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Iran risks serious escalation in Indian filmmaker sues New York city Pak to
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| Blair admits smacking his children London, January 11 British Prime Minister Tony Blair, fresh from announcing initiatives to deal with problem parents and their unruly offspring, has admitted smacking his older children. Blair’s admission came on a BBC television question and answer session yesterday with members of the public about his “respect” measures, unveiled earlier in the day to tackle anti-social behaviour. 
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Iran risks serious escalation in N-standoff: USA
The Bush Administration on Tuesday said Iran, by resuming uranium enrichment at its plant in Natanz, risked a “serious escalation” in its nuclear standoff with the West. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush Administration was consulting with its allies about how to move forward. “Any resumption of enrichment and reprocessing activities would be a further violation of the Paris agreement that Iran agreed to. Such steps would be a serious escalation of the nuclear issue by the regime in Iran,” he said. Iran on Tuesday broke United Nations seals at its Natanz plant and announced the resumption of “small-scale” enrichment, an action it had previously informed the International Atomic Energy Agency about. Mr McClellan noted that there was serious concern “throughout the international community about the regime’s behavior, and given Iran’s history of concealing and hiding its nuclear activities from the international community, and its continued non-compliance of its safeguard obligations, such concern is well-founded.” The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, last year found that Iran was in non-compliance of its safeguard obligations. India voted with the US and its European allies in that vote. Asked whether Washington was contemplating military action against Iran, the White House spokesman said President George W. Bush had made it clear “we never take options off the table.” European nations were also critical of Iran’s decision. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned that it would “destabilise the whole of the region and, in doing so, threaten international peace and security as a whole.” French President Jacques Chirac said Iran had made a “serious error,” while Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Foreign Minister, said Tehran had “crossed lines which it knew would not remain without consequences.” Britain, France and Germany comprise the EU-3, the trio of European Union countries negotiating with Iran, with the full backing of the US, which has no diplomatic relations with Tehran. US officials left open the possibility of an emergency meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, which will be meeting in Vienna, Austria, on March 6. Bush Administration officials say the issue will ultimately end up in the United Nations Security Council where the US hopes to get the council to impose sanctions on Iran. However, the US is unlikely to find it easy to get all permanent members of the council to agree to the sanctions. China, part of the veto-wielding permanent five members of the council, will likely oppose sanctions. Russia, another P-5 member, reached an agreement with Iran last year to provide nuclear fuel for the Iranian facility in Bushehr. Sources admit that the Bush Administration, which is at present working with the US Congress to push through a deal that would allow civil nuclear cooperation with India, will expect India to side with it at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting. In a recent interview with this correspondent, Ronen Sen, India’s Ambassador to the US, said it was premature to speculate whether India would vote at the IAEA to recommend the Iran issue to the Security Council. |
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Indian filmmaker sues New York city
An Indian filmmaker has sued the city of New York after he was arrested and detained by the police officers for filming on a public sidewalk. The New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York University Law School Civil Rights Clinic filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan on Tuesday on behalf of Rakesh Sharma, a critically-acclaimed independent documentary filmmaker from India. Rakesh had been travelling in several countries, including the USA to screen his film — Final Solution. The film, a study of the politics of hate and set in Gujarat documents the changing face of right-wing politics in India through a study of the 2002 genocide of Muslims in the state. On May 12, 2005, Rakesh was invited to present his film in New York at a screening by Columbia University and New School. While in the city, Rakesh Sharma was working on a film about the lives of ordinary people, including New York's predominantly South Asian taxi drivers, in America following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. After filming various midtown scenes with a handheld camera, he was detained by the New York Police Department officers, held for three hours and subjected to verbal and physical abuse. The officers searched his possessions and camera before releasing him. He was told he needed to have a permit for future filming. "It's a sad day when the police think they can detain and mistreat someone simply for making a film on a public street in New York city," Sharma said. "I cooperated with them and answered all their questions, but they treated me like a criminal. It was wrong, and I was scared and humiliated." Sharma returned to New York in November 2005 and applied for a permit. The Mayor's office of film, theatre and broadcasting denied his request and refused to provide him with a written explanation. Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), said, "In a democracy, people have the right to document activity in public places without being arrested." "When the city tried to stop people from taking pictures in the subway, we objected and the city backed down. In the same way, we are challenging the city's arbitrary film-permitting scheme, which exposes legitimate filmmakers to risk of arrest for taking pictures on the streets of New York," she said. Sharma has urged supporters to sign a petition seeking justice. The petition is addressed to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Democratic Senator Hilary Clinton and the US Ambassador in India, David Mulford. Though Sharma was not formally arrested, he was not free to leave, not allowed to make any phone calls and was interrogated by two more sets of officers. Eventually, detectives of the cold case squad at the 17th precinct "illegally previewed" the footage shot by him even after his identity had firmly and formally been established, the petition says. |
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Pak to import 6 lakh tonnes of sugar Islamabad, January 11 Informed sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the government was anticipating a shortfall of 6,00,000 tonnes of sugar this year which needed to be met through imports. Raw sugar, available at lower prices in the international market, will be refined at home for marketing. Last year’s sugarcane production was 47 million tonnes. Since this year the crop is expected to be around 45.8 million tonnes, sugar production will also be less than last year, aggravating the shortage. However, sources said that the government was experiencing difficulties to control the increasing sugar prices despite issuing serious directives to official agencies concerned to look into the issue. Both the Federal and Punjab’s Cane Commissioners have not been able to stop the “unregistered buying” of sugarcane by the sugar mills from the growers because of the powerful sugar lobby. “Sugarcane is a political crop and the sugar industry is a political industry,” a source said, adding that people sitting in the Cabinet and the government were using their influence to help sugar mills thrive at the cost of the people who were buying sugar at Rs 31 to Rs 32 per kg compared to about Rs 26 to Rs 27 per kg of last year. Out of 77, about six or seven relatively bigger sugar mills were more active in seeking increased profit through their clout in the government. Since the government allows the import of duty-free raw sugar, some of the mills have already started importing the commodity and were converting them into refined sugar. Sources said sugar prices in the international market were increasing and were close to the prices of local sugar after paying the landed cost. |
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Blair admits smacking his children
London, January 11 Blair’s admission came on a BBC television question and answer session yesterday with members of the public about his “respect” measures, unveiled earlier in the day to tackle anti-social behaviour. The 52-year-old Prime Minister was put on the spot about his own parental discipline when the presenter asked: “Do you smack your kids? Did you?... “Did it cause a problem?” Blair, who has four children aged five to 21, replied: “No, I think, funnily enough, I’m probably different with my youngest than I was with my older ones.” Misunderstanding his reply, the presenter, Kirsty Wark, said: “What, you do smack the younger one?” “No-no, no-no,” Blair said. “It was actually the other way round but... I think, look, this smacking... I mean, I agree with what you just said, I think everybody knows the difference between smacking a kid and abusing a child. “But I, if I can honestly say this to you — I think the problem is when you get these really, really difficult families, it’s moved a bit beyond that,” he added, referring to new proposals that include a National Parenting Academy. Smacking children has been a source of sporadic political debate in Britain over recent years. Mild smacking is allowed under a “reasonable chastisement” defence against common assault.
— AFP |
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