Latest news with #British-Iranian
Time Out
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Hallow Road
Stephen Knight's 2013 thriller Locke gave us Tom Hardy, a car, a mobile phone and the not (on paper), wildly exciting prospect of a cement pour and generated from those sparse ingredients enough tension to trigger a panic attack. Hallow Road, directed by Babak Anvari, employs the same few elements, only – and with apologies to concrete enthusiasts – with even higher stakes: at the other end of the phone line is a panicked girl and the body of a young woman she's just run over in the dead of night on a forest road. Can her parents reach her in time, is the woman still alive, and will the trio make the right decisions along the way? If you don't immediately assume the answer to at least one of those is 'no', you've not seen Anvari's terrific debut Under the Shadow, which unleashed a malevolent djinn on a mum and daughter in wartorn Tehran. The British-Iranian filmmaker does not do happy families. And this taut morality tale even adds a jittery edge of superstition and folky horror to the mix. It opens with a deceptively serene tableau: a half-eaten stew on the kitchen table of a rural home; two parents – Rosamund Pike's Maddie and Matthew Rhys's Frank – asleep in separate rooms at 2am. Then Maddie's phone rings and the panicked voice of the pair's 18-year-old daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell) fills in the gaps: there's been an argument, Alice has stormed off in dad's car and hit a young woman in the woods. The British-Iranian filmmaker does not do happy families The screenplay, by first-timer William Gillies, seeds the scenario with tensions from the get-go. Why hasn't Maddie serviced her car, grumbles Frank. Whose fault was the argument in the first place? Then we're strapped in and racing to the woods – 40 minutes away – as Maddie, a paramedic, tries to talk her daughter through CPR over speakerphone and the het-up Frank simmers behind the wheel. By keeping the camera in the vehicle, hauntingly lit with the blur of passing houses and the glow of the mobile phone, Hallow Road invites you to fill the scene at the other end of the line with a shadowy menace that the final stretch really delivers on. And there's some truly whelp-inducing sound design thrown in as the panicking Alice attempts resuscitation. But the crux of the drama lies with the two parents, played with real feeling by Pike and Rhys. You can sense how their fraying marriage deprives their shared concerns for their daughter of any unity; how the miles are clocking down more slowly than their cortisol levels are cranking up. Pike, in particular, is terrific as a woman torn between her instincts as a mother and a medical professional – two caregiving roles suddenly in conflict. How far would you go to protect your child? Hopefully it'll never need to be as far as this.
France 24
14-05-2025
- Health
- France 24
'No more empty statements:' Iran ex-detainees press Sweden over death row academic
Ahmadreza Djalali, an academic who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges he denies, suffered a heart attack in Tehran's Evin prison, his wife said Friday. Djalali, 53, is among a number of Europeans held by Iran in what some countries including France call a deliberate hostage-taking strategy to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over Tehran's nuclear programme. Djalali's condition, "worsened by years of medical neglect and psychological torment, is now dire," said the 21 former detainees including British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert and US-Iranian Siamak Namazi, who were freed only after years-long ordeals in prison. "While the Islamic Republic and its heinous practice of hostage diplomacy is the clear culprit here, we are deeply troubled by your government's failure to use the means at its disposal to rescue Dr Djalali," they said in the letter addressed to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson via Stockholm's embassy in Washington. "No more empty statements. Sweden must act with the same urgency and resolve it has shown in securing the freedom of other citizens," they added in the letter seen by AFP. Djalali was granted Swedish nationality while in jail. 'A path home' The letter said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had offered a possible way forward in a recent social media post that it said "implicitly linked" the case to Iran's inability to access treatment for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a disease that affects hundreds of Iranian children and can be fatal without proper care. "The specialised wound dressings required to treat EB, produced by a Swedish company, have long been blocked due to over-compliance with sanctions," the letter said. In a post on X last week that lamented a "regrettable shift" in bilateral relations, Araghchi said "Sweden ceased non-sanctionable exports of medicines, including specialised and unique gear for children afflicted with EB". In June 2024, Tehran freed two Swedes held in Iran in exchange for Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prisons official serving a life sentence in Sweden. To the disappointment of his family, Djalali was not included in the swap. In the letter, the ex-detainees told Kristersson: "A path to bring Dr Djalali home -- alive, not in a coffin -- appears within reach. "If Sweden fails to pursue it seriously and this Swedish citizen dies in captivity, history will record that your government had more than one chance to save him -- but chose not to. That responsibility will rest squarely with you." © 2025 AFP
