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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 4:11
Sunrise: 5:39
Noon: 12:06
Evening: 18:51
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Weather Guide
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MON |
TUE |
Tehran: |
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High: |
25oC |
25oC |
Low: |
14oC |
16oC |
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Athens |
18 |
20 |
Ankara |
18 |
22 |
Paris |
10 |
11 |
New Delhi |
37 |
36 |
Rome |
18 |
12 |
Riyadh |
31 |
32 |
Frankfurt |
9 |
8 |
Cairo |
25 |
24 |
Kuwait City |
33 |
34 |
Karachi |
34 |
35 |
Copenhagen |
6 |
6 |
London |
11 |
11 |
Moscow |
11 |
13 |
Madrid |
18 |
20 |
Vienna |
11 |
8 |
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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: 88755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 88761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 88501499, 88737250
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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US Intentions Dubious
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Hamid Reza Asefi
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TEHRAN, April 9--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday Iran is doubtful about the US intentions in the upcoming talks on Iraq.
Briefing the media on the forthcoming Iran-US talks, he added that details of the proposed negotiations are not yet clear, IRNA reported.
He noted that the forthcoming talks will merely focus on Iraq and no other issue will be on the agenda.
Asefi referred to the US policies toward Iran as a blunder and said it should change its approach toward Iran and regional issues.
Commenting on the repeated calls of American administrators for talk with Iran, the spokesman said the US ambassador to Baghdad has declared four times through the media and 10 times through Iraqi officials that his country is prepared to negotiate with Iran.
He pointed out that in view of the past experience with the US, Iran rejected all these calls.
Asefi pointed to the recent call of Iraqi officials and said that despite its pessimism and precautions, this time Iran responded to such calls positively to discuss the occupiers’ withdrawal from Iraq and call on the US to revise its approach.
He added that the US procrastination in Iraq accounts for the current problems in that country.
On the remarks of the US Ambassador and Permanent Envoy to the UN John Bolton that his country has other options beyond the UN Security Council for confronting Iran, he said that if Bolton were to look back at the past US performance, he will realize that sanctions imposed in the past have been ineffective.
Asefi also said Bolton’s remarks are unimportant and that Iran has made plans for various alternatives and is prepared to face everything.
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Italians May
Oust Berlusconi
Winner Inherits World’s
Third-Largest Debt
ROME, April 9--Italians voted on Sunday in an election that could oust Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who promised prosperity but failed to lift Italy’s flagging economy during five years in power.
Polling stations across the country were busy at the start of a two-day election that could see the return to power of Romano Prodi, leader of a broad center-left coalition, Reuters reported.
“I slept very well, it’s a beautiful sunny day and I hope everything finishes in the best possible way,“ said Prodi as he voted in his hometown of Bologna in northern Italy.
The softly spoken ’professor’ is favored to beat the flamboyant Berlusconi whom he accuses of economic mismanagement and embarrassing Italy with a constant stream of gaffes.
Berlusconi, the US government’s strongest ally in continental Europe and Italy’s richest man, still hopes his promises of tax cuts will swing a surprise victory. But even he spoke of possible defeat in the final days of campaigning.
In a final bout of feuding, the opposition lodged a formal complaint over text messages Berlusconi’s party sent to selected Italians’ mobile phones on Saturday, during a period when there was supposed to be a moratorium on campaigning.
Opinion polls have not been published in two weeks, but Prodi, who beat Berlusconi in a general election 10 years ago, has led the race since returning to Italian politics in 2004 from a five-year stint as head of the European Commission.
Polling stations were due to remain open until 10.00 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Sunday and then from 7.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. on Monday, with the first exit polls expected within minutes and official results likely late on Monday evening.
Whoever wins will inherit the unenviable task of cutting the world’s third-largest national debt pile while trying to breathe new life into a struggling economy that grew an average of 0.6 percent a year under Berlusconi.
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Commission Rejects
Election Amendment Bill
TEHRAN, April 9--A member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said on Sunday the bill for amending the presidential election law has been rejected.
Speaking to IRNA, Reza Talei-Nik, who is also Bahar-Kaboudarahang MP, added that the decision was taken in the commission’s meeting on Sunday.
“The commission removed the bill from its agenda, because the Interior Ministry’s representative promised that the government would present a more complete amendment before summer,“ he said.
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Baghdad, Tehran Upset Over Mubarak Remarks
CAIRO, Egypt, April 9--Iraq and its powerful neighbor Iran were upset on Sunday over comments by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about Iraqi civil war and Shiites’ allegiance to Tehran.
In an interview first aired Saturday by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel, Mubarak warned that Iraq was in the midst of a civil war that threatened the Middle East, Reuters reported.
