Iran: Ready to talk nukes

Iran: Ready to talk nukes

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Tuesday that the country is ready to reopen talks with world powers increasingly concerned over Iranian intentions, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

The announcement by Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili came a day before a meeting in Germany among representatives of six nations, including the United States, that are seeking to develop a strategy for addressing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Iranian officials did not comment on whether the timing of the proposal is connected to the Sept. 15 deadline set by the White House for Iran to respond to an offer to reopen talks on the nuclear issue.

White House dinner marks Islamic holy month

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama praised American Muslims for enriching the nation’s culture at a dinner Tuesday to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country,” Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday’s daily fast.

The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called “a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress.”

Attendees included Congress’ two Muslim members — Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Andre Carson, D-Ind. — as well as ambassadors from Islamic nations and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

Robert Decatur, original Tuskegee Airman, dies

BILOXI, Miss. — Former Tuskegee Airman Robert Decatur, who went on to become a judge and civil-rights lawyer, has died. He was 88.

Decatur died at his home in Titusville, Fla., on Aug. 19, according to officials with the Newcomer Funeral Home there. He will be buried at Biloxi National Cemetery on Thursday with full military honors.

He was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the country’s first black military pilots and crew, who fought overseas during World War II but faced discrimination when they returned home.

Police: Search produces no evidence tied to killings

PITTSBURG, Calif. — A four-day search of the Antioch, Calif., home of Jaycee Dugard kidnapping suspects Phillip and Nancy Garrido did not produce evidence linking them to unsolved slayings in the late 1990s, Pittsburg police said Tuesday.

Pittsburg police began searching the home for evidence Friday afternoon, after El Dorado County investigators completed their examination for clues in the 1991 South Lake Tahoe kidnapping of Dugard, who they say was held captive for 18 years in a backyard lair on the Garridos’ property.

The search expanded over the weekend to the backyard of a neighboring home, on the suspicion that Phillip Garrido had access to the property when it was vacant. On Monday, investigators announced the discovery of a bone fragment during their search. Further tests will determine whether it is from a human or animal.

Judge orders arrests in abuses in Pinochet era

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean judge on Tuesday ordered the arrests of 129 former security officers on charges tied to the disappearance of leftists and the slaying of the communist party leadership during the Pinochet dictatorship.

It was the largest number of arrests ever ordered in an investigation of human-rights abuses during the “dirty war” waged while Gen. Augusto Pinochet ruled from 1973 to 1990.

Judge Victor Montiglio said the 129 were members of the army, air force and uniformed police who worked for the Dina secret police agency, which has been accused of many of the political killings and other rights violations of the Pinochet era.

15% of Colorado inmates to be released early

DENVER — Colorado officials plan to release roughly 15 percent of the state’s 23,000 prisoners early to help slash millions of dollars from the state budget.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti says budget cuts that took effect Tuesday call for the release of 3,500 inmates in Colorado prisons during the next two years.

The move is expected to save about $45 million during the next two years.

An additional 2,600 parolees will be released early from parole.

Combined dispatches