|
Prayer Time (Tehran)
|
|
Dawn: 3:09
Sunrise: 4:53
Noon: 12:09
Evening: 19:45
|
|
Weather Guide
|
|
|
WED |
THU |
Tehran: |
|
|
High: |
37oC |
38oC |
Low: |
23oC |
22oC |
|
|
|
Athens |
27 |
28 |
Ankara |
26 |
26 |
Paris |
25 |
24 |
New Delhi |
35 |
34 |
Rome |
29 |
28 |
Riyadh |
42 |
43 |
Frankfurt |
31 |
33 |
Cairo |
33 |
33 |
Kuwait City |
45 |
46 |
Karachi |
36 |
33 |
Copenhagen |
25 |
27 |
London |
25 |
25 |
Moscow |
26 |
23 |
Madrid |
32 |
33 |
Vienna |
27 |
27 |
|
|
Identification
|
|
Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
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
|
|
|
|
UNESCO Should Help Return Artifacts From US
America Endangering World Cultural Exchange
|
|
Abbas Salimi-Namin
|
TEHRAN, July 4--An official in a letter sought the UNESCO’s assistance for returning Iran’s ancient clay tablets loaned to the University of Chicago’s Institute of Oriental Studies.
The letter sent by Abbas Salimi-Namin, the head of the Center for Iranian History Studies and Compilation, noted that more than 30,000 clay tablets discovered during excavations in Persepolis in 1935, belonging to the late Elamite era, were given to the university on loan, IRNA reported.
“As part of the cultural heritage of Iranian people, the tablets were due to be returned to Iran upon the completion of relevant studies and research. However, the University of Chicago retained the tablets on various grounds and pretexts, and the administration of the university has so far refrained from returning the historical artifacts to their original owners,“ the letter said.
Salimi-Namin noted that Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization in an official letter last year called for the return of this historical collection.
“However, not only have they not responded to our call so far, but based on recent reports, a US federal court has also issued a verdict on seizing Iran’s cultural heritage by the US administration and auctioning them. The expected proceeds from the auction will be paid to Israel,“ it added.
The official stressed that UNESCO can salvage the cultural and historical heritage of Iran.
Meanwhile, Vice President and Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) Esfandiar Rahim-Moshaei said on Tuesday the recent verdict issued by an American district judge would endanger the security of world cultural exchange at scientific centers worldwide.
“In case the US district court manages to sell the tablets, the buyers would incur heavy losses since Iran is determined to follow up the case and bring the tablets back to Iran,“ he said.
|
|
|
Qom Students Demand
End to ’Iran’ Ban
QOM, July 4--A group of students of Qom universities said the continuation of the suspension of the Persian daily ’Iran’ as harmful.
Noting that the suspension deprives the society of the free flow of information, the students urged the Press Supervisory Board to order the daily’s reopening as soon as possible, IRNA reported.
They opined that the continuation of the daily’s suspension, given its wide readership, only benefits the Zionist circles.
One of these students, Mehrdad Alidoust, said, “Ethnic issues have always been the source of infiltration of foreign elements for provoking the people’s sensitivity. We should not lose a national forum easily.“
He also asked, “While Iran needs the print media to confront the enemy’s onslaught, what does closing down the only government newspaper mean?“
Ali Mohebbi, another student, stressed that the performance of ’Iran’ in the past was very good, as it did not pursue radicalism.
He pointed out that the printing of a provocative cartoon in the Friday supplement of the daily, ’Iran Jomeh’, does not justify the closure of ’Iran’.
“The number of the country’s newspapers is limited and there are only a few newspapers like ’Iran’ that have a significant number of readers. The continuation of the closure will obviously make a section of its readership resort to foreign print media,“ he said.
Mohebbi maintained that the Press Supervisory Board has realized by now that closing down the newspaper did not have any impact on ending the Azarbaijan unrest and “the root-cause of unrest should be sought elsewhere“.
“The increasing demands of ethnic groups will not be met by closing down a newspaper. We must seek fundamental remedies in this respect,“ he said.
The Press Supervisory Board closed down ’Iran’ on May 23, after the provocative cartoon led to unrests in west and east Azarbaijan.
|
|
|
Bush:
Iraq Timetable Would Dishonor Troops
|
|
George W. Bush
|
FORT BRAGG, USA, July 4--US President George W. Bush warned Tuesday that setting a timetable for a US troop withdrawal from Iraq would dishonor the deaths of US soldiers there and embolden terrorists.
