Javad Al-Boulani

BAGHDAD, Iraq,
Feb. 13--Iraqi Interior Minister Javad Al-Boulani said the presence of the terrorist group Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) in Iraq is against the constitution.
In a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq Hossein Kazemi-Qomi earlier this week, Al-Boulani stressed that the presence of MKO members in Iraq can create security problems and hinder development of ties with Iran, IRNA reported.
“There is no room in Iraq for groups that can have negative effects on the good relations of Iraq with its neighbors,“ he said, adding that the Iraqi government is seeking to evict MKO agents from Iraq.
Referring to the present border cooperation as ’appropriate’, Al-Boulani noted that it is necessary for Iran and Iraq to pay heed to maintaining their border security.
Kazemi-Qomi, for his part, invited Al-Boulani for a formal visit to Iran.
According to IRNA, Iraqi religious scholars, ethnic leaders, political thinkers and intellectuals issued a statement last week in a conference aimed at studying the role of terrorist groups in conducting criminal operations against the Iraqi government.
Elaborating on MKO’s murderous activities against Iraqis, they called for the banishment of 4,000 MKO agents.

7,700 tons of waste materials are transferred to the Kahrizak Landfill on a daily basis.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Members of Tehran City Council lambasted Tehran Municipality’s Urban Services Organization over its garbage recycling performance.
In a two-hour-long meeting on Tuesday, a number of councilors also lashed out at the organization for not hiring private companies and experts for recycling garbage, ISNA reported.
Head of Planning and Budget Commission, Nader Shariatmadari, criticized the replacement of the former head of the organization and said unqualified managers in recent years have been unable to devise a comprehensive plan for recycling.
“It was recently heard that the organization has decided to recycle all garbage into compost. This is while, with 40 years of experience in recycling waste material, the United States changes only 30 percent of garbage to compost,“ he said.
According to Shariatmadari, 150 new personnel have been added to the organization during the past four months while compost production facilities handled by contractors have been closed since past six months.
Another critic, Hassan Bayadi, deputy head of Tehran City Council, said officials are indifferent toward the way they handle hospital waste.
Bayadi also lashed out at the organization for not employing private companies and reducing compost production.
“Some municipal officials believe there is no reason for them to be accountable to the city council and councilors should pose questions by writing letters or impeaching the mayor,“ he said.
Another councilor, Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani, also criticized the reduction of compost production in recent years from 3,000 tons to 250 tons.
Referring to the poor performance of municipality in collecting garbage from the streets of the 13-million-strong capital, Vaezi-Ashtiani criticized municipal officials for not hiring private operators.
At the beginning of the meeting, deputy Tehran mayor for urban services, Massoud Karbasian, briefed the council on his performance as the head of the Urban Services Organization.
Karbasian said 7,700 tons of waste materials are transferred to the Kahrizak Landfill on a daily basis.
According to him, 22.5 percent of urban garbage are recycled, 27.5 percent are changed into compost, 25 percent are dumped while “ the reuse of 25 percent has been planned“.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has received some 5 million letters during his 24 provincial visits.
The president has ordered ministries and state organizations to put these letters, most of which contain requests for jobs, housing loans and medical assistance, on their agenda, Fars News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Earlier, vice president for executive affairs, Ali Saeedlou, said more than 70 percent of letters have been followed up, adding that 95 percent of them pertain to personal problems.
He further said that the president has ordered his administration to help resolve people’s problems. Saeedlou announced that the remaining letters will be reviewed in the next two months.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Majlis on Tuesday gave its vote of confidence to Gholamhossein Elham, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nominee for the post of justice minister.
In an open session on Tuesday, Majlis debated the qualifications, plans and programs of Elham, IRNA reported.
Based on the Majlis rules for confirming presidential appointees, arguments were heard for and against the nominee with the president starting the proceedings.
The voting by ballot followed the 30-minute speech of the nominee. A total of 254 deputies cast their votes, of which 130 voted in favor, 101 against and 23 abstained.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a letter to Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel read by Tehran MP Hossein Nejabat on February 4, introduced the government spokesman who also heads the Presidential Office to Majlis as his nominee for the post of justice minister.
The post became vacant after Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad, 50, died in a road accident on December 28.
Elham will serve in the dual capacity of justice minister and government spokesman.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad Al-Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah said on Tuesday Iran is honest in its efforts to establish security in Iraq.
Al-Sabah, who is currently in Tehran on an official visit, made the remark at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, after talks between the two officials, IRNA reported.
“Iran plays a crucial role in preserving stability in the Middle East,“ he said.
Asked about the latest proposal that the parties resume nuclear talks and allow Iran to maintain uranium enrichment at the 4 percent level, the Iranian foreign minister said, “In technical terms, enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear energy production requires a certain level. It is usually between 3.5-5 percent.“
Mottaki pointed to a law passed by Majlis which mandates the government to produce 20,000 MW of electricity through nuclear power plants, stressing that Iran defines enrichment as that needed to produce fuel for nuclear power plants.
“This definition will be discussed in talks,“ he said.
Such levels of uranium enrichment are well off those required to make a nuclear bomb, which is believed to need uranium enriched to around 90 percent.
Mottaki’s comments came after chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on his weekend visit to the Munich security conference Iran could accept a limit on its enrichment as a guarantee it was not seeking nuclear weapons.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Libya called for expanding bilateral relations.
Saad Mujber, the special envoy of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, told Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Tuesday, the activities of the joint economic commission are inadequate and urged a visit to Tripoli by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to remove obstacles to mutual relations, IRNA reported.
Pointing to Iran’s over 100 years of oil industry expertise, Mottaki said it is ready to share the know-how and assist in Libya’s oil projects.
The foreign minister further said Iran can also take part in development and industrial projects such as the construction of power plants and dams as well as automobile production, stressing that realizing these visions requires the political will of the Libyan government.
“Iran is seriously pursuing stronger ties with Africa,“ he said. “Extensive cooperation in different fields can be based on the solid foundation of Iran-Libya relations.“
Mottaki referred to contracts signed by Iran and Venezuela, worth $6 billion, as a model and called on Libya to play an active role in both Latin America and Africa by contributing to the Iran-Venezuela investment package.

