Pakistan Will Not Budge on IP Pipeline

Pakistan is determined to build a gas pipeline with Iran despite the threat of US sanctions for the move, said Asim Hussain, the adviser to the Pakistan prime minister on petroleum and natural resources.
Pakistan presumably isn’t willing to stop laying the infrastructure for the gas pipeline as the country is a depleted nation facing a chronic energy crisis, Hussain told Fox News on Saturday.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his Iranian counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are scheduled to inaugurate the gas pipeline project near the Pakistani border town of Gabd, Baluchistan, on Monday. Many head of states and foreign ministers have been invited to attend the ground-breaking ceremony, but Iranian diplomats and Pakistani officials in Islamabad declined to share the names of the dignitaries.
Both countries also will sign a memorandum of understanding to build Pakistan’s largest oil refinery at the southwestern port city of Gwadar at a cost of $4 billion.
Pakistan hopes that this may prompt China, which was granted a contract last month to run the port through a state-owned company, to join the gas pipeline project and partner in building the refinery.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman told Fox News that China hasn’t shown interest in the gas pipeline project, however Iran agreed to provide Pakistan with $500 million for construction of a third of the total length of the pipeline, which an Iranian company will undertake.

Ahmadinejad Pays Farewell to Chavez

President Mahmood Ahmadinejad attended funeral ceremony of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and expressed condolence to his family.
According to the report of Presidential Office website, Ahmadinejad on Friday noon (local time) attended Caracas Military Academy and paid tribute to the late president.
He expressed condolence to Acting President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelan nation and government.
According to the report of Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, 33 presidents, around 50 prime ministers or vice-presidents attended the funeral ceremony as well as a great number of people who gathered to bid farewell to the late president.

Warning Against Imperialism
During a Friday meeting with Bolivian President Evo Morales on the sidelines of Chavez’s funeral ceremony in the Venezuelan capital, Ahmadinejad warned the global imperialism that more world leaders will continue the path of late Venezuelan leader.
“Although the leaders of imperialism may be happy with the absence of Chavez and imagine that a void has emerged, their happiness will soon end as there are great men who will continue Chavez’s path,” said Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad pointed to the transformation of Latin America and the awakening of the regional nations, saying, “Contrary to the past, today, the domination of imperialism in the Latin American region has declined and there are more revolutionary leaders in the region day by day.”
Chavez died on March 5 at the age of 58 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Iran Bans Asbestos

Iran has closed 30 factories manufacturing asbestos and banned its import to make the environment safer.

Iranians Manufacture Pyrometer

Iranian researchers at a science-based company have manufactured pyrometer. Mohammad Ebrahim Saqqezchi, who led the research, said pyrometer...

Tokyo Protesters Demand End To Nuclear Power

Thousands of people rallied in a Tokyo park on Saturday, demanding an end to atomic power and vowing never to give up the fight, despite two years of little change after the nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan.
Gathering two days ahead of the second anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that sent the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant into multiple meltdowns, demonstrators said they would never forget the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl, and expressed alarm over the government’s eagerness to restart reactors, AP reported.
Only two of Japan’s 50 working nuclear reactors have been put back online since the disaster, partly because of continuous protests like Saturday’s, the first time such demonstrations have popped up in this nation since the 1960s movement against the Vietnam War.
People have thronged Tokyo parks on national holidays, and have gathered outside the parliament building every Friday evening.
The demonstrations have drawn people previously unseen at political rallies, such as commuter “salarymen” and housewives. Organizers said Saturday’s demonstration drew 13,000 people.

Argentina: Malvinas Islets Referendum Will Change Nothing

Argentina on Friday dismissed the upcoming referendum in the Malvinas Islands over the question of whether to keep the archipelago British, saying the vote will have no impact on the dispute.
In a move instigated by residents of the island chain, the 1,672 eligible voters are being asked specifically whether they want the Malvinas Islets to retain their status as an internally self-governing British overseas territory, AFP reported.
An overwhelming “yes” result is widely expected from Sunday and Monday’s vote, an outcome the islanders hope will provide a slap in the face to an increasingly bellicose Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who has been ramping up diplomatic tension with London over Buenos Aires’ long-held sovereignty claims.
But Argentina said the vote was “a British attempt to manipulate” the status of the archipelago, in a statement from the foreign ministry Friday.
The “attempt will not alter the essence of the Falklands or put an end to the sovereignty dispute,” it insisted.
The statement referred to 40 United Nations resolutions encouraging bilateral dialogue and a 1985 General Assembly vote against British proposals to incorporate the principle of self-determination into a draft resolution on the Malvinas Islets.

