|
Prayer Time (Tehran)
|
|
Dawn: 3:31
Sunrise: 5:06
Noon: 12:01
Evening: 19:16
|
|
Weather Guide
|
|
|
MON |
TUE |
Tehran: |
|
|
High: |
31oC |
32oC |
Low: |
20oC |
20oC |
|
|
|
Athens |
21 |
21 |
Ankara |
17 |
17 |
Paris |
15 |
15 |
New Delhi |
43 |
43 |
Rome |
20 |
19 |
Riyadh |
40 |
37 |
Frankfurt |
21 |
22 |
Cairo |
27 |
27 |
Kuwait City |
40 |
40 |
Karachi |
33 |
33 |
Copenhagen |
18 |
18 |
London |
16 |
18 |
Moscow |
14 |
18 |
Madrid |
21 |
22 |
Vienna |
19 |
20 |
|
|
Identification
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
Ahmadinejad Dismisses Sanctions
West Has Given Iran Nothing
TEHRAN, May 7--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday dismissed reports on possible imposition of sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, saying it’s ’meaningless’ to talk about sanctions.
Addressing a seminar of Basiji (volunteer forces) commanders in Tehran, Ahmadinejad noted that enemies believe that if they conceal their illegal decisions under the guise of UN Security Council resolutions, their decisions will become legitimate, IRNA reported.
“They (enemies) should be aware that if they want to take wrong decisions against Iran and issue resolutions, the Iranian nation will reject their illegal resolution,“ he said.
The chief executive added that the opposition of enemies is due to their concern over the revival of Islamic identity in the Muslim world.
He noted that the enemies are afraid of self-esteem, faith and scientific and industrial advances in the Muslim world.
Stating that arrogant world powers have created problems on different pretexts, Ahmadinejad pointed out that enemies do not want the Muslim world to see progress and development.
“Enemies have not given us anything that they now want to take it back through sanctions,“ he said.
“They know that they are not able to confront the Islamic Republic of Iran.“
Stressing that enemies of the Islamic system have become active both at home and abroad to sow discord among the Iranian people, the president said God-willing, they will also fail this time.
Ahmadinejad further said the Iranian people possess the capabilities to defend their interests and position.
“Today Iranians have achieved nuclear technology and speak to the world from this position,“ he said.
Se
|
|
|
Asefi:
Russians May
Not Deliver
Nuclear Fuel on Time
UNSC Action Can Harm
IAEA Cooperation
TEHRAN, May 7--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday that although Iran has signed a contract with Russia to procure its nuclear fuel for Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, this does not mean that Iran should ignore its right to produce nuclear fuel.
“We shall use the Russian fuel. This is while somebody who has knowledge does not need to beg others for the same. We have already acquired fuel production technology and can produce nuclear fuel. There are no assurances that Russians will give Iran nuclear fuel in a timely manner. International conditions vary by the minute. If we ourselves have access to certain facilities, it is not wise to seek the assistance of others,“ he told an international press conference.
According to ISNA, the spokesman stressed that the interference of the UN Security Council in Iran’s nuclear dossier is absolutely illegal.
“Iran will not accept resolutions that do not recognize its legitimate rights. It is clear that any move adopted by the UNSC can negatively affect Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,“ he said.
On the European Union’s condemnation of human rights conditions in Iran, Asefi said, “Human rights are a relative issue and nowhere in the world can we say that they are observing human rights completely. Therefore, we must pay attention to this relativity É We do not and cannot deny that there may be some shortfalls in how we observe human rights, but the point is that these shortfalls can be removed through internal mechanisms.“
|
|
|
If UN Fails to Act
Majlis Will Reject NPT Additional Protocol
TEHRAN, May 7--Over 160 MPs in a communiquŽ on Sunday announced that if the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other members of the UN Security Council do not fulfill their task of peacefully settling Iran’s nuclear dossier, the Majlis will not have any other alternative but to reject the additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
According to Fars News Agency, the communiquŽ noted that Iran’s nuclear activities date back to over 25 years ago.
