Gholamali Haddad Adel

TEHRAN, Oct. 8--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said in Geneva on Monday that the veto right of the United Nations Security Council permanent members is contrary to the democratic principles and the UN member-states must put an end to this privilege.
He said in his address to the 117th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Committee on United Nations Affairs that as long as such a privilege is available for members of the Security Council, the body will not be successful in establishing peace and security in the world, IRNA reported.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran calls for limiting the use of veto right and supporting an end to the veto right,“ he said.
The Iranian Parliament speaker made it clear that the structure, composition and performance of the Security Council run counter to the elementary criteria and democratic values.
Haddad noted that the UN Security Council is required to adopt democratic, transparent and up-to-date measures in fulfilling its responsibility.
“The US and several of its allies have referred the Iranian dispute with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Security Council that has passed several resolutions against Iran, which are both unfair and illegal as they amount to extortion and intimidation.
“This is while the Islamic Republic of Iran is making efforts for confidence-building with the IAEA and have proved its goodwill to resolve the outstanding issues with the UN agency and part of the dispute has been resolved,“ he said.
Secretary-General of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Andreas B. Johnson, conferred with Haddad at his residence in Geneva on Sunday.
Haddad told Johnson that what happened in Strasbourg is an example of many mistakes committed by the European Union such that the banned Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) became a source of information for the Council of Europe.
“What we cannot understand is that the EU creates this situation for a group (MKO) that even the EU itself, France and the US that are regarded as Iran’s enemies brand it as terrorist and MKO members are being prosecuted by the Interpol,“ he said.
Meanwhile, secretary-general of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) who attended the French meeting said the reason for lack of participation of Haddad was a meeting held between APA officials with MKO agents concurrent with the arrival of the Iranian delegation in France.
Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said that when the Iranian delegation asked the Europeans whether they will talk with Al-Qaeda, they said they won’t, which showed their double standards.

LONDON, Oct. 8--Although this month’s press conference was heavily overshadowed by Gordon Brown’s refusal to hold a snap general election, the Iranian nuclear issue featured in the British premier’s press conference.
In his monthly press conference at 10 Downing Street on Monday, Brown was asked about his stance regarding recent talks of war against Iran in the United States over the Islamic Republic’s civilian nuclear program.
“We believe that this matter can be resolved by diplomatic means, by the resolutions that have been passed by the United Nations [and] by sanctions if necessary,“ he said.
In his previous press conference, the British premier said he would back a possible third UN resolution against Iran to impose further sanctions on the country, believing it was “the right process“.
But, as for the possibility of a military action against Iran, he said, “I’m not prepared to go further than that. What I am prepared to say is that we take very seriously what Iran is proposing and we are prepared to use the methods that we have used in diplomatic sanctions to deal with this problem.“
However, after a noticeable pause, Brown suddenly decided to say that he does “not rule out anything“, which is contrary to his earlier statement and synonymous with the literature commonly used by the American administration.
This could merely be a gesture of solidarity with his American and French allies, particularly because he welcomed the new relationship between Washington and Paris which is “stronger than what’s been in the past“.
Referring to improved French-American ties, the British premier said, “I welcome the fact that President Sarkozy is adopting a policy which is similar to ours in wanting to strengthen the transatlantic relationship. And I believe France and Britain have a great deal in common in building a strong relationship with the United States of America.“
Later on in the day, Brown outlined Britain’s ongoing role in Iraq in a statement to the parliament and told MPs that troop levels in Iraq would be reduced next spring to around 2,500 personnel.
The statement comes after his visit to Iraq last week where he spoke with senior military and political figures in Baghdad and met troops in the southern city of Basra.
In his statement, Brown urged “all nations to implement the International Compact to renew Iraq’s economy, to participate in the Neighbors Conferences to boost cooperation and surmount divisions in the region and to support the enhanced mission of the United Nations in Iraq“.
Addressing Iran and Syria as two of Iraq’s influential neighbors in the region, Brown said, “I renew our call that Iran and Syria play a more constructive role by halting their support for terrorists and armed groups operating in Iraq, by continuing to improve border security and by arresting and detaining foreign fighters trying to reach Iraq.“

