Regional Awareness Crucial for Stability

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on the Middle East countries to remain vigilant and strongly resist the enemies.
"The awareness that has emerged in the resistance front of regional nations from Lebanon to Iran will defeat the enemies," Presstv quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with visiting senior officials from Lebanon's Amal Movement on Sunday.
The Iranian and Lebanese peoples shoulder a common and heavy burden against arrogant powers and enemies of humanity, he said.
Hostile powers seek to harm the unity and security in Lebanon, he said, and added that resistance movements and officials in that country will neutralize the plots through a strong vision, wisdom and solidarity.
"The materialistic order and global hegemony have reached a dead-end. The world is in need of justice".
Ahmadinejad pointed to the 31st anniversary of the abduction of prominent Lebanese Shiite leader Imam Moussa Al-Sadr and his role in resisting Israeli atrocities. He emphasized the importance of moving ahead with wisdom to determine the whereabouts of the missing preacher.

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Massive Rallies Planned For Int’l Qods Day

Millions of people across the world are preparing to hold rallies in support of the Palestinian people on Friday, which is commemorated as
International Qods Day. In Iran, people will turn out in big numbers to
show their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians. The father of
the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini, named the last
Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan as Qods Day.

Russia Will Honor Syria Arms Contract

Compiled by Davood Baqeri

Russia stands by its international obligations and has no plans to stop an arms deal with Syria, a Kremlin aide said.
Sergei Prikhodko said recent reports in some Israel media outlets misrepresented Russia's position on cooperation with Syria, Ria Novosti reported.
The Haaretz daily reported on Friday that Israel was working to "thwart a Russian arms deal with Syria" and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to stop the sale of advanced P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles.
"Lately, some Israeli media outlets have been actively disseminating information distorting Russia's position on the implementation of its obligations to Syria, including in the sphere of military and technical cooperation," Prikhodko said.
"I would like to stress that the Russian Federation honors all the agreements that were previously signed between Russia and Syria."
He said Russia's military cooperation policy is shaped by the president and is not directed against third countries.
The agreement in question is for P-800 Yakhont missiles, a highly accurate Russian weapon with a 300-kilometer range capable of carrying a warhead of up to 200 kilograms.
Israel is concerned the projectiles could significantly improve the Syrian military's ability to target its naval ships. The Chinese-made C-802 missile Syria currently has is less accurate, has a range of just 102 kilometers and can carry a warhead of no more than 150 kilograms.

Israeli Fears
The Zionist regime also claims the more advanced missiles could fall into the hands of Hezbollah which would create a significant threat to naval ships in Israeli ports and the Mediterranean Sea.

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Nano Powders Help Commercialize Fuel Cells

Iranian researcher together with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and University of Science and Technology (NTNU)...

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Atiq Mosque Awaits Renovation

The Grand Atiq Mosque of Shiraz, dating back to over 1,150 years, is one of the oldest mosques in Fars province. The mosque, which was once one of the most...

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Water Levels in S. Pakistan Receding

Emergency officials in Pakistan say water levels in flood-stricken southern Pakistan are beginning to recede.
They warned, however, that water levels on the southern reaches of the Indus River were still "exceptionally high".
The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon rains in the north-west, have moved south through the country, submerging towns and farmland.
More than 1,600 people have died and about six million are homeless after Pakistan's worst flooding, BBC reported.
In total, about 17 million of Pakistan's 166 million people have been affected by the disaster. The danger of flooding remained high, but levels were beginning to drop as the surge of water that had been flowing north-south across Pakistan reached the Arabian Sea, said Hadi Baksh, an emergency official in southern Sindh province.
"In the coming days, the towns and villages will be out of flood danger," he said.
Relief goods are pouring into Pakistan from all over the world.
But aid agencies admit they are still only reaching a small proportion of the people who need help.
In Sindh, the worst affected province, the aid effort is focused on people in relief camps.
The aid agency Oxfam says that as well as giving food and water, it has also started handing out cash vouchers.
These allow families to choose goods from local shops. But they only work in areas where shops have stock -- and only those in camps are getting them.

Fending for Themselves
The majority who cannot get into camps are simply fending for themselves on whatever dry ground they can find.
Pakistan's meteorological department said water inflows at the Kotri barrage were receding but that the Indus River there would "continue in exceptionally high flood level" for another day.
Weather official Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said: "We believe that it will take another 10 to 12 days for rivers in Sindh to come to normal flow. Therefore we need to be watchful."
The town of Thatta, downstream from the Kotri barrage, was hastily evacuated as the swollen Indus breached an embankment.
A major inundation was avoided thanks to the hasty rebuilding of levees around the town, said Baksh, and people were beginning to return to their homes.
But on the other side of the river, the town of Sujawal was submerged.
Almost the entire population managed to evacuate the town, however.

