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16 Pages Price 20,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13292 Monday DECEMBER 31, 2018 Dey 10, 1397 Rabi’ Al thani 23, 1440 Leader names Amoli Regional people won’t We are ready to ‘fight Book City to celebrate Larijani as Expediency allow ‘deal of century’ for our dreams’ in Asian J. D. Salinger’s 100th

Council chief 2 to be realized 2 Cup: Jahanbakhsh 15 birthday 16

Iran, Syria ink long-term economic co-op agreement ECONOMY TEHRAN – Iranian IRIB reported. deskTransport and Urban The Syrian official, for his part, said Development Minister Mohammad Es- financial and banking cooperation was Epic 2009 rallies lami and Syrian Minister of Economy the main theme of the agreement. and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer It will facilitate trade transactions be- al-Khalil signed an agreement in Tehran tween the two countries and remove any on Sunday to expand bilateral economic obstacle in the way of bilateral economic, See page 2 cooperation in the long term. financial, and banking cooperation, he added. On the sidelines of the signing ceremo- “The period of the agreement is more ny, Eslami said a high-ranking delegation than 20 years,” he said, adding, “this is led by the first vice-president will travel for the first time that Syria signs such a to Damascus next month to conclude strategic and long-term agreement with marked contracts for launching joint projects, another country.”

Donations for the underprivileged up by 35% in 9 months SOCIETY TEHRAN — Over the Fattah as saying on Sunday. deskfirst nine months of the Fattah went on to explain that the current Iranian calendar year (started on March charity foundation’s budget has been 21) contributions to the underprivileged in- fully received this year amounting to creased by 35 percent, Imam Khomeini Relief 70 trillion rials (nearly $1.6 billion). Foundation director has said. The budget for last year (March Despite the financial hardships peo- 2017-March 2018) amounted to 40 tril- ple are facing the donations have not de- lion rials (nearly $950 million) was also creased, Fars news agency quoted Parviz received, he highlighted. 12

Assad authorizes Iraqi forces to strike Daesh in Syria By staff & agencies from Iraq’s Prime Minister Abdel-Mahdi Syria’s state news agency says President calling for both countries’ coordination Shahab Ghayoumi Bashar Assad has authorized Iraqi forces in “fighting terrorism.” to attack Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in- Iraq says it could deploy side Syria without waiting for permission military into Syria from authorities in Damascus. Sunday’s Iraq could send troops into neighboring announcement highlights the close relations Syria, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said, Tehran Times/ Tehran Times/ between the two neighboring Arab countries. days after the United States said it would Large number of people gathered at Imam Hussein Square in Tehran on Sunday, December30, 2018. to celebrate the 2009 rallies. On Saturday Assad received a letter withdraw from the war-torn country. 3

REPORT Ill-planned operation in Syria could land Turkey in quagmire: Turkish analyst ARTICLE Ramin Hossein Abadian EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ed positioning their forces as discussions get the U.S. alleged fight against ISIL. To know more Chris Cook Mehr News Agency By Payman Yazdani underway on how to proceed once U.S. forces about the opportunities and threats of the U.S. University College London journalist vacate the country and their fight against the withdrawal from Syria for Turkey we reached out professor TEHRAN — Turkish political analyst Semih Idiz last remnants of ISIL. to Turkish political analyst Semih Idiz. believes that any ill-planned military operation Turkey vowed on Monday that the fight against Commenting on the opportunities created Violating ceasefire by Turkey in Syria can land Ankara in a quagmire. ISIL would not be slowed by the U.S. withdrawal by the U.S. withdrawal for Ankara, Idiz said, Iran’s 21st century After President Trump said he would withdraw from Syria, where the Ankara-backed groups “Turkey will have strengthened its hand against in al-Hudaydah all U.S. troops from Syria, Turkey’s president on reinforced their positions around the potential the YPG Kurds in northern Syria because the energy strategy: Dec. 21 delayed operations against Kurdish forces flashpoint town of Manbij. While Ankara considers group, which Ankara considers to be a terrorist with Saudi killing in northern Syria. PYD and YPG as terrorist groups, these Kurdish organization, will not have the direct backing of Banking on energy Major players in and around Syria have start- groups have been U.S. close partners in Syria in a powerful western country. 7 machine ran approaches the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution at a he Yemen peace talks were underway We don’t necessarily need “religious” theory of IR: Dallmayr crossroads. in Swedish capital Stockholm between and Comparative Philosophy adds “we just need the state, controls religion.” I EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW As Ambassador Ali Shams Ardakani, Tthe resistance groups and a delegation By Javad Heirannia a more intelligent and more theoretical theory of Some argue that if the theory of Interna- president of the energy commission at from the fugitive government with hopes IR, one which takes into account more elements.” tional Relations means a constitutive and critical Iran’s chamber of commerce, pointed out for a ceasefire in al-Hudaydah. TEHRAN — Fred Reinhard Dallmayr, the Following is the full text of the interview: theory, then bringing religion into International in a recent article published by the Iran The agreement, which was the very first emeritus professor of University of Notre Dame When the religious issues did has been a Relations is possible, but if the theory of Inter- newspaper, in the real world economy between the parties since Saudi military (USA), says since modernity is not necessarily matter of great in Theorizing of International national Relations is a explanatory-empirical of Iran’s land and resources, like other invasion of Yemen, created a glimer of anti-religious, and the same is true of IR. Relations? theory, the theorizing religion in International producers, is reaching the end of ‘easy’ hope in the hearts of the Yemenis; how- He says, “We do not necessarily need a ‘reli- A: Religious issues were deeply involved in IR Relations is not possible and, in fact, there is not oil. In the new era of ‘hard’ oil, which is ever, their hope soon faded into bitter gious’ theory of IR.” in the West during the Reformation. The basic theological positivism theory in International more difficult and costly to extract, Iran disappointment when the Saudi regime The former president of the Society for Asian principle of the Peace of 1648 was “Who controls Relations. What is your opinion? 7 faces hard choices. continued brutal attacks on al-Hudaydah These choices are all the more difficult and civilian homes in the early hours of because of Iran’s enforced isolation from the talks. Christmas 2018: Iran and Syria show respect, Israel and Saudi Arabia don’t the Western financial system and from Truce lasted only a few hours Christmas is a time of goodwill to all men. Or Zarif tweeted a Christmas message and wished December 26 a message of goodwill to Iran’s advanced technologies. The Saudi regime did all in power to at least it should be. But while the West’s Mid- ‘peace and joy to all in 2019’, on Christmas Eve. Zoroastrian community. Having now visited Iran a dozen times break the political agreement in Stock- dle East ‘bad guys’ Iran and Syria, showed the It also goes against the narrative that Zarif, Contrast this consideration to people of dif- since 2004, I have observed how sanctions holm’s peace talks as they didn’t even honor Yuletide spirit, its closest allies, Saudi Arabia back in September, wished Jews, in Iran and ferent faiths from Tehran, with the lack of con- on Iran increased Iran’s resilience. Firstly, the truce and continued their brutal attacks and Israel, failed to do so. across the world, “a very Happy New Year filled gratulations on other religious holidays from the physical sanctions increased Iran’s tech- within few hours of the peace talks. Iran is demonized by Western neocons and with peace and harmony.” Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A week before Iran’s nological capacity and expertise. Second- Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brig- we’re meant to see the country as an evil, ‘mon- We’re told repeatedly that the Iranian ‘re- foreign minister was tweeting positively about ly, financial sanctions, not only insulated adier General Yahya Saree said that Saudi ster’ regime of foaming-at-the-mouth religious gime’ is ‘anti-Semitic’, but do ‘anti-Semites’ wish Jesus, the KSA’s Customs Authority was also Iran from global financial shocks, but also fighters bombed more than 40 different areas fanatics who hate everyone. Jews a happy ‘Rosh Hashanah’? If so, it’s a rather on the social media platform, confirming that prevented capital flight. So the proceeds of Yemen including the city of al-Hudaydah So it goes against the dominant narrative strange definition. Christmas trees were banned from entering the of Iran’s ‘easy’ oil largely remain hoarded during the first hours of the truce agreement. somewhat that Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad The Iranian foreign minister also tweeted on Kingdom for the festive season. 13 in Iran in the form of property investment Since the pact, over 10 days ago, the Saudis and financial assets such as gold and hard have attacked al-Hudaydah 223 times and currency. violated the ceasefire. There is a historic opportunity for Iran The United Nations only Iransaakht, at the to mobilize both idle capital, and an un- acts as a watchdog deremployed, smart and well educated Since the beginning of the outrageous outset of promoting population to literally energize not only war against the innocent and defenseless Iran, but the entire region, in an Energy people of Yemen in March 2015, the UN domestic Revolution. has not taken any of its major organiza- products: VP This Energy Revolution requires a tional, legal and human rights respon- 21st century energy strategy and the sibilities towards the Yemeni people. TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN – Iransaakht necessary institutions and instruments In some way, the organization has only deskfestival is at the outset to implement this strategy. acted as a spectator, because it is under of promoting domestic products, the vice Resilience is not a strategy. It is the political and financial influence of the president for science and technology Sourena an aim of strategy and policy which leads transatlantic allies of Riyadh. Even after Sattari said, IRNA reported on Saturday. to security and independence from dom- the ceasefire agreement, the UN continues The closing ceremony of the Iran- ination by external forces. to play the same role. saakht festival, an event focusing on The case of Denmark illustrates in The UN’s passivity in the face of the Iranian products and technology, was practice how resilience may be achieved crimes committed by the Saudis and their held on Sunday. after the 1973 Oil Shock – a 400% increase allies happens when shocking reports of Introducing domestic products need a in oil prices - exposed Denmark’s 90% deteriorating humanitarian situation come huge social movement and the festival is reliance on fossil fuels. out every day in Yemen. For example, the a good beginning for promoting Iranian Denmark addressed the challenge United Nations International Children’s products, he explained. with a new energy strategy based upon Emergency Fund, UNICEF, has released Mojtaba Mohammadloo A new generation of entrepreneurs in the principle of resource resilience. The a report saying, “More than 11 million Yemeni Iran are now important part of economy Danes mandated that for any given use children are suffering from food shortage, of heat, transport, power, light and other IRNA/ with their innovation and use of technol- and every 10 minutes a child in Yemen dies ogy, he added. 10 energy services the use of oil & gas as a from preventable illnesses. 7 commodity would be minimized. 13 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y POLITICS DECEMBER 31, 2018 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS No regional Regional people won’t allow ‘deal of decision can be enforced without century’ to be realized: Shamkhani Iran: official POLITICS TEHRAN — Ali Sham- oppressed people and will continue to do POLITICS TEHRAN — Hadi Sadeqi, the Judiciary deskkhani, the secretary of so until the resistance movement gains deskchief’s deputy for cultural affairs, said on the Supreme National Security Council, complete victory,” he said. Sunday that today no decision can be enforced in the region said on Sunday that the vigilant people Leader of the Islamic Revolution without the will and involvement of Iran. in regional countries will prevent a real- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in July that Iran has played a key role in annihilating Daesh (ISIL) ization of “deal of the century”. “deal of the century” for the Palestinian and other Takfiri terrorist groups in the region and at the U.S. President Donald Trump has territories will not come true. same time supporting resistance forces in Syria, Lebanon proposed to establish a Palestinian state “The Americans have named their devil and Palestine, Sadeqi said, according to IRNA. with limited sovereignty over around half policy on Palestine ‘deal of the century’ Today the U.S. has begun to pull out its forces from Syria of the West Bank and Abu Dis as its capital but they should know that, by divine after seven years and even some Arab countries are reopening and has called his plan “deal of century”. grace, this ‘deal of the century’ will never embassies in Syria, Sadeqi said. During a meeting with Ziad al-Nakhala, materialize,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. He added many of these events are results of the pru- secretary general of the Islamic Jihad ‘Iran is true supporter of dence of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah movement, Shamkhani said that “deal Palestinian cause’ Ali Khamenei. of the century” would be a serious hit to For his part, Nakhala said that Iran is Palestinians. a true supporter of the Palestinian cause. The Zionist regime’s media outlets are He also said that the resistance front 40 best military making efforts to hide crimes against the has strengthened its capacities against Palestinians by brutalities of Takfiri groups. the aggressors. commanders He noted that the resistance front is Pointing to efforts being made by more successful than ever and will speed certain Western and Arab countries named up the process of realizing the Palestinians’ Islamic Jihad leader (L) in meeting with Shamkhani in Tehran on Sunday to defeat the resistance front, he said, wish to liberate the occupied lands. “The Palestinian people will continue The security chief also said that principled policy of Iran. Republic of Iran’s establishment, we have their glorious path more determinedly POLITICS TEHRAN — Forty of the best com- supporting the resistance front is a “From the outset of the Islamic been beside the Palestinian resilient and to achieve victory.” deskmanders of the Iranian armed forces were awarded in a ceremony at the Armed Forces Head- quarters on Sunday, IRNA reported. Leader names Amoli Larijani as Expediency Council chief Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Baqeri, Army POLITICS TEHRAN — In a decree issued Hashemi Shahroudi who passed away at the age of approvals rejected by the Guardian Council. Chief Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Islamic Revolution Guards deskon Sunday, Leader of the Islam- 70 on December 24. The Guardian Council is a vetting body tasked with Corps (IRGC) Second-in-Command Hossein Salami, and ic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Ayatollah Amoli Larijani is currently Judiciary chief. interpreting the Constitution, supervising elections of, Commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani as chairman of the The Expediency Council deals with major strategies and approving of candidates to, the Assembly of Experts, Ali Rashid attended the ceremony. Expediency Council and a member of the Guardian and policy lines of the country. It is also vested with the President and the Parliament, and ensuring the com- The IRGC Navy was named the best unit of the force and Council’s jurists. the responsibility to resolve differences between the patibility of the legislation passed by the parliament with the Army Ground Force as well as Army Aviation were also Larijani replaces Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud parliament and the Guardian Council over parliament the criteria of Islam and the Constitution. named the best units.

