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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:15
Sunrise: 6:42
Noon: 11:49
Evening: 17:15
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Weather Guide
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THU |
FRI |
Tehran: |
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High: |
15 oC |
15 oC |
Low: |
6 oC |
6 oC |
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Athens |
20 |
18 |
Ankara |
10 |
11 |
Paris |
8 |
8 |
New Delhi |
27 |
26 |
Rome |
17 |
15 |
Riyadh |
26 |
24 |
Frankfurt |
3 |
3 |
Cairo |
23 |
25 |
Kuwait City |
22 |
22 |
Karachi |
32 |
32 |
Copenhagen |
5 |
4 |
London |
6 |
6 |
Moscow |
6 |
6 |
Madrid |
13 |
13 |
Vienna |
5 |
5 |
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Identification
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Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Managing Director: Mohammad T. Roghaniha
Executive Editor: Amin Sabooni
Editorial Dept. Tel: 8755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 8761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 8753119, 8757702, 8733764
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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Fire at Tehran University Library
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Picture shows the burnt section of Tehran University's library, Nov. 15. (Mehr Photo)
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TEHRAN, Nov. 16--A section of the library of Tehran University’s Faculty of Law and Political Science caught fire on Wednesday, the Public Relations Office of TU reported on Wednesday.
Part of the report read, “Fortunately due to the efforts of firefighters, the fire was brought under control and its spread toÉother parts of the library and the faculty was prevented.“
“Following the incident, the university’s Board of Directors held an emergency meeting and ordered a probe into the cause of fire and called for estimating the extent of damage, adopting immediate renovation measures and removing problems,“ it stated.
The report noted that given the university’s antiquity, such incidents are not unusual and stressed that safety conditions in the university buildings should be improved.
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West Should Stop Threatening Iran
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Mohammad Javad Ardeshir-Larijani
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TEHRAN, Nov. 16--An international relations expert on Monday called on western countries to stop threatening Iran.
In an interview with IRNA, Mohammad Javad Ardeshir-Larijani added that threats give rise to adverse consequences.
Asked about the West’s constant refrain of not trusting Iran, the conservative think tank said trust is a two-way street and there are more reasons to mistrust the West than vice versa.
Ardeshir-Larijani, a former deputy foreign minister, pointed out that since the Islamic Revolution’s victory, “the West, particularly the US and Europe, mistreated us and they were never friendly toward us“.
“If the absence of trust is a consideration, we are the ones who must mistrust the West and its demand as well as attitude,“ he said.
Commenting on the now-stalled negotiations with Europeans, he said, “If westerners want us to take them seriously, they must stop threatening us. Why do they threaten us so much? If they want us to behave better and in a more transparent manner within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, why do they threaten us?“
He stressed that the West has a catastrophic track record with regard to winning Iran’s trust.
Ardeshir-Larijani maintained that member-states of the Non-Aligned Movement mostly played a good role in the International Atomic Energy Agency meetings.
“The stance of NAM troika (Malaysia, Cuba, South Africa) is to some extent similar to that of the entire NAM member-states. Nevertheless, it is natural for the standpoint of NAM members to form independently and in the world of politics nobody can behave in a guaranteed manner,“ he said.
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Inheritance Law Amendment Planned
TEHRAN, Nov. 16--One of the Jewish MPs on Wednesday said lawmakers representing religious minorities have compiled a bill for amending the Inheritance Law which so far has 200 signatories.
Speaking to reporters, Maurice Motamed added that the amendment concerns that part of the law which states that infidels do not inherit from Muslims.
“In cases where one of the family members converts to Islam and following the death of his or her parents, for distributing inheritance, the court would give all the inheritance to the person who had converted to Islam and all other inheritors would be deprived of the same since infidels cannot inherit from Muslims,“ he said.
The legislator noted that in many cases conversion took place due to financial problems and economic reasons.
He emphasized that MPs representing religious minorities want to add a note to Article 881 of the Inheritance Law.
Motamed expressed hope that upon the ratification of the bill and approval of the Guardians Council, the rights of religious minorities would be upheld.
