US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was not disarming as required by the United Nations and he again warned that "time is running out."

"It's clear to me now that he is not disarming. And surely our friends have learned lessons from the past," Bush said after meeting a group of economists at the White House.

The US president repeated his threat to disarm Iraq with a "coalition of the willing" and compared Iraqi claims that it has abandoned its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction to "a rerun of a bad movie."

"He is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors," Bush said. "The United States of America, in the name of peace, will continue to insist he does disarm, and we will keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein."

When asked how much time he would give the Iraqi president to comply, Bush said, "I will let you know when the moment has come." Bush has threatened military action against Iraq if it refuses to abide by UN resolutions calling for it to disarm. Baghdad repeatedly has denied possessing chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. Enditem

Blair says Saddam must be dealt with

Nations fails to pass a second resolution authorizing military action.

"We must not give a signal to Saddam that there is a way out of this. There is no way out for Saddam on this issue," Blair told the House of Commons Liaison Committee, an influential committee of lawmakers.

Blair, who insists the importance of disarming Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, said the threat of military action against Iraq and the build up of troops preparing for war were weakening Saddam's regime.

"We are getting a massive amount of intelligence out of there now as to what is happening in Iraq, and that is why we have to keep up the pressure every inch of the way," Blair told the lawmakers, one day after Britain announced that it was sending 26,000 land forces to the Gulf.

Blair, the firmest US ally on its tough line on Iraq, also said weapons inspections in Iraq could not continue for an unlimited time. There would be a point in time when people had to come to a judgment about whether Iraq was cooperating with the UN arms inspectors or not, he added. The United States and Britain have vowed to disarm Iraq by force if it was found to have possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Stock dives on war fears for fourth consecutive session
Stocks dropped on Tuesday for thefourth straight session as investors, rattled by war threat of US President George W. Bush and US troop buildup against Iraq, were bidding stocks sharply lower despite healthy profits in such companies as 3M and Ford.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrials slid 143.84 points, or 1.7 percent, to 8,442.90. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index sagged14.16 points, or 1.57 percent, to 887.62. The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11.94, or 0.9 percent, to 1,364.25. All threemarket gauges slumped for the fourth consecutive session.

Investors were feeling anxious about the fourth-quarter resultsand corporate outlooks in what is likely to be the busiest week inthe earnings reporting season. Hopes that earnings are poised for a rebound had spurred an early Jan. rally, but tepid outlooks from corporate giants like Microsoft Corp. last week have reined in that optimism.

Among Tuesday's losers, Merrill Lynch fell 1.15 dollars to 40.08 dollars and J.P. Morgan Chase declined 77 cents to 25.42 dollars ahead of earnings due out Wednesday. Companies that exceeded expectations last week but issued cautious forecasts traded lower again Tuesday. IBM fell 76 cents to 80.54 dollars and Intel declined 5 cents to 16.29.

Declining stocks trounced advancers by a ratio of about 11 to 5on the New York Stock Exchange and 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. More than 1.30 billion shares changed hands on the Big Board and more than 1.35 billion on Nasdaq in moderate trading

Italy wants Iraqi crisis to be resolved within UN framework
The Italian government wants the Iraqi crisis to be resolved within the framework of the United Nations, a senior Italian official said here Tuesday.

Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino said at a joint session of the Italian House and Senate defense committees in Romethat it is the UN "that can give international legitimacy and consent to initiatives regarding Iraq."

"The UN's ability to enforce its own resolutions will determineits authority and importance in global governance," he said. "The international community must be committed to this and our nation intends to do its part."

However, Martino told the joint commission that allowing the USto use Italy's air space for possible action against Iraq "cannot be interpreted in any way as a change in the Italian government's position on the Iraqi crisis."

France to lobby EU to avoid Iraq war
France intends to mobilize the European Union (EU) to help avoid a possible US-led war against Iraq, the French foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Rejecting mounting US pressure for an early UN resolution on military action against Iraq, French Foreign Minister Dominique deVillepin said he would try to achieve a united EU stance on Iraq at the gathering of the 15 EU foreign ministers in Brussels next Monday and Tuesday.

De Villepin said: "It is important that Europe speaks on this issue with a single voice. We are mobilized. We believe war can beavoided." After talks with his Belgian counterpart Louis Michel, De Villepin told reporters that the Jan. 27 report to the UN SecurityCouncil by UN weapons inspectors working in Iraq would only be an interim report.

"We see no justification today for a (military) intervention, since the inspectors are able to do their work. We could not support unilateral action," De Villepin said.

Belgium's Michel said he shared similar opinions with De Villepin. "We really think there is a diplomatic, political space to be exploited, and that perhaps the European Union could play that role," Michel said. De Villepin spoke out against a rush to war in a security council debate on Monday, and was backed by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

France is chairing the security council this month.

Six nations to hold ministerial meeting on Iraq in Istanbul
Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis announced on Tuesday that 6 Mideast countries will hold a ministerial meeting on the Iraqi problem in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul on Thursday.

Yakis told reporters here that ministers of Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran will attend the ministerial meeting, which will adopt a decision on a summit of the regional countries.

called "active peace diplomacy" aimed at finding a solution to the Iraqi crisis by peaceful means.

The above five countries appreciated Turkey's peace efforts and agreed that leaders of the six countries will meet and issue a peace declaration and a summit meeting will be preceded by a ministerial session.

Asked for comments on recent reports appeared in New York Times that Turkey had given permission to the United States to use military bases, Yakis said that he did not have a statement saying permission was given for usage of bases.

"If such a thing is written, this is not right. We only authorized our military authorities to negotiate with the US military authorities. Military authorities of the two countries would determine what kind of a cooperation could be done," Yakis said