Nuclear chief: Iran has the right to bar UN inspectors from program
 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s nuclear chief said it has the right to bar U.N. inspectors from monitoring its disputed nuclear program, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported. Iran banned two inspectors from monitoring its nuclear activities after they reported what they said were undeclared nuclear experiments.
 
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Japanese reporter tricks captors, sends message using Twitter
 
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese journalist held hostage in Afghanistan for five months managed to send out a message via Twitter that he was alive when his captors asked him how to use a cell phone.
 
Just days before he was freed, Kosuke Tsuneoka said one of the militants brought him his new cell phone and asked the prisoner to set it up. Tsuneoka successfully got them to ask him to demonstrate how Twitter worked.
 
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Report: Reggie Bush to be stripped of Heisman from USC’s violations
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday that 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush is expected to be stripped of the award by the end of the month.
 
The former Southern Cal running back would become the first player in the 75-year history of the award to have the Heisman Trophy taken away. The report also said the award would be left vacant for ’05.
 
The NCAA found major violations in USC’s football program and levied serious sanctions against the school in June.
 
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LAPD chief defends officer’s fatal shooting of knife-holding man
 
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police Chief Charlie Beck defended Tuesday an officer’s shooting of a knife-wielding man whose death sparked a violent protest with demonstrators pelting police with rocks and bottles.
 
Beck told the Police Commission that witness and officer accounts indicate that the officer who killed Guatemalan immigrant Manuel Jamines on Sunday acted “in immediate defense of life” and that Jamines was warned in English and Spanish to drop the knife, the Los Angeles Times reported.
 
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Bobcat climbing power pole starts 5-acre brush fire in California
 
PIRU, Calif. (AP) — A bobcat climbing a power pole got electrocuted and sparked a five-acre brush fire in California’s Ventura County.
 
County fire Capt. Dan Preston told the Ventura County Star that the bobcat was apparently chasing an owl or another bird when it touched the power lines, caught fire and fell to the ground in a rural area near Piru.
 
The fire was reported at 3:36 a.m. Monday atop Torrey Peak. More than 40 firefighters extinguished the blaze about five hours later.
 
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Alexandria school segregates sexes to improve student achievement
 
ALEXANDRIA (AP) — To try to improve student achievement at her low-performing school, Arthur F. Smith Middle Magnet School Principal Norvella Williams was willing to try “anything and everything” for the new school year.
 
That included moving boys and girls into separate classrooms.
Some parents and staff thought having sex-segregated classrooms was a “crazy” idea, but so far it’s showing positive results.
 
“The first day, I saw my boys like I never seen them before,” said seventh-grade English teacher Camille Shelfo. “They were focused, they seem to be more challenged, they take more pride in their work — it just blew me away. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
 
Research has shown that single-sex classrooms, particularly with at-risk students, can improve achievement scores, Williams said.
 
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Backseat seat belt usage doubles since new law passed in 2009
 
(AP) — One year after a new law required back seat passengers to buckle up, a new survey says 58 percent are heeding the requirement and using their seat belts.
 
The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission released the survey Tuesday. It was the first such review since the 2009 law took effect.
 
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Louisiana pilot killed, 3 passengers injured in Nevada plane crash
 
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — A pilot who died and three passengers who were hurt in the crash of a private plane in a southern Nevada neighborhood were from Louisiana.
 
A family member said the 50-year-old pilot and owner of the single-engine Piper Cherokee was Douglas J. Touchet of Erath, La. Touchet’s wife, Susan, and Randall and Tamika Savoy were badly hurt when the plane crashed and burnt.
 
 
 
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