World Briefs December 6, 2010

Iran claims nuke advance before talks

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran delivered a resolute message Sunday on the eve of talks with six world powers: We're mining our own uranium now, so there is no stopping our nuclear ambitions.

The Islamic Republic said it has produced its first batch of locally mined uranium ore for enrichment, making it independent of foreign countries for a process the West fears is geared toward producing nuclear arms.

No matter the U.N. sanctions over the program, "our nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievements in the future," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Salehi told state-run Press TV.

Western officials downplayed the announcement, saying it had been expected and that Iran did not have enough ore to maintain the large-scale enrichment program that Tehran says it is building as a source of fuel for an envisaged network of nuclear reactors.

Mexico assures of no secret talks at climate summit

CANCUN, Mexico - Mexico's foreign secretary told the global climate conference on Sunday there will be "no hidden text and no secret negotiations" in the meeting's final days, assuring delegates Cancun will not see a repeat of the last hours of 2009's Copenhagen climate summit.

In closed-door midnight talks at last December's summit in the Danish capital, U.S. President Barack Obama and a handful of other leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, produced a "Copenhagen Accord," a document envisioning only voluntary reductions in global-warming gases and disappointing treaty nations ranging from Europe to small island states facing seas rising from global warming.

Dissident delegations led by Venezuela, Bolivia and other left-leaning Latin American governments, unhappy about the closed nature of the decision-making, refused to endorse the U.S.-brokered accord, leaving it without consensus support under the U.N. climate treaty.

- The Associated Press