Cheryl K. Chumley

Iran agrees to nuclear talks in return for West’s OK of enrichment

Iran said it will open talks with the West about its nuclear program, as long as the United States publicly upholds Iran's right to enrich uranium, a spokesman for the nation's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

February 19, 2013

California gun-confiscation program seen as model for nation

A California law that allows authorities to track down gun owners who lost their legal rights to keep their weapons — and then confiscate those firearms — is being heralded as a model for the nation, according to one media report.

February 19, 2013

Beleaguered Syrian President Bashar Assad suggests re-election in the cards

Syrian President Bashar Assad sees another term in his future. Despite the deaths of thousands, and an ongoing — at times, escalating — military conflict that has pit Mr. Assad's regime against various rebelling factions, the beleaguered president says he may run for re-election in 2014.

February 19, 2013

Gun-free zone: Comcast cable blacklists gun-related ads

Comcast Spotlight, the advertising and sales division for Comcast Cable, has halted all ads having to do with guns on its nationwide network.

February 19, 2013

Ohio poll worker who admits voting twice for Obama may have voted six times

A Cincinnati poll worker admitted to an Ohio television station earlier this month she voted twice for President Obama in November. But now authorities think she voted more like six times in the election, and they've added her name to a list of 19 they're investigating for voter fraud.

February 19, 2013

Déjà vu: Tax code talks come to Capitol Hill with 2010 players

Scratch past the surface of a proposed tax code overhaul and deficit-reduction plan shaping up Tuesday on Capitol Hill and it's clear: It's déjà vu, all over again.

February 19, 2013

Israel’s Shimon Peres to award Obama medal of distinction

Israeli President Shimon Peres said President Obama will be awarded one of Israel's highest honors, the Presidential Medal of Distinction, when Mr. Obama visits in March.

February 19, 2013

Sheriffs can inspect homes for safe gun storage in Washington state under Democratic weapon bill

A new bill working through Washington state's legislature would allow local sheriffs to enter homes of gun owners to ensure their weapons are properly stored.

February 19, 2013

Illegal immigrants on food stamps won’t face slower citizenship path: USDA

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been quietly assuring illegal immigrants that taking food stamps and other government assistance won't slow their paths toward citizenship.

February 19, 2013

Hugo Chavez sent back to Venezuela to die, report says

Spanish media is saying that cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been sent back to his country to die — not to recover from successful treatment received in Cuba, as previously and widely reported.

February 19, 2013

Coal regulations push Britain to ‘near-crisis’ of energy costs, supplies

Britain is facing an energy shortage that will see household costs for heat and light rise by as much as 60 percent, according to one industry regulator.

February 19, 2013

Red-light camera backlash builds as drivers feel the pinch

Fifteen years ago, red-light cameras were a rarity. Now, 24 states and Washington, D.C., use them with regularity — and backlash is starting to build.

February 19, 2013

Oscar Pistorius scared girlfriend into hiding before shooting her, prosecutor says

Olympian track star Oscar Pistorius faced prosecutors Tuesday, who alleged he purposely shot and killed his celebrity model girlfriend following a shouting match that left her cowering and hiding behind a bathroom door.

February 19, 2013

Broke U.S. Postal Service paying $2M for conference, golf, party

Four hundred U.S. Postal Service executives are heading to San Francisco next month for workshops, meetings — and a dance party.

February 19, 2013

Help wanted: Al-Jazeera marks expansion to U.S. with hiring spree

It's been years in making, but Al-Jazeera has finally joined the ranks of Washington, D.C.-based cable news operations.

February 19, 2013

Diamond heist at Brussels airport nets thieves a $50M bounty

It's the stuff of movies. Thieves cut through a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove down the tarmac and stole $50 million worth of diamonds that were stored on a plane headed for Switzerland.

February 19, 2013

Germany’s highest court strengthens gay adoption rights

Germany's highest court ruled Tuesday that one gay member of a couple could adopt his or her partner's stepchild or adopted child — a significant judicial boost to the nation's same-sex adoption law

February 19, 2013

Meet China’s super-secret military hacking unit

Cyberattacks on dozens of U.S. firms have been traced back to a small, nondescript Chinese military unit quietly working in a similarly unimpressive setting — a dull office building just outside Shanghai.

February 19, 2013

Nancy Pelosi says drone strikes on Americans can stay secret

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the White House doesn't necessarily have to confess to killing American citizens by unarmed drones.

February 18, 2013

NYC taxpayers tapped for $20M in costs over union strike

New York City taxpayers spent an estimated $20.6 million to get tens of thousands of stranded students to school, during a monthlong strike by the bus workers' union that began Jan. 16 and ended Friday.

February 18, 2013