January 8, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 4, 1423

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BERLIN, Jan 7: UN weapons chief Hans Blix is expected to report on Thursday that inspectors have found no proof to date that Iraq has acquired or is developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), Germany’s tageszeitung daily said on Tuesday.

Citing UN sources in New York, the paper said Blix would tell a closed-door session of the UN security council that such claims — notably from the United States — remain unproven.

In an article for its Wednesday edition which was released in advance, the daily also claimed that Blix’s report would be given verbally to the security council.

The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) head will say that neither his nor the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inspectors have found proof of weapons of mass destruction, nor of the rockets to deliver them. They also have not found evidence of any active programme to develop them, according to the report.—AFP