The effect of petrodollars on human rights

It is a shame for the United Na-tions that Saudi Arabia is reelected to the UN Human Rights Council,

despite the vast outcry and criticism from human rights organizations that Saudi Arabia is committing war crimes in Yemen.

On Friday the same UN members, who accused Russia to cooperating with Bashar al-Assad in bombing the Syrian people, and made it lose its place in the body, voted joyfully for the Saudi regime which according to UN official reports has had a main role in killing thousands of the innocent Yem-eni people since the beginning of coa-lition attacks in March 2015.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International produced a joint state-ment earlier this year condemning Saudi Arabia for “an appalling record of violations” in Yemen, where it has conducted a destructive bombing campaign against Houthis since 2015, which has resulted in the deaths of up to 10,000 people, mostly civilians.

According to New York Times, last August Zaid al-Hussein, the Unit-ed Nations top human rights official, called for an international inquiry into possible war crimes and other accusa-tions of abuses in Yemen committed by Saudi Arabia.

In March 2015, the Saudi-led co-alition intervened in Yemen’s internal affairs in support of the country’s de-posed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Now 18 months on, much of Yemen lies in ruins. Schools, hospitals, homes and other civilian infrastruc-tures have been bombed repeatedly by the Saudi-led coalition.

A UN report documented more than 100 strikes on civilian targets in the first nine months of the interven-tion. It described the attacks “wide-spread and systematic”. The world’s leading human rights organizations and humanitarian NGOs all agree with that assessment. 1 3

TEHRAN — Mohammad Reza Aref, head of the Hope

parliamentary faction, said on Saturday that electoral policies set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution can put an end to all controversial issues surrounding the elections, especially the issue of disqualification of candidates.

The general electoral policies set by the Leader will be the key document in the elections, he told a gathering of reformists from Khuzestan province.

Aref said, “The general policies on election do not seek to restrict representatives. They should not be interpreted in a way that repre-

sentatives’ duties be restricted while according to the letter of the law enjoys immunity.”

The top reformist figure added the MPs should feel free to fulfill the people’s demands based on the constitutional law.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement on October 15 declaring the general policies on elections on the basis of Clause 1 of Article 110 of the Constitution after consultation with the Expediency Council.

The text of the policies was issued to the heads of the three branches of government and to the head of the Expediency Council.

Turkish jets have reportedly not taken part in the Euphrates Shield operation in neighboring Syria for a week now over the fears of be-ing shot down by local air defens-es after Damascus promised to prevent any aerial incursions.

Ankara halted air support for its ground incursion into Syria on Oc-tober 22, after Damascus vowed to shoot down Turkish Air Force planes over Syrian skies, a Turk-ish official told the Hürriyet Daily

News on condition of anonymity. The official added that the coali-tion forces have also decreased the number of flights in northern Syria.

Syria’s air defense capabilities have been widely boosted after Russia deployed its mobile S-400 and S-300 missile batteries earlier this year to protect its personnel on the ground. Russian hardware has the ability to shoot down planes and cruise missiles over at

least 250 miles (402km) in all di-rections from western Syria.

Two days before Turkey halted its military flights over Syria, Da-mascus, which called the Turkish invasion a violation of national sovereignty, warned that it would shoot down any Turkish warplanes.

“Any attempt to once again breach Syrian airspace by Turkish warplanes will be dealt with and they will be brought down by all means available,” warned Damas-

cus on October 20. The presence of Turkish troops in Syria is a “dan-gerous escalation and flagrant breach of Syria’s sovereignty”.

The response from Damascus came after Turkish planes targeted Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/Yekîneyên Parastina Gel?), the fighting wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD/Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat?), near al-Bab in northern Aleppo the day before. 1 3

Secretary General of the Hezbollah resistance movement, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, says the Lebanese group has managed to protect Lebanon against the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East region, stressing that efforts must be made in to order to safeguard such stability.

Addressing people in a televised speech from the eastern town of Hermel, Nasrallah stated that security must be beefed up inside Lebanon in or-der to allow people run a normal life and let job opportunities emerge and economy flourish.

He described the recent activities of Takfiri terrorist groups in the restive Beqaa Valley (Be-kaa) as a source of grave concern, stating that both the Lebanese government and nation must shoulder their share of responsibilities to

establish security there.He called upon the Lebanese government

to honor its duties regarding the Beqqa region, and round up the provocateurs and criminals.

Turing to the Lebanese political develop-

ments, the Hezbollah chief also stated on Thursday that his group is in close contact with the Amal (Hope) Movement, and that the two sides have reached consensus on a host of ma-jor political issues.

He expressed hope that a new chapter would open in Lebanon’s politics, where all sides would undertake endeavors to work out solutions to domestic issues.

Lebanon has been without a president for more than two years, when the term of last president, Michel Suleiman, came to an end in May 2014.

Hezbollah has accused the House of Saud regime of opposing political initiatives and ob-structing the election of a president in Lebanon.

(Source: Press TV)

Mohammad-reza Norouzpur

Political expert

A R T I C L E

104 15 16Bagh-e Fin, the very epitome of Persian Garden

Air India to relaunch flights to Iran after 2-decade hiatus

Iran’s Rahman plans to participate in more powerlifting events

Kiarostami’s films to go on screen at Taiwanese festival

W W W . T E H R A N T I M E S . C O M I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y Iranian competitors win four medals at Karate World

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Mogherini: EU, Iran need to Mogherini: EU, Iran need to cooperate to end Syria war

Nasrallah: Hezbollah prevented Lebanon from plunging into crisis

Kish Invex 2016 to host

30 foreign companies

TEHRAN — The 3rd Kish Interna-

tional Exhibition of Exchange, Bank-ing, Insurance and Privatization and the 8th International Exhibition for Presenting Iran’s Investment Oppor-tunities, are about to be held simul-taneously in November under the ti-tle of Kish Invex 2016, IRNA reported on Saturday.

According to Arya Hamidian, the event organizer, some 30 foreign companies as well as 150 Iranian companies will participate in the two exhibitions from October 31 to No-vember 3 on the southern Iranian Island of Kish.

As he said, the foreign partici-pants come from Italy, Switzerland, India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, Georgia, Malaysia, and England.

The exhibitions are focused on at-tracting domestic and foreign invest-ments and exploring avenues to reach economic prosperity in post-sanction era, he added.

As previously reported, Kish Invex seeks to introduce capabilities of Irani-an and foreign financial institutions; to present Iran’s achievements in capital and insurance markets; to introduce modern banking and insurance ser-vices; and to enhance the competition capacities of monetary and capital markets of regional countries.

JCPOA better than no deal:

BoroujerdiTEHRAN — Chair-man of the National

Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Majlis believes the JCPOA, the official name for the nuclear deal, is better than no agreement.

In an interview with the Mehr news agency published on Saturday, Alaeddin Boroujerdi said “positive traces” of the JCPOA have already emerged.

For example, he said, the least positive result of the nuclear deal is that Iran is now producing oil at the level it used to produce before the sanctions.

Boroujerdi said it was also a great success for the Islamic Republic that the West finally recognized Iran’s right to enjoy nuclear technology.

“The outcome of the JCPOA was that they officially accepted our (nucle-ar) activities and this is very important,” he stressed.

In the meantime, he accused the United States of being the “big time vi-olator” of the JCPOA implementation.

In response to the critics of the JCPOA, he said there is no doubt that the United States is not honest but it should be noted that “you were facing an enemy with the name of America which had sanctioned you at the (UN) Security Council and limited (the sale of ) your oil, which is the main pillar of your economy, to one million barrels (per day).”

Ukraine puts easing visa issuance for Iranians on agenda

TEHRAN — Ukraine has it on the agenda

to facilitate visa issuance for Iranian nationals, IRNA reported on Friday.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin made the announce-ment in Kiev during a meeting with Ira-nian Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour.

Klimkin also emphasized the im-portance of future joint economic committee meetings between the two countries and the necessity of devel-oping relations in various fields, espe-cially agriculture, industry and energy.

Rahimpour for his part mentioned Iran-Ukraine good relations during the past 25 years and noted that the pres-ent trade turnover between the two countries is not satisfactory.

He stressed the need to draft and sign basic documents regarding trade facilitation, removing banking barriers, visa issuance facilitation, development of transportation between the two coun-tries and strengthening bilateral cooper-ation between the private sectors.

15

Leader’s electoral guidelines can put an end disputes: Aref

Ankara halts airstrikes after Syria vows to ‘down Turkish planes,’ activates air defenses

TEHRAN — EU foreign policy chief Fed-erica Mogherini told President Hassan

Rouhani on Saturday cooperation between Iran and the EU is essential for settling the crises in the region, especially in Syria.

The European Union needs Iran’s cooperation as an important regional country to resolve problems, said Mogherini who arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials on Friday night.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

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Twelve countries’ performing arts execs to attend Tehran meeting today

TEHRAN — Exec-utives of theatrical

organizations working in twelve West Asian countries including Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Qatar, Rus-sia, Syria and Oman will attend a meet-ing opening today in Tehran to report on their activities.

Musical theater director Ali Qismat Lalayev from Azerbaijan, Deputy Minister of Ajara Education, Culture and Sports of Georgia Natia Sirabidze, Algerian au-thor Ahsan Thalilani and Sami Nasri from the Center of Dramatic Arts of Tunisia are among the guests of the meeting.

Iranian directors Marzieh Boru-

mand, Davud Fat’hali Beigi and Shah-ram Karami, and Iranian scholar Saeid Asadi are also among the participants.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Is-lamic Guidance is the organizer of the three-day meeting, which will discuss ways to expand relations among the countries.

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TEHRAN — Days after the UK Treas-

ury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Im-plementation announced the removal of sanctions on Iran-based Bank Sad-erat and London-based Bank Saderat PLC., Iran’s Ambassador to London Ha-mid Baeedinejad saw it as a cause for further optimism.

“Fortunately, multi-level negotia-tions with the EU officials resulted in the removal of sanctions on Saderat Bank, and this can be promising and useful,” Baeedinejad told a press conference in London.

The decision was made in compli-ance with a European regulation pub-lished in April, which had stipulated that the sanctions would remain on the two branches until Saturday, Oc-tober 22, according to a notice on Monday.

The delisting is an outcome of the nuclear deal Iran and six world powers

concluded in July 2015, granting Iran a sanctions relief in exchange for scaling down its nuclear program.

According to an undated Official Journal of the European Union, re-strictive measures against Saderat Bank were imposed in 2010 as one of the entities allegedly involved in Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missiles ac-tivities.

Saderat Bank has welcome the del-isting, seeing it as an opportunity for the bank to shore up its international connections.

Since the nuclear deal, Iran has been complaining that troubled banking relations with internation-al banks is getting in the way of it re-engaging with the global finan-cial system.

The development is expected to soothe the banking concern a bit at least for Saderat Bank which has 28 overseas branches.

Baeedinejad: British lifting of sanctions on Bank Saderat cause for optimism

TEHRAN — Ali Motahari, vice parlia-

ment speaker, has warned that any sort of supervision on parliamentarians will make them conservative.

In making the comments, Motahari was referring to a recent debate on which entity will play the final supervisory role in connection with parliament members.

“The supervision of another supervi-sor on the Majlis (parliament) will cause numerous blights, with one being repre-sentatives’ conservatism,” he said.

The debate itself was stirred by dif-ferent interpretations of a paragraph of general elections policies announced by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on October 15.

Paragraph 13 calls for formulation of a set of rules to ensure parliament members carry out their responsibilities appropriately. Also, the Leader urges working out measures to disqualify rep-resentatives in case they “lose the criteria

for being members of the Majlis.” Motahari has insisted that the par-

liament is intrinsically endowed with the right to play a “self-supervisory role.”

On the contrary, Guardian Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei has supported an “external supervisor,” rea-soning that a self-supervisory mech-anism lacks sufficiency. The Guardian Council, a group composed of six jurists and six clerics, vets presidential and parliamentary candidates and generally, supervises the whole election process.

However, Motahari, who repre-sents Tehran in the parliament, be-lieves a different supervisor other than the parliament itself is basically impossible as it gets bogged down into a “circularity.”

“If the Guardian Council super-vises the Majlis, the council should be supervised by another supervi-sor itself, and this leads to circular-ity,” he said.

Motahari says supervision on MPs breeds conservatism

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

1 Rouhani also said Iran is ready to expand cooperation with the EU in various spheres in a way that serves the two sides’ interests.

“Iran and the European Union should use their capacities and opportunities to expand cooperation and meet com-mon interests,” Rouhani noted.

Rouhani said that Iran and the EU will be considered “great economic and busi-ness partners” in the region.

He also said that Iran is ready to coop-erate with the EU in promoting civil rights in the Middle East region.

He added that “strict” behavior to-wards women in some regional coun-tries is contrary to “human principles”.

Commenting on the fight against terrorism, he said that Iran is not will-ing to be militarily involved in the war against terrorists, but it will use its po-litical power to exert pressure on some regional countries to stop support for the terrorists.

The president highlighted the necessi-ty of Iran-EU cooperation in helping settle regional crises, insisting on Tehran’s posi-

tion that the crises in the region should be resolved politically.

Rouhani also described terrorist acts in Iraq and Syria as a “serious danger” against the entire world.

Iran attaches great importance to establishing security in Syria, fighting the terrorists, protecting the country’s territorial integrity, and allowing the Syrians decide about the future of their country through ballot boxes, the pres-ident stated.

‘Nuclear deal has created oppor-tunity to expand ties’

Mogherini also said the nuclear agree-ment between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) has cre-ated a good atmosphere to expand co-operation.

The EU is determined to remain committed to the nuclear deal and expand economic relations with Iran, she added.

Iran and the six major powers clinched the nuclear agreement in July 2015 which took effect in January 2016.

OCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 20162I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

N A T I O N

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

TEHRAN — Majlis speaker Ali Larijani on

Saturday called on the Iranian nation to back the government in order to push the country forward.

“If we support the government and focus on one thing at a time, we can succeed, but we cannot succeed through empty rhetoric,” Larijani told a national gathering in Khomeyni Shahr held to commemorate the death of

2,300 martyrs.Larijani noted that the parliament

is seeking to provide the necessary conditions for investment to stimu-late the economy.

“We must take the maximum advantage of our strong eco-nomic capacity, in order to overcome external pres-sures,” he asserted.

The Majlis speaker also

pointed to the sanctions against the Islamic Republic as one of the enemy’s tools to create economic crisis in the country.

“They [the enemies] want to increase unemploy-

ment in Iran, because they know if Iran’s en-tire population of 80 million get more en-gaged, this would be

harmful to them,” said Larijani. “The enemy does not want our youths’ en-ergy to be converted to production sector.”

He went on to say that the ene-my intents to isolate Iran econom-ical ly.

“As the Leader said, resistance economy is the only way to save Iran’s economy,” the Majlis speaker said.

TEHRAN — Depu-ty Foreign Minister

Hossein Jaberi Ansari said on Sat-urday that the Saudi attacks on the

Yemeni people and country’s infra-structure are aimed at breaking the resistance of the people.

During a meeting with Swiss Secretary

of Foreign Affairs Yves Rossier in Tehran, Jaberi Ansari called Saudi Arabia’s action a “mistake”.

He also said crises in Syria and Iraq

should be settled politically.For his part, Rossier said Iran’s role in

helping to find political solutions to re-gional crises is very important.

Larijani urges national support for government

Saudis seek to break Yemenis’ resistance

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

TEHRAN — In a letter on Friday the Supreme Leader

of the Islamic Revolution expressed deep sorrow over the death of Ayatollah Hajagha Taghi Tabatabaei Ghomi, son of the late grand Ayatollah Hajagha Hossein Tabat-abaei Ghomi.

Condoling the sad death to the ayatollah’s fam-ily, friends, colleagues, and the clerical societies of Qom, Najaf, and Mashhad, the Supreme Leader hoped for Divine Bliss upon his soul, according to the leader.ir.

Leader condoles demise of Ayatollah Tabatabaei Ghomi

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

TEHRAN — The head of Iran’s Judiciary has said fighting terror-

ism would be possible only through the coopera-tion of all regional countries.

Sadeq Amol i La r i j an i made the re-marks on Sa tu rday be fore depar t ing fo r I r aq fo r ta l k s on reg iona l te r ro r i sm, Fa r s repor ted .

He said he wil l meet with his Iraqi coun-terpar t, prime minister, and parl iament speaker.

Amoli Larijani is accompanied in his trip by Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Arab Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari and other officials.

Fighting terrorism possible only through cooperation: Amoli Larijani

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Academicians asked to define ‘political man’ for candidacy

TEHRAN — The Guardian Council has invited acad-

emicians, exper ts and researchers to help define “Rajol-e Siasi” or “polit ical man” as a criterion for the qualif ication of candidates, especial ly presidential candidates, in future elections.

Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the council, told a press conference on Saturday that the invitation serves to meet the compe-tence of a candidate stated by the Supreme Leader in the recently-issued general elec-tions policies.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Iranian military, defense, and police attachés attend first joint seminar

TEHRAN — Iran’s military, de-fense, and police attachés have

participated in a joint seminar in Tehran, the first of such event, to exchange ideas.

The three-day seminar (October 29-31) is hosted by the Iranian Army with military at-tachés to more than 50 countries around the world in attendance.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

‘Iran never sought membership at UN rights council’

TEHRAN — The Iranian For-eign Ministry in a statement on

Saturday rejected reports by some social me-dia claiming that Iran had applied to become a member of the UN Human Rights Council and failed to win a seat.

“The news on Iran’s failure to become UN Hu-man Rights Council member is false,” the statement said, according to Fars.

It added, “Iran never sought candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Mogherini: EU, Iran need to cooperate to end Syria war

“Iran and the European Union should use their capacities and opportunities to expand cooperation

and meet common interests,” Rouhani says.

FM Zarif meets EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Tehran to exchange views on terrorism on Saturday.

parliament necessary to stimu-

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TEHRAN — The spokesman of the

Hope parliamentary faction has an-nounced that the faction will support President Hassan Rouhani in his bid to seek reelection.

In an interview with ISNA published on Saturday, Bahram Parsaei said, “The radi-cal principlists cannot stand anyone other than their own radical choices.”

“They will not tolerate reformists nor mod-erates. They insist on their own positions de-

spite being very unpopular and lacking a real chance of victory,” Parsaei noted.

He further said that the principlists will “definitely choose someone as their candidate” to represent them in the election.

He added it’s also possible that they nominate several candidates in the presi-dential election.

However, he said, if they fail to field a candidate their “campaign for future elec-tions would be severely hurt.”

Parsaei also said that the princi-plists do not have a competent can-didate with good chances of winning the election.

The spokesman of the Hope faction praised Rouhani’s performance, de-scribed his positions as “progressive and moderate”.

He also urged the opponents of the president to go beyond the partisan games and focus on their plans.

Iran plans to hold its 12th presidential election on May 19, 2017.

Rouhani, the self-described moder-ate president, is widely expected to seek a second term to further push ahead his economic plans after he clinched a nuclear deal with six world powers.

Under the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has limited some of its nuclear activities in return for sanc-tions relief.

