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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 3:08
Sunrise: 4:51
Noon: 12:02
Evening: 19:33
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Weather Guide
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TUE |
WED |
Tehran: |
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High: |
32oC |
30oC |
Low: |
23oC |
19oC |
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Athens |
27 |
25 |
Ankara |
26 |
29 |
Cairo |
40 |
32 |
Copenhagen |
27 |
18 |
Frankfurt |
13 |
17 |
Karachi |
35 |
35 |
Kuwait City |
40 |
40 |
London |
16 |
16 |
Madrid |
22 |
23 |
Moscow |
37 |
34 |
New Delhi |
38 |
40 |
Paris |
18 |
18 |
Riyadh |
44 |
44 |
Rome |
21 |
22 |
Vienna |
20 |
15 |
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Identification
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Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
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
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Kazemi-Qomi:
Talks Can Bolster Iraq Sovereignty
Trilateral Security Mechanism Proposed
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Ryan Crocker
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BAGHDAD, Iraq,
May 28--Iran’s Ambassador in Baghdad Hassan Kazemi-Qomi on Monday hoped Iran-US talks in Baghdad would contribute to Iraq’s national sovereignty.
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Hassan Kazemi-Qomi
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The ambassador, who represented Iran in the talks with US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, lauded the Iraqi government for endeavoring to restore law and order and voiced Iran’s support for the Iraqi government and nation in political, economic and security fields, IRNA reported.
Kazemi-Qomi said he has told the Americans that his government is ready to train and equip the Iraqi army and police for creating “a new military and security structure“.
The Baghdad talks were the first of their kind and a small sign that Washington thinks rapprochement with Iran is possible after more than a quarter-century of diplomatic estrangement that began with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“The next meeting will occur in Iraq in less than a month,“ Kazemi-Qomi told reporters after his news conference at the Iranian Embassy.
“As a neighboring state with Iraq with deep cultural and historical commonalities and long borders, Iran respects the country’s territorial integrity and called for the restoration of stability and security of the country,“ he said. He noted that Iran, which suffered huge losses during the 1980-88 US-backed invasion by Saddam’s regime, always supported the Iraqi nation and hosted about two million Iraqi refugees.
Kazemi-Qomi also said Iran supports a democratic Iraq where all sectarian and religious minorities play an active role in the country’s reconstruction.
“Why the Iraqi police and the country’s security forces suffer from lack of equipment and the terrorists would have an upper-hand in this regard?“ he asked.
He noted that Iran calls for maintaining national unity, territorial integrity, democracy and coexistence among all ethnics and sectarian groups which would lead to Iraqi national sovereignty.
“Now that the country has suffered from a prolonged occupation and the immoral acts of occupiers and rampant insecurity caused by terrorists have destroyed the country’s infrastructure, the Islamic Republic of Iran feels duty-bound to fully support the democratic government of Iraq and hope that the current meeting would put an end to the country’s insecurity and help the country’s reconstruction,“ he said.
Talks between Iranian and American representatives were held in the presence of Iraqi officials.
The US ambassador in Baghdad said he and his Iranian counterpart agreed broadly on policy toward Iraq during the four-hour groundbreaking talks on Monday. Crocker described the session as businesslike and said Iran proposed setting up a “trilateral security mechanism“ that would include the US, Iraq and Iran, an idea he said would require study in Washington.
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Yemeni Stance Unreal
SANAA, Yemen,
May 28--An Iranian official is due to visit Yemen on Monday to resolve a row over Tehran’s alleged support for a Zaidi rebellion, a Yemeni official said.
The source, declining to be named, said Jalal Firouznia, the Foreign Ministry’s official in charge of Persian Gulf affairs, would visit Sanaa to “clarify the Iranian position concerning Yemen’s accusations“, AFP reported.
Yemen’s Interior Minister Rashad Al-Alimi charged last Thursday that Iran was supporting some rebels belonging to the Zaidi community in northern Yemen.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini on Saturday rejected allegations made by the Yemeni interior minister.
“Remarks made by Yemeni interior minister do not correspond with realities of Iran-Yemen ties,“ Hosseini said while expressing surprise over the minister’s statements.
“While the two countries have good relations, the Yemeni minister’s comment is considered irresponsible and unfriendly. Iran has always stood beside its Yemeni brethren and support for Yemen’s unity and territorial integrity is regarded a clear example of Iran’s stance,“ he said.
He expressed hope Yemeni officials would resolve their domestic problems wisely instead of blaming others.
