WORLD BRIEFS

IRAN: UN warns of nuke advances

Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna said on Thursday, a defiant step that will worry Western powers ahead of a resumption of talks with Tehran next week. In a confidential report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said 180 so-called IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings had been put in place at the facility near Natanz in central Iran. If launched successfully, such machines could enable Iran to speed up significantly its accumulation of material that the West fears could be used to devise a nuclear weapon. It is "yet another provocative step," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in Washington.

VIETNAM: Adoptions seen resuming

Vietnam and the United States are close to an agreement allowing Americans to adopt Vietnamese children again, five years after a ban was imposed amid allegations of baby-selling and babies offered without parents' consent, a visiting U.S. senator said in Hanoi. Vietnam was a popular destination for prospective adoptive parents before Washington imposed the ban in 2008 following a U.S. investigation. A leading advocate, Sen. Mary Landrieu, said Vietnam now has safeguards in place to resume adoptions, including a central authority overseeing the process. "here are just some final details to be worked out with the government of the United States," the Democrat from Louisiana told reporters late Wednesday. Demand for inter-country adoptions has risen in recent years, especially among prospective U.S. parents.

JAPAN: PM to huddle with Obama

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be seeking to put a strong U.S.-Japan alliance on full display in the face of potential threats from a nuclear North Korea and an assertive China when he meets President Barack Obama on Friday in Washington. Abe arrived Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base.