Iran marks revolution with crackdown on protestsTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian security forces unleashed a crushing sweep against opposition protesters on Thursday as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution to defy the West and boast his country was now a “nuclear state.”Shootout in Rio de Janero slum ahead of Carnival; 8 deadRIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Gunfire erupted Thursday in a Rio de Janeiro slum, killing at least seven suspected drug traffickers and a policeman a day before Carnival celebrations kick off.A police spokesman said the gunbattle in the Jacarezinho slum started while police were on a routine patrol. He declined to be quoted by name, citing standard department policy.Ex-President Bill Clinton undergoes heart procedureNEW YORK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton had two stents inserted Thursday to prop open a clogged heart artery after being hospitalized with chest pains, an adviser said.Clinton, 63, “is in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” said adviser Douglas Band.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left Washington and headed to New York to be with her husband.Army discharging single mom who refused deploymentSAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A single-mom soldier who says she refused to deploy to Afghanistan because she had no family able to care for her young son will be discharged from the military instead of facing a court-martial, the Army said Thursday.Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, an Army cook stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, was arrested in November after skipping her unit’s deployment flight. Hutchinson, 21, said she couldn’t leave her son because her mother had backed out of plans to keep the child a few days before the soldier’s scheduled departure.Rising Mississippi worries levee officialsLAKE PROVIDENCE (AP) — The Mississippi River is high, and that worries the president of the levee district that protects Louisiana’s eastern border.Reynold Minsky of Lake Providence says crews have already put sandbags around two sand boils in Waterproof to equalize pressure between the high river and the inner side of the levee. He says the 5th Louisiana Levee District is watching 10 other sand boils — water moving underground, undermining the levee and pushing up sand inside the protected area.Minsky says there are two sand boils north of Lake Providence, two miles from the levee. He says that’s very abnormal.Minsky has been on the levee district since 1983. He said he can’t remember the river ever being this high, this long, this time of year.Shaw Group awarded 5-year envrionmental contract(AP) — The Shaw Group Inc. has been awarded a five-year, worldwide environmental services contract with the federal government.Baton Rouge-based Shaw said it will provide munitions removal and environmental compliance services for the Defense Department.  
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