‘Aiding Gram Envoy blasts media silence over Saudis’ deploying Darfur children in Yemen POLITICS TEHRAN — Iran’s am- in the Yemeni war,” Baidinejad wrote Rapid Support Forces, a tribal militia on Yemen has smothered humanitarian cryptocurrency deskbassador to London has on Twitter on Sunday. blamed for war crimes during the Darfur deliveries of food and medicine to the blasted the foreign-based Persian-lan- He went on to stress that the silence of conflict, the report added. import-dependent state. constitutes guage media for their silence over the foreign-based Persian-language media Saudi Arabia has been striking Yem- The UN has repeatedly criticized the deployment of Darfur child soldiers at outlets over the issue is strange since they en since March 2015 to restore power Saudi-UAE-led military coalition’s bomb- criminal act’ front line of war in Yemen. claim to be concerned about the regional to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a ing campaign and placed it on a blacklist POLITICS TEHRAN — Secretary of Criminal Con- Hamid Baidinejad’s remarks came after impacts of the war. close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggres- of child rights violators last year. desktent Definition Task Force has said any the New York Times wrote on Friday that The New York Times reported that sion has so far killed more than 20,000 A UN panel has also compiled a detailed cooperation with Telegram messaging app to launch Gram, child soldiers from Sudan’s Darfur have the Saudis have used their vast oil wealth Yemenis, including hundreds of women report of civilian casualties caused by the the messaging app’s cryptocurrency, in Iran constitutes an reportedly been fighting on behalf of Saudi to outsource the war, mainly by hiring and children. Despite Riyadh’s claims Saudi military and its allies during their action against national security and will be dealt with as a Arabia and its allies in the frontline of survivors of the Darfur conflict to operate that it is bombing the positions of the war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led disruption to national economy. the deadly war on Yemen, with money in Yemen, many of them children. Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are coalition has used precision-guided mu- “One of the most important factors in banning Telegram being their only motive. Citing several Sudanese mercenaries flattening residential areas and civilian nitions in its raids on civilian targets. was a sense of serious economic threat from its activities, “The New York Times report has creat- and lawmakers, the report said that as infrastructures. A number of Western countries, the which was unfortunately marginalized and neglected due to ed great outrage among researchers and many as 14,000 Sudanese militants have Yemen is host to the world’s largest U.S., the UK, and France in particular, the fuss in the political atmosphere of the country,” Javad the media at the silence of the U.S. and been fighting in Yemen alongside Sau- humanitarian crisis with more than 22 are accused of being complicit in the Javidnia said, Fars reported on Sunday. Europe over the Saudi coalition’s deploy- di-backed forces while at least hundreds million people in need and is seeing a spike ongoing aggression as they supply the Earlier this year, the Judiciary issued an order to ban ment of insurgent Darfur mercenaries who of them have been killed so far. in needs, fueled by ongoing conflict, a Riyadh regime with advanced weapons Telegram to protect national security. have [previously] violated human rights, Almost all the Sudanese come from collapsing economy and diminished social and military equipment as well as logistical especially the deployment of children, Darfur and most of them belong to the services and livelihoods. The blockade and intelligence assistance. Habibi re-elected Jubeir’s dismissal could help restore Iranian military chief downplays U.S. Coalition Party Tehran-Riyadh ties: analyst pullout from Syria chief POLITICS TEHRAN — A senior POLITICS TEHRAN — Chief deskpolitical analyst believes deskof Staff of the Iranian the dismissal of Saudi Foreign Minister Armed Forces said on Sunday that with- POLITICS TEHRAN — Members of the Islamic Adel al-Jubeir could be a step toward resto- drawal of U.S. forces from Syria is not a desk Coalition Party have voted to re-elect ration of ties between Tehran and Riyadh. big issue while there are still many U.S. Mohammad Nabi Habibi as the party’s secretary general, In an interview with ILNA published forces in the region. ISNA reported on Sunday. on Sunday, Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, “The U.S. pullout from Syria is not a During a meeting, the members of the party also voted professor of political science and interna- significant action when there are many to elect Asadollah Badamchian as the chief and Mostafa tional law, said after the murder of Jamal U.S. forces in the region,” Mohammad Mir-Salim as the deputy chief of the party’s central council. Khashoggi the kingdom has faced many Baqeri said at a conference. They also elected other members of the party’s pre- problems, especially in its foreign policy. On December 19, President Donald siding board. “In order to save face in such circum- watch, he emphasized. Trump announced that U.S. troops had insecurity in the region,” said Qassemi in a The Islamic Coalition Party is a conservative political party stances, someone had to be sacrificed… On Washington-Riyadh relations, he defeated the Daesh terrorists in Syria statement posted on the Foreign Ministry which is the pivotal organization within Front of Followers Hence all the fingers pointed toward Adel said, “When the Saudis see that they are and he sought to pull some 2,000 U.S. website on December 22. of the Line of the Imam and the Leader. al-Jubeir, especially since he was not a condemned in the U.S. Congress and that troops out of Syria. Russia has also welcomed the decision member of the royal family,” Hermidas-Ba- U.S. senators are trying to cut off arms sales Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman by the U.S. to withdraw its forces from vand remarked. to them, they will react to these issues.” Bahram Qassemi has welcomed Trump’s Syria, saying it creates prospects for a Over 4.6 tons of He said while al-Jubeir had served as Saudi Hermidas-Bavand further said Riyadh decision, saying the U.S. military presence political settlement of the crisis there, ambassador to the United States, he lacked may try to re-establish relations with Tehran in the Middle East fuels insecurity. the Russian Foreign Ministry said on drugs seized political wisdom. “A foreign ministry’s job in order to show its dissatisfaction with “Basically, U.S. forces’ arrival and pres- December 19. is to improve relations not to intensify the U.S. policies. ence in the region was a wrong, illogical, According to Reuters, the ministry also differences, as he did with regard to Iran.” “However, one should know that such tension-provoking and crisis-inducing move said that an initiative to form a Syrian con- Improvement of ties between Iran and measure would be out of pressure, not from the outset, and has always been one stitutional committee had a bright future Saudi Arabia was not possible under his satisfaction,” he added. of the key contributors to instability and with the U.S. troop withdrawal. POLITICS TEHRAN — The Iranian police have deskconfiscated 4,650 kilograms of narcot- ics in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran, the Pakistan army chief sees better military ties with Iran provincial police chief said on Sunday. POLITICS TEHRAN — Pakistan’s chief of Army attacks targeting the countries’ security forces, with the group near Mirjaveh in April 2017, with the assailants fleeing “Following the information received about a large depot of desk narcotics, the police started an operation,” said Mohammad Staff says his country’s cooperation Iranian border guards paying the highest toll. into Pakistan after the attack. Qanbari, adding that when being chased the drug traffickers with Iran has strengthened and will continue to enhance Most recently, six Pakistani soldiers were killed when a Iran says it reserves the right to pursue such attackers opened fire on the police. regional security. paramilitary convoy came under attack by gunmen during back into neighboring countries. It announced full prepar- Four people were arrested and two Peugeot sedans were “The situation will improve in the future,” General a routine patrol in the mountainous district of Kech. edness for joint anti-terror operations with Pakistan after also confiscated, Qanbari stated. Qamar Javed Bajwa told Balochistan Chief Minister Jam In October, 12 Iranian border guards were abducted terrorists killed the Pakistani troops recently. Kamal Khan in the army’s general headquarters in the near the town of Mirjaveh in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Bajwa said maintaining the province’s security was the western Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Saturday, Press province and taken into Pakistan in April. Five of the focus of the Pakistani army, adding that the country’s progress TV quoted him as saying. guards were released last month, but the rest remain was linked to peace, stability, and progress in Balochistan. No ground for “I am positive that security and military cooperation in captivity, despite Pakistan’s repeated promises to “Enhanced security coordination on the Pakistani-Iranian UN to restrict with Iran will improve the situation on the common have them freed. border would further improve the security situation,” he said, border,” he added. In the deadliest incident, 11 Iranian border guards were adding the fencing of Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan Iran over nuclear Over the past years, the border area has witnessed several killed in an ambush claimed by the Jaish ul-Adl terrorist would also contribute to the situation. program: Russia POLITICS The Russian ambassador to the United Epic 2009 rallies marked desk Nations has strongly ruled out the exist- POLITICS TEHRAN —Hundreds presidential election. Insistence on vote rigging was described er. They signed the JCPOA [the 2015 ence of any grounds on which to accuse Iran of a violation deskof thousands of people The 2009 rally in Tehran is remembered as a “sedition” intended to divide the society. nuclear deal] and then quit it, which of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231. took to the streets on Sunday to mark the as an “epic” occasion as it put an end to Brigadier General Hossein Salami, shows their confusion. The U.S. spent “On my part, I would like to stress that so far no one has anniversary of mass rallies staged on De- months of protests. the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps trillions of dollars in Iraq and Syria, but presented to the Security Council any significant facts of the cember 30, 2009, to guard the principles Before Dey 9, the protests were abused second-in-command, addressed the had to leave the countries without having so-called Iranian violations. Therefore, we see no reason of the Islamic Revolution and reinforce by the ill-wishers, including the Mojahe- Sunday congregation in Tehran, saying achieved anything, which shows their even to start a theoretical discussion on imposing restric- their solidarity with the system. din Khalq Organization (MKO), who has a Iran is powerful enough to stand against strategic defeat,” he said. tive measures against Tehran,” Vassily Nebenzia said on On that day in 2009, known as the “Dey record in many terrorist activities in Iran enemies in various areas, so much so that U.S. President Donald Trump on De- Saturday, addressing the UN. 9” in the Persian calendar, people took to and siding with Saddam Hussein in the the military option against the country is cember 19 announced that U.S. troops had The Russian diplomat reiterated that the U.S. needs to stop the streets in huge numbers in Tehran to war against Iran in the 1980s. not in enemies’ language anymore. defeated the Daesh terrorists in Syria and pressure and threats against Iran and resume constructive show their strong protest against those The months-long protests sometimes “Today, the hegemonic system is he sought to pull some 2,000 U.S. troops talks with the Islamic Republic. who were claiming vote rigging in the turned violent and led to some deaths. confused and has to admit Iran’s pow- out of Syria. 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Assad authorizes Iraqi forces to UAE regulator evaluating resuming flights by national strike Daesh in Syria carriers to Damascus 1 Iraq was “considering all its options” The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority to defend itself from threats across its borders, (GCAA) said it is evaluating the possibility of national carriers the premier told a press conference resuming flights to the Syrian capital of Damascus. Baghdad has already reinforced its Syri- GCAA made the comment in a statement on Sunday, following an border to defend against remaining ISIL the UAE’s reopening on Thursday of its embassy in Damascus. (Daesh) pockets in the Euphrates River valley. UAE airlines Etihad and Emirates suspended flights to Da- Iraq remains concerned that ISIL could mascus in 2012 because of security concerns. expand its footprint in the war zone, Abdul (Source: Reuters) Mahdi said. U.S. seeking to resurrect Daesh in Iraq Leader of a major political party in Iraq N. Korean leader calls for has said that there has been clear intelligence evidence suggesting that the United States more talks with South in new is trying to resurrect Daesh-led militancy in the Arab country after the Takfiri terrorist year group was defeated in neighboring Syria. Humam al-Hamoudi, who chairs the North Korean leader Kim Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, said on Jong Un said he wants to Saturday that Washington’s main strategy hold more summits with in Iraq has been to make the Arab country South Korea’s Moon Jae- dependent on American military presence in next year to achieve by keeping militancy alive in parts of the the goal of denucleariza- Iraqi territory. tion of the Korean penin- Speaking to the Iranian television, Ham- sula, Moon’s office said oudi said many Daesh militants fled to Syria Sunday. after being defeated in Iraq over the past years. Kim sent a letter to A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on December 29, 2018 shows President Bashar Assad (R) meeting However, he said, the militants are mulling Moon on Sunday to com- with Iraqi national security advisor Faleh al-Fayad in Damascus. (AFP/SANA) a comeback to Iraq with the help of the U.S. memorate the dramatic after they lost most of their positions in Syria. “We honor our religious and cultural Addressing previous calls for an emer- western Anbar Province, stopping short of detente they engineered “After our victory against Daesh and the bonds with Iran,” said Hamoudi, adding, gency parliamentary session on Trump’s visiting the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. this year, including three purge of militants into Syria, some relative- “we will not team up with Iran’s enemies in visit, al-Fatah Alliance lawmaker Hamed A scheduled meeting between Trump and summits, after years of ly accurate intelligence were received from issues like sanctions but we will try to make al-Mousawi confirmed that an emergency Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi was confrontation marked by there that the U.S. was trying to dispatch this plot a failure.” session may probably be held and that Iraq scrapped. The two only talked over the phone. a series of the North’s nuclear and missile tests. Daesh to Iraq through the joint borders so Trump’s Iraq visit unites Iraqi has the means to expel the U.S. forces “with- Abdul-Mahdi’s office said in a statement But stalled nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington that Iraq would continue to face a problem lawmakers against U.S. troop presence out using force.” that the cancellation came as a result of a “dis- had an impact on inter-Korean ties, with the South’s plan to host called Daesh and seeks help from the U.S. Iraqi lawmakers have demanded that “Iraq isn’t like before and the Ameri- agreement over how to conduct the meeting.” Kim in Seoul this year - as agreed at his summit with President Moon and others,” said Hamoudi. United States forces be expelled from the cans know very well that Iraq possesses the The U.S., backed by the UK, invaded Jae-in in Pyongyang in September - going unanswered by the North. Elsewhere in his remarks, Hamoudi country in response to U.S. President Donald strength which the world witnessed when it Iraq in 2003 under the pretext that the Kim vowed to work towards denuclearization at his landmark touched upon Iran’s role in Iraq and Wash- Trump’s abrupt visit, seen as a violation of faced all hardships,” said al-Mousawi. former regime of Saddam Hussein pos- summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June ington’s efforts to drive a wedge between the national sovereignty. Islah parliamentary bloc leader Sabah sessed weapons of mass destruction. No but the two sides have since made little progress, struggling to two neighboring countries. “We will not accept any foreign forces al-Saedi, head of one of two main blocs in such weapons, however, were ever found reschedule a high-level meeting abruptly called off in November. The Iraqi politician said there were huge in Iraq,” said Bina parliamentary bloc lead- Iraq’s parliament, also slammed the visit and in the country. Kim said in the letter that he was sorry his visit to Seoul did commonalities between Iran and Iraq, espe- er Hadi al-Amiri. called for an emergency parliamentary session. The invasion led to the rise of terrorist not take place, expressing his “strong resolve” to make it happen cially in terms of religion, adding that bonds Secretary-General of the People’s Party “Trump needs to know his limits. The groups such as Daesh. in the future while monitoring the situation, Moon’s office said. between the two nations even deepened in for Reform Faiq al-Sheikh Ali also called American occupation of Iraq is over,” said The U.S. and a coalition of its allies fur- “Chairman Kim said he is willing to meet often with Pres- recent years after Tehran offered massive for measures to be taken against Trump’s Saedi, adding that Trump had slipped into ther launched a military campaign against ident Moon next year to move forward discussions on peace help to Baghdad in its fights against terror. unannounced visit. Iraq “as though Iraq is a state of the United purported Daesh targets in Iraq in 2014, but and prosperity and resolve the issue of denuclearization of the He said his party and many others in Iraq “Trump entered Iraq, rested here and did States.” their operations have in many instances led Korean peninsula,” Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in were opposed to U.S. sanctions against Iran what he wanted to do, yet no one prevented On Wednesday, Trump spent a few hours to civilian deaths and generally spared the a statement. and will do their best to undermine them. him. Everyone just criticized him.” visiting troops at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq’s terrorists. (Source: Daily star) Trump says ‘big progress’ on possible China trade deal U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had a “long The shutdown, affecting about one-quarter of the federal gov- and very good call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that ernment including 800,000 or so workers, began when funding a possible trade deal between the United States and China was for several agencies expired. progressing well. Congress must pass legislation to restore that funding, As a partial shutdown of the U.S. government entered its eighth but has not done so due to a dispute over Trump’s demand day, with no quick end in sight, the Republican president was in that the bill include $5 billion in taxpayer money to help pay Washington, sending out tweets attacking Democrats and talking for a wall he wants to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. up possibly improved relations with China. The wall was a major 2016 campaign promise of Trump’s, The two nations have been in a trade war for much of 2018, who promised then that it would be paid for by Mexico, which shaking world financial markets as the flow of hundreds of bil- has steadfastly refused to do so. Trump has since demanded that lions of dollars worth of goods between the world’s two largest U.S. taxpayers pay for it at an estimated total cost of $23 billion. economies has been disrupted by tariffs. He sees the wall as vital to stemming illegal immigration, while Trump and Xi agreed to a ceasefire in the trade war, deciding Democrats and some Republicans see it as an impractical and to hold off on imposing more tariffs for 90 days starting Dec. 1 costly project. The standoff over Trump’s demand for funding while they negotiate a deal to end the dispute following months will be a test for Congress when it returns next week. of escalating tensions. “Just had a long and very good call with Trump tweeted on Saturday that the deaths of two migrant President Xi of China,” Trump wrote on Saturday. “Deal is moving children this month who had been taken into U.S. custody after along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all trying to cross the southern border were “strictly the fault of the subjects, areas and points of dispute. Big progress being made!” Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies.” Chinese state media also said Xi and Trump spoke on Saturday, It was unclear exactly which policies Trump was referring and quoted Xi as saying that teams from both countries have to, but his aides have referred to U.S. laws and court rulings - been working to implement a consensus reached with Trump. including laws passed with bipartisan support - that govern the “I hope that the two teams will meet each other half way, conditions under which children and families can be detained work hard, and strive to reach an agreement that is mutually as “loopholes” that encourage illegal immigration. beneficial and beneficial to the world as soon as possible,” Xi On Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. visited Border Patrol stations in Texas after her agency instituted China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday the two countries’ expanded medical checks of migrant children following the two relationship had endured storms before, but that strong ties were deaths. She is also due to visit Yuma, Arizona, the Department of important for the economies of both nations and for ensuring Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday. global stability and peace. In the interim, thousands of employees of federal agencies Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Sino-U.S. ties now such as the Homeland Security, Justice, Commerce, Interior, “stand at a historic new starting point” and that the two sides Transportation, Agriculture and other departments were stay- should respect each other’s sovereignty, security and development ing at home on furlough or soon to be working without pay. interest and appropriately manage differences. For instance, members of the U.S. Coast Guard will receive “Both sides should stick to rationally and objectively viewing their final paychecks of the year on Monday, the service said in a the other side’s strategic intentions, strengthen strategic commu- statement on its website on Friday after previously warning that nication and promote strategic mutual trust to prevent strategic payments would be delayed due to the shutdown. misjudgments,” he said in a statement. “The administration, the Department of Homeland Security Government shutdown [DHS], and the Coast Guard have identified a way to pay our Having canceled his plans to travel to his estate in Florida for military workforce on Dec. 31, 2018,” the service website read. the holidays because of the government shutdown that started That paycheck will be their last until the government reopens. on Dec. 22, Trump tweeted, “I am in the White House waiting The Federal Emergency Management Agency also said on Friday for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal.” that it would resume issuing new flood insurance policies during The Republican-controlled Congress was closed for the week- the shutdown, reversing an earlier decision. end and few lawmakers were in the capital. (Source: Reuters) Taliban dismiss Afghanistan’s peace talks offer The Taliban have rejected Kabul’s of- ghan government. “We will meet the U.S. reaching an agreement with the United fer of talks next month in Saudi Arabia officials in Saudi Arabia in January next year States, which the group sees as the main where the militants, fighting to restore and we will start our talks that remained force in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces strict law in Afghanistan, will meet U.S. incomplete in Abu Dhabi,” a member of toppled the Taliban government in 2001. officials to further peace efforts, a Taliban the Taliban’s decision-making Leadership Diplomatic efforts to resolve the con- leader said on Sunday. Council told Reuters. “However, we have flict have intensified after Taliban rep- Representatives from the Taliban, the made it clear to all the stakeholders that we resentatives started meeting U.S. envoy United States and regional countries met will not talk to the Afghan government.” Zalmay Khalilzad this year. Officials from this month in the United Arab Emirates for Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mu- the warring sides have met at least three talks to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan. jahid also said the leaders of the group times to discuss the withdrawal of inter- But the Taliban have refused to hold would not talk to the Afghan government. national forces and a ceasefire in 2019. formal talks with the Western-backed Af- The militants have insisted on first (Source: Reuters) II NN TT EE RR NN AA TT II OO NN AA LL DD AA II LL YY 4 ADVERTISEMENTSECONOMY DECEMBERDECEMBER 31, 31, 20182018

STOCK MARKET TEDPIX 160774.0 Non-oil trade IFX 1865.92 Sources: tse.ir, Ifb.ir nears $66b in CURRENCIES USD 42,000 rials 9 months EUR 47,824 rials ECONOMY GBP 53,189rials TEHRAN — The value of on Sunday. deskIran’s non-oil trade stood Meanwhile, the country imported 23.87 AED 11,380 rials at $65.97 billion in the first nine months of million tons of goods valued at $32.62 billion the current Iranian calendar year (ended on in the 9-month period, registering an annual Source: iribnews.ir December 21), according to the latest data growth of 15.9 percent in terms of value, released by the Islamic Republic of Iran the report added. Customs Administration (IRICA). Foreign trade surplus stands at $738 Iran exported 86.94 million tons of non- million in this period, according to the report. China ($6.749 billion; 20.23 percent), and this period. Some $8.17 billion of goods COMMODITIES oil commodities, worth $33.35 billion, during Iran’s top export destinations in the the United Arab Emirates ($5.13 billion; equaling 25.5 percent of the total goods WTI $45.33/b the mentioned period of time, showing 5.40 said time span were respectively Iraq by 15.39 percent). were imported from China, $4.91 billion percent growth in terms of value compared importing $6.92 billion of Iranian goods China, the EU and South Korea were the (15.6 percent) from the EU, and $1.83 billion Brent $53.21/b to the same time last year, IRIB reported equaling 2.77 percent of the total exports, main exporters of non-oil goods to Iran in (5.62 percent) from South Korea. OPEC Basket $53.92/b Gold $1,281.95/oz Iran devises barter system to secure carpet exports Silver $15.43/oz ECONOMY TEHRAN — Iran has devised a barter market for Iranian carpets, holding a share of 30 percent Platinium $795.85/oz desksystem with the goal of securing its car- from total carpet exports. “There are groups in the U.S. pet exports, the head of Iran National Carpet Center said which are seeking to exempt the Iranian carpet from the Sources: oilprice.com, Moneymetals.com on Sunday. sanctions,” she added. Fereshteh Dastpak told IRNA that according to the bar- According to IRNA, Iran exported 5,400 tons of hand- ter mechanism, countries which export goods to Iran will woven carpets valued at $425 million in the previous Iranian receive carpets instead of foreign currency. calendar year (March 2017-March 2018). Agricultural exports up 20%, Referring to hurdles in the way of banking transactions Iran exported $126 million of carpets to the U.S. last as a result of the U.S. sanctions, she said “with the assistance year, but the figure is expected to reach zero over the next hit $4.6b in 8 months of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), we are intend- months in the wake of the sanctions. ing to remove carpet exports from the list of sanctions.” Germany, Lebanon, Britain, and Japan stand next to ECONOMY TEHRAN – Iran exported 4,580 tons of ag- She went on to say that the U.S. is the largest export the U.S. as the main buyers of Iranian carpet. deskricultural products worth $4.6 billion in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), showing 20 percent and 19 percent rise in terms of Trump says ‘big progress’ on possible China trade deal weight and value respectively, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter dollars worth of goods between the world’s Chinese state media also said Xi and Trump portant for the economies of both nations IRNA quoted Shahrokh Shajari, that he had a “long and very good call” with two largest economies has been disrupted spoke on Saturday, and quoted Xi as saying and for ensuring global stability and peace. an official with the Agriculture Chinese President Xi Jinping and that a pos- by tariffs. that teams from both countries have been Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Ministry, as saying on Saturday. sible trade deal between the United States Trump and Xi agreed to a ceasefire in the working to implement a consensus reached Sino-U.S. ties now “stand at a historic new Over the same period of time, and China was progressing well. trade war, deciding to hold off on imposing with Trump. starting point” and that the two sides should 12,806 tons of agricultural prod- As a partial shutdown of the U.S. govern- more tariffs for 90 days starting Dec. 1 while “I hope that the two teams will meet each respect each other’s sovereignty, security ucts valued at %6.8 billion were ment entered its eighth day, with no quick they negotiate a deal to end the dispute fol- other half way, work hard, and strive to reach and development interest and appropriately imported to the country, down end in sight, the Republican president was lowing months of escalating tensions. an agreement that is mutually beneficial and manage differences. 1.2 percent in terms of weight in Washington, sending out tweets attacking “Just had a long and very good call with beneficial to the world as soon as possible,” “Both sides should stick to rationally and and 7 percent in terms of value, Democrats and talking up possibly improved President Xi of China,” Trump wrote on Xi said, according to the state-run Xinhua objectively viewing the other side’s strategic he added. relations with China. Saturday. “Deal is moving along very well. news agency. intentions, strengthen strategic communica- “Meanwhile, the country exported food products to the tune of The two nations have been in a trade war If made, it will be very comprehensive, cover- China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday tion and promote strategic mutual trust to $2 million during the 8-month period, an increase of 24 percent for much of 2018, shaking world financial ing all subjects, areas and points of dispute. the two countries’ relationship had endured prevent strategic misjudgments,” he said compared to the same period last year.” markets as the flow of hundreds of billions of Big progress being made!” storms before, but that strong ties were im- in a statement. (Source: Reuters)

First Announcement IN THE NAME OF GOD Second Announcement IN THE NAME OF GOD ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING INTERNATIONAL TENDER NO. 97-10/196 RENEWAL OF INTERNATIONAL TENDER NO. 97/120-51/10 Tender Holder: Tender Holder: ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING (IRIB) ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING (IRIB) Subject of Tender: Subject of Two-Stage Tender: Purchasing of Audio and Video Equipment (LTO Cartridge, LTO Drive, SSD, HDD) accordance Establishing and Installing a Comprehensive Monitoring System and Management of Installations, with the technical specifications and other terms and conditions mentioned in the tender documents. Electricity and Installations (Tehran IRIB Center) according to the tender documents Deadline and How to Receive the Tender Documents: Deadline of Receiving Documents: From Monday 31 Dec. 2018 (1397/10/10) by 4 p.m. on Monday 07 Jan. 2019 (1397/10/17) As of publishing second announcement of advertisement latest by the business hour dated on Sunday with presentation of introductory letter by company or its representative and the receipt of paying the January 06, 2019. documents fee.

