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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:10
Sunrise: 6:38
Noon: 13:06
Evening: 19:53
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Weather Guide
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MON |
TUE |
Tehran: |
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High: |
17oC |
18oC |
Low: |
11oC |
10oC |
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Athens |
20 |
19 |
Ankara |
27 |
27 |
Paris |
16 |
17 |
New Delhi |
32 |
33 |
Rome |
16 |
18 |
Riyadh |
33 |
33 |
Frankfurt |
16 |
18 |
Cairo |
32 |
34 |
Kuwait City |
31 |
32 |
Karachi |
33 |
36 |
Copenhagen |
12 |
12 |
London |
17 |
15 |
Moscow |
8 |
7 |
Madrid |
16 |
17 |
Vienna |
15 |
17 |
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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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Khatami Defends Economic Policies
TEHRAN, April 10--President Mohammad Khatami strongly defended his government’s economic policies, describing the banking system as the backbone of economic reforms.
Addressing a banking conference on Sunday, Khatami cited economic development, large-scale operations of the private sector in the country’s economic arena and the 6-percent economic growth as among the achievements of his government, IRNA reported.
He said over $5 billion had been allocated to the private sector for promoting the economy, adding that the value of contracts signed in this regard has reached $10 billion.
The president referred to the country’s banking system as a dynamic and efficient system and said divergence of opinions would not have an impact on the system.
“Four private banks and three financial institutes are currently active in Iran,“ he said, expressing hope that private banks’ activities would expand further in the country.He said settlement of Iran’s economic problems calls for generation and attraction of foreign investments, noting that domestic resources do not meet the country’s long-term objectives.
Khatami noted that Iran has passed the stage of importing goods and equipment and is importing know-how and technology.
Pointing to Iran’s sensitive position in the Middle East, Khatami said the country is among the most stable and secure countries in the world.
He underscored the qualitative and quantitative enhancement of domestic products for increasing the country’s presence in foreign markets.
“The Islamic Republic, as an undeniable power, attaches importance to modern scientific activities, including biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT and ICT,“ he said.
President Khatami also said that with the provision of facilities, Iran could become a center for information technology and communications in the East.
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Muslims Form Human Shield to Defend Al-Aqsa
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Palestinian women pray in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque, located in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in Beit-ul-Moqaddas, April 10. (Reuters Photo)
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BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, April 10--Thousands of Muslims, backed by senior members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, formed a mass human shield on a vigil at Beit-ul-Moqaddas’ Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday against any possible threat to the flashpoint site from Jewish extremists.
With thousands of police also deployed to bar the extremists, no more than a few dozen rightwing Jews turned up, after their newly-formed movement had vowed to rally 10,000 supporters at the holy site they claim as their own, AFP reported.
“We appeal to all Arabs and the entire Muslim world to protect Al-Aqsa,“ said Hassan Yussef, a leader of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas who left Israeli officials red-faced after slipping into Beit-ul-Moqaddas undetected.
Yussef was addressing fellow Muslims who had gathered inside the compound in such numbers that Israeli police eventually prevented any more from entering, sparking clashes in the process.
Inside the compound, however, the atmosphere remained relatively calm and even festive at times with families picnicking under the shade of cyprus trees as they listened to a series of speeches.
At times, the crowds broke into chants of “With our blood and with our souls, we will defend Al-Aqsa“ to underline their determination to stand up to any perceived threats to a site which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The compound, which is called Haram Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) by Muslims, shelters the Dome of the Rock (Omar Mosque) as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque. But it is also revered by Jews as the site of the Jewish temple, the holiest shrine in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Hind Khuri, minister without portfolio in the Palestinian cabinet who was also among the crowds inside the compound, said the Israeli authorities had been “playing with fire“ by failing to deal more firmly with extremists.
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Lat Am Leaders Look to Asia for Investment
GINOWAN, Japan,
April 10--The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) met Sunday in Asia for only the second time as the trade focus shifted to China, but a row between host Japan and debt-ridden Argentina cast a pall over proceedings.
The three-day meeting of Latin America’s main source of multilateral financing began less than a month after South Korea became the IADB’s 47th member and only the second Asian member nation after Japan, AFP reported.
