Akbar Khan to play Saddam Hussein

Akbar Khan, who was recently seen playing Chandan Roy Sanyal’s strict dad in F.A.L.T.U, will now be seen playing the character of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in a film directed by Suresh Kohli.

The docu-drama titled From President to Prisoner focuses on the last few years of Saddam’s fight against US imperialism. Akbar Khan in the past has been associated with epics like Tipu Sultan and Taj Mahal-An Eternal Love Story and it will be interesting to see how he manages to portray one of the most well-known names in history.

Iran’s Khamenei calls for Iraqi government formation

TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on political factions in Iraq to reach a consensus on forming a new government, state television reported on Monday.

Since Iraq’s election in March, its leaders have been unable to agree on a new government, raising concerns over a revival of violence between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ites propelled into power after Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003.

Incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to Tehran on Monday to seek support for his bid for a new term. Shi’ite power Iran has wielded great influence in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam, who waged an eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s.

Iran’s leaders have been lukewarm about backing Maliki, who they are thought to view as overly independent. Many of the Shi’ite political parties that dominate Iraq now were nurtured by Iran during their

Iraq Election Campaign Begins

Iraq Election Campaign Begins, Official campaigning for Iraq’s March 7 general election started on Friday in a tense atmosphere overshadowed by angry demands from provincial leaders that workers linked to Saddam Hussein be fired.
An integrity and accountability committee announced late Thursday that 28 of 177 candidates banned from the vote for alleged Baathist links would be allowed to stand after all, a small proportion of more than 500 originally blacklisted.
Political party activists pasted up posters across Baghdad, adding to those that had been placed illegally at prominent billboard sites across the capital in recent weeks in an attempt to steal a march on election rivals.
The run-up to the campaign has for weeks been dominated by the legacy of executed dictator Saddam and his Sunni Arab former elite which continues to loom large, almost seven years after he was ousted in a US-led invasion.

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Iraq Election Campaign Begins was first posted on February 12, 2010 at 5:12 pm.

Fury Erupts At UN Climate Talks

COPENHAGEN : Fury erupted at the Copenhagen climate talks Saturday over a draft accord agreed by a select group of leaders, with several poor nations saying it amounted to a coup against the United Nations.

“You are going to endorse this coup d’etat against the United Nations,” Venezuela’s representative Claudia Salerno Caldera told Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, the conference’s chairman, in a speech from the floor.

“Those of us who wish to speak have to make a point of order by cutting our hands and drawing blood,” she added, before opening a red-stained palm.

Tuvalu’s Ian Fry, whose country is one of the most at risk from global warming, said the agreement amounted to Biblical betrayal.

“It looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future,” he said to applause in the chamber.

“Our future is not for sale. I regret to inform you that Tuvalu cannot accept this document.”

Rasmussen, looking uneasy in his chair, faced a barrage of criticism during the highly-charged session which was convened several hours after US President Barack Obama said he had reached a political agreement with around two dozen fellow leaders, including from China and India.

Cuba accused Obama of “behaving like an emperor,” adding that the Havana government would not accept the draft declaration.

The plenary session was then suspended after Costa Rica demanded explanations for key text that had disappeared from a draft resolution while the leaders’ wrangling had unfolded.

That text said countries would strive for a “legally-binding” agreement in Mexico City at the end of 2010 — a position supported especially by Russia, Canada and Japan in order to lock the United States into a treaty.

Green delegates said they suspected the vital words had been deleted as a quid pro quo to placate the United States.

Obama flew out of Copenhagen late Friday before any decision among the 194 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on whether to accept the draft agreement.

The agreement contains a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones — global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 — for getting there.

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Fury Erupts At UN Climate Talks was first posted on December 19, 2009 at 3:27 pm.

New Mass Grave Found Near Kirkuk: Iraq

BAGHDAD: Iraqi government says a mass grave discovered in northeast Iraq contains 185 bodies, mostly of women and children believed killed during a crackdown against Kurds by former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Majid Abdullah Karim of the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights said Saturday that the number could be lower because only bones were found.

Karim says the grave was discovered south of Kirkuk two years ago, though forensic pathologists only began examining it this week.

The grave was found at a former military camp used by Saddam’s forces. Authorities believe the remains date to between 1988 and 1991.

An estimated 180,000 Kurds were killed by Saddam’s forces during the late 1980s in a brutal crackdown on Kurdish insurgents.

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New Mass Grave Found Near Kirkuk: Iraq was first posted on December 19, 2009 at 3:45 pm.

Tony Blair Defends Saddam’s Removal

Tony Blair Defends Saddam’s Removal, Former British prime minister Tony Blair has said that the plan to remove Saddam from power was justified despite the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He said there were many reasons, which justified the decision to dethrone Saddam as he was becoming a biggest threat for the region.
He rejected the notion that he helped US just because of being a Christian. Blair said that most of the families of troops who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan feel proud of them but the opinion of those who oppose the wars is also respected.

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Tony Blair Defends Saddam’s Removal was first posted on December 12, 2009 at 3:54 pm.