The US has said that it will conduct “a full investigation” along with the Iraqi government of the reported disappearance from Iraq’s nuclear facilities of high-precision equipment that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

The UN nuclear watchdog expressed concern yesterday at the disappearance of high-precision equipment from Iraq’s nuclear facilities that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Britain and France want to turn the UN inspection force that worked in Iraq before the war into a permanent agency authorised to investigate biological weapons and missile programmes worldwide, The Associated Press has learned.

FORMER UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix believes that Iraq destroyed most of its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago, but kept up the appearance that it had them to deter a military attack.

Chief UN inspector Hans Blix criticised the US for insisting so vehemently that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and not producing the evidence.

UN inspectors had many questions and leads to pursue on chemical and biological weapons in Iraq when their searches were suspended just before the US-led invasion, chief inspector Hans Blix said in a new report today.

Tony Blair was ready to quit his job as Prime Minister of Britain if he had lost MPs' support over war with Iraq, it was revealed today.

THE United Nations has asked for a fresh report from its chief weapons inspector Hans Blix as it considers sending teams back to Iraq.

The mysterious tunnels of Iraq are said to stretch for scores of miles under the Iraqi capital, linking palaces, military strongholds and safe houses for leaders, treasure or weapons of mass destruction.

IRAQ will send a report on its disposal of VX nerve agent to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix today and another report on anthrax a few days later, a diplomatic source said.

IN a new sign of Iraqi co-operation with UN arms inspectors, Baghdad yesterday disclosed it had found documents relating to the disposal of weapons of mass destruction in 1991 and to an R-400 bomb, chief inspector Hans Blix said yesterday.

UN arms inspectors conducted a private interview with an Iraqi scientist yesterday and scoured 13 suspect weapons sites across Iraq.

As the UN’s chief weapons inspectors today began their second day of talks in Baghdad before their crucial report to the Security Council next Friday, Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the US must not go to war with Iraq alone without the backing of the international community.

The UN chief weapons inspector told the Security Council today that Iraq has still not accepted the need to disarm – a statement that kept the White House firmly on the war path.

Iraq has not genuinely accepted a UN resolution demanding that it disarm and while Baghdad is co-operating on access, it needs to do more on substance, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council today.

Iraq’s arms declaration is incomplete, its scientists are not fully co-operating with inspections and Baghdad is obstructing the use of a U-2 plane which could be helpful in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, inspectors are expected to tell the Security Council in a toughly worded report today.

AS the world waits for UN weapons inspectors to report to the Security Council today, the United States said it was willing to go it alone to topple Saddam Hussein.

Weapons inspectors in New York and Vienna began combing through Iraq’s massive dossier detailing its chemical, biological and nuclear programmes today, to determine whether Baghdad is complying with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

UN experts searched a geological survey facility in Baghdad and a pesticides factory to the northwest yesterday, pursuing a hunt for banned weapons after Iraq handed over a declaration of its arms programmes.

Copies of a massive Iraqi document detailing the country’s chemical, biological and nuclear activities were today flown out of Baghdad for analysis by experts at the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency.

UN arms inspectors showed off state-of-the-art equipment yesterday and reminded President Saddam Hussein his own palace complexes will no longer be off-limits when they resume their hunt for banned Iraqi weapons.

UN inspectors are ready to chase down any mobile bioweapons laboratories, detect underground weapons sites with radar and investigate the aluminium tubes Washington says might help Iraq build a nuclear bomb, team leaders said today.

THE first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq yesterday to resume the hunt for chemical, biological and/or nuclear arms programmes.

The first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq today to take up the hunt for chemical, biological or nuclear arms programs, a search whose outcome could help determine the future of peace in the Middle East.

The United Nations’ top two weapons inspectors arrived in Cyprus on today to assemble their team for the historic journey back to Iraq for a fresh assessment of Saddam Hussein’s suspected clandestine arms programme.

The United Nations’ top two weapons inspectors arrived in Cyprus on today to assemble their team for the historic journey back to Iraq for a fresh assessment of Saddam Hussein’s suspected clandestine arms programme.

UN inspectors have indicated they will not resume their search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction until the Security Council decides whether to adopt a new resolution that could give them broad new powers.

A former United Nations weapons inspector has accused the United States in a new documentary of manipulating the UN to provoke a confrontation with Saddam Hussein as a pretext for US air strikes on Iraq.