China Becoming Biggest Solar Market

The $77 billion solar-energy industry is forecast to expand the most since 2011, as China becomes the biggest market for the first time and drives annual global installations to a record.
New generation capacity will rise about 14 percent this year to 34.1 gigawatts, equal to about eight atomic reactors, according to the average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
That would beat the 4.4-percent growth in 2012, when demand shrank in Italy and France after subsidies were cut.
China, after building scores of factories that helped cut panel prices 20 percent in the past year, is poised to become the biggest consumer of the devices after doubling its 2013 target for new projects in January.
Tumbling prices are benefiting installers, including Solarcity Corp. and SunPower Corp. of California, while hurting manufacturers such as LDK Solar Co. of China and Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp. ASA.
“Solar demand is proving very resilient and will keep growing this year even as European markets slump,” said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Zurich.
“A further increase in installations driven by record- low prices, however, won’t do much to help manufacturers’ margins.”
The benefits are coming mostly to customers and to the installation companies they hire.

Attacked by Players, Lebanese Referee Quits

Lebanese referee Bachir Awasa was glad to have escaped alive after being assaulted by players and staff in a domestic second division match last weekend but the official has decided to quit following the horrid experience.
Awasa was kicked and chased around the pitch in Beirut after showing a red card to an Al-Nahda player in Saturday’s match against Al-Salam Zgharta, Reuters reported.
“From the reaction of the players and the staff I expected to be harmed in a grave way ... to be honest I did not expect to get out alive,” the referee told Al Jadeed television on Friday.
“Usually, whenever we issue a red card we expect a reaction from the player ... and indeed that is what happened. He ran after me and attacked me.
“When he tried to hit me I tried to run and then coach Mahmoud Seif Eddine also attacked me and other staff ran after me and things got out of hand and I tried to run from one place to the other.”
Lebanese football is already battling a major image crisis after the FA handed out various penalties to 24 players, including life bans for defender Ramez Dayoub and forward Mahmoud El-Ali, following allegations that international and regional games were rigged.

Army Drills Kick Off in SW

The Army’s Ground Forces began massive wargames in the southwestern province of Khuzestan on Saturday to test defensive preparedness of its units.
The extensive exercises, codenamed Khatam-ul-Anbia will run for three days.
Ground Forces Commander Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan said the drills are aimed at reinvigorating command and control capabilities under operational conditions, Fars News Agency reported.
“All the units stationed in southwestern Iran, including the mechanized, armored and artillery units, will take part in the exercises,” the Ground Forces commander explained.
Iranian officials and commanders have repeatedly said that all military exercises and trainings of the military are for deterrent purposes.
In similar remarks in February, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said military power and achievements of the Armed Forces merely serve deterrent purposes.
“I am sure that the military power of the Iranian nation is not for attacking or dominating any other country, rather it is meant to be a deterrent factor,” President Ahmadinejad said, addressing a ceremony to unveil a new Iran-made fighter jet, named Qaher 313.

P5+1 More Realistic In Almaty Talks

Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaei says the negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers of the P5+1 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, achieved ‘partial’ success, as the group pursued a more realistic approach to Iran’s nuclear issue.
“In this round of talks, the P5+1 group tried to have a more realistic view of the [Iranian] nuclear issue and the Islamic Republic’s expectations,” Khazaei told IRNA on Saturday.
He added that paying heed to the recognition of the Iranian nation’s rights in line with the regulations of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Islamic Republic’s opposition to any nuclear weaponry based on the religious decree of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution can contribute to the success of future talks and lead to tangible outcomes.
On February 22, 2012, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Iran considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons ‘a grave sin’ from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.
The Leader described the proliferation of nuclear weapons as ‘senseless, destructive and dangerous’, adding that the Iranian nation has never sought and will never seek atomic bombs as the country already has the conventional capacity to challenge the nuclear powers.

Deadly Bombing Hits Kabul as Hagel Visits

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Defense Ministry gate in Kabul on Saturday killing nine civilians during a visit to Afghanistan by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, underlining the insurgent threat as NATO troops prepare to leave.
Hagel was nowhere near the explosion, said a spokesman for Afghanistan’s NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). A US defense official said Hagel was in a safe location at an ISAF facility, Reuters reported.
An Afghan Defense Ministry official said at least nine people, all civilians, were killed. Fourteen people were wounded in the attack, carried out by an insurgent on a bicycle.
Roads around the ministry building, which is near the presidential palace, were closed as emergency officials cleared the area of debris and washed blood from the street. A wall surrounding the ministry was pockmarked with shrapnel.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said the ministry was the target.
They said in a statement the attack “is a kind of message” for Hagel.
The blast underscored the security challenges facing Afghanistan as US-led NATO forces prepare to leave the country by the end of 2014.

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