Courting clergy

Tehran, May 25 (Reuters): Iranian cleric and presidential candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has picked a clergy-bashing filmmaker to direct his electoral broadcasts.

Director Kamal Tabrizi said today he had agreed to make a 30-minute film for Rafsanjani, an ex-president tipped to win the June 17 poll. Tabrizi’s The Lizard was a mordant satire on Iran’s turbanned establishment. It proved a hit with with cinema-goers but was quickly withdrawn from screens.

It told the tale of a thief who escapes prison by donning the turban and robes of a mullah. Ironically, he proves a crowd pleaser as a preacher.

“I think Rafsanjani had a positive attitude towards The Lizard,” Tabrizi said, when asked why he had been chosen. He declined to give a sneak-preview into the contents of Rafsanjani's electoral broadcast.

Long law

London (Reuters): A British lawyer will conclude later what is believed to be the longest speech in the country's legal history, breaking the record set last year by his rival in the same protracted courtroom wrangle. Nicholas Stadlen has spent 119 days presenting the case for the Bank of England which is defending an '850 million compensation claim by creditors of collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International, The Guardian said. A five-foot high stack of files has grown between the two legal teams.