Place of Receiving Documents: Place of Receiving the Tender Documents: Secretariat of Tenders’ Commission, Technical Purchasing (KALA) Dept., Media Technology and Interested participants may refer to purchasing (KALA) Dept., 4th Floor of IRIB Administration Complex, Development Deputy Office, Bldg. No. 2, IRIB, Jam-e Jam St., Vali-e Asr Ave., Tehran Hotel Esteghlal St., Vali-e Asr Ave., Tehran Iran.

Type and Amount of Guarantee for Participating in Tender: The Fee of the Tender Documents and How to Deposit it: The amount of USD 20,500 which should be in the form of extendable bank guarantee Submission of payment receipt for the amount of 1,000,000 Rials to Account No. 4101029171204273 (IBAN: IR310100004101029171204273) with CENTERAL BANK OF IRAN in the name of IRIB.

Time and Place of Delivering Priced Bid: Type and Amount of Guarantee for Participation to Tender: The sealed A, B & C packages/envelopes should be submitted within one main envelope marked with The amount of deposit for participant in tender is USD 35,000 fixed or its equivalent in 3,500,000,000 tender number no later than 15 p.m. on Tuesday February 05, 2019 and submitted to the Secretariat Rials which should be in the form of Bank Guarantee. of Commission of Tenders. Time and Place of Delivering Priced Bid: Time and Place of Opening Envelopes The sealed A, B & C packages/envelopes should be submitted no later than 4 p.m. on 16 Feb. 2019 The date of opening envelopes A&B is at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday February 10, 2019 in the office of (1397/11/27) and at the address mentioned in the 4th clause. Vice President of IRIB Planning and Financial Resources and opening of envelope C will be after technical evaluation. Time and Place of Opening Envelopes: The date of opening the envelopes A&B is on 17 Feb. 2019 (1397/11/28) at 3 p.m. in the office of It should be noted that bidders should hold license from the authorized bodies. Financial Vice President and opening of envelope C will be after technical evaluation.

For more information, please contact the following phone numbers: 0098-21-22166313 For more information, please see: It is obvious that cost of publishing two advertisements shall be borne by the winner of tender. www.iriboffice.ir/tenders and http://iets.mporg.ir/ Tel: 00982122167463

Public Relations Dept. of IRIB Purchasing (Kala) Dept. of IRIB I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 31, 2018 ENERGY 5 If OPEC blinks to provide $60 oil U.S. Digitalization promises more shale players become beneficiaries gains for upstream oil sector When oil cartel OPEC announced its 1.2 million To provide some context, the last The global drive towards smarter upstream technology, given barrels per day (bpd) output cut alongside 10 extraordinary meeting was held in 2008 a major fillip by the 2014 oil price collapse, continues to bring Russian-led non-OPEC producers, after keeping when the global financial crisis appeared on down upstream costs and boost recovery rates across the industry. the market on edge for most of December 6 and the horizon. If the cuts are expanded, OPEC’s With U.S. shale oil breakevens of around $50/b seemingly 7th, many thought the move would provide a desired price range of $60-70 per barrel might capping oil prices in the medium term, the need to hunt marginal modicum of support to rapidly declining oil well be achieved, but that would encourage gains through operating efficiencies is set to remain a key theme prices. higher production stateside and a loss of market for producers in 2019. While I never bought the relief rally that share for some in OPEC. It could all have been Growing digitalization, together with smaller, faster return followed in its wake, many did. The argument so different, and ongoing bearish sentiment is projects and other efficiency gains, is now seen as a vital plank was that a 1.2 million bpd cut was well above to an extent of OPEC’s own making. to lowering capital intensity in the upstream sector. the rumored level of 1 million bpd. Having announced cuts, the following Globally, upstream players could see annual cost savings of Given that the production of Nigeria and week the Russians revealed they’d be pretty $75 billion per year from further digitalization by 2023 in addi- Libya fluctuates because of their internal strife, slow in implementing cuts and might not get tion to boosting discovery rates of new resources, according to that of Venezuela is rapidly declining courtesy to their agreed 200,000 bpd level before the recent estimates by Wood Mackenzie. its political mess, and Iran – exempted from end of Q1 2019, while the United Arab Emirates With machine learning and artificial intelligence getter ever the latest cut – was likely to face barriers in announced a massive investment aimed at better at spotting drilling targets, potential cost savings of $5 2019 following the re-imposition American boosting oil production. That is hardly an ‘on- billion-$7 billion, or 10-15 percent per year, in exploration could sanctions; 1.2 million bpd was actually as high message’ image that OPEC and 10 non-OPEC be achievable, the research group believes. as 1.5 million bpd in all but name, according producers – signatory to output cuts – ought Accounting and consultancy group PwC concurs. to some market commentators. to be portraying. In its Oil and Gas Trends 2018-19, PwC suggests that oil com- Whether or not you buy that hypothesis, Meanwhile, U.S. crude continues to alter the panies should “double down” on digitalization to keep costs in even 1.5 million bpd is not enough and that supply-side dynamic. For the next 5 to 7 years, check for finding and developing ever more elusive new reserves. is why the so-called relief rally failed to last contingent upon shale decline rates, the U.S. Digital tools are needed more than ever to create a compet- even a week following the OPEC meeting. In will remain a solid buffer producer first hitting itive edge in the upstream sector in what has become a margin the run up the end of the year, on the Friday 12 million bpd, and subsequently 15 million business, PwC believes. At the same time, Big Data and new (December 21) before Christmas, both Brent bpd by 2025 according to industry projections, technology will be key to staving off supply competition from and the West Texas Intermediate front-month production would on its own cancel out OPEC the most visible beneficiaries would have been and all in tandem with an evolving oil demand booming renewable energies. contracts fell by over 11% week-over-week. and non-OPEC cuts in 2019 is a point not lost U.S. shale players, and OPEC just didn’t want dynamic that would shift from mobility to rely One such application of the technology revolution in the With the U.S. - already the world’s largest on traders. Smart money suggests it is a point to blink. But having seen the end-result in the upon petrochemicals and aviation. upstream sector is the creation of so-called “digital twins”, or oil producer - providing adequate buffer OPEC is just as cognizant of. For the OPEC three weeks since the OPEC meeting, new jitters Apart from issues with its own credibility, virtual simulations of assets that can improve the efficiency of production to neuter the OPEC swing in the and non-OPEC cuts to carry weight, the cut have surfaced. the potent problem OPEC is grappling with is predictive maintenance. face of lackluster demand, the market remains should have been around 2 million bpd in The OPEC next meeting has been set for that it is damned if it cuts output, and damned BP’s APEX surveillance system, for example, creates a virtual unconvinced. Of course, not all oil barrels my opinion; a level both parties knew they an unspecified date in April, in the knowledge if it doesn’t, with either move bringing with it model of all the company’s production systems throughout the extracted are equal, and U.S. barrels in the need if providing an oil price floor of $60 per that further intervention might be required. a different kind of crude pain; and all of it for world to help spot issues before they affect production. The pro- export market are largely of a lighter, sweeter barrel using Brent as a benchmark is their Now talk is rife of a possible “extraordinary”, the sake of trying to keep oil prices within a duction optimization tool makes use of integrated asset models to variety by composition. unstated objective. unscheduled meeting of oil ministers before very modest $60-70 range. improve safety, cut downtime and reduce costs. BP claims to have But the fact that incremental American Problem is, had they chosen that pathway, April. (Source: Forbes) added 30,000 barrels of production from using APEX last year. Automated real-time production optimization and predictive maintenance are part of a new digital landscape harnessing in- Venezuela to promote fair sights from surging flows of real-time operating data, allowing Mexican army starts major producers to spot failures before they occur. crackdown on fuel theft oil prices in OPEC by 2019 The potential for autonomous robots, or drones, to detect and repair faults are one way the industry is looking to cut in- frastructure downtime and boost returns. BP believes it has developed an algorithm that recognizes the sound of sand entering a well, thereby avoiding a potential fall in oil production. An autonomous “snake” robot, developed with Norway’s Equinor, can swim around subsea installations and perform tasks such as turning on or off valves and checking for faults. Explore the many questions surrounding big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain’s impact on the energy industry. Meet with experts to examine ongoing initiatives, technological ad- vancements, impending regulations and the focus on cybercrime. Equinor is also looking to boost process automation so it can be notified when a part should be replaced. In the not-too-distant future, Equinor hopes a digital integrated Mexico’s military have taken control over fuel theft, had already been arrested for the Venezuela continues today its call to promote 2019 to balance the market, which will be process will seamlessly predict faults, generate work orders for 58 key fuel installations in the country, alleged crimes. The three Pemex officials in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting distributed between OPEC and non-OPEC new equipment, fabricate 3D-printed parts, which would then including refineries, upon orders by new have been sacked and will be facing criminal Countries (OPEC) fair prices that allow better countries. be delivered by drone and finally installed by a robot. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, charges, Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro investments and the flow of oil to consumer The former will adjust their production Such a fully-automated process will be feasible “in a few years”, who has vowed to fight corruption and fuel Gertz Manero said at Lopez Obrador’s news states in 2019. to 800 million barrels per day while the according to Equinor’s head of digitalization at the giant Johan theft within and outside state-run energy conference on Thursday. In recent statements, the minister of non-OPEC nations will maintain the index Sverdrup field development, Trine Svalestad. company Pemex. Pemex’s new management are aware the sector, Manuel Quevedo, said that for of 400 million barrels per day. Offshore, the cost of developing new deepwater barrels has Lopez Obrador unveiled a plan on of the fact that company employees have the coming year the nation assumes the For the Conference of the agency in 2019 already fallen more than 50 percent since 2013, according to Thursday to increase the presence of military been complicit in fuel theft and moved to presidency of the Conference of the agency, will be taken into account the figures of supply Wood Mackenzie. and the use of the army in fighting rampant deal with the problem, Gertz Manero said. a scenario to take action on the value of and demand of crude that threw the recent While downsizing of projects and a greater focus on subsea fuel theft that has been costing Mexico’s Illegal taps on Mexican fuel pipelines hydrocarbons. In the meetings held in 2018 reports that, although they show a balance, tiebacks have been instrumental, the ability to drill faster wells state firm Pemex billions of dollars annually. jumped by 45 percent annually between with OPEC and non-OPEC nations, favorable also demonstrate the volatility of the costs has also been key. It now takes half the time to drill a deepwater According to Pemex’s own estimates, January and October 2018, according to scenarios were evidenced as a result of the by operational and geopolitical variables. well in the Gulf of Mexico compared to 2014, WoodMac estimates. the losses from fuel theft over the past three Pemex’s latest report on fuel theft. actions taken to set the stabilization of the According to the state-owned com- More automation, AI and robotics also mean a drastically smaller years have reached $7.5 billion (147 billion Earlier this year, former Pemex chief market, the minister said. pany Petroleos de Venezuela, the South workforce, one of the major costs for offshore projects. Mexican pesos). executive Carlos Alberto Treviño Medina Two years after having reached the Dec- American delegation to the meeting will Even in the U.S. onshore sector, where many believe the scope According to Lopez Obrador, authorities said that fuel theft was expected to cost the laration of Cooperation for the Voluntary ratify its interest to maintain the balance for further progress on drilling and production efficiencies is are also involved in widespread fuel theft. state oil company as much as US$1.78 billion Adjustment of Crude Production, this ini- for the development and economic pros- flatlining, optimism on costs remains. According to Rob West, On Friday, the Mexican army took control (35 billion pesos) in 2018. tiative promoted by President Nicolas Ma- perity of the member countries and the oil Redburn’s head of global equity research, technology advances of refineries of Pemex across the country, Apart from rampant fuel theft, Pemex duro confirms the joint work between these world. Likewise, it will propose convert- will continue to drive down the cost of developing shale oil rocks where unionized workers were blocking the also has to cope with declining domestic countries with the objective of stabilizing ing Petro cryptocurrency into the future well into the coming decade. access to some of the sites, UPI reports, oil production, which hit in October one of the world oil market, he said. of oil transactions worldwide, as well as a West has reviewed “hundreds” of emerging shale production citing the Excelsior newspaper. the lowest monthly production rates since During the 175th OPEC meeting, held bridge for the internationalization of this technologies and has shortlisted 20 advances which have the Mexican media report that three officials 1990 when records began. on December 6 in Vienna, Austria, it was Venezuelan asset. potential to substantially lower production costs in the 2020s. at Pemex, suspected of having facilitated (Source: oilprice.com) agreed to lower the daily pumping from (Source: plenglish.com) Helped mostly by new enhanced oil recovery techniques, or EOR, recovery per well can be raised by another 80 percent, he believes, cutting full-cycle breakeven costs to $25-$30/b from about $45/b currently. U.S. crude inventories static as rising production balances export surge (Source: Platts) U.S. crude supply was little changed week on week as an Sea Forties, Platts calculations showed. But last week, this uptick in production was matched by sharply higher exports spread flipped from around minus 68 cents/b on Monday last week, U.S. Energy Information Administration data to $1.82/b on Friday amid the Buzzard restart. This week, Libyan oil revenue falls in showed Friday. WTI has maintained an average premium of around $1.35/b U.S. commercial crude supply edged lower by 46,000 to Forties. November: NOC barrels to 441.41 million barrels during the week ended Last week, Europe-bound U.S. crude cargoes fell to 3.6 December 21, EIA data showed. Analysts surveyed by S&P million barrels, down 1.8 percent from the week prior, according Libya’s oil and gas revenue dipped to $2.4 billion in November Global Platts on Wednesday expected a 1.4 million-barrel to data from cFlow, S&P Global Platts trade-flow software. from $2.87 billion in October, but full-year revenue is expected draw, while the American Petroleum Institute on Thursday Nationwide gasoline stocks grew 3 million barrels to 233.1 to surge by 76 percent to $24.2 billion, state oil firm NOC said called for a 6.9 million-barrel build. million barrels last week, exceeding analyst expectations on Friday. The EIA data release was delayed until Friday due to the of a 1.1 million-barrel build. The increase expanded the Although lower than the previous month, November revenue Christmas holiday. nationwide gasoline supply overhang to 3.8 percent above was the third highest monthly figure in 2018, NOC said. The slight decline in U.S. crude stocks narrowed the surplus the five-year average. Despite recurrent security problems that have affected output to the five-year average to 6.86 percent, down from 6.93 But USAC gasoline stocks fell 174,000 barrels last week from Libyan oilfields, NOC’s revenue has been boosted this year percent during the week- prior. to 60.33 million barrels, narrowing the supply glut there to by higher oil prices and production. Crude draws were concentrated in the Gulf Coast, where five-week low at 17.35 million b/d last week. Analysts just 3.9 percent above the five-year average. This surplus Libya currently produces about 1.15 million barrels per day of oil. inventories fell 2.46 million barrels last week to 229.3 million surveyed by Platts on Wednesday had expected refinery had been as wide as nearly 20 percent in early November. “NOC will continue to drive the economic recovery and provide barrels. The steep decline in USGC stockpiles was predicated utilization to increase 0.3 percentage point to around Despite the nationwide build, gasoline cracks improved last the funds necessary to ensure a fair distribution of wealth and on a 644,000 b/d increase in exports to 2.97 million b/d 95.7 percent of capacity. week as the supply overhang thinned in New York Harbor, economic justice across the country,” NOC Chairman Mustafa last week. USGC refinery runs edged higher by 0.1 percentage point the delivery point of the NYMEX RBOB contract. Sanalla said in a statement. The large USGC draw was sufficient to bring nationwide to a 15-week high at 97.9 percent of capacity, but despite Prompt-month NYMEX RBOB averaged at a 40 cents/b Last week, NOC declared force majeure at its biggest oil field inventories lower, even as all other regions added barrels this uptick, regional crude runs dipped 26,000 b/d to 9.37 premium to front-month ICE Brent last week, up from after it was taken over on December 8 by tribesmen, armed pro- to storage last week. East and West Coast stocks increased million b/d. Midwest refiners also ran less crude last week, around 5 cents/b during the week prior and minus $1.12/b testers and state guards demanding salary payments and devel- 1.26 million barrels and 517,000 barrels to 48.6 million and with net inputs dropping 77,000 b/d to 3.92 million b/d in November, Platts calculations showed. This week, the opment funds. 118.7 million barrels, respectively. amid a 1.8 percentage point decline in regional run rates to crack has widened further, with RBOB averaging at a roughly NOC and the internationally recognized government agreed Notably, stocks in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point 95.9 percent of capacity. $1.45/b premium to Brent. Despite the improving margins, on a security plan this week to protect the 315,000 barrel per of the NYMEX crude contract, grew 799,000 barrels to a Strong export activity was supported by a wide Brent/ the RBOB/Brent crack remains historically weak at well day El Sharara field including setting up green zones inside the 49-week high at 41.3 million barrels. The build at Cushing WTI spread, which averaged at around $9.30/b last week. below year-ago levels of $8.56/b. site to stop anyone entering without a permit and removing all more than accounted for the entire uptick in Midwest crude But this spread has begun to narrow as Brent prices retreated Distillate stocks were essentially unchanged at 119.9 unauthorized people. stocks, which only increased 359,000 barrels to 129.2 million following the restart of production at the North Sea Buzzard million barrels. While inventories were static week on week, “We are also working hard to implement agreed security barrels last week. Field last week. The 130,000 b/d Buzzard field accounts for their deficit to the five-year average widened to 7.7 percent measures at Sharara so operations and production can resume Surging U.S. exports were offset by a 100,000 b/d roughly 30 percent of the North Sea Forties crude basket, from 6.9 percent during the week prior. Analysts surveyed as soon as possible,” Sanalla said. uptick in domestic production back to the all-time high 11.7 which is itself the largest contributor by volume to the Dated by Platts on Wednesday had expected a 500,000-barrel The reopening of the field hinges on “the implementation of million b/d. Additionally, an unexpected 0.3 percentage Brent crude basket. draw that would have pushed distillate inventories to more key reforms by the government to the local Petroleum Facilities point dip in refinery utilization to 95.1 percent of capacity During the first half of December, WTI delivered into than 11 percent below the EIA-reported five-year average. Guard,” he added. brought total net crude inputs down 58,000 b/d to a Rotterdam was trading at around minus 56 cents/b to North (Source: Platts) (Source: standardmedia.co.ke) ساعت: 17:00 امضاء صفحه آرا: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء سردبیر:

