TEHRAN, May 19--Iranian scientists have succeeded in mass producing an advanced scanning microscope--the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM).
Reza Saber, project director at Medical Sciences and Technology Center, said the microscope is capable of scanning images electronically with precision in the range of one tenth of nanometer.
“The STM is considered the mother of nanotechnology development. Our STM, which was produced with the support of the Nanotechnology Development Taskforce, will be used in diagnosing cancer and linking nano-particles to anti-body,“ he said, the state radio and TV (IRIB) reported.
The official noted that the know-how to build this microscope can also be used for transferring atoms and producing nano-robots, nano-engines and electronic chips.
The scanning tunneling microscope is used widely in both industrial and applied research to acquire atomic-scale images of metal surfaces. It provides a three-dimensional profile of the surface that is very useful for characterizing surface roughness, observing surface defects, and determining the size and conformation of molecules and aggregates on the surface.

SHUNEH, Jordan,
May 19--Iran said on Saturday it does not seek the destruction of Israel, although it does not consider the Zionist regime legitimate.
“We are not talking about eliminating any nation or any country,“ Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in reference to Iran’s position toward Israel, AFP reported.
“A primary school student also knows that it is not possible to remove a country from the map,“ he told delegates to the World Economic Forum on the Middle East held in Jordan.
However, he stood by his country’s position in not recognizing Israel as a ’legal’ regime, saying the future of historical Palestine should be decided in a referendum among its original inhabitants--including Christians, Jews and Muslims and those of them who are refugees.
Mottaki added that the United States should withdraw its troops from Iraq because their presence is causing ’terrorist’ activity in the war-torn country.
“We believe that sooner or later they have to decide to withdraw their troops from Iraq because that is the cause for the continuation of terrorist activities,“ he said.
He also said instability and the continuing occupation remain the two fundamental problems plaguing Iran’s neighbor, adding that a “comprehensive solution“ should address both issues.
During the three-day gathering being held on the shores of the Dead Sea, Mottaki shared a panel with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, Bahraini Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a former ambassador to the United States.
American and Iranian envoys are to meet in Baghdad on May 28 for talks on Iraq’s security in what is believed to be the first official talks at the ambassadorial level between the arch-foes in three decades.
Both sides insist that discussions will be limited to the security of Iraq.
Mottaki said on Friday the United States should admit to the ’failure’ of its Iraq policies during the upcoming meeting, in order for the talks to “progress and create hope“.

Mohammad Reza Baqeri

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 19--Top Lebanese cleric Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah said the goal of US Vice President Dick Cheney’s latest trip to the region was to create tensions in Iran’s ties with Arabs.
Addressing the Friday congregation in southern Beirut, the Lebanese cleric noted that Cheney’s mission is to intensify warmongering in the region for securing American and Israeli interests.
Fadhlallah warned regional countries about the US political and security plots and said the US intends to solve its problems in Iraq and is forced to negotiate with Iran.
“The reason of Cheney’s visit to the United Arab Emirates was to impose pressures on companies related to Iran to maintain economic pressures on Iran,“ he said.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN, May 19--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday the Islamic Republic is on the threshold of “a big economic take-off“.
In a 90-minute TV interview, the president elaborated on the economic achievements of his government and stressed that Iran is a safe and secure place for foreign investors, IRNA reported.
“Iran is presently one of the safest countries for foreigners to invest,“ he said, adding that despite mounting pressure from hostile powers, both foreign and domestic investments have been of the ascending order over the past 18 months compared to the years before he took office.
Asked about the role of oil revenues in government spending, Ahmadinejad said close to $30 billion from oil exports in the current year would be spent on different sectors and the balance will be deposited in the Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF).
According to official data, each Iranian has a monthly share of 270,000 rials from oil revenues, the president said. However, he recalled that 78,000, 40,000, 32,000 and 69,000 rials are expended respectively on education, health, welfare and subsidies for each Iranian.
Referring to the high consumption of fuel as one of key problems of the oil-rich state, the president said the total amount spent annually on petrol and diesel inside the country far exceeds revenues from oil export and is simply unaffordable.
Iran’s daily oil production is about four million barrels of which 1.6 million is consumed domestically, the chief executive told Channel One TV.
He noted that his government has taken effective steps in reducing the role of oil earnings in the state budget and is committed to expand non-oil exports. Imports reached 41.4 percent last year indicating a 4% increase compared to the year earlier while non-oil exports climbed by a solid 47 percent.
“This is unprecedented in the recent history of non-oil exports in our country.“ The country earned more than 16 billion dollars from non-oil export in the last Iranian year that ended March 20.
President Ahmadinejad expressed regret over “incorrect and fabricated data“ on economic indices from his seemingly political opponents.
Asked about the real rate of inflation, the president said that although the overall inflation rate is declining, trends indicate a 1.5 percent increase over last year’s figure reaching 13.6 percent.
Ahmadinejad referred to the role of increasing global prices of goods and services as well heavy spending on major development projects in the high inflation rates.

