Iran Denies Nuclear Espionage Arrests
TEHRAN - - Iran's intelligence minister denied recently a newspaper report that two atomic experts had been arrested for passing nuclear secrets to foreigners.
The hard-line Ya-Lesarat weekly said recently that Iran's security agents had arrested two atomic experts for transferring classified information. It did not say who received the data.
"I strongly deny it. Nobody has been arrested for transferring classified information," Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are limited to generating electricity while Washington accuses it of pursuing a covert program to build atomic arms.
International concern about Iran's nuclear program intensified in 2002 when an exiled opposition group said Iran was hiding a massive underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy-water production plant at Arak.
Hoping to allay concerns about its nuclear program, Iran has signed up to snap U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities and suspended the assembly of uranium enrichment components.
Enriched uranium can be used to make fuel for power plants or to make bomb-grade material.
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Ontario will not renew electricity deal with Quebec
TORONTO - The Ontario government does not plan to renew the Ontario-Quebec Electricity Trade Agreement, Radio-Canada is reporting.
The seven-year contract, which expires next year, aims to reduce Ontario's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by buying 2.3 Terawatt-hours of electricity from Quebec annually — that corresponds to about seven per cent of Hydro-Quebec's average annual exports.
The announcement comes as the provincially owned Quebec utility continues its legal battle over a plan to export power to Massachusetts.
The Ontario agreement has guaranteed a seasonal exchange of energy, since Quebec has a power surplus in summer, and the province's electricity needs increase in the winter.…
