The United States has rejected out of hand a proposal by Chile to give Saddam Hussein a last chance to disarm peacefully, leaving no compromise in sight and casting further doubt on any United Nations backing for war.

Russia has called for a moratorium on deploying weapons in outer space as the first step toward a new international agreement it has proposed which would ban space-based weapons or threats of force against spacecraft and satellites.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for the UN to play a major role in the long-term international fight against terrorism won immediate support from the United States, Russia and China.