Chatham County | featured news

Europe’s migration deal faces hurdle
NICOSIA, Cyprus — European Union leaders seek a mutually binding deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants by sea to Greece. But several nations stand in the way of such a pact — and tiny Cyprus could pose the greatest diplomatic challenge of all.

Drawdown sends a strong message to Assad
BEIRUT — Russia’s plan to withdraw forces from Syria is sending a strong message to President Bashar Assad, whose hard-line stance is diverging from Moscow’s interest in declaring its intervention in the country a success while also accelerating peace efforts.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama sent an unmistakable message to Americans on Tuesday ahead of his historic trip to Havana: Cuba is open for business.
Punching fresh holes in the generations-old U.S. embargo, Obama’s administration removed the last meaningful restrictions on travel, putting a Cuba vacation within reach for millions of Americans over the coming years. The sweeping changes also clear a path for Cuban athletes to one day play Major League Baseball and other professional sports.

Lawyer: Monument lawsuit shouldn’t proceed
GREENWOOD, S.C. — Some American Legion members in South Carolina who went to court to right an old racial wrong shouldn’t be allowed to press their case, a lawyer for a top state political leader said Tuesday.

ATLANTA — A push to expand the number of people allowed to possess medical marijuana in Georgia got new life Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker’s original proposal stalled in the state Senate.
Republican Rep. Allen Peake of Macon gutted an unrelated Senate bill already approved by that chamber and replaced it with his proposal extending immunity for possessing medical cannabis oil to patients with autism, HIV or AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder and several other conditions.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was dismayed by “vulgar and divisive rhetoric” directed at women and minorities as well as the violence that has occurred in the 2016 presidential campaign, a swipe at Republican front-runner Donald Trump that also served as a challenge to other political leaders to spe

Responding to “market dynamics, strong local opposition and conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses,” federal officials on Tuesday removed the mid- and southeast Atlantic coast from its offshore drilling plans.
For environmental groups in Georgia, the announcement was a sweet victory.

Condo pools to get relaxed scrutiny
ATLANTA — Swimming pools at condominium complexes will be regarded under the same health rules as those at country clubs and apartment houses — which are exempt from local regulation, according to legislation passed by the Senate on Tuesday.