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Religious Scholars Focus on Solidarity
ISFAHAN, Nov. 16--An Iranian Sunni religious scholar, Maulvi Ishaq Madani, stressed on Wednesday that no statement by the late Imam Khomeini ended without underlining the role of solidarity.
Addressing a session of the Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Sects, Madani added that the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, revived the assembly and the Muslim world today knows about the notion of unity.
Touba Kermani, a philosophy professor of Tehran University, also told the gathering that it is necessary to pay attention to women’s issues for achieving unity in the Muslim community.“Women are dear to the Islamic world and according to the holy Qu’ran they help bring hearts closer and this role should not be neglected,“ she said.
Abdolsabour Shahin, a Muslim Egyptian thinker, said the non-Muslim world talks of striking a blow against radical Islam.
“However, by radical Islam they mean revolutionary and dynamic Islam,“ he said.
Salahuddin Kaftarou, a Syrian professor, noted that the Muslim world is facing numerous challenges and they must improve their own conditions to confront them.
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Accused in Kazemi Dossier Acquitted
TEHRAN, Nov. 16--Tehran’s Appeals Court acquitted a person accused of causing the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi.
The defendant’s attorney, Qasem Shabani, told ISNA: “The decree issued by the appeals court notes that sufficient investigations have not been carried out regarding other defendants (in the case), therefore the dossier must be referred to the Preliminary Court and the Islamic Revolution’s Court for further investigations.“
Shabani stressed that it is not yet proven whether Kazemi was murdered intentionally.
Kazemi, arrested for taking photographs illegally, died after suffering a blow to her head during interrogations.
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Italian TV:
US Using Incendiary Arms in Iraq
LONDON, Nov. 16--Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Rai says this amounts to the illegal use of chemical arms, though the bombs are considered incendiary devices, BBC reported.
Eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers say the weapon was used in built-up areas in the insurgent-held city.
Transmission of the documentary coincides with the first anniversary of the US-led assault on Fallujah, which displaced most of the city’s 300,000 population and left many of its buildings destroyed.
The documentary begins with formerly classified footage of the Americans using napalm bombs during the Vietnam war. It then shows a series of photographs from Fallujah of corpses with the flesh burnt off but clothes still intact, which it says is consistent with the effects of white phosphorus on humans.
Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Fallujah, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio and saw the results.
Last December, the US State Department issued a denial of what it called “widespread myths“ about the use of illegal weapons in Fallujah.
However, the Rai film also alleges that Washington has systematically attempted to destroy filmed evidence of the alleged use of white phosphorus on civilians in Fallujah.
Spontaneously flammable chemical used for battlefield illumination contact with particles causes burning of skin and flesh use of incendiary weapons prohibited for attacking civilians (Protocol III of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons). Protocol III is not signed by the US.
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ElBaradei Visit Likely
VIENNA, Austria, Nov. 16--The UN nuclear watchdog chief could go to Tehran soon to try to nail down a deal over activities the West suspects could be Iran’s preliminary steps to making nuclear arms, diplomats said on Tuesday.
A new report on Iran by International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is to be circulated among the 35 IAEA member-states later this week, ahead of a crunch Nov. 24 board meeting on whether to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions, Reuters reported.
The Russian envoy to the IAEA briefed ElBaradei Tuesday about Moscow’s proposal to defuse the stalemate with Iran by allowing it to continue nuclear fuel production if it shifts uranium enrichment to Russia as part of a joint venture.
This could stop Iran producing uranium of the grade needed for atomic bombs, higher than the grade used for power plants.
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Brotherhood Gains in Egypt Elections
CAIRO, Egypt, Nov. 16--Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood more than doubled its strength in parliament in the early stages of legislative elections, showing its weight with two-thirds of places still to be contested, the group said on Wednesday.
The voting for parliament’s 444 elected seats is not expected to end the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) control of the chamber, but the Brotherhood’s victory underlined the status of political Islam as the strongest opposition force, Reuters reported.
Deputy Brotherhood leader Mohamed Habib told Reuters his candidates had won 30 seats on Tuesday in run-offs.