‘Hope faction will support Rouhani for re-election’P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

European firms seek to buy Iran’s heavy water: officialTEHRAN — The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organi-

zation of Iran said on Friday that several Euro-pean companies seek to purchase heavy water from Iran.

Behrouz Kamalvandi said the companies seek “several tons” of the nuclear material, Press TV re-ported.

Kamalvandi said the Americans congratulated Iranian officials for the high purity of the nuclear product after receiving it.

Kamalvandi a lso sa id I ran is expected to s ign nuclear MOUs with Poland and Hungar y.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Two Indian soldiers have been killed during battles with Pakistani troops and suspected militants along the tense borderline in the disputed Indian-con-trolled Kashmir region, military author-ities say.

An Indian army officer stated on Saturday that one of the soldiers was killed during an overnight ambush on a military patrol, further alleging that Pakistani troops “provided covering fire” for the armed assault near the Line of Control dividing the disputed region between India and Pakistan, AP reported.

Indian troops then opened retalia-tory fire, killing a suspected “insurgent,” the reported cited the unnamed officer as saying, noting that he spoke on con-dition of anonymity since he was not allowed to speak to media.

The report further cited the officer as alleging that the militants “mutilat-ed” the body of the Indian trooper be-fore fleeing to the Pakistani side of the border.

The second Indian soldier, according to the report, was killed after the mili-

tant ambush prompted a cross-border exchange of fire between the rival nu-clear-armed neighbors at a number of border posts.

Indian-controlled Kashmir has been the site of near daily violence since July, when Burhan Wani, a major figure in the pro-independence Hizb-ul-Muja-hideen group, was killed in a shootout with Indian soldiers in the region’s Kok-ernag area.

Since then, at least 90 people, most of them young protesters, have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded during clashes in the disputed territory. Thousands more have also been taken into custody.

Schools, shops and most banks have remained shut while authorities have suspended mobile phone and Internet services in the restive region.

Kashmir lies at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute since India and Pa-kistan became independent in 1947.

New Delhi and Islamabad both claim the Himalayan region in full, but rule parts of it.

(Source: Press TV)

Just days into Florida’s election process, two women have been busted in sep-arate cases of violating the state’s elec-tion laws, CBS Miami reports.

Gladys Coego, 74, a temporary Election Support Specialist for the Mi-ami-Dade Elections Department tasked with opening mail-in ballots and scan-ning them into the machine, is accused of marking ballot choices that were originally left blank, according to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald.

She was allegedly caught red-hand-ed by colleagues on Tuesday filling in ballots favoring Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado. Investi-gators have initially determined that Coego has no affiliation or link with the Regalado campaign, however.

In a second arrest, police said Tomi-ka Curgil, 33, filled out voter-registra-tion forms for five citizens without their consent and submitted at least 17 forms for people believed to not exist, includ-ing several who are dead.

Authorities said Curgil was hired as a canvasser to register voters for People United For Medical Marijuana.

“Police observed Ms. Curgil’s activ-ities, noting that she had not left her residence during a day of ‘work’ and then submitted completed (and falsi-fied) voter registration forms for the time she had been under police obser-vation,” the State Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Among the discrepan-cies noted in her submitted applications was the registering of individuals who were now deceased.”

Curgil was charged with five counts of submitting false voter-registration information. Coego was charged with two counts of marking someone else’s ballot. Both are 3rd degree felonies.

Coego’s arrest comes a day after Re-galado, a Republican, filed suit against Republican incumbent Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, attempting to disqualify him under an election pay-ment technicality. Both cases were in-vestigated by a joint public corruption task force, consisting of police officers from several county jurisdictions, in-cluding Miami-Dade, Miami, Miami Beach, Doral and the Miami-Dade school district. (Source: CBS News)

2 Miami women arrested for violating election laws

Two Indian soldiers killed in ambush near Kashmir borderline

Pakistan information minister removed over newspaper leakPakistani Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has been re-moved from office over a newspaper leak that sparked a rift between the army and the government earlier this month, the prime minister's office said on Saturday.

Two sources from the Information Ministry told Reuters that Rashid had stepped down from his post until an inquiry con-firms whether he was the source for a newspaper article detail-ing the discussion in a top-level national security meeting.

“Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the Information Minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry,” a statement by the prime minister's office said.

(Source: Reuters)

3

Hashd al-Shaabi fighters launch operation west of MosulVolunteer fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (al-Hashd al-Shaabi), have begun an offensive to take back Mosul from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorists.

Ahmad al-Assadi, a spokesman for the forces, said on Saturday the operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqqah in Syria and tighten the siege against ISIL and liberate the town of Tal Afar.

The operation is part of a large-scale offensive which the Ira-qi army, volunteer Shia and Sunni fighters, and Kurdish forces launched last week to retake Mosul. The offensive, however, had left the western part of Mosul on the Turkish border open, potentially enabling ISIL terrorists to move to neighboring Syr-ia as Iraqi forces close in from the north, east and south. Iraqi sources had earlier reported that the terrorists were leaving Mo-sul in droves and heading to Syria. Now with the start of oper-ations by Popular Mobilization Units’ fighters in western Mosul, the city has come under a full siege.

So far, troops have liberated nearly 80 towns and villages since they began the decisive battle last week.

Iraqi volunteer forces liberated the al-Taybah and al-Farsi-yah hills southwest of Mosul on Saturday.

Al-Shura liberatedMeanwhile, Iraqi army and federal police units have lib-

erated the region of al-Shura, 30 kilometers south of Mosul, and advanced further toward Tal Afar on Saturday.

At least four ISIL terrorists were killed during the operation in Shura. The Iraqi forces also killed 10 members of the ter-rorist group in southwestern Mosul.

U.S. coalition aircraft kill Iraqi soldiersElsewhere, in Nineveh Province, at least four Iraqi soldiers

were killed in airstrikes carried out by the so-called United States coalition, which targeted their position in the Talkif district on Saturday. The United States and some of its allies have been car-rying out airstrikes in Iraq since June 2014 allegedly targeting ISIL terrorists in the northern and western parts of the country.

Meanwhile, at least 10 people have been killed in the lat-est series of bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

On Saturday a bomber targeted a mourning ceremony for the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (PBUH), killing eight people and wounding 17 others.

Two people were also killed and six others sustained injuries in a booby trap explosion near a market north of Baghdad.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet, but the ISIL terrorist group is highly suspected.

Separately, in western Anbar Province, an Iraqi soldier, who had been unable to see his family for three years after ISIL took control of his hometown of al-Baghdadi, has reunit-ed with his family.

The Mosul offensive involves tens of thousands of soldiers, federal police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and Shia mili-tias. (Source: agencies)

OCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 2016 INTERNATIONAL 3I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Syrian troops are battling a fresh push by foreign-backed militants to break an army siege over the strategic city of Aleppo after repelling their initial offen-sive on Friday.

A mix of militants belonging to the House of Saud regime, Turkish and United States-backed Takfiri groups launched what they called a “big battle” on Friday, setting off car bombs and launching grad rockets and shells that killed at least 21 ci-vilians.

A British-based monitoring group, sympathetic to militants, said on Satur-day that fighting was continuing on the western outskirts of Aleppo, where the terrorists have allegedly been making advances.

Militants used a U.S.-Russian cease-fire to break the siege in early August, opening up a new route into the city from the south, but government forces quickly closed it.

The current assault comes in the wake of a unilateral “humanitarian pause” de-clared by Syria and Russia in the city. Moscow said President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request for airstrikes to resume.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Pesk-ov said Putin wanted humanitarian ef-forts to continue in northwest Aleppo and the U.S. to separate the so-called “moderate” militants from other terror-ists there.

“In case of extreme necessity to pre-vent provocative actions on the part of terrorist groups, the Russian side re-serves the right to use all means at its disposal to provide an appropriate level of support to the Syrian armed forces,” Peskov said.

Russia’s embassy in Damascus attacked

Meantime, Russia also said its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, had come under mortar shelling by “anti-govern-ment” militants, inflicting damage to the mission but causing no casualties.

Militant groups involved in the attack include Turkey-backed so called Free Syr-ian Army (FSA) and Harakat Ahrar al-Sh-am al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham/Islam-ic Movement of the Free People of the Levant?) and Jaish al-Fatah (JaF/Army of Conquest), an alliance of terrorist factions actively supported by the House of Saud regime and Turkey.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Right (SOHR) said the attack has been mostly launched by militants from outside the city against government forc-es that hold its western districts.

It said more than 1,500 militants from

the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib to the west were attacking government-con-trolled districts of the city along a front stretching for 15 kilometers.

Putin rejects army request to re-sume air raids

Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request by his mil-itary to resume air raids over Syria's re-bel-held eastern Aleppo.

The Russian army said on Friday that it had asked the president for authoriza-tion to resume its bombing campaign, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin “considers it inappropriate at the current moment,” adding the presi-dent thought it necessary to “continue the humanitarian pause” in the war-bat-tered city.

The request was made after Syrian opposition fighters launched an assault against the government-held western

part of the city, firing rockets and deto-nating car bombs in a counter assault.

Opposition activists say 15 civilians, in-cluding children, were killed in those at-tacks on government-held western Aleppo. Rebels also targeted a military airbase.

The rebel assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the Syrian army began an opera-tion to retake it.

Close shave for Russian and U.S. jets

Developments follow as a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a United States fighter jet over eastern Syr-ia, U.S. defense officials said on Friday, highlighting the risks of a serious mishap in the increasingly crowded airspace.

The “near miss” occurred late on Oc-tober 17, when a Russian jet that was es-corting a larger spy plane maneuvered near an American plane, Air Force Lieu-tenant General Jeff Harrigian said.

The Russian jet came to “inside of half a mile” of the U.S. jet, he added.

Another U.S. military official, speak-ing on condition of anonymity, said the American pilot was buffeted by the tur-bulence from the Russian jet's engines.

It appeared the Russian pilot had sim-ply not seen the U.S. jet, either on radar or visually. It was dark and the planes were flying without lights.

“I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those [planes] operating together,” Har-rigian said.

The incident raises serious questions about the extent to which pilots can track the complex airspace they operate in.

(Source: agencies)

Syria fights off massive Takfiri assault for 2nd day

For the first time since UNHRC's (United Nations Hu-man Rights Council) inception in 2006, Russia has lost an election to the UN Human Rights Council after be-ing narrowly beaten by Croatia in a vote. The House of Saud regime was successfully re-elected, despite crit-icism from human rights organizations. The 47 places on the council are distributed on a regional basis, with staggered ballots seeing a third of the body re-elected each year. Russia had finished its three-year term and was running against Hungary and Croatia for the two available seats from Eastern Europe.

With Hungary far ahead, Croatia received the votes of 114 of the 193 member countries, and Russia was se-lected on 112 ballots.

“It was a very close vote and very good countries competing, Croatia, Hungary. They are fortunate be-cause of their size, they are not exposed to the winds of international diplomacy. Russia is very exposed. We've been in the UNHRC for several years, and I am sure next time we will stand and get back in,” said Russia's Unit-ed Nations envoy Vitaly Churkin. Russia is eligible to run next year, against a new set of countries.

The House of Saud regime sailed through the Asian ballot with 152 votes, and will represent the region on the UNHRC alongside China, Japan and Iraq for the next three years.

South Africa, Rwanda, Egypt and Tunisia were cho-sen from the African group, Cuba and Brazil from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United States and Britain will represent the Western bloc, which comprises Western Europe and North America.

Over the next term, which will last between 2017 and 2019, the 14 chosen members will be tasked with for-mulating the UN’s official position on conflicts occurring

around the world, as well as the domestic policies of member states.

The elections took place against a backdrop of crit-icism from non-governmental human rights organiza-tions, who say that the body has been hijacked by op-pressive regimes looking to deflect criticism and drive their own agendas.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International pro-duced a joint statement earlier this year condemning Saudi Arabia for “an appalling record of violations” in Yemen, where it has conducted a bombing campaign since 2015. The two organizations called for the House of Saud regime, a member of the UNHRC since it was cre-ated in 2006, apart from a mandatory year-long break after two terms, to be suspended – to no avail.

Saudi Arabia used its power in the council to block an outside inquiry into the campaign last month, while leading a successful resolution that placed the responsi-bility of investigating human rights abuses in the hands of its allies, the exiled Yemeni government.

Saudi Arabia carried out 157 executions domestically

last year – the highest number in two decades, and is on pace to match the number this year. Critics of the regime have often faced detention, while women do not enjoy autonomy and equal status before the law.

Riyadh has repeatedly refused visits from UNHRC rapporteurs looking to investigate the justice system, in-cidences of torture, and discrimination.

In its official campaign brochure, published ahead of the vote, Saudi Arabia boasted about its human rights record, claiming, for example, that it supports “the em-powerment of women at all levels” in compliance with “Sharia law, which guarantees fair gender equality.”

Ahead of this year’s vote Russia came under concert-ed pressure from human rights organizations.

“The non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose,” said executive director Hillel Neuer. “This makes the election of Saudi Arabia, China and Cuba even more preposterous.”

A petition signed by 80 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and Refugees International, asked the vot-ing countries to “question seriously whether Russia's role in Syria which includes supporting and undertaking mil-itary actions which have routinely targeted civilians and civilian objects renders it fit to serve on the UN's premier inter-governmental human rights institution.”

Russia dismissed the petition, published this week, as “cynical” and “dishonorable,” and said the accusa-tions were motivated more by politics than by concern for human rights. Moscow, which has been conducting airstrikes in the country over the past year, says that it is acting legally, following an official call for assistance from the Syrian government, and insists that its war efforts are targeted at terrorists. (Source: RT)

Russia loses UN Human Rights Council place, Saudi Arabia re-electedSnap elections in Iceland expected to bring in new center-left coalitionIcelanders are voting in snap elections that are expected to see the anti-establishment Pirate Party form a new center-left coalition after the so-called Panama Papers revealed a global tax evasion scandal that also involved the nation’s former prime minister. The voters are expected to punish the incumbent gov-ernment in the Saturday polls after the scandal hit a number of senior politicians and forced the resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, AFP reported.

Although the current government of the conservative In-dependence Party and the centrist Progressive Party survived the scandal, it pledged to hold snap elections six months be-fore the end of its term in spring 2017.

“We're losing support [because of the] big anti-establish-ment [feeling],” said Independence Party lawmaker Birgir Ar-mannsson.

The Pirate Party was founded in 2012 by activists, anar-chists and former hackers, and calls in its political campaign-ing “for public transparency, institutional reform, individual freedoms, and the fight against corruption,” the report says.

Most of the party’s supporters are younger voters.The outcome of the elections will be known shortly after polling

stations close but since no party is expected to win a majority, Ice-land's destiny will only be known following coalition talks.

Although Iceland, a volcanic island with a population of only 332,000 people, has returned to prosperity since its 2008 financial meltdown with GDP (Gross domestic product) growth anticipated to remain above four percent this year due to tourism and the recovery of its financial system, the country’s youth distrust the political elite.

The nation has also witnessed a devastating economic cri-sis and been forced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. (Source: Al Jazeera)

4I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

E C O N O M Y OCTOBER 30, OCTOBER 30, 20162016

Iran, Indonesia discuss facilitation of banking relations

Iran Air Show 2016 to host European, Asian companies

TEHRAN— Some 30 foreign compa-

nies are to attend the 8th edition of International Iran Air Show 2016 which will be held on November 16-19 on Kish Island, Tasnim news agen-cy reported on Saturday.

As the news agency quoted, Reza Ja’farzadeh, the head of public relations department of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAO), the air show is to be held with European and Asian companies, from Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Poland and Ukraine, participating.

On the way to provide a suitable venue for the participants and visitors to meet their potential counterparts and discuss their interests to explore business opportunities, the show will be held by Pars Kish Aero Exhibition

Company, with cooperation of Kish Free Zone Organization and CAO.

As reported, a large number of domestic companies active in the aviation, aerospace, airlines and the other related industries in addition to universities as well as foreign companies took part at the 7th edition of the air show, exhibiting a vast range of products, systems and services in the aviation and air space fields.

TEHRAN — A dele-gation from Central

Bank of Iran (CBI) headed by Ahmad Azizi, the senior adviser to the gov-ernor of CBI, visited Jakarta to dis-cuss facilitation of banking relations with Indonesian authorities.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the Iranian delegation held talks with senior officials from Indonesian banks, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Financial Services Authority of Indonesia (known as OJK) and Indonesia Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

In the meeting the two sides underlined the great potentials for cooperation between the two countries especially in economic and trade areas and stressed the need for measures to be taken to remove

barriers in the way of ideal trade relations.

The parties also stressed the need for establishment of direct banking relations to facilitate development of trade relations between the two countries.

Considering the upcoming Iran-Indonesia Joint Economic Committee meeting in near future and Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s next visit to Tehran, the officials agreed to further continue the negotiations to establish direct banking relations.

Earlier in September, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani agreed to step up economic cooperation on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit on Margarita Island in Venezuela.

Rosneft has sent a draft mandatory offer to the central bank to buy the shares it does not already own in oil firm Bashneft, the Russian energy company said in a regulatory statement released late on Friday.

State-controlled Rosneft is seeking govern-ment approval to buy up to 100 percent of Bashneft after acquiring a controlling stake this month for 330 billion roubles.

The company will spend no more than 206 billion roubles ($3.27 billion) on the buyout of 55.5 million ordinary shares in Bashneft, it said in a separate statement.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is unlikely to take up the option of a three-year extension to his term at the central bank, and may announce his de-cision as soon as Thursday, a British newspaper re-ported on Saturday.

Carney has said publicly that he will decide before the end of the year whether to stay beyond the five-year term he committed to when he joined the BoE in July 2013, and is due to hold a quarterly news confer-ence on Thursday.

“Senior City figures who know the governor said they believed it was more likely than not that he would choose to return to Canada in 2018, adding that his family’s feelings were a concern,” the Times newspaper reported.

BMW is recalling 154,472 vehicles registered in the United States and Canada for a fuel pump problem that could cause stalling, according to a filing with U.S. safety regulators and BMW.

BMW told regulators that no injuries have been reported. Since 2014, the German-based com-pany has conducted safety recall campaigns in China, Japan and South Korea for the same issue, according to a filing posted on Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Of the vehicles recalled in North America, 88 percent are registered in the United States.

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IN B

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Russia’s Rosneft submits draft Bashneft buyout offer to regulator

Bank of England’s Carney likely to leave in 2018

BMW recalling 154,472 vehicles in U.S., Canada over fuel pumps

State-run Air India Ltd. plans to restart flights to Iran suspended nearly two decades ago because of turmoil in the Middle East and international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

The all-economy flights that will be launched under its low-cost brand Air India Express will connect Delhi with Teh-ran thrice a week, an airline official said. The flights are expected to resume in April “or a little before that,” said Air India Express chief K. Shyam Sundar.

“Last flight was in 1990s when Air In-dia used to fly Bombay-Tehran but then perhaps because of turmoil in the region we discontinued,” Sundar said. “Then there were issues with EXIM Bank. Once the sanctions were removed it became easier. Now obstacles are gone.”

Almost all of Air India’s international fleet, including Air India Express Boeing 737 planes, have been funded with US EXIM Bank loans.

