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U.S., Russia grab uranium from Bulgaria

MOSCOW - An international team of nuclear specialists backed by armed security units swooped into a shuttered Bulgarian reactor and recovered 37 pounds of highly enriched uranium in a secretive operation intended to forestall nuclear terrorism, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The elaborately planned mission, which was organized with the cooperation of Bulgarian authorities, removed nearly enough uranium to make a small nuclear bomb, the officials said. The material was sent by plane on Tuesday to a Russian facility where it will be converted into a form that cannot be used for weapons, they said.

It was the third time that U.S. and Russian authorities have teamed up to retrieve highly enriched uranium from Soviet-era facilities since last year in an effort to keep such material from falling into the hands of international terrorists or rogue states.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The most vocal critic of plans to tame Afghanistan's warlords with a strong presidency appealed Tuesday for international backing, saying he worried the strategy could lead to a dictatorship.

About 500 delegates completed a 10th day of debate on a constitution proposed by the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Hafiz Mansour, a council delegate close to the Northern Alliance faction, on Tuesday renewed his call for a strong parliament to keep the president in check.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Tuesday promised legal action against people found to have been involved in sharing nuclear secrets with other countries and reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear nonproliferation.

Masood Khan, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said, "There were indications that certain individuals might have been motivated by personal ambition or greed" but added that no final determination has been made.

TORONTO - An Anglican bishop in British Columbia has ordered a church closed after it refused to support same-sex unions and declared itself independent, Canada's National Post newspaper said Tuesday.

Despite the decision by Bishop Michael Ingham to close the Holy Cross Church in Abbotsford, the Rev. James Wagner said his congregation would celebrate Mass on Christmas as planned.