US Secretary of State Colin Powell will fabricate evidence against Saddam Hussein’s regime this week when he appears before the UN Security Council, officials in Baghdad charged today.

The chief UN weapons inspectors will return to Baghdad on February 8 for last-minute talks before their next Security Council report on the hunt for banned weapons in Iraq, Iraqi and UN officials said today.

IRAQ'S UN ambassador blasted President George W Bush's speech to the General Assembly yesterday, saying it lacked credibility and was motivated