Iran emerged from years of economic sanctions in January when world powers lifted sanctions against the country in re-turn for complying with a deal to curb its nuclear program. That happened after the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had complied with an agreement it signed last year with six world powers to curb its

nuclear program.Air India, which has informed the US

EXIM Bank about its plans to resume flights to Iran, already has an office in

Tehran and is in the process of obtaining clearances from Iran.

It will hire sales and ground handling agents in Tehran. On the three-and-a-

half hour flights, Air India will offer free snacks like samosa, cake and coffee while keeping a dedicated menu for sale on board. (Source: livemint.com)

Air India to relaunch flights to Iran after 2-decade hiatus

ECONOMYd e s k

ECONOMYd e s k

ECONOMYd e s k

OPEC officials fail to agree on how to curb oil suppliesOPEC officials meeting in Vienna to work out the details of their plan to reduce oil production failed to reach agreement after hours of talks on Friday, amid objections by Iran which has been reluctant to even freeze its output, OPEC sources said.

The High Level Committee of experts will meet again in Vi-enna on Nov. 25 ahead of the next meeting of OPEC ministers on Nov. 30, to “finalize individual quotas”, one source said.

They will also meet as scheduled on Saturday with repre-sentatives of non-OPEC producers, which OPEC wants help from in curbing supplies.

“Yes, we continue tomorrow with non-OPEC,” one of the sources said. “(There was) no complete agreement today since Iran refuses to freeze production.”

“We didn’t finish all. We are looking to the next meeting on November 25 to finalize individual quotas,” another source said.

The meeting of the High Level Committee is comprised mainly of OPEC governors and national representatives - of-ficials who report to their respective ministers.

Talks lasted just over 11 hours on Friday with Iran appearing to be the main sticking point.

“There is no agreement yet, all agree except Iran,” one OPEC source said, adding Iran was asking for an exemption.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed last month in Algiers to reduce their production of crude oil to a range of 32.50 million to 33 million barrels per day, OPEC’s first output cut since 2008, in an effort to prop up prices.

But from the outset the proposed plan faced potential set-backs with Iraq wanting to be exempt from cuts and countries including Iran, Libya and Nigeria whose output has been hit by sanctions or conflict also wanting to raise their output.

“It is getting complicated,” a delegate said before the meet-ing began on Friday.

“Every day there is a new issue coming up.”However, other OPEC officials including Secretary-General

Mohammed Barkindo remained optimistic.“Our deliberations today, and tomorrow with some non-

OPEC producers, could very well have fundamental ramifica-tions for the market, as well as for the medium to long term of the industry,” Barkindo said in a speech on the opening day of the two-day meeting, according to a text provided by OPEC.

The committee does not decide policy and will instead make recommendations to the next OPEC ministerial meeting on Nov. 30.

Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, said earlier this week that it would not cut output and should be exempted from any curbs as it needs funds to fight Islamic State.

Meanwhile Iran has insisted on its right to recover market share after Western sanctions were lifted in January.

Non-OPEC nations sending representatives to Saturday’s talks are Russia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman, Azerbaijan, Brazil and Bolivia. (Source: Reuters)

TEHRAN — Iranian car makers manufactured

691,581 vehicles in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), showing 26.2 percent rise

compared to the same period of time in the preceding year, ILNA reported quot-ing Sasan Qorbani, the spokesman of Iran’s Auto Policy-Making Council, as saying.

Iran is scheduled to manufacture 1.35

million of cars by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2017), Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mohsen Salehinia announced in early April.

As Salehinia underlined, the govern-ment seeks to improve the quality as well as the quantity of the domestically pro-duced cars on the way to boost their ex-ports.

Iran’s 7-month car output up 26.2% y/y

South Korea, Japan and China agree to act against trade protectionismTrade ministers of South Korea, Japan and China expressed concerns over trade protectionism they said has been in-creasing globally, and promised to take joint action against it.

The ministers agreed at a trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Saturday to maintain their countries’ free trade stance un-changed to promote steady global growth, a statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said af-ter the meeting, which was the 11th of its kind.

The statement did not detail what joint response the three countries planned to make against trade protectionism.

At the meeting Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s minister for econ-omy, trade and industry, stressed the importance of free trade and economic cooperation.

“It is important for Asia’s top three economies to have a cooperative relationship as opaqueness increases in the global economy,” Seko was quoted saying in Kyodo News Agency report from a joint media conference with South Ko-rean and Chinese counterparts, Joo Hyung-hwan and Gao Hucheng.

Combined, the three countries are responsible for around 20 percent of the world’s trade and output.

(Source: Reuters)

EU and Canada to sign trade pact after Belgians strike key dealCanada and the European Union will sign a landmark free trade deal on Sunday after a series of key votes in Belgian regional as-semblies on Friday ended opposition that had threatened to de-stroy the entire agreement.

Soon after the final Belgian vote, European Council president Donald Tusk called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and invited him to Brussels for the signing ceremony, which is sched-uled for noon local time (1000 GMT).

“The Canada-EU Summit will be Sunday. Great news and I’m looking forward to being there,” Trudeau said on Twitter.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which backers say will boost bilateral trade by 20 percent, ap-peared to be in trouble after Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region raised a series of late objections.

All 28 EU governments back CETA but Belgium’s central gov-ernment had been prevented from giving consent because it needed approval from sub-federal authorities.

After Belgian politicians agreed to an addendum on Thurs-day to allay Wallonia’s concerns, the regional parliament voted on Friday to back the deal. The parliaments of Brussels and the Dutch-speaking community approved the deal a few hours later.

(Source: Reuters)

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has sought cooperation from the govern-ment to facilitate banking transactions between Bangladesh and Iran, officials said.

The apex trade body has recently sent a letter to the foreign ministry and sought help in this regard, they added.

Earlier, the embassy of Iran in Dhaka requested the FBCCI to resolve the prob-lem.

FBCCI in its letter said issues related to sanctions on Iran should be clarified properly and the problems relating to financial and banking transactions be-

tween Bangladesh and Iran should be resolved.

The bilateral relations between the two countries will be expanded in the areas of trade and investment if the dif-ficulties in banking transactions are elimi-nated, sources said.

In pursuance of the visit by civil avia-tion and industries ministers to Iran re-cently, they observed potentialities to boost business in different fields, which will play key role in developing effective bilateral trade relations between the two friendly countries, according to a letter of the Iranian embassy.

Although the removal of sanctions

against Iran, Bangladeshi and Iranian businessmen are still blaming in pro-longation of the financial transmissions between Iran and Bangladesh regarding some trade and economic transactions through Bangladeshi banks especially in the field of international traders in Bang-ladesh and investment in the country, the letter mentioned.

These banking situations are creating barriers to expand ties and boosting the economic cooperation between the two friendly countries.

A senior private banker said no banks in Bangladesh are doing any trade re-lated transaction with the banks in Iran.

Although foreign financial institutions are able to facilitate financial and banking transactions, foreign banks still don’t feel comfortable in doing business with Iran since few sanctions on Iran by the USA are still in force.

“We have sent the letter to the minis-tries concerned to take necessary steps in this regard,” a foreign ministry official said.

FBCCI president Abdul Matlub Ahmad could not be reached over phone for his comments in this regard.

The United States lifted most of its sanctions against Iran on January 16, 2016.

(Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com)

FBCCI wants govt. to facilitate banking transactions with Iran

ADVERTISEMENTOCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 2016 5I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

By Timothy Egan

OCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 20166I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL

By Miguel Porlan

President Duterte’s confusing behavior

This much we know: President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines dislikes the United States, and is really angry that American officials have criticized

his abhorrent extrajudicial killings of drug addicts and drug lords, which have left more than 1,400 people dead. What we don’t know is how far he intends to push his vision of a more independent foreign policy that is not tied to the strategic objectives of his country’s most important ally.

During a visit to Japan on Wednesday, Mr. Duterte told a group of businessmen that he wanted all foreign troops out of the Philippines in “maybe two years” and that he was willing to revoke military base-hosting agreements with the United States.

It was the clearest indication yet that he may seek to renegotiate or even abrogate the 2014 treaty signed by his predecessor that allows America to use five Philippine military bases and station troops in the country for the first time in 20 years.

Alarming about-faceSuch an alarming about-face would be a serious blow

to regional stability and to President Obama’s policy of strengthening relations with Asian countries as a counterpoint to China.

There are, however, signs that Mr. Duterte really has no clear idea of what he wants. His recent pronouncements about the United States have been threatening one moment, conciliatory the next.

Last week, for instance, he announced his intended “separation” from Washington while currying favor with Chinese leaders. Once back in his hometown, Davao, he softened, insisting he did not want to cut economic and military ties with America.

Last month, he asserted that he would seek “open alliances” with China and Russia, implying some kind of security arrangement. He later explained he was talking only about economic cooperation.

Adding to the confusion, Filipino officials have followed up Mr. Duterte’s aggressive statements about the United States with reassurances that while there may be some adjustments in the relationship, the bilateral alliance remains intact.

Deep concern in WashingtonIt is not unusual for national leaders to want to set their

own paths; Mr. Duterte’s views reflect resentments among some Filipinos that America has not always treated their country with respect. Still, his approach is counterproductive. He may believe that by criticizing the United States he will inspire China to invest more heavily in his country’s struggling economy.

13

At least one of my siblings, and some of my friends from high school, will be among the 50

million or so Americans waking up on Nov. 9 after giving their vote to a man who thinks very little of them, and even less of the country he wants to lead.

Allow me one last attempt to help you avoid a hangover that will stay with you the rest of your life.

If you ignored every blast of hatred from Donald Trump, every attempt to defraud people or stiff those who worked for him, every bellow from the bully, consider his low view of humanity in general. “For the most part you can’t respect people,” he has said, “because most people aren’t worthy of respect.”

This is the credo of a loveless man in a friendless world. He also says he has no heroes — not a Lincoln or Mandela, a Jackie Robinson or a Capt. Chesley Sullenberger.

If you’re an evangelical Christian, you’re about to cast your lot with someone who goes against nearly everything you believe. I have a sister in this category. Her preacher told her that electing Trump is “part of God’s plan.” I’m not sure if the plan is apocalyptic, but that sounds like a deity who’s given up on all of us.

Like-minded soulsI would tell my sister and all like-minded

souls to look at whether Trump has tried to live by the Ten Commandments. He’s consistently violated at least eight of them, from worshiping the God of Mammon to running up the biggest “pants on fire” liar score of any presidential candidate in history.

As for adultery and coveting others, he’s bragged about cheating on the mother of his children in one interview, and outlined his methods for hitting on married women in another.

True, he hasn’t committed murder, but he did say he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, “and I wouldn’t lose any supporters.” If that’s who you want your children looking up to, those

kids will be, like Trump, bereft of heroes.If you’re a member of the white

working class, the “poorly educated” that Trump once professed to love, your sense of dislocation is real. The economic gap between the wealthiest cities and the rest of the country has widened.

So has the divide between college-educated workers and those who never went beyond high school. More than 20 percent of American men under age 65 had no paid work last year.

But a trade war, which Trump proposes, and his tax and immigration policies would bring widespread pain, and do

nothing to help the most economically troubled of his supporters.

Trump likes to remind people that he took business classes at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Well then, let’s listen to a report from his alma mater: It predicts that Trump’s policies could cost the United States four million lost jobs.

His tax plan, a giveaway to the rich and a budget buster, would likely lead to another recession. His overall economic proposals could cost the United States economy $1 trillion over the next five years, according to a report from Oxford

Economics, a forecasting firm.Building a wall, of concrete on the

southern border, or though tariffs coming from Washington is not going to bring steel mills back to Pennsylvania, or thousands of coal jobs to West Virginia. Even from a blunt, xenophobic perspective, the wall makes no sense.

For over the last 10 years, more people have immigrated from the United States to Mexico than vice versa. Trump never mentions that.

I should add that 15 million new jobs have been added under President Obama’s watch, and that incomes grew across the board last year, especially at the bottom. Trump never mentions that, either.

Vice President Joe Biden has made it one of his final missions to ensure that Democrats don’t forget those living in places like his hometown, Scranton, Pa. One solution is to put people to work on roads, bridges, airports and other “big stuff.”

Trump’s pipe dreamHillary Clinton has at least put forth

a $275 billion infrastructure jobs plan. Trump promises nothing more than a slogan on a silly hat and a pipe dream of a plan with no way to pay for it.

Finally, if you’re a true deplorable, I have nothing to say to you by way of persuasion. You should follow the endorsements of neo-Nazis, and current and former members of the Ku Klux Klan who say Trump is the embodiment of their beliefs.

A vote for anyone but Trump, as the former Klansman David Duke says, is “treason” to your heritage. He’s talking about a lineage that goes directly back to slavery.

For the rest of the Trump supporters, remember that resentment is not a political philosophy and hatred is not a sustainable force for governing. Remember, also, the words of a global citizen — Bono.

“America is like the best idea the world ever came up with,” he said, “but Donald Trump is potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America.”

(Source: The NYT)

A vote for anyone but Trump, as the former Klansman David Duke says, is “treason” to your heritage. He’s talking about a lineage

that goes directly back to slavery.

A final plea to Trump’s America

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A N A L Y S I SOCTOBER 30, OCTOBER 30, 20162016 7I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

By Mahdi FarahmandINTERVIEW

Operation for liberation of Mo-sul is considered a significant step ahead in war on terrorism

and ISIL in Iraq and many partners are involved in the operation in one way or the other; yet Turkey seems to have no role in the operation and is insist-ing to put itself into the battlefield to pursue its own agenda. Still suffering a failed coup in its domestic politics, and with changing regional policies in recent years, Turkish government seems to be following a controversial agenda which is not acceptable to any other player in the region.

To discuss further the policies of Erdogan in regard to Iraq and Syria, we have talked to senior editor of Vet-erans Today Mr. Gordon Duff who has shared his views with Tehran Times. Here is what he had to say:

What is Ankara seeking in Mosul? Why they are engaging in liberation operation unilaterally and without any invitation?

This is more than simply Ankara using ISIS as an excuse for breaking

Iraq apart and using the Barzani gov-ernment to extend rule over the Kurds as a puppet.

We have watched Erbil and Anka-ra working hand in hand with ISIS all along. I was there in January 2014, meeting with Sunni governors who admitted that there was a political move afoot to use ISIS to offset Shiite

influence in Baghdad.As we have seen in Northern Alep-

po, Turkey has always been the sup-porter of ISIS and they work inter-changeably. Turkey is there covering ISIS retreat. We are also very suspi-cious of the Kurds who openly helped ISIS trade oil and now are warring, so we are told, on their business part-ners.

Nothing here is as it seems and no conspiracy theory can explain the in-explicable.

What is the difference in Tur-key’s policies towards Kurds in Syria and in Iraq?

Turkey cut a deal with Barzani long ago. I was in Erbil in 2007 when Turkey came in then. I asked Barzani about this and he said Turkey was invited in to go after the PKK with his blessing.

It seems Barzani seems to support Turkey against all Kurds, YPG, civilians in Cizra, anywhere so long as he is taken care of. What seems to be the end game here is a Turkish controlled puppet state that will be used to lev-erage even Iranian Kurds and desta-bilize that nation, an activity now well underway and predicted by me some time ago.

A while ago after the failed

coup, Erdugan seemed to be turn-ing towards Iran and Russia, but in action such a turn doesn’t seem to have been realized so far. What is going on behind the scenes?

Erdogan seems to be blackmailing everyone or everyone has lost their minds. You choose. He is continuing to allow ISIS and al Nusra to move Ji-hadists and arms across his borders, in violation of his promises to Putin. Putin is silent.

Are they that economically inter-twined that Russia would betray Syria? As for Iran’s role, how different is it?

Months have passed from the failed coup, but emergency situation is still in place in Tur-key and public dissatisfaction has reportedly risen; how do you see the situation of domestic politics of Turkey?

Erdogan is a master of deceit and the power grab. He is bringing Turkey onto the world stage and may well no longer be under the thumbs of his masters in Tel Aviv and their Saudi co-horts. This in itself is a huge accom-plishment.

Problem is, Turkey’s livelihood was always tied to EU growth except that Erdogan has murdered the EU, not just Brexit, and it goes much further. His rise to regional power will put Tur-key at the pinnacle of nothing at all, nothing but ruin and poverty.

Is there any possibility for more challenges for Erdogan and his party inside the country? Can one say he is trying to clinch an achievement in foreign policy to compensate his problems in do-mestic politics?

With control of the press and the criminalization of his political enemies, there is unlikely to be any opposition to Erdogan. He can use his army and the games he has demonstrated so well to keep Eu and Saudi cash flowing into Turkey. All share the same prob-lems with the Kurds, Syria and Iran, and this subtext will define the post Mosul and even post-Aleppo battle era.

By Patrick Christys

Ankara using ISIS as excuse for breaking Iraq

SPECIFIC PROCUREMENT NOTICE(Invitation for Pre-qualification)

Execution of Wastewater Networks in 2 Cities of Fars Province

IsDB Financing No. IRN-0107

آگهى تدارك خصوصى(فراخوان پيش ارزيابی کيفی )

اجرای شبکه فاضالب 2شهر استان فارسIRN-0107: شماره اعتبار سرمايه بانك توسعه اسالمي

The Government of Islamic Republic of Iran has received financing from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) towards the cost of the Fars Six Cities Sanitation Improvement Project, and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this financing to payments under the contracts for wastewater networks implementations. The Fars Water and Wastewater Company (FWWC) intends to prequalify contractors for wastewater networks implementations as described in the following table. It is expected that invitations for bids will be made in March 2017.

Prequalification will be conducted through prequalification procedures specified in the Islamic Development Bank’s Guidelines for Procurement and implementation of wastewater networks, May 2009 using of National Competitive Bidding (NCB) and is open to all bidders from eligible local firms, as defined in the guidelines. The association of domestic firms with a non-domestic firm is accepted whereby the domestic firm is expected to perform at least 50% of the required assignments.Interested eligible Applicants may obtain further information from and inspect the prequalification document at the Fars water & wastewater company (address below) from October 30. 2016, 08:00 a.m. To 15:00 p.m. A complete set of the prequalification document in English may be purchased by interested Applicants on the submission of a written application to the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of 2,000,000 Iranian Rials for each package. The method of payment will be direct deposit to Account No. 1528936404, Bank Mellat, Moallem Square Branch (code 240008037112), in the name of Fars Water and Wastewater Company. Applicants can get the Prequalification Documents from Fars Water and Wastewater Company upon an introduction letter submitting the receipt of the cash deposit as indicated above.Applications for prequalification should be submitted in sealed envelopes, delivered to the address below no later than Dec. 26, 2016, at 10.00 a.m. Essentially, the Local bidders should have at least a grade 4 in water category, according to the grade classification of MPO.

Fars Water and Wastewater Company (FWWC)Contact Persons: Mr Mohsen Ardakani, Mr.Shojaee fardAddress: Beside the entrance of Sobhani St., West Ghoddoussi Blv .Shahid Mottahari Sq.Postal Code: 71868-98465Tel: +98 (71) 38434657Facsimile: +98 (21) 43850245Email1: farspmu@gmail.com Email2: PMU@abfa-fars.ir

Website: www.abfa-fars.ir Fars Water and Wastewater Co.

