World Scene

IRAN

Officials wary of inspectors

TEHRAN — Iranian officials vowed to carefully watch for any attempted espionage by international inspectors, who yesterday were visiting a military complex that the United States believes could be involved in nuclear weapons research.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, arrived in Iran on Wednesday.

Iran has said it will allow U.N. nuclear experts to take environmental samples from landscaped areas outside the military complex’s ammunition production workshops but it won’t allow them to inspect military equipment.

COLOMBIA

Black Hawk crashes, killing 20 soldiers

BOGOTA — A U.S.-donated military helicopter crashed yesterday while flying in thick fog during a nighttime counternarcotics mission in southwest Colombia, killing all 20 soldiers aboard, the army said.

The Black Hawk helicopter, used in the U.S.-funded anti-drug effort called Plan Colombia, went down just after midnight near the village of Manguipayan, 340 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota.

SOUTH AFRICA

Thatcher’ son leaves after guilty plea

CAPE TOWN — The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pleaded guilty yesterday to unwittingly helping bankroll a botched coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, and in exchange he received a fine, a suspended prison sentence and the right to rejoin his family in the United States.

Within hours of agreeing to the $506,000 fine, Mark Thatcher checked in for a flight out of South Africa.

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