BAGHDAD, Iraq,
Feb. 13--Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday 29 Iranian pilgrims who entered Iraq without entry permits were arrested last week.
Releasing a statement, a copy of which was faxed to IRNA’s office in Baghdad, the ministry said the pilgrims were arrested by Iraqi forces after they entered Iraq without entry permits.
Iraqi officials, on Feb 10, had announced that the country’s borders with its neighboring countries, including Iran, would be closed for four days as of last Saturday. Travel in and out of the country was, therefore, prohibited.
The decision was made in line with the new Iraq security plan which is aimed at controlling cross-border traffic.
The detained Iranians will be sent to court where they face a maximum six-month sentence for not having the permit to enter Iraq, the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s statement added.
Iranians continue to head for Iraq on pilgrimage, despite Tehran’s repeated warnings of dangers they face in the war-torn country.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--The popular Persian website Baztab was banned for the second time in the current Iranian year (ending March 20).
According to IRNA, deputy minister of culture for press and promotional affairs, Alireza Mokhtarpour, issued a notification on Tuesday, calling on the manager of the website to stop its news and information dissemination activities.
The ban was based on articles 5, 9 and 14 of the bylaw to rehabilitate informational websites.
According to these articles, any activity of informational sites directed against the constitution, national solidarity and territorial integrity and aimed at creating differences, pessimism and hopelessness among people concerning the legitimacy of the Islamic system as well as publication of fabrications will result in a ban.
Baztab was banned by the judiciary on October 14. In November, Tehran’s Public Court lifted the ban.
Judge Mohammadkhani, who presides over Branch 1060 of the court, overruled the ban and said the website can resume work.
The judiciary had charged that Baztab posted a letter of the Supreme National Security Council several months ago despite an embargo.
According to informed sources, Mohsen Rezaie, the former head of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps and the current secretary of State Expediency Council, runs Baztab. The site’s access to key documents concerning financial corruption of some officials, which were posted on the Internet, is also linked to the ban.

YAZD, Feb. 13--Department of Environment called for halting the construction of a power plant in Bafq, part of a project to expand the combined cycle power plant in Yazd.
A city in the central province of Yazd, Bafq is the natural habitat for the Iranian Panther and DoE disagreed with the construction of the second power plant to protect the species, ISNA reported.
Previously, Mehr News Agency had announced the building of two 500 MW power plants on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis by the private sector in Yazd.