Iraq

U.N. starts talks on elections

BAGHDAD - U.N. experts met with Iraqi leaders for the first time Sunday to discuss the chances of holding early elections as demanded by the Shiite clergy.

The U.N. team, led by veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, sat down with the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to start determining whether legislative elections can be held by June 30, when the Americans plan to transfer sovereignty to Iraqis.

U.N. and Iraqi officials said little about the substance of the first day's talks. Brahimi, a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said after the meeting that the United Nations would "do everything possible" to help the Iraqi people "regain independence and sovereignty."

ATTACKS KILL 1, HURT 3: Insurgents attacked separate U.S. Army convoys with explosives, killing one soldier and wounding three others, witnesses said. The soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, a military spokesman said. No other details were released.

JAPANESE CONVOY ARRIVES: In southeastern Iraq, an armored convoy of Japanese soldiers arrived as part of Tokyo's first military deployment in a hostile region since 1945. The ground troops, mostly engineers, lead a deployment that will eventually reach about 800 soldiers in a humanitarian mission to improve water supplies and other infrastructure projects around Samawah. Two hundred troops will remain in Kuwait.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright