World datelines

Britain: Iraq inquiry

LONDON — An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off Tuesday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 — long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion.

Critics hope the hearings, which will call ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair and are billed as the most sweeping inquiry into the conflict, will expose alleged deception in the buildup to fighting. However, they won't establish criminal or civil liability.

The panel will question dozens of officials over the next year — including military officials and spy agency chiefs. It will also seek evidence but not testimony from ex-White House staff.

Austria: Iran resolution

VIENNA — Six world powers have readied a resolution critical of Iran's nuclear program, diplomats said Tuesday, as Tehran suggested it was still ready to discuss a U.N.-backed plan meant to delay the Islamic Republic's ability to make a nuclear weapon.

Under the plan, Iran would export its uranium for enrichment in Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel rods to be returned to Iran about a year later.

The plan was embraced by the six powers because it would have committed Tehran to ship out about 70 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile, which can be used both to make nuclear fuel or enriched further to fissile warhead material.

Pakistan: Plot arrest

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani officials have arrested a retired Pakistani army major for his suspected role in an alleged plot that was hatched in the U.S. to assassinate the creator of controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, the Pakistani army said Tuesday.

The news will fuel growing fears about the radicalization of Pakistan's army, and particularly the links between former army officers and Islamic extremists. The Pakistani officer's name was not released.

Two men of Pakistani origin, U.S. citizen David Coleman Headley and Canadian national Tahawwur Hussain Rana, were charged in Chicago with planning an armed attack in Denmark. Their target was the cartoonist and Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons in 2005.

Nepal: Animal sacrifice

KATMANDU — Hundreds of thousands of Hindus gathered at a temple in southern Nepal on Tuesday for a ceremony involving the slaughter of more than 200,000 animals, a festival that has drawn the ire of animal-welfare protesters.