World Scene

CANADA

Man held in bid to sell nukes to Iran

TORONTO | A Canadian man has been charged with trying to export nuclear technology to Iran, his native country, police said Friday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Greg Johnson said Mahmoud Yadegari tried to ship pressure transducers, which are devices that can be used in the process of making enriched uranium.

While the devices are relatively easy to obtain, RCMP Sgt. Marc Laporte said Mr. Yadegari improperly described the items, underevaluated their value and removed some of their packaging and labeling when trying to ship them to a company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that had affiliations in Iran.

Canadian police, acting on a tip from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said Mr. Yadegari obtained the transducers from the United States. He is in jail pending a bail hearing.

RUSSIA

President hits NATO on Georgia drill

MOSCOW | Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday denounced NATO’s plan to hold military exercises in Georgia, calling it a dangerous move that could threaten efforts to improve relations between Moscow and the Western alliance.

NATO has said Russia is welcome to join the exercises beginning May 6 and involving 19 other countries.

But Russia is vehemently opposed to their being held in Georgia, claiming the former Soviet republic is preparing for aggression against two separatist territories it lost in a war with Russia in August. Russian troops are now stationed in the territories, which Moscow has recognized as independent.

SPAIN

Prosecutors oppose U.S. torture probe

MADRID | Spain should not investigate allegations that six senior Bush administration officials gave legal cover for the torture of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Spanish prosecutors formally recommended Friday.

While their ruling is not binding, the announcement all but dooms prospects of the case against the men going forward. On Thursday, Spain’s top law-enforcement official, Candido Conde-Pumpido, said he would not support an investigation against the officials — including former U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

The case was brought to investigative Judge Baltasar Garzon last month by a group of human-rights lawyers.

On Friday, the prosecutors recommended that if any investigation is opened, Judge Garzon should be replaced by another judge who already is investigating whether secret CIA flights to or from Guantanamo entered Spanish airspace or landed at Spanish airports. A few hours later, Judge Garzon formally handed the case to a board of National Court magistrates that will decide which judge should handle the matter.

VATICAN CITY

Condom criticism seen as pressure

VATICAN CITY | Critics of the Catholic Church’s social teachings are trying to intimidate Pope Benedict XVI into silence, the Vatican charged Friday in responding to attacks on the pontiff’s remarks about AIDS and condom use.

In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican defended the pope’s view that condoms aren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic and could make it worse. On his way to Africa last month, he said the best strategy is the church’s effort to promote sexual responsibility through abstinence and monogamy.

France, Germany, the United Nations’ AIDS-fighting agency and the British medical journal the Lancet called the remarks irresponsible and dangerous. The Belgian parliament passed a resolution calling them “unacceptable,” and Belgium’s ambassador to the Holy See lodged a formal protest Wednesday, prompting the Vatican Secretariat to issue its tough statement denouncing the Belgian vote.

WEST BANK

U.S. envoy meets Palestinian leader

RAMALLAH | U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday amid warnings that peace talks cannot advance unless Israel’s new government commits to a two-state solution.

Mr. Mitchell emerged from the talks reiterating that “the two-state solution is the only solution” in the region.

The largely right-wing Cabinet of Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced itself from past governments’ support for the U.S.-backed concept of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and has called previous agreements into question.

Mr. Mitchell’s talks with Mr. Abbas came after meetings with Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Thursday that highlighted the rift between the United States and Israel over the Middle East peace process.

BANGLADESH

Cyclone hits coast, damages homes

DHAKA | A cyclone battered the Bangladesh coast with heavy rain and winds of up to 62 mph on Friday, forcing the storm-prone country to evacuate thousands of people, officials said.

Thousands of mud-walled and bamboo-constructed houses, vast areas of crops, trees, electricity and telephone poles were damaged, leaving parts of the Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong areas without power and telecommunications.

Officials said they had no immediate word on any casualties from Cyclone Bijli. More than 200,000 people had been evacuated to shelters in the Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar districts, local residents said.

Storms and cyclones batter Bangladesh almost every year. A cyclone in April 1991 killed about 140,000 people, and another in November 2007 killed around 3,000.

VENEZUELA

Opposition leader’s assets frozen

CARACAS | A Venezuelan court has frozen assets of a top opposition leader who is in hiding following corruption charges by the government of leftist President Hugo Chavez, the government said Friday.

A Caracas court granted a state prosecutor’s request to freeze property held by Manuel Rosales, a former presidential candidate who is charged with illicit enrichment, said Attorney General Luisa Ortega.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports