TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (File Photo)
Kolkata: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday informed that he had sent a legal notice to the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee for her alleged derogatory comments about the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ directed by him.
Agnihotri announced this through a Twitter message, where he has also uploaded a copy of the legal notice.
In his message, Agnihotri pointed out his objections to the chief minister’s announcing ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state on Monday, where she claimed that films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’ were meant for humiliating a certain section of the society.
“I have, alongwith @AbhishekOfficl & Pallavi Joshi, sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the Chief Minister, Bengal @MamataOfficial for her false & highly defamatory statements made with malafide intention to defame us & our films #TheKashmirFiles & upcoming 2024 film #TheDelhiFiles,” Agnihotri said in his Twitter message.
“They are trying to create division among the people on the basis of religion and caste. That is why ‘The Kashmir Files’ was made just to malign the people of a particular community. And now we have ‘The Kerala Story’, which is yet another untrue story with distorted facts,” the chief minister said on Monday while announcing the ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’.
The announcement of the ban has attracted scathing criticism from the opposition BJP, which is even planning to challenge it in the court.
New Delhi: Facing criticism from all quarters for being insensitive towards the protesting wrestlers, IOA President PT Usha on Wednesday met them at the protest site and assured the grapplers of her support, saying she was first an athlete and then an administrator.
Former sprinter Usha had come down heavily on the wrestlers for resuming their protest instead of approaching the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for their issues.
She had said that the wrestlers should have shown some discipline and that they had tarnished the country’s image by hitting the streets, a comment that brought criticism for her and the IOA.
Usha left without speaking with the media but Bajrang Punia said she has assured them help.
“Initially when she said that, we felt very bad but then she said that her comments were misinterpreted. She said that she is first an athlete and then an administrator,” said Bajrang, the Tokyo Games bronze medallist.
“We told her that we want justice. We don’t have a fight with the government or opposition or anyone else. We are sitting here for the betterment of wrestling. If this issue is resolved and if the allegations (against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh) are proved then there should be legal action,” he added.
When asked if Usha had come with a solution from the government or from the IOA, Punia said, “Nothing of that sort”.
“She only said that she is with us.”
Asked if he was satisfied following the meeting with Usha, he said, “If she is giving us assurance, I suppose she should fulfil that assurance. But we clarified to her that until and unless things are not okay and we get justice, of which we are very hopeful, this protest will continue.”
Asked if any solution had emerged, he said, “If the things she has spoke about… if there is an initiative along those lines, then definitely there will be a solution to this issue. She said she will try to resolve all our problems. If she wants she can do anything.”
Reacting to wrestlers’ resumption of protest, PT Usha, after the IOA’s Executive Committee meeting last week, had said, “Thoda toh discipline hona chahiye (there should be some discipline). Instead of coming to us, they have gone straight to the streets. It’s not good for sport.”
IOA acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey had said, “IOA President Dr. PT Usha would like to say that this kind of agitation is not good for the country’s image. India has a good reputation globally. This negative publicity is not good for the country.”
This had invited criticism for Usha for not understanding the wrestlers’ point of view despite being a former athlete and a woman herself.
Suella Braverman is facing further criticism from Conservative colleagues including the “red wall” MP Jonathan Gullis over claims that people crossing the Channel have values at odds with the UK’s.
It comes as the home secretary’s allegations that Albanian people arriving in the UK by small boats are exploiting modern slavery laws have been challenged in an analysis seen by the Guardian.
Asked about the home secretary’s comments on the values of people crossing on small boats, the Stoke MP said they made him feel “uncomfortable”.
Gullis, who previously suggested it would be “acceptable” to house migrants in tents, told LBC: “I don’t feel comfortable with the mentioning of the values. I don’t think that was appropriate, nor was it right.”
Braverman on Wednesday said people who come to the UK across the Channel in small boats “possess values which are at odds with our country” and there were “heightened levels of criminality”. She told the Guardian her claims were based on briefings from unnamed senior police officers, not data.
The Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi said Braverman should be replaced and the government needed a home secretary who would re-establish “evidence-based policies”.
“Part of what, unfortunately, the home secretary has a tendency to do is to make sweeping statements based upon nothing,” Lady Warsi told Channel 4. “I think she has to go back to having a sense of proportionality, a commitment to facts, making policy based upon evidence.”
Braverman’s allegations that many Albanians claiming to be victims of modern slavery were lying have been challenged by the Migration Observatory at Oxford University (OMO).
It found that just 12% of Albanians who came across the Channel in 2022 were referred to the national referral mechanism (NRM), which is designed to provide victims with safety and support.
Of the Albanians whose cases were assessed, 90% were found by the Home Office to have “reasonable grounds” for claiming to be victims of modern slavery, the body has discovered.
Braverman told Conservative party members in October: “Today, the largest group of small boats migrants are from Albania, a safe country. Many of them claim to be trafficked as modern slaves. The truth is that many of them are not modern slaves and their claims of being trafficked are lies.”
The OMO analysis found that of the roughly 12,000 Albanians who arrived via small boats in 2022, 1,467 (12%) were referred to the NRM by the end of 2022. Among all small boat arrivals in 2022, 7% were referred to the NRM.
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“Of the 1,467 Albanians who arrived via small boat and were referred to the NRM in 2022, 1,382 (94%) had received by 2023 a decision from the Home Office on whether there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe the individual is a victim of modern slavery. Of these, the Home Office determined that in 90% (1,239) of cases there were reasonable grounds to believe these individuals were modern slavery victims,” the analysis said.
The figures also contrast with Rishi Sunak’s claims in December that “one of the reasons we struggle to remove [Albanian] people is because they unfairly exploit our modern slavery system”.
The government’s asylum law, the illegal migration bill, was voted through the House of Commons on Wednesday. The former prime minister Theresa May led criticism of the bill for abandoning people who have been trafficked or forced into slavery.
Labour has attacked Braverman for failing to provide hard evidence for incendiary comments about refugees. Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, said: “The Conservative government is consistently misrepresenting asylum statistics and giving the public a misleading view of the reality of what we face in fixing the broken asylum system.”
A Home Office spokesperson said theUK government valued the Albanian community in the UK and welcomed those who come to the UK legally.
“Modern slavery remains a barbaric crime which the government is committed to stamping out and we continue to support thousands of genuine victims every year, but we will not allow people to abuse our laws,” the spokesperson said. “The illegal migration bill will change the law so that if someone is identified as a potential victim of modern slavery or human trafficking, we will ensure they are safely returned home or to another safe country.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
A long-awaited phone call between Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been cautiously welcomed, but China analysts say the timing suggests it could be partly an act of damage control after controversial comments by China’s ambassador to France.
Ambassador Lu Shaye, one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats with a history of fiery remarks, caused outrage across Europe this week when he denied the sovereignty of former Soviet states, saying they “did not have effective status”. The comments were roundly condemned, with several European nations summoning Chinese envoys for rebuke, and politicians suggesting it demonstrated China’s untrustworthiness as a neutral party in the Ukraine war.
Beijing, which counts Russia as its closest major ally, has sought to present itself as neutral and a potential peacemaker and there have been signs that Xi was unhappy with Russia’s actions, but in practice China has largely supported Russia’s stance.
“At a time when there is already significant concern about Russian ambitions and PRC [People’s Republic of China] support for them, Lu’s comments seemed to suggest that Beijing is open to continued, perhaps even expanded, Russian aggression,” said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.
Then on Wednesday evening, Beijing and Kyiv announced that the respective leaders had spoken for the first time since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, something many – including Zelenskiy – had long been calling for because of Beijing’s influence over Moscow. Multiple clear opportunities for Xi to do so had passed, so the announcement surprised many, prompting speculation that it was a distraction or a corrective move.
“Beijing is trying to bolster ties with Europe at this time, as seen in the slew of European leaders it recently hosted,” Chong said. “Lu’s comments and the consternation it caused among the public in Europe could complicate those efforts, so a reading of events is that the timing of the call was to soothe European worries.”
The reaction to Lu’s comments had prompted an extraordinary backing down from Chinese officials, who quickly distanced them from the official stance, saying Lu was expressing a personal opinion only, that did not represent Beijing.
Russia’s invasion has complicated Beijing’s efforts to pursue a more prominent diplomatic role as a global power, and Lu’s remarks have caused further damage. They also came as the European Union began work on its new China policy: the Financial Times reported the Lu’s comments featured prominently in preliminary discussions.
Bill Bishop, the author of the Sinocism newsletter, pointing to the timing, said Lu “may be in a lot of trouble, as minions should not force Xi into doing something”.
Theresa Fallon, the director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies, tweeted: “We all want to see an end to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine but the timing of this comes across as damage control.”
Yurii Poita, an expert on Ukraine-China relations at the Kyiv-based Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, said he could not rule out that the call was an urgent attempt to repair Lu’s damage and “cheaply create an appearance of constructiveness”.
However, it was also possible that Xi had decided to call because “Ukraine is preparing a counteroffensive, and after it, negotiations with Russia may begin”, he said. “Therefore, China is now trying to create an opportunity for negotiations to take place with its participation, which, in its opinion, will allow it to influence their results.”
During the call, Xi offered to send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict. In February, Beijing had released a 12-point proposal for peace, which urged both sides to refrain from nuclear escalation and to honour human rights law, but did not consult Ukraine on it.
Poita said the call was mostly symbolic, and unlikely to lead to an end of the war. “For practical results, China needs to put pressure on Russia to force it to leave Ukrainian territory,” he said.
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Dr Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at Taiwan National Dong Hwa University, said Lu’s comments had deepened European distrust of Beijing but “weren’t a total disaster” for Xi.
“It also created another opportunity to convey a message for domestic consumption, shape Chinese public opinion with false claims that Europe doesn’t understand nor respect China as a great power and is ‘anti-China’, as the interview showed,” she said.
Ferenczy said the content of the call, according to the dual readouts, would probably do little to change European perceptions of China’s “neutrality”.
She noted that Xi’s readout did not mention “war” or condemn Russia, and that Zelenskiy’s readout prominently reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to a “One China” policy (which gives a level of recognition to Beijing’s claim over Taiwan).
“The call is clearly driven by China’s self-interest,” Ferenczy said.
Chi Hui Lin contributed to this report
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#XiZelenskiy #call #prompted #ambassadors #undiplomatic #comments
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
A long-awaited phone call between Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been cautiously welcomed, but China analysts say the timing suggests it could be partly an act of damage control after controversial comments by China’s ambassador to France.
Ambassador Lu Shaye, one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats with a history of fiery remarks, caused outrage across Europe this week when he denied the sovereignty of former Soviet states, saying they “did not have effective status”. The comments were roundly condemned, with several European nations summoning Chinese envoys for rebuke, and politicians suggesting it demonstrated China’s untrustworthiness as a neutral party in the Ukraine war.
Beijing, which counts Russia as its closest major ally, has sought to present itself as neutral and a potential peacemaker and there have been signs that Xi was unhappy with Russia’s actions, but in practice China has largely supported Russia’s stance.
“At a time when there is already significant concern about Russian ambitions and PRC [People’s Republic of China] support for them, Lu’s comments seemed to suggest that Beijing is open to continued, perhaps even expanded, Russian aggression,” said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.
Then on Wednesday evening, Beijing and Kyiv announced that the respective leaders had spoken for the first time since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, something many – including Zelenskiy – had long been calling for because of Beijing’s influence over Moscow. Multiple clear opportunities for Xi to do so had passed, so the announcement surprised many, prompting speculation that it was a distraction or a corrective move.
“Beijing is trying to bolster ties with Europe at this time, as seen in the slew of European leaders it recently hosted,” Chong said. “Lu’s comments and the consternation it caused among the public in Europe could complicate those efforts, so a reading of events is that the timing of the call was to soothe European worries.”
The reaction to Lu’s comments had prompted an extraordinary backing down from Chinese officials, who quickly distanced them from the official stance, saying Lu was expressing a personal opinion only, that did not represent Beijing.
Russia’s invasion has complicated Beijing’s efforts to pursue a more prominent diplomatic role as a global power, and Lu’s remarks have caused further damage. They also came as the European Union began work on its new China policy: the Financial Times reported the Lu’s comments featured prominently in preliminary discussions.
Bill Bishop, the author of the Sinocism newsletter, pointing to the timing, said Lu “may be in a lot of trouble, as minions should not force Xi into doing something”.
Theresa Fallon, the director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies, tweeted: “We all want to see an end to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine but the timing of this comes across as damage control.”
Yurii Poita, an expert on Ukraine-China relations at the Kyiv-based Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, said he could not rule out that the call was an urgent attempt to repair Lu’s damage and “cheaply create an appearance of constructiveness”.
However, it was also possible that Xi had decided to call because “Ukraine is preparing a counteroffensive, and after it, negotiations with Russia may begin”, he said. “Therefore, China is now trying to create an opportunity for negotiations to take place with its participation, which, in its opinion, will allow it to influence their results.”
During the call, Xi offered to send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict. In February, Beijing had released a 12-point proposal for peace, which urged both sides to refrain from nuclear escalation and to honour human rights law, but did not consult Ukraine on it.
Poita said the call was mostly symbolic, and unlikely to lead to an end of the war. “For practical results, China needs to put pressure on Russia to force it to leave Ukrainian territory,” he said.
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Dr Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at Taiwan National Dong Hwa University, said Lu’s comments had deepened European distrust of Beijing but “weren’t a total disaster” for Xi.
“It also created another opportunity to convey a message for domestic consumption, shape Chinese public opinion with false claims that Europe doesn’t understand nor respect China as a great power and is ‘anti-China’, as the interview showed,” she said.
Ferenczy said the content of the call, according to the dual readouts, would probably do little to change European perceptions of China’s “neutrality”.
She noted that Xi’s readout did not mention “war” or condemn Russia, and that Zelenskiy’s readout prominently reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to a “One China” policy (which gives a level of recognition to Beijing’s claim over Taiwan).
“The call is clearly driven by China’s self-interest,” Ferenczy said.
Chi Hui Lin contributed to this report
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#XiZelenskiy #call #prompted #ambassadors #undiplomatic #comments
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is heading to China to represent Berlin, but she’ll likely have more explaining to do about Paris in the wake of French President Emmanuel Macron’s explosive comments on Taiwan.
As Baerbock embarked on her two-day visit Wednesday evening, officials in Berlin were eager to stress that Germany and the EU care about Taiwan and stability in the region, arguing it’s mainly China that must contribute to de-escalation by refraining from aggressive military maneuvers close to the island nation.
Baerbock’s trip comes amid international backlash against Macron’s comments in an interview with POLITICO, arguing Europe should avoid becoming America’s follower, including on the matter of Taiwan’s security. Although German government spokespeople refused to comment directly on the French president’s remarks, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry specifically called out Beijing when expressing “great concern” over the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
“We expect all parties in the region to contribute to peace. That applies equally to the People’s Republic of China,” the spokesperson said, adding: “And it seems to us that actions such as military threatening gestures are counter to that goal and, in fact, increase the risk of unintended military clashes.”
Nils Schmid, the foreign policy spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), said he expects Baerbock to “set the record straight” during her trip to China, which will involve meetings with Beijing’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Vice President Han Zheng and top diplomat Wang Yi.
“We clearly defined in the [government] coalition agreement that we need a changed China policy because China has changed. The chancellor made that clear during his visit. Above all, Scholz also issued clear warnings about Taiwan during his visit [last year],” Schmid wrote in a tweet. “I assume that Foreign Minister Baerbock will repeat exactly that and thus set the record straight and make a clarification after Macron’s botched visit.”
Berlin traditionally has been much more in sync with the U.S. on foreign and security policy than France has, which is why many politicians and officials in the German capital reacted with horror to Macron’s comments. The French president said Europe should not take its “cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” suggesting the EU stood between the two sides, rather than being aligned with its longtime democratic partners in Washington.
Macron gave the impression to some in the U.S. that Europeans see Beijing and Washington as “equidistant” from Brussels in terms of values and as allies, said SPD foreign policy lawmaker Metin Hakverdi, who is currently on a parliamentary visit to the U.S.
“That was foolish,” Hakverdi told POLITICO, adding that “Macron potentially damaged the peaceful status quo around Taiwan” by giving “the public impression that Europe has no particular interest in the conflict over Taiwan.
“The issue of Taiwan is not an internal matter for the People’s Republic of China. Anything else would virtually invite Beijing to attack Taiwan,” Hakverdi added. “I am confident that our foreign minister will make that clear during her trip to Asia — both to Beijing and to our Asian partners.”
Katja Leikert from the main German opposition party, the center-right CDU, criticized Macron’s comments as “extremely short-sighted,” and added: “Should China decide to strike Taiwan militarily, either by invading it or by starting a maritime blockade, this would have significant political and economic repercussions for us. We cannot just wish that away.
“What we actually need to do right now is strengthen our defense against aggressive measures from Beijing,” Leikert said.
For Berlin, Macron’s comments also come at a particularly bad moment for transatlantic ties. The German government is keen to mend cracks in its relationship with Washington that have emerged over the controversial benefits for U.S. businesses under Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Europe hopes to reach an agreement so that its own companies may also be eligible for these subsidies.
Macron’s comments “will not help in renegotiations on the Inflation Reduction Act, nor will they help Joe Biden in the election campaign against populist Republican candidates,” said the SPD’s Hakverdi.
