The latest developments

Sunday: President Bush and the leaders of Britain and Spain said they would give the United Nations until the end of today to authorize the use of military force against Iraq or they would go to war without U.N. approval. “Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world,” Bush said. After a brief summit in the Azores islands, the leaders did not explicitly say whether they would call for a vote today in the Security Council on a new resolution they have proposed to authorize the use of force. French President Jacques Chirac proposed giving Iraq 30 days to perform a series of disarmament tasks to be defined by U.N. weapons inspectors. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein acted as if war was imminent and vowed to take the battle to “wherever there is sky, land and water in the entire world.”

Today: France has requested a Security Council meeting.

Tuesday: Chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are to report to the Security Council on the progress of their work. Britain’s House of Commons is likely to vote on going to war.