The final draft of the comprehensive plan for encountering earthquakes in Tehran has been worked out, Persian newspaper Toseh reported.
Stating that the provinces of Qazvin, Qom, Markazi, Semnan and Mazandaran have been determined as the provinces which should carry out rescue operations and supply relief aid in case of an earthquake in the capital city, head of Tehran Crisis Management and Prevention Center said that Isfahan province has been designated as Tehran's substitute.
Maziar Hosseini explained that Tehran has been divided into five municipality districts, each one of which will be placed under the control of one province. He reiterated that it is not possible to anticipate a major earthquake in the metropolis, "but the fact is that Tehran is a quake-prone city."
Hosseini noted that the draft will be finalized in November, adding it has been jointly devised by Iranian and Japanese experts. "Thanks to attempts by Iranian specialists, the project has been domesticated instead of being simply an imported Japanese scheme," he said.
"The scheme has anticipated a series of short-, mid- and long-term projects, specifying in detail the measures which need to be taken to reinforce resistance against seismic tremors, ranging from buttressing state-owned buildings and hospitals to dilapidated residential areas."
Hosseini pointed out that the project has taken three years to complete, adding detailed accounts of the costs and the time limits have been provided.
"In case we launch the projects this year, a number of them will last three years, some will be completed in five year and some will take 12 years to accomplish," he said, adding the main policy of the plan is to reduce the risk level.

Deputy commander of Islamic Republic of Iran Police said traffic police or highway patrols do not have the right to lie in wait on roads for drivers who violate the law, IRNA reported.
Brigadier Mohsen Ansari, talking to reporters, stressed that all traffic cops have been urged since last year to be positioned in spots that they are easily visible to the motorists.
He insisted that the traffic police's goal is to minimize road mishaps, adding the conditions have now improved substantially compared to the past. "About 90 percent of people fasten their seatbelts on roads even in the absence of highway patrols, " he mentioned. "Most people have now grasped that instructions given by the traffic police are for their own safety.
Ansari called on drivers who have complaints about highway patrol officers lying in wait, to report any such cases by calling 197 or through letters by specifying the exact date and location of the violation.
Ansari, however, said no instructions have yet been issued by the Traffic Department obligating motorists to equip their vehicles with fire extinguishers.
"Thanks to the public respect for the law, effectiveness of traffic schemes, and IRIP's educational programs, the 15-percent growth rate in road mortality has dropped to an average 4 percent in June and July," he concluded.

Medical negligence is reported for one in every 70,000 cases in Iran.

Head of the State Coroner Organization said that medical negligence is reported for one in every 70,000 cases of medical advice in Iran, which is really insignificant compared to figures from advanced countries.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a seminar dubbed Physicians and Legal Teachings held in Mazandaran province, Seyyed Shahabeddin Sadr, said, "Given that every Iranian visits a doctor or seeks medical advice five times a year on average, a total 350 million visits take place annually. Of this number, less than 10,000 clinical negligence claims are filed at the Medical Registration Organization or the State Coroner Organization. "More than 50 percent of these cases result in the acquittal of the medical staff," he added.
Sadr recalled that only 16 physicians were banned from practicing medicine for a period of three months or longer last year.
"A total 195,000 US deaths in 2003 were blamed on medical negligence. The relatively low number of such cases in Iran provides evidence of the high quality of medical services and the devotion to professional ethics," he noted.

For the first time in the country, psychotic patients living in five cities will benefit from home visiting services, director general of Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education for psychological health said, IRNA reported.
Mohammad-Taqi Yasemi said that based on the pilot project, trained medical personnel will visit the patients in their homes so as to prevent the re-occurrence of psychological disorders.
He noted that modifications should be carried out in psychiatric clinics to turn them into sociopsychological treatment centers.
The official explained that the plan to merge the psychological health network with medical clinics in rural and urban areas will help cover over 28 million people across the country.
Yasemi opined that teaching life skills to young people would immune them against psychological disorders to a great extent.
"Experts have been trained in 40 universities of medical sciences who will in turn offer necessary training to teachers and other social groups. Such training would help increase psychological health among youth and would keep them away from high-risk behavior such as addiction, illicit sexual relations and suicide," he analyzed.
The official pointed out that the scheme will simultaneously be implemented by the Education Ministry and the State Welfare Organization.
Yasemi put the budget required for implementing the ministry's all-inclusive plans at 30 billion rials, adding the Management and Planning Organization has promised to pay over 8.5 billion rials.
He noted that thanks to measures adopted by the Health Ministry, suicide rate has declined by 80 percent in four cities, which had earlier recorded the highest number of suicide attempts.

Per capita share of green space is about 10 square meters in different Iranian cites.