“Developments in Zaidi-populated areas are among Yemen’s internal issues. We hope the problem would be settled peacefully within the framework of national unity to establish stability and tranquility in the country,“ he said.
Hosseini voiced Iran’s readiness to offer any assistance and cooperation to the Yemeni government to resolve the problems.
Thousands of people have died in the three-year-old uprising by the rebels seeking restoration of the Zaidi imamate, which ruled in Sanaa until a 1962 coup by republican forces.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the north.
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Persian Gulf Trophy
For Saipa
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Saipa players celebrate after winning the trophy of Iran's Premier League dubbed Persian Gulf Cup following their 2-0
victory over Mes-e Kerman, May 28.
(ISNA Photo)
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TEHRAN, May 28--Saipa became Iran’s soccer champion after defeating Mes-e-Kerman in the last match of Iran’s Premier League dubbed Persian Gulf Cup.
Saipa won 2-0 to lift the championship trophy, Mehr News Agency reported.
Ali Daei, player-manager of Saipa, sealed the victory with a goal in the 75th minute. He said after the victory that he will no longer play football and only focus on training players.
“This is not a new decision. I want to focus on training football players instead of playing,“ he said. “I never said that I’m a coach. I just helped the team win.“
Persepolis finished third after defeating Zob-e-Ahan 3-1 on Sunday. Esteqlal ranked 4th, after only managing a 1-1 draw against the 10-man Paas. The Blues were behind after an early goal by Paas, but managed to avoid a defeat on the last day by preventing a goal in the last minute of the game.
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EU Urged to Correct Own Rights Record
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Mohammad Ali Hosseini
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TEHRAN, May 28--The European Union should make efforts to improve its own human rights situation instead of focusing on conditions in Iran.
Reacting to recent statements of the European Union rotating president, Jose Manuel Barroso, who expressed concern over human rights conditions in Iran, Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Barroso’s remarks constitute interference in Iran’s internal affairs, Fars News Agency reported.
“Barroso should better concentrate on social maladies in EU member-states and evident cases of human rights violation in many EU countries,“ he said.
Hosseini opined that the EU should focus on human rights violation in their secret prisons, the use of European airports for transferring CIA prisoners and violation of the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Muslims, immigrants and asylum-seekers.
“We have always been concerned about cases of human rights violations in EU member-states. These concerns have been expressed in our meetings with their officials in the past one and a half years,“ he said.
Noting that the EU should convey its criticism of its allies, particularly the US and Israel, to help them rectify their behavior in the Occupied Palestine, Iraq and other parts of the world, Hosseini called on the EU to be realistic and avoid double standards with regard to human rights.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly rejected a selective approach to the issue of human rights. We once again express our readiness for an impartial evaluation and a fair comparison between human rights conditions in Iran and the EU,“ he said.
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Peres Kadima’s Presidential Candidate
BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, May 28--Israel’s ruling Kadima Party has nominated Vice Premier Shimon Peres as its candidate for the country’s president, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Monday.
Olmert said Peres, a former prime minister, would be a perfect fit for the ceremonial post, which is traditionally filled by Zionist legends and revered statesmen, but has lost esteem following allegations of rape and abuse of power against the current president, Moshe Katsav, AP reported.
Parliament voted Katsav into office in 2000 in an upset victory over Peres.
“I have no doubt that his selection to President is the natural selection,“ Olmert said of Peres. “I have no doubt that, if elected to president, he will return to the office the honor and dignity it deserves.“
Peres, who told reporters last week that he would run for the office, is expected to make an official announcement on Wednesday.
The 83-year-old Peres is Israel’s elder statesman, and the presidency would cap 60 years of public service at the highest levels.
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Nigerians Uncertain About Democratic Future
LAGOS, Nigeria,
May 28--When Olusegun Obasanjo was elected Nigeria’s president in 1999, Nigerians hoped long years of military misrule were behind them and stable democracy was ahead.
As he leaves office Tuesday after eight years, Nigeria’s democracy is in doubt, and its people seem as uncertain as ever of their future. But Obasanjo, a 70-year-old former military leader, is credited with making economic strides, and earned respect abroad for his efforts to secure peace across Africa, AP reported.
While he will no longer be president, he is likely to continue to have enormous influence in Africa’s most populous country.
Many of his critics say he failed woefully. Obasanjo, though, gives himself pass marks. In a series of valedictory appearances on state radio and television in the days preceding his departure, he counted his greatest achievements in terms of intangibles.
“My most important achievement is to have ensured that there is hope for every Nigerian today,“ Obasanjo said.
