LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Sunday he would not quit despite a rumbling scandal over MPs expenses and dire poll ratings for his ruling Labour Party ahead of European and local elections.He said the expenses furore was "appalling" and "offends everything that I believe in" as well as promising that every lawmaker would be forced to account for all their expenses from the last four years. A total of 13 lawmakers from Labour and the main opposition Conservatives have said they will stand down since the scandal broke over three weeks ago.The Daily Telegraph newspaper has been publishing leaked documents detailing hundreds of claims from the public purse for everything from moat cleaning to a duck island. On Sunday, the Telegraph published an ICM poll suggesting Labour would come third in the European elections, in which Britons vote Thursday, with just 17 percent, behind the second opposition centrist Liberal Democrats. Even more damagingly, it suggested Labour would also come third in a general election with just 22 percent of the vote -- the worst Labour has done in an opinion poll since 1987.But Brown dismissed suggestions he could step down to make way for a more popular leader in an interview with British Television.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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