TEHRAN, Feb. 27--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in a decree renewed the tenures of State Expediency Council members for another five-year term, apart from inducting five new members.
Referring to SEC’s successes in preparing the Vision 2025 and new policies related to the constitution’s Article 44 in his decree, the leader said, “It is my duty to thank each of the esteemed members of the SEC and SEC’s Secretariat, especially SEC secretary for his proper administration.“
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that an appropriate composition of SEC members will provide the council with an opportunity to consider issues from different angles.
“Relying on the comments of experts will add weight to SEC’s approvals,“ he said.
The leader pointed out that the evidence upon which SEC’s approvals are based will be helpful for researchers.
The heads of three branches of power, jurisprudents of the Guardians Council and heads of parliamentary commissions are automatically inducted in the State Expediency Council.
Parviz Davoudi, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Ali Aqa-Mohammadi, Mohammad Forouzandeh and Davoud Danesh-Jafari are the new appointees.
Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that SEC members will do their best in fulfilling their duties.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Tuesday called for enhancement of ties between Iran and Latin American states based on mutual respect and justice.
In a message to the First International Conference on Latin America which opened here on Tuesday, the president said Iran and Latin American states share identical views on independence, peace and justice, IRNA reported.
His message was read in the conference by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Praising the Latin American people’s strong desire for independence and justice, he said the Iranian nation shares their aspirations.
“Latin American developments, particularly the growing awareness and involvement of peoples of the region in various political and social events, have paved the way for bilateral and multilateral cooperation in various fields,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad urged Iran as well as Latin American states to do more to develop their societies through consultation and maximum use of resources.
During a tour of three Latin American countries last year, he said the region is rich in natural resources.
The president expressed hope the ongoing conference will contribute to efforts to achieve peace, security and tranquility in all parts of the world.
The day-long conference on Latin America was aimed at familiarizing Iranians with developments and opportunities for cooperation in Latin America.
Experts from Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Italy, Russia and China presented articles in the conference.
An exhibition of documents of cooperation signed between Iran and Latin American states was held on the sidelines of the confab.

Technicians work at IsfahanÕs Uranium Conversion Facility, 420 kilometers south of Tehran.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27--First Vice President Parviz Davoudi said on Tuesday Iran will soon begin making industrial use of nuclear power.
Speaking in a seminar on standardization of police conduct and role of education, Davoudi noted that Iran is presently among seven nuclear powers of the world and grounds have been paved for the 3.5-percent uranium enrichment, IRNA reported.
Referring to the anti-Iran resolution of the United Nations Security Council, he pointed out that the resolution has not been effective and nothing can prevent Iran from entering the nuclear phase.
“The tools used by Iran’s opponents have never been effective. Our enemies have gradually become passive,“ he said.
He noted that Iran’s status in the world’s political equations has improved.
“Iran did not previously have the chance of bargaining and they should presently admit our rights,“ he said.
Stating that the Iranian nation will become a model for other nations, Davoudi said after the recent visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua the people of that country have become more inclined toward religious issues.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday Iran will never agree to suspension of uranium enrichment, a precondition sought by the West before any resumption of talks.
Mottaki made the remarks in his speech to the first daylong international conference on Latin America which opened here Tuesday, IRNA reported.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not surrender the nation’s right to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,“ he said.
He stressed that the demand for suspension of uranium enrichment was illegal and based on a false political strategy.
The foreign minister reiterated Iran’s readiness to hold talks on the country’s nuclear activities without preconditions and on the issues of guarantees and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Mottaki also said Iran was ready to hold talks with all sides to the nuclear issue without preconditions.
“We think that the inclusion of other parties, including the heads of Organization of Islamic Conference and Non-Aligned Movement, in talks will help bring about more serious and comprehensive talks,“ he said.
Mottaki also said Iran will not allow its bilateral ties with a country to be directed against a third state. Hence, he added, any third country should not consider disturbing Iran’s relations with other states.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel voiced Iran’s readiness to cooperate with Syria and Saudi Arabia to resolve the crisis in Lebanon.
In a meeting with visiting former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss and his entourage on Tuesday, Haddad noted that despite US and Israeli plots to create discord among Shiites and Sunnis, Iran has had wide cooperation with Saudi Arabia to help resolve Lebanon’s crisis, IRNA reported.
He noted that the Lebanese nations marked a proud victory for the Muslim and Arab worlds against Israelis armed-to-the-teeth by the US in their 33-day resistance.
The speaker hailed the efforts of Hoss in easing the Lebanese crisis, saying that as a Muslim nation interested in establishing peace and security for the Lebanese nation, Iran pursues events in this country with a special sensitivity.