Term limits kept Obasanjo from running again, and he says he will be a farmer after he quits office. But last-minute political engineering has ensured he will get a powerful party position--chairman of the party’s board of trustees.
A daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, won a senate seat on his party’s ticket in April elections and is likely to help keep the family name in the limelight. His wife Stella died in 2005.
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Turkish MPs Vote
For Electoral Reform
ANKARA, Turkey, May 28--Legislators voted Monday in favor of a proposed constitutional article that would allow a direct vote for Turkey’s president, but the measure still needs to get past another vote as well as the opposition of the current president.
Legislators, who currently choose the president in a parliamentary vote, voted 367-1 in favor of the article, AP reported.
The vote in parliament was the second time lawmakers had taken up the issue, after President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed the bill last week. Sezer says the change could cause instability by pitting a president with a strong popular mandate against the prime minister.
A second and final round of voting is scheduled for Thursday. Sezer cannot veto the legislation a second time, but can call a referendum on the issue.
The bill also calls for a once-renewable five-year presidential mandate instead of the current single, seven-year term and sets general elections every four years instead of five.
The political turmoil, exacerbated by a stiff warning from the military that it is ready to act to defend the secular system, forced Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to bring general elections forward from November 4 to July 22.
Recent public opinion surveys show that after four and a half years in power, the Islamist AKP is still Turkey’s most popular party, leading rivals in the badly fractured opposition by a wide margin.
The AKP has disowned its Islamist roots, pledged commitment to secularism and carried out reforms that stabilized the economy and secured the opening of membership talks with the European Union.
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US Grand Plan
By Mohammad Reza M. Karimi
Choking on the rhetoric about its commitment to Middle East peace and stability, the US has apparently lost whatever hope it had in toppling the elected Hamas government.
This is evident from its two-pronged approach: Instigating an internecine conflict with the help of Fatah from inside and intensifying Israeli air raids and arrests of 33 Palestinian leaders from outside.
The scenario is a rehashed version of the 34-day war waged against Lebanon’s Hezbollah. This time, however, the US and Israel have taken off the gloves.
In the past 12 days, the Israelis have killed 46 Palestinians in 60 air strikes, while Palestinian militants killed 2 Israelis by reciprocating with 230 rockets.
Despite this excessive firepower, the US is pouring in money, men and munitions to crush Hamas. It recently handed over $84 million in ’aid’ to Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas and sent in 450 Jordanian-trained militants via the Egypt-Rafah crossing to help Fatah.
We can now expect both Fatah and Israel to take turns in battering Hamas in a protracted battle that will not end anytime soon.
This has all the signs of a US Grand Plan to take on a government friendly to Iran while the Americans are reinforcing their war machine in the Persian Gulf and rallying international support to impose a third round of resolutions over Iran’s nuclear program.
It’s not surprising that Fatah and Israel should seemingly join hands to overthrow the Hamas government. This collaboration is in line with Fatah’s legacy of opposing armed resistance and its leaders’ willingness to compromise the Palestinian cause for vested interests. In fact, they have helped continue the Israeli occupation by proxy ever since the Oslo Agreement in 1993.
What’s more, Fatah has been itching to regain the political influence it lost in the 2006 elections. Hence, nobody is deceived by the fragility of its truce with Hamas in holding the tattered “unity government“ coalition.
Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert’s government is also tottering and any distraction helps prolong his stay in power. However, at no point in history, Israel was so mindless of showing its malevolent face to the world. Today Israel has dropped its mask and the world is seeing the regime for what it is: a belligerent monster with an insatiable appetite for Palestinian land.
Palestinians are presently confined to 14 percent of their land, but the US-backed occupying power is curtailing their access to 50 percent of this land by building the wall and setting up roadblocks.
Showing total disregard for both one-state and two-state solutions proposed by the international community and rejecting all past United Nations resolutions, the Zionist regime has continued to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal and oppress the Palestinians by withholding their lawful taxes.
Recently Israel brazenly announced its intention to kill the democratically elected Palestinian leaders and, at the same time, wants the world to believe that it’s a ’victim’ of terrorism and not the ’source’ of state terror. Yet none of the so-called supporters of democracy and rule of law in the West has protested against Israeli savagery.
Unfortunately, the US and European states have acted in a shameless manner by continuing their economic embargo against Palestinians and blindly supporting the brutal Israeli regime. By condoning the US Grand Plan, these powers are not only eroding their international credibility, but also making the region and the world a more violent and insecure place for themselves.
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