Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf in Tehran, Feb. 5

TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received visiting Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf on Monday.
The leader and the Pakistani president discussed issues of mutual interest as well as regional and international developments, the details of which were not available at the time of going to print. It will be published in the next edition.
Musharraf, heading a top-ranking political and economic delegation, was welcomed at Mehrabad International Airport by Housing Minister Mohammad Saeedi-Kia, IRNA reported.
An official reception was held for the Pakistani president at the Presidential Office by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Musharraf held talks with President Ahmadinejad on bilateral relations and regional issues.
Pakistani sources had said that during talks with Ahmadinejad, Musharraf will raise his Middle East “peace initiative“ with the Iranian president.
President Musharraf’s visit is seen as a continuation of the Mideast tour launched last month with visits to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

TEHRAN, Feb. 5--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday mankind needs to reach the highest peaks of knowledge, culture and thought rather than nuclear bombs.
Speaking in the Book of the Year Award ceremony in Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, the chief executive noted that in the field of culture and science, book is still the most important thing, Mehr News Agency reported.
“After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Islamic development was based on culture and science,“ he said.
The president noted that the main theme of the movements of prophets was science and culture.
“Science and culture create an atmosphere where all humans can communicate in a tranquil atmosphere with each other,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad pointed that writing and translation of books are two important parameters that help promote culture.
“When we enter the cultural field, all political and geographical boundaries are removed and replaced by human thought,“ he said.
Winners of the 24th Book of the Year Award were introduced in the presence of President Ahmadinejad.
A total of 33 authors and translators of outstanding works in 20 different fields received awards.
In the general field, Fatemeh Rahadoust was awarded for writing a book titled “Book on Persian Medical Terminology“, Manouchehr Sanei-Darehbidi for translating “Encyclopedia on Aesthetics“ and Ahmad Monzavi for writing “Bibliography of Manuscripts of the Center for Great Islamic Encyclopedia“.
Gholamhossein Ebrahimi-Dinani was awarded in the field of Islamic philosophy for his book titled “Flourishing of Ibn Rushd in Masha Philosophy“.
Abdolkarim Rashidian received an award for his book on western philosophy titled “Husserl in His Works“.

TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Government Spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said on Monday Iran’s nuclear policy is transparent.
Speaking in the seminar entitled “Nuclear Industry and Peaceful Applications“ in Tehran, Elham noted that if a country bows to foreign pressures, they will exert pressures in other areas as well.
“We have no way other than resisting pressures in a rational manner in order to cross the prevailing impasse in Iran’s peaceful nuclear case,“ he said.
Elham pointed out that the next steps will be taken with greater contemplation and resistance.
“Any negligence, weakness and unwise decision of the government are great sins that would not be forgiven by future generations,“ he said.
Referring to unified decision-making with regard to the nuclear case, Elham stressed that the nation follows the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran’s nuclear case.
“The Iranian nation and chief executive have a transparent nuclear policy,“ he said.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5--Syria can play a major role in international efforts to quell sectarian violence in Iraq, President Bashar Al-Assad told US television Monday.
“Our role is going to be through supporting the different parties inside Iraq with support of the other parties like America, and any other country in the world--that’s how we can stop the violence,“ the Syrian leader told ABC television in an interview, AFP reported.
“We have a good relation with all the parties, including the ones participating in this government, and the one that opposed this process. That’s how we can help,“ he said.
The Syrian president said the United States may have missed the moment to bring about peace in Iraq without the help of other players.
“After nearly four years of occupation, they haven’t learned their lesson, they haven’t started the dialogue. I think it’s too late for them to move toward that,“ he said.
Bashar also faulted Washington with an over-reliance on military options, rather than seeking political solutions to quell the violence in Iraq.
“They’re responsible for the political situation, and they haven’t embarked on any policy inside Iraq. They only talk about sending more troops or less troops. They only talk about troops and power, not about the political process,“ Assad said.
While he never met George W. Bush personally, he said he was not favorably disposed toward the US president’s policies.
“This administration is not willing to achieve peace, they don’t have the will or the vision. This is what I know about the administration, not the president in particular,“ he said.
But when asked to name a leader or diplomat he admired, Bashar named George Bush--the current president’s father--along with former US President Bill Clinton.
“Maybe, Bush, the father, because of his will to achieve the peace. Of course, President Clinton had the same will, and he has the respect,“ he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 5--Three car bombs killed 24 people and wounded scores in Baghdad on Monday, and gunmen attacked two Sunni areas, clashing with residents and setting houses on fire.
The violence came on a day when the military command center that will oversee a planned offensive by Iraqi and US troops in the city was due to become operational. US officers said on Sunday that the crackdown would begin “soon thereafter“, AP reported.
In the worst blast on Monday, a car bomb targeting a petrol station in the religiously mixed southern neighborhood of Saidiya killed 10 people and wounded 62, while eight people were killed and 40 wounded when a car bomb exploded in a garage.
A car bomb exploded near a children’s hospital in Andalus Square in central Baghdad, killing six and wounding nine.
Police said militants attacked Adhamiya district in northern Baghdad, clashing with residents.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but 15 people were killed there in a mortar barrage on Sunday.
In Amil, a religiously mixed area in southwestern Baghdad, gunmen wearing police commando uniforms pulled people from their homes in Janabiyeen, a Sunni enclave that is home to members of the Janabiyeen tribe, and set at least five houses ablaze, witnesses said.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s Baghdad security plan is seen as a last-ditch effort to quell soaring sectarian violence between majority Shiites and once dominant Sunni Arabs that has claimed 1,000 lives across Iraq in the last week.
On Saturday, a suicide truck bomb killed 135 people in a Shiite area of Baghdad in the worst single bombing since the US-led 2003 invasion.