TEHRAN, May 19--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Saturday the country is facing the problem of work ethics.
Speaking on the first day of the national seminar titled “Work Ethics“ at the Labor Ministry’s Cultural Complex, the speaker asserted that it is not acceptable to avoid working on the pretext of studying, IRNA reported.
Criticizing abstentions, Haddad noted that unfortunately some people believe working is for those who are uneducated and escaping from work seems to be a kind of cleverness while wasting time is normal.
“We think our job should be the best in the world. Therefore, we do not agree to work,“ he said.
He pointed out that by merely speaking, problems will not be resolved.
“This problem is rooted in the education sector. The situation is deteriorating by the day,“ he said.
Haddad argued that students do not walk even 200 meters from school to home and are used to travel by cars.
“We should adopt practical programs for school students beside their routine theoretical programs,“ he said.
Referring to the emphasis of the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on efforts needed for achieving national development, Haddad said the leader has always emphasized on work ethics.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf

TEHRAN, May 19--Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Saturday that the municipality is a social institution in which there is no place for politicizations.
The municipality should not be abused for political leverage or the likes, he warned.
“Political points should not be taken into account in the hiring and firing of municipal managers,“ IRNA quoted him as saying. The mayor emphasized that as per law members of the Tehran City Council cannot intervene in the process of appointing and/or dismissing municipality officials.
“Given that the Third Tehran City Council has just taken office and in view of the experiences I’ve gained in my tenure as mayor, present developments in the Tehran Municipality are quite natural and rational.“
The mayor reiterated his policy of upholding meritocracy in electing his aides -- a direction he insisted also helps in identifying and training qualified managers.
“Interaction between the Tehran Municipality and Tehran City Council is a must and the municipality would do more to augment such cooperation in the new term of the Tehran City Council,“ he said.
He claimed that the era of “managerial stability“ has now been completed and the time has come to “deliver the goods and effectively address the people’s problems.“
Less attention was paid to infrastructural projects that could help resolve people’s problems to a considerable extent, he said without elaboration.
On his electoral rivalry with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the 2005 presidential race, the mayor opined that the “climate of rivalry has given way to an atmosphere of collaboration.“

BAGHDAD, Iraq,
May 19--Eight more American troops were killed In Iraq, seven of them on a single day, the US military said on Saturday, amid raging violence and a desperate search for three captured soldiers.
Three US soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle was bit by a bomb northeast of Baghdad, and two more in an ambush inside the city in which a gunman opened fire on a patrol already hit by a roadside booby-trap.
Another soldier died in combat in western Iraq, one was shot dead while on foot patrol in Baghdad and the eighth was killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb south of the capital that wounded two US and two Iraqi troops.
The deaths brought total US casualties since the March 2003 invasion to 3,412 and the total deaths in May to 69, keeping it on course to be one of the bloodiest months of the war for American forces so far.
In another violence, gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms shot and killed 15 men Saturday in a Kurdish Shiite village.
The attack against the villagers occurred early Saturday when gunmen wearing army uniforms entered the village of Hamid Shifi, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. They rousted families from their homes and opened fire on the men, killing 15 of them, an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party said.
The victims were Kurdish Shiites, according to a statement posted on the website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
The village is located in Diyala province where violence has risen sharply in the past six months.
Earlier Saturday, nine people were taken into custody in the town of Amiriyah, a longtime Sunni insurgent area, following “information leads in the disappearance of three US soldiers“.
An Al-Qaida-linked group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, in which four American soldiers and an Iraqi were killed.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, at least three mortar shells or rockets slammed into the Green Zone after British Prime Minister Tony Blair had arrived for talks with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders. One person was injured, but it was unclear how far Blair was from the blasts.

GAZA CITY, Occupied Palestine, May 19--Israeli airstrikes targeted Hamas for a fifth straight day on Saturday, hitting a rocket squad and two workshops in Gaza.
Hospital officials said two Palestinians were killed and four wounded in the latest Israeli strikes, AP reported.
Days of Israeli air attacks on Hamas targets have coincided with a surge in deadly infighting between Hamas gunmen and rivals from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.
On Saturday, the two groups reached a new ceasefire deal, pledging to pull fighters off the streets and exchange hostages, officials from both sides said.
Previous truce agreements quickly collapsed in recent days, and it was not clear whether this one would hold. Failure to stanch the bloodshed would spell the end of the shaky power-sharing agreement Hamas and Fatah reached two months ago to end a previous round of internal strife.

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