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 6 INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 31, 2018

Three crises we cannot Mohammed bin Salman, ignore in 2019 By Jan Egeland regional menace By Daniel Larison many jailed, tortured, and murdered critics. Every puff piece profile of Mohammed bin Hisham Melhem has written a searing denun- Salman has been sure to mention that he ciation of Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)’s permitted women to drive, but there have disastrous foreign policy record and his not been nearly as many articles talking destabilizing domestic power grabs. Here about the torture of women’s rights activ- he calls out the crown prince’s responsibility ists detained by the Saudi government: for the destruction and starvation of Yemen: The sources say that masked Saudi in- But the culprit responsible in the main terrogators tortured the women during the for condemning the country once known as initial stages of interrogation, but it was Arabia Felix for an agonizing slow death is unclear whether they were seeking to force Saudi Arabia. For this reason alone, Moham- the women to sign confessions or merely med Bin Salman should be boycotted by the to punish them for their peaceful advocacy. democracies of the world. Following the interrogations, sources said, The war on Yemen has been the crown the women showed physical signs of torture, prince’s signature policy, and it was the very including difficulty walking, uncontrolled The year 2018 is about to end with seemingly little having been first thing that he did after he was made shaking of the hands, and red marks and achieved to resolve major crises around the world. Syrians con- defense minister by his father. The reck- scratches on their faces and necks. At least one tinued to try to flee their country as conflict raged on. Over the less decision to intervene and the stupid of the women attempted to commit suicide summer, millions faced a potential offensive on Idlib province, determination to persist in an unwinnable multiple times, the sources said. which could have resulted in a major humanitarian catastrophe. war told us everything we needed to know There was never any reason to assume In Africa, South Sudan’s peace deal sparked a moment of joy about Mohammed bin Salman’s judgment that Mohammed bin Salman would be an for civilians, but its provisions are yet to be implemented. Further and competence a long time ago, but un- improvement over his predecessors, but there east in Bangladesh, close to a million Rohingya refugees were fortunately it took several more years and MBS has turned out to be exceptionally was every sign from the very beginning that trapped in limbo, too scared of persecution to return to Myanmar. many more outrages and crimes for a lot of repressive and cruel even by Saudi he might prove to be much worse. He has The year also witnessed large waves of people forced to flee people to catch on that he was a menace and turned out to be exceptionally repressive and their homes in Ethiopia, Venezuela, Syria and the Democratic a war criminal rather than a reform-minded standards, and in just a few years he cruel even by Saudi standards, and in just a Republic of the Congo (DRC). visionary. It isn’t surprising that someone as has become one of the world’s great war few years he has become one of the world’s ignorant and hapless as Jared Kushner has And as we look ahead into 2019, there are at least three major criminals. great war criminals. The U.S.-Saudi relation- crises that are likely to get a lot worse. been taken in by Mohammed bin Salman, ship was already a bad one before he came to Continuing displacement in Cameroon but what is everyone else’s excuse? power, and with him in power it has become ignore or explain away any number of atroci- For a long time, Cameroon has been providing a safe haven for Many American policymakers and politi- businessmen, and politicians to fawn over truly toxic. There is no good reason for the ties as long as they can claim that opposing people fleeing conflicts in neighboring Central African Republic cians have downplayed and whitewashed him as if he were Ataturk reborn. To their U.S. to have close ties with a government Iran is the goal. Mohammed bin Salman (CAR) and Nigeria, but the country has its own simmering crisis. Saudi coalition crimes in Yemen because lasting discredit, the crown prince’s fan club that is both a liability and a regional menace, hasn’t had many successes in the last few Several armed groups have sprung up to fight for independ- of our government’s involvement in the were more concerned with “rooting” for and the crown prince ensures that it will be years, but he did know which buttons to ence in English-speaking parts of Cameroon since October 2017, disaster, and some of them are so obsessed his success than they were about the lives both for the foreseeable future. push to get credulous Western pundits, which has resulted in severe security clampdowns in these areas. with Iran that they have been prepared to of Yemeni civilians and the rights of his (Source: The American Conservative) The situation deteriorated rapidly during the last six months, partly because of the 2018 presidential elections and movement restrictions on civilians. The displacement of more than 400,000 people attracted little international media attention and there was little diplomatic effort to ease the tensions. The military’s new boss is walking A disarmament, demobilization and re- The international integration committee has been set up by the community must into an ambush Cameroonian govern- brace itself for ment, and a presidential Donald Trump has picked a former CEO to run the Pentagon. decree has been issued deepening and authorizing the release largely neglected of some people detained emergencies in He should have gone with a psychiatrist. during the clashes. But ments can go deep and have serious implications for national the upcoming local elec- 2019. By Gordon Adams security, including issues like overseas military exercises tions in 2019 could see It’s at once entirely fair and entirely absurd to ask if Patrick (as in South Korea) and the deployment and redeployment the crisis escalate further. It could also spill over to neighboring Shanahan, soon to be acting U.S. secretary of defense, is up of forces (as in Syria). One false step and Shanahan may be Nigeria - a dreadful scenario. to his new job. It’s fair because Shanahan’s prior experience history, like a growing list of other senior officials in this At the same time, given that Cameroon is not identified as as an executive at Boeing hasn’t necessarily equipped him administration. a hotspot by the international community, little funding will with the skills and knowledge traditionally considered to Trump clearly likes firing people and replacing them be committed to addressing the crisis, which would affect not be required to run the Pentagon. It’s absurd because at the with yes men and women — people for whom loyalty comes only Cameroonians but also displaced people from CAR and present moment, the only skill that matters is the ability to before patriotism, good sense, or, often, good policy. After northeast Nigeria. placate a mercurial and emotional president—and it’s not the departures of Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Yemen’s looming famine clear, by that standard, whether there’s anyone at all who National Security Advisor HR McMaster, and chief of staff This year saw the war in Yemen hammer civilians harder than would be qualified. John Kelly, will Shanahan be the next victim? ever, after three years of armed conflict had already decimated Consider, first, Shanahan’s resume. For much of his life, As deputy, most of Shanahan’s challenges until now have infrastructure, public services and uprooted two million people he had only one employer: a major defense contractor. That been inside the Pentagon. The only task that has required from their homes. experience gives him management skills, some say. And, him to have close White House ties has been the president’s We, the agencies on the ground in Yemen, warn collectively to be sure, the deputy secretary’s job is management of the order to create a controversial new military service for space. of an impending famine. This mass starvation will not be caused Pentagon and its processes. As deputy, most of Shanahan has reportedly made the creation of a Space Force by failed harvests or natural disasters. In Yemen, civilians are But the Pentagon is not Boeing. At a company, orders a high priority, which suggests he may be attuned to his being slowly starved to death by a man-made catastrophe. The Shanahan’s challenges until can be given and followed; policymaking is top-down, master’s voice. warfare, access restrictions and sanctions imposed on the civil- now have been inside the as Shanahan demonstrated when called on by manage- But Shanahan’s status as acting secretary suggests an ian population by the warring parties and the nations propping ment to fix an ailing Dreamliner program. Politics in a Pentagon. The only task that audition, a kind of probation testing for good behavior. (It’s them are solely to blame. federal government agency are of a different kind. At a status also recently awarded to the new chief of staff, Mick Peace talks in Stockholm earlier this month led to a long over- has required him to have the Department of Defense, there are many independent Mulvaney.) Trump’s message seems to be: You serve at my due ceasefire agreement for the crucial port city of Hudaydah. close White House ties has power centers—the collection of armed services chiefs is pleasure, and when I am done with you, the departure may However, millions of women, men and children in dire need are a big one—that have to be cajoled for defense secretaries been the president’s order to be as sudden as the going-away Henry VIII gave Anne Boleyn yet to see the effects of the agreements on the ground in Yemen, to achieve their goals. As one former secretary of defense and Catherine Howard. Supine and fawning submission, where clashes are still ongoing. create a controversial new told me at the start of his tenure: “If I don’t have the of the sort we saw at that famous cabinet meeting in June The UK, United States, France, Iran and other powers that Chiefs with me, I can’t run the building.” Outside power military service for space. 2017 (notably excepting Mattis), is what the president will support parties to the conflict in Yemen’s must use their influence centers like the White House have to be worked behind expect of his next secretary. to bring about a permanent end to the violence. Iraq, leadership of the military’s Central Command, and the scenes; Congress has to be flattered and persuaded. Yet fulfilling Trump’s pleasure is likely to be a monu- Parties to this conflict already have blood on their hands. a turn as NATO commander for defense transformation. Respect has to be earned everywhere. mental challenge for Shanahan, as it would be for anybody Next year, they risk bearing responsibility for a famine that could Shanahan’s biography reveals no background appropriate Unlike for CEOs, defense secretaries’ day-to-day re- with a modicum of independence. Mattis, for instance, had affect millions, if the agreements made in Stockholm are not put to this policy advisor role. He has never served in positions sponsibility is rarely to run the department itself. Instead, a hard time straddling the gap between fulfilling the needs into effect immediately. with responsibility for defense policy, politics, or interna- their job is to be the face of the Pentagon to the rest of the of an impulsive and relatively uninformed chief executive The DRC’s forgotten crisis tional relations. But that is a big part of his job, at least on world—other federal agencies, the public, allies, and adver- and the requirements of good policy and the stroking of The Democratic Republic of the Congo saw pockets of insecurity paper. The jury is even out on his basic management skill saries—through interagency and White House meetings on allies. His answer was to slow-roll impulsive decisions: spread like wildfire to entire regions in 2018. Inter-communal set. Early reports about his tenure at the Pentagon suggest policy, congressional testimony, overseas travel, media ap- an order to deny transgender Americans the opportunity violence escalated in the previously peaceful province of Ituri. he has had high staff turnover and tensions with several of pearances, and international negotiations. The White House to serve in the military, a Soviet-like military parade on Countless armed groups continue to fight each other and attack the armed services. relationship is a particularly important role for the defense Pennsylvania Avenue, the creation of an independent civilians in the east and central parts of this vast country. In the But all this discussion makes it sound like Shanahan will secretary, who is one of the four principal national security military force for space operations, the stand-down of few cases when families were able to return to their homes, they be operating in a normal administration. He will not. We policy advisors to the president, along with the national military exercises in South Korea, the drawdown of U.S. face such destruction that they need aid to survive. are talking about Trumpland, a parallel universe of strange security advisor, the secretary of state, and the chairman forces in Afghanistan, and arming soldiers at the U.S. In addition to spiraling violence, hunger levels soared this vectors and unpredictable beasts, where only one’s relation- of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. border. With the order to immediately leave Syria, Mattis year. In 2018, DRC saw a 100 percent increase in food insecurity ship with the ruler behind the curtain matters. As Mattis’s This is a task for which departing Secretary of Defense had had enough and delivered his resignation — only for compared with 2017. experience reveals, President Donald Trump’s White House James Mattis was well prepared through decades of military Trump to push him out the door. Global attention will momentarily shift to the troubled na- is not one that relishes back-and-forth policy discussions or service, including overseas command in Afghanistan and (Source: Foreign Policy) tion on December 30 as the Congolese people head to the polls disagreement from department heads. And the disagree- to elect a new president, but the country will not stay under the media spotlight for long. The DRC’s mega-crisis is likely to go largely underreported in Who is responsible for the destruction of the Arab state? 2019, as the situation continues to deteriorate. Countless more people will edge towards starvation. Unless violence and dis- Daily ‘Express’ in its editorial comments is trying to escape from his responsibilities. African countries. As a ceasefire in Yemen comes into effect placement end and the humanitarian response is strengthened, said that U.S. President Donald Trump has The paper said that Syria’s infrastructure It said that only in Yemen 20 million the plight of the Yemeni people remains many parents will watch their children die from malnutrition revealed that not the U.S. but Saudi Arabia has been completely destroyed due to con- children are suffering from life threatening ongoing. The war on Yemen is known as and preventable diseases. would assist Syria in its reconstruction, the “forgotten war” because it lacks in- Humanitarian aid can somewhat alleviate the suffering of however, if looked closely it is the U.S. It went on to say that American analysts ternational attention, despite being one Congolese, Yemeni and Cameroonian people, but only if donor who is responsible for the destruction of of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes countries step up their funding and warring factions give us access the Arab state. also believe that President Donald Trump is in modern history. to communities caught up in conflict. That said, only political It said that previously U.S. was asked to trying to escape from his responsibilities. Since 2015, thousands of civilians, mostly solutions to these conflicts can really prevent the impending help in reconstruction of war torn Syria but children and women have been killed by Saudi human catastrophes. Donald Trump in a tweet said that it would tinuous war and military operations, which diseases like diarrhea and other diseases. airstrikes. Reports say that the Saudi-led coali- It is unthinkable that so many people can starve to death in a be better for rich countries of the region to needs to be rebuilt. The editorial said that Western states tion is committing daily crimes in Yemen. The world that has the means and the technology to feed everyone. help Syria instead of a country which is 5000 It went on to say that even in Yemen, the especially the U.S. have played negative Saudi war has resulted in bringing famine to These are all preventable deaths in a world of plenty and it will miles away from Syria. U.S. involvement in the country cannot be roles in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya and more than 14 million Yemeni civilian, which weigh on our conscience if we don’t prevent them. It went on to say that American analysts ignored. According to the report, there is their only objective was to protect the Zi- is half the population. (Source: Al Jazeera) also believe that President Donald Trump a risk of famine in Yemen and many other onist regime. (Source: Yemen Press) ساعت: امضاء صفحه آرا: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء سردبیر:

