WORLD BRIEFING

Number of centrifuges increases

Iran has increased the number of operating centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant to 4,000, a top official said, pushing ahead with the nuclear program despite threats of new U.N. sanctions.

The number was up from the 3,000 centrifuges that Iran announced in November that it was operating at its plant in the central city of Natanz. Still, it is well below the 6,000 it said last year that it would operate by this summer, suggesting the program may be behind schedule.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Reza Sheik Attar, who visited Natanz last week, said Iran was preparing to install even more centrifuges. He did not offer a time frame.

The U.N. has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze its enrichment program, which can be used to produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed for a nuclear warhead.

Candidate moves to secured house

Pakistan’s presidential front-runner has moved into a tightly guarded government compound over security fears, officials said as a militant campaign against the government led to more violence in the country’s volatile northwest.

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani told reporters that Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was staying at a hilltop mansion in Islamabad’s government quarters. Zardari is widely expected to win a Sept. 6 presidential election by lawmakers.

His party has sought to assure the U.S. since Pervez Musharraf’s ouster as president that it is committed to battling terrorists.

The country has been hit by a string of suicide bombings this month, including one last week that left 67 dead, many of them civilians.

Army spokesman Maj. Nasir Ali said today that at least 30 Taliban fighters were killed Friday when the military, backed by fighter jets, destroyed some of the militant hide-outs in the Swat Valley, a once-popular tourist destination.

Police use tear gas on protesters

Thai police fired tear gas at thousands of right-wing protesters besieging their headquarters, and demonstrators outside the capital disrupted air and rail service in a growing campaign to unseat the prime minister.

Saying that Western-style democracy has allowed corruption to flourish, the protesters have said they hope to repeat their success of two years ago, when they helped topple then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej insisted that he would not step down and may declare a state of emergency if rioting worsened. Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy settled in for a fourth night occupying the grounds housing his offices.

$160-million plan for nuclear sub

Brazil will spend $160 million by the end of next year on the development of a nuclear-propelled submarine to protect the oil reserves found recently off its coast, the defense minister said.

The vessel, which officials hope to be complete by 2020, would be the first such submarine in Latin America. Brazil does not have nuclear weapons.

It is believed to be preparing to spend $3.5 billion by the end of 2010 to upgrade its weapon systems. Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said the new defense plan included provisions for a massive technology transfer from France.

Death is blamed on tainted cheese

One person has died and 87 are sick with salmonella food poisoning from tainted cheese in the Canadian province of Quebec, health officials said.

The outbreak comes amid consumer alarm over a massive recall by Maple Leaf Foods Inc. of ready-to-eat meats. An outbreak of listeriosis food poisoning from deli meats produced at the company’s Toronto plant has been linked to the deaths of 15 people.

The salmonella outbreak, which officials said had no connection to the Maple Leaf case, involves three brands of cheese manufactured by Fromages La Chaudiere Inc., a small family-run business that sells in Quebec only.

From Times Wire Reports