European Union Commission President Romano Prodi held...

European Union Commission President Romano Prodi held with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during a private visit to the north African nation, the EU said. Their talks included discussions about five Bulgarian nurses condemned to death in Libya for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with the AIDS virus. That issue has soured EU relations with Libya, which had improved rapidly since Gadhafi renounced weapons of mass destruction in December. European diplomats had been working quietly to save the Bulgarians. In a statement, the E.U. said Prodi had informed Gadhafi about European initiatives to help AIDS victims in Libya, particularly in the eastern city of Benghazi where the infections occurred. A Libyan court in May found the five Bulgarians and a Palestinian doctor of infecting the children with HIV-contaminated blood in an experiment to find a cure for AIDS. Human rights groups have charged that Libya concocted the experiment story to cover up for unsafe practices in its hospitals and clinics.