II NN T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBERِDECEMBER 31, 2018 ANALYSISANALYSIS && INTERVIEWINTERVIEW 77 The UAE reopens embassy in Damascus; Ill planned operation in Syria could land Turkey in quagmire: Arabs in line to return to Syria Turkish analyst By Mohammad Ghaderi while ago more than 5,000 Tunisian Salafis were dispatched to Syria in the form of extremist groups, supported by the TEHRAN — Besides the security developments in Syria U.S. and some Persian Gulf Arab states, to topple the Syrian 1 Even if it continues that have always made headlines and the Zionist’s attacks government.” to secure covert support on Syria, these days Damascus has become a hangout place Atwan expected more states to resume relations with Da- from the U.S. the situation for states that have not achieved much in the past few years mascus with the coming New Year and more Arab leaders is not the same for it without of war against Syria. land in Damascus airport to begin amicable relations with the presence of American As President Donald Trump announced the U.S. with- al-Assad, as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir did the same. boots on the ground.” drawal from Syria and Turkey affirmed a plan to operate in When Arab leaders give up Referring to the pos- eastern Euphrates, Israel begun targeting passenger places Atwan believes most Arab leaders have come to accept sible threats to Ankara from Lebanon’s airspace in Syria, although with not much al-Assad as the head Syrian government, particularly with U.S. resulted from the U.S. achievement. Another development in Syria is the United pulling out Syria, the path for Assad has been paved further. withdrawal, he said, “Al- Arab Emirates has recently announced reopening embassy Some Persian Gulf Arab states like Oman never closed though Turkey has secured in Damascus. In addition, for the first time, after 8 years, a down embassy in Damascus. Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf an advantage, Ankara Syrian passenger plane, flying 150 passengers for the New Year bin Alawi traveled to Damascus a few months back. Bahrain also knows that it has to holiday, landed in Monastir Habib Bourguiba International is seeking to reopen embassy in Damascus soon as Bahrain’s tread cautiously because Airport in Tunisia. The aircraft belonged to the Cham Wings once again. The 30th Arab League Summit is scheduled in Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifeh warmly the prospect of a Turkish Airlines Company, a private Syrian airline. March 2018 in Tunisia where Tunisian leaders will try to bring received his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem in September. military operation east of the Euphrates brings up questions At the airport many Tunisians came to welcome the Syri- Bashar al-Assad to the table again. Atwan also suspected that once Abu Dhabi opens embassy which have yet to be answered. The most important one is the an tourists, among who were representatives of civil society, However, the UAE reopening embassy in Syria is hap- in Syria, the UAE may represent the interests of Riyadh in reactions of Russia and the Syrian regime.” human rights defenders and journalists. pening when the Arab states did all in power to help topple Syria as it holds close relationship with the House of Saud. He added, “There is also the added problem that France has Talah Hassan, president of the Syrian community association al-Assad’s government. Dismissal of Adel al-Jubeir as a foreign minister, who kept said it will not follow the U.S. lead and pull out of northern Syr- of Tunisia, had announced that the travelers would spend a Abdel Bari Atwan, the famous analyst of the Arab world, pushing for removal of al-Assa, may have to do with the reo- ia, so Turkey will have to also manage the European side of the week in Tunisia to visit various Tunisian cities. wrote: “A long line of countries is expected to form to resume pening of the UAE embassy in Damascus. equation too. In addition to this there is the fact that President Although former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki relations with Damascus, and of course this time the ties will In any case, Damascus will be witnessing quite bit of de- Trump has effectively tasked Turkey with fighting the Islamic cut ties with Syria in 2012, the incumbent president Beji Caid be stronger than before.” velopments in months to come including high level officials’ State. President Erdogan said Turkey can do this, but faces risks Essebsi restart relations with Damascus. On the issue of the Syrian tourists in Tunisia, Atwan said, trips which would mean victory for Syria after seven years of that it cannot afford to minimize.” There have been also talks on Syria to join the Arab League “The political tourism to a country comes at the time when, a fighting terrorism at home. Touching upon the potential consequences of the Turkey’s military operation in northern parts of Syria and Saudi Arabia’s destructive regional policies, the Turkish analyst noted, “The bottom line is that an ill planned and hasty operation by Turkey could land it in a quagmire where it is not only fighting the YPG A hard year for Trump and the ISIL, but also risks confrontations with the Syrian regime By Hanif Ghaffari ruling over the White House. It’s not still Many American sources have predict- States and Mexico. This wall was going or French forces. As far as your question about Saudi Arabia, it is clear that how long Trump can play his role ed that Trump’s controversial actions and to be paid for by Mexico, he claimed, an unlikely that we will see Saudi forces along the Turkish border. TEHRAN — Analyzing the current circum- in producing cross-sectional crises to cover policies will lead the country into intense assertion that was never believable. More The dialogue between Riyadh and Damascus is a long way from stances in the United States indicate that the deep-seated crises in the United States, crises in different aspects. They believe that believable: that the wall was going to be bearing fruit and Omar al Bashir’s intervention will not change the coming year will be very difficult for the but in spite of the President’s will, the game’s these crises will raise in different areas and made of concrete slabs, a point he made the situation much, given the present alignment of factors in U.S. President. about to change. will become America’s Achilles’ heel in the in some detail on the trail.” the region.” The removal of James Mattis as the U.S. Recently, Trump’s performance has domestic and international system. The Washington Post also argues that the Defense Secretary on the one hand, and other been seriously under the focus of Ameri- In one of its recent reports, Washington results of some major researches will be soon actions taken by Trump on the eve of the new can media. It has reached a point where, Post has referred to Trump’s crisis-producing published in the United States, including year, raised lots of conflicts and tensions in according to a recent poll conducted by actions, such as the controversial border with special counsel Robert Muller’s investiga- Violating ceasefire in the country. These tensions are intensifying Fox News (which supports Trum), only Mexico, and said; “For probably the first time tions on Russia’s possible intervention in as Washington is entering 2019. Definitely 39% of Americans are confident of Trump’s in American history, part of the government the U.S. presidential elections. Trump will al-Hudaydah with this is going to be a hard year for the con- re-election in 2020. This is while 55%re is shut down for lack of funding because of a undoubtedly criticize this report. As a result, troversial President of the United States due opposed to his re-election. If these figures dispute over a construction project.” the situation will become even worse. Saudi’s killing machine to the Democrats’ inter-party competitions don’t change by that time, we’ll see lots of It continues; “ President Trump, as you The truth is that Trump’s presence on top and the intensification of social, political and tensions in the White House in the years may have heard, promised during the 2016 of the U.S. political and executive equations economic crises in the United States. between 2018 and 2020. However, the presidential campaign that he would solve has created internal and international cri- 1 The 400,000 Yemeni children suffer from severe mal- In this critical period, Trump is trying newly elected House members, most of most of America’s immigration problems ses in the country, crises which will affect nutrition and fight for survival. Over 6,000 children have been to prevent the American citizens from con- them Democrats who are opposing Trump, and many of its other issues by building the White House for many years, even after killed or injured since the start of the Yemeni war in 2015. More centrating on the turbulent atmosphere will soon enter the U.S. Congress. a wall on the border between the United Trump’s stepping down from power. than 20,000 people are in urgent need of water and food and medicine in al-Hudaydah.” Yemeni resistance is more powerful than before Despite Riyadh’s violation of the political agreement of Stock- We don’t necessarily need “religious” theory of IR: Dallmayr holm, the Yemeni resistance groups and, above all, Ansarullah 1 A: If IR is purely empirical, then to become relevant religion Some argue that the current International Relations theory are responding to the Saudis’ brutal attacks more with greater also has to be treated empirically. So genuine religion can only enter cannot explain some of the current phenomena of international power. In fact, it was the military power of the Yemeni resistance IR, if IR is treated broadly, that is, theoretically and spiritually. relations and we need a religious theory of International Relations, group that brought the Saudi mercenaries to the negotiating table Some scholars such as “Michael Allen Gillespie” in the book especially with regard to religious issues. What is your opinion? In in Stockholm in the first place. “The Theological Origins of Modernity” believe that modernity general, theorizing Religion in International Relations is feasible? For example, Brigadier Saree announced that recently the was not initially against religion, and in later years, as a result of A: We do not necessarily need a “religious” theory of IR. We Yemeni army and popular committees targeted large Saudi mer- social, cultural and political conditions, it has led to secularism. just need a more intelligent and more theoretical theory of IR, cenaries at a military base in Al Jawf, where dozens of the forces So Based on this conception, religion is not conflict with one which takes into account more elements. were killed and wounded as a result. He also said the mercenaries modernity, so can it be said that religion is not conflict with If theorizing Religion in International Relations is possible, were preparing for a new operation and escalation of conflicts in the International Relations theory stemming from modernity? can this religious theory in International Relations explain all the the province of al-Jawf in favor of the Saudi coalition. A: Gillespie is correct; modernity at the start was not an- unresolved issues and problems? In any case, the reality is that the Saudis continue to carry out ti-religious (witness the Reformation). Hence modernity is not A: Religion cannot explain everything, but something. There is their cruel killing of innocent people of Yemen, even following necessarily anti-religious, and the same is true of IR. also economics, sociology, history and human “nature”. the peace talks in Sweden, because they realize their objective in Yemen has failed.

Second Announcement TEHRAN TIMES

N.I.O.C National Iranian Drilling Company 1397.5056 Call for public tender (First/Second publish)- Retender Call for public tender (First/Second publish)- Retender Two-Stages (semi compressed) tender National Iranian N.I.O.C Two-Stages (semi compressed) tender Second Announcement Subject of Tender PARTS FOR 12P160 NATIONAL MUD PUMP API 7 K 1397.5056 Drilling Company Subject of Tender PARTS FOR 12P160 NATIONAL MUD PUMP API 7 K Iran’s Leading Tender descriptions: Khouzestan Steel Company Tender No. Estimated value The Tender holder Registration No. through national electronic tendering system Announcement of the contractors' qualification for a package included New Secondary Metal- /Indent No. (Rial/Euro) International Daily Tender No.:FP/17-97/028 lurgical Facilities and One New single strand Wide Slab Continuous Casting Machine with all National Iranian Drilling Company 3,185,811 41,820,000,000 Indent No.: 48-22-9622052 auxiliaries in EPC, EPCF condition at KSC

 Qualitative evaluation of tenderers Advertising Dept Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) intends to build a new secondary metallurgy line (LF, VD / VOD; included all related auxiliaries) & a new single strand wide slab continuous casting machine Method R Based on minimum scoring (60) made in award criterion reflected in the tenderers pre-qualification forms. including all related auxiliaries. The location is in existing steelmaking indoor and the required 1- Applicants which have more than 4 in process contacts with NIDC are not allowed to participate in this tender. molten steel is provided by current melt shop.

2- Applicants which have more than 2 in process contacts with NIDC in similar subject ( exclusively same subject) are not allowed to participate in another tender. The features of the slab casting :

 Purchasing & Submitting • Capacity 1.2 MTPA ( good Slab ) • Width 1200 - 2200 mm

Tender Document Distribution by The distribution of the documents will be started one day after the publishing of second advertisement and ended on the • Thickness 200 - 300 mm Company following tenth day thereof. Companies interested in taking part the tender having the following qualifications, Hall No.:113, 1thfloor, Foreign Procurement Dept., National Iranian Distribution Place Drilling Company, Airport square, Ahwaz, IRAN.KASHANI- can declare their readiness: TEL:06134148659- 1. Technological Knowledge of secondary metallurgy lines and slab continuous casting. Submitting one original Bank Fund Receipt in the amount of 510,000  Iranian Rials under account number 4001114004020491( Shaba No. IR 2. Experienced in executing EPC, EPCF or Turn-key secondary metallurgy line 520100004001114004020491) in name of “NIDC Incomes Centralized Fund” Submitting Method .issued by I.R. of Iran Central Bank projects, slab continuous casting machines or similar steel making projects. Submitting format Request for the purpose of receiving Tender  .Documents 3. Having the ability of financing or taking the final product as reimbursement after

Closing date .Days after the last time of Purchasing 14  the completion of the project is preferred. 4. Equipment must be supplied from European Companies in Europe or other Hall No. 107, 1stfloor, Tender Committee, Operation building, Tel: Documents Receiving Method National Iranian Drilling Company, Airport square, Ahwaz, countries under their license with European Union Countries Standards. Address IRAN. The interested companies shall send the following documents to KSC by the date : 26 January 2019 Tel: +98-61-34148580 +98-61-34148569 021 - 430 51 450 1. The lists and references (Name, Location, Scope, Capacity and the Contract

 Tender Guarantee Price) of similar projects, EPC or Engineering, Procurement, Construction Separately Value of guarantee 2,091,000,000 Rial/ 42,526 Euro 2. The list of project with frame of financing and taking final product (if any). Bank guarantees or guarantees issued by non-bank institutions that obtain activity license from the central bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 3. The Company Profile and Catalogue Type of guarantee Submitting one original Bank Fund Receipt under account number 4001114006376636 ( Shaba No. IR After receiving the documents and evaluating the companies' competency, the KSC will send 350100004001114006376636) in name of “NIDC saving account” by the central bank of Islamic Republic of Iran. tendering documents to the selected contractors. Duration of credit & quotation Tender Guarantee and quotation should be valid for 90 days and extendable maximum for one time in initial validity duration. Address : IRAN, Khouzestan province, Ahwaz, Khouzestan Steel Company,

(Foreign(Foreign Procurement Procurement Dept.) Dept.) Post Box: 1378, Post Code: 61788-13111; Purchasing Department. More of this & other tenders are accessible by click on: More of this & other tenders are accessible by click on: www.nidc.ir www.nidc.ir http://sapp.ir/nidc_pr http://sapp.ir/nidc_pr Mr. F.Farmani - Mr. Dehghan Khani Tel: 0098 - 21 44870080 Fax. : 0098 - 21 44872469 تهران تایمز نوبت اول 9/10/97نوبت دوم 10تهران/ 10/تایمز97 نوبت اول 9/10/97نوبت دوم 97/10/10 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 8 ADVERTISEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2018

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Mindfulness ‘has huge potential’ Childhood poverty has a lasting impact on developing as a weight loss strategy brain, finds study As the holiday season draws to a close, many same weight management program but no of us may be struggling with the extra weight mindfulness sessions, the individuals who Growing up in a less well-off family may negatively impact the we put on during extensive, food-filled cele- had received complete mindfulness training brain, according to research showing how socioeconomic status brations with family and friends. Can mind- shed an average of 2.85 kilograms (almost can have a lasting impact on a person’s development. fulness techniques come to our aid in getting 6.3 pounds) more. U.S. researchers found brain regions responsible for learning, rid of those extra pounds? “Surveys of the participants indicate [that] language and emotional development tended to be more complex New evidence confirms that eating mindfulness training can help this popula- in people whose parents were educated to a higher level or who mindfully can help with maintaining a tion improve their relationship with food,” worked in professional rather than manual jobs. healthy weight. explains Hanson. Mindfulness, she explains, Brain scans from hundreds of young people show these effects According to anecdotal evidence and some can help people change and manage their are stable throughout childhood and adolescence, the National existing research, mindfulness techniques eating behaviors with more ease. Institute of Mental Health researchers found. can help a person maintain or improve their “Individuals who completed the course This means targeting additional support in the pre-school physical and mental well-being. said they were better able to plan meals in years could help minimize inequalities it causes in a host of life For example, mindfulness can reduce advance and felt more confident in self-man- outcomes, including mental health and academic achievement, symptoms of anxiety and enhance cogni- agement of weight loss moving forward,” the researchers added. tive functioning, and it may even improve says Hanson, adding, “Similar courses can “Early brain development occurs within the context of each a person’s immune response. be held in a primary care setting or even child’s experiences and environment, which both vary significantly The principle behind mindfulness is very developed into digital tools.” as a function of socioeconomic status,” said lead author Cassidy simple: One has to be fully present in the She expresses hope that “[t]his approach McDermott and colleagues. moment, focusing attention on external stim- can be scaled up to reach a wider population.” In childhood, socioeconomic status, which encompasses in- uli and their effects on the body and mind, “Mindfulness has huge potential as a come as well as opportunities and a string of other factors, has learning to concomitantly acknowledge and shown that problematic eating behavior management program at University Hospitals strategy for achieving and maintaining good been linked to a range of mental health, cognitive development, dismiss unnecessary thoughts. can be improved with mindfulness appli- Coventry and Warwickshire National Health health and well-being,” comments senior and academic outcomes. Thus, learning mindfulness techniques cation,” says the study’s first author, Petra Services Trust. author Dr. Thomas Barber, from the War- “Socioeconomic status may exert some of its effect on cognition can help us tone down the effects of stress Hanson, a research fellow and doctoral Of the participants, 33 took part in at wickshire Institute for the Study of Diabetes by altering structural brain development, particularly in regions and regain more enjoyment in present ex- student at the Warwickshire Institute for least three of four mindfulness training Endocrinology and Metabolism. associated with language and learning,” Ms McDermott said. periences. the Study of Diabetes Endocrinology and sessions, which taught them to practice The researcher notes that many pressing “However, it is important to note that this pathway repre- Recently, researchers have suggested that Metabolism at University Hospitals Cov- mindfulness while eating. chronic diseases are linked, to some extent, sents only one possible set of interactions between childhood mindfulness can also aid a person in their entry and Warwickshire. Over the next 6 months, the participants with lifestyle behaviors and concludes: environment, anatomy, and cognition.” weight loss efforts. Hanson and the team report their findings who had attended three or four mindful- “[The] focus should be on enabling the For the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the A new study from the University Hospi- in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & ness sessions lost, on average, 3 kilograms populace to make appropriate lifestyle researchers looked at 1,243 brain MRI scans from more than tals Coventry and Warwickshire National Metabolism, which is an Endocrine Society (about 6.6 pounds), while those who had decisions and empowering subsequent 623 young people aged between five and 25. While the socioec- Health Services Trust in the United King- publication. only attended one or two mindfulness salutary behavior change. In the context onomic score used did not take account of family income in the dom — in collaboration with other clinical ’Enabling appropriate lifestyle sessions lost an average of 0.9 kilograms of obesity and eating-related behaviors, earliest measurements this is another determinant of socioeco- and research institutions — confirms these decisions’ (around 2 pounds). we have demonstrated that mindfulness nomic status and also correlates with parental occupation and and similar findings. The research team worked with 53 indi- Moreover, when compared with a control techniques can do just that.” education factors. “This research is significant, as we have viduals participating in a dedicated weight group of 20 participants who attended the (Source: Medical News Today) Previous studies have shown links between parental occupa- tion and earnings and an overall increase in the volume of the brain’s grey matter. Bipolar: Physical activity may boost mood and energy However the study takes this further and shows that higher New research, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, Control and Prevention (CDC). 15–84, to wear activity tracking devices and keep electronic socioeconomic status in early childhood has a pronounced effect found that higher levels of physical activity boost mood and With 300 million people living with depression, the World diaries of their mood and energy over the course of 2 weeks. on two areas of the brain, the thalamus and striatum. energy levels. The benefits were particularly noticeable in Health Organization (WHO) describe it as the “leading cause The participants — 150 of whom were female — used the The thalamus is a key region in the center of the brain involved people with bipolar disorder. of disability worldwide.” diary four times per day to assess their perceived energy and in the transmission and processing of sensory information, and Being physically active might help people with bipolar New research may help alleviate depressive symptoms, mood using a seven-point scale that ranged from “very tired” a larger thalamus volume is closely linked with quicker thinking disorder fight off depressive symptoms. particularly in people with bipolar disorder. to “very energetic” and from “very happy” to “very sad.” and higher verbal IQ. In the United States, almost 3 percent of adults experi- A team led by Vadim Zipunnikov, Ph.D. — an assistant The researchers accounted for each individual’s daily routines While differences in size and complexity of these brain regions enced bipolar disorder “in the past year.” professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Johns and designated four time points throughout the day: one in the tracked with socioeconomic status, and this has been shown to predict Around 4.4 percent of adults have bipolar at some point Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, morning, one at lunch, one at dinner time, and one at bedtime. future life outcomes the study does not prove one causes the other. in their lives.Depression is even more prevalent, both in the MD — found that increased physical activity improves mood Overall, the study found that higher physical activity at any Many other factors will play a role in early year’s development U.S. and across the globe. and energy levels for those living with the condition. one of these time points correlated with better mood and higher and future outcomes, and McDermott and colleagues say they hope In fact, about 8 percent of people over the age of 20 in the How physical activity affects mood energy levels at the following time point throughout the day. understanding the roots in anatomy can help reduce variation. U.S. have depression, according to the Centers for Disease Zipunnikov and colleagues asked 242 participants, aged (Source: Medical News Today) (Source: The Independent)

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Iransaakht, at the outset Sorkheh Hesar of promoting domestic products: VP to be first smart

