BBC News with David Austin
The United Nations chief weapons inspector just before the Iraq conflict, Hans Blix, has said Britain was
dragged along
in a war that was not legally
defensible
. Mr Blix was speaking to the BBC after appearing at an inquiry in London where he questioned the judgment of President Bush and the Prime Minister Tony Blair in the run-up to the conflict. Mr Blix said the Americans were intoxicated with the idea of military action and thought they could
get away with
it.
"There was a big difference between the UK attitude and the US. The US did not really care for any international restrictions. They didn't feel a need for what they called a permission slip from the Security Council
whilst
the UK felt that yes, you would need to have a Security Council authorization. However, the clear simple fact was that in March 2003, three permanent members of the Security Council were against the use of force, but they could not have got a majority in the council for such a resolution."
President Obama has said the leaking of tens of thousands of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan did not reveal anything that had not already informed public debate on the situation there. The documents were revealed by the whistle-blowing organization Wikileaks.
A Bangladeshi government wage board has
recommend
ed a new legal minimum wage for its millions of garment factory workers. The wage is increased by about 80% to around 44 dollars a month. The announcement came after months of violent protests. Our correspondent Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from the capital Dhaka.