Pointing to continued terrorist moves in Iraq, he said western nations and the US should be aware that Iraq’s Constitution has been formed on the basis of democracy.
Haddad also praised Hoss for supporting Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and said the world is aware that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is seeking nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.
Hoss, for his part, regarded Iran as “a significant and influential regional power“ and expressed support for the country’s nuclear activities.
“We have faith in Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities and believe atomic weapon is a terrorist weapon. The nation with atomic weapons, such as the US and Israel, is terrorist,“ he said.
Hoss called for cooperation between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria to resolve the crisis in Lebanon. “Without cooperation among Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, the crisis in Lebanon will not be resolved,“ he said, hailing Iran for its efforts to prevent ethnic conflicts and differences between Shiites and Sunnis in Muslim nations.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Feb. 27-- The poor must adapt to climate change using local knowledge, according to experts from around the world gathered at a conference in Bangladesh.
The experts exchanged information on how local people are coping with heat waves in the mountains of India, floods in Bangladesh and Nepal, droughts in Kenya, and soil poisoned by salt in Sri Lanka, AP reported.
Poor people are already being hurt by the earth’s rising temperatures, the experts said, maintaining that adapting to climate change deserves just as much focus as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Global warming is a reality now,“ Ian Burton, a Toronto-based expert in climate change, told The Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of the climate change conference in Dhaka. The conference started Saturday and ends Wednesday in Dhaka.
“Rich countries are responsible but poorer nations are bearing the brunt,“ he said, adding that adaptation at the community level is the answer to the problem.
The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development and the Dhaka-based Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies organized the conference to share experiences on local climate adaptation programs across the world.
The conference was being held more than three weeks after the United Nations-backed International Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body charged with assessing the evidence for and risk of global warming, declared it “very likely“ that the globe’s increasing temperature is a result of human activity.
Many poor countries where a large number of people live on less than US$1 a day are most vulnerable to the impact of global warming.
Bangladesh, with a population of 144 million, is a good example how global warming impacts the very poor.
Bangladeshi climate change expert Atiq Rahman said if the sea rises by 30 centimeters (a foot), which some researchers say could happen over next few decades, up to 12 percent of the population living across the vast coast would be flooded out of their homes.
“Our poor people will suffer more, their future poverty will be much more severe,“ Rahman said.
Melting glaciers on the Himalayas are already causing floods along rivers in Bangladesh, he said.
The melting glacier water carries mud and sand, which is spread during the flooding, filling in some river beds and leading to drought in the north, he said.
Rising sea levels are one factor causing salty sea water to encroach on fresh water in the southwest, he said.

NEW YORK, Feb. 27--The international demand that Iran halt uranium enrichment before negotiations on its nuclear program can begin is unnecessarily blocking diplomatic progress, a series of speakers said at a conference on weapons proliferation Monday.
While disagreeing on other issues, former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix; Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, a former senior State Department official in President George W. Bush’s administration; and Iran’s UN ambassador all criticized the demand that Tehran stop enriching uranium before negotiations can go forward, AP reported.
Blix said the United States, Europe and the UN Security Council were ’humiliating’ Iran with the precondition.
“This is in a way like telling a child, first you will behave and thereafter you will be given your rewards,“ Blix said. “And this, I think, is humiliating.“
“I would be surprised if a poker player would toss away his trump card before he sits down at the table. Who does that?“ he asked.
Iranian UN Ambassador Javad Zarif described suspension as an “impossible precondition“ that would not ease world concerns about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, even if Tehran agreed to an enrichment halt.
“It does not address the security concerns that are being raised by people,“ Zarif said. “In Iran, the knowledge has been created and its there.“
Haass heavily criticized Iran’s refusal to heed the Security Council, and described Zarif’s arguments for doing so--which also include the charge that the US was using the Security Council to bully Iran--as deeply flawed. But he also said the demand for an enrichment halt was unnecessarily blocking a diplomatic solution.
“I do not think this call for a precondition of stoppage of all enrichment activity ought to be allowed to torpedo diplomacy,“ Haass said. “This is the sort of thing that can be finessed, very easily and very quickly, I think.“
The three men spoke during a daylong conference on “Weapons Threats and International Security“ organized by The Century Foundation, a Washington-based research institute.
China refused to say Tuesday if it would back new sanctions against Iran as part of efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear program, saying only the dispute should be resolved peacefully.
“Our position has been consistent in that we advocate a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation and peaceful means,“ foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters when asked if China would support sanctions, AFP reported.
“Sanctions are not our ultimate purpose,“ Qin added.
The meeting in London between envoys from the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany discussed possible tougher sanctions than ones imposed last year, the governments involved have said.