India has rejected a demand by the Albanian government for the return of the remains of Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, buried in the city of Calcutta."Mother Teresa was an Indian citizen and she is resting in her own country, her own land," Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said. A spokeswoman for the nun's Missionaries of Charity described the Albanian request as "absurd". Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born in Skopje, now part of Macedonia.
India has rejected a demand by the Albanian government for the return of the remains of Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, buried in the city of Calcutta.
"Mother Teresa was an Indian citizen and she is resting in her own country, her own land," Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.
A spokeswoman for the nun's Missionaries of Charity described the Albanian request as "absurd".
Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born in Skopje, now part of Macedonia.
Roman Polanski is putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming film from his prison cell in Switzerland, his friend and colleague Robert Harris said yesterday at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. Harris, who wrote the screenplay for the film, said that the director is making decisions about The Ghost so that it will be ready for its scheduled premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Polanski, who is fighting extradition to America where he is wanted for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, recently gave instructions about the film score to Alexandre Desplat, the composer best known for writing music for The Queen and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The director, 76, was arrested in Zurich on September 26 after 31 years on the run from the American authorities. He admitted having sex with Samantha Gailey, a model he hired for a photoshoot, but jumped bail in February 1978 when he discovered that he would face a lengthy prison sentence despite negotiating a plea bargain. Harris, who was in Cheltenham to publicise his book Lustrum, said that The Ghost would be completed in accordance with Polanski's wishes. The director had finished editing the film, which stars Pierce Brosnan as a British prime minister accused of war crimes, on the day of his arrest.
Roman Polanski is putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming film from his prison cell in Switzerland, his friend and colleague Robert Harris said yesterday at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Harris, who wrote the screenplay for the film, said that the director is making decisions about The Ghost so that it will be ready for its scheduled premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Polanski, who is fighting extradition to America where he is wanted for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, recently gave instructions about the film score to Alexandre Desplat, the composer best known for writing music for The Queen and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The director, 76, was arrested in Zurich on September 26 after 31 years on the run from the American authorities. He admitted having sex with Samantha Gailey, a model he hired for a photoshoot, but jumped bail in February 1978 when he discovered that he would face a lengthy prison sentence despite negotiating a plea bargain. Harris, who was in Cheltenham to publicise his book Lustrum, said that The Ghost would be completed in accordance with Polanski's wishes. The director had finished editing the film, which stars Pierce Brosnan as a British prime minister accused of war crimes, on the day of his arrest.
Vladimir Putin has defied his famously macho image by suggesting that Russia and its military allies set up a rival version of the Eurovision song contest. In comments as odd as they were unexpected, the Russian prime minister spoke out in favour of a new international modern song competition that he said should be called "Intervision". Speaking in Beijing, Mr Putin suggested the new song contest should be set up in the incongruous framework of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a six-nation defence bloc that is more accustomed to conducting joint military exercises than giving each others' crooners nul points.
In comments as odd as they were unexpected, the Russian prime minister spoke out in favour of a new international modern song competition that he said should be called "Intervision".
Speaking in Beijing, Mr Putin suggested the new song contest should be set up in the incongruous framework of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a six-nation defence bloc that is more accustomed to conducting joint military exercises than giving each others' crooners nul points.