No City Description of Package

1 Darab

2 Fasa

Lot1: execution of 4.5 km of waste water main trunk, 52 km waste water networks and 49 km laterals.Lot2: execution of 78 km waste water networks and 73 km laterals.Lot1: execution of 4.2 km of waste water main trunk, 59 km waste water networks and 67 km laterals.Lot2: execution of 69 km waste water networks and 59 km laterals.

دولــت جمهــورى اســالمى ايــران اعتبــارى از بانــك توســعه اســالمى (IsDB) جهــت اجــراى پــروژه ارتقــاء بهداشــت 6 شــهر اســتان فــارس دريافــت داشــته و در نظــر دارد بخشــى از ايــن اعتبــار را بــه منظــور پرداخــت هــاى قراردادهــاى احــداث خطــوط انتقــال، جمــع آورى و فرعــى فاضــالب شــهرهاى مربوطــه بــه مصــرف برســاند. شــركت آب و فاضــالب

اســتان فــارس در نظــر دارد پيمانــكاران را جهــت اجــراى شــبكه جمــع آورى و خطــوط انتقــال فاضــالب تعييــن شــده در جــدول زيــر را پيــش ارزيابــى نمايــد.انتظار مى رود كه دعوت براى ارائه پيشنهاد قيمت در اسفند ماه 1395 بعمل آيد.

ــراى پيــش ارزيابــى از طريــق فرآينــد پيــش ارزيابــى تعييــن شــده در "دســتورالعمل تاميــن كاال و اجــراى كار" بانــك توســعه اســالمى چــاپ تاريــخ مــاه مــه 2009 بــى (NCB) انجــام خواهــد شــد و در دســترس تمامــى پيشــنهاد دهنــدگان از شــركت هــاى واجــد شــرايط بنحــوى كــه در دســتورالعمل بانــك مناقصــه رقابتــى داخلمذكــور تعريــف شــده ،مــى باشــد . مشــاركت شــركتهاى داخلــى بــا شــركت هــاى غيرداخلــى بنحــوى كــه شــركت داخلــى حداقــل 50٪ اجــراى كار را بعهــده بگيــرد

قابــل قبــول مــى باشــد.ــر از ــه آدرس زي ــارس ب ــتان ف ــالب اس ــركت آب و فاض ــي را از ش ــش ارزياب ــناد پي ــز اس ــتر و ني ــات بيش ــد اطالع ــى توانن ــرايط م ــد ش ــد واج ــه من ــان عالق متقاضي

ــد. ــب نماين ــت 15 كس ــح لغاي ــاعات ادارى از 8 صب 95/08/09 در سمتقاضيــان مــى تواننــد بــا مراجعــه بــه آدرس زيــر، مجموعــه اى كامــل از اســناد پيــش ارزيابــى را بــا درخواســت كتبــى در مقابــل پرداخــت 2/000/000 ريــال ( غيــر قابــل برگشــت ) بــراى هــر بســته دريافــت نماينــد . نحــوه پرداخــت بصــورت واريــز وجــه بــه حســاب شــماره 1528936404 بانــك ملــت ، شــعبه ميــدان معلــم (كــد شناســه 240008037112) بنــام شــركت آب و فاضــالب اســتان فــارس ميباشــد. متقاضيــان مــى تواننــد اســناد پيــش ارزيابــى را از شــركت آب و فاضــالب اســتان

فــارس در قبــال ارائــه معرفــى نامــه و رســيد پرداخــت وجــه يــاد شــده دريافــت نماينــد .

متقاضيــان پيــش ارزيابــى مــى بايســتى پــاكات حــاوى مــدارك پيــش ارزيابــى را حداكثــر تــا ســاعت 10 صبــح مــورخ 95/10/06 بــه آدرس زيــر تحويــل نماينــد .

متقاضيــان ايرانــى مــى بايســت داراى حداقــل رتبــه 4 در رســته آب بــر اســاس رتبــه بنــدى ســازمان مديريــت و برنامــه ريــزى باشــند.در صورتيكــه ســوابق و معيارهــاى خواســته شــده جوابگــو نباشــد ، متقاضــى بايســتى بــه صــورت گــروه مشــاركت تقاضــاى خــود را اعــالم دارد.

شركت آب و فاضالب استان فارستماس: آقايان: اردكانى-شجاعى فرد

نشانى: شيراز-ميدان مطهرى-بلوار شهيد قدوسى غربى- كدپستى 71868-98465تلفن: 071-38434657 نمابر: 021-43850245

farspmu@gmail.com :1پست الكترونيكي PMU@abfa-fars.ir :2پست الكترونيكيwww.abfa-fars.ir :سايت الكترونيكي

رديف نام شهر(بسته) شرح كار

۱ داراب

۲ فسا

قطعه 1: اجراى 4/5 كيلومتر خط انتقال فاضالب، 56/4 كيلومتر خطوط شبكه و 49 كيلومتر طول خطوط انشعابات

قطعه 2: اجراى 78 خطوط شبكه فاضالب و 73 كيلومتر خطوط انشعاباتقطعه 2: اجراى 69 كيلومتر خطوط شبكه فاضالب و59 كيلومتر خطوط انشعابانشعاب قطعه 1: اجراى4/2 كيلومتر خط انتقال فاضالب، 59 كيلومتر خطوط شبكه فاضالب و 67كيلومتر خطوط

شركت آب و فاضالب استان فارس

Turkey’s invasion plans? President Erdogan talks of dominating parts of Iraq and Greece

Turkey’s President Erdogan has been speaking about his country’s claim to Iraqi and Greek land

The leader’s comments are fuelling speculation that the Middle Eastern nation is intent on land grabbing parts of Iraq, Syria and the Greek islands.

In one recent speech, the 62-year-old said Turkey “did not accept the borders of our country voluntarily” and men-tioned the National Pact – a plan made at the end of the Ottoman Empire to conquer the Iraqi city of Mosul.

So far the global communi-ty has resisted President Erdo-gan’s desires to be involved in the current military campaign against Islamic State in Mosul, at the request of the Iraqi gov-ernment.

The Istanbul-born politician lamented: “In 1914 our land cov-ered 2.5 million square kilometers, nine years later it fell to 780,000 square kilometers.”

Erdogan’s fiery comments come as his country stands on the brink of potentially having a major referendum that could see its parliamentary democracy system replaced by an executive presi-dency, handing the ruling AK Parti boss significantly greater pow-ers than he already has.

But his expansionist rhetoric may simply be an effort to appeal to Turkey’s nationalist factions, increasing the chance they would vote for his constitutional reforms in the referendum, expected to take place around April.

Sinan Ülgen, a former Turkish diplomat and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said: “Erdoğan is a savvy politician who under-stands very well the sort of emotional chords of the Turkish public.

“This is part of an overall strategy to shore up national support that started in the wake of the elections last June.”

Asli Aydintasbas, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “Erdoğan has managed to introduce the idea that he is the only guy who can keep the country together, that Er-doğan’s survival is essentially the survival of the state of Turkey.”

President Erdogan’s support has soared since the brutal mil-itary coup on July 15, in which more than 250 people died and 2,100 were injured.

Turkey’s Head of International Relations told Express.co.uk that her country has no desires to increase its size.

13

OCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 20168I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

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Regular meditation more beneficial than vacationAs mindfulness meditation and

yoga have become mainstream and more extensively studied,

growing evidence suggests multiple psy-chological and physical benefits of these mindfulness exercises, as well as for simi-lar practices like tai chi and qi gong.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses analyzing hundreds of research studies suggest that mindfulness-based inter-ventions help decrease anxiety, depres-sion, stress, and pain, and help improve general health, mental health, and quality of life. These practices also appear to re-duce inflammation and increase immune response.

You say vacation, I say meditation…As much as this intuitively makes

sense, I’ve often wondered if simple rest and relaxation could be just as good for you. The few studies conducted suggest that vacation does result in real, albeit temporary, positive effects on health and well-being.

So when the editors at Harvard Health Publications suggested I take a look at a recent study comparing a mindfulness meditation and yoga retreat to regular vacation in terms of mental health as well as physical health outcomes, I agreed. This is interesting stuff.

The study was conducted at a resort in Southern California with 91 female volunteers who had no major health problems, were not pregnant, nor tak-ing hormones or antidepressants. The mindfulness intervention was an es-tablished meditation and yoga retreat consisting of 12 hours of meditation, nine hours of yoga, and self-reflective exercises over a week. The participants were divided into three groups of about

30 each: experienced meditators, wom-en who had never meditated, and a group who simply “went on vacation.” The 30 “vacation participants” listened to health lectures and then did fun out-door things for a week.

At the end, all three groups (vacation, novice, and regular meditators) showed statistically significant improvements in scores of stress and depression, which were measured using well-established and commonly used questionnaires. If we stop there, it seems that vacation is just as good as mindfulness exercises for stress

reduction and mood lifting.But what’s really striking is the result

from 10 months later: the regular medita-tors still showed significant improvements on these scores, the novice meditators even more so. However, the vacationers were back to baseline. The researchers had ensured that all three groups were equal in average age, education level, employment status, and body mass in-dex. This finding is in keeping with prior research showing that vacation has bene-ficial but very temporary effects, and that mindfulness therapies have sustained

beneficial effects. What about long-term physical

benefits of meditation?These researchers also took blood

samples just before and after the week-long study period. All three groups showed significant positive changes in the markers of immune function. How-ever, regular meditators also showed ad-ditional, more interesting changes. I got in touch with study author Eric Schadt, Ph.D., director of the Icahn Institute at Mount Sinai, who offered this interpreta-tion of the data:

“Regular meditators showed both the same types of ‘improvements’ at the molecular level as the others, but on top of that exhibited changes that were also associated with some aging/disease pro-cesses that also correlated with biomark-ers of aging in a favorable direction. I think there is some suggestion there of improved healthy aging, so hopefully that motivates further study in this direction.”

He went on to explain that other fac-tors that often go hand in hand with meditation (for example, exercise, diet, even exposure to incense) could help explain these improvements. “So that as well remains to be more fully resolved in future studies.”

The vacation study was fairly small and included only women, and the authors point out that more research in this area is needed. But the evidence that mindful-ness exercises can result in long-lasting positive psychological effects, especially for people new to these experiences, is compelling. In addition, meditation and yoga can boost immunity, and regular practice seems to promote more com-plex genetic effects related to healthier aging.

(Source: health.harvard.edu)

How spirituality impacts stroke

Faith and spirituality are undeniably among the most elusive things to measure objectively. Have you ever tried to figure out who is more religious among people

you know? You can't really 'measure' something like that or can you?

Age-old questions looking for whether there is a relation-ship between spirituality and health continue to echo with each generation. Many people have a ‘gut feeling’ that faith and health might be related, but we really don’t know.

Although the association between faith and serious medical problems is almost impossible to define with cer-tainty, that hasn't stopped scientists from all over the world from trying to gather data to figure out whether there is a link between spirituality and serious illnesses such as stroke.

Stroke, in particular, produces a number of devastating ef-fects manifested throughout the body. The physical effects of a stroke are caused by a relatively small injury inside the brain. Because of the hidden nature of a stroke injury, which lies deep within the brain, myths regarding stroke have cir-culated for years. Religion, lack of faith and even bad luck or punishments are among the many stroke myths that are widely believed.

Surprisingly, scientific evidence linking spirituality with stroke recovery and stroke recurrence actually point to a real link between faith and stroke, suggesting that faith has at least some positive influence on stroke recovery and on the prevention of stroke recurrence.

How does spirituality affect stroke?Spirituality is widely known to provide a sense of

peace and comfort. In a study published in the journal Stroke, 132 patients who had experienced a stroke were assessed with respect to religiousness, physical health, and mental health. The results demonstrated that the strength of religious beliefs acted as a possible protec-tive factor against emotional distress after a stroke. Simi-larly, another research study from The University of Missouri-Columbia demonstrated that religiousness and spirituality have a positive effect on mental heath after a stroke, but did not demonstrate significant improved brain function or bet-ter physical recovery after a stroke as a result of spirituality, religion or faith.

Many other scientific research studies throughout the years have demonstrated that emotional stability can foster a better stroke recovery while stress can contribute to stroke and can even impede optimal recovery.

A positive outlookResilience and optimism have been linked to spirituality,

faith, and religiousness. These characteristics have been as-sociated with fewer stroke recurrences. Similarly, one study published in the December 2011 issue of the journal Stroke noted that depression and a sense of fatalism were found to be associated with increased stroke severity, more stroke recurrence and even increased rates of death after a stroke.

Stroke risk factorsRisk factors such as stress and hypertension are known to

contribute to stroke over the long-term.And another scientific study, published in the October

2007 issue of Clinical and Experimental Hypertension sug-gested that spirituality may protect against hypertension or may protect against some of the risk factors that lead to hy-pertension, such as stress, anger and fear.

No studies imply that faith causes strokeWhile several well-constructed scientific studies have dem-

onstrated some positive influence of spirituality, religiousness or faith on stroke, no studies have suggested that faith has any negative or harmful effects when it comes to stroke oc-currence, stroke recovery, stroke severity or death after a stroke. (Source: verywell.com)

M E D I C I N EOCTOBER 30, OCTOBER 30, 20162016 9I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

We all go through situations in life when we feel discouraged or sad and we may even feel like giving up, either on ourselves or on a dream

or on someone close to us. We may feel let down or abandoned and lost.

It can be tough dealing with these emotions and we often feel the need to run from them or drown them out or numb them with food or alcohol or drugs. Some of us try to ignore our feelings by working harder or filling our life by doing more, but the emotions always find a way to haunt us. When we push the feelings down, they only reemerge ever stronger when we’re least expecting it. It’s better to deal with them and learn from them rather than putting off the inevitable by not facing our emotions in the present.

Facing our emotions can be daunting, especially when we don’t know what to expect. We can be afraid of how deep the feeling lies and the ferocity of it. But it doesn’t have to be so daunting. With a little practice and following these six powerful steps, we can become more peaceful, happier and ultimately masters of our emotions.

1. Acknowledge your feelingsTalk to yourself and describe how you are feeling. If

feeling sad or fearful admit it to yourself. This step alone is very powerful. Emotions are flags as to what we are thinking and if we are thinking negative or adverse thoughts then it won’t feel good and emotions such as anger, despondence and sadness can arise.

These emotions are coming up for a reason, so stop-ping to recognize them is half the battle. Once you ad-mit to yourself that there is sadness or fear or whatever

else is coming up, you no longer have to run from this emotion and the associated fear gradually dissolves.

Acknowledge you are feeling sad and admit that this is okay, everyone experiences emotions, it’s part of the hu-man experience. When I’m experiencing adverse emotions, I repeat the following prayer from A Course in Miracles -

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.I made the decision myself, but I can also decide oth-

erwise.I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at

peace.I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all

the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for

God for me.This alone brings tremendous relief. I then follow this

practice by moving onto step two. 2. Lean in

Once I’ve recognized and admitted to my feelings, I observe what’s going on. I tune into my body and sense where I’m holding the tension or anxiety related to the emotion I’m feeling and I try to relax and release it. It may take a few tries before I fully relax but as long as I’m present and aware, I can sense if the tension returns – usually due to my thoughts about the situation and allowing worry to creep back in!

Observing what is happening means that we don’t run from it, but equally we don’t engage with drama, fear, sad-ness or whatever else is coming up. We just observe.

3. Comfort yourselfRather than berating yourself for feeling angry or

fearful, instead speak lovingly to yourself. Comfort your-

self as if you are talking to a young child. Tell yourself that everything will be okay and that you love yourself and will always be there for yourself. Continue speaking in a loving, nurturing way and allow yourself to believe these words and to start feeling better.

4. Forgive yourselfWe are here to learn, and that learning involves

making mistakes, experiencing challenging and difficult situations and emotions. Through these experiences we learn, we grow and we evolve. Why then are we so hard on ourselves, not just when we feel we’ve made a mis-take but in our perception of ourselves, feelings of lack, low self-worth and not being good enough or worthy. We have to embrace every part of ourselves and know that every aspect serves a purpose. So stop feeling so bad and forgive yourself for your perceived wrongdo-ings or lacking. In reality, there is nothing to forgive, we need only to have gratitude for all our emotions which provide the opportunity to learn and to grow.

5. BreatheBreathe through your emotions. Take long deep breaths

– if you are familiar with Ujjayi Breath or other breathing techniques, use them, otherwise, breathe into the area of your body where you are holding the emotion or tension and breathing out – let it go. Relax your body and repeat the process until the tension has subsided. In short – prac-tice acknowledging emotions as they arise. Lean in to any feelings causing discomfort. Comfort yourself by practicing loving self-talk. Forgive yourself and others for any perceived wrongdoings. Practice conscious breath-ing. Finally, raise your vibration by choosing positivity.

(Source: angelicbodies.ie)

Learn how to lift your emotions in five easy steps

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By Monique Tello

By Heidi Moawad

By Sandra Rea

The evidence that mindfulness exercises can result in long-lasting positive psychological effects, especially for people new to these

experiences, is compelling. In addition, meditation and yoga can boost immunity, and

regular practice seems to promote more complex genetic effects related to healthier aging.

T O U R I S Md e s k

10I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

HERITAGE & TOURISM OCTOBER 30, OCTOBER 30, 20162016

TEHRAN — The richly manicured yet histori-

cal Fin Garden or Bagh-e Fin is located in the city of Kashan, on the margins of central Iranian desert.

The property together with eight others across the country have been in-scribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list under the title of “The Persian Garden.”

The genuine concept of the Persian Garden that is deeply rooted in time in-terweaves natural elements with man-made components to embody an idea of creating a paradise on Earth by the means of artistic, philosophical, figurative, and religious notions.

The history of Bagh-e Fin in its current shape dates back to the time of Shah Ab-bas I who was the 5th Safavid king of Iran and reigned from 1588 to 1629. However, some sources say the original premises date far back in time.

Due to the fact that the oasis city of Kashan lies adjacent to the central Irani-an desert, water is scarce, however, inside the garden, water superabundantly flows through a series of turquoise-colored pools and fountains.

The elevated cedars inside the garden that are up to 500 years old contribute to the scenic landscape while the profu-sion of orange trees permeate pleasant fragrance when the trees are in blossom.

The garden also embraces several his-toric structures such as a two-story edifice that was once used to be as the lodging for the royal establishment. On one side

of the garden is a bathhouse complex, fa-mous as the place where Iranian nation-alist hero Amir Kabir was murdered.

Mirza Taqi Khan, better known as Amir Kabir, served as prime minister under Nasir od-Din Shah (r. 1848 – 1896) from 1848 to 1851. Amir Kabir was a modernize figure who instituted significant changes in the country, particularly in the fields of education and administration.

He was imprisoned in the bathhouse and eventually murdered in there upon the decree of the king who couldn’t toler-ate his popularity.

The UNESCO website asserts that the

flawless design of the Persian Garden, along with its ability to respond to ex-treme climatic conditions, is the result of an inspired and intelligent application of different fields of knowledge, i.e. technol-ogy, water management and engineer-ing, architecture, botany and agriculture.