He also expressed alarm about Shiite Iran’s influence in Arab countries.
“There are Shiites in all these countries (of the region), significant percentages, and Shiites are mostly always loyal to Iran and not the countries where they live,“ he said.
Ibrahim Jaafari, Iraq’s premier and a devout Shiite, unequivocally condemned Mubarak’s remarks.
“The comments have upset Iraqi people who come from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and have astonished and discontented the Iraqi government,“ he told reporters on Sunday.
As Jaafari spoke, he was flanked by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Adnan Al-Pachachi, a Sunni and the parliament’s acting speaker.
Expressing his anguish at Mubarak’s statements, Talabani said these “accusations against our Shiite brothers are baseless and we have asked our foreign minister to talk to Egypt about this“.
Iran also did not take kindly to Mubarak’s comments.
“It is evident that the Islamic Republic of Iran is only interested in seeking security and stability in Iraq and the region,“ Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters in Tehran.
“We have a lot of influence in Iraq, and in no way have we used it to interfere in Iraq’s affairs. Our influence is spiritual,“ he said.
Analysts voiced their surprise at Mubarak’s comments, which they considered to be a diplomatic blunder.
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Sistan Killings
Masterminded by America
Border Patrol Not Authorized To Shoot Smugglers
TEHRAN, April 9--Commander of the Police Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam said on Sunday the recent crime committed by terrorists in Sistan-Baluchestan province, which claimed 22 lives, was premeditated.
“Bandits entered Iran’s border areas with the support of the US, which has enhanced its presence in the region under the guise of fighting trafficking of narcotics and filmed the entire ominous incident from the beginning to the end and then gave the film to American intelligence officials,“ he was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Addressing the Seventh Meeting of Police Border Commanders, the general said, “Information regarding the recent incidents in Khuzestan reveals that British, American and Iraqi intelligence agents were present in the region.“
Commenting on the instability in western Iranian border areas, he said, “Currently, the Iraqi central government cannot ensure the security of Iraq. This has led to the entry of anti-cultural items and alcoholic beverages from Iraq. The enemies’ intelligence forces have entered Iran via the southwestern border areas, creating insecurity in Iran’s border areas.“
He noted that the enemy is using sectarian and ethnic differences in the Iranian border areas to spread unrest nationwide.
Ahmadi-Moqaddam emphasized that no Iranian border patrol has the right to shoot people who smuggle goods via border areas and border patrols should only arrest these people.
“All violations in this respect will be dealt with seriously. Last year the death toll in border areas declined by 99 percent.
It must be understood that most smugglers are breadwinners of poor families and the killing of these people by the police gives them a negative status,“ he said.
The police chief referred to the formation of Eastern Border Areas Security Council upon the ratification of the Supreme National Security Council and said this council has been established to combat terrorist operations in eastern border areas.
Ahmadi-Moqaddam also said that similar councils would be established in Khuzestan and northwestern parts of the country.
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Inventors Rank Second
At Geneva
VIENNA, Austria,
April 9--Young Iranian inventors won 71 gold, silver and bronze medals in Geneva’s International Exhibition of Inventions.
The 28-man Iranian delegation, which participated with 63 projects, received the prizes during the closing ceremony on Sunday, IRNA reported.
Inventors from across the world competed in 22 categories, including electronics and computer science.
Teams from Malaysia, Iran and Russia ranked first, second and third respectively.
Malaysia won 120 medals with 140 projects while Russia received 61 medals with 72 projects.
The Iranian team, comprising three women and 25 men, was sponsored by the non-governmental Institute for Supporting Iranian Researchers, Inventors and Innovators.
The international event, which started on Tuesday, was the 34th being held in Geneva.
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Bleak Iraq Assessment in US Report
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 9--An internal US embassy report on Iraq’s provinces and obtained by the New York Times concluded in January that the stability of the strategic Baghdad region is a serious concern.
The 10-page report, dated Jan. 31, three weeks before the insurgent bombing of a Shiite shrine pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war, says the governorate is plagued by intimidation and assassinations of public officials, Iraqi security forces and civilians, Reuters reported.
The report rates the stability of each of Iraq’s 18 provinces according to their governance, security and economy.
It finds six provinces, mainly in Sunni-populated northwestern Iraq, have a ’serious’ security situation, with the rebellious desert province of Anbar suffering from ’critical’ economic and security problems.
Those areas are the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency gripping central Iraq.
Security in Iraq’s nine southern Shiite provinces was seen as ’stable’ or ’moderate’, with the exception of oil-rich Basra governorate, home to Iraq’s second largest city.
