Official says journalist will get fair appeal

Official says journalist will get fair appeal

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister assured his visiting Japanese counterpart that the case of an American journalist imprisoned in Tehran for allegedly spying for the United States will get a fair review on appeal.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said 32-year-old Roxana Saberi’s appeal will be “reviewed justly and humanely.” He spoke at a joint news conference Saturday with Japan’s Hirofumi Nakasone, who expressed concern over the case during his visit to Iran.

Saberi is a dual Iranian-American citizen who was born in the United States and grew up in Fargo, N.D. Her father is Iranian, and her mother is Japanese. She was arrested in January in Tehran and sentenced last month to eight years in prison after a one-day trial behind closed doors.

18 Venezuelan soldiers die in helicopter crash

CARACAS, Venezuela — Eighteen Venezuelan soldiers died in a helicopter crash near Venezuela’s border with Colombia on Sunday, President Hugo Chavez said.

The soldiers were patrolling the 1,400-mile border separating Venezuela and Colombia when the Mi-25 military helicopter crashed near the town of El Alto de Rubio, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported. Two pilots and the entire crew were killed. Army Brig. Gen. Domingo Alberto Feneite was among the victims.

Egypt drops U.S. Bechtel, gives job to Australians

CAIRO — Egypt’s Electricity Ministry says it has dropped U.S. construction giant Bechtel as a consultant for the country’s first nuclear reactor.

The state-run news agency quoted a ministry statement on Sunday as saying it has chosen Australia’s WorleyParsons for the 10-year consultancy.

In December the ministry said it had picked Bechtel for the $181 million project. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced plans for the nuclear power project to diversify Egypt’s energy resources and preserve the country’s oil and gas. He said Egypt would not seek a nuclear bomb.

Motorcycle gang probed in 2 homicides

ST. LOUIS — Law enforcement officers are investigating a motorcycle gang called the Invaders in the 2007 deaths of two St. Louis-area men and the disappearance of the third.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that court documents showed that for more than a year investigators have suspected members of the gang of killing 39-year-old Randy Greenman, and 36-year-old George Whitter.

The two vanished in September 2007, and their mutilated bodies were found weeks later dumped in two locations in Missouri and Illinois.

The newspaper also disclosed a Drug Enforcement Administration affidavit accusing two Invaders of the 2007 presumed murder of a 61-year-old gang member, possibly for cooperating with authorities.

Nuclear plant back on line

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Normal operations have resumed at the nation’s oldest nuclear-power plant a week after it was shut down because of a failed transformer.

Officials at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey had manually stopped its reactor without incident April 25. Crews repaired the transformer and modified its power supply.

The crews also found and stopped two small leaks in underground pipes believed to be the source of a weak radioactive substance recently detected on the plant’s property in Lacey Township, about 60 miles east of Philadelphia and 75 miles south of New York City. They replaced the pipes.

Oyster Creek opened in December 1969. It generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes a year.

Wife seeking divorce from Italy’s premier

ROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s second wife has for years lived a very separate life from her billionaire husband, rarely participating in his official events or travels. On Sunday, she confirmed she was seeking a divorce, citing his reported flirtations with younger women.

After 19 years of marriage and three children, former actress Veronica Lario said she had hired an attorney to begin separation and divorce proceedings against the media mogul-turned-politician, the ANSA news agency said.

Associated Press