|
Prayer Time (Tehran)
|
|
Dawn: 5:45
Sunrise: 7:14
Noon: 12:08
Evening: 17:22
|
|
Weather Guide
|
|
|
WED |
THU |
Tehran: |
|
|
High: |
-3 oC |
-1 oC |
Low: |
-6 oC |
-6 oC |
|
|
|
Athens |
13 |
13 |
Ankara |
-2 |
0 |
Cairo |
19 |
19 |
Copenhagen |
1 |
-1 |
Frankfurt |
0 |
1 |
Karachi |
22 |
20 |
Kuwait City |
20 |
19 |
London |
3 |
2 |
Madrid |
13 |
14 |
Moscow |
-8 |
-15 |
New Delhi |
21 |
21 |
Paris |
1 |
7 |
Riyadh |
26 |
21 |
Rome |
7 |
9 |
Vienna |
-2 |
-6 |
|
|
Identification
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
Turkmen Gas Deliveries To Resume
The reduction in supplies, followed by Monday’s complete stoppage, has left a dozen Iranian cities without gas at the onset of wintry conditions.
|
|
|
Iran, Egypt Review Bilateral, Regional Issues
Cairo Supports Nuclear Program
TEHRAN, Jan. 1--Iran and Egypt discussed expansion of mutual relations, regional developments and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Ali Larijani, the leader’s representative at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), conferred on Tuesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, IRNA reported.
Referring to Egypt’s civilization, Larijani described the role of Cairo in restoring peace and stability to the region as very important.
Pointing to the two sides’ deep-rooted Islamic civilizations, he said the two countries should endeavor to present the real image of Islam because the enemies are attempting to distort the religion.
Commenting on ties between Tehran and Cairo, the Iranian official said following the exchange of visits between their officials, the two countries are now witnessing growing ties.
“Iran and Egypt will step up efforts for expansion of mutual ties,“ he said.
Iran considers expansion of ties with Egypt as a strategic move and believes further negotiations and cooperation would lead to restoration of durable peace and stability to the region.
On Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, Larijani said since Iran has had constructive and close cooperation with IAEA which confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, there is no justification for keeping the nuclear case in the United Nations Security Council.
Referring to Iraqi developments, he said Iran has always backed Iraq’s democratic government.
“Iran believes Iraq’s security and stability will be established if the Iraqi people and its government take control of all affairs and the occupiers leave the country,“ Larijani said.
The Egyptian foreign minister voiced satisfaction with the exchange of delegations and underlined the significant role of Iran in regional developments.
“Given Iran’s influence, the country can play a much more effective role in restoring peace and stability to the region,“ he said.
Aboul Gheit extended Egypt’s support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, expressing hope that the issue would be resolved and returned to its normal course as soon as possible.
He also called for more exchange of views between the two countries’ delegations on Iraq, Lebanon and other regional issues.
On Monday, the Egyptian foreign minister said at a press conference that taking advantage of peaceful nuclear energy is Iran’s legitimate right and the country is entitled to enrich uranium based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
|
|
|
2m Documents Cluttering Judiciary
TEHRAN, Jan. 1--Judiciary Spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said two million documents have taken up unnecessary space, including dossiers dating back to the establishment of the Justice Department.
Addressing a seminar of heads of provincial justice departments, Jamshidi said making use of information technology and communications is one of the most important issues pursued by the judiciary.
“We should make plans in the four areas of software, hardware, network and technical know-how,“ he said.
Jamshidi referred to computerization of work at judiciary headquarters, justice departments and courts, as well as storage of information of judicial dossiers as judiciary’s achievements in the IT sector.
The spokesman noted that many valuable historical documents are still kept in sacks, which can prove to be useful.
“Dossiers that can be destroyed should be discarded in order to make space for more recent documents,“ he said.
Referring to the dossier management system, Jamshidi pointed out that this system is presently being used in 28 provincial capitals.
“Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi has allocated 40 to 50 billion rials for the dossier management system. A total of 29 provinces are equipped with the WAN network,“ he said.
|
|
|
Dutch MPs Slam Discrimination
TEHRAN, Jan. 1--Dutch lawmakers strongly criticized their foreign and education ministers for preventing Iranian students from studying in courses related to nuclear technology and demanded an explanation.
