Allied soldiers inched towards Baghdad today, capturing or killing paramilitary and Republican Guard defenders while new waves of US bombs set off blazes in the Iraqi capital.

Iraq’s foreign minister today confidently predicted his country’s forces would defeat the Allies and said only surrender would save coalition troops from the “holocaust” the Iraqi people are preparing for them.

Iraq’s vice president today threatened more suicide bombings against coalition troops, saying the suicide bomber who killed four US soldiers outside the Iraqi city of Najaf was a non-commissioned army officer.

PRISONERS OF WAR will be treated in accordance with “the teachings of Islam”, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said yesterday.

IRAQI state-run television yesterday aired a tape purporting to show Saddam Hussein addressing his people after the first US airstrikes, mocking US President George W Bush and calling the attacks a “shameful crime”.

HEAVY explosions, air raid sirens and the crackle of anti-aircraft fire thundered through Baghdad last night as the Iraqi capital faced a second night of US-led attacks.

The Baghdad streets were eerily quiet today as the US deadline approached for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face a massive military onslaught.

In an edgy prelude to war, Saddam Hussein has mocked a US ultimatum to surrender power, and Washington's claim of public support from 30 nations for its international coalition supporting Iraq’s disarmament.

US President George W Bush last night set the US and Britain on course for war within days to depose Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is braced for war as if it were “happening in an hour," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said tonight.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri today dismissed Britain’s compromise UN proposal, calling it “an attempt to beautify a rejected aggressive project.”

IRAQ poured scorn on the United Arab Emirates yesterday for urging Saddam Hussein to go into exile, but the small Persian Gulf state pressed on seeking support for the proposal, calling it the only way to avert war.

Iraq has rejected US claims of ties to a terror group believed to be linked to al-Qaida, and has offered to give Washington a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has declared that Baghdad wants peace – but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

SADDAM HUSSEIN yesterday declared Iraq wants peace — but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

AMERICA has all the authority it needs for an attack on Iraq, with or without a second UN resolution, US President George Bush warned last night.

US preparations for war with Iraq suffered a new setback yesterday when Turkey dug in its heels in negotiations over its role as a launchpad for an invasion.

IRAQ gloated over the global outpouring of opposition to the US threat of attack yesterday, saying anti-war demonstrations in dozens of countries signalled an Iraqi victory and “the defeat and isolation of America”.

Iraq gloated over the global outpouring of opposition to the US threat of attack today, saying anti-war demonstrations in dozens of countries signalled an Iraqi victory and “the defeat and isolation of America”.

OIL prices rose to a two-year high after Iraq said ‘no’ to United Nations peacekeeping troops in Iraq under a Franco-Germany strategy to avoid Gulf war II.

Top UN arms inspectors said they would not agree to new talks in Baghdad unless Iraq demonstrated more cooperation and met unspecified conditions. One hinted it might be necessary to meet Saddam Hussein to resolve the crisis.

IRAQ yesterday said it was up to Washington and London to avoid a military showdown and accused US Secretary of State Colin Powell of lying when he charged Baghdad with developing banned weapons.

UN arms inspectors fanned out yesterday to eight sites suspected of involvement in the making of banned weapons, as an Iraqi Cabinet minister warned the United States of "the heaviest losses" if it attacks.

Iraq has complained to the United Nations after a US air strike in the south of the country that it claims killed three people and injured 16.

IRAQ’S arms dossier outlines its secret bids to build a nuclear weapon in the past and may list countries and companies that helped it, the table of contents suggests.

UN WEAPONS inspectors visited a factory that once made parts for now-banned missiles yesterday as Iraq came under renewed criticism for its human rights record.

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

With the world watching, a team of United Nations arms inspectors was leaving for Baghdad today to again take up the hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, amid complaints by the Iraqi government that the mission could give America a pretext for war.

THE Iraqi government protested to the UN on Sunday that the small print behind its mission will give the US a pretext to attack.

In a long, stern letter to the United Nations, Iraq’s foreign minister complains that the new Security Council resolution on weapons inspections provides a pretext for the United States to wage war against his country.

Saying it wanted to save the Iraqi people from a new war, Saddam Hussein’s government accepted a tough new United Nations resolution and the return of international weapons inspectors, but called the terms unjust and illegal.

IRAQI President Saddam Hussein yesterday called an emergency session of parliament to consider the UN resolution to disarm, while Arab ministers indicated he was ready to accept the document.

Iraq is expected to accept a UN resolution to disarm, Egypt’s foreign minister said early today.

US President George Bush today warned Iraq that any delay in admitting United Nations weapons inspectors will be regarded as a breach of yesterday’s Security Council resolution.

To avoid war with the United States, Iraq is ready to accept a new UN resolution on weapons inspections if it does not threaten the country’s sovereignty, an Baghdad official said today.

United Nations

PUSHING ahead on Iraq after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the United States put its tough new proposal into the hands of the Security Council in preparation for a vote that could come as early as next week.

Accusing British prime minister Tony Blair of lying to justify an attack, Iraq tonight dismissed his dossier that accuses Saddam Hussein of pursuing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Iraq branded as baseless Tony Blair’s dossier designed to convince war-wary British MPs that Saddam Hussein is pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 50-page dossier on Iraq will prove “beyond doubt” that Saddam Hussein’s regime has weapons of mass destruction, Government sources said tonight.

US President George W Bush has asked Congress for authority to use “all means he determines to be appropriate, including force” to disarm and overthrow Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, saying the US will take action on its own if the UN Security Council baulks.

Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Saddam Hussein told the UN through his foreign minister tonight.

The Bush administration was today sending Congress a resolution seeking its authorisation for the use of military force against Iraq.

The Bush administration has stepped up pressure for a new UN Security Council disarmament resolution for Iraq and disclosed plans for moving B-2 bombers closer to Baghdad, preparing for possible war to remove President Saddam Hussein.