WORLD BRIEFING

ITALY

7 accused of trafficking arms to Iran

Italy arrested seven people on suspicion of trafficking arms to Iran -- two Iranians they believe are secret service agents and five Italians, police said Wednesday.

Two Iranian suspects also believed to be working for secret services remained at large.

Italian police worked with authorities in Britain, Romania and Switzerland and made the arrests overnight in several cities.

The operation prevented tracer bullets, explosives from Eastern Europe and material for bombs from being sent to Iran, as well as 1,000 German-made rifle sights and 120 military diving jackets, police said.

BRITAIN

Ex-spy allegedly stole secret files

A former MI6 spy stole top-secret files on intelligence-gathering techniques and offered to sell them for nearly $3 million to an unspecified foreign government, a prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Piers Arnold told a London court that Daniel Houghton, 25, allegedly tried to sell the highly classified documents, but was arrested Monday after British intelligence posed as the potential buyer. Houghton was not asked to enter a plea during a brief hearing.

Arnold said Houghton, a dual Dutch and British national, is accused of copying files from the domestic intelligence agency MI5 to CDs and DVDs while working for the MI6 overseas intelligence service between September 2007 and May 2009.

SOMALIA

Pirates hijack Saudi tanker

Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi tanker with 14 crew members onboard, a spokesman for the European Union Naval Force said.

The Al Nisr al Saudi usually carried fuel oil but was empty when it was taken in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, said Cmdr. John Harbour. The captain of the ship is Greek and the nationalities of the rest of the crew were not known.

AUSTRALIA

Bombs in home found to be fake

A Sydney bomb squad evacuated neighbors and sent in robots to clear dozens of suspected explosives strewn about the house of a man who recently died, only to discover the devices were fake, officials said.

More than 50 bomblike devices were found in the house and in the man’s car, New South Wales state Det. Supt. Gavin Dengate said. The deceased man, a 69-year-old former electrician known to have been reclusive, apparently wanted to scare people away, Dengate said.

-- times wire reports