kimblr.com

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced major progress in Iran’s push for nuclear power, saying Tuesday that his nation was installing thousands of new uranium-enriching centrifuges and testing a much faster version of the device.
Ahmadinejad said scientists were putting 6,000 new centrifuges into place, about twice the current number, and testing a new type that works five times faster.
That would represent a major expansion of uranium enrichment — a process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned, however, that the claim could not be immediately substantiated.
Diplomats close to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency say Iran has exaggerated its progress and seen problems operating the 3,000 centrifuges already in place. One diplomat said Ahmadinejad’s claims of a more-advanced centrifuge appeared to allude to a type known as the IR-2, which the agency and Iran said months ago that Iran had begun testing.
Iran’s nuclear ambitions worry the U.S. and its allies, which accuse Iran of using a civilian atomic-energy program to mask a drive for weapons of mass destruction. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled nuclear weapons are against Islam, and the country’s leaders insist their nuclear program is meant only to produce energy.
Ahmadinejad trumpeted the country’s nuclear accomplishments while inspecting the controversial enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Natanz on the country’s third annual National Day of Nuclear Technology, which marks the anniversary of the day Iran began producing enriched uranium.
Iran’s state-controlled television and radio have been broadcasting promotional programs touting Iran’s nuclear achievements. In downtown Tehran, pro-government activists distributed sweets to passers-by in commemoration of the holiday.
Enriched uranium is produced by processing uranium gas through small, sensitive high-speed centrifuges. It can be used for producing fuel for a power plant or, if highly concentrated, fuel for a nuclear bomb.

seattletimes.nwsource.com

VIENNA, Austria - Iran has linked hundreds of centrifuges - machines to enrich uranium - reflecting a possible intention to speed up the process, diplomats linked to the International Agency for Atomic Energy said in interviews here this week. All of them asked for anonymity.
One diplomat said more than 300 centrifuges had been linked up in two separate units in an underground enrichment plant and a third unit was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are the sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge Tehran recently acknowledged testing.
But a second diplomat said that although the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s. A third said the machines were not running. Uranium enrichment can produce both fuel for power plants and the fissile core of nuclear warheads. - AP
TOKYO - Japanese police arrested a U.S. sailor yesterday in the stabbing death of a taxi driver near an American naval base outside Tokyo, fueling anger here over crimes allegedly involving U.S. troops.
Olatunbosun Ugbogu, 22, a Nigerian national, was arrested on murder and robbery charges, and had confessed, a local police spokesman said. Japanese officials reacted sharply to the arrest.
Public anger over the U.S. military presence is mounting after a series of allegations against U.S. servicemen. A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a U.S. Marine in February on Okinawa, sparking protests. Prosecutors dropped charges against the Marine after the girl withdrew her complaint. In Yokosuka, a Japanese court convicted a U.S. sailor of robbing and fatally beating a 56-year-old Japanese woman and sentenced him to life in prison. - AP
DUBLIN, Ireland - The path quickly cleared yesterday for Finance Minister Brian Cowen to become Ireland’s next prime minister after the entire cabinet backed him to replace Bertie Ahern.
Cowen, 48, who is also deputy prime minister, was poised to be the only candidate after nominations close tomorrow for the next leader of Fianna Fail, Ireland’s perennial No. 1 party.

philly.com