The controversial measure by Dutch universities of technology followed instructions from Dutch Nationality and Immigration Department that Iranians studying in the Netherlands should not have access to nuclear technology, Mehr News Agency reported.
A Dutch parliamentarian from Socialist Party, who has questioned the Dutch ministers over the decision, said the basic information concerning nuclear technology can easily be obtained from other sources across the world.
The Dutch MP argued that when other foreign students from Middle East can easily continue their studies in Holland’s technical universities, depriving the Iranian student of the same is discriminatory.
The Netherlands’ Twente University prevents Iranian university students, who had already won scholarship, from continuing their studies in the country.
The Dutch lawmakers also sought an explanation from the Dutch cabinet in this respect.
|
|
|
Hamas Welcomes Abbas Talk Offer
GAZA CITY, Occupied Palestine, Jan. 1--Hamas has welcomed Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas’ declaration that he was ready to engage in talks with the resistance movement but rebuffed any preconditions.
Abbas said on Monday he was ready to “open a new page“ with Hamas if the movement gave up its control of the Gaza Strip, Alalam.ir reported.
Reacting to the declaration, Hamas Spokesman Ismail Radwan said, “We welcome any dialogue aimed at unifying the Palestinian ranks. But the dialogue should not be accompanied by any conditions.“
Abbas said that before talks could start, Hamas needed to accept the Arab initiative, which calls for normalization of relations between Arab states and the Israeli occupying regime in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
Hamas does not recognize Israel.
Addressing Fatah officials gathered to mark 43 years since the secular party first declared itself an armed Palestinian resistance movement, Abbas said, “I call on those who carried out the putsch...to open a new page.“
Cooperation between the Palestinians’ two main parties should be based “on a partnership in the heart of the fatherland and around the struggle for its liberations“, he said.
“No party should supplant another. The putsch and the military edge should not be a part of our vocabulary. Only dialogue should prevail.“
But he reiterated that no talks with Hamas can take place unless the Islamic movement gives up the control of Gaza.
“I consider this appeal as an initiative in the name of all the Palestinian people,“ he said.
The Israeli occupying regime has warned that it would break off revived talks with the Palestinian Authority, if the latter has talks with Hamas.
|
|
|
Insecurity Clouds New Year
|
|
Women with 2008 glasses stand in a prime part of Times Square in New York City, Jan. 1.
|
LONDON, Jan. 1--Millions of people across the world packed into streets to celebrate the New Year but bomb attacks and security fears darkened the festivities.
An estimated 700,000 people were out on the damp London streets and crammed on riverbanks to watch the 10-minute fireworks display on the Thames, AP reported.
In Edinburgh, around 95,000 people packed into Princes Street, the Scottish capital’s main thoroughfare, for the Hogmanay street party, organizers said.
But bombs planted by suspected separatist rebels at discos and other entertainment centers rocked Thailand’s troubled south as revelry was at its peak, killing one person and injuring dozens, police said.
Bombs in the Thai capital at the last New Year’s party killed three people.
In Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, police stopped thousands from attending a traditional gathering on a beach overlooking the Arabian Sea amid security fears after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
French authorities put 13,000 police on the streets of Paris and its troubled suburbs to deter any repeat of riots last month.
Youths still hurled cans at the car of Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie as she toured potential trouble spots.
In Iraq, crowds surged into the streets of strife-torn Baghdad, shooting firecrackers and weapons and dancing in a rare moment of freedom from daily violence.
In New York, hundreds of thousands of revelers crowded fabled Times Square, braving the cold and stringent security measures.
World leaders used the New Year to get their messages across.
In China--set to host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing--President Hu Jintao called for world peace and development in his New Year address.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin used his final New Year address as president to congratulate Russians on a “national renaissance“ driven by “colossal resources“, in a pre-recorded broadcast.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France vowed to push ahead with controversial reforms he began implementing in 2007.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in a statement read by a television commentator, said Cubans could feel ’proud’ of having resisted US pressures for so long.