Here is a select of comments that vis-itors to the garden have posted to Tri-pAdvisor, one of the most popular travel websites in the world:

“Superb formal Persian garden - a must see”

We visited Iran in April 2016, armed with Penelope Hobhouse's excellent book on

Persian gardens, with the intent on seeing as many ‘Persian’ gardens as we could. This is the first one we visited. It is beautiful. Very formal, very classical and a very good in-troduction to Persian gardens... (Janev and Aust from Australia, visited April 2016)

“Refreshing on a hot day”We visited the place in late Septem-

ber and it wasn’t that green, imagine it is much more nice in the spring time. How-ever, still refreshing when trying to runa-way town heat.

You can also have tea inside or put your tired feet to the cold water in the very back of the park where is rest area. (Boruzzze from Lithuania, visited September 2016)

“OK but not a highlight”We visited in the morning - few other

visitors. Needs more work done on main-tenance. Shazdeh Garden near Kerman is much better but less accessible.

(Pam Q. from Australia, visited June 2016) “Well-deserving of its UNESCO

World Heritage rating”I have visited several UNESCO World

Heritage gardens and must say that the Fin Garden ranks as one of the best. Flora and well-maintained greenery, as beauti-ful and calming as they are, can tend to look the same after a while.

However the historic architecture at the Bagh-e Fin evokes the romance and splendor of the Persian Empire where only kings and dignitaries strolled its grounds…Excellent destination and a must-see in Kashan. (Jeffrey H. from Cali-fornia, visited July 2016)

Bagh-e Fin, an epitome of Persian GardenIran, land of the thousand welcome

We left Shiraz, the city of poets, around 7am. During our walking tour of the city, we visited the imposing Arg-e Karim Khan fortress with its 14-metre-high

circular towers dominating the city Centre. We immersed ourselves in the wide, vaulted, brick bazaars

with more than of over 200 shops selling Persian carpets, clothes, handicrafts and spices, especially saffron – “red gold”, costing more than gold itself at $65 per gram, which Iran has been producing for more than 3,000 years.

Older women in black chadors brushed pass us, while the younger women in contemporary full-length dress and bright headscarves beamed at us.

At the same time the “morality police”, the official enforc-ers of the strict dress code, kept a watchful eye on everyone, including us 12 intrepid travelers from Ireland and the UK, to ensure we kept our head scarves on.

We took refuge from the heat in the famous Rose Gardens, and Palace and Mosque Gardens, drank tea with the locals wanting to practice their English in their tea houses.

The atmosphere at the tomb of the great Persian poet Hafez was inspiring, where John, an English actor in our group read a poem to claps and cheers from the locals.

Wherever we went, we were greeted by total strangers, not just the women but men and schoolchildren grinning from ear to ear, hands stretched out with fresh apricots, dates, pomegranates or rose petals. “Welcome in Iran”, they would say.

We headed to the Golkuh Lake region as we left Shiraz behind, stopping at the pretty Murgon Waterfalls, before beginning our full-day trek up through twisting and wind-ing paths of the Dena Range (4,409 meters) of the Zagros mountains.

This was Yasuj in southwest Iran, surrounded by lush fertile valleys and stunning snow-capped mountains. Local families stopped to talk and offer slices of honeydew melon. Their smiles drew us in.

Continuing our trek to Golkuh Lake sitting at 2,600m, we passed young male nomads from the Bakhtiaris and Qashqa-is tribes filling their cloth back packs with wild garlic, tarragon, mint, bliss and foxtail.

Iran with a population of more than 81 million, is modern day Persia, famous for its Islamic architecture, the remains of the Persian Empire and desert towns, but also has one of the largest nomadic populations in the world.

We were conscious of a young male nomad waving at us to follow him up the hill to a sheltered area of the mountain. In front of us was a huge open-plan canvas tent with large Persian rugs covering the earth and 14 members of three generations of the Qashqai tribe smiling and motioning us to sit cross-legged on the rugs.

The elders looked on as a granddaughter poured red rose warmed thick and potent tea into metal mugs from a steam-ing samovar to pass around, and with a hand on her heart said “Welcome in Iran”. (Source: The Irish Times)

A view of the historical Fin Garden or Bagh-e Fin situated in the city of Kashan, on the margins of central Iranian desert.

By Genevieve Essa

A detail shows Arg-e Karim Khan, the 18th-century fortress in the heart of Shiraz, with statue of a photographer in the foreground.

Al-Tabari: Iranian scholar, Quran exegesisAl-Tabari, in full Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, was a Muslim scholar and author of enormous compendiums of early Islamic history and Quranic exegesis, who made a distinct contribution to the consolidation of Sunni thought during the 9th century.

Born c. 839 in Amol, northern Iran, he con-densed the vast wealth of exegetical and his-torical erudition of the preceding generations of Muslim scholars and laid the foundations for both Quranic and historical sciences.

His major works were the Quran Commentary and the History of Proph-ets and Kings (Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk).

His life’s labor began with the Quran Commen-

tary and was followed by the History of Prophets and Kings. Al-Tabari’s History became so popular that the Samanid prince Mansur ibn Nuh had it translated into Persian.

The prolific scholar passed away in 923 while in Baghdad, Iraq. (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica)

An imaginary depiction of al-Tabari

When it comes to planning and navigat-ing your trip, guidebooks have started to give way to social media. For searching and crowdsourcing tips, it’s tough to beat the old-guard apps, led by Twitter, Face-book and Instagram — all established networks that are easy to use and have a broad reach.

Don’t discount travel-focused ac-counts on Snapchat or niche-focused social apps, though. No matter your pre-ferred network, here are five ways to use social media to get the most out of your next trip.

Go online for advance scoutingAmong the networks that

use geo-targeting, Instagram is particu-larly suited to checking out locations, in real-time, with a simple search or by click-ing on hashtags.

“Whether it’s taking a peek at the food served at a restaurant or seeing how crowded an attraction might be, it’s kind of a way to visually snoop before decid-ing to go,” said Rachelle Lucas, travel and food expert at thetravelbite.com.

Move past the friend zoneAsking your Facebook

friends for travel suggestions can lead to some useful information, but if you don’t mind talking to strangers, you may find a wider array of options.

“Facebook is friends; Twitter is the world,” said J.D. Andrews, a travel pho-tographer and videographer who runs

earthxplorer.com.Of course, not all of us have Mr. An-

drews’s reach on Twitter (182,000 follow-ers at the moment). For us mere mortals, hashtags can again come to the rescue: Seek out users that specialize in the plac-es you are researching, using search and hashtags.

Trust the localsNeed dinner plans? If you’re

willing to take some risks in the form of advice from strangers, you could end up with a memorable experience. Just make sure to be specific in your requests.

“I’ll often ask my followers ‘What can’t I miss in Reykjavik?’ or ‘Where can I find the best tapas in Barcelona?’ It almost

always unearths something interesting I wouldn’t have otherwise found,” said Stephanie Yoder, who blogs at twen-ty-somethingtravel.com.

Service with an emojiMany airlines have been

bolstering their customer service depart-ments with social media specialists to respond to questions and complaints on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Posting about a travel problem may now be the fastest way to get it resolved.

“Someone from the KLM Twitter team rebooked a flight for me that was delayed while I was still onboard the plane,” Mr. Andrews said. Not all stories will have endings that happy, of course, but it can’t

hurt to try.Beyond Twitter and Facebook

Don’t discount apps and networks that specialize in a particular area of interest or help you organize your trip.

If you’re heading to wine country, for example, Ms. Lucas suggests Vivino, which relies on its 19 million users for wine recommendations. “All you have to do is take a picture of a wine label and it auto-matically looks up the wine and gives you tasting notes about it,” she said.

Snapchat now has more daily users than Twitter, and while it may be more difficult to target specific interests or lo-cations (you can’t search for snaps as you can tweets, and they expire after 24 hours), there are travel-focused ac-counts worth following for general in-spiration.

The best ones are those of full-time travelers like @anna-everywhere and @ExpertVagabond — perspectives from around the world presented in an ap-pealingly immersive way.

There are also apps that can help you plan your entire itinerary. TripIt, for example, allows you to share your travel details with a chosen circle. “It’s a great way to see where my friends and colleagues are traveling and to arrange meetups when it’s serendipitous,” Ms. Yoder said.

(Source: The New York Times)

5 ways social media can help you travel

Phone time, with the Seoul skyline in the background. Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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5N O T A B L E S

Persian Garden at a closer look According to UNESCO, the Persian Garden comprises a sufficient number of gar-dens from across Iran and each garden contains sufficient elements to concur to express the outstanding universal value of the series. The component gardens are in good condition and well maintained.

The Persian Garden, through its components, has developed alongside the evo-lution of the Persian society, while adhering to its early geometric model, the Chahar Bagh. Pasargadae and Bagh-e Abas Abad may be read as fossil landscapes while the other seven gardens retain their active role within their physical and social con-texts. Natural elements combine with manmade components in the Persian Garden to create a unique artistic achievement that reflects the ideals of art, philosophical, symbolic and religious concepts. The Persian Garden materializes the concept of Eden or Paradise on Earth.

The property together with eight others across the country have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list under the title of

“The Persian Garden.”

The bull’s-eye-shaped Orientale basin is one of the larg-est and youngest craters on the moon. The biggest of the three concentric rings of rock around the crater ’s center measures about 580 miles (930 kilometers) in di-ameter. The colors in this image represent the strength of the moon’s gravity field. Areas shaded in red have higher gravity, while areas in blue have the least gravity.

One of the biggest impact craters on the moon is mysteriously shaped like a three-ringed bull’s-eye. After decades of deliberation, scientists said they may have finally figured out how those rings came to be.

The crater in question, called the Orientale impact basin, is located on the edge of the moon’s near side, so the feature is barely visible from Earth. The crater formed about 3.8 billion years ago. Three concentric rings cir-cle the basin, the biggest of which measures nearly 580 miles (930 kilometers) across. These strange circles have lacked a solid explanation until now.

Lunar surfaceTo understand Orientale’s rings, scientists needed to

look deeper than the lunar surface and into the moon’s interior structure. With the help of NASA’s Gravity Re-

covery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, they did exactly that. In two sister studies published today in the journal Science, researchers explained how they used data about the moon’s gravity to get a look at the satellite’s subsurface structure. They then used that in-formation to model the impact that formed the crater to determine how the rings were formed.

“We use gravity to map the interior of a planet in ways somewhat analogous to an X-ray,” said Maria Zuber, a geophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who led the gravity field study. Because the interior of a planet or moon contains materials that vary in composition, temperature and density, and [because] the surface can have features like craters and mountains, the gravitational field around these objects is not the same all around, Zuber explained.

“In the past, our view of Orientale basin was largely re-lated to its surface features, but we didn’t know what the subsurface structure looked like in detail,” Jim Head, a geol-ogist at Brown University in Rhode Island, a GRAIL scientist and a co-author of the new research, said in a statement. The “beauty of the GRAIL data is that it is like putting Orien-

tale in an X-ray machine and learning in great detail what the surface features correspond to in the subsurface.”

Brandon Johnson, a geologist at Brown University and a co-author of Zuber’s paper, led a second study to use the GRAIL data to determine how the rings at the Orientale basin formed. His study determined that an object about 40 miles (64 km) across traveling at a speed of about 9 miles per second (14 km/s) struck the moon.

(Source: space.com)

In December 2015, 195 countries from around the world gathered in Paris to set guidelines and goals for dealing with global warming. Known as the Par-is Agreement, these countries created a long-term plan to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Now, using climate models and his-torical data, a team of researchers from France has tested the upper limit of that threshold to see what would happen in the Mediterranean if those limits were reached.

In the end, they found evidence that if temperatures happen to climb 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) southern Spain would transform from a forest to a desert, drastically changing the region’s biodiversity and possibly triggering a mass exodus of migrants seeking climate refuge.

The “Paris Agreement says it’s neces-sary to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), if possi-ble 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit),” co-author Joel Guiot, from the French National Centre of Scientific Research, told Frank Jordans at the Associated Press.

Sensitive region“That doesn’t seem much to people,

but we wanted to see what the difference would be on a sensitive region like the Mediterranean.”

The team was drawn to this region in

particular because it has long been a cul-tivated area in human history.

They note that many different human civilizations have called the region home – including the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans – so understanding how climate change might play a role there in the

future is, according to the team, a good place to start.

For their study, the researchers used historical pollen data to analyze how the Mediterranean region has changed over the last 10,000 years, which basically gave them a benchmark to build climate

models off of. Complex computer models

With that in place, they created com-plex computer models that took into ac-count various levels of greenhouse gas-es in the atmosphere, allowing them to analyze how the region would change if temperature levels increased by different amounts.

After crunching all of the numbers, the results were pretty damning. The team found that if global temperatures stayed the same as today – about 1 Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial times – the Mediterranean wouldn’t shift all that much in terms of biodiversity.

But if the temperature should increase 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahr-enheit) – the threshold set by the Paris Agreement – the region would complete-ly change because drought would likely take hold, eventually turning the forested area into a desert that would dramatically impact the area’s current ecosystems.

A “2 degrees Celsius warming, howev-er, is likely over the next century to pro-duce ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin that have (an) analogue in the past 10,000 years,” the team writes.

That statement means that a rise in temperature would produce an ecosys-tem that has no historical evidence of ever happening in the region before. In other words, it would seriously hurt everything living there.

(Source: ScienceAlert)

A “2 degrees Celsius warming, however, is likely over the next century to produce

ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin that have (an) analogue in the past 10,000 years,”

the team writes.

Researchers identify new species of dragonfly in BrazilA new species of dragonfly with a brown spot on each of its four wingtips and a bluish waxy body coating has been de-scribed by Brazilian researchers in an article published in the scientific journal Zootaxa. Found in 2011 near a spring on the Itororó Ecological Reserve in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, it has been named Erythrodiplax ana.

The new species was identified during the PhD research of Rhainer Guill-ermo Ferreira that was supported by a scholarship from FAPESP during his postdoctoral research.

The “discovery is impor-tant above all because of the site where the species was found,” said Ferreira, first author of the article and assistant professor at the Federal University of São Carlos’s Center for Bi-ological & Health Sciences (CCBS-UFSCar). The “nature reserve contains a vereda, a palm swamp wetland that pro-vides part of Uberlândia’s water supply. The discovery of a new species in an urban area and with a habitat linked to a spring used to draw off water shows how little we know of Brazil’s biodiversity,” he told.

He added that dragonflies are natural predators of flies and important environmental indicators. “When you find these in-sects in the wild near a watercourse, it means the water’s good,” he said.Between 2011 and 2014, the researchers compared the blue dragonfly’s morphology with those of 57 other species in the same genus. At the end of the period, they confirmed its status as a new species and began working on a description.

A combination of two traits distinguishes E. ana from other species in the genus. Particularly important is that the male’s body is covered with bluish wax. The female does not pro-duce wax and is ochraceous (yellowish-orange). “Males of several species in this genus produce wax,” Ferreira said.

(Source: EurekAlert)

Five of the biggest problems in physics may have been solved at onceA new theory claims to have solved five of the biggest prob-lems in physics all at once.

The theory was developed by a group of French physicists at the University of Paris-Saclay, and it introduces a few new particles in an attempt to unify multiple different theories to solve five of the biggest problems in physics: dark matter, cosmic inflation, the strong CP problem, neutrino oscillations, and baryogenesis. All of these problems in our current phys-ics model are in some way related to the mysteries of quan-tum mechanics.

The theory, dubbed SMASH, expands the Standard Model of physics. The Standard Model is the catalog of every type particle that physicists know about. Included in the model are quarks (the building blocks of protons and neutrons), elec-trons and neutrinos, and a number of more exotic particles like the Higgs boson.

Altogether, there are seventeen different types of particles in the Standard Model.

However, there are some problems in physics that the Standard Model can’t solve. One of the biggest is the ex-istence of dark matter. Dark matter is a mysterious form of matter that we can’t see, but accounts for nearly all the cal-culated mass in the Universe. Physicists have long suspected that dark matter may be one of the more exotic particles from the Standard Model, but so far none of those particles seems a likely candidate.

Other physicists have proposed additions to the Standard Model, adding more hypothetical particles, but most of those changes to the model introduce hundreds of new particles that we can’t detect. The SMASH theory, on the other hand, only adds six.

(Source: Popular Mechanics)

Scientists call for breaching dams to save Puget Sound orcasResearchers who track the endangered population of orcas that frequent Washington state waters said Friday that three whales are missing or believed dead since summer.

The most recent death of a 23-year-old female known as J28 and likely her 10-month-old calf drops the current pop-ulation to 80, among the lowest in decades, according to the Center for Whale Research on Friday Harbor, which keeps the whale census for the federal government.

Center senior scientist Ken Balcomb said orcas, particu-larly mothers and their babies, are struggling because they don’t have enough food, a primary factor in the population’s decline.

He and others called for four dams on the Lower Snake River to be breached to open up habitat for salmon. They said the best opportunity to save the orcas is to restore runs of salmon eaten by the killer whales.

“We know what we need to do, feed them,” Balcomb said at a news conference on the Seattle waterfront surrounded by supporters who held signs calling for the dams to come down.

Those opposed to removing the Lower Snake dams say they provide low-cost hydroelectric power and play a major role in the region’s economy.

(Source: AP)

S C I E N C EOCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 2016 11I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

If global warming continues, there will be a desert in Spain

Early Thursday morning, a new and pow-erful effort was underway to explore a mystery 1,500 light-years away. West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope was hard at work, sucking up information about a strange winking star.

The giant radio telescope is the big-gest of its kind, with a 330-foot-wide parabolic dish, making the device the largest steerable telescope on Earth. The Green Bank Telescope is tucked away among the sleepy Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia, where state

and federal laws enforce an electro-magnetic quiet zone to keep interfer-ence to a minimum.

For astronomers and space buffs, the star in question, KIC 8462852, has been anything but quiet. The new Green Bank Telescope effort, announced Tuesday, is the deepest probe of KIC 8462852 yet, part of University of California at Berke-ley’s Breakthrough Listen program — the $100 million project backed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner with support from Stephen Hawking.

Greater sensitivities“We can look at it with greater sen-

sitivity and for a wider range of signal types than any other experiment in the world,” said Andrew Siemion, of Berkeley’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Re-search Center, in a news release.

Last year, scientists led by Louisiana State University astronomer Tabetha S. Boyajian published a lightning rod of a study: Observations taken from the Kepler spacecraft revealed that KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby’s Star after

Boyajian, did not behave like other stars.The star’s flux — its brightness — dipped

by as much as a fifth over the course of Ke-pler’s observations, The Washington Post re-ported last October. By way of comparison, should a planet as huge as Jupiter swoop in front of KIC 8462852, in a move known as a transit, such a gas-giant-size journey would dim the star only by 1 percent. (Tabby’s Star is also known as the WTF Star — for Where’s the Flux. Though, we suspect the abbreviation could stand for something else too.)

(Source: The Washington Post)

In his meeting with the head of Iran and China Scien-tific and Technology Investment Group, Chief Executive of Aras Free Zone Organization Mohsen Khadem Arab Baghi stressed intensification of cooperation between Aras Free Zone and Chinese companies in industrial, scientific and exhibition fields, Public Relations Dept. of Aras Free Zone Organization reported.

Suitable ways have been paved for Chinese compa-nies in the zone in order to make huge investment, he said, adding: “Some part of this zone will be turned into an industrial and investment center entitled “Iranian and China Investment Center.”

