Annan warns against US unilateral attack

UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has warned the United States against attacking Iraq on its own.

Mr Annan said that action under a UN umbrella would have greater legitimacy and better odds of success.

Speaking to a US university audience, he added that war was a course that should only be considered when all other possibilities had been exhausted

Blix describes Iraqi talks as 'substantial'

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix says he has made 'substantial progress' in fresh talks with Iraqi officials.

He said a number of documents had been handed over and the discussions would continue tomorrow.

They will have two days of talks with Iraqi officials.

Yesterday Mr Blix said Iraq appeared to be making an effort to be more co-operative with the inspectors.

He confirmed that three more private interviews had been conducted with Iraqi scientists.

The unmonitored interviews were one of the main demands of the inspectors.

Blix and El Baradei are also expected to try to resolve a dispute over inspection flights by U2 aircraft, which have been requested by the UN.

Iraq has agreed to the flights in principle but claims it cannot guarantee their safety because of the operation of US and British warplanes in the north and south of the country.

Alliot-Marie criticises 'Old Europe' dismissal

French defense minister Michele Alliot-Marie has criticised the US attitude toward European allies opposed to a US-led war on Iraq, whom her US counterpart dismissed last week as 'old Europe'.

'Being allies implies dialogue and mutual respect. It means avoiding unfounded accusations and untrue claims,' she told a high-level international security conference in Munich.

German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, made a strong defence of Germany's opposition to war on Iraq, as US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld sought to defuse Washington's row with Berlin.

Fischer said that he was 'simply not convinced' by the US case for strikes against the Baghdad regime and warned against any unilateral action.

The German minister was speaking at a high-level security conference in Munich, southern Germany, moments after Rumsfeld made an equally impassioned plea for the world to unite behind action.

Their contrasting messages were a direct face-off between opponents of war and those, led by Washington, who say that the world must be prepared to take military action soon to disarm Iraq.

Naked protest

More than 700 women posed nude today to protest against Australia's likely involvement in a potential war against Iraq.

Lying naked end to end on a grassy knoll in the Australian beach town of Byron Bay, they formed a heart around the words 'No War' for an aerial photograph.

Australia has sent troops and approved fighter jet deployments to join U.S. and British forces in the Gulf preparing for a possible war in Iraq.

The Canberra government has yet to publicly commit itself to joining any military action in Iraq, whether UN-approved or US-led.

The women, ranging in age from about 20 to 60, gathered on a hillside in the beachside artists' haven in the far north of New South Wales.