The report finds the relatively calm semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north as stable in governance, security and economy.
The report also warns of “strong and growing influence of the SCIRI party“ on Baghdad’s provincial council.
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Four Die in Mine Accident
TEHRAN, April 9--An accident in a quarry in South Pars region on Sunday claimed four lives and injured one person.
An informed source in Assalouyeh, speaking to IRNA on the condition of anonymity, added that miners were busy working in one of the quarries near Parak Village and lost their lives because of the explosion.
The source further said those who lost their lives were Mosayyeb Mohammadi-Fard, Seyyed Reza Mahdiyan, Danesh Ramezani and Khodayar Sayyadpour.
An eyewitness told IRNA that three of the miners died immediately after the explosion while the fourth person lost his life at Pars Special Economic Zone’s clinic, despite the efforts of physicians to save his life.
The quarry supplies stones needed by Pars Special Economic Zone.
South Pars, the country’s largest economic center, is located in the southern part of Bushehr province.
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Bird Flu Could Kill 100,000 British Children
LONDON, April 9--A bird flu pandemic among humans could kill 100,000 children in Britain, said a government health adviser who recommended schools draw up plans to close in the event of an outbreak, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Sunday Times quoted government health adviser Liam Donaldson as saying in a confidential letter to the schools minister that if the virus was particularly severe, deaths among school-age children “could be as high as 100,000“.
The overall death toll in Britain in a severe outbreak of the disease could be as high as 700,000, the Sunday Times quoted Donaldson as writing.
Britain reported its first case of the lethal H5N1 strain in a wild bird when a mute swan was found dead in Cellardyke harbor in eastern Scotland last week. According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has killed 109 people, almost all of them in Asia and involving people who had close contact with infected birds.
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Order of Priorities
In the order of priorities, a peaceful and permanent resolution of the three-year-old nuclear issue tops the government agenda in 2006-07.
Ways and means to deliver on social justice as enshrined in the Constitution, attracting and encouraging foreign investments, putting in place an efficient subsidy regime, and last but not the least, the successful holding of city and village council elections will keep the government preoccupied this year.
Despite repeated assurances from the highest levels of officialdom about the peaceful nature of our nuclear program and confidence-building measures, Tehran will continue talks with the international community to wrap up the case. But it is obvious that the negotiations cannot and should not be open-ended.
This week’s visit by IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei to Tehran is another indication that Iran is serious about both its rights and obligations in the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
However, all the negotiating parties, especially from the west, need to understand that radical elements with a lot of clout exist on each side who do not want to see the nuclear issue closed wisely and logically. This is while informed observers acknowledge that intimidation and threats about economic sanctions or military action have never worked with Tehran in the past quarter century. It is in the interest of the region and the world that bullies of the western type stop making a nuisance of themselves and come to the negotiating table with practical and workable solutions.
On the home front, the issue of paramount importance for the nation is social justice and how to embark on sustainable development programs to improve the overall quality of life.
Full cabinet meetings have so far been held in almost ten provinces with the aim of studying their problems at close-range and finding solutions without the burden of bureaucracy and tons of red tape.
Taking the whole government machinery to the provinces instead of the other way round is a unique idea, but not sufficient. What is important is that such gestures should be result-oriented and delivery is the key word.
Social justice was at the heart of the election manifesto that brought the present government to power in mid-2005.
Now the nation has a right to see progress on this front and expects the decision -- and policy -- makers to rise to the occasion and move forward.
Increase in the international price of oil has filled state coffers never like before, and made the government job easier when it comes to funding development projects and creating job opportunities.
In the new year we ushered in on March 21, the government must pay closer attention to subsidizing goods and services in a manner that the lower strata benefit and a permanent stop is put to waste and smuggling. Currently no economic system anywhere in the world allocates subsidies as is the case in Iran.
In our country, the wealthy, the poor and middle-class enjoy the same level of subsidies. In progressive states there are specific mechanisms for subsidizing the deprived and disadvantaged while the rich are taxed in the high order with the aim of keeping some semblance of equality and narrowing the gulf between the haves and have nots.
It is essential that the government resolve the subsidy problem without further delay as subsidies eat up a large part of the annual budget that must instead be channeled for development and infrastructure projects.
Another matter of concern for the incumbent government is raising the level of domestic and foreign investments. It is obvious that without higher investments in productive sectors the omnipresent problem of joblessness will persist and get worse as our universities churn out hundreds and thousands of new graduates every year.
With regard to local elections, the conservatives are preparing to win big. The vote for the city and village council elections will be a test of wills and again show the popularity of the different political players. Political pundits, however, believe none of the elections will radically alter the governing political configurations.
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