41.   Annan said only that Richard Butler, whom Iraq has criticized, would remain as chief U.N. weapons inspector.

42.   As Iraq steps up preparations for a possible military confrontation over U.N. arms inspections, the chief international inspector is traveling to Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders.

43.   Another official newspaper called for the dismissal of the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Richard Butler.

44.   At the end of a Security Council meeting, chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler said he was ordering the return of the inspectors on Tuesday.

45.   At least nine U.N. vans went into the field Tuesday in Iraq, the day chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler said a series of surprise visits would begin.

46.   Aziz also criticized chief U.N. inspector Richard Butler of pulling out his monitors from Iraq without consulting the U.N. secretary-general.

47.   Bislan Gantamirov, a former pro-Moscow mayor of Grozny and now chief federal inspector for southern Russia, dismissed the talks effort as useless.

48.   Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, told reporters that council members expressed overwhelming support for his efforts to get inspectors back to Iraq.

49.   But Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai tried to reassure Israelis, in light of alarming statements from chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler that Iraq could destroy Tel Aviv.

50.   But he revised his comments in New York Thursday, saying he had every intention of remaining as chief U.N. weapons inspector.