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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:39
Sunrise: 7:09
Noon: 12:02
Evening: 17:14
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Weather Guide
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TUE |
FRI |
Tehran: |
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High: |
3 oC |
2 oC |
Low: |
-6 oC |
-6 oC |
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Athens |
10 |
11 |
Ankara |
2 |
1 |
Cairo |
18 |
19 |
Copenhagen |
3 |
0 |
Frankfurt |
0 |
-2 |
Karachi |
23 |
25 |
Kuwait City |
15 |
13 |
London |
5 |
7 |
Madrid |
13 |
14 |
Moscow |
1 |
-3 |
New Delhi |
20 |
20 |
Paris |
3 |
5 |
Riyadh |
19 |
19 |
Rome |
9 |
10 |
Vienna |
-4 |
-4 |
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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:
Editorial Dept. Tel: 88755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 88761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 88500616,88500617
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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Yalda, Longest Night
Of the Year
TEHRAN, Dec. 19--Since many centuries Iranians stay awake on Yalda night, the year’s longest night, to mark the victory of light over darkness.
This particular night, which coincides with the Dec. 21 night, is a pretext for all family members to get together with their grandparents and cherish the ambience of togetherness.
Yalda is an Assyrian term that means ’birth’ and refers to the birth of sun. Romans called it Natalis Anviktos, the birth of unbeatable.
It is interesting to know that the word ’noel’ also originates from the same word. Europe’s Papa Noel, who visits people on December 25, concurs with the Iranian Yalda.
In ancient beliefs, on Yalda night, the devil launches an attack to prevent the birth of sun but fails, as a result of which nights subsequently become shorter and days prolong.
Yalda night is the beginning of the first 45 days of winter starting on January 11 and ending on February 26. These 45 days are the coldest days of the year.
Celebrating Yalda night is one of the oldest traditions of Iran. Nuts and fruits, both fresh and dried, are served on Yalda night. Fruit is the sign of divine blessing.
The Iranian Yalda is celebrated in diverse ways across the country, but grandparents relate stories and recite the verses of Molana Jalaleddin’s Hafez. Yalda night is a good pretext for strengthening family ties.
The 6,000-year tradition revives the spirit of affection, kindness and togetherness in families.
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Millions of Pilgrims Flock to Mina
MINA, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 19--More than 2 million faithful Muslims arrived in Mina from the valley of Muzdalifa after the crack of dawn on Wednesday to perform the remaining Haj rites.
The pilgrims in white robes will pass the 11th and 12th days of the spiritual journey in Mina, shave their heads and stone a column symbolizing Satan, Alalam.ir reported.
They will then leave for Mecca to complete the Haj, by circumambulating around the Kaba, the cube-shaped structure built by Prophet Abraham (PBUH).
On the first day of Eid Al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), which also marks the end of pilgrimage, Muslims will slaughter sheep and distribute the meat to the poor.
Millions of Muslim pilgrims moved to Muzdalifa Tuesday evening after spending the afternoon on the plain of Arafat east of Mecca at the peak of the annual Haj pilgrimage.
A stream of hundreds of thousands of people moved under the night sky along a special highway served by huge floodlights towards the next stage of the ancient rites in Saudi Arabia.
At Muzdalifa, they collected small pebbles for throwing at a set of columns on three occasions over the next three days in an act that represents defiance of Satan.
At Arafat on Tuesday, many prayed for forgiveness and the welfare of the world’s Muslims as part of a global community born in Arabia 1,400 years ago and united in belief in one transcendent God.
Saudi authorities say more than 1.6 million people have entered Saudi Arabia for the event, the largest religious gathering in the world and a huge logistical and security challenge for the Saudi authorities.
With pilgrims from within the country, both Saudis and foreign workers, the total would be well over 2 million. Some Saudi newspapers said 3 million people were expected.
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Karzai Calls For Foreign ’Terror’ Focus
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 19--Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the US-led “war on terror“ should be directed at extremists’ sanctuaries outside his country which he said was not a “hideout for terrorism“ but a victim.
Karzai’s comments to media on Wednesday come days after the Pentagon said the US military and its NATO allies were reviewing plans for the troubled nation, where violence from a Taliban-led insurgency has soared in recent years, AFP reported.