“Due to the unfair and politicized machinations of the US, Iran’s nuclear program has been put on the UNSC agenda. In the past, Iran voluntarily suspended all its peaceful nuclear activities for two and a half years to improve the transparency of its program and build international confidence. The result of this valuable move was that (the head of International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed) ElBaradei in his Nov. 2005 report notified the international community that Iran never diverted from the IAEA regulations in its nuclear activities,“ it said.
The MPs stressed that the US pressures on the agency to give the impression that Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities pose a threat to international peace and security are a blatant breach of the outlines of the UN Charter, especially articles 33 to 37 of Chapter Seven.
“If the dossier is returned to its routine and normal procedure, then the Majlis will prioritize any move necessary to build up trust with the international community, including Iran’s acceptance of the additional protocol to NPT,“ it said.
Also on Sunday, Majlis first vice speaker, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, said that the parliament will do its best to protect Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology by paying the least possible price.
“Russia and China can resist anti-Iran actions in the UNSC, but perhaps they may not consider it expedient to resist any longer. But if the dossier is returned to the agency from the UNSC, we shall use all means available to build up trust with the global community. Then, most probably the Majlis will consider examining the additional protocol to NPT,“ he said.
|
|
|
Census of Iraqi Immigrants On Wednesday
TEHRAN, May 7--Interior Ministry’s Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrant Affairs on Sunday announced that the second stage of the census on Iraqi immigrants for changing their identification cards will start on Wednesday for two months.
According to IRNA, based on the announcement, the breadwinner or one of the family members of the Iraqi immigrant families nationwide should visit the local BAFIA office with the family’s original identification cards. If the Iraqi immigrants fail to participate in the census, their residence permits will be revoked and they will be viewed as illegal immigrants.
|
|
|
Erdogan Pledges Justice to Kurds
|
|
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
|
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 7--Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a rare visit on Sunday to the mainly Kurdish southeast, where guerrilla violence has escalated, and said Ankara was committed to solving the region’s problems.
His visit coincides with an upsurge in violence blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and troop reinforcements being sent to the region to deal with an expected increase in incursions from neighboring Iraq, where Ankara says thousands of militants are based, Reuters reported.
The latest attack in the poor and mountainous mainly Kurdish southeast was the bombing of a school bus carrying soldiers’ children, which injured 17 last week.
“We are trying to bring about long-delayed justice as soon as possible. We want to eradicate imbalances between regions,“ he told a party conference, where he also condemned children being targeted by violence.
“We are hurrying with all our strength to make up for the errors of the past,“ he said. “If we don’t win together, we will be condemned to lose together,“ Erdogan, who released two white doves into the crowd, said.
The government has eased cultural and linguistic restrictions on the Kurds as part of its efforts to join the European Union, but Brussels has demanded more measures to combat poverty in the region.
Turkey’s Kurds, who until the 1990s were banned from using their own language in public, live mostly in a region where unemployment is high and investment has been traditionally low, causing many to emigrate to the richer west of the country.
|
|
|
Smoking Ads, Promotion Banned
TEHRAN, May 7--MPs passed a bill on Sunday banning any form of advertisement or direct or indirect promotion of smoking.
According to IRNA, the lawmakers passed the bill within the framework of the comprehensive national campaign against smoking.
Article 4 of this bill stipulates that only the government can import any form of tobacco.
In Article 1 of the bill, legislators called for establishment of a special headquarters for combating smoking.
The health minister would head the headquarters and its members would comprise culture, education and commerce ministers as well as the police commander. Two members of Majlis Health Commission, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and the representative of a non-governmental organization related to smoking (chosen by health minister) will act as observers in the headquarters.
The secretariat of the headquarters will be located at the Health Ministry and the headquarters is obliged to present a report every six months to the cabinet and Majlis Health Commission.
|
|
|
Iraq Car Bombings Kill 30
BAGHDAD, Iraq,
May 7--Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq on Sunday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest spasms of violence in recent weeks, as political leaders sought a deal to form a national unity government.