Turning to the vehement interest of Aras Free Zone

Organization in attracting foreign investor, he said: “Tax breaks and discount in land price and other incentives are of salient advantages that have been created in line with the attraction of foreign investors in Aras.”

Referring to the advantages of the region on the es-tablishment of refinery and activity of Chinese state-run oil companies, he said: “In Aras Free Zone, we can sup-ply the oil raw materials for refineries completely and any investment is highly welcomed in the zone as well.”

In the end, Chief Executive of Aras Free Zone Organization Mohsen Khadem Arab Baghi said: “Suitable ways have been created for Chinese investors in the zone and the Organi-zation will welcome any foreign investment wholeheartedly.”

Scientists aim largest telescope possible at ‘alien megastructure’ star

Mystery of how the moon got its bull’s-eye may be solved

Iran and China Industrial and Investment Center to Be Launched in Aras Free Zone

Vice chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive of Asia Insurance Company (AIC) Dr. Kardgar will attend the insurance panel of International Iran Investment and Development Seminar entitled “Challenges and Opportunities of Insurance Industry in Iran”, Public Relations Dept. of Asian Insur-ance Company reported.

This prestigious international insur-ance seminar will be held in Kish Intl. Conferences Center on Nov. 1-2 con-current with the 3rd Intl. Exhibition of Stock, Bank, Insurance and Privatization and 8th exhibition of introducing Iran’s

Investment Opportunities. Given the above issue, senior man-

agers and experts of the company are ready to present quality consultation services in the field of insurance.

As the largest privately-funded insurance company in the country, Asia Insurance Company is grouped among top 100 in-surance institutions in the country, offering quality and deserved insurance services to the insured across the country in the best form possible, the report added.

Organizing 3rd Intl. Stock, Bank, In-surance and Privatization Exhibition

and 8th Exhibition for Introducing Iran Investment Opportunities in Kish (Kish Invex 2016) concurrently have paved

suitable way for economic activists for exchanging relevant information in the aforementioned fields.

Introducing capabilities of domestic and foreign financial institutions, achieve-ments of capital market, and capabilities of companies attending Tehran Stock Market (TSE), presenting modern banking and insurance services, increasing capac-ities for competing in Money Market and introducing opportunities in Kish Invex (2016) as well as investing in macro plans have been cited as the main objectives of this seminar.

AIC Chief to Attend Insurance Panel of Intl. Iran Investment and Development Seminar

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

SPECIAL REPORT OCTOBER 30, 2016OCTOBER 30, 201612

Science, interior ministers attended the Fourth Con-ference of Iran’s Scientific Progress and Development which was held at the initiative taken by Bank Pasar-gad, Khatam University and Scientific associations of the country.

The Fourth Conference of Iran’s Scientific Pro-gress and Development was held at Khatam Uni-versity on October 24, 2016. Attended by Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi and also Minister of Interior Abdolreza Rahmani-Fa-zli, the Conference was supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Bank Pasargad, Khatam University and Iran’s scientific associations. The conference also was attended by the President of Iran Scientific Associations Commission and Khatam Univer-sity Chancellor Dr. Majid Qassemi, heads of scientific associations, prominent university professors as well as university students attended the confab, Bank Pasar-gad’s Public Relations Department reported the above statement.

In this prestigious Conference, the following topics in the fields of employment and entrepreneurship of the graduates, convergence of government, role of indus-try and university in progress and development of the country and salient role of the private sector in quali-tative and quantitative development were discussed. It should be noted that top and exemplary associations were honored at the end of the Conference.

Science minister: Scientific associations play effective role in encouraging innovation and re-forming structural, managerial and cultural di-mensions

In this Conference, Minister of Science, Research and Technology Dr. Farhadi put the current number of higher education units and research centers in the country at 2,880 and said: “Approx. 5 million universi-ty students are studying in higher education centers in the country.” At present, there are also a large number of unemployed graduates in the country, he noted. He stressed that Iran will be able to achieve an 8-percent economic growth during the Sixth Five-Year Socioeconomic and Cultural Development Plan, adding: “In case domestic economy experiences a 5-percent growth in the first year of the plan, a large number of jobs will be generated.” He said that uni-versity majors are organized in accordance with the facilities and requirements of the country, particu-larly, the targets of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The minister noted that his ministry does its best to strengthen the relationship between industry and university and has submitted a proposal to hold internship courses in industry to the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade. He added that currently, examples of these internship courses are held in the country.

Commenting on the role of scientific associations, the science minister said scientific associations play an effective role in encouraging innovating and re-forming structural, managerial and cultural dimen-sions and providing assistance to the Ministry of Sci-ence, Research and Technology. “They also perform an effective role in resolving educational problems, promoting entrepreneurship and helping the coun-try achieve economic stability.” These associations can also offer consultation services to the ministry in solving climate problems, he said, adding: “Drought is affecting different parts of the country. We will soon experience a crisis in this respect.” Scientific as-sociations are also capable of helping the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in educational programming, Farhadi noted. “We must acknowl-edge that some of our educational programs are outdated. Nevertheless, some of them mount great resistance to change. In general, we have done our best to stop some of them.”

Interior minister: “We must respond to needs of people and Muslim world.”

In the closing ceremony of this Conference, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli asked the following question on “To what extent have the country’s uni-versity students and professors paid attention to the fact that Iranian province are capable of managing their own affairs?” He added apparently, the country’s officials, who are graduates of Iranian universities, for-get about people’s problems when assume their posi-tions and are not capable of bringing about palpable improvement in people’s livelihood. “We are the sole cause of our own problems, not foreigners. We are the ones who should meet the needs and requests of our university students and professors.” Rahmani-Fazli add-ed that it is not plausible to expect all of our universities to be perfect. He said, “Some universities are required to be pioneer, go beyond boundaries and move for-ward. Others must follow their steps. “Can we develop all of our universities with the same pace? Are we look-ing for pioneers who move ahead like locomotives? He questioned, “Why we seek to make and stimulate scientific progress and development? “Is it because we want to compete with foreign universities? Of course, it is a reasonable expectation. Are we endeavoring to develop the country by making scientific progress? Or

we intend to improve the general level of knowledge in the society?” He stressed that there are different views in this regard, adding, “Nevertheless, we have to de-termine our goal. I, personally, believe that scientific progress and development are required to be aimed at developing the country. “We claim that we are an Islamic country. Thus, we must respond to the needs of the people and Mus-lim world, strengthen the economic foundations of the country, guarantee people’s security and put improving the techno-logical level of the coun-try on agenda.” Referring to his recent visit to Sis-tan-Baluchestan Prov-ince, Rahmani-Fazli said living standards in some of the cities of the prov-ince are equal to those of 100 years ago.

He noted this is while, science is required to re-solve people’s problems. “We must take fundamental steps to remove inequalities and imbalances in our country. These inequalities and imbalances have led to the improper distribution of facilities and resources, an increase in crime and delinquency rate and a rise in migration to metropolises’ slums. “Despite all the prob-lems, we expect that domestic private sector construct more universities. However, currently, it is not taking

substantial efforts in this regard. The view adopted by the private sector is based on supply and demand. In case its problems are solved and it is provided with favorable services, the private sector will be willing to enter the field of science. However, if Iranian university and private sector each goes its own separate way, they will never meet again.” He added that since the be-ginning of the Islamic Revolution (1979), greater unity between industry and universities have been encour-aged. “Although close to 1,000 documents have been drawn up to this end, in practice, “we have failed to make any tangible progress in this regard.” This is while, industry and university are both of the same nature. However, they do not have a proper understanding of

each other. “As an Islamic government, we are required to respond to the needs of the people, to whom we are indebted, and Muslim world, strengthen the coun-try’s economic bases, guarantee people’s security and heighten the country’s technological level.”

Head of Iran Scientific Associations Com-mission: “Khatam University will be turned into world’s philosophy center.”

Dr. Majid Qassemi, Head of Iran Scientific Associa-tions Commission and Chief executive of Bank Pasar-gad was the next speaker in this prestigious Con-ference who said: “Improving the scientific level of Iranian universities is among the achievements made by the 11th government and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. “That is why we made considerable effort to obtain permit for establishing Khatam University.”

He noted currently, the university offers Ph.D. cours-es in Philosophy as well as 40 other majors. “We have done our best to employ the most skilled md experi-enced professors for the courses. This is to turn Iran into the world’s philosophy hub. Improving a country’s scientific level can help resolve a large number of prob-lems.” Commenting on university graduates’ employ-ment and entrepreneurship, Qassemi said, “To elabo-rate on the country’s major targets, we must refer to

Iran’s Vision 2025. It is stipulated in Iran’s Vision 2025 that the country must become the region’s first econ-omy and biggest scientific and technological hub.” He listed a number of the characteristics that the Iranian so-ciety must possess — as required by Iran’s Vision 2025 — as: Enjoying advanced knowledge, having enhanced capabilities in producing science and technology and

stimulating domestic pro-duction by using Iranian workforce and capital. “The country’s major tar-gets were also included in the Fifth Five-Year So-cioeconomic and Cultural Development Plan (2010-15). The Fifth Develop-ment Plan pursued goals of achieving an average GDP of 8 percent per year and decreasing un-employment rate 7 per-cent by the end of 2015.” Referring to the general policies stipulated in the

Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2016-21), he listed some of them as stimulating accelerated, sus-tainable and job generating economic growth using all the facilities and potentials of the country, achieving an average annual growth of 8 percent by 2021, improving Iran’s business market and raising the competitiveness of domestic markets.

Commenting on the reasons for Iran’s present high

unemployment rate, he said, “The country’s current economic recession has caused a number of produc-tion units to shut down or operate at half capacity. Nevertheless, a number of the production units were shut down due to their inability to keep themselves up-to-date or comply with the market.” Qassemi not-ed among the other reasons are a failure to renovate or reconstruct production units, a lack of attention to these units and a failure to support them in proportion to the market needs and the inability of domestic prod-ucts to compete with their foreign counterparts. “Ob-stacles to generating businesses are among the other reasons for the country’s high unemployment rate.”

Head of Iran Scientific Development Society:

Industry Has Generated Employment Opportuni-ties for Overseas’ Universities

Ja’far Tofighi Head of Iran Scientific Development Society was the next speaker who said: Creating out-looks is one of the duties of the leaders in any country, so that it will encourage people and also can spread unity and amity among people.”

He, who is the senior advisor to the Minister of Science, Research and Technology, reiterated: “Today, economists and development planners in world con-sider human capital as the largest capital.”

Research Deputy Ministry of Science: “Asso-ciations burden heavy responsibilities in accul-turation of scientific development.”

Dr. Ahmadi Research Deputy of the Ministry of Sci-ence, Research and Technology was the next speaker who pointed to the clarification of basic and salient role of scientific associations in planning, brainstorming and decision making in the country as the main aim of or-ganizing this prestigious Conference.

He said that participation of scientific associations is necessary in all higher education centers whether in macro and micro-level decision-making level.

Final statement of Fourth Conference of Iran’s Scientific Progress and Development

Inspector of Iran Scientific Associations Commission, Naser Partovi was the next speaker who pointed to the excerpts of the statement as follow: “Relying upon the assistance of the Almighty God, at the efforts of Iran Scientific Associations Commission and effective co-operation of Khatam University, it became possible to have the honor of holding this conference. In view of the issues and topics discussed in the convention and valuable speeches delivered in the event, the following items were identified to be included in the future plans and policies of the country: 1. improving the quality of Iranian universities in accord to the country’s needs 2. Reforming the present structure of universities’ student admission and improving the quality of higher educa-tion system 3. Strengthening the relationship between industries, universities and the country 4. Reviewing university majors and courses with an eye on the job market 5. Reviewing the indices for evaluating and as-sessing the members of the academic boards of Iranian universities 6. Setting up tax work groups of accounting financial insurance to increase synergy among scientific associations 7. Signing a MoU between the ministries of science, research and technology as well as industry, mine and trade to facilitate establishment of a stronger relationship between Iranian universities and industry 8. Preparing the ground for creating a forum for the country’s associations or setting up Iran’s scientific par-liament 9. Having closer interactions with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting to improve the cultural level of the society and brief university students and professors on scientific and technological development activities, with an eye on guiding and educating future generations in accord with the needs of the country 10. The esteemed 11th government is expected to take speedy steps to allocate the 4-percent budget for re-search and development of the country 11. Given the failure in achieving the employment and entrepreneur-ship targets set by the fourth and fifth development plans, the respected government is requested to im-plement the general policies pertaining to employment and entrepreneurship in the country’s future economic development plans 12. The government is required to set up investment units and adopt financial sup-port policies 13. Approving intellectual property laws to shore up the country’s entrepreneurs and inventors is required to be placed on agenda 14. Holding such conferences in coming years by Iran Scientific Associ-ations Commission — with its efforts and supports — must continue

In Presence of Science and Interior Ministers: 4th Conference on Scientific Progress and

Development of Country Held on Oct. 24BANK PASARGADKhatam University

By: A. Saeidi

The House of Saud regime warplanes have bombed areas in the southwestern Yemeni provinces of Ta’izz and Sa’ada, killing at least 21 people.

One of the Saturday attacks targeted the As Silw district in Ta’izz, killing at least 16 people, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

Early reports had said that at least three women were among those killed.

Another Saudi airstrike in the Bani Sayyah district of Sa’ada Province killed five people, including a child.

Saudi aircraft also targeted the Nihm district in the Sana’a Province in west-central Yemen and another location in the Shabwah Province in the impoverished country’s south.

Separately, a blast was reported at a checkpoint in the Crater district in the southwestern province of Aden, leaving at least three people dead. The details of the attack are yet to be announced.

The House of Saud regime has been waging war on Yemen since March 2015. The war was launched in an unsuccessful attempt to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s presi-dent, and is a staunch Riyadh ally.

The war has killed at least 10,000 peo-ple, amid countless reports suggesting the deliberate and indiscriminate target-ing of civilian infrastructure by Saudi forc-

es and mercenaries. Saudi embargo equals to famine,

hunger & malnourished YemenisA Saudi-imposed naval embargo of

Yemen, which is the Arab world’s poorest nation, has also led to a famine across much of the country.

On Friday, the United Nations (UN) aid agencies said that around 1.5 million chil-dren in Yemen were malnourished and half of the population, that is more than 13 million people, lived in hunger.

Three days earlier, harrowing pictures had emerged of an 18-year-old Yemeni woman lying in bed at a hospital on the

outskirts of the Yemeni port city of al-Hu-daidah with severe malnutrition.

The Middle East Eye news portal re-ported on Thursday that Saudi Arabian and Qatari army chiefs had met with their Algerian counterpart earlier in the month, asking Algiers to send its service-men to Yemen. Riyadh had previously tried and failed to recruit Pakistan and Lebanon in the offensive.

Some observers say the war has cost the House of Saud regime so much in terms of financial and political capital that it seeks to diminish its own role while enlisting the ser-vices of allies to gradually fill in its shoes.

Riyadh has already been hit by a wors-ening economic crisis due to a sharp fall in oil prices, itself a result of the policies of the Saudi regime.

WHO: More than 1,400 suspected cholera cases in Yemen

Moreover, the number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has skyrocketed to 1,410 within three weeks of an out-break being declared, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Eighteen months of Saudi war against Yem-en has destroyed the majority of health facilities and clean water supplies in the country.

Yemen’s health ministry announced the outbreak in early October, when WHO of-ficials said there were 24 suspected cases and the disease was not spreading.

On Friday, though, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a news conference that, as of Thursday, there were 1,410 suspected cholera cases in 10 out of Yemen’s 23 governorates.

Cholera is only one of several risks to civilians in the war-battered country, but a rapid advance of the disease would add a new dimension to an unfolding humanitarian disaster.

WHO said on Wednesday that 47 of the suspected cases had so far tested positive for cholera.

(Source: agencies)

WORLD IN FOCUS 13I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Saudi airstrikes kill 21 in southwest Yemen

Ankara halts airstrikes after Syria vows to ‘down Turkish planes,’ activates air defenses

1 Turkish forces crossed into Syria on August 24, under the pretext of targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group positions along the border. Turkey has been supporting the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) on the ground.

In addition to terrorist fighters, the Turkish troops involved in Operation Euphrates Shield also engaged the YPG militia, part of the United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). One of Turkey’s primary objectives in the operation is to block the path of Kurdish forces trying to form a link between their Afrin and Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) cantons. Syrian rebels, with the help of the Turkish military, are slowly making their way across northern Aleppo province.

The source told the Turkish daily that the pace of the of-fensive has been largely impacted by the lack of air support. The FSA’s advance toward Al-Bab has faltered due to the lack of Turkish airstrikes, he said, pointing out that Turkish offen-sive only secured 5km in the last three days.

Earlier in the week Turkey’s military accused the Syrian government forces of attacking FSA fighters in the city of Marea in northern Aleppo province. Despite the attack which allegedly killed two rebels, Ankara promised to proceed with the operation.

“We will not stop fighting against the Daesh (ISIL) terror-ist group due to the regime forces’ attacks. The Euphrates Shield operation will be continued until retaking of the city of al-Bab in order to create a security zone for the return of refugees,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

On Friday, Turkish General Staff said in a statement that the FSA had managed to capture around 164 residential dis-tricts since the beginning of the operation, which on Saturday entered its 67th day.

At the beginning of October, the Turkish parliament ex-tended cross-border military operations into Syria and Iraq against Kurdish and ISIL forces for another year.

(Source: RT)

South Korean protesters call for president to step downThousands of South Koreans took to the streets of the capital on Saturday calling for increasingly unpopular President Park Geun-hye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in im-portant state affairs.

The evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over a scandal that is likely to deepen the president’s lame duck status ahead of next year’s election.

Holding candles and signs reading “Who’s the real pres-ident?” and “Park Geun-hye step down,” the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candle-light vigil near City Hall. Police estimated that about 9,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demon-stration in Seoul in months.

“Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesn’t have the basic qualities to govern a country,” Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and Cab-inet after she acknowledged on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for edit-ing. Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-hand-ed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.

There’s also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on per-sonnel and policy and exploited her ties with Park to misap-propriate funds from nonprofit organizations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of in-teracting with Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House — the presidential office and residence. Prosecu-tors had previously summoned some of Choi’s key associates and raided their homes and workplaces, as well as the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park’s approval ratings to record lows, and the minority op-position Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party that has refrained from calling for Park’s resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year’s presidential election, said Park’s decision to shake up her secretariat was too little, too late, and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her Cabinet.

Park’s aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, sen-ior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy coordination. Lee Won-jong, Park’s chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in sepa-rate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Ahn, whose home was searched by prosecutors on Sat-urday, is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively. Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two nonprofits, which managed to gather around $70 million in corporate donations over a short peri-od of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of the funds for personal use.

Park’s office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon.

Choi’s lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany but would return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her. In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier in the week, Choi acknowledged receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations.

(Source: AP)

6 But that posture generates deep con-

cern in Washington and among Asian leaders who believe close ties with the United States are necessary to deter China from exerting hegemony over the South China Sea and its disputed islands, fishing beds and deposits of oil and gas.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan

is among those leaders. He reportedly warned Mr. Duterte that whatever his dis-agreements with the United States, China is no substitute ally. He’s right: The only Philippine security treaty is with the Unit-ed States, the two militaries are deeply entwined and millions of Filipino-Amer-icans live in the United States.

