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The incident happened on January 30, the defense minister later said.

A long-simmering row over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, has in recent months escalated to the point where both have scrambled fighter jets while patrol ships shadow each other in nearby seas.

Concern that the increasing cat-and-mouse encounters between aircraft or ships will cause an accidental clash are giving impetus to efforts to dial down tension, including a possible leaders' summit.

But while hopes have emerged of a thaw in the chill that began when Japan bought the islands from a private citizen last September, deep mistrust and pumped up nationalism complicated by bitter Chinese memories of Japan's wartime aggression mean any rapprochement would likely be fragile.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Robert Birsel)

The Tehran prosecutor's Web site announced the arrest of Saeed Mortazavi late Monday night, although it gave no official reason for the action.

The move follows the disclosure of a secret film by President Ahmadinejad on Monday in parliament, in which Mr. Mortazavi could be seen purportedly discussing a fraudulent business deal proposed by Fazel Larijani, 49, the youngest of the five brothers of the politically influential Larijani family.

The president's disclosure of the film of the meeting caused an uproar in Iran, where allegations of corruption are usually made behind closed doors.

The ensuing arrest of Mr. Mortazavi, the president's ally, heightens the intensifying stakes in the battle. Mr. Mortazavi has been controversial figure, known for closing dozens of reformist newspapers while he was a judge. The Canadian government has implicated him in the death of an Iran-Canadian photographer in 2003. And in 2010 a parliamentary report concluded that Mr. Mortazavi, while working as a prosecutor, shared responsibility for the death of three protesters in a police prison facility.

Most recently lawmakers forced his dismissal as the head of the vast Social Welfare Organization, only to have President Ahmadinejad reinstate him as caretaker.

Traveling to Egypt on the first visit of an Iranian president to that country since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Mr. Ahmadinejad condemned the arrest of Mr. Mortazavi, saying he had discovered a crime, but was now being punished.

"The judiciary belongs to the nation, and is not a family organization," he told the state Islamic Republic News Agency on Tuesday, an apparent swipe at the Larijani family.

President Ahmadinejad, who is embroiled in political fights with both the parliament and the judiciary, has long criticized what he calls the Larijani family's grip on power in Iran. The Larijanis counter that they have all been appointed to their positions through normal procedures.

The Larijani family is well known in Iran for the high positions they hold. One of the brothers, Ali Larijani, 55, is the head of parliament and former top nuclear negotiator, another, Sadegh Larijani, 52, is an ayatollah who heads Iran's judiciary. The oldest brother, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, 61, is a Berkeley-educated mathematician, and one of the main theoreticians of the Islamic Republic's political ideology.

Ali Larijani is expected to run in upcoming presidential elections scheduled for June 14, for which president Ahmadinejad is expected to support one of his own close aides as a candidate. The accusations against the Larijani family seem aimed at portraying them and their supporters as corrupt as elections near.

Mr. Mortazavi's arrest, directly following Mr. Ahmadinejad's disclosure of the film, is remarkable given that many politicians had called for Mr. Mortazavi's arrest over the prison deaths, an incident harshly condemned by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"A person was attempting to do trades that seem illegal," Mr. Mortazavi told the Iranian Student News Agency on Monday before his arrest. "I merely reported this case to the government."

On Sunday Ali Larijani said in parliament that he had no problem with the accusations, saying it reflected more on the president's conduct. "They only show his true character," the semiofficial Fars News Agency quoted him as saying.

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for the first trip by an Iranian head of state to Egypt since the 1979 revolution, underlining the more open ties that have developed since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state.

President Mohamed Mursi kissed Ahmadinejad as he disembarked from his plane at Cairo airport, footage broadcast by Egyptian state television showed.

Such a visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat whose 30 years in power safeguarded Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and resulted in deeper ties between Cairo and the West.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

A day after the newly-confirmed archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, took office saying he shares the Church of England's opposition to marriage between people of the same gender, three cabinet officials said in a letter published in The Daily Telegraph that the new legislation was "the right thing to do at the right time."

"Marriage has evolved over time. We believe that opening it up to same-sex couples will strengthen, not weaken, the institution. Attitudes toward gay people have changed. A substantial majority of the public now favor allowing same sex couples to marry, and support has increased rapidly."

The three ministers — George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Home Secretary Theresa May — also asked whether it was "any longer acceptable to exclude people from marriage simply because they love someone of the same sex."

The debate has divided Britain's Conservatives, who rule in uneasy coalition with the smaller Liberal Democrats. Political analysts forecast that, when the vote is held on Tuesday evening in Parliament, it will be approved despite opposition by scores of Conservative lawmakers because the bulk of Liberal Democrat and opposition Labour legislators are in favor.

However, that outcome could embarrass Mr. Cameron since he will be securing approval for a change that he has championed with the support of his political adversaries and in the teeth of opposition from within his own ranks. The size of the likely revolt among Conservative lawmakers is uncertain, but Mr. Cameron's allies are trying to reduce it, seeing the vote as a test of his authority.

Opponents of the legislation say it will alienate traditional Conservative voters, jeopardizing Mr. Cameron's prospects at the 2015 national election. But supporters say it will bring in new backing from outside the party.

Coincidentally, the vote is scheduled a day after Archbishop Welby, 57, was confirmed in his new post to replace the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, who has retired 10 years in office.

