WORLD BRIEFS

NETHERLANDS: UN climate official quitting

The sharp-tongued UN official who shepherded troubled climate talks for nearly four years announced his resignation Thursday, leaving an uncertain path to a new treaty on global warming. Frustrated by unrelenting bickering between rich and poor countries, Yvo de Boer said he will step down July 1 to work in business and academia. With no obvious successor in sight, fears were voiced that whoever follows will be far less forceful than the skilled former civil servant from the Netherlands. His departure will take effect five months before 193 nations reconvene in Cancun, Mexico, for another attempt to reach a worldwide legal agreement on controlling greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for the gradual heating of the Earth that scientists predict will worsen weather-related disasters.

IRAN: Weapons threat echoed

UN nuclear inspectors, citing evidence of a continuing effort by Iran to obtain new technologies, publicly suggested for the first time Thursday that the country is actively seeking to develop a weapons capability. In a new report, the International Atomic Energy Agency also confirmed that Iran has increased the enrichment level of some of its uranium, moving the Islamic republic a step closer to being able to make weapons-grade nuclear fuel. The report from the IAEA puts the watchdog agency nearly in sync with Western intelligence agencies that believe Iran has restarted secret warhead research that had been halted in 2003.