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 8--Kurdish rebels killed 13 Turkish soldiers on Sunday in a clash in the country’s southeast and troops responded by shelling an area near Iraq to try to stop the rebels from escaping across the border, the military said.
Turkey has been pressing Iraq and the United States to hit the bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, and has considered a unilateral military operation across the border to root out the rebels, AP reported.
The soldiers were killed in the southeastern province of Sirnak, not far from where troops and rebels clashed two days earlier, according to a statement on the military’s website. An operation to track down the rebels was underway and troops shelled areas near the border to try to prevent rebels from reaching their bases in northern Iraq, the statement said.
The clash “boosted our determination and strength“ to fight terrorism, the military said.
Abdul Rahman Al-Chadarchi, a spokesman for the Kurdish rebel group, confirmed the attack and said the rebel fighters sustained no casualties.
Kurdish rebels have been staging attacks on Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq, but the US opposes any military move into Iraq by Turkey.
Turkey signed a counterterrorism pact with Iraq in September and had demanded it be allowed to send its troops to Iraq’s north to pursue the Kurdish rebels. But Iraq did not agree to the demand under pressure from the leaders of its semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
“We are not concerned with this issue because these clashes and shelling happened inside Turkish territories. This is a Turkish internal problem,“ Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the government of Iraq’s Kurdish region, said after Sunday’s attack.
The PKK is branded a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union. Its members have fought Turkish government forces since 1984, seeking autonomy for Turkey’s ethnic Kurds. The fighting has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Turkey’s military on Sunday designated 27 “security zones“ off limits to civilians in eastern and southeastern regions in its borders with Iraq. Starting Tuesday, the zones will be in place until Dec. 10.
The military imposed similar zones earlier in June in three southeastern provinces to keep civilians away from the fighting with the PKK.
Some experts have speculated that the zones are part of preparations for a possible Iraq campaign.

TEHRAN, Oct. 8--Islamic Azad University says it is ready to open a branch in Iraq.
In a meeting with Iraq’s envoy in Tehran on Monday, IAU President Abdollah Jasbi said legal grounds should be prepared for this purpose, IRNA reported.
Jasbi called on Iraqi officials to provide secure conditions so that IAU can open a branch in Iraq.
“Under the current conditions, tuition fees will be the same levied on Iranian students in order to support the Iraqis,“ he said. Jasbi noted that IAU is prepared to offer several courses at different levels to Iraqi students at the higher education level.
Iraqi Ambassador Mohammad Majid Abbas Al-Sheikh said the presence of IAU can help Iraqis develop scientifically and promote technology. More than 100 Iraqi students are currently studying at IAU branches across Iran.

Mario R. Capecchi

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 8--Two American scientists and a Briton won the 2007 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for groundbreaking discoveries that led to a powerful technique for manipulating mouse genes.
The widely used process has helped scientists use mice to study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases, AP reported.
The prize is shared by Mario R. Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; Oliver Smithies, 82, a native of Britain now at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, of Cardiff University in Wales.
The Nobel is a particularly striking achievement for Capecchi. A native of Italy, he was separated from his mother at age 4 when she was taken to the Dachau concentration camp as a political prisoner during World War II.
For four years, Capecchi lived on the street or in orphanages, “and most of

Sir Martin J. Evans

the time hungry,“ he recalled in a University of Utah publication in 1997. Malnutrition sent him to a hospital where his mother found him on his ninth birthday. Within two weeks they left for the US, where he went to school for the first time, starting in third grade despite not knowing English.
The three scientists were honored for a technique called gene targeting, which lets scientists deactivate or modify particular genes in mice. That in turn lets them study how those genes affect health and disease.
To use this technique, researchers introduce a genetic change into mouse

Oliver Smithies

embryonic stem cells. These cells are then injected into mouse embryos.
The mice born from these embryos are bred with others, to produce offspring with altered genes.
The first mice with genes manipulated in this way were announced in 1989. More than 10,000 different genes in mice have been studied with the technique, the Nobel committee said. That’s about half the genes the rodents have.
“Gene targeting has pervaded all fields of biomedicine. Its impact on the understanding of gene function and its benefits to mankind will continue to increase over many years to come,“ said the citation for the $1.54 million prize.

TEHRAN, Oct. 8--Majlis Research Center has called for devising a comprehensive law for the operations of charity organizations.
Ahmad Tavakkoli, head of the center, called on lawmakers to devise a law for charity organizations, as they lack rules and regulations, IRNA reported.
“Given the significance of charity organizations, a legal system should be established so that they can operate within its framework,“ he said.
The government has presented a bill to the parliament defining a framework for nongovernmental organizations.

LONDON, Oct. 8--Six years after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the “war on terror“ is failing and instead fuelling an increase in support for extremist Islamist movements, a think-tank said on Monday.
A report by the Oxford Research Group said a “fundamental rethink is required“ if the global terrorist network is to be rendered ineffective, AP reported. “If the Al-Qaeda movement is to be countered, then the roots of its support must be understood and systematically undercut,“ said Paul Rogers, the report’s author and professor of global peace studies at Bradford University in northern England.
“Combined with conventional policing and security measures, Al-Qaeda can be contained and minimized but this will require a change in policy at every level.“
He described the US-led invasion of Iraq as a “disastrous mistake“ which had helped establish a “most valued jihadist combat training zone“ for Al-Qaeda supporters.
The report--Alternatives to the War on Terror--recommended the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq coupled with intensive diplomatic engagement in the region, including with Iran and Syria.
In Afghanistan, Rogers also called for an immediate scaling down of military activities, an injection of more civil aid and negotiations with militia groups aimed at bringing them into the political process.
“Failure to make the necessary changes could result in the war on terror lasting decades,“ the report added.
Rogers also warned of a drift toward conflict with Iran.
“Going to war with Iran“, he said, “will make matters far worse, playing directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the violence across the region. Whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all costs.“