Mr. Abe no doubt also pointed out

that both Japan and the Philippines are involved in maritime disputes with China and both have a lot to lose if China ig-nores a ruling in July by an internation-al court in The Hague that overruled its claims in the South China Sea. To press the point, Mr. Abe gave Mr. Duterte two coast

guard ships to help protect its territo-

rial interests.While Mr. Duterte pledged to work

closely with Japan to find a peaceful set-tlement of the disputes, whether he will carry through on that or will eventually sacrifice ties with the United States and Japan in favor of closer relations with Chi-na is increasingly an open question.

(The CSM)

1 Now the UN members have reelected such a notorious country as a member of the UN Human rights body.

This scandalous political theater in the UN General Assembly is a clear indication of double standards in regard to human rights.

It seems that petrodollars are func-

tioning in the topmost international body. Saudi Arabia has successfully misused

its membership in the council to block an outside inquiry into its war crimes in Yemen. The first time it was elected to UN rights council in 2013 some critics didn’t believe it and call it a joke.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has used

the council to shield its human rights violations. Its unchecked violations have grown in size and severity, securing Saudi Arabia’s spot as one of the world’s worst abusers of human rights.

Last year, Saudi Arabia successfully lob-bied hard to block a resolution in the Human Rights Council that would have established

an international commission of inquiry.Its reelection to the UN body will help

it to block and deny further requests for investigation. It means Riyadh could easi-ly escape from all its crimes with impunity and the world just stand and watch it.

I think it is the petrodollars that define and shape human rights.

OCTOBER 30, 2016

Everything was looking up for the United States Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She was riding high in the polls, even seeing an improvement on trustworthiness. She was sitting on $153 million in cash. At 12:37 p.m. Friday, her campaign announced that she planned to campaign in Arizona, a state a Democratic presidential candidate has carried only once since 1948.

Twenty minutes later, October delivered its latest big surprise.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FRBI) director’s disclo-

sure to Congress that agents would be reviewing a new trove of emails that appeared pertinent to its investigation into Clin-ton’s private email server — an investigation that had been declared closed — set off a frantic and alarmed scramble inside Clinton’s campaign and among her Democratic allies, while Republicans raced to seize the advantage.

In the kind of potential turnabout rarely if ever seen at this late stage of a presidential race, Republican presidential nom-inee Donald J. Trump exulted in his good fortune. “I think it’s the biggest story since Watergate,” he said in a brief interview, adding, “I think this changes everything.”

He promised to batter Clinton as a criminal in the race’s final week and a half. And Republican House and Senate candidates gleefully demanded to know whether their Democratic opponents were sticking by Clinton.

Inside Clinton’s campaign, advisers spent much of the day trying to gather information about what email kept by her closest aide, Huma Abedin, could have triggered the FBI’s new interest, and to respond effectively to neutralize any new threat from Trump.

Late Friday, Clinton herself said in Des Moines that the American people “deserve to get the full and complete facts,” demanding that the FBI’s director, James B. Comey Jr., “release all the information that it has.”

“Even Director Comey noted that this new information may not be significant,” Clinton added. “So let’s get it out.”

With early voting well underway, and Clinton already benefiting from Trump’s weeks long slide in the polls, Dem-ocrats’ concerns were tempered — more in the realm of apprehensiveness than panic.

In the final stretch of a turbulent campaign, the char-

acteristically cautious Clinton had finally begun to radiate self-assurance — even ebullience — as she made her clos-ing arguments to voters. For the first time, she had seen a steady rise in the number of voters telling pollsters that they liked and trusted her.

As Trump faltered in the face of allegations of sexual as-sault and harassment, Clinton’s campaign received encour-aging reports from early voting and voter registrations. Her campaign ran advertisements in Republican-leaning states like Indiana, Missouri and Utah, and even poured $2 mil-lion into Texas. She started to focus on aiding down-ballot candidates, looking beyond Trump to the Congress she hoped to work with as president. “I don’t even think about responding to him anymore,” she told reporters last week-end.

And Democrats believe scandal fatigue has set in over the emails, essentially rendering new developments mean-ingless. Voters have been hearing about Clinton’s email troubles for more than a year, Democrats say, yet she’s fa-vored to win the White House.

Rather than panic over Clinton’s new troubles, Demo-crats expressed outrage at FBI director Comey for drop-ping what they view as a politically motivated bombshell close to the election.

Trump’s daughter-in-law: Trump forced FBI’s handMeantime, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law said the

GOP (Grand Old Party) nominee forced the FBI’s hand after the bureau announced it was examining newly uncovered emails in Hillary Clinton’s email server investigation.

“I think my father-in-law forced their hand in this,” Lara Trump said in an interview with Rita Cosby on WABC radio. “You know, he has been the one since the beginning saying that she shouldn’t be able to run for president, and I com-mend him on that.”

“And I think if he had not put that pressure on, I don’t even know if we would be seeing this happening right now.”

On Friday, FBI Director Comey revealed in a letter to lawmakers that the bureau had uncovered additional emails that are likely pertinent to its investigation into Clin-ton’s private email server and said the agency would take

the proper Lara Trump called the new information the “nail in the coffin” for the former secretary of State.

“I just think she’s had a big problem on her hands, and this is going to be, you know, the nail in the coffin as far as I’m concerned,” she said.

Anger, disbelief in Clinton campElsewhere, Clinton’s allies were cast into a state of anger

and disbelief over the FBI’s stunning announcement that it is reviewing new emails “pertinent” to Clinton’s use of a private email server.

They said they were “dumbfounded” by the revelation that the new FBI review may have been spurred by a sepa-rate investigation into Anthony Weiner sending lewd texts to a minor. Weiner is separated from wife Huma Abedin, one of Clinton’s closest aides.

And they worried that Clinton’s unconventional email ar-rangement had finally caught up to her and might imperil her presidential bid less than two weeks before Election Day.

One strategist said the developments would further ce-ment the notion that Clinton has something to hide.

Campaign chairman John Podesta and other Democrats lashed out at the FBI over the timing of its announcement and for the lack of details in Comey’s letter.

They demanded clarity, fearing that the open nature of the investigation would lead speculation to run wild.

“FBI Director Comey should immediately provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter he sent to eight Republican committee chairmen,” Podesta said in a statement.

“Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is ‘reopening’ an investigation but Comey’s words do not match that characterization. Director Comey’s letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant.”

“It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election,” Podesta added.

Clinton world was already on edge over Podesta’s hacked emails, which are being published by Wikileaks on a near-daily basis. (Source: agencies)

7 Ayse Sozen Usluer said: “Turkey’s policy towards Iraq

and Syria is based on the principle of protecting the ter-ritorial integrity of the both countries. Turkey maintains its position and pursues the same policy with regard to Syria and Iraq. Turkish President frequently repeated that Mosul belongs to the people of Mosul and Aleppo belongs to the people of Aleppo. This is valid for all oth-er parts of the respective countries.

“Turkey does not have ambitions on the soils beyond its borders. If anything will be changing in the region

with regard to their borders and administration, Turkey supports that the local people should be able to decide for their future. Therefore, it is first important to main-tain freedom, democracy and stability in the region.

“It is our responsibility as the international community to establish and maintain security and freedom in the region.

“If any powers other than the people of Iraq stake a claim on the soils of Iraq or Syria, then Turkey is in a po-sition to recall its historical ties in the region. This is not a signal for expanding Turkey’s border but it is a message to the others, who are involved in the local operations,

reminding their limits.”The Turkish government claims Fethullah Gulen, a

75-year-old Islamic cleric and former politician living in self-imposed exile in America, was responsible for the armed uprising.

A state of emergency was declared and then extend-ed and more than 100,000 people across the military, media and education system have been arrested and detained on suspicion of being involved in the plot to overthrow the state.

(Source: Express)

‘This Changes Everything’: Donald Trump Exults as Hillary Clinton’s Team Scrambles

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President Duterte’s confusing behavior

The effect of petrodollars on human rights

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

W O R L D S P O R T OCTOBER 30, 201614

From the pitch to the canvasThere have been many arguments as to whether football is an art form. The recent passing of Carlos Alberto, the captain of Brazil’s 1970 FIFA World Cup™-winning team has served to reignite the debate once again.

For many, his 86th-minute goal in the Final against Italy in front of 107,412 fans at the Estadio Azteca represents football, o jogo bonito, the beautiful game, in its purest form.

Yet decades before that phrase was coined or that goal was scored, artists all over the world had used football as a medium to reflect society, memorable moments or some of its finest figures. You can even go back to the late 15th and early 16th century to prove it.

The Chinese artist Du Jin, who was active between 1465 and 1509, painted three ladies playing ‘Cuju’ in a garden. Cuju or “playing a ball with the foot” is thought to have been the earliest form of football and a widespread popular pastime some 200 years before the Christian era.

As the game enjoyed a renaissance in England back in the 19th century, so it became popular for artists to use the game as a subject.

Thomas Webster’s ‘Football’ (1839) depicted the Shrove Tuesday games of the 12th century where the game was played with a pig’s bladder, while Thomas M. M Hemy’s detailed artwork ‘Sunderland vs. Aston Villa’ (1895) was commissioned to commemorate Sunderland winning the league title three times in four seasons (1892, 1893 and 1895). Today, the huge canvas hangs in the main reception of the Black Cats’ stadium, over 120 years on.

Yet arguably the most famous English football paintings were produced by L. S. Lowry. Although born close to Old Trafford, Lowry was an ardent Manchester City fan and produced four separate pieces of artwork which are treasured, not just in terms of appreciation and monetary value. Indeed, his 1949 painting ‘The Football Match’ sold for £5.6m (6.2m EUR, 6.8m USD) at an auction five years ago.

Unsurprisingly, the World Cup has been used as a tool by artists to illicit emotion – but not in the way you may expect. The Italian poster ‘O Vincere o Morire’ (artist unknown, circa 1950) recalls the telegrams sent by Benito Mussolini to Italy’s players telling them they must “conquer or die” before the 1938 FIFA World Cup final in Paris. Luckily for them, they defeated Hungary 4-2.

Back in 2006, Hamburg illustrator Felix Reidenbach spent 40 days painting a 2,750 metre square advert for adidas on the ceiling of Cologne’s central station. Taking inspiration from Andrea Pozzo’s Baroque 1685 masterpiece ‘The Triumph of Sant’Ignazio of Loyola’, Reidenbach granted divinity to the likes of David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi.

The Barcelona No10 is a keen art collector himself and rates compatriot Fabian Perez as one of his favourite artists. The feeling is more than mutual. While one of the painter ’s most prized possessions is a signed match-worn shirt dedicated to his children by Messi, Perez’s portrait of Messi sits in the football star ’s private collection.

“That’s not really surprising – as just as art and football connect, art and football help the world to connect,” said Carl Gordon from Clarendon Fine Art/Whitewall Galleries. “For me, it’s no real surprise that football is used as a subject for some of the world’s greatest artists. Football speaks to us all, it inspires us all; and provides so many emotions which artists want to convey on canvas. Art and football are part of the international language – and always serve to create passionate debate. After all, while we all have our favourite players, we also have our favourite artists too.”

Award-winning artist Antonio Russo pays a subtle homage to his favourite footballer - former Leeds United and Scotland star Billy Bremner – in each and every one of his pieces. Look closely and you will see a No4, Bremner’s shirt number for club and country.

The American Todd White, who has been the official artist for the Grammys and Coca-Cola, has placed football front and centre stage in some of his most popular artworks, including ‘Tattooing Footballs’, which is included in the photo gallery at the top of this piece. He has also created artworks based on Europe’s leading clubs which have proved to be immensely collectable.

White’s fellow American, the celebrated Andy Warhol, was not the biggest sporting fan but used Pele as one of the subjects in his ‘Athletes Series’ in 1978 eight years after his World Cup success in Mexico City, as he appreciated his standing in the eyes of millions worldwide.

While some films and pieces of football fiction have been criticised for being too formulaic, part of the reason why football transfers so well into art is that both are completely unscripted.

Every game is a blank canvas, anything can happen. You can have an unforgettable moment in a goalless draw or witness a moment of magic like Carlos Alberto’s goal on the biggest stage of the them all, the FIFA World Cup Final.

After watching that, who would dare argue that football isn’t art?

(Source: FIFA)

Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Javier Pastore is the subject of interest from Chelsea, an Italian club and a Chinese outfit, a source close to the Argentina international has confirmed to ESPN FC.

Pastore is “only thinking about PSG” at present, the source stressed, but admitted the 27-year-old’s future at Parc des Princes is far from certain with the French champions set to consider the his future over the next few weeks.

Chelsea coach Antonio Conte is known to be a fan of Pastore since his time with

Palermo in Serie A and the Italian tactician has already registered an interest in signing the player, should he ultimately leave Paris.

The interested Italian and Chinese clubs are unnamed but the offer from the Asian outfit is thought to be of significant financial value.

Pastore has recently returned to training with his teammates after a lengthy absence because of a recurring calf injury but the source revealed the South American is expected to be fit enough “to travel” to Basel as part of PSG’s squad for next week’s UEFA Champions League Group A clash.

Les Parisiens’ No. 10 has been plagued by injuries over the past few seasons and the Ligue 1 giants are believed to be running out of patience with the former Palermo man, with Unai Emery surprised by the player’s fragility.

The Spaniard had initially planned to make Pastore a key player in his starting XI but the mercurial Argentinian’s fitness issues have meant he has only been

able to feature in four league matches so far this campaign.

The frequent unavailability of the attacking midfielder is believed to be one of a number of contributing factors towards Emery’s switch from a 4-2-3-1

formation earlier this term to the possession-based 4-3-3 style PSG played with under predecessor Laurent Blanc.

Pastore extended his contract until 2019 back in the summer of 2015, but with Giovani Lo Celso set to arrive from Rosario Central at the start of next year, the Ligue 1 champions could be tempted to cash in.

However, should Pastore prove his fitness and rediscover some form before Christmas, he could be given until the end of the season to prove he can look after himself and keep his recurring calf injury at bay -- ultimately saving his PSG career.

(Source: ESPN)

Chelsea star Pedro admits that he held initial talks with his former club Barcelona over a return to Camp Nou. The 28-year-old joined The Blues on a 4-year deal last summer for £21.4 million.

He left Barcelona in search of more game time, as the Spaniard was behind Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar in the pecking order and breaking into the first team ahead of that trio of world-class players is easier said than done.

Manchester United were interested in securing his services, but he moved to the West London club. Pedro scored on his debut for Chelsea in a 3-2 win over West Bromwich, but he endured a tough campaign with The Blues that made him think of a possible return to his old club.

“I spoke to [Barcelona president Josep Maria] Bartomeu and it looked as though I’d return to Barcelona last summer, but I think the talks were given more importance than they really had,” Pedro told Catalan radio station RAC-1.

“It is difficult to return, even with everything you remember from your old club. If you asked me if I’d like to go back, my answer is obvious, because it is a great club where I have great teammates and a fan base that appreciates me. I’ve always said I’d like to retire at Barcelona but it is very difficult, almost impossible at this point,” said the Spaniard who joined Barcelona at 17.

Pedro will be hoping that he can rejuvenate his Chelsea career under new boss Antonio Conte and the signs have been good this season, having made three starts for the club in the Premier League this season.

The Spaniard scored inside the first 30 seconds against Manchester United last week as Chelsea recorded an emphatic 4-0 victory.

The 28-year-old made 40 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea last season and found the back of the net 8 times.

Pedro won 5 La Liga titles, 3 UEFA Champions league crowns and 2 FIFA club world clubs during his time with Barcelona. He made 321 appearances for the club netting 99 goals and providing 66 goals. In the 2009-10 season, he scored in six different official club tournaments and became the first player in history to achieve that feat.

Pedro and Chelsea have a tough trip to Southampton in this round of fixtures

in the Premier League.(Source: sportskeeda)

Pedro confirms he held talks with Barcelona in the summer to return

Chelsea among clubs interested in PSG’s Javier Pastore - source

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has become an emblematic figure at Borussia Dortmund, to the extent he wore the captain’s armband on Matchday 8.

bundesliga.com caught up with the Gabon international to find out his views on the new-look Dortmund, the upcoming derby with arch-rivals FC Schalke 04 and fast cars...

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in the game against FC Ingolstadt 04 you led Borussia Dortmund out for the first time as captain. How did that feel?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: It was unusual, but very nice. Although you are only 27, you’re one of the experienced

players at Dortmund. How do you like this role among a pack of wild, young rookies?

Aubameyang: Let’s just say that I try to remain as young as they are, but it is quite remarkable that I’m one of the oldest players. I used to be one of the youngsters, but that doesn’t bother me. It’s great fun to be on the field with so many young, talented players.

You have scored four goals in six Bundesliga games against FC Schalke 04. What do goals in the Revierderby mean to you?

Aubameyang: Of course they mean a lot! We all know how important this derby is for BVB and the fans, and

we also know that it’s going to be a huge match. I’m sure we’ll play a good game. We’re all looking forward to it and we’re ready.What do you make of the atmosphere in the run-up to a Revierderby?

Aubameyang: It’s a pretty special atmosphere. If you look people in the eye around here then you will feel straight away what ambition there is to win the derby. The fans tell you things like ‹come on, we’ve got to win the derby! We want a derby win!’ Everybody’s really looking forward to it. The atmosphere in this game is just unique.

To what extent have BVB changed their playing style in view of the new players who have arrived?

Aubameyang: It’s certainly different to last year. We’ve lost some great players and it’s true that it was easy for me to score goals because I was playing with these outstanding players. I think that we’ve brought in many good players as replacements, but I can’t say yet whether scoring goals has become any easier or any harder – it’s still too soon in the season for that. We’ve got huge talent within the team and that’s a fact. We’ve all got to work hard because we’ve not yet hit our peak. Particularly in a situation like this, we need everybody we can get because our injury list is pretty long right now. When we have everybody back on board, then it’s going to get easier for me.

Is qualifying for the Champions League the objective for this season?

Aubameyang: Of course it is! We’ve got to be in the Champions League again next season, that’s an absolute obligation, even if we’ve only made an average start to the season. I’m sure we’ll reach

our goal because we’ve got such a good team. Like I said, we’ve just had a bit of bad luck with injuries at the moment, but that can’t be an excuse because we’re Borussia Dortmund at the end of the day. Nevertheless, we do still need a bit of time.

What does Marco Reus’ comeback mean?

Aubameyang: It’s a good sign that he’s back training again. We need Marco. I sent him a message not long ago, telling him to keep believing in himself. I also told him personally how important his return is for the whole team. Not just me, but the team, the club – everybody’s standing behind him. We all hope he’ll be back on the field soon.

Last season, you and Robert Lewandowski scrapped it out for the Torjägerkanone. Now Köln’s Anthony Modeste’s leading the way. You know him well – how do you rate his performances?