1 A new generation of entrepreneurs in Iran are now im- portant part of economy with their innovation and use of tech- park in Iran nology, he added. TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN — The Sork- and recycling water, smart safety, smart The festival was held in six different sections including deskheh Hesar National health services and video games as well as literature, visual arts, digital, audio and visual media with Park in northeastern Tehran is planned smart tree ID signs are some measures, the motto of Iranian technology in service of Iranian market. to be turned into the first smart park which will be taken to make the Sorkheh Tehran mayor Pirouz Hanachi and the Academic Center for in Iran. Hesar National Park smart. Education, Culture and Research Director Hamidreza Tayyebi The head of Tehran Municipality ICT Organizing parking space in streets, attended the ceremony, which was held at the Vahdat Hall. Organization Mohammad Farjoud and establishing smart kiosks, and smart the mayor of District 13 of Tehran Munic- fueling are other projects planned in ipality Mohammad Rahmanzadeh signed the agreement, Mohammad Farjoud a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) explained. Going green? Here are the to make Sorkheh Hesar National Park a “We do hope that the smart projects smart place as a project. boost the urban life and services for Teh- easiest ways to recycle your As one of the projects, which is planned rani citizens,” he added. old tech devices at the district 13 as the pilot region, the Through IT facilities, the difficulties Smart monitoring and parking, smart infrastructure projects related to mak- changed into opportunities and improved ing Sorkheh Hesar National Park smart quality of life, the District 13 mayor irrigation, smart waste water treatment and We all have a shoebox stashed away somewhere full of fray- through computer network will be de- Morteza Rahmanzadeh said. recycling water and smart tree ID signs are ing cords and ancient hardware from a different era. As tech veloped. “The district 13 is ready to perform some measures, which will be taken to make companies pump out newer, sleeker, and faster devices on a Smart monitoring and parking, smart smart waste segregation at source as the year-to-year basis, it’s only natural for certain devices to lose irrigation, smart waste water treatment pilot region,” he said. the Sorkheh Hesar National Park smart. their luster or fall into disrepair. By 2020, Greenpeace estimates there will be 6 billion smart- phone users, each replacing their phones every two years, on average. The waste from smartphones, as well as obsolete Iranian startup to stop vicious cycle of fresh ICT Ministry introduces blockchain in desktops and laptops, is already straining the environment in fruit and vegetable distribution system a video series a number of different ways. E-waste is growing out of control, with the United Nations finding in 2014 that over 40 million metric tons of devices and parts found their way into landfills. They estimate a 21% increase in 2018. However, tech companies have started to step up to the challenge, expanding recycling programs and offering more refurbished devices for sale. Amazon offers gift cards for any old devices that still work and provides clear directions for sending in any items that no longer function. They have an easy-to-follow portal that prints a UPS shipping label for you to quickly send your device back. Smartphones, tablets, Kindles, and games are accepted for return. The company supports “the responsible disposal and recycling of electronics products” and has over 30,000 collection sites for rechargeable batteries, it says on its website. You can even recycle the boxes your Amazon purchase comes in. Amazon also allows you to donate any other non-electronic items you may have by putting them in your used boxes and printing a free UPS label from their Give Back Box program. Donations go to your local participating charity. Similarly, Apple has a robust recycling effort, dangling the prospect of Apple Gift Cards for any prospective refurbishers. “No matter the model or condition, we can turn it into some- thing good for you and good for the planet. And through April TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN — An Iranian Esmaeil Qaderifar, who is also the found- TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN — The In- chain experts from Tehran’s Sharif Uni- 30, we’ll make a donation to Conservation International for deskstartup is planned to stop er of the startup, said that the application deskformation and Com- versity of Technology announced that every device we receive — getting us even closer to leaving the the vicious cycle of fresh fruit and vegetable provides the fruit from farmers. munication Technology (ICT) Ministry they are developing a startup which is world better than we found it,” Apple wrote on its website. distribution system in Tehran, Yazd and Is- The startup saves 25 to 30 percent of introduces blockchain technology in a to introduce the first Iranian block- After only a few questions, users can figure out how much fahan, Tasnim reported on Saturday. fruit consumption price and people can series of videos for public. chain-based taxi app. their old device is worth, or if it’s worth anything at all, and Known as Bazargam, the startup pro- buy more fruits, he said. The seven-part video series, which The startup founder Amir Abbas Emami instantly get Apple Store credit or Apple Store Gift Cards. Ap- vides two separate applications for cos- The fruits are delivered in pockets are available on ICT media channel at said that they have launched Initial Coin ple claims to disassemble at least 200 iPhones an hour using tumers and distributers. made from stone dust, which are envi- the Aparat website, aims to give infor- Offering (ICO). Daisy, a robot designed specifically for the recycling process. The applicants can order fresh fruits ronment-friendly, he added. mation to public about blockchain as a The latest report of Europe Union They have been eager to take on the recycling challenge and and vegetable online and receive them at Agriculture ministry, Central Organ- fundamental section of technology. Blockchain Observatory and Forum continue to push for more and more ways to reuse minerals their desired location and time. ization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran, “Informing public is the principle of (EUBF) details that for blockchain to and parts in old devices. Sometimes the price of fruit increased Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and using new aspects of technology,” the realize its potential within government In an April press release, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple 700 percent from farm to consumer be- Social Welfare and District 2 of Tehran ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari institutions, they must focus on using the would continue to push “the boundaries of what is possible cause the existence of several dealers, an Municipality cooperate with science and Jahromi announced on his Twitter ac- technology to build two things: digital with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our official with science and technology vice technology vice presidency to establish count on Saturday. identity systems, and digital versions of facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative presidency announced. the startup. In early December, a group of block- their national currencies. and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.” The biggest challenges for tech in 2019 If you thought 2018 was a bad year for tech, 2019 might dreamed of. Preventing these companies from storing turn out to be even worse. This year was filled with our data would, ultimately, protect it, but the chances revelations about privacy, security and cyberwarfare. that will happen are slim to none. Instead, as these Next year, the consequences of those revelations will security breaches become routine, engineers and their unfold. And we should be very worried about what employers will accept them as an inevitability and treat the future holds. them (at least internally) as a nonevent — much the Privacy is dead same as credit card companies and credit card users In 2018, it became very clear that Americans have no treat credit card fraud today. control over their digital information. We discovered There’s a lot at stake. The spies from foreign gov- that our cellphones could be monitored, and many of ernments hacking into American companies aren’t the apps on our phones are tracking us. We found out trying to destroy you, me or any specific individuals that Facebook shared our private messages with third living in the United States — they are trying to destroy parties and let developers using its platform harvest the country that we live in. and exploit our data in order to influence political Tech’s anti-government stance elections. Our data is perpetually being gathered, Employees at tech companies like Amazon, Google leaked, exploited, breached and sold. and Microsoft have begun to organize. In response to Apple has lead the way in publicly condemning the envi- And perhaps worse is what the future holds. We The end of security an employee walkout at Google, the company changed ronmentally-costly lifecycle of most devices on the market, most likely aren’t aware of all the companies that hold There were some very large and frightening data the way it enforces forced arbitration agreements in writing in their environmental responsibility report last year our personal data and what they are doing with it: the breaches this year. Quora was hacked, and 100 mil- sexual harassment cases. The company also dropped that they needed to move toward “a closed-loop supply chain, social media companies that know us as well as our lion user accounts were compromised. Facebook was out of a competition to provide cloud computing ser- where products are built using only renewable resources or friends do, the financial technology companies that hacked, and 50 million users were affected. Google+ vices to the Pentagon after employees protested the recycled material.” sell our bank account transaction data, the messaging was hacked, and Facebook was hacked again, disclosing company’s involvement. Google has its own recycling program, offering both mail-in apps that hold our private photos and texts. that it gave developers access to photos that users had Google employees during a “women’s walkout,” a services and collection sites. Both Google products and other But 2018 was also the first year of privacy protection uploaded but never posted. Then we learned that the protest over the company’s handling of sexual har- electronics can get you something from the Google Store. in Europe: The General Data Protection Regulation Google+ hack was worse than we initially knew. And assment claims. Sony established one of the first recycling programs for their went into effect in May. Despite the protestations then Marriott realized it had been hacked, exposing Some of the internal protests at these companies televisions and electronics in 2007. In 2016, they collected 9,749 of those who complain that G.D.P.R. places an un- the personal data of 500 million people. centered on civil rights issues, such as the way that tons of used consumer electronics and aim to have a collection due organizational burden on start-ups, it could The knee-jerk response this year has been to say that victims of sexual harassment are treated. Others, like center within 20 miles of 95% of the homes in North America. return privacy to millions of people living in the these companies need stronger punishments for security the outcry about Google’s Project Dragonfly (a censored As of March last year, Sony cumulatively collected approxi- European Union. breaches, or that we need to regulate tech companies. search engine Google was building for China), were mately 222,727 tons of electronic devices. You can also contact But those of us in the United States have no similar This response is appropriate in cases where the breach related to freedom of expression. However, a majority them online with any questions about how and where to recycle privacy protections. There is no way for us to know is a result of poor security practices, as appears to have of the employee protests and complaints seem to have any old devices or electronics. Although they don’t offer payment which companies have our data, and I don’t think that been the case in the 2017 Equifax breach. But some of been about government-related projects. At Salesforce, or credit for any non-Sony devices, they do recycle everything will change in 2019. I’m also not very optimistic that any this year’s breaches were different: The Marriott and hundreds of employees signed a petition asking the for free and have a special program for rechargeable batteries. significant legislation will be passed, especially given Quora hacks seem to have been the work of malicious company to cease working with United States Cus- Samsung, now the world’s largest smartphone producer, the relationships between some members of Congress hackers, and in the case of Marriott, the hackers are toms and Border Protection. At Microsoft, employees organizes a number of different recycling programs for their and Silicon Valley companies. The only people who reported to have been Chinese government spies. circulated an open letter urging the company to stop devices. They have collection sites across the US for devices, have a chance to hold tech companies accountable It’s not clear that these breaches were a result of working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, batteries, and printer toner, but do not offer mail-in services. and demand better protections are ordinary people poor security practices or corporate negligence. The and also complained about the company’s bid for the Depending on the state, Samsung is required to recycle their like you and me. And I think that we will fail. truth is — and I say this as someone who has worked Pentagon’s cloud computing contract — the very same devices at no cost to you. They do not say whether credit or gift Many of us will delete apps. We will disable as much in Silicon Valley as an engineer — the security teams one that Google employees pressured their employ- cards are offered in exchange for old devices. tracking as we can on our phones. We will delete our and security practices at Google and Facebook are er about. And, at Amazon, employees protested the There are also many charities and non-profit organizations Facebook accounts. We will delete our social media among the best in the world. It’s not clear that stronger company selling its Amazon Web Services products collecting electronics and putting them to good use. Music & histories and old emails and text messages. But it won’t punishments or more regulation will fix the problem or to the United States government. Memory collects old iPods and mp3 players and refurbishes be enough because most people will not care: The prevent these kinds of data breaches from happening. The United States is engaged in cyberwarfare with them for use in nursing homes. Other organizations offer home trade-off between privacy and convenience will be Being the best in the world when it comes to se- China and Russia, in which tech companies are inevitably pick-ups of old electronics and devices that you no longer need. worth it to them, because the loss of their privacy will curity and following the best security practices have involved. Employees of these same tech companies Before letting that shoebox overflow with old devices, cords, have little to no impact on their day-to-day life. Most not protected these companies, and, ultimately, they are pushing their employers to drop contracts with and batteries, check an organization’s website to see if you can people will read (or perhaps ignore) the news stories have not kept our data safe. We will see more of these the United States government. If they succeed, who be rewarded for recycling. about every new privacy scandal, and they will then breaches in the coming year, at large companies, and is going to win the war? (Source: techrepublic.com) go back to their phones. our data will be exploited in ways we never could have (Source: nytimes.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 31, 2018 SCIENCE 11

Illuminating nanoparticle NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman, known as the ‘mother of Hubble,’ dies at 93 growth with X-rays Nancy Grace Roman, a former NASA executive who is often described as the “mother” of the Hubble Space Telescope, has died at 93. Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology Using the ultrabright x-rays at NSLS-II Roman, a longtime employee of the National Aeronautics and for producing clean and renewable energy, but and the advanced capabilities of NSLS-II’s In Space Administration, was the first woman to hold an executive role the cost and activity of their cathode materials situ and Operando Soft X-ray Spectroscopy at the agency, the Associated Press reported. After getting her Ph.D. is a major challenge for commercialization. (IOS) beamline, the researchers revealed the in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1949, Roman joined Many fuel cells require expensive platinum- chemical characterization of the catalyst’s NASA in 1959 as its first Chief of Astronomy in the Office of Space based catalyst substances that initiate and growth pathway in real time. Their findings Science at NASA Headquarters and remained in the role for nearly speed up chemical reactions --to help convert are published in Nature Communications. twenty years until her retirement in 1979, according to NASA. renewable fuels into electrical energy. To “We used a research technique called make hydrogen fuel cells commercially viable, ambient-pressure x-ray photoelectron scientists are searching for more affordable spectroscopy (AP-XPS) to study the surface catalysts that provide the same efficiency as composition and chemical state of the metals pure platinum. in the nanoparticles during the growth “Like a battery, hydrogen fuel cells convert reaction,” said Iradwikanari Waluyo, lead stored chemical energy into electricity. The scientist at IOS and a co-corresponding author difference is that you’re using a replenishable of the research paper. fuel so, in principle, that ‘battery’ would Energy of electrons last forever,” said Adrian Hunt, a scientist “In this technique, we direct x-rays at a at the National Synchrotron Light Source sample, which causes electrons to be released. II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy By analyzing the energy of these electrons, we (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s are able to distinguish the chemical elements She was involved with such groundbreaking programs as the Cosmic Brookhaven National Laboratory. “Finding in the sample, as well as their chemical and Background Explorer, and as her informal title suggests, the beloved a cheap and effective catalyst for hydrogen oxidation states.” Hubble Space Telescope. fuel cells is basically the holy grail for making NSLS-II. The “growth process case for Hunt, who is also an author on the paper, Roman is remembered for her work in bolstering career oppor- this technology more feasible.” “Understanding how the faceted catalyst the platinum-nickel system is quite added, “It is similar to the way sunlight tunities for women through the American Association of University Synthesizing catalysts is formed plays a key role in establishing its sophisticated, so we collaborated with interacts with our clothing. Sunlight is Women, the Washington Post reported. Roman is said to have con- Taking part in this worldwide search for structure-property correlation and designing several experienced groups to address the roughly yellow, but once it hits a person’s sistently bucked significant barriers throughout her education and fuel cell cathode materials, researchers at a better catalyst,” said Zhenmeng Peng, challenges. The cutting-edge techniques shirt, you can tell whether the shirt is blue, career at a time when there were few women in her field, especially at the University of Akron developed a new principal investigator of the catalysis lab at at Brookhaven National Lab were of great red, or green.” the executive level. She is most often credited with furthering much method of synthesizing catalysts from a the University of Akron. help to study this research topic.” Rather than colors, the scientists were of the early development of the Hubble program, particularly as it combination of metals -- platinum and identifying chemical information on the related to funding and proposals. nickel -- that form octahedral (eight-sided) “Understanding how the faceted catalyst is surface of the catalyst and comparing it to Per the Post, in his book “The Universe in a Mirror,” author and shaped nanoparticles. While scientists have formed plays a key role in establishing its its interior. They discovered that, during the space historian Robert Zimmerman wrote: “During the 1960s and early identified this catalyst as one of the most growth reaction, metallic platinum forms first 1970s there was no one at NASA who was more important in getting efficient replacements for pure platinum, structure-property correlation and designing and becomes the core of the nanoparticles. the first designs and concepts for Hubble funded and completed.” they have not fully understood why it grows a better catalyst,” said Zhenmeng Peng, Then, when the reaction reaches a slightly According to NASA, Roman’s awards and honors include the Women in an octahedral shape. To better understand higher temperature, platinum helps form in Aerospace’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional the growth process, the researchers at the principal investigator of the catalysis lab at metallic nickel, which later segregates to the Scientific Achievement Award, and the NASA Outstanding Scientific University of Akron collaborated with multiple the University of Akron. surface of the nanoparticle. Leadership Award, among others. Last year, Roman was honored institutions, including Brookhaven and its (Source: rdmagazine.com) as part of a fan-designed Lego set honoring women of NASA that also included pioneers such as Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, and Mae Jemison. Research team shows how Scientists making incremental advances with Roman died Tuesday following an ongoing illness. According to the Post, she is not survived by any immediate family members. to recycle Christmas tree inventive new materials and electrolytes (Source: gizmodo.com) Twinkling pine, spruce and fir trees bring Access to energy wherever and whenev- holiday cheer to homes around the world. er we need it is fundamental to much of But with the end of festivities comes the not- modern society, keeping us warm in the Marine debris study counts so-jolly chore of disrobing and discarding winter, cool in the summer, entertained these unwieldy house guests. all year round, and making sure our food trash from Texas to Florida You don’t want your Christmas tree to end is safe to eat. How we store that energy up in a landfill, where it will take forever to is a constant work in progress, and while Trash, particularly plastic, in the ocean and along the shoreline is decompose. So what’s the most responsible plenty of scientists are making important an economic, environmental, human health, and aesthetic problem way to get rid of a Christmas tree? but incremental advances with inventive causing serious challenges to coastal communities around the world, Take a minute to search the internet for new materials and electrolytes, others are including the Gulf of Mexico. what your town recommends, or call your out to entirely reinvent what we think of Researchers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the Mis- local trash haulers. Many communities will as a battery. sion-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve teamed up for collect Christmas trees curbside for two Consider a regular spring. If you coil that a two-year study to document the problem along the Gulf of Mex- or three weeks after the holidays. spring with your finger, you are packing it ico shorelines. Their findings are documented in the publication, Not only is this method most efficient with potential energy. If you then allow it Accumulation and distribution of marine debris on barrier islands (better to have a few garbage trucks driving to uncoil, you are letting that energy free. across the northern Gulf of Mexico, in ScienceDirect’s Marine Pol- around than a bunch of individual cars), want trees for animal enrichment or food. Now imagine that principle applied to a purpose-built in any shape to fit with lution Bulletin. but municipalities often use the trees for One Michigan petting zoo, for instance, tower of stackable concrete blocks, with what would otherwise be an optimally From February 2015 to August of 2017, the researchers kept parks or habitat restoration, piling them wants to turn your Christmas tree into a a six-armed crane acting as the finger. designed product? tabs on marine debris that washed up on the shoreline every month into barriers against soil erosion or sinking nutritious snack for its twin goats, Bubba This is the vision of Swiss startup Energy In October, scientists at Texas State at 12 different sites on nine barrier islands from North Padre Is- them into ponds to provide habitat for fish. and Gump. Vault, which is developing a new kind of University and Duke University came up land, Texas to Santa Rosa, Florida. The trash was sorted by type, Some beachside towns use Christmas trees If you’re feeling crafty, you can recycle battery, if you can call it that, designed to with a way to 3D print batteries out of a frequency, and location. to rebuild sand dunes, a tactic that came parts of your tree to make wreaths, candles, store energy from renewables like wind and plastic known as polylactic acid (PLA) in The most shocking discovery was that ten times more trash in handy after Hurricane Sandy. coasters and fragrant sachets. solar in skyscraper-sized concrete towers. theoretically any shape. Doing so involved washes up on the coast of Texas than any of the other Gulf states Tree for mulching Habitat for birds Creating a tower some experimentation, because PLA in throughout the year. In New York City, the Department of Finally, if you live in a rural area, you can To charge it, the crane lifts blocks off its typical state is not an ionic conductor. Most of the trash, 69 to 95 percent, was plastic. The plastic items Sanitation will collect your tree for mulching simply put your tree out on your land and the ground and stacks them to create a Positive and negative electrodes included bottles and bottle caps, straws, and broken pieces of plastic. and “tree cycling” from Jan. 2 through 12. “return it to nature,” said Eric A. Goldstein, tower. To discharge it, the crane lets gravity The scientists got around this little Researchers also cited that more trash washed ashore during the Another option is to haul your tree to a a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense lower the blocks to the ground and converts problem by infusing the material with a spring and summer. This could be because more people are outside MulchFest event, where you can watch it Council. Trees fall on their own all the the kinetic energy generated during the cocktail of ethyl methyl carbonate, pro- and on the water during this time. get chipped and bring home a bag of mulch. time and become good habitat for birds, descent into electricity. pylene carbonate and lithium perchlorate. (Source: eurekalert.org) Before you drag your shrub to the curb, rodents and other wildlife. This is a similar premise to pumped They also used graphene in the anode make sure to strip the lights, ornaments Landfills are packed so tightly that hydro plants, which are commonplace and and carbon nanotubes in the cathode, and tinsel. If you wrap the tree in a plastic there’s no oxygen, which organic materials also rely on gravity. These pump water the positive and negative electrodes, Elon Musk reflects on Mars, bag to get it out of the house, take the wrap need to decompose, said Jessica Davis, the up to into a reservoir during periods of respectively. off once it’s outside. director of the IUPUI Office of Sustainability low grid demand, and then capture the Through these improvements, the brain chips and Tesla’s Try to find a friend with a wood chipper in Indianapolis. Also, the lack of oxygen power generated as it is released to rush team was able to 3D print a proof-of- who can shred your tree for you. “It makes means that when your Christmas tree finally downhill through turbines. Energy Vault concept battery in the shape of a coin cell near-death experience wonderful compost,” said Todd Larsen, does decompose, it will release methane, says its solution could hold a capacity of that actually worked. They built on this Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk said the electric car company executive co-director of Green America, a far more potent greenhouse gas than up to 35 MWh and 4 MW peak power and by 3D printing a battery into a bracelet had a near-death experience earlier this year that had him working an environmental nonprofit based in carbon dioxide. offer a roundtrip efficiency of 90 percent. equipped with LEDs, which was able to nonstop, taking a “painful” toll on his well-being. Washington D.C. It’s not great to burn your tree either, It is deploying its first system in India remain illuminated for around 60 seconds. “Tesla really faced a severe threat of death due to the Model 3 Alternatively, visit Earth911 and search Mr. Larsen said. Sap and dried needles in 2019. The MIT researchers describe a system production ramp,” Musk said during an interview with Axios on HBO your ZIP code for places that recycle tend to crackle, pop and explode when A TV remote control, a watch and a that instead of salt uses molten silicon, that aired Sunday night. “Essentially, the company was bleeding Christmas trees. Many Home Depots, they burn. Moreover, fir, pine and spruce flashlight, these are all everyday items that which is able to store more heat and is money like crazy and if we didn’t solve these problems in a very Boy Scout troops or local nonprofits will trees contain a highly flammable tar called somewhere in the design process, address not as corrosive at high temperatures. short period of time, we would die. And it was extremely difficult take Christmas trees at no cost. creosote, which produces soot and can lead the need to accommodate cookie-cutter Additionally, at high temperatures it to solve them.” Another good place to check is your to chimney fires. batteries in cylindrical and rectangular shines extremely brightly. By June, Tesla hit a key produc- local zoo or animal sanctuary, which might (Source: The NYT) shapes. But what if batteries could be (Source: New Atlas) tion milestone, with 5,000 Model 3 sedans manufactured in a week. In October, Tesla posted its first Buzzed flies reveal important step to intoxication profitable quarter in two years. A new study from Scripps Research, published in the Journal When the scientists knocked out the gene for the enzyme Musk blamed working long of Molecular Biology, reveals a twist in how intoxication that makes the PEtOH metabolite, thus eliminating the sig- hours and being tired for his “bad happens. When the alcohol from our cocktail reaches our nal, the flies did not become more active. manners” on a call with investors nerve cells, the alcohol apparently employs intermediary This is the first time this pathway has been identified as a earlier this year, in which he dis- molecules on the membrane surface of the neuron to produce determinant of alcohol sensitivity, Hansen says. It remains missed some analysts’ questions as the intoxicating effect, indirectly. to be seen whether the metabolite is involved in the full “boring.” His behavior on Twitter It turns out that both flies and mammals can get drunk sedation experienced by the flies after the initial buzz and also became even more erratic, on alcohol. So, for their study, Scott Hansen, Ph.D., asso- how this pathway may play a role in the hangover that many with tweets that bordered on the ciate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine, people experience later on. Hansen says that his current bizarre and had an impact on the and his team, enabled fruit flies to become inebriated to research is addressing these questions. company’s stock price. track ethanol’s path. The fly is a useful model to study gene Knowing alcohol’s molecular targets could enable de- In August, Musk sent an impromptu tweet claiming he had secured activity because its genome is smaller than other animals velopment of an antidote to intoxication, or even hangover, funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. That prompted an and is easily manipulated, Hansen says. zyme on nerve cell membranes called phospholipase D2, Hansen says. investigation and subsequent $40 million fine from the Securities and “They act just like people,” Hansen says about the flies. (PLD2). The enzyme links ethanol molecules to lipid (fat) The “fatty alcohol is known to linger in the brain for Exchange Commission, who charged him with fraud in September. “They start losing coordination. They literally get drunk.” in the membrane of the nerve cell. They found the enzyme more than 16 hours making it a likely target,” Hansen says. Musk also runs SpaceX, The Boring Company and serves as The alcohol in beverages acts much like an anesthetic. becomes a catalyst triggering multiple downstream activities “Also, understanding this pathway could give insight as to CEO of Neuralink, a company developing brain-machine interfaces. It creates a hyper “buzzed” feeling first, and then sedation, within the cell. It creates a fatty alcohol metabolite called why people use alcohol for pain management.” As if that weren’t enough, there is one more challenge that might Hansen explains. But how? It turns out there is an important phosphatidylethanol (PEtOH). That metabolite builds up “It has definitely led to some different ways of thinking be in his future, he said: A move to Mars. SpaceX is currently work- intermediate step that wasn’t previously known. and causes nerves to fire more easily, resulting in more about alcohol intoxication at the molecular level,” Hansen ing on Starship, formerly known as the Big Falcon Rocket, which Ethanol molecules hyperactive flies. says. “Most scientists thought alcohol had a direct effect. will be used to one day colonize Mars. Musk put his odds of a move The scientists looked to a system they have seen at play “With hyperactivity you see the flies run around more, Blocking the enzyme in flies shows that’s not likely true.” at about “70 percent,” but said there’s a likelihood he’d die there. in anesthesia to track alcohol’s effects, starting with an en- and this is what we equate to being buzzed,” Hansen says. (Source: phys.org) (Source: nbcnews.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 12 SOCIETY DECEMBER 31, 2018