At least 21 people were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a car on a crowded street in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, police and doctors said, Reuters reported.
Iraqi and US leaders have branded such attacks “Sunni Al-Qaeda ploys to spark a sectarian war“ with Shiite Muslims.
A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army patrol in the restive Sunni district of Aadhamiya, killing eight people and wounding 15. Soldiers and civilians were among the casualties.
Iraqi and US forces had conducted a sweep for Sunni guerrillas in the area on Saturday, the US military said.
Also in north Baghdad, a second car bomb exploded at a busy intersection near the offices of a government-funded newspaper, killing one civilian and wounding five, police sources said.
In Karbala, the police chief told a news conference only two people had died in the bombing. But police and medical officials who declined to be named stood by their casualty figures.
Interior Ministry sources said 42 bodies had been found in the last 24 hours in the capital alone, including eight dumped near Kindi hospital in central Baghdad. The figure is in line with levels of violence seen since sectarian bloodshed spiked up after the bombing of a Shiite shrine on Feb. 22.
Sunni leaders blame pro-government Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated police for some of the sectarian killing.
Nuri Al-Maliki, the Shiite Islamist nominated as prime minister two weeks ago after months of stalemate following December’s election, says he expects to name a cabinet shortly.
Senior officials, however, said it was unlikely Maliki would have a cabinet ready by the time parliament next meets on Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dashed Hopes
By Mohammad Hosseini
Egypt’s ’State of Emergency’ that is normally extended every three years, was once again endorsed by the parliament upon the request of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif.
Although some Egyptian officials insist the duration of this law this time around will be two years, it seems the quarter-century ruling will remain in force for an unlimited period. The terrorist incidents of last week in the tourist resort of Dahab in the Red Sea and the sectarian clashes in Alexandria seem to be the driving force behind the government’s push for again extending the highly controversial emergency rule.
This is while opponents of the pro-western government had warned earlier it should not use the Dahab attack as another pretext to continue the draconian measures valid under emergency rule.
The emergency was declared soon after the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Prior to this, Gamal Abdel Nasser, a former president, declared emergency in 1967 during the Six-Day War.
The state of emergency gives special powers to the government and security organizations to ’keep the law.’ But the Islamic and secular opposition has routinely condemned it as a faade to stifle freedoms and democratic norms by the government of President Hosni Mubarak, a former general.
Based on emergency laws, the police and security forces are allowed to detain suspects and hold them in custody for an unlimited period without the need for due process of law.
Activities of opposition political groups are banned and public rallies are taboo. Despite the restrictions, the opposition in recent months, especially before last year’s national elections, could express its views a bit more freely and also challenged government policies on key issues.
However, now it is clear that the so-called open atmosphere was designed primarily to encourage the people to come out and vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections. During this period, the opposition was allowed to speak its mind and demanded a permanent end to the emergency to open the way for meaningful political reforms.
Opponents of the regime and human rights groups have long held the view that the emergency is a security tool used terribly well to keep them in check and save Mubarak unwanted problems.
Meanwhile, the persecution of two prominent Egyptian judges who claimed that the parliamentary election was rigged has emerged as a major crisis. The controversy surrounding the case has reached such proportions that major human rights institutions have expressed serious concern over the independence and integrity of the judicial process in the most powerful Arab country.
In the parliamentary elections, candidates of the main opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood had a neck-to-neck competition with the nominees of the ruling party. The fact that the powerful but banned Brotherhood whose candidates contested the race as independents, garnered 20 percent of the parliamentary seats sounded the alarm for Mubarak and his backers.
It is reported that in many electoral districts the ruling party resorted to intimidation and violence to block the victory of the Brotherhood - one of the oldest political parties in the Arab world with a huge following.
At the time when the overall international climate has been changing rapidly, the Egyptian opposition expects the incumbent government pursue a softer attitude toward their demands for freedom, democracy and political accountability.
Extending the emergency has enfeebled the hopes of the opposition and disillusioned Egypt’s friends in the volatile region and beyond.
See P
|
|
|
|
|
|