Per capita share of green space in Iranian cities is far below international standards, head of the taskforce for organizing the Second International Urban Services Exhibition said.
Ali Etedali noted that green space plays an important role in upgrading qualitative standards of the environment. "For achieving such standards, it is necessary to expand green areas," he added, according to IRNA.
Etedali pointed out that development of green area should be considered from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives.
He put the per capita share of green space at about 10 square meters in different Iranian cites--as against an international norm of between 20 and 25 square meters--and that of public parks at four square meters.
Etedali hoped that the exhibition would be a step forward in terms of qualitative and quantitative expansion of green areas.
"Specialist urban services workshops will for the first time be held in Iran on the sidelines of the five-day exhibition on topics including solid waste management, life safety and firefighting," he mentioned.
The Second International Urban Services Exhibition will be held in Tehran permanent fairgrounds on Sept. 19-23.

An outbreak of scabies in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan has affected at least 7,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, irinnews.org reported.
"WHO estimates that the disease has impacted 7,000 residents in Nusai district in Badakhshan province," Sardar Ahmad, WHO information officer, told IRIN in the Afghan capital Kabul.
WHO and the Afghan Health Ministry were sending medication to the area to stop the spread of the disease, he added.
Scabies is a fairly common infectious disease of the skin caused by a mite, producing pimple-like irritations. Scabies mites are transferred by direct skin-to-skin contact. The most prominent symptom of scabies is intense itching, particularly at night. The areas of the skin most affected include the webs and sides of the fingers, around the wrists, elbows and armpits, waist, thighs, genitalia, breasts and the lower buttocks.
WHO, in collaboration with other partners and the Ministry of Health, has taken the initiative to combat the crisis by sending medicines and supplies to the affected area, Sardar said, noting that they were starting health education awareness programs to prevent a re-occurrence of the disease in such remote areas.
Bezyl Benzoate is used to treat scabies. They are applied to the whole body except the head and neck. People who have had skin contact with an infected person should also be treated.
WHO has undertaken an assessment to determine the total number of affected families, Sardar said.

Based on a survey done by the Factor Plus Agency, Serbian citizens are most fearful of poverty and losing their jobs, while the nation's third biggest concern is crime, b92.net reported.
The survey shows that 40.6 percent of Serbians fear poverty, 31.5 percent unemployment and 16.5 crime.
Last year, the survey showed that most citizens feared the threat of war, which has now been replaced with a focus on economic instability.
War with other countries placed very low on the list of concerns with 2.6 percent, while 1.8 percent fear the government and 0.2 percent fear the threat of civil war.
Psychologist Zarko Trebjesanin said that there has been a significant change in the mindsets of Serbian people over the years. Before, more people were concerned with political fears whereas today, the focus is for the most part on community concerns.

Slovak Education Ministry plans to change the current wage system for teachers in order to attract more young people to the profession and to keep them in their jobs, www.slovakspectator.sk reported.
"I want to support young teachers and keep them there," Education Minister Martin Fronc said when introducing his new plan.
The current system entitles teachers to enter 12 wage groups depending on their academic achievement and the number of years they have worked in the profession. As a rule, older teachers have higher wages and it takes years before young teachers graduate to the upper wage brackets.
This system has had a negative impact on the age structure of Slovak teachers and the fear that the Slovak education sector might soon be left with too few young teachers as the old retire is the motivation behind the new plan.
Education sector employees are also on the bottom of Slovakia's wage list, ranking among the worst paid workers in the national economy along with workers in the service and agriculture sectors.
The ministry now wants to give young teachers higher starting wages and increase their pay yearly by 0.92 percent of their starting wage.
Teachers aged 23 to 38 years currently earn around Sk10,920 (272 euro) a month. As of January 2005 this should change to Sk11,960 (298 euro) and the year after to Sk12,070 (301 euro).
"According to the new system, the basic wage would start on what is currently the fourth bracket and it would be increased regularly every year by a fixed percentage point of the staring wage," the minister said.
At the same time, the principle of wage valorization would be maintained, as would the current system of individual bonuses for teachers.
The education and labor ministries would like to see the law take effect as soon as possible, preferably as of January 1, 2005.
Labor Ministry officials said that the respective revision to the law of wages of public employees could be prepared almost immediately.
"As soon as there is political support for this law we can submit the revision," said Deputy Labor Minister Miroslav Beblavy.
"The plan is a reaction to the bad age structure of the teaching force in Slovakia," Beblavy said. He noted, however, that the problem of an ageing teaching population was found throughout Europe.
It remains unclear, however, whether the Finance Ministry will approve the hike for the teachers' wages, although Fronc said that he had mentioned the idea to Finance Minister Ivan Miklo during talks about next year's budget. "He liked the idea," said Fronc.

The Mekong River Basin

Laos and Thailand have come up with a series of measures to intensify information exchanges and coordinate patrols on the Mekong River in order to prevent and promptly deal with drug trafficking activities, vnagency.com.vn reported.
The measures were agreed upon by the two sides at the 7th conference on bilateral cooperation in combating narcotics held in Thailand recently. The two countries also agreed to put the issue on the agenda of an annual meeting of governors of provinces sharing the common border and build a Thailand-sponsored drug detoxification center in Champassac province, southern Laos.

Kurdish men in their traditional garb, Kurdestan province