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Friday, March 05, 2010 LONDON: Britain's backing for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq was "the right decision," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday as he fought off critics. Facing questions about his role in funding the war as finance minister under Tony Blair, Brown said Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had flouted international law for years. "It was the right decision and it was for the right reasons," Brown said in opening comments to the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the conflict. "This is the gravest decision of all to make," he said, but added: "Fourteen resolutions were passed by the United Nations, and at the end of the day it was impossible to persuade him that he should abide by international law." Witnesses to the inquiry, including the defence minister at the time of the invasion, Geoff Hoon, have said the military lacked sufficient funding and equipment for years before the war. Adding to the pr...

Friday, March 05, 2010 JERUSALEM: Clashes erupted Friday between Muslim worshippers and Israeli riot police at a sacred and disputed hilltop compound following a sermon on a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites. Worshippers emerging from Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque threw stones at policemen, according to Israeli police. Israeli riot-control forces waiting outside the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary rushed in to restore order, using stun grenades to disperse the crowd, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said. Other Muslim worshippers intervened to try to defuse the clash, and police eventually withdrew in coordination with the Muslim clerics who administer the compound, he said. A small number of light injuries were reported by both sides. Always tense, the compound has recently seen sporadic clashes linked at least in part to the Israeli government deci...

Friday, March 05, 2010 BERLIN: Egypt's long-standing President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday former UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei could run in the 2011 presidential election as long as he respected the constitution. ElBaradei, emerging as Egypt's most high-profile dissident, has called for an amendment of the constitution which includes rules that would make it difficult for him to challenge Mubarak at the ballot box. "If he wants to join a party, he could choose whichever one he wants," Mubarak told reporters during a visit to Germany, according to a translation of his comments in Arabic. "If he wants to be a candidate for that party (at the presidential elections), he could do that. If he wants to stand as an independent candidate, he could do that," he said. "The only thing is that he must respect the constitution," he said, adding the country "does not need a new hero". Under Egyptian law, a presidential candida...

Friday, March 05, 2010 MELBOURNE: Australian police Friday launched a major investigation Friday after a three-year-old Indian boy's body was found dumped by a Melbourne roadside, threatening to cast a fresh shadow over ties. Victoria state premier John Brumby said he found the death of Gurshan Singh, who was visiting from Punjab in northern India, "personally distressing" but urged people not to speculate about the case. "What has occurred is an unthinkable tragedy. It's deeply, deeply distressing," Brumby told reporters. "There are no visible signs of the cause of death at this stage... but I think it's very important that no one jumps to conclusions," he added. The little boy disappeared from a suburban house at about 1:00 pm (0200 GMT) Thursday while his mother was taking a shower. He was last heard screaming, upset because his father had left for a nearby library without him. "He stopped shouting and I thought, what happened...