Briar Hill, winner of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in March, made a successful start over hurdles when justifying 1/9 favouritism in the opening Supporters Club AGM & Table Quiz Maiden Hurdle in Wexford yesterday, continuing the superb form of champion trainer Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh.

Ruby Walsh made his way to Thurles yesterday for just one ride, Noble Prince, in the featured John Meagher Memorial Chase and it duly obliged.

Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders today called for an end to Iraq’s sectarian conflict and vowed to track down those responsible for the war’s deadliest attack.

IRAQ’S appeals court is expected to rule on Saddam Hussein’s guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said yesterday.

Iraqi officials suspect that 50 US trained Iraqi soldiers murdered by insurgents – many of them execution-style – may have been set up by rebel infiltrators in their ranks.