American officials say the Bush administration has been pressing Iraqi leaders to end the weeks of political stalemates that have left Iraq still without a new government three months after elections. State Department officials say both the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Vice President Dick Cheney have been in contact with Iraqi politicians in recent days to stress the urgency of forming a new government as soon as possible. Caroline Holly reports from Baghdad.

    The optimism that many Iraqis felt on January the 30th has turned to disillusion and anger that they still don't have a government. Senior security officials are now expressing growing concern over the political vacuum. They said the central government no longer has authority over regional police chiefs that in some areas, local officials have been appointing security officers without referring back to Baghdad. In addition, important plans and projects are on hold. There is also fear that the protracted negotiations over who should get what seats in the new government is feeding sectarian tensions.

    The head of the Lebanese General Security has resigned hours before Syrian forces are due to complete their withdrawal from Lebanon. He is General Jamil Al-Sayeed, who had been considered one of Syria's most powerful allies in the Lebanese hierarchy. He said he was resigning because of the changing political scene.

    Leaders of the two main political parties in Togo have agreed to form a government of national unity following presidential elections on Sunday, which were marred by violence. At talks in Nigeria hosted by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current head of the African Union, they also agreed to review the constitution, especially the electoral code. From Lagos Anna Borzello reports.

    Mr. Obasanjo, who has been at the forefront of efforts to try and resolve the crisis in the tiny western African state, said that ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingb and exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio had agreed that whoever wins the election will form a government of national unity. The Nigerian leader added that this decision has been reached barely in mind for the last 38 years. Togo has been ruled by a government of one person, namely the former President Gnassingb Eyad ma. Mr. Obasanjo did not explain just how this broad-based government would function. However, he did announce that a committee would be set up to monitor all the decisions reached in Abuja, including an agreement to review the country's constitution.

    European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxemburg have approved starting talks with Serbia and Montenegro on an association agreement that will give the federation trade privileges with the EU. It's the first step on the road that could eventually lead to them joining the EU. The Luxemburg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that Belgrade's significant progress in cooperating with the International War Crimes Tribunal was an important element in deciding to begin talks. On Monday,a former chief of the Yugoslav armed forces, General Nebojsa Pavkovic, surrendered to the Tribunal in The Hague.

    The Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 as a catastrophe. He said it had left millions of Russians outside Russia. But the BBC Moscow correspondent says his almost nostalgic tone seemed to reflect the regret shared by many Russians of the lost Soviet prestige. Mr. Putin said the big political challenge was Russia's development as a democracy, but he made clear it would be Russia that decided the pace of democratic change.

    The United States authorities have announced the arrest of an Afghan man they've listed as one of the world's most wanted heroin traffickers, describing it as a huge victory against the Afghan drugs trade. Prosecutors in New York said that the man Bashir Noorzai had close links with the former Taliban government in Afghanistan and that he'd used drug money to supply weapons to Islamic militants. Jeremy Cooke reports from New York.

    Last year President Bush named Bashir Noorzai as one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers and in a US federal indictment, it is alleged that he has, since 1990, been at the center of a multi-million dollar heroin operation, which controls poppy fields, drug laboratories and the trafficking operation based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US authority has given no further details of the arrest but Bashir Noorzai is due to appear in a federal court here, charged with conspiring to import heroin with a street value of some 50 million dollars.

    A British court has sentenced a woman to ten years in jail for a fraud designed to give Indian men residency rights in Britain. The court was told that the woman ,Jaswinder Gill, recruited young British agents to go to India with the promise of a modeling career and then tricked them into marrying local men. In one case, prosecutors said, Mrs. Gill took a girl to what was meant to be a photo shoot of a wedding scene in India, but the marriage turned out to be real. Police said they believed Mrs. Gill had made almost 2 million dollars from the fraud