Rhyl Journal
13-05-2025
- Business
- Rhyl Journal
Farhad Moshiri reveals £400million investment in Everton's new stadium
The Toffees will play their final competitive game at Goodison Park on Sunday before moving into their new arena at Bramley-Moore Dock next season. Moshiri's eight-year tenure, which ended when he sold his holding to the Friedkin Group last year, was blighted by a number of controversies but the construction of the new stadium was one positive, tangible legacy. The British-Iranian businessman told Sky Sports News: 'We were all in love with Goodison. I was in love with Goodison. Nobody wanted to move. 'But the reason we had to leave was partly infrastructural, partly financial. 'I had to put in £400million. The rest had to come from other investors.' The new stadium cost around £750million and has a capacity of 52,888. It has already held its first two test events, at reduced capacities, with a third to take place over the summer. Moshiri believes the stadium could make a big difference as the club, after several years of toil in the lower reaches of the Premier League, strive higher. He said: 'The fact we have the Friedkin Group, really good custodians in a new stadium – I think this is our best chance to bridge the gap. 'Our fans have suffered far too long.' Moshiri's reign was marked by financial problems, on-field struggles and a high turnover of managers. He said: 'My biggest sadness is not to have attended more games. I wish I'd been able to but I was constrained by my work. I have no regret.'
Leader Live
13-05-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Farhad Moshiri reveals £400million investment in Everton's new stadium
The Toffees will play their final competitive game at Goodison Park on Sunday before moving into their new arena at Bramley-Moore Dock next season. Moshiri's eight-year tenure, which ended when he sold his holding to the Friedkin Group last year, was blighted by a number of controversies but the construction of the new stadium was one positive, tangible legacy. The British-Iranian businessman told Sky Sports News: 'We were all in love with Goodison. I was in love with Goodison. Nobody wanted to move. 'But the reason we had to leave was partly infrastructural, partly financial. 'I had to put in £400million. The rest had to come from other investors.' The new stadium cost around £750million and has a capacity of 52,888. It has already held its first two test events, at reduced capacities, with a third to take place over the summer. Moshiri believes the stadium could make a big difference as the club, after several years of toil in the lower reaches of the Premier League, strive higher. He said: 'The fact we have the Friedkin Group, really good custodians in a new stadium – I think this is our best chance to bridge the gap. 'Our fans have suffered far too long.' Moshiri's reign was marked by financial problems, on-field struggles and a high turnover of managers. He said: 'My biggest sadness is not to have attended more games. I wish I'd been able to but I was constrained by my work. I have no regret.'
South Wales Guardian
12-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Farhad Moshiri reveals £400million investment in Everton's new stadium
The Toffees will play their final competitive game at Goodison Park on Sunday before moving into their new arena at Bramley-Moore Dock next season. Moshiri's eight-year tenure, which ended when he sold his holding to the Friedkin Group last year, was blighted by a number of controversies but the construction of the new stadium was one positive, tangible legacy. The British-Iranian businessman told Sky Sports News: 'We were all in love with Goodison. I was in love with Goodison. Nobody wanted to move. 'But the reason we had to leave was partly infrastructural, partly financial. 'I had to put in £400million. The rest had to come from other investors.' The new stadium cost around £750million and has a capacity of 52,888. It has already held its first two test events, at reduced capacities, with a third to take place over the summer. Moshiri believes the stadium could make a big difference as the club, after several years of toil in the lower reaches of the Premier League, strive higher. He said: 'The fact we have the Friedkin Group, really good custodians in a new stadium – I think this is our best chance to bridge the gap. 'Our fans have suffered far too long.' Moshiri's reign was marked by financial problems, on-field struggles and a high turnover of managers. He said: 'My biggest sadness is not to have attended more games. I wish I'd been able to but I was constrained by my work. I have no regret.'