The president told a press briefing to mark the first day of Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim feast of the sacrifice, that for almost three years he had called for the international community to “revise their strategy in the war on terrorism“.
“Their presence in Afghanistan must be against terrorism which has hideouts that are outside (of Afghanistan), its training and support bases that are outside,“ he said.
There are more than 60,000 international troops in Afghanistan.
The foreign troops are not allowed to conduct their operations outside Afghanistan even though it is acknowledged that many militants are trained in extremist sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan.
Karzai has argued that the intense fighting here exacts a high cost in civilian life and damage to property but does not target the roots of the problem.
“Afghanistan is not a hideout for terrorism,“ he said Wednesday. “It is the victim of terrorism.“
He also reiterated that the international forces should reduce the use of air power--said to cause the most civilian losses--as it “takes the struggle on terrorism to nowhere“.
Karzai has this year increased his emphasis on reconciliation with Taliban fighters who accept the country’s new constitution.
He repeated the message in his Eid address, particularly reaching out to Taliban forced from a key stronghold in the southern province of Helmand in a high-profile military operation last week.
“I call on Taliban brothers, the Taliban in Musa Qala, you are the sons of this land, come back to your homes and lands and live in Musa Qala and avoid war,“ he said.
Musa Qala was recaptured last Monday after being in Taliban control for 10 months.
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Putin Named
Time “Person of the Year“
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 19--Time magazine on Wednesday named Russian President Vladimir Putin its 2007 “Person of the Year“.
The nod went to the Russian leader because of Putin’s “extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability,“ said Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor, AP reported.
Putin, 55, is enormously popular in Russia, presiding over a resurgent economy flush with revenues from oil and natural gas. But critics say he has moved the country away from Russia’s democratic reforms of the 1990s by tightening control of the media, courts and parliament.
“He’s the new czar of Russia and he’s dangerous in the sense that he doesn’t care about civil liberties, he doesn’t care about free speech,“ Stengel said.
Putin recently endorsed Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential bid, and later said he would accept Medvedev’s offer to serve as prime minister if his protˇgˇ is elected in the March 2 election.
Many believe Putin would remain Russia’s real leader, regardless of his title, though Putin has said he would not undermine his successor. The Russian Constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms.
Others who were in the running for Person of the Year included Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore and author J.K. Rowling.
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Rafsanjani: West Seeks
To Hamper Development
KHORRAMABAD, Lorestan, Dec. 19--Chairman of State Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said western countries seek to prevent Iran from using its national assets and achieve development.
Speaking at a gathering of university students in Khorramabad on Tuesday, Rafsanjani said that is why they do not want the country to gain access to peaceful nuclear energy, IRNA reported.
“We should move with wisdom and diplomacy so that they will not be able to halt our development,“ he said, stressing that Iran should master the most sophisticated sciences.
Rafsanjani, a former president, noted that western countries are afraid of Islam because they are aware that Iran plays a pivotal role in the Islamic movement.
“Like other countries, Iran abides by international rules and regulations, therefore the country’s rights to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes should be preserved and it should take advantage of this energy freely,“ he said.
Rafsanjani arrived in Khorramabad on Tuesday to attend a one-day seminar on “Unity Between Seminary and University“.
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58 Dead in Pak Train Wreck
Tehran Condoles
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Pakistani soldiers and rescue workers gather beside the wreckage of a train following an accident in the southern town of Mehrabpur, Dec. 19.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 19--An express train crowded with holiday travelers derailed in southern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 58 people and leaving hundreds of terrified survivors to claw their way out of the wreckage in total darkness.
The train, which derailed about 2 a.m., was loaded with an estimated 900 passengers, many of them heading home for the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, AP reported.
The train, which was full but not overcrowded, was speeding from Karachi toward Lahore when about 12 of its 16 cars came off the rails near Mehrabpur, about 250 miles north of Karachi. It was unclear what caused the accident.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini condoled the people and government of Pakistan on Wednesday on the train derailment that left at least 58 dead and more than 120 injured.
“The heart-rending accident which took place on the verge of Eid Al-Adha caused deep sorrow and regret to both the Iranian nation and government,“ Hosseini said in a statement.
He expressed his condolences to the Pakistani nation, particularly the bereaved families of the victims.
By midmorning, rescuers had brought 58 bodies to three nearby hospitals, said Mumtaz Ali, an official from the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest privately run emergency service.