Donations for the Migratory birds wintering in Iran underprivileged up by 35% in 9 months increased by 26.5% ENVIRONMENT TEHRAN — The total are facing, he further lamented. 1 The budget for the next fiscal year (starting on March 21, deskpopulation of migratory Migratory birds on the International 2019) will be the same as the current year, he concluded. birds took flight to spend the cold season in Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation is a charitable organi- the country increased by 26.5 percent last Red List have also headed to the country zation, founded in March 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, to winter compared to a year earlier, head of last year with an enhancing population of provide support for families who are struggling financially. The aquatic animals and wildlife affairs at the 17.4 percent compared to past two years, aim is to help such families regain financial stability. Boosting Department of Environment (DOE) has said. the highest number of which was common job creation is one of the primary objectives of the foundation. Annual census for migratory birds in Iran pochard and the two species of Siberian crane begins in the middle of the Iranian calendar and red-breasted goose had the lowest pro- month of Dey (December 22- January 20), portion, he explained. Tehran hosts international and ends in middle of the month of Bahman Earlier this month, Mehr reported that the (January 21- February 19), which will be a number of migratory birds has increased in health, safety, firefighting, 1-month period since January 1 to 31. Hour al-Azim wetland, located in southwest- Every year, from early-September to ern province of Khuzestan on the border of rescue exhibition late-February, Iran hosts rare species of Iran and Iraq, due to recent above-normal migratory birds heading from north to the rainfalls and good conditions. SOCIETY TEHRAN — The 4th international health, southern countries due to reduced seasonal Additionally, deputy director of Khuzestan desksafety, firefighting, and rescue exhibition will temperatures and food availability, Majid province’s environment department general be held in Tehran on January 2 to 5, with many manufacturers, Kharrazian-Moqaddam said. announced that Bamdej Wetland in Khuzestan designers and service providers presenting their products and He went on to note that with increased province, suffering a significant drop in water advanced achievements, IRIB news agency reported on Saturday. rainfall averages and accordingly with wet- level during summer, has been filled with The 4th international health, safety, firefighting, rescue lands being filled with water, bird migration water after autumn rainfalls, which led to an exhibition gathers local and foreign suppliers and manufac- reaches its peak, and the number of aquatic increase in the number of migratory birds birds and animals observed and recorded choosing the wetland to pass the winter on. turers to exchange ideas and technologies, aiming to enhance With increased rainfall averages and safety, health and environmental standards. during the migration season in the country Also, deputy director for the provincial have grown substantially. accordingly with wetlands being filled DOE Zaman Ahmadi on early December said According to the census conducted during that in the current season compared to past winter in the aforesaid period in Iranian cal- with water, bird migration reaches its few years, the number of migratory birds has endar year 1396 (March 2017- March 2018), peak, and the number of aquatic birds and increased in Miankaleh wetland due to the some 914,914 migratory birds of 161 species animals observed and recorded during appropriate nutritional conditions. have been located in 483 sites across the As per the data published by National country, which demonstrates a 26.5 percent the migration season in the country have Drought Warning and Monitoring Center rise compared to the same period a year ear- grown substantially. it seems that recent above normal rainfalls lier (March 2016- March 2017), he noted. and the increase in the precipitation levels Among the various groups of migratory migratory birds respectively, are the first prov- species, he also added. has played a key role in improving the wet- birds wintering in Iran, the largest popula- inces with the highest sufficient resources, Elsewhere in his remarks, Kharrazian-Mo- lands conditions nationwide which will surely tion belongs to the group of geese, swans as movement of migratory birds is closely qaddam said that the population growth rate of effect the migratory birds’ population even and ducks amounting to 781,499 and the linked to seasonal availability of resources, wintering birds, the population of oldsquaws more this year. smallest population of 7 are the long-tailed he stated. and rails have the highest growth rates, while Last year during winter, the whole coun- ducks or oldsquaw, he added. Moreover, the province with the highest the flamingoes and pelicans showed the lowest try received 29.6 millimeters of rain while Provinces of Mazandaran and Golestan diversity of aquatic and migratory aquatic growth rates of 26 and 27.9 respectively due this year the amount almost quadrupled birds, is Gilan province having 85 different to the severe water shortage the wetlands The exhibition showcases a variety of services and modern hosting a population of 699,130 and 356,181 amounting to 92.3 millimeters. technologies related to health and safety executive field, in- cluding automatic fire detectors, fire extinguishing systems, Councils could be banned from felling trees Dozens of protected nature sites threatened active fire protection, portable fire extinguishers, warning signs, fire control training and counseling courses, emer- without consulting locals in Sheffield by UK government road-building plan gency situations management, and other related programs Householders are to be given more say over Endangered wildlife, ancient woodlands and equipment, the managing director of the exhibition, whether the trees on their streets can be and scenic landscapes are under threat Saeed Dolatshahi said. cut down, the government has announced. from government plans to boost spending In order to increase the awareness for the business envi- Environment secretary Michael Gove on controversial road building projects. ronment safety, in addition to establishing special booths, has drawn up the plans in the wake of a Environmental groups have highlighted several workshops will be held in the field of labor law re- three-year battle in Sheffield over mass at least 28 projects threatening to pave quirements and technical, safety regulations of offices, with felling of trees. over vital conservation areas as part of a related experts in attendance, he concluded. Campaigners celebrated the announce- new highway network. ment but warned the consultations must With ministers pledging another be genuine and thorough. enormous chunk of road spending in the LEARN ENGLISH Protests have been staged in Sheffield “We believe the campaign in Sheffield coming years, campaigners are concerned able wildlife sites and national parks from since 2015, when a scheme emerged to fell played a big part in getting the government not enough consideration is being given Durham to the South Downs, as well as You Missed the Deadline! up to 17,500 street trees that were said to to pay attention to this issue,” he said. to nature. scientifically important habitats and Areas be diseased or a danger to walkers due to “It’s great that the scheme calls for con- In a country already blighted by toxic of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A: And so, I just wanted to check in with you and find out roots damaging roads and pavements. sultation of residents but we are concerned air pollution and considered “one of the Some projects such as the M4 diver- where we are with this project. As you know, you’ve missed a Demonstrators chained themselves to because councils sometimes treat consultations most nature-depleted in the world”, they sion through the Gwent Levels – dubbed fairly significant deadline last week, and this will negativity trees in an effort to prevent the work being as a very cursory activity and do it to get the say Britain can ill afford to back plans that Wales’ Amazon rainforest – will bulldoze impact the team’s ability to move forward with the next carried out. The local authority went to the answers they want, so we hope there will be will increase the number of drivers. the homes of valuable creatures including stages of this project. High Court to get an injunction to prevent a serious approach to consultation.” Irreplaceable habitats such as ancient European cranes and over 100 threatened B: I know, I’m really sorry that I missed the deadline. But really, them climbing inside safety barriers. Lord Scriven, a former Sheffield coun- woodlands and chalk streams are among insect species. it wasn’t my fault. You see, we had all of these unexpected Since then, 5,500 trees have been felled, cil leader who has been a vocal critic of those in danger, as are vulnerable species Meanwhile, under current proposals, the technical problems at the last minute, and that I couldn’t get around half of which were on residential the city’s mass felling plan, welcomed the including water voles, great crested newts massive Oxford-Cambridge expressway pro- into the database and extract the kind of information that I needed streets and were “healthy”. The city prides announcement, saying: “As the case of the and rare bees. ject would cut through marshes supporting for the data analysis. You know, if the tech guys would have done itself on its environmental standards, calling council ignoring local people’s wishes when In October, Philip Hammond announced rare wading bird populations, and woodlands their job and kept the CRM stable, then I wouldn’t have missed itself “Europe’s greenest city”. felling thousands of healthy trees shows, a £25.3bn spending plan for roads from home to some of Britain’s rarest bats. my deadline. The city council signed a £2.2bn private existing laws are not strong enough.” 2020, which will go towards repairing in- Schemes come with pledges to replace any A: Oh, come on! An excuse like that is tantamount to lying. You’re He said the “devil will be in the detail”, lost biodiversity by constructing new habi- essentially blaming the tech team for your time management finance deal with contractor Amey in 2012 frastructure and building highways. issues, rather than accepting responsibility for the fact that you to manage the city’s street trees. and the “key issue is what statutory powers “The government has definitely stepped tats, but some projects such as the proposed were procrastinating for the past two weeks. Amey and the council say every tree will be enacted to ensure councils have to up its road-building campaign, and that’s A27 Arundel bypass would plough through B: No, I’m not trying to pass the buck here; I know that it was removed is being replaced with a sapling. take note of what the communities say”. going to have a massive impact on wildlife,” habitats considered irreplaceable, including me who is ultimately responsible for getting this done. But the The latest proposals include: He added: “Michael Gove and the De- said Dr Sue Young from The Wildlife Trusts. forests that have existed for over 400 years. thing is, I could have finished on time if the system hadn’t gone Making sure communities have their partment for Environment, Food and Rural “You can see the difference between the The government has stated it wants to down. And you know, with everything I’ve got going on now, I can’t say on whether street trees should be felled Affairs would have to be planted on Mars if budgets for the road investment scheme ease congestion and open up new growth afford to waste time dealing with technical problems. I’ve got a with requirements for councils to consult they hadn’t seen the destruction the council – the first one was £15bn between 2015 opportunities, but the campaigners say lot on my plate and there are only twenty-four hours in a day... local residents; is carrying out to street trees in Sheffield – so and 2020.” these plans are far from Theresa May’s A: I’m not going to accept this excuse. You’re using these small Mandatory reports by councils on tree I’m absolutely certain that the axe-wield- There are already more than 100 major pledge to “leave the environment in a better technical glitches as a crutch and trying to rationalize the fact felling and replanting; ing approach taken by Sheffield will have schemes to develop roads, with more than state than we found it”. that you’ve missed your deadline. Look, we have standards and I Giving the Forestry Commission more influenced the approach being suggested.” 1,300 additional miles of lanes planned. In order to minimize damage and help expect you to live up to those standards. No phonier excuses. If powers to tackle illegal tree felling and Launching a consultation on the measures, While further proposals for the next restore Britain’s fading wildlife, Dr Young you’re in over your head, you tell me. No more missed deadlines. strengthen protection of wooded landscapes. Mr Gove said: “It’s right that the views of local phase of road building have yet to be con- said road-building must be governed by the Now, I want that data on my desk by nine am! Chris Rust, co-chair of the Sheffield Tree people are at the heart of any decision that firmed, environmental groups have assem- principle of net biodiversity gain – meaning Key vocabulary Action Group, welcomed the news but said affects their community – and the futures of bled lists of projects in the pipeline they any new projects must pledge to restore fairly significant: very important or very relevant it was a shame it had come too late to save the trees that line their streets are no different.” are worried about. more habitats than they destroy. impact: to have an effect on something thousands of trees in the city. (Source: enviweb.cz) These include proposals crossing valu- (Source: The Independent) move forward: continue, go on unexpected: coming without warning last minute: at the last moment tantamount: same as, equivalent to ENGLISH IN USE essentially: in essence, basically procrastinate: leave tasks or duties for a later time LEARN NEWS TRANSLATION pass the buck: blame someone else, pass on the responsibility ultimately: at last; in the end; eventually on my plate: another way of saying I have many things to do as a crutch: used to indicate you justify failure with excuses Studies on launching Iran’s first مطالعات برای راهاندازی اولین تراموای کشور آغاز شد rationalize: to explain bad behavior in a way that (falsely) makes it seem proper or better tram started مدیــر کل دفتــر حمــل ونقــل ریلــی درون شــهری ســازمان شــهرداریها اظهــار phony: not true, fake or false in over your head: too much to handle An appraisal study on the country’s first tram, to be established in the داشــت: فرآینــد انجــام مطالعــات پــروژه راه انــدازی نخســتین ترامــوای کشــور در Supplementary vocabulary northern city of Rasht, has been started, an official with the municipalities رشــت آغــاز شــد. .behind schedule: later than expected and village administrations has announced procrastination: the action of delaying one›s work حســین رجــب صالحــی در گفتوگــو بــا ایســنا افــزود: مطالعــه اولیــه ایــن پــروژه ,fabricate: to create an untrue story “The research project has been started since past few months, which از دو مــاه پیــش آغــاز شــده، و براســاس اطالعــات اولیــه اجــرای آن حــدودا justify: to give the reasons why you did something wrong according to preliminary information, will cost about 250 million 250 tardiness: the quality of being late often میلیــون یــورو هزینــه دارد. .euros,” ISNA quoted Hossein Rajab-Salahi as saying on Tuesday

Without water, PREFIX/SUFFIX PHRASAL VERB IDIOM everything “-drome, -dromous” Hold onto something Come in handy Meaning: field or running Meaning: hold firmly using your hands or arms Explanation: to say that something may be useful withers For example: He trained at this Army Airdrome. For example: Hold onto your hat because it’s very some time or other windy outside. For example: Don’t throw away those old shelves; they may come in handy one day. ساعت: 19:40 امضاء صفحه آرا: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء سردبیر:

