31.  President Saddam Hussein on Monday offered to hold talks with the warring Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq, Baghdad Radio reported.

32.  President Saddam Hussein on Monday offered to reopen a dialogue with warring Kurdish opposition groups in a bid to halt an upsurge of fighting in northern Iraq.

33.  Tanks have shelled the town of Kifri on the edge of the zone, the Kurdish opposition said, without reporting casualties.

34.  The INC which includes both Arab and Kurdish opposition groups is based in Salahuddin near the main city of Arbil in northern Iraq as well as in London.

35.  The Iraqi government on Tuesday renewed an offer to open talks with Kurdish opposition groups to end weeks of bitter fighting in northern Iraq.

36.  The Iraqi government renewed its offer on Tuesday to hold talks with the Kurdish opposition.

37.  The Kurdish opposition which controls northern Iraq has offered to help implement the UN oil-for-food resolution if Baghdad strikes a deal with the United Nations.

38.  The Kurdish opposition also includes at least seven small Islamist and left-wing groups.