They won four seats outright in the first day of voting last week. The Brotherhood had 15 seats in the outgoing parliament.
“The result confirms in an unquestionable way that the Egyptian people stand behind the Brotherhood,“ Habib said.
An NDP source said the ruling party won 88 of the 164 seats contested in the last week. Its majority would be boosted if 35 winners who broke party ranks to contest seats as independents returned to the NDP, the source said.
Secular opposition parties won only a handful of seats, Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
Official results have yet to be announced.
The Brotherhood is officially outlawed but has made the most of unusual tolerance from the authorities in the last month to campaign openly for parliament. Its candidates have to compete as independents to sidestep the ban on the group.
Monitoring groups, which have had unprecedented access to this year’s parliamentary elections, have reported widespread violations in voting so far. They included the illegal collective registration of state company employees in areas where they do not live. Monitors say the voters are rounded up and taken to polling stations to vote NDP.
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’Fowl’ Play
By M.P. Zamani
As if the world doesn’t have enough coping with natural disasters and human diseases that it now has to put up with the deadly flu carried by the winged species.
Birds are playing havoc with the livelihoods of millions of farmers the world over through the fatal avian flu, which is threatening to spread to newer regions, making it all the more difficult to control and contain it.
In Iran, over 14,000 chickens have died seemingly of bird flu in Markazi province, and samples taken from a poultry-breeding farm have identified the prevalence of H9N2 and Newcastle types of avian flu, reports say.
Iran Veterinary Organization (IVO) said on Tuesday that no case of the deadlier H5 type bird flu had so far been identified in chickens and attributed the death of thousands of ducks in Aras region to botulism, which is poisoning caused by a bacillus in badly-preserved food.
Last month Iran banned bird hunting and began stocking bird flu vaccines following the outbreak of the deadly virus among poultry and fowl in neighboring Turkey.
Turkey culled 8,000 birds after the deadly H5N1 strain, which has caused the death of 64 people in Asia, mostly in Vietnam, and was discovered among its live poultry stocks.
The first Persian Gulf case of bird flu was also identified in Kuwait last week, bringing the threat closer to our doors. Of the two cases of bird flu, a wild flamingo was identified as having the deadlier N5N1 virus and was destroyed by the authorities.
Despite assurances from the authorities that no bird flu cases have been identified in Iran, the concern is mounting since the country is in the direct flight path of the millions of migratory birds like geese, ducks and wild fowls. As the cold season sets in thousands of birds come to roost in the marshlands and lake regions.
Last month 4,000 wild ducks died in a marshland in northwestern Iran. Although the cause has now been ascertained by the IVO, it raises other questions of environmental contamination.
It is assuring that the death of the chickens in Markazi province was due to the weaker strain. But, while the IVO has denied any case of H5 virus, however, it has not explained the cause of death of the chickens.
Meanwhile, committees have been established in the high-risk provinces and farmers are being educated on preventive measures against the disease, IVO officials say.
But much more needs to be done. The government should provide an assurance to farmers that their livestock will be covered by insurance and they would be paid compensation lest their poultry has to be destroyed. Financial compensation will be an incentive to farmers to come forward and report any cases of unusual deaths among their livestock.
Health and veterinary officials should also join hands to tackle the virus so as to ensure that it does not mutate into the more life-threatening forms in Iran. The milder strains of the virus have already killed thousands of birds and even though no cases of the deadlier strain have been reported so far, there should be no room for negligence and complacency.
Asian countries affected by the virus have destroyed hundreds of thousands of chicken, geese and ducks as a precautionary measure and the financial implications are immense, affecting the livelihoods of their huge farming communities.
The main question that arises is do we have the resources, the expertise and mechanisms to monitor and survey the disease? If the N5 virus that can be fatal to human beings strikes our poultry, what are the facilities in place to combat it apart from culling millions of our poultry? The authorities should also announce how much funding has been set aside for the purpose and whether it is safe to eat white meat.
The public should be kept informed regularly to set the people’s mind at rest since there are uncertainty and conflicting reports on the issue.
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