Aware that most Americans would like to dump them all, members of Congress hope to regain some sense of trust by subjecting themselves to tougher penalties for insider trading and requiring they disclose stock transactions within 30 days. Read More

Iran's foreign minister expressed optimism Sunday that a visit by U.N. inspectors to Iran's nuclear facilities would produce an understanding, despite world concerns that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Read More

Iranian lawmakers have finalized a draft bill requiring the government to immediately halt crude oil sales to Europe in response to the bloc's decision to ban the purchase of Iranian oil, a member of parliament said Saturday. Nasser Soudani said the legislature's energy committee completed its work on the bill Saturday and that parliament will debate and vote on it during an open session on Sunday. Read More

A Tennessee Republican lawmaker is defending comments he made on a satellite radio show about the origins of AIDS and how it's transmitted. Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville was interviewed Friday by Michelangelo Signorile, editor-at-large of Huffington Gay Voices, on Signorile's radio show on SiriusXM's LGBT channel, OutQ, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/yZkjRt ). Read More