Israel Rejects Extension of Settlements Freeze

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he never told the US administration a settlement freeze would be renewed after Middle East peace talks restart this week, an official said on Monday.
"We have not presented any proposal to the Americans on an extension of the freeze ... the government has not taken any decision on the issue," the official quoted the premier as saying at a meeting of his Likud party, AFP reported.
Under US pressure, the Israeli government in November imposed a partial, 10-month moratorium on new construction in West Bank settlements, with the exception of east Beit-ul-Moqaddas.
Palestinians insist the measure must be extended beyond its term on September 26, while the regime faces strong pressure from the right to allow construction to resume.
"We have said the future of settlements will be taken up with other questions in discussions on a final accord," Netanyahu said, according to the official who asked not to be named.
Israel and the Palestinians are due to relaunch direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, after a 20-month hiatus.
Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday warned that renewed settlement activity would torpedo the talks.
If the moratorium is not renewed, construction of several thousand homes could immediately start in 57 settlements, army radio said.

Full Responsibility
The Israeli leadership will be fully responsible for the failure of US mediated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks if they come to a halt due to resumed settlement construction in the occupied territories, Abbas said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Palestinian president and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a BBC interview that the PA rejects Netanyahu's calls for fortnightly face-to-face meetings.
He said that "it is too early to define, who will meet, as well as where and how often such meetings will take place."
"It would all be discussed in Washington, in addition to the agenda of the talks, schedule, and the extension of settlement construction freeze [to end on September 26]," the Palestinian official said.

Sarkozy Policies Bring Shame To France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s security policy brings “shame” to the country and damages its image abroad, Martine Aubry, leader of the opposition Socialist Party said.
“This summer was the summer of shame,” Aubry said at the party’s annual conference in La Rochelle, referring to Sarkozy’s July announcement that he would deport Roma people who were in France unlawfully. She also cited Sarkozy’s proposed law to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship if they commit serious crimes, saying the plan breaches France’s constitution, Bloomberg reported.
Aubry said the “brutal” expulsion of 1,000 illegal Roma immigrants from Eastern Europe in the last month was a deliberate and cynical appeal to “fear and hatred”.
If a left-wing president was elected in 2012, she said, the Socialists would show that “another France is possible”: one based on “effective” policies of law and order but also respect for human dignity.
Sarkozy has sought to tighten security following a spate of violent crime and civil disorder, including riots in the Alpine city of Grenoble last month over a fatal police shooting of an armed 27-year-old of North African origin who led them on a car chase after robbing a casino. About a quarter of all French have at least one grandparent born outside France, according to estimates from Sorbonne demographer Patrick Weil.
The Socialist Party is preparing for the 2012 presidential race and will hold primaries in the fall of 2011 to pick its frontrunner. The Socialists’ platform will be unveiled in the spring of 2011, Aubry said.
“We want to embody tomorrow’s alternative,” Aubry said in an hour-long speech to supporters. “We will be there in 2012 to build a new France.”
A poll published Aug. 25 by TNS-Sofres for Le Nouvel Observateur showed Aubry would defeat Sarkozy in the second round of the presidential race by 53 percent to 47 percent.

UN Criticism Dismissed
France on Friday dismissed as caricatured UN concerns over the expulsion of Roma gypsies, insisting the policy was legal and denying that President Nicolas Sarkozy had stigmatized the minority.
Ministers reacted angrily to a report by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which expressed concern that the round-up could amount to an illegal program of “collective repatriation.”
This month, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that French authorities are to dismantle some 300 unauthorized encampments used by both French Gypsies and members of the Roma minority born in Eastern Europe.
Those foreign-born Gypsies found to be living on French soil without means to support themselves are to be expelled back to Romania and Bulgaria. Those who go voluntarily receive small cash grants.
France’s Minister for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche told the ambassadors that the UN report “distinguishes itself by its excessive and caricatured character and by its numerous factual errors.”
Immigration Minister Eric Besson said the French authorities don’t consider a foreign citizen’s ethnicity, only their nationality.
“Romas are considered as such but only as citizens of the countries of which they are nationals,” said Besson.
In the latest expulsions, France said it sent back 283 Roma, bringing the total number of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma deported so far this year to 8,313, up from 7,875 expelled throughout last year.

