school meal plans with White House event
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- First lady Michelle Obama is answering Republicans in Congress who want to roll back healthier school meal standards, holding an event at the White House to highlight the success of the health guidelines.
• The Tuesday event is an unusual move for the first lady, who has largely stayed away from policy fights since she lobbied for congressional passage of a child nutrition law in 2010.
• Sam Kass, director of Mrs. Obama's Let's Move initiative to combat childhood obesity, said a Republican bill that would allow schools to opt out of the standards is "a real assault" on administration efforts to make foods healthier for kids.
• Kass, who is a White House chef, said the event is an attempt to point out the successes of some schools that have implemented the standards, which were set by the Obama administration and Congress over the past several years. School nutrition officials from across the country will speak about how well the standards are working in their schools.
• "She wants to have a conversation about what is really happening out in the country," as opposed to Washington, Kass said. "These standards are working."
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Obama, just returned from Afghanistan, lays wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier to mark holiday
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama led the nation in commemorating Memorial Day, declaring the United States has reached "a pivotal moment" in Afghanistan with the end of war approaching.
• Obama, who returned just hours earlier from a surprise visit with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, paid tribute to those lost in battle there and elsewhere over history. He called them "patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice" for their country.
• "Early this morning, I returned from Afghanistan," Obama told the audience of (Continued on page 25)
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