BAGHDAD — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held talks in Baghdad today with Iraq's prime minister just as his government disclosed that it had been in indirect talks with Sunni insurgent groups over the past three months to persuade them to lay down their arms.

Ban will be in Baghdad for only one day of meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose forces are working with the U.S. military in a major operation to curb violence in the Iraqi capital and the surrounding territory.

The U.N. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, would give no other details about the visit.

They said Ban boarded a helicopter immediately on arrival at Baghdad airport and flew to the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area in the heart of the city that houses the U.S. Embassy as well as the offices of al-Maliki and Iraq's parliament.

The top U.N. official was last in Baghdad when Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan, visited the capital in November 2005.

Meanwhile, Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation said talks with Sunni insurgent groups were initiated at the request of the insurgents and have been taking place inside and outside Iraq over the past three months.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Churches held mourning services and people placed flowers Wednesday outside the blackened walls of a southern Russian nursing home struck by a fire that killed dozens of trapped, helpless residents.The blaze claimed its 63rd victim when a hospitalized woman died of a heart attack overnight, authorities said.The 66-year-old woman was one of 30 people hospitalized after the fire early Tuesday in Kamyshevatskaya, a town of 5,000 on the Azov Sea, regional emergency officials said.People set flowers outside the home and services were held in Russian Orthodox churches nationwide. Flags flew at half-staff and entertainment programming was canceled on an official day of mourning decreed by President Vladimir Putin for three tragedies: the nursing home fire, a Siberian mine blast Monday that killed at least 107, and a weekend plane crash that killed six people.Nine fire victims were buried at a ceremony attended by about 250 people, local administration chief Vitaly Vorbyov said. One man's family attended, but the other victims had no known surviving relatives.

ATLANTA — Hooters, the restaurant chain known for its tasty wings and scantily clad servers, is heading to Israel.Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc. said it has reached a franchise deal with llana and Ofer Ahiraz to open the first Hooters restaurant this year in Israel, with several more locations in Israel to follow.The first location will be in Tel Aviv, Hooters spokesman Mike McNeil said. The franchisees are from Israel. Eventually, other parts of the country may be considered for locations, but there have been no formal decisions about where, McNeil said."For the most part, it will be identical to what you're going to see in the United States — the same uniform for the girls, chicken wings and burgers," he said.