The German foreign ministry spokesperson was quick to stress that both France and Germany were involved in shaping a joint EU-China policy | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
The German foreign ministry spokesperson was quick to stress that both France and Germany were involved in shaping a joint EU-China policy, which was also done in cooperation “with our transatlantic partner.”
During her trip to China, Baerbock plans to raise the situation in the Taiwan Strait; Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; the human rights situation in China; as well as the fight against climate crisis, the spokesperson said.
Baerbock’s foreign ministry is also currently drafting Germany’s first China strategy. A draft of this seen by POLITICO last year vowed to take a much harder line toward Beijing. Baerbock and her Green party are at the forefront of pushing such a tougher position, while Scholz has long preferred a softer approach.
Incidentally, however, the German government said Wednesday it is reassessing whether to potentially take a firmer stance and ban Chinese state company Cosco from going through with a highly controversial move to buy parts of a Hamburg port terminal.
Scholz had strongly pushed for the port deal ahead of his own trip to Beijing last year, but the future of the transaction is now in doubt after German security authorities classified the terminal as “critical infrastructure.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Rep. Adam Schiff, who led Trump’s first impeachment in the House and sat on the high-profile committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, called DeSantis’ comments “cowardly.” | Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo
Rep. Adam Schiff slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Sunday for comments the likely GOP primary candidate made about former President Donald Trump’s indictment.
DeSantis is willing to “say anything, do anything in hopes of becoming president,” Schiff, a California Democrat, told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki during an interview on the former Biden press secretary’s new show, “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
DeSantis, who is expected to enter the 2024 presidential race, criticized the indictment delivered by a New York grand jury on Thursday, calling it “un-American.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
London: The chair of the Saudi National Bank (SNB) has resigned for “personal reasons”, less than two weeks after his comments spurred investor panic over Credit Suisse that ended in an emergency takeover by its larger Swiss rival, UBS, according to a media report.
The Saudi National Bank (SNB), which was Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder, announced on Monday that it has “accepted” Ammar al-Khudairy’s resignation, and that he would be immediately replaced by its chief executive, The Guardian reported.
The bank gave little detail regarding the swift replacement, only saying that al-Khudairy was stepping down “due to personal reasons”, according to a statement released to the Saudi stock exchange.
Al-Khudairy’s exit came less than two weeks after he told journalists that SNB had ruled out providing any further funding for Credit Suisse because of additional regulations that would kick in if its stake in the Swiss lender then at 9.9 percent went above 10 percent, The Guardian reported.
Despite also assuring that the 166-year-old Swiss lender was “a very strong bank” and was unlikely to need more cash, the damage had been done.
Al-Khudairy’s comments spooked investors, who sent Credit Suisse shares plunging to record lows amid fears that SNB’s reluctance could limit emergency funding for the already-embattled lender, The Guardian reported.
The Swiss authorities were forced to step in, originally offering a 50 billion Swiss franc (45 billion pound) line of credit, and eventually orchestrating an emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by its larger domestic rival UBS that was confirmed only four days after al-Khudairy’s comments, The Guardian reported.
The swift action by Swiss regulators were part of efforts to curb further panic over the state of the global financial system, which started after US tech lender Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, and triggered government intervention earlier this month.
But during an interview with Morgan set to air this week, DeSantis called Putin a “a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons,” repeating a similar line he had used in early March to describe the Russian leader. Both lines echoed a 2014 quip from then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in which he said, “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.”
“I think [Putin’s] hostile to the United States, but I think the thing that we’ve seen is he doesn’t have the conventional capability to realize his ambitions,” DeSantis said, according to Fox News. “And so, he’s basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the U.S.”
DeSantis, who is widely expected to jump into the 2024 presidential race after Florida’s Legislative sessions in May, has faced increasing attacks from Donald Trump and other Republicans for his comments on Ukraine and his perceived disloyalty to the former president, who declared in November that he’s running for president.
Trump supporters have also targeted DeSantis after the governor said he wouldn’t intervene in Trump’s likely indictment in connection with hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Under Florida law, DeSantis could intervene in any extradition attempt if it is disputed.
“I’ve got real issues I’ve got to deal with here in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said earlier this week during a press conference. “We’re not getting involved in it in any way.”
His comments to Morgan, however, represent a pivot of sorts for DeSantis, who until this week only mildly pushed back against Trump’s repeated criticism on Truth Social and elsewhere.
In a portion of the Morgan interview, DeSantis said that “you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner” in response to Trump calling the Florida governor “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