The new archbishop, the spiritual head of the world's 77 million Anglicans, endorsed the traditional view that while the Church of England has no objection to civil partnerships between people of the same gender, it is, as a recent church statement put it, "committed to the traditional understanding of the institution of marriage as being between one man and one woman."

Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Monday that he would be "voting for equal marriage in the House of Commons, and I'll be doing so proudly." He also said he would urge his 255 legislators in the 649-member body to vote with him, although a small group will likely vote against.

"I'll be voting for equal marriage for a very simple reason: I don't think that the person you love should determine the rights you have," Mr. Miliband said on Monday.

The legislation, which applies to England and Wales, would permit civil marriage between same-sex couples, but specifically exempt the Church of England and other faiths from an obligation to perform such ceremonies. Some faith groups, including the Quakers, have said they want the legal right to perform same-sex marriages.

In their letter, Mr. Osborne, Mr. Hague and Ms. May said: "Our party also has a strong belief in religious freedom, a vital element of a free society. The Bill ensures that no faith group will be forced to conduct same-sex marriages. The legal advice is clear that these protections for religious groups cannot be overturned by the courts."

"Religious freedom works both ways. Why should faith groups, such as the Quakers, that wish to conduct gay marriages be forbidden from doing so? This Bill will enhance religious freedom, not restrict it."

Jesús Murillo Karam, the attorney general, said a team of investigators from Mexico, Spain, the United States and Britain had found no evidence of explosives. He noted that there were no burn marks like those usually produced by explosives, nor were there signs of a crater, nor did investigators find any bomb-making materials in the office building where the blast occurred Thursday, just behind the company's Pemex tower.

"We found no residue of any kind of explosive device," Mr. Murillo said. He added that it had been a "diffuse" explosion, causing damage consistent with an accumulation of gas. The pressure pushed several floors of the building up, he said, and then they fell, collapsing on dozens of workers, including two more found dead this weekend buried in the rubble.

His explanation, delivered at a news conference late Monday, brought to a close several days of speculation. The government had been heavily criticized for not sharing enough information about the cause even as experts warned that investigations of this kind often take several days to figure out.

There are still some unanswered questions. Mr. Murillo said officials had yet to discover the source of the gas, which had built up in the basement of the building. Investigators believe it was methane that leaked from several ducts and tunnels underneath or connected to the building, he said. Why they leaked, who failed to notice (Pemex is responsible for inspecting its own buildings) and what exactly caused the gas to explode have not been clearly determined.

Mr. Murillo said that while there appeared to be no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, criminal charges were still a possibility.

When the blast occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the 52-story tower, about 4 p.m. Thursday, windows shattered, the ground shook and thousands of panicked employees fled.

At the time, company officials said there was significant damage to the first floor and mezzanine of the building, and witnesses said they saw rescue workers helping trapped employees who had been pinned under falling debris, while others dragged out the injured and the dead.

The future of Pemex is a subject of debate. The national institution has been plagued by declining production, theft and an abysmal safety record that includes a major pipeline explosion almost every year. A pipeline blast in September killed 30 workers.

On Monday, the Knicks dismantled the Pistons for the third time this season, 99-85.

There were plenty of similarities between Monday's game and the one played in Britain in January, that one a 102-87 Knicks victory. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 27 points Monday, after posting 26 in London. The Knicks began Monday's game by building a 20-6 lead. They had a 16-2 lead after the first five minutes in London.

But Tyson Chandler provided one notable difference, giving the Garden crowd a reason to remain engaged in the fourth quarter Monday in a game whose outcome had long been Chandler was responsible for the biggest highlight — and the loudest roar from the crowd — midway through the fourth. After the Pistons' Will Bynum missed a free throw with 6 minutes 3 seconds left, Chandler corralled the ball to secure his 20th rebound, reaching that total for the third straight game. The last Knick to achieve the feat was Willis Reed in 1969. No N.B.A. player has recorded 20 rebounds in four straight games.

"It's a tough feat," Chandler said. "It hasn't been done in a long time since Willis Reed, and anytime you are mentioned in the same breath, it's a tall task."

Chandler had plenty of opportunities for rebounds against the Pistons, who shot 40 percent from the field and missed 52 shots. When Chandler came out of the game with 4:49 remaining he received a warm ovation.

The Knicks (31-15) have won five straight games, all at the Garden. That streak has allowed them to stay within a half-game of the Miami Heat for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks now have a .673 winning percentage, compared with the .375 clip they were playing at a year ago.

After the Knicks left London, Woodson said he gave his team a goal over their remaining games before the All-Star break, which begins Feb. 14.

"I said we had to go 9-2 in that stretch and we're on pace if we continue to win," Woodson said before the game. "That's important because when we come back off this All-Star break, it really gets tough. Games are going to start coming so fast at us. March will be a tough month, so we have to put ourselves ahead of the pace going into the All-Star break so we're prepared for March when we come back."

The Knicks will play the Wizards in Washington on Wednesday, giving them a chance to extend their winning streak and offering Chandler an opportunity to do something not even Reed could do.

REBOUNDS

Monday's game marked the one-year anniversary Jeremy Lin's sudden rise with the Knicks last season, and the start of Linsanity. Lin, an undrafted free agent from Harvard, had 25 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in a victory against the Nets. Lin's last game in a Knicks uniform was against the Pistons on March 24. After that game, Lin, now with the Houston Rockets, rested his knee. He had season-ending surgery April 2.