“At a moment when the terrorists have suffered a series of significant blows, setting an artificial timetable would breathe new life into their cause,“ he said in a speech on the US Independence Day holiday, AFP reported.
Bush enlisted several thousand cheering military personnel and their families behind his latest attack on a chorus of domestic political critics who have called on him to set a date for a pullout from Iraq.
“I will make you this promise: I’m not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done,“ said Bush, who rarely utters the US death toll in that war-torn country.
The president sidestepped an issue that has drawn anger in the US Congress four months before the US legislative elections: efforts by some Iraqi leaders to include fighters who killed US soldiers in a proposed amnesty.
The White House has said it will not seek to impose ’conditions’ on any such pardon, while affirming support for a plan by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki that would not extend forgiveness to killers of US forces.
|
|
|
Tehran Traffic Problems Lamented
TEHRAN, July 4--A city councilor said on Tuesday many officials and organizations have ignored problems related to the capital’s traffic and transportation sector.
Addressing the council’s open session, Hassan Bayadi, deputy head of Tehran’s City Council, lauded Tehran Police for its efforts in the past few years, IRNA reported.
“The police have also worked hard for reducing social maladies, rounding up beggars, ensuring the security of parks, ensuring the security of Chaharshanbeh-Soori ceremonies and the smooth flow of traffic,“ he said.
He criticized the increase in the number of prefabricated police stations in various areas and called for carrying out invisible controls, maintaining that the forces stationed in these stations do not have a favorable performance.
Bayadi emphasized the need to revise the performance of ’Police 110’ “because the level of public satisfaction with their performance has declined“.
|
|
|
Gunmen Kidnap Iraqi
Deputy Minister, Bodyguards
BAGHDAD, Iraq,
July 4--Gunmen pulled the deputy electricity minister from his car in a busy Baghdad street on Tuesday, kidnapping him and 19 bodyguards in an attack that underlined the vulnerability of Iraq’s new government.
The abduction, the second of a politician in three days, is a blow to attempts by Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s new national unity government to show Iraqis that it is coming to grips with the relentless insurgent and sectarian violence, Reuters reported.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the death of Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in a US air strike last month had not improved security.
“In terms of the level of violence, it has not had any impact at this point. As you know, the level of violence is still quite high,“ he told the BBC in an interview.
A bomb in a crowded market in the Shiite district of Sadr City killed more than 60 on Saturday, the worst such attack in three months, despite a security crackdown in the capital.
Hosting a US Independence Day celebration alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Khalilzad said Americans would stand by Iraq but that Iraqis should “stand on their own feet as soon as possible“. Maliki, on a tour of Sunni-ruled Persian Gulf states to get political and economic support for his new government, said he had won promises from the Persian Gulf Arab leaders to crack down harder on sources of funding for the Sunni insurgency.
“We agreed with our brothers to confront terrorism and dry up its sources by closing fake companies that fund terrorism in Iraq,“ Maliki told reporters in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi, before heading to Kuwait.
The prime minister’s office said Harith was not linked to any of Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni or Kurdish parties. His religious affiliation was not known.
|
|
|
Armenian President
To Visit
YEREVAN, Armenia, July 4--Natural gas supplies are expected to top the agenda when Armenian President Robert Kocharian meets his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Wednesday.
Iran is building a pipeline to supply Armenia with badly needed natural gas, much of which now comes from Russia, AP reported.
Earlier this spring, Gazprom announced a deal that would give the Russian state-controlled gas monopoly ownership rights to the Armenian segment of a planned pipeline. Armenian officials, however, denied they were turning control of the pipeline over to Gazprom.
Armenian officials would not reveal the specific agenda of the talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the entire trip to Iran, but Armenia’s energy and foreign ministers are among the officials accompanying Kocharian.
Neighboring Iran and Armenia have close economic and political ties.
The Armenian leader is also planning to meet representatives of Iran’s ethnic Armenian community.
The visit also comes amid mounting pressure on Iran to respond positively to an international package of incentives aimed at defusing the standoff over its nuclear program.
A statement by Kocharian made no mention of the issue.
|
|
|
NGOs’ Recommendations
For G8 Summit
MOSCOW, July 4--International charities, aid agencies and pressure groups met in Moscow on Tuesday for what was styled a shadow Group of Eight summit.
