International experts were studying the documents, whose contents were not divulged, to determine their value.

The success or failure of the two days’ of talks could help decide the next steps taken by the UN Security Council in the months-long standoff that has left the West Asia suspended between war and peace.

Chief UN Inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear agency, entered the Foreign Ministry at about 10:15 am for a morning session with an Iraqi delegation led by presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi. They were scheduled to meet again in the afternoon, and to depart Baghdad tomorrow.

Blix and ElBaradei were looking for quick Iraqi concessions on other practical matters as well in the disarmament effort, such as clearance to fly American U-2 reconnaissance planes in support of inspections.

On the more substantive issues, the Chief Inspectors were demanding documents or witnesses to clear up discrepancies in Iraq’s accounting for anthrax, the nerve agent VX and other weapons of mass destruction produced and destroyed over a decade ago.

After yesterday’s session, more than four hours of talks Blix told reporters, “It is useful discussions we are having. Iraqis had presented unspecified “explanations on some of the issues,” he added.

Neither chief inspector provided details of what the Iraqis offered. Another senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had presented documents, but he declined to say how many or to specify their subject matter. No Iraqi officials spoke with reporters afterward.

The two experts were expected to pay a cordial visit to an unidentified more senior Iraqi official before holding a third and final round of talks with the Iraqi monitoring team.

Blix and ElBaradei will report to the UN Security Council on February 14. A critical report could start the count down for a US-led invasion to disarm Iraq.

Iraq relented last week on private interviews of Iraqi scientists, allowing inspectors to carry out such questioning for the first time. But it has so far given little on high-altitude overflights by U-2 spy planes.

As Blix and ElBaradei resumed the talks on Sunday, their teams of weapons experts scoured at least eight suspect sites in Iraq, including an elementary school in Baghdad. AP, Reuters

Diplomats’ families are also being evacuated, and the Polish envoy who represents US interests in Baghdad has also been withdrawn — raising questions about whether anything can now halt the planned US attack which is expected to start within a month, ‘The Independent’ newspaper reported today.

The USA has ordered a fifth carrier group to the Gulf, while Mr Hans Blix and Mr Mohamed El Baradei, the two top United Nations weapons inspectors, yesterday began two days of vital consultations in Baghdad ahead of their next report to the Security Council on Friday.

They were greeted by new Iraqi concessions, including a go-ahead for U-2 spy plane flights and unimpeded interviews with four Iraqi scientists.

After a day of what Mr Blix called “very substantial” talks, it was announced that Iraq had handed important documents to the inspectors. But officials in both Washington and London were scathing about these last-minute gestures from the Iraqi regime. Both governments are convinced that Mr Saddam Hussein has no intention of letting go of his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. PTI

“This is an issue not for one state alone but for the international community as a whole. When states decide to use force, not in self-defence but to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations,” he said in a speech at the William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.

He also warned Iraq that it faced “grim choice” if it did not cooperate with the United Nations’ arms inspectors. War might “cause terrible loss and suffering to the Iraqi people,” and the duty to avert it lay “first and foremost” with Iraqi leaders, he said.

Receiving an honorary doctorate in public service at the 301st anniversary celebration of the college, Annan said the force should be used as a last resort.

If the UN Security Council concluded after report by weapons inspectors on Friday that Iraq was not cooperating, it must “face up to its responsibilities,” he said.

Outside the hall where Annan said there was “universal confidence” in the world body, about 100 students demonstrated against war carrying placards like “Kofi, save us from our leader”. The inspectors would submit their report on February 14. PTI

This proposal will form part of the second resolution, which could be put before the Security Council by next weekend. The deadline would be just long enough for Arab neighbours to make a last effort to persuade Saddam to leave the country or for a coup to take place, the newspaper stated quoting US officials.

According to The Observer, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has launched a serious attack on critics of the government’s hawkish stance over Iraq, warning Britain would not “sit idly by until hundreds or thousands are killed.” PTI

Mr Brajesh Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, said Pakistan was suspected of hiding its nuclear assets in tunnels and caves in the Chagai Hills of Baluchistan.

Mr Mishra told the high-level Munich security conference that a “larger-than-life obsession” with the Al-Qaida — blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks in the USA — was resulting in “inadequate political consultations and selective intelligence sharing on the global terrorist threat.”

Alluding to terrorist violence in Kashmir, Mr Mishra said the perpetrators of “cross-border terrorism” were only different from those groups which carried out the September 11 attacks by their names and bank accounts “not in their ideology, objectives or sponsors.” “The novel version of democracy, which Pakistan recently unveiled, has brought in more religious extremist forces into the polity, particularly on the Afghanistan border,” he said.

“Safe havens for Al-Qaida and Taliban elements may expand in consequence.”

Mr Mishra said the reports of hidden Pakistan nuclear assets made India’s concerns even more obvious. “Persistent reports of the freelance activities of some Pakistani nuclear scientists only add to our disquiet.” AFP

According to Channel One, Dov Weisglass, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, is scheduled to discuss the ceasefire proposal in Jordan with Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher.

The channel said the information was being made public at this stage to prove to the Labour Party, which has been reticent about joining a Likud-led government, that Mr Sharon was serious about holding negotiations with the Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday welcomed the renewal of high-level contacts between Israel and the Palestinians and called for additional discussions. Abu Ala (65), a key negotiator in previous Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, is considered a potential successor to Yasser Arafat. PTI

The incident raised tension in the north-eastern corner of the Kurdish Iraq enclave where the Islamic group Ansar al-Islam has fought sporadic battles with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls the eastern half of the enclave.

“They (Ansar) have once again proven their brutality, that they are terrorists and that they are against all humanity,’’ a senior PUK official said. “The time has come to clean the area of them.’’

The attack happened in the village of Garmashtepe, close to the town of Halabja, as veteran Kurdish commander and member of the PUK politburo Shawkat Haji Mushir met three Ansar members. Reuters