A UN team met Iraq's top Shiite Muslim ayatollah in the holy city of Najaf today to discuss his call for early elections in the occupied country.
Witnesses said veteran diplomat Mr Lakhdar Brahimi and other members of the UN team entered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's well-guarded house shortly after 10 a.m. (7 a.m. Irish time) after travelling in a car convoy to Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.