Delegates at the Civil G8 forum included non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Oxfam, Amnesty International and conservation group WWF, Reuters reported.
Here are some of the main recommendations they made to the world leaders who will meet for a G8 summit in St Petersburg on July 15-17:
* The forum said it wanted a moratorium on new nuclear power stations. Some G8 governments--including host Russia--see nuclear power as a promising alternative to oil and gas. But the NGOs said it was not a safe source of power.
* The NGOs proposed a special tax on oil production, the proceeds of which would go on fighting climate change. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended the forum, was skeptical. Russian is the world’s second biggest oil exporter.
* The forum asked G8 leaders to commit an extra $10 billion a year to programs to ensure everyone has access to education.
* G8 leaders should step up efforts to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, the forum said. It also said the G8 should be held accountable for previous commitments it has made on tackling the disease.
* International financial and trade organizations like the World Trade Organization and the World Bank are entrenching poverty and inequality and should be reformed, the NGOs said.
* The forum said human rights were being sacrificed in the international war on terror. They singled out Iraq and Chechnya as examples. The NGOs urged the G8 to help adopt international standards on human rights.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decent Expectation
By E. Majid
At a time when 9,200 billion rials have been earmarked in the 2006-07 budget for increasing the minimum monthly pension of military and civilian retirees to two million rials, some state officials maintain that the increase in pensions of those under the Social Security Organization of Iran (SSOI) umbrella should be in line with Article 96 of the Social Security Law.
Based on the article ratified by parliament more than two decades ago, the SSOI is obliged to raise pensions, permanent disability benefit and allowances to families of dead retirees in proportion to the rise in living standards. This, as stipulated by law, should be undertaken after approval by the government and reviewed at short intervals.
Pension funds and relevant organizations normally have their own social security schemes and regulations and perform accordingly.
They are founded upon the financial participation of their members and fixed contributions by employers and the government. As agreed, they offer social security payments and health services in compliance with the workers’ share of the insurance premium and those of the employers.
Therefore, insurance and relevant services are offered to the insured workers, retirees and their families in accordance with the internal regulations of the said organizations.
As per Article 10 of the State Employment Laws, the government is duty-bound to provide financial assistance to the State Retirement Fund during difficult economic conditions. Now this issue gives rise to certain ambiguities.
For instance, one may ask whether the government is an employer or considered as the ’state’ according to the said article? If it is an employer and its financial help if and when needed is tantamount to contributing more effectively to the State Retirement Fund, what is the logic behind supporting a fund that belongs to only one social entity (government employees) by spending from the public pocket?
Of course, there is no doubt about the need for this system of operation. But experts ask which institution should provide the financial support to other insurance funds such as SSOI when they are in the midst of unruly economic conditions?
By the same token, they ask: Will employers in the industrial sector be willing to increase their share of the insurance premium that is more often than not exaggerated as an ’impediment’ to the growth of manufactures and businesses in general? If the government sees it as an obligation to provide financial assistance to military and government pension funds, why should SSOI members, most of whom were blue collar workers and toiled for the progress and development of the country, be deprived of such state help?
Earlier at the outset of the new year the SSOI would declare the amount it intended to increase in retirement benefits and next to kin allowances, which typically was more than the raise offered by insurance funds. However, this year in the course of the ratification of the 2006-07 budget the government allocated extra funds for improving the quality of life of military and civilian retirees. The SSOI fell behind and did not announce its plan of action.
Moreover, in the final days of the last Iranian year when the SSOI was preparing its budget for 2006-07 it realized that it was gradually entering a red zone and its expenditure would surpass its income, or at best income and expenses would be at par!
SSOI officials also complain that projected receipts from workers share of insurance premium for the first few months of the new year have not yet been realized.
To put it plainly, the financial capability and solvency of the powerful SSOI has been declining slowly. This is why its senior officials talk regularly about the lack of resources to augment the planned increase in annual retirement benefits despite their best efforts.
The SSOI announced recently that if the government agrees to cover half of the cost for increasing the minimum monthly pension to 2 million rials, it would be able to match the retirement benefits offered to retired defense personnel and other government employees.
It is hoped that in line with its declared policy of promoting social justice, and at a time of regularly increasing oil prices, the government would deliver the goods and assist the SSOI to help create the conditions for a decent retirement for its members whose numbers are on the rise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
