UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations won an initial victory in federal court yesterday blocking a former investigator from giving Congress documents he took with him when he quit an inquiry of the Iraq oil-for-food program.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington issued the temporary restraining order in the effort by the U.N. to quash three congressional subpoenas for Robert Parton. The ex-FBI agent quit the U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee in April, reportedly because he believed it ignored evidence critical of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The court order freezes the legal issues, giving the two sides 10 days to attempt to resolve the matter.

Parton has already turned over documents from the investigation to the House International Relations Committee in response to a subpoena. He is also under subpoena from two other House investigations.

The chief of the U.N.-appointed investigative committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, sought the court petition, and the United Nations filed it on his behalf. Volcker said release of the documents could jeopardize his investigation and put witnesses' lives at risk.

Marines recalling vests after questions raised

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps is recalling 5,277 combat vests issued to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti after a newspaper article raised concerns that they failed a test to determine whether they could stop a bullet.

The Marines said they are recalling the vests to alleviate doubts caused by a Marine Corps Times article published yesterday, but service officials insisted they do not think the vests are faulty.

The armor in question is called the "Outer Tactical Vest" and is part of the Interceptor body-armor package issued to troops in combat zones. The vest, when combined with protective plates, is designed to stop a rifle round.

Without the plates, the vest should still provide some protection against 9-mm pistol rounds and fragments from an explosion. But several vests manufactured by Point Blank Body Armor of Pompano Beach, Fla., fell short of the Marines' standards during testing in 2004, according to Capt. Jeff Landis, a Marine spokesman.

Iraq head asks Jordan to settle Chalabi issue

AMMAN, Jordan — Iraq's new president has asked Jordan's king to help resolve a fraud conviction that has long hung over Ahmad Chalabi, the one-time Pentagon favorite who is now a deputy prime minister in Iraq.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in newspaper remarks published yesterday that he asked King Abdullah II to resolve Jordan's differences with Chalabi at a weekend meeting.

Chalabi, who was appointed a deputy prime minister in the Iraqi government that took office a week ago, was convicted in absentia in 1992 by a Jordanian military court of embezzlement, fraud and breach of trust after a bank he ran collapsed with about $300 million in missing deposits.

Chalabi, who denies wrongdoing, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in Jordan but has served no time.

British firm confirms contractor is missing

LONDON — A Japanese worker, whom Iraqi militants claim to have kidnapped, is missing in Iraq, the British security firm he works for said yesterday.

The Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed on a Web posting yesterday that it had taken Japanese security contractor Akihio Saito, 44, after ambushing a convoy of foreigners and Iraq troops in western Iraq.

The London-based security company Hart said a number of the company's workers had been attacked in a remote area of Iraq on Sunday.

Also yesterday, Australia's top Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj El Din Al Hilaly, left for Baghdad to try to win the release of an Australian engineer who is being held hostage in Iraq.

Militants who seized Douglas Wood, 63, an Australian citizen and a resident of Alamo, Calif., released a videotape that was broadcast Friday demanding that Australia start pulling its troops out of Iraq within 72 hours.

They didn't say what would happen if the demand was not met.

ALSO

A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near a U.S. military convoy in central Baghdad on today, killing at least seven Iraqis and wounding 16, police said. The U.S. military had no immediate information on any American casualties.