Nuclear Talks

Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki reiterated the need for
Turkey and Brazil to be included in future nuclear talks.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterated the need for Turkey and Brazil to be included in future nuclear talks.
In a talk with Der Spiegel Monday he said “We want to talk to the so-called Vienna Group about the exchange of fuel: We will deliver low enriched uranium in return for 20 percent enriched fuel for our research reactor in Tehran,” IRNA reported.
“The negotiating partners are France, Russia, the United States, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. There are also proposals to include Turkey and Brazil in the talks,” he added.
Asked about Iran’s willingness for a compromise on the dispute over uranium enrichment, he said “We want to talk.
First the composition of the group, which consists of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, must change.
Other countries must be added to the group. Talks can then resume with this new structure.”
Turkey and Brazil had successfully negotiated a uranium exchange proposal with Iran in May, which was snubbed by the US and the European Union.
In the so-called Tehran declaration endorsed by Turkey and Brazil, Tehran agreed to exchange 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with nuclear fuel in an effort to help ease “international concerns” over its nuclear program.
Tehran cannot be forced to make a compromise, the minister told the German magazine.
“You cannot disregard a country’s rights and force it to compromise. We are determined to defend our right,” Mottaki reaffirmed.
“We don’t want more than what is our right. We have won this right without outside assistance.
And I think the best thing now would be to recognize this right, within the framework of appropriate provisions and regulations,” he said without elaboration.
Unilateral US and European Union sanctions against Iran have all failed, he recalled.
“Europe will certainly suffer more than us under the new sanctions regime.
Europe will be the big loser in relation to this policy.
We have already significantly reduced our business relations with Europe in recent years,” Spiegel quoted him as saying.

Shares Buoyant

Asian markets advanced on Monday, boosted by Japan easing monetary policy to protect a shaky recovery and the Federal Reserve vowing to take action if the US economy weakens further.

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Second Defeat

In the preliminary round of 2010
FIBA world championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Iran’s basketball team was
beaten by Croatia 54-75 in its
second match.

In the preliminary round of 2010 FIBA world championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Iran’s basketball team was beaten by Croatia 54-75 in its second match.
According to Mehr News Agency, in Sunday’s second Group B encounter at Istanbul’s Abdi Ipekci Arena, Roko Ukic and Bojan Bogdanovic both scored 13 points, and Croatia withstood Iran’s one-man show.
Memphis Grizzlies’ center Hamed Haddadi finished with a game-high 27 points and led all players in the contest with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Arsalan Kazemi, one of the big stories for Iran this summer after his outstanding freshman season at Rice in American college basketball, was the only other player in double figures with 12 for the resilient Asia champion.
Kazemi capped a run by dunking to cut the Asian side’s deficit to 50-40 in the third quarter of the game.
Haddadi then had a chance to reduce the deficit even further but missed with a mid-range jump shot.
Iran, coached by Veselin Matic is without its two top players in the prestigious event and is experiencing its debut performance in the world championship.
Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Hamed Afaq missed the event due to foot injury.
In the opener of the event, Iran was downed against the two time world champion Brazil 81-65 on Saturday. Haddadi scored 16 points for Iran in the match.
Brazilian Guilherme Giovannoni scored 17 points, Tiago Splitter and Leandro Barbosa added 13 apiece to help Brazil defeat Iran. In other Group B matches on Sunday Brazil beat Tunisia 80-65, and the United States showed off its talent in depth when they cleared their bench in a 99-77 victory over Slovenia.
The US has not won the world championship since 1994. No players from the 2008 Olympics gold medal-winning team are on the squad in Turkey.
The Asian champion is scheduled to take on the US on Wednesday and will play against Slovenia on Thursday.

IRAN DAILY

Number 3766 ● Tuesday August 31, 2010 ● Shahrivar 9, 1389 ● Ramadan 20, 1431 ● Price 2,000 Rials ● 12 Pages

Beirut Tensions

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad met early Monday with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri over recent political tensions in Beirut and offered a renewed statement of support for the Hezbollah movement.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad met early Monday with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri over recent political tensions in Beirut and offered a renewed statement of support for the Hezbollah movement.
The Syrian leader “affirmed the need for continuing a calming approach of dialogue to resolve problems,” DPA reported.
The meeting was billed as a follow up to a trilateral summit that took place last month in Beirut with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Al-Assad.
The three were then aiming to ensure stability amid concerns that sectarian rifts could widen in Lebanon if a United Nations tribunalindicts members of the Shiite Hezbollah movement over the 2005 killing of former premier Rafiq Al-Hariri.
Last week, at least two people were killed and several injured in clashes that erupted in Beirut between followers of Hezbollah movement and backers of a Sunni Muslim group.
And earlier this month, Israeli and Lebanon soldiers fired at each other near their shared border, in a brief but tense clash that left several people dead.
Hezbollah, Syria Cooperation
Hezbollah and the Syrian army would join forces on all levels in a war against Israel, sources told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.
A report in Al-Rai on Monday said Hezbollah and the Syrian army plan to cooperate in intelligence-gathering and have agreed to exchange data concerning a “bank of Israeli targets” to be hit in the event of a conflict against Israel, UPI quoted the newspaper as saying.
The newspaper based its report on interviews with unnamed sources.
Syrian military officials would set up a joint situation room with Hezbollah operatives and pool intelligence resources from the battlefield, the report said.
The report said Syrian intelligence units are focusing their efforts on gathering information on the operations of Israel’s Air Force, including its flight patterns, the newspaper said.