Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei visited the book fair on the closing day.

The 21st Tehran International Book Fair concluded on Sunday, with some five million visiting the annual event from across the country.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei visited the book fair on the closing day.
The leader talked with book-sellers and publishers about their latest works and the publication sector’s problems, ISNA reported.
The 10-day book fair had opened to the public on May 2.
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi also accompanied the leader during the three-hour visit.
Nearly 2,700 domestic and foreign publishers from 77 countries displayed their works.
Close to 1,000 domestic and foreign writers and researcher addressed over 200 specialized roundtables on the sidelines of the book fair.
Over 200,000 titles in various subjects and disciplines were on offer.
The fair was held at Tehran’s Grand Prayer Grounds (Mosalla) for the second time.

Government’s Economic Commission will take over the duties of the Oil Stabilization Fund’s Board of Trustees.
The Cabinet annulled the board for what it called undertaking administrative reforms, eliminating parallel decision-making institutions and expediting the implementation of the Fourth National Development Plan (2005-10).
According to Fars News Agency, the board comprised vice president for planning and strategic supervision, economy minister, governor of the Central bank of Iran, vice president for executive affairs and two ministers selected by the president.
By amending the executive bylaws of Article 1 of the Fourth Plan, the Cabinet decided that the Economic Commission will replace the Board of Trustees and the commission’s secretariat will undertake the work of the board’s secretariat.
Henceforth, the Economic Commission will shoulder the task of implementing the rule of law and making decisions related to the fund.
Based on statistics, during 2001-4, loans amounting to $158 million, $598 million, $1076 million and $1937 million were paid to the private sector from the fund, respectively. The figure rose to $2.313 billion and $5.512 billion in 2005 and 2006, respectively, marking a significant increase.
The latest reports indicate that the fund currently holds $8 billion, which is subject to changes related to budgetary commitments and deposit of surplus oil revenues.
Upon the Cabinet ratification, the Central Bank of Iran has been authorized to withdraw foreign exchange equivalent to 12,373 billion rials from the fund for repaying international loans.

A Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for cyclone victims sank on Sunday, while the death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and aid groups warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The double-decker boat that sank carried supplies for more than 1,000 people and was the first Red Cross shipment to the disaster area, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
All four relief workers on board were safe, it said, AFP reported.
“This is a great loss for the Myanmar Red Cross and for the people who need aid so urgently,“ said Aung Kyaw Htut, the distribution team leader of the Myanmar Red Cross.
The sinking was the latest setback for distribution of aid following Cyclone Nargis. Though international aid has started to trickle in, almost all foreign relief workers have been barred entry into the isolated nation. The junta says it wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own.
The boat was making the 12-hour journey from Yangon to Mawlamyinegyun when it hit a submerged tree trunk and began taking water near Bogalay town, which was extensively damaged by the cyclone, the IFRC said.
Also on Sunday, Myanmar’s state television said the cyclone’s death toll has gone up by about 5,000 to 28,458. The number of missing was reduced to 33,416.
International aid groups, however, say that the death toll could eventually top 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen.
British aid group Oxfam said the death toll could multiply by up to 15 times, or rise to 1.5 million, if people do not get clean water and sanitation soon, which could result in a medical catastrophe.
The government has refused to let in most foreign experts who have experience in handling humanitarian disasters. It insists it is capable of distributing the aid being pledged by international donors. Meanwhile, aid is piling up in foreign countries, awaiting approval from the junta.
The country’s main airport in Yangon is also incapable of handling more than five flights a day, when it should be taking in at least one every hour, said PLAN, a London-based children’s aid group.