“In the approaching dawn we will have left behind the 49th year of our revolution and entered the 50th year that will symbolize half a century of heroic resistance,“ said Castro.
|
|
|
Slovenia at EU Helm
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Jan. 1--Tiny Slovenia becomes the first of 12 newcomers to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Tuesday, a big psychological boost to a nation that gained independence from the ruins of the former Yugoslavia 16 years ago.
Along with the prestige comes the daunting responsibility of overseeing a common EU policy as Kosovo prepares to declare independence from Serbia just weeks after Slovenia begins its six-month stint at the helm, AP reported.
Slovenia may be uniquely well placed to make a difference.
Serbia, Kosovo and Slovenia were all once within the Yugoslav federation--and western officials expect Slovenia to use its ties to help reach a solution for Kosovo.
The United States and several EU states have said they would recognize Kosovo’s independence because it has not been under Serbia’s control since 1999, when NATO intervened to stop former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s military crackdown against ethnic Albanian rebels.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel acknowledged that Slovenia will face the tricky task of mediating between its ’friends’--the Kosovars and Serbs--while also working to maintain EU unity over the issue.
This Alpine country of 2 million people, squeezed between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, has made swift and impressive bounds since declaring independence in 1991.
In 2004, it joined the EU and NATO. A year ago, it became the 13th nation to use the euro. On Dec. 21, it joined the EU’s borderless zone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of War Reparations
By Amir Ali Abolfath
United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 put an end to the eight-year-old Iraqi-imposed war on Iran that devastated our country and filled an estimated half a million graves.
After the bloody conflict ended and the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, some critical issues emerged, namely identifying the aggressor party, and paying reparations.
Former UN chief Javier Perez de Cuellar ordered detailed investigations into the 1980-88 fighting and before leaving his post announced that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was the culprit. The head of the world body, however, got some of his arithmetic wrong and said Iraq should pay only $100 billion in damages to the Islamic Republic!
Time and again our senior officials and economic experts have announced that the imposed war backed by the West inflicted losses to the tune of $1,000 billion on the nation.
Almost two decades have passed since the guns fell silent but the Arab country has been unable and/or unwilling to set the record straight and start paying.
During this period Iraq was a scene of too many disturbing developments. The ousted despot invaded Kuwait in 1990 only to be kicked out a few months later. After the tiny sheikhdom was liberated by western armies, Baghdad was compelled by the UN and western regimes to pay billions of dollars to Kuwait.
The damages suffered by Kuwait were simply never comparable to the havoc Iraq’s brutal military inflicted on our nation. So far Baghdad has not paid even a penny of the minimum figure announced by the UN, while Kuwait, one of the richest countries in the world, has claimed and collected billions on a regular basis.
With Saddam’s atrocious regime consigned to the dustbin of history in 2003, and coming to power of the popular government, Iran was the first to rush to aid the war-ravaged neighboring state and recognize the interim government.
At a time when some key Arab governments hesitated to reopen their embassies in Iraq, Iranian statesmen urged the Iraqi people to elect their own political leaders without fear or intimidation.
Despite the un-healing wounds of Saddam’s unprovoked invasion and occupation, Iran made a policy decision to assist the Iraqi nation in time of need. After all a friend in need is a friend indeed.
According to the available figures, Iran has so far contributed more than a billion dollars to Iraq mostly in the form of export credits. In the post-Saddam years both government firms and our private sector have participated in many reconstruction and infrastructure projects in Iraq.
It is well known that Iraqis meet a large portion of their basic needs through imports from Iran.
The undeniable role and close cooperation of the Iranian people and government in helping our Iraqi neighbors rebuild and gradually stand on their own feet is there for all to see. But this quality of relations and the issue of reparations are obviously two very different things.
According to international law, the incumbent government in Baghdad is and will remain responsible in upholding international agreements and commitments undertaken by its predecessors. This legal compulsion applies to all of Iraq’s undertakings including the multi-billion-dollar reparations for the destructive war imposed on Iran under western tutelage.
We are naturally aware of and disturbed by the miseries and despair of the Iraqi people and government, and will not spare any effort to them rebuild their country.
But this unambiguous and honest attitude should not be mixed up with other issues of paramount importance.
There is absolutely no reason for Iran to let go of its rights to reparations that in all fairness will be like a drop in the ocean.
|
|
|
|
|
|
