UN team pulls out of Iraq

A team of UN weapons inspectors has left Baghdad early after finding its work blocked by the Iraqi authorities.

The team left a day ahead of schedule after a week in which it was twice prevented from inspecting sites connected to Iraq's weapons programme.

Before leaving, the team leader -- an American, Scott Ritter -- said there was no change in the determination of the United Nations to investigate suspected weapons sites.

Baghdad had complained that Mr Ritter's team included too many members from the United States and Britain -- two countries it considers hostile.As Mr Ritter left Baghdad, his boss, the head of the UN inspection programme, Richard Butler, was heading for talks in Paris; French officials have said that while anxieties remain about chemical and biological weapons, Iraq's nuclear capability is no longer a concern.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service