Iraq: “A secret inquiry is storing up trouble”
A private investigation into the Iraq war will only backfire on Gordon Brown, writes Chris Ames
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Representatives vote for libel tourism bill
The US House of Representatives has voted in favour of a libel tourism bill, which would protect US writers and bloggers from English libel rulings. The bill now goes to the Senate.
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"Iran’s civil liberties are regularly eroded as part of a ten-year political cycle"
In rare footage from a year ago, President Ahmadinejad can be seen giving an open-air speech on the outskirts of Tehran. An official film crew, from the president’s office, has a monopoly filming presidential duties. As the camera panned from Ahmadinejad to the audience, it revealed an endless sea of people, seemingly hanging on his every word. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing. There were men and women in attendance, but the crowd of literally thousands was segregated by gender.
The footage had been obtained by documentary filmmaker and Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari for a documentary he was making about Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad has always safeguarded the country’s hard-line tradition. When he was mayor of Tehran, he proposed burying a martyr from the Iran-Iraq war in every city square to remind Iranians of the eternal threat against their country and religion.
Antichrist film to be released uncut in the UK
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have said that controversial Lars von Trier film, Antichrist, will be released uncut, as an 18 certificate version in the UK, despite scenes featuring erect penises, violent sex and genital mutilation. Read more here