King Abdullah II of Jordan plans to visit Iraq soon in the first trip by an Arab leader since Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003, officials said today.

Iraqi Kurds claimed today that Saddam Hussein’s urbane mouthpiece Tariq Aziz has defected and is in the region they control in northern Iraq.

The sudden expulsion of about 50 families from a strip of northern Iraq has triggered speculation that Saddam Hussein is preparing a buffer zone to defend against a US invasion.