MADRID • The CIA was worried late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco might develop nuclear weapons in the 1970s, according to declassified documents cited by Spanish newspaper El Pais yesterday.
"Spain is the one European country that is deserving of some attention as a possible proliferator in the years ahead," a declassified 1974 CIA report published on El Pais's website said. The report, made available by the National Security Archive of George Washington University in Washington, D C, drew attention to Spain's extensive nuclear power programme, a pilot enrichment plant and the fact the country had refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Denmark arrests 13 gang members
COPENHAGEN • Danish police on Thursday arrested 13 members of rival gangs wanted for drug trafficking, seizing arms and large amounts of cash, police said.
"More than 100 police officers took part in the operation following an investigation into a violent shooting in December between two groups involved in drug trafficking," Bent Isager-Nielsen, police inspector at Albertslund west of Copenhagen said.
Those detained - 12 men and a woman aged between 19 and 32, are of Iraqi, Lebanese, Moroccan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin but have Danish citizenship.
9 candidates for Cyprus presidency
NICOSIA • Nine candidates registered yesterday to run in Cyprus presidential elections on February 17, state radio reported, correcting an earlier report of 10 contestants.
Incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos is ahead in most polls, closely followed by communist AKEL leader and parliament speaker Demetris Christofias.
Currently third strongest is former foreign minister and MEP Ioannis Kasoulides, running for the opposition right-wing DISY party.
If no outright winner emerges from the first round of voting a second round will be held a week later.
The other six candidates, all independents, include outspoken Cypriot MEP Marios Matsakis.
Teachers protest
for wage hike
WARSAW • Thousands of teachers from across Poland marched in the capital Warsaw yesterday demanding the country's new liberal government raise wages in elementary and secondary education.
Brandishing banners with slogans such as "We want to work, not vegetate" and "Where's the miracle promised in our wallets?" the protesters demanded a meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
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