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Iran bans U.S. inspectors from its nuclear facilities

 
Landslides kill 30 in Nepal Landslides caused by heavy rains buried several mountain villages Thursday in Nepal, killing at least 30 people. Nepalese police and rescuers search through the debris in Lumle village, about 125 miles west of Kathmandu, for more victims. Bad weather was hampering the search for others, authorities said.
Landslides kill 30 in Nepal Landslides caused by heavy rains buried several mountain villages Thursday in Nepal, killing at least 30 people. Nepalese police and rescuers search through the debris in Lumle village, about 125 miles west of Kathmandu, for more victims. Bad weather was hampering the search for others, authorities said.
Published July 31, 2015

Iran

Iran bans U.S. inspectors from nuke facilities

Iran will not allow American or Canadian inspectors working for the U.N. nuclear watchdog to visit its nuclear facilities, an official said Thursday on state TV. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will only allow inspectors from countries that have diplomatic relations with it. Iran and world powers reached a deal this month aimed at curbing Tehran's disputed nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. The United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

New York

Personhood for two chimps? Suit tossed

A judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to free two chimpanzees from a New York state university by arguing the humanlike animals deserved "personhood" status. State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe wrote in a decision made public Thursday that she is bound by a higher court's decision from considering Leo and Hercules as people. The Nonhuman Rights Project had filed court papers in Manhattan to remove the chimps from Stony Brook University on Long Island, where they are used in locomotion studies. Lawyers hoped to place them in a Florida sanctuary. Nonhuman Rights Project lawyers argued the highly intelligent chimps are "autonomous and self-determining beings."

Texas

Fire, smoke affect two planes in Dallas

Landing gear on a Spirit Airlines jet caught fire during landing Thursday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, officials said. No injuries were reported. Airline spokeswoman Iraida Mendez says Spirit Flight 407 was arriving shortly before 1 p.m. from Orlando when the wheel ignited. Airport fire units extinguished the fire quickly and passengers got off at the gate. Mendez says 178 people were on board the Airbus A-320. The fire was the second incident involving a plane at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport Thursday. An American Airlines flight was evacuated after smoke was detected in the cabin as the plane prepared to leave the airport. Three passengers were slightly injured while evacuating using emergency slides.

Britain

Digging deeper into spy poison case

The killers of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko may have harmed the health of thousands of Londoners as they trailed radioactive polonium-210 around the city, a lawyer for British police said Thursday. Richard Horwell told an inquiry into Litvinenko's death that the killing may have exposed "hundreds if not thousands of Londoners" to contamination. Litvinenko, a KGB officer-turned-Kremlin critic, died in 2006, three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel. On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination — a claim Moscow denies. But British authorities say there is evidence of Russian state involvement and want to try two Russians who met Litvinenko in London, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi. That seems a remote prospect. Moscow refuses to extradite them, and Lugovoi is now a lawmaker. A judge will decide later this year.

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TeXas

Man finds his phone, which fell from plane

A Texas businessman used an app to find his iPhone in a rural pasture after it fell about 9,300 feet during a flight from Houston. The Wichita Falls Times Record News reported Thursday that Ben Wilson says it still works. Wilson says he and a pilot were traveling home Monday in a Beechcraft Bonanza when a pressure change caused the passenger door to slightly open. Wilson didn't realize his cellphone fell out until after landing. Wilson, who owns Gas Corp. of America in Wichita Falls, and an employee used an app to narrow the search to near Jacksboro, more than 50 miles away. The pair set off on their search Tuesday and found the phone under a mesquite tree.

California

State exceeds goal for water usage cutback

Water use in California dropped more than 27 percent last month, beating the mandatory 25 percent cutback ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown as the state struggles through one of the worst droughts in its history.

Times wires