Col. Abbas Malik, an army doctor, said about 150 people were injured.
Mohammed Khalid, a railroad official who was traveling in one of the rear cars that stayed on the rails, said he suspected a problem with the track--possibly sabotage--caused the accident.
“My guess is that there was some piece of rail missing and the engine jumped the missing track,“ he said.
After the crash, a section of one of the rails had been torn loose. The engine came to a halt about a mile up the line.
Deadly accidents are a regular occurrence on Pakistan’s colonial-era railroad network.
A speeding train struck a crowded bus at a railroad crossing near Lahore in October, killing 12 people and injuring about 50 others. About 130 people died in July 2005 when three trains collided in southern Pakistan.
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Iraq Denounces Turkey Raid
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 19--Iraq said on Wednesday it believed Turkey was unlikely to extend a military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq but criticized Ankara for what it branded an attack on its sovereignty.
Iraqi government spokesman, Ali Al-Dabbagh, urged Ankara to end the military action--which comes after weeks of mounting cross-border tensions--and use dialogue to solve the rebel issue.
“We feel this issue will not be solved militarily. Any such action is an attack on Iraq’s sovereignty,“ he told AFP.
Around 500 Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq on Tuesday targeting rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas based in the mountainous terrain along the border with Turkey.
The ground incursion was the first such operation since tensions between the two neighbors broke out after the rebels ambushed a Turkish military patrol on October 21 and killed 12 soldiers.
“We believe Turkey is not going to extend the operation. It is a limited operation,“ Dabbagh said.
Turkey’s military said on Tuesday that “a small-scale operation conducted by ground troops...dealt a heavy blow“ to PKK militants who had tried to infiltrate Turkey overnight.
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Miliband’s Mistake
By Amir Ali Abolfath
Three important developments in recent weeks related to Iran’s nuclear program have visibly affected western political equations.
First, the International Atomic Energy Agency has termed the issue of P1 and P2 centrifuges as something of the past. Then came the big bang from the US spy industry saying, albeit to the chagrin of the now antiquated neocons, that Tehran’s nuclear program has been peaceful for several years.
The third, and arguably the most important event, was Russia’s long-awaited decision to put an end to widespread speculations emanating from its extended delays in delivering nuclear fuel for Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.
At first glance it could be expected that reports by the IAEA and the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) set the stage for some in-depth revision of EU and US attitude (largely hostile) toward our civilian nuclear program.
However, statements by some western officials in the past few days indicate that their negative and grossly biased attitude still exists. For now there seems to be little if any change in their unhelpful and uncompromising policies toward the nuclear issue.
When institutions such as the UN nuclear watchdog along with 16 US intelligence organizations declare that Iran has come clean on the nuclear agenda, the hurdles to Iran’s nuclear activities must be removed without the burden of ifs and buts.
Even foes admit that Iran as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) has extended the quality of cooperation to the IAEA inspectors not seen in the case of any other member of the treaty.
Despite all the verified cooperation, western regimes of different stripes still consider Iran a “threat“ to global security and want it deprived of its rights enshrined in the NPT.
Soon after Moscow delivered its first nuclear fuel to Iran as part of its contractual agreement this week, some members of the so-called 5+1 Group rushed to get something out of nothing. They started making noises about the uranium factor and said that with the Russian deliveries there is “no need for Iran to enrich its own uranium“! Strange but true.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an article ’Why we must not take the pressure off Iran?’ published in the Lebanese Daily Star claimed that Iran is “still dangerous and should stop enriching uranium.“
In response to his position, one must ask what such regimes expect to gain by demonizing Iran even after the unvarnished reports by the IAEA and America’s multi-billion dollar spy network.
Is it not true that all countries, including Britain are entitled to uranium enrichment on the basis of NPT? If in the past the West loved to complain about Iran’s “non-transparent policies and alleged nuclear weaponization“, why should it insist Iran is still a danger when the IAEA states otherwise?
Don’t people like Miliband by their irresponsible statements convey to the comity of nations the message that countries better rush toward bigger military programs because cooperation and goodwill of no country is worthy anymore?
The West has again demonstrated in terribly clear terms that it has no intention to reciprocate Iran’s goodwill vis-a-vis the peaceful nature of its nuclear agenda.
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