Bush in uphill battle for UN support

DESPITE a new Russian veto threat, President George W Bush worked the phones to foreign leaders yesterday in an uphill struggle to gain support for a UN resolution setting up war against Iraq.

"We are in the thick of diplomacy," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Bush needs nine votes from the 15-member UN Security Council and no vetoes from permanent members France, Russia or China to gain approval of a resolution that would give Iraq a final deadline of March 17 to disarm or face invasion.