“I sincerely hope this...will provide us with an opportunity to promote economic links between the two regions--Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia,“ Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said in opening remarks at the meeting in Okinawa Island.
But a major focus will be China, which is sending a delegation. Its surging economy has fueled demand for Latin American raw materials that has stimulated trade but it is also a formidable manufacturing rival.
But Japan’s creditor status led to a row with Argentina, with Tanigaki conspicuously not meeting his Argentinian counterpart amid a series of bilateral talks. IADB President Enrique Iglesias has called the Okinawa meeting “a new window“ for the bank.
In opening remarks on Sunday, Iglesias said a plunge in some commodity prices, rising interest rates and surging oil prices were a cause of concern for Latin America and the global economy.
According to IADB figures, Latin American exports to Asia grew by 34 percent in 2004 year-on-year to reach $14 billion. In particular, demand from China has lifted both prices and volumes of Latin American agricultural and mining exports, the bank said.
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Call for Moving Nuclear Talks Forward
Canada ’Complicating’ Case of Dead Journalist
TEHRAN, April 10--Iran sounded upbeat on Sunday ahead of nuclear negotiations planned with the Europeans on April 19, hoping they would put reservations aside in order to move forward.
The two sides are engaged in intensive talks, centering on Tehran’s uranium enrichment rights, with President Mohammad Khatami announcing this week that the two sides have made significant progress, IRNA reported.
Giving his own assessment of last month’s talks, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi described them as ’good’. He stressed that “although cautionary, the last round of negotiations has been a step forward“.
“Prospects of negotiations are more positive than in the past and we hope to take a positive step in the next meeting,“ he told reporters during his weekly news conference.
He also chided Canada for adopting a “wrong approach“ toward the death of a female journalist, blaming the country for complications in this regard.
“The Canadians have been following a wrong approach from the outset and complicating this matter,“ he said.
Ottawa has called for an independent investigation into the death of Iranian journalist Zahra Kazemi, demanding that her remains be handed over to Canada and a post-mortem carried out.
Rejecting the demand, Asefi said, “The Canadians must know that Zahra Kazemi is an Iranian, whose case is a state affair and it is the judiciary which has to answer their (Canadians’) demands.“
These demands followed allegations by a shady figure identified as Shahram Azam, described as a former Iranian military doctor, who alleged seeing signs of torture on the body of Kazemi.
Azam, who has defected to Canada, has alleged that Kazemi was unconscious when she was taken to Tehran’s Baqiatallah Hospital and had injuries consistent with torture.
The 54-year-old journalist died in 2003 because of a fractured skull.
Asefi also rejected reports of an alleged handshake between President Mohammad Khatami and Israeli Moshe Katsav as a “sheer lie“.
“The Zionist regime is trying to gain legitimacy by disseminating fabricated news,“ he said.
The Israeli media had reportedly quoted Katsav as alleging that he had a brief chat with Khatami in Farsi, including adverting to the desert city of Yazd, which both hail from.
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Jumblatt Forging Political Program
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Walid Jumblatt
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BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 10--Lebanese Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt urged various opposition factions on Sunday to draw up a political program for Lebanon after a May general election.
Jumblatt also said the election should be held as scheduled.
Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami is expected to unveil a long-awaited new government on Monday to lead the country into the election but his insistence on a new law organizing the poll makes a delay almost inevitable, Reuters reported.
“Of course we insist on elections on schedule,“ Jumblatt told a news conference, predicting an opposition victory regardless of the shape of the electoral law.
“I call on the opposition to meet and come up with a program, because it’s not enough that we reach the elections and vote. We should have a clear and ambitious answer to what’s next,“ the Druze chieftain, an ally-turned-foe of Syria, said.
“In the end of the day, we will win the elections.“
Syria, under US-led pressure and facing popular protests after the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri, has pledged to withdraw its troops from Lebanon by April 30.
Syrian forces first moved into Lebanon in 1976, near the start of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and became the dominant force in Lebanese politics.
Lebanon’s disparate anti-Syrian oppositionÐmainly Christian Druze and Sunni Muslim--have maintained a common ground since Hariri’s death, demanding a Syrian withdrawal and an international investigation into the killing.
