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Nuclear talks in Iran are called positive<p></p>

 
Published May 22, 2012

IRAN

Nuclear talks in Tehran are called positive

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iranian officials held talks Monday that both sides described as "positive," but it remained unclear whether Iran had given ground on allowing access to key nuclear scientists and research facilities. Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, traveled to Tehran over the weekend for the unusual session and afterward praised his hosts, saying they engaged constructively with the agency. The IAEA has been pressing Iran for years to come clean about alleged nuclear-weapons research conducted by its scientists in the past decade. Amano's visit came as Iranian negotiators prepared to travel to Baghdad for nuclear talks with the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia on Wednesday.

Washington

Nuclear regulatory chairman to resign

Gregory Jaczko, whose three-year tenure as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been marked by bitter battles with colleagues and with Congress, announced Monday that he would step down as soon as a successor was confirmed.

The White House said it would name a successor "soon," but it is unlikely that anyone will be confirmed to succeed Jaczko for many months, ensuring continued turmoil at the deeply divided agency. The commission's inspector general is preparing a report to be issued in coming weeks that is expected to repeat some of the charges of mismanagement and verbal abuse of subordinates that have isolated Jaczko from other members.

JACKSON, Miss.

Gang blamed for deadly prison riot

A gang fight in a prison in Mississippi for illegal immigrants escalated into a riot involving as many as 300 inmates, some lashing out with sticks or homemade knives as the uprising spread through the prison, a sheriff said.

A guard was beaten to death and at least 20 other people were injured. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted into the night, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said.

Elsewhere

Los Angeles: The 160 bales of marijuana found floating in the ocean off Southern California have a street value of $4 million, authorities said Monday. They say it's unclear who dumped the marijuana.

GREENSBORO, N.C.: A federal jury in the political corruption trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards deliberated for a second day Monday without reaching a verdict.

Albania: A bus carrying university students on a pregraduation trip toppled off a mountain cliff in southern Albania, killing 12 people and injuring another 21, authorities said.

France: A prosecutor on Monday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of rape in a Washington hotel by former IMF chief and onetime French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Times wires