Aubameyang: I sent him a message, saying ‹slow down a bit!’. Seriously, though, I’m delighted for him because he’s a good lad who always works hard. He got a lot of criticism in France so that’s why I’m so pleased to see things going so well for him. At the same time, it’s good for me because it means I’m under pressure and I’ve got to work even harder. It’s not just Lewandowski now but also Modeste, and I like that.

A fast player needs a fast car too, right?

Aubameyang: Speed is a part of me. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it is. I think I was born with it. I’ve got a passion for cars and that’s one of my biggest pleasures.

What fascinates you about sports cars?

Aubameyang: For me the noise is very important. When I come round the corner, everybody’s got to know already that it’s me. I like it when it makes some noise; when the engine is really working. I’m not a speed freak, just a fan of the loud noise.

Aubameyang exclusive: ‘We’ve got huge talent within the team’

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S P O R TOCTOBER 30, OCTOBER 30, 20162016 15I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Asian elections for FIFA council to be held in FebruaryAsian elections for three additional seats on the new FIFA Council will be held at the end of February in Kuala Lumpur after the extraordinary congress in Goa was postponed last month, the continent’s governing body said on Saturday.

Delegates to September ’s Asian Football Confed-eration extraordinary congress, which had been called to conduct the election, voted down the agenda of the meeting in a row over the disqualification of a Qa-tari candidate.

“The Asian Football Confederation Extraor-dinary Congress will be held on February 28, 2017, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” the AFC said in a statement. “The AFC has informed its member associations about the new date.”

World governing body FIFA banned Qa-tari Saoud Al-Mohan-nadi two days before the election because of an ongoing ethics investigation, leaving insufficient time for new candidates to join the six remaining in the field.

With FIFA President Gianni Infantino watching on, forty two of the 44 members who had voting rights at the Goa meeting raised a “No” card when AFC Presi-dent Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called for the agenda of the meeting to be passed.

Al-Mohannadi, a vice-president of the Qatar Foot-ball Association who denies any wrongdoing, was one of the favourites to win a seat on the new body and had cleared the necessary FIFA integrity check.

A FIFA ethics investigator in August recommended Al-Mohannadi be banned from the game for at least two-and-a-half years for refusing to cooperate with an inquiry.

Asia’s three additional seats on the new coun-cil, which replaces the old FIFA Executive Committee and has already met twice, include one reserved for a woman.

Australian Moya Dodd, formerly a co-opted mem-ber of the Executive Committee, was slated to take on Mahfuza Ahkter of Bangladesh and Han Un-Gyong of North Korea.

AFC said the new extraordinary congress in Ma-laysia would also hold an election for the seat of another FIFA Council member for the term 2017-2019, currently held by Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Ah-mad Al Sabah, the Kuwaiti president of the Olympic Council of Asia.

(Source: Reuters)

Diego Simeone demands Atleti response

Diego Simeone insists “it’s important to bounce back quickly” from losing to Sevilla when Atletico Madrid host Malaga in La Liga on Saturday.

Atleti lost their first game of the season last week-end as they went down 1-0 to Sevilla, who leapfrogged them into second place, prompting Simeone to de-mand a rapid response from his side against Malaga.

“Saul will partner Gabi in the middle,” Simeone said at a press conference.

“We hope to resolve the game in the best way. The position that Saul will play is the one he’s always played. He poses even more dan-ger than Koke because he runs more and scores more goals... We’ll see what hap-pens.

“Whenever you lose, it’s important to bounce back quickly. The guys have worked well and now we’ll test ourselves against Malaga, who come into the game at a time of growth, with good results, defend well away from home and can take advantage of spaces.

“Rumours about the Premier League? I’m thinking about Malaga, [not] what the Premier League is like or what might happen in the future ... What I care about is Malaga. Most of the dressing room has been to-gether for five years. It’s logical that there’s an affec-tion that goes beyond the Coach and players.

“We work to improve every day. We didn’t think about how good or bad we did [against Sevilla], we think and look to grow as a team so we can resolve the next game. Diego has had several very good seasons, he’s one of our leaders. Hopefully he can maintain his focus and intensity.

“Josema [Gimenez] is extraordinary, we’re counting on him a lot and now he’s back from injury and feeling better. We have four very important centre-backs and need all four of them. Our objective is to finish with more points than we did last season. If we do then I’ll say that we did better than last season.”

(Source: FootballEspana)

S P O R T Sd e s k

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Four Iranian competitors won medals at the 2016

Karate World Championships on Saturday. Sajad Ganjzadeh took the gold medal

after beating Moroccan Achraf Ouchen in the Men’s over 84kg individual kumite.

“I am happy to win gold since the competition has brought a number of the best karatekas together. My only

goal was to win the gold medal and I am very happy my silver medal in the previous edition has been upgraded to gold,” Ganjzadeh said.

Croat Andjelo Kvesic and Herolind Nishevci from Kosovo won the bronze medal.

Furthermore, Zabiollah Poorshab in the Men’s under 84kg individual kumite,

Aliasghar Asiabari in the Men’s under 75kg individual kumite and Hamideh Abbasli in the Women’s over 68kg individual kumite also claimed three bronze medals in the event.

Over 2,000 participants from 135 countries are competing at the 23rd edition of the Karate World Championships in the Austrian city of Linz.

Iranian competitors win four medals at Karate World Championships

Happiness. That is simply what Sia-mand Rahman felt when he realized

he had broken the men’s over 107kg world record at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, breaking the 300kg barrier and going even further with an astonishing final best lift of 310kg.

Anticipated in Brazil as one of the athletes to watch, as someone who could add to the history of the first South American Paralympics – 28-year-old Rahman exceeded ex-pectations and bagged his second Paralympic gold medal.

Just over a month later it is time to look back but also forward to new challenges for the Iranian.

“I always speak to my parents regarding my physical condition before an event and a performance. I talk to them about the situations I have to deal with and they help me out. I did talk to them about making history in Rio that day, we know it could happen. Thank God, and all the exercises I made preparing for the Paralympics, I could achieve my goal,” Rahman told Paralympic.org.

“As soon as I realized I had broken the 300kg I thought

about my countrymen, and also about the sports fans all around the world. It was a magic moment.”

But Rahman did not stop there. He returned to the bench to try for more.

“During the last one and a half year, enjoying the as-sistance and support of the Iran’s Sports Federation for

the Disabled and the IR Iran NPC, I hit my best results in the training camps, when I was aiming at setting a histor-ical record. Such trainings and also the promise to make history for my people, created such a feeling within my body I felt I had to keep going, that I could go for more,” Rahman recalled.

The reaction in Iran since his return is even spurring Rahman on. The 2017 season will bring the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Mexico City.

“I was welcomed uniquely by my hospitable and warm countrymen,” he said. “This kind of embracing and atten-tion to my records provided me with double the moti-vation to keep continue my training and also for setting other records.”

Further to Tokyo 2020 we can expect to see Rahman more motivated than ever.

“Surely, I keep with my elite training under the su-pervision of my coaches and I plan to participate in the powerlifting events to collect colorful medals as I trust in God,” he said.

Iran’s Rahman plans to participate in more powerlifting events

Iranian soccer players Ali Abedi, Amir Lak and Kamyab Shahabeddin have signed contracts with the Indonesian Pusamania Borneo Football Club, which currently competes in the country’s Soccer Championship A.

The 21-year-old Abedi, who played for the Iranian soccer club Malavan Bandar Anzali in Iran’s professional league, dubbed the Persian Gulf Pro League, has been attending Pusamania Borneo’s training sessions at the multi-purpose Manahan Stadium in the city of Surakarta since October 24, Indonesian media reported on Friday.

Lak, who used to play for Iran national under-23 team (nicknamed Team Omid) and Amaad club, has also been in

attendance besides Shahabeddin.“We hereby announce the arrival of

three players from Iran. Two players have previously played in the first division along one of the main clubs in East Java. The third one is a debutant,” Pusamania Borneo’s Assistant Manager, Farid Abubakar, said.

No information about the length and fees of the deals was immediately available.

Pusamania Borneo FC was formed on March 7, 2014. The Indonesian soccer club won its first title and became champion of the 2014 Liga Indonesia Premier Division on November 27, 2014 after beating Persiwa Wamena 2–1 in the final.

(Source: PessTV)

Three Iranian soccer players sign for Indonesia’s Pusamania Borneo FC

Iranian rowers have showed off remarkable levels of athletic skills and physical strength at the 2016 Asian Rowing Indoor Championships in Thailand, and finished runner-ups to pick up two silver medals.

On Thursday, Iranian sportsman Ali Shah-Mohammadnia participated in the Final A of Men’s Open Individual 2000-Meter competitions in the city of Pattaya on Thailand’s eastern Gulf, and clocked 8:03.62 minutes to gain the second position.

He battled for the honor against rowers from China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Additionally, the Iranian men’s outfit, comprised of Shah-Mohammadnia, Mohammad Hossein Haqqi, Amir Hossein

Mohammadpour and Kajvan Salimi, contested against squads from China, Hong Kong and South Korea in the Final A of Open Four Sprint 500-Meter event, and were awarded the silver medalists with 6 minutes and 43.64 seconds.

The 2016 Asian Rowing Indoor Championships started in Pattaya, Thailand, on October 28, and will finish on October 30.

Dozens of male and female junior and senior athletes from various Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, are taking part in various events of the continental tournament.

(Source: PressTV)

Iran collects two silver medals at 2016 Asian Rowing Indoor Championships

Iran’s Ashkan Dejagah wary of Syria match

Islamic Republic of Iran midfielder Ashkan Dejagah has warned his

Team Melli colleagues to focus on one game at a time despite holding top spot in Group A of Asia’s qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after their impressive win over Korea Republic.

Sardar Azmoun scored the only goal of the game despite a dominant showing by the three-time Asian champions, who now stand one point clear of second-placed Uzbekistan with 10 points from their first four games.

“I think we have had two difficult games, two tough games against Uzbekistan and Korea but we have to think step-by-step and the next game is a hard game, it’s in front of us against Syria,” the Qatar-based forward, who missed the 1-0 win over Uzbekistan in Tashkent due to a calf injury, told the-AFC.com.

“They’re also not an easy team to play and we have to focus on the next game and hopefully we can play the same way as we did against Korea. I think we’re in a good position but there are still a lot of games and a lot of points. We have to

think step-by-step and the next game is against Syria and it will be difficult too.”

Syria have picked up just one win – against bottom-of-the-table China on Matchday Three – in their first four matches and the game will be played in Malaysia on November 15.

Should Carlos Queiroz’s side show form similar to that on display in their performance against the Koreans, who they stifled throughout the game and denied a single shot on target throughout the entire 90 minutes, then Iran will be difficult to defeat.

“I think we played well from the first minute to the last minute,” said Dejagah of the win at the Azadi Stadium. “I think it’s always difficult for Korea against us because we always play as a team and are compact and we did that again. We’re happy with the three points.

“We have a team with a lot of young players and they need a little bit more experience but we are trying our best and I think since the first game we have improved a lot.”

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No. 18, Bimeh Lane, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, IranP.o. Box: 14155-4843

Zip Code: 1599814713

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Yh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / c u l t u r e

Young wooer, charm all hearts with lover ’s art, Glad winner, lead thy paragon apart! A hundred Kaabas equal not one heart, Seek not the Kaaba, rather seek a heart!

Khayyam

Poem of the day

SINCE 1979Prayer Times

TEHRAN — The pictorial book “Arbaeen”, containing photos of

the pilgrims flocking to the Iraqi city of Karbala to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS), was unveiled during a ceremony at the Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum on Friday.

Photographer Saeid Mahmudi Aznavi has taken a collection of 160 photos over three years of the pilgrims and the different routes heading to Karbala.

Islamic philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr has written the preface for the book, and the texts in the book were written by Mohammad Sadat Akhavi, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Saturday.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by director of the Art and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality Mahmud Salahi, Tehran City Council member Ahmad Masjed-Jamei and Managing Director of Etelaat Persian Newspaper Mahmud Doai.

Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period following the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions on Ashura, which falls on the 10th of Muharram and is the day when Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions were martyred.

Speaking at the ceremony, Masjed-Jamei said that he believes the book has beautifully portrayed the Arbaeen religious rituals with its significant photos.

“Noruz has long been the national symbol of Iranians and Ashura has been the mourning rituals of Iranians. And today we are in a period of history, in which films and photos can help promote the culture of Ashura around the world,” he said.

Doai also in his brief words talked about Professor Nasr and his books, and said, “The professor usually picks the highest element in each religion and writes about it.”

Researcher and expert of Nahj-ul-Balagha of Imam Ali (AS) Seyyed Hamid Khoi, also attending the

ceremony, said that the event of Ashura is the only historical event that has not faded over the years, but, on the contrary, has become more influential day after day.

“Considering the military aspect, Ashura could be one of the smallest and most limited wars in history,

but it has proved to be the most influential one, in which both Shia Muslims and all freedom-seekers in the world hold (strong) beliefs,” he added.

The ceremony concluded with officials unveiling the book. An exhibition of a selection of the photos is underway at the museum.

TEHRAN — The National Book

Foundation in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, has dedicated a division to Persian books.

The division entitled “Hafez Corner ” will offer books of Persian poetry and literature, in particular a collection of poetry by Hafez, the Persian service of IRNA reported on Saturday.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on

National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the division on Monday.

In addition, Noor Muhammad Mehr, Head of the Persian Department of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), is due to be honored for lifetime efforts in promoting the Persian language and literature during a ceremony to be

held on Tuesday.Moreover, the Cultural Consulate of

the Embassy of Iran in collaboration with the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) will reopen the Iranian Link Passage established at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum, on Tuesday, November 1.

Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organizations (ICRO) Abuzar Ebrahimi-Torkaman and Senator Pervez Rashid,

Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage are expected to attend the ceremony.

The Iranian link passage displaying arts, crafts and other items relating to the culture of Iran opened at the time the Heritage Museum was established. It has now been redesigned, renovated and improved by the Cultural Consulate of Iran in collaboration with Lok Virsa.

NEW YORK (AP) — A work by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch will highlight Sotheby’s fall auction of impressionist and modern art.

The auction house expects the painting, “Girls on the Bridge”, to sell for more than $50 million on Nov. 14.

The seminal work from 1902 depicts a cluster of girls huddled on the bridge of

a country village. It sold in 1996 for $7.7 million and again in 2008 for $30.8 million, each time setting a record for the artist.

In 2012, Munch’s work “The Scream”, one of the most iconic images in art history, sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s. It became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, a record that has been broken four times since.

Pablo Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” now holds that distinction. It sold last year for $179.4 million.

Other works in the November evening sale include a large-scale painting by Picasso, “The Painter and His Model”, from 1963. The 5-foot-wide painting has descended through the same family since it was acquired in 1968. It carries

a presale estimate of $12 million to $18 million.

A 1951 bronze bust by Picasso of his lover is also on tap. “Head of a Woman” could fetch $6 million to $8 million.

An early cubist composition by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, “Untitled (Cubist Composition),” from 1916 is estimated to bring $500,000 to $700,000.

Noon:11:48 Evening: 17:31 Dawn: 5:01 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 6:26 (tomorrow)

PICTURE OF THE DAY Honaronline/Saeid Rabiei

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Visitors look at paintings on display in a group exhibition by veteran artists underway at Tehran’s Nivan Gallery on October 28, 2016.

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A R Td e s k

OCTOBER 30, 2016

Pakistan’s National Book Foundation dedicates division to Persian literature

Ninth century library goes digital to reach

wider audienceRABAT (Reuters) — A ninth century library in Morocco, widely believed to be the oldest in the world, is going digital to make its ancient treasures available to a wider audience.

The al-Qarawiyyin library in the former Moroccan capital, Fez, is home to some of the rarest and most unique manuscripts in the world, with access limited to just the curator in some special cases.

However, the library installed a new laboratory this year to oversee the protection and digitalizing of the 4,000 manuscripts on site in conjunction with the Institute of Computational Linguistics in Italy.

“The main aim is to provide means and tools both in terms of hardware and software to digitalize this cultural heritage and to make them available in an open way to the world at large,” said Vito Pirelli of the Italian institute.

Around 20 percent of the manuscripts have been scanned so far with machinery that is also able to identify holes in the ancient rolls that need repairing.

The digital project is part of a large building refurbishment of the library, which is expected to reopen to the public in early 2017.

Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs (right), unveils the book “Arbae-en” at the Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum on October 28, 2016.

“Arbaeen” puts spotlight on pilgrims visiting shrine of Imam Hussein (AS)

Sotheby sale features Edvard Munch work that may fetch $50m

Bob Dylan now says will accept Nobel Prize for literatureLOS ANGELES (Reuters) — American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this month, has now told the Swedish Academy that he will accept the prize.

The notoriously media-shy Dylan had not made any comment on the 8 million crown ($900,000) prize, despite repeated attempts by award-givers the Swedish Academy to contact him since it named him as the winner on Oct. 13.

The Nobel Foundation said in a statement that Dylan this week told Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, that he now accepts the prize.

“A Bit More Every Day” to go on stage in Portugal

TEHRAN — The Iranian troupe led by director Afsaneh Mahian will stage the play

“A Bit More Every Day” at Sao Luiz Teatro Municipal in Lisbon, Portugal on November 5 and 6.

Written by Mahin Sadri, the play is based on true stories of three famous Iranian women. A war pilot’s wife, a murderer and a deceased mountain climber who tell their life stories while they are cooking together.

“A Bit More Every Day” won several awards at the 33rd Fajr International Theater Festival.

Mahin Sadri was picked as the best dramatist, and Elham Korda and Setareh Eskandari shared the best actress award for their roles in the play.

The play was previously performed in France, Belgium, Austria and Turkey.

Baran Kowsari, Elham Korda and Setareh Eskandari are the three actors performing in the play, which was performed under the title “Fellowship” in the beginning.

The Lisbon performance will be followed by a review session.

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“Sinus” to hit silver screens in Iranian Capital of Animation

TEHRAN — Iranian director Kianush Dalvand’s animation “Sinus” will go on

screen today in the city of Borujerd in Lorestan Province, which has been named the capital of animation.

The animated film is about Ubayd Allah Ibn Hurr Ju’fi, one of the bravest men of Kufa, who refused the request of Imam Hussein (AS) for assisting him at the battle of Karbala in 680 CE.

“Sinus” had its premiere in Iraq in mid-October in Arabic. Mohammad-Hossein Qasemi and Dariush Dalvand are the producers of the animation.

Kiarostami’s films to go on screen at Taiwanese festival

TEHRAN — A collection of eight selected movies by renowned Iranian director Abbas

Kiarostami will go on screen at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF), which will be held in the Taiwanese capital from November 4 to 24.

The festival will screen “Ten”, “First Graders”, “Where Is the Friend’s Home”, “Close-Up”, “And Life Goes On”, “Through the Olive Trees”, “Taste of Cherry” and “The Wind Will Carry Us” to pay tribute to the recently deceased filmmaker.

In addition, Asghar Farhadi’s acclaimed drama “The Salesman” and Iranian director Parviz Shahbazi’s “Malaria” will be screened at various sections of the festival.

The Salesman” is about Emad and Rana who move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant dramatically changes the young couple’s life.

“Malaria” tells the story of a young woman who elopes with her boyfriend to spend her time in the company of a band of street musicians in Tehran.

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C U L T U R Ed e s k