Some cracks have surfaced in recent weeks, mainly on the issue of disarming of the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah and the election law, but Jumblatt said there were no rifts among the opposition.
He again said Hezbollah should not lay down its weapons, as demanded by a UN Security Council resolution, for the time being. Some Christian opposition figures have said talks should start immediately with Hezbollah over disarming.
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Berlusconi Under More Pressure
ROME, April 10--Italian Deputy Prime Minister Marco Follini called on Sunday for an immediate general election, increasing the pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi following his rout in a regional ballot last week.
Follini’s comments reflect fears within part of the government that things can get only worse for them as the economy fails to ignite, and that an election one year ahead of schedule might save them from a total meltdown, Reuters reported.
“I think it would be wise to save the country from a year of election campaign which risks being poisonous and demagogical,“ Follini, the leader of the centrist Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview.
The crushing defeat at the April 3-4 elections meant “it would be politically honest to put the keys to the government back in the hands of the voters“, Follini said.
The center-left Union coalition, led by former European Commission President Romano Prodi, won 11 of 13 regions at stake in the elections and says Italians are fed up with four years of Berlusconi rule in which the economy has barely grown.
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Progress In Iraq
By Ali Taheri
Jalal Talabani is the first non-Arab president of Iraq. The development is indeed a good omen for the long-oppressed Kurds in that country and also for Iran. The veteran Kurdish leader played a key role in the struggles of his people against the brutal Saddam regime, which was ousted in 2003.
The truth is that in the past tyrants in Baghdad considered Shiites and Kurds as second-class citizens. Tyrannized for decades, they never had a voice in their own country despite together constituting a majority of the population.
Terrible crimes were committed against the Kurds and they were always alienated and deprived from holding senior positions in almost all government institutions and affiliated bodies. Not to mention that the Kurds were also deprived of their basic social rights. They could hardly find suitable job opportunities in their own territories and were not even in the position to migrate to other Iraqi areas in search of decent living.
Today Iraqi Kurds have agreed to work closely with and accept the guidelines set by Talabani who has long enjoyed the support of his own people and those in the region. Instead of pushing for self-rule, they are now concentrating on a substantial share of power in the emerging political system.
The psychological climate in Iraq is still such that the Kurds give high priority to ethnic considerations without much associating themselves to an Iraqi identity. Nevertheless, it seems they have now decided to take the first step in the right direction, revise traditional concepts and identify with the rest of the Iraqi population.
In the meantime, with the decline in tribal system in Iraq, a strong majority has clearly emerged on the top and has had cordial and brotherly bonds with the Kurds. Today Shiites are the most powerful group in the country of more than 25 million people.
Now the path has been paved for forging a spirit of trust and understanding between Kurds and Arabs. Sunni Arabs must also come to terms with and accept the ground realities.
For Iraq to progress and assert itself, it is necessary that all Iraqi groups who do not have blood on their hands participate in its political, economic and social reconstruction.
After his election to the top post, Talabani pledged to work for stability and an “independent and united Iraqi state based on democracy, federalism and human rights.“
He said he would initiate friendly ties with Iraq’s neighbors to help safeguard Iraqi borders and keep unwanted foreign elements, especially Arab supporters of Osama bin Laden, out. He also referred to plans to open talks with the Iraqis involved in the armed resistance against the US-led coalition and persuade them to join the newly emerging political structures.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) hoped conditions would prevail for the final departure of foreign troops from the Arab country.
He also said the coalition forces should not leave Iraq until a strong military and security system is in place.
Talabani noted that the inspirations of the Iraqi Kurds must be addressed, and suggested that the Iraqi flag be changed and the strategic Arbil Province become Iraq’s summer capital while Baghdad remain the seat of government in wintertime.
It seems Talabani is determined to forge closer affinity between Kurds and other ethnic groups. This is clearly a positive development for Iran that has more commonalities with Kurds than other regional countries and has maintained friendly ties to Talabani and other Kurdish leaders. The new Iraqi president has rightly decided to place more emphasis on the progress of Iraqi Kurds rather than the hollow slogans of an independent state or unhelpful ethnic prejudices.
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