New York  - The UN Security Council on Tuesday praised the successful holding of provisional elections in Iraq, which UN officials said was professionally organized and took place without violence.

The 15-nation council discussed the elections that took place over the weekend and issued a statement congratulating both the Iraqi people and the government. Tens of thousands of monitors, both local and international, were deployed to witness the democratic process.

Washington - The United States' new Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday after returning from his first visit to the region, but won't stay away long as he plans another trip by the end of the month.

Mitchell is to return to the Middle East before the end of February, Clinton said, calling his recent trip "the first of what will be an ongoing high level of engagement by Senator Mitchell on behalf of myself and the president."

Washington  - Thomas Daschle has withdrawn his name from consideration as President Barack Obama's health secretary amid a tax scandal, a White House spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

Daschle apologized on Monday for his failure to pay more than 100,000 dollars in taxes and has since paid them back. Daschle, a former Senate majority leader, is a close friend of Obama's who co- chaired his presidential campaign.

Cairo  - A Hamas delegation in Egypt for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Tuesday said no progress had been made in negotiations on a long-term truce in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas and Egypt are agreed that an indefinite truce is impossible at the moment," Mohammed Nasr, a senior member of the Hamas delegation in Cairo, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"We are negotiating the length of the truce, the opening of the border crossings, and conditions for reconciliation talks with Fatah." Talks would continue on Tuesday night, he said.

Strasbourg, France  - An application for recognition from the European Parliament of the euro-sceptic Libertas movement appeared stillborn Tuesday after one of its key backers said he had never joined the party.

Founded by Irish millionaire Declan Ganley, Libertas played a key role in successfully rallying opposition to the European Union's reforming Lisbon Treaty at a referendum held in Ireland last year.