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 31, 2018 WORLD IN FOCUS 13 U.S. forces leave Hasakah base following Christmas 2018: Iran and Syria show respect, Israel Trump’s decision to evacuate Syria and Saudi Arabia don’t The United States has reportedly evacuated Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, a military base in Syria, the first step towards Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, 1 In fact, despite the large number of Christians from delivering on the U.S. President Donald Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander other countries who work in the country, including many Britons, Trump’s recent pledged to pull American Lavrentiev, and presidential aide Yuri the holding of any Christmas-related services or commem- forces out of the war-torn country. Ushakov. orations in Saudi Arabia is strictly banned. “The Christmas According to local residents of al-Malikiya, In a surprise move, the United States season – often a season where Christians around the world are in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, President Donald Trump last week said most visible – is a tense time for Christians in Saudi Arabia, some 50 American soldiers had already he was pulling all 2,000 troops from Syr- who have to celebrate the holiday in secret, risking arrest and left the base and traveled to a base in Iraq, ia, declaring that Washington achieved its deportation,” said Jeff King, president of the International along with their armored vehicles and other objective with the “defeat” of the Islamic Christian Concern, in 2016. equipment. State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) Imagine being a Christian and not being able to openly The evacuation began after Trump, in an Takfiri terrorist group. celebrate the birth of Christ. It happens in Saudi Arabia, unexpected change of policy, announced he The ISIL terrorist group, which in the past yet Western leaders, so keen to lecture others about ‘human was going to return the troops back home held large swaths of territory in Syria and rights’ and ‘religious freedom’ stay silent, preferring to pick because the Islamic State in Iraq and the Iraq, has lost nearly all its areas, although on Iran – where Christmas can be openly celebrated. Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group was thousands of its armed members are thought Syria is another country ‘monstered’ by the endless war already defeated and there was no reason for to remain in war-battered Syria. lobby but where, against all the odds, the Christmas spirit is the U.S. to extend military presence there. On Friday, Russia said it would host a still maintained. Big seasonal celebrations were held this year The U.S. has stationed about 2,000 sol- three-way summit with Turkey and Iran on in Aleppo and Damascus. Remember Aleppo? diers in 18 bases across Syria since 2015. The the Syrian conflict early next year. It was recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army from Islamist ‘rebels’ Pentagon says the withdrawal would take Turkey had threatened a military opera- two years ago this month, and the neocon ‘liberal interventionist’ between two and three months. tion against Manbij to remove the Kurdish-led commentariat, and most of the political class portrayed it as a most The controversial decision triggered back- Ankara has launched its own military the ground under new conditions with a forces, which Ankara calls “terrorists”. Turkey terrible thing. Ian Austin MP said that people in Aleppo faced ‘slaughter’. lash from both Democrats and Republicans incursion into Syria, with a declared goal of view to finally rooting out terrorist threats and its allied fighters have been amassing John Woodcock MP called the Morning Star newspaper ‘traitor- in Congress and prompted Defense Secretary destroying Kurdish groups causing unrest in Syria,” Lavrov said. troops around the city in recent days. ous scum’ for referring to the recapture of Aleppo by Syrian forces James Mattis to resign. The decision also in Turkish territories. Cavusoglu confirmed the two countries The Turkish threats coincided with the of their own territory, as a ‘liberation’. But if you look at the pictures led Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy Upon announcing his decision to leave would coordinate Syria operations, adding US announcement that it would withdraw of Christians celebrating Christmas there once again, which they to the so-called anti-ISIL coalition in Syria Syria, Trump said Turkey would be taking they also discussed plans to help refugees troops from Syria. were forbidden to do under the western-backed head-chopping and Iraq, to quit. on the U.S. military responsibilities in the to return home. Russia, Iran and Turkey have been work- ’rebels’ you can see that the ‘L’ word was indeed appropriate. He criticized Mattis, essentially firing country. “We will continue active work (and) ing together to bring about peace in Syria This year in Damascus though, the festive celebrations were him by announcing in a tweet that his re- Russia, Turkey to coordinate coordination with our Russian colleagues under what is known as the Astana process, defiled by another act of aggression against Syria from a West- placement, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick on Syria: FMs and colleagues from Iran to speed up the named after the Kazakh capital where the ern-supported-country, one which incidentally Ian Austin and Shanahan, would take over from January Elsewhere, Russia and Turkey have agreed arrival of a political settlement in the Syrian talks take place. John Woodcock have been Parliamentary ‘Friends’ of. 1, two months before the former Pentagon to coordinate ground operations in Syria Republic,” he said in remarks translated Each country plays a key role in the con- On the evening of December 25, loud explosions could be heard chief’s tenure ended. after last week’s announcement of a Unit- into Russian. flict that started in March 2011. Russia and seven miles from the center of Damascus. Russia’s Defense Min- He also criticized McGurk, saying his ed States’ military withdrawal, Turkish and He reminded that Turkey and Russia, as Iran have intervened on the side of Syria’s istry said that Israel’s Christmas Day F-16 strikes endangered two time in office was about to end, accusing Russian foreign ministers said. guarantors of the Astana peace process, are government, ensuring its survival. civilian flights – as well as injuring three personnel at the logistics him of grandstanding his exit. “We paid special attention to new cir- defending Syria’s territorial integrity and Turkey supports rebel groups against compound. But Trump doubled down on his policy by cumstances which appeared in connection political unity from all efforts to harm them. Assad in northern Syria, which is also to Whatever your stance is on Middle Eastern affairs – and also announcing that he would cut in half the with the announced U.S. military pullout,” Turkey and Russia have a joint will to prevent Syrian Kurds from establishing leaving aside the illegality of the operation whenever it took roughly 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said clear all “terrorist” groups from Syria, Ca- and expanding territory along its border. place – the question is: did Israel really have to bomb Syria America’s military presence in north- after talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut vusoglu added. Various so-called “de-escalation zones” on Christmas Day? ern parts of Syria, where the U.S. troops Cavusoglu in Moscow on Saturday. Besides Lavrov and Cavusoglu, Turkey’s were agreed among the three guarantor pow- Would Israel’s ’security’ have been lessened if the raid had were working closely with Kurdish groups “An understanding was reached on how Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, intelligence ers in Syria as a result of multiple rounds taken place on December 28 and not the 25th? Israel’s Prime to push back against ISIL, had drawn fire military representatives of Russia and Turkey chief Hakan Fidan and presidential aide of talks. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did tweet Christmas greetings from Turkey. will continue to coordinate their steps on Ibrahim Kalin held talks on Saturday with (Source: agencies) out to ‘Christian friends’ in Israel and around the world on December 24, but why did his forces attack a country where Christians were celebrating one day later? Just imagine the enormous outcry if Russia had carried out air strikes on Ukrainian targets on the evening of 25th Israel confiscates Palestinian land for settlement construction December. In fact, the U.S. magazine Newsweek, doing its best to ratchet up East-West tensions still further, predict- Palestinian youth killed by Israeli troops laid to rest ed such an event only last week. They published an article Israeli authorities have confiscated thousands of square On Monday, the ministry summoned Jordan’s envoy on Christmas Eve which began with the words “As people meters of private Palestinian land in the southern West Bank to Tel Aviv to clarify the incident. in Western Europe and the United States get comfortable to expand a settlement in blatant violation of international The Amman meeting brought a number of Jordanian for the holidays, the chances increase that Russia will take law and defiance of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) government officials, among them Prime Minister Omar advantage of the distraction to launch attacks against its resolutions condemning Tel Aviv’s land expropriation and Razzaz who entered the trade union building through a neighbor Ukraine, experts said.” settlement expansion policies in the occupied territories. side entrance and avoided trampling on the Israeli flag. And who are these ’experts’, I hear you ask. Well, guess On Sunday, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Com- During Razzaz’s speech at the event, political activists what, they were all from the Atlantic Council. mittee lodged an appeal to the so-called Israeli Supreme heckled him and accused him of hypocrisy in “supporting The ‘experts’, surprise, was wrong. The ‘monster’ Russia Court, denouncing the Israeli regime’s seizure of approx- the Zionist entity.” did not launch attacks on Ukraine over Christmas. But Israel imately 1,200 dunams (1.2 square kilometers) of Pales- Israel and Jordan have maintained diplomatic relations did attack Syria – and there was silence from those who would tinian-owned land. since they signed a peace deal in 1994. However, many have screeched very loudly (and be calling for RT to be taken Hassan Bureija, head of the committee, told the Ara- Jordanians strongly oppose Amman ties with Tel Aviv. off the air immediately) if the Kremlin had ordered such a bic-language Voice of Palestine radio station that Israeli A Jordanian diplomatic source says the country won’t sacrilegious act. officials have granted 1,182 dunams (1.18 square kilometers) let Israel reopen its diplomatic mission in Amman until the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) were also busy of private Palestinian land to the Israeli Ministry of Con- regime launches a probe into the July shooting. bombing on Christmas Day. The genocidal group carried struction and Housing in order to erect an outpost south The Israeli mission in Amman shut down last July after out suicide bomb attacks on Libya’s Foreign Ministry of Beit Lahm “Bethlehem”, situated about 10 kilometers two Jordanians were gunned down by an embassy guard, in Tripoli on Tuesday morning, killing three and leaving (6.2 miles) south of al-Quds (Jerusalem). prompting the return of the Israeli ambassador along with 6,489 Palestinians, including 140 women and 1,063 minors, over half-a-dozen injured. On November 18, Palestinian chief negotiator and Sec- the killer to the occupied territories. during separate operations across the occupied West Bank One doesn’t expect IS to respect Christmas, but you would retary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization The guard received a hero’s welcome on his return, and the besieged Gaza Strip throughout the current year. expect Western leaders – of predominantly Christian nations to (PLO), Saeb Erekat, said the Israeli regime is forcibly dis- further enraging the Jordanians. The Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoner Affairs, regard the group as public enemy number one. Yet in Syria, the placing the Palestinian population to advance its settlement Palestinian youth killed by Israeli troops in a statement released on Saturday, announced that six U.S. and its allies welcomed the group’s growth precisely because expansion projects. laid to rest Palestinian lawmakers and 38 journalists were rounded it threatened the secular, Christian-protecting government of Less than a month before the United States President Moreover, Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip have up in 2018. Bashar al-Assad. A declassified U.S. intelligence report from Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security held a funeral ceremony for a young man killed by Israeli The statement added that Israeli authorities had issued August 2012 predicted the establishment of a “Salafist princi- Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “im- forces along the border with the occupied territories. 988 administrative detention orders during the mentioned pality in Eastern Syria” and said that this is “exactly what the mediately and completely cease all settlement activities in On Saturday, residents of the town of Khan Yunis par- period. supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jeru- ticipated in the funeral procession for Karam Fayyad, 26, The commission highlighted that figures showed that the Syrian regime.” salem” al-Quds. who was shot in the head by Israeli forces during an an- the sweeping majority of Palestinians arrested this year Furthermore, in a leaked tape recording the former Secre- About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements ti-occupation protest in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday. were from the West Bank, while only 5 percent were from tary of State John Kerry admitted that the U.S. allowed IS to built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian According to Palestinian health officials, eight other the Gaza Strip. expand its territory to threaten Damascus. At the same time, territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem). Palestinians, including a medic and a journalist, were The statement came on the same day that Israeli forces those fighting IS, and other al-Qaeda-linked death squads in Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future wounded by Israeli fire during the latest weekly protest. raided several homes in the northern West Bank village of Syria, namely the Syrian Arab Army, Russia, Iran and Hez- independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds (Jerusa- Tensions have been running high near the fence between Faqqu’a, and detained a Palestinian man. bollah, have been ‘monstered’ by the West and its regional lem) as its capital. the besieged Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied territories Palestine’s official news agency WAFA reported that allies’ propaganda machines. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in since March 30, which marked the start of a series of pro- Israeli soldiers arrested Yasser Jamil Abu Khamis after Reflect on this: It wasn’t Syrian, Russian, Iranian or Hez- 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations tests dubbed “The Great March of Return.” Palestinian violently ransacking his home. bollah forces or followers who slaughtered British and other was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian protesters demand the right to return for those driven out The troopers also stormed the homes of his brothers, Western holiday-makers on the beach in Tunisia in 2015 – but territories. of their homeland. Mohammad and Loay, as well as of his father’s. There were an IS terrorist who is thought to have been trained at a jihadist Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for a The clashes in Gaza reached their peak on May 14, the no reports of detentions there. camp in neighboring Libya and whose government had been “two-state solution” last year, saying he would support eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day, or the Day of More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held at forcibly toppled by NATO powers four years earlier. Similar- any solution favored by both sides. Catastrophe, which coincided this year with Washington’s Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have apparently been ly, it wasn’t Syrian, Russian, Iranian or Hezbollah forces or Israel irate after Jordanian minister steps relocation of the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, followers who carried out murderous attacks against civilians on regime’s flag occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem). a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli in Paris, Nice, Brussels, and London, or at Christmas markets Meantime, a Jordanian minister has been photographed More than 240 Palestinians have so far been killed and detention facilities without trial or charge. in Berlin and Strasbourg. stepping on an Israeli flag, infuriating the occupying regime over 20,000 others wounded in the renewed Gaza clashes, Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in admin- Respecting Christmas and what it stands for is an impor- and leading it to summon Amman’s envoy to Tel Aviv. according to the latest figures released by the Gaza Health istrative detention for up to eleven years. tant litmus test, as it tells us a lot about the actors involved, A photo was recently released showing Jumana Ghunaimat, Ministry. Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in especially if they are not themselves Christians. Jordan’s minister for media affairs and communications The Gaza Strip, with a 1.85-million-strong population, protest at the administrative detention policy and their The ‘monstering’ of those who do show the proper ‘Yule- and government spokesperson, stepping on an Israeli flag has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. harsh prison conditions in Israeli jails. tide spirit’, and the turning of a blind eye to those that don’t, painted on the floor of the trade union headquarters in The blockade has caused a decline in living standards as According to reports, at least 13 Palestinian lawmakers highlights the spectacular hypocrisy of those in power in the Amman last week while on her way for a meeting. well as unprecedented unemployment and poverty there. are currently imprisoned in Israeli detention facilities. Nine West who profess to support ‘Christian values’ but in fact do Israel’s foreign ministry has lodged a strong protest with Israeli troops arrested some 6,500 of them are being held without trial under administrative everything possible to subvert them. Jordan over Ghunaimat’s move, both to government offi- Palestinians throughout 2018 detention. (Source: RT) cials in Amman and to the kingdom’s embassy in Tel Aviv. Elsewhere, Israeli military forces have reportedly arrested (Source: Press TV) Iran’s 21st century energy Cyber-attack causes distribution delays at prominent U.S. newspapers strategy: Banking on energy A cyber-attack on Saturday targeting a major newspaper The west coast editions of The Wall Street Journal and scope of the attack: “Every market across the company 1 publishing company reportedly affected distribution at The New York Times were also reportedly affected by the was impacted.” This principle was applied across all possible energy ser- prominent newspapers across the United States. cyber-attack, as the two papers are published by the Los “[T]he personal data of our subscribers, online users, vices by investing in renewable energy, where Denmark now The Los Angeles Times reported that Tribune Publishing Angeles Times’s production facility. and advertising clients has not been compromised. We leads global wind turbine manufacturing. was affected by a cyber-attack originating outside of the “We believe the intention of the attack was to disable apologize for any inconvenience and thank our readers and Since 1973 while Denmark’s GDP has doubled, energy use U.S., which caused service disruptions for the Saturday infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to advertising partners for their patience as we investigate the has fallen and carbon fuel use (and CO2 production!) has editions of major newspapers including the Los Angeles looking to steal information,” a source with knowledge of situation. News and all of our regular features are available declined significantly. This image strikingly illustrates how Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, the situation told the L.A. Times. online,” Tribune Publishing added in a statement. Denmark’s centralized National Grid is evolving to a distrib- and the Baltimore Sun. A spokeswoman for Tribune Publishing explained the (Source: The Hill) uted Natural Grid. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 14 WORLD SPORTS DECEMBER 31, 2018 ‘We are all Koulibaly’: Napoli fans don Gerard Pique’s investment group completes FC Andorra takeover masks to support racism victim Thousands of Napoli fans showed their support not been followed during the midweek game. for Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly And Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti said The investment group led by Barcelona defender Gerard Pique who was subjected to racist chanting at Inter Saturday they would have been in favour has purchased FC Andorra, who play in Spain’s lower leagues. Milan in midweek by wearing masks and of the match being suspended temporarily. Pique said in a statement that his investment group, Kosmos, holding up his picture before their team’s “There was a bit of confusion after Milan, have completed their takeover after club members approved Serie A game against Bologna on Saturday. we never asked for the suspension, but three the sale. Posters with the message “Siamo Tutti times a temporary interruption. FC Andorra, founded in 1942, currently play in Spain’s fifth Koulibaly” (“We are all Koulibaly”) were visible “UEFA confirmed that we are right, it tier against clubs in Catalonia, playing as high as the third tier throughout the Stadio San Paolo during the surprises me that the president of the referees in the 1980s and 1990s. game which the hosts won 3-2. federation disagrees. The acquisition of FC Andorra is the latest business move Napoli’s French-born player Koulibaly “I hope it will never happen again or we by Pique. was targeted by monkey noises and racist will walk off the pitch.” Kosmos were given approval by the International Tennis chants at the San Siro on Wednesday, before Ancelotti added: “50,000 people calling Federation to revamp the Davis Cup, transforming it into a being sent off for sarcastically applauding Koulibaly’s name is quite a show, there has season-ending tournament held in one venue as opposed to the the referee. been a good feeling throughout the city. current format which spreads ties out over months in different Serie A returned to action three days after “Kalidou is very popular, he has had mes- countries. the violent clashes in Milan during which an sages from many sportsmen and it is a sign Pique has also launched business ventures in esports, video Inter supporter died after being hit by a car. that it is not so difficult to improve things.” games, eyeglasses, isotonic drinks and organic hamburgers. And fans showed their solidarity with Meanwhile, there were also banners before Mundo Deportivo reported that Pique could also retire from Koulibaly, wearing masks with the player’s Saturday’s match between Parma and Roma football in 2020 to focus on running for Barcelona’s club pres- face, as well as t-shirts bearing his name. in memory of 39-year-old Inter Milan sup- idency in 2021. The home fans also displayed a banner on porter Daniele Belardinelli, who was killed (Source: Soccernet) front of the stadium, “We are all Koulibaly: On the pitch, Napoli’s Algerian defender what team you’re rooting for. Football, like during the pre-match clashes. no to racism!,” with fliers in the stadium Faouzi Ghoulam wore Koulibaly’s number all sports, is a game. And all the games are “Ciao Dede” and “an ultra never dies, “Koulibaly big brother” or “We’re with you 26 shirt in warm-up with the Senegalese passion, fun, freedom: And in freedom we Daniele with us” were two of the banners Kalidou”. player suspended after his sending off on are all alike! Tomorrow we will all be kouli- remembering Belardinelli who had been Among them a very young fan held up Wednesday. baly!,” Ghoulam tweeted before the match. banned from the San Siro between 2007 ‘Sick’ player skips key game, a poster with: “I’m small, but a man like “It doesn’t matter the colour of the skin. European football governing body UEFA and 2017 for violence. goes to holiday Koulibaly”. It doesn’t matter religion. It doesn’t matter said that the correct anti-racism protocol had (Source: Goal)

Galatasaray defender Serdar Aziz was pictured on holiday in the Liverpool’s Klopp avoids title talk Mayweather promises entertainment, Maldives a day after he missed his side’s final game of 2018 with despite Arsenal rout not a knockout, in Japan what he claimed was an upset stomach. The Turkey international’s wife shared an image on her In- stagram stories page from the tropical island which featured her husband, who was ruled out of Galatasaray’s 4-2 win over Sivasspor. Aziz’s trip to the Maldives sparked outrage among Galatasaray fans, who were disappointed to see the defender miss an important league game through injury but well enough to go on holiday. Sources told ESPN FC that Galatasaray have transfer listed Aziz following the recent set of events, and Aziz’s agent has said his client has been asked to find a new club. Galatasaray denied rumours that Aziz has had his contract terminated. Aziz said that he suffered food poisoning and he went on holiday as it had already been booked. The 28-year-old has been inconsistent this season with Ga- latasaray struggling defensively in the league and in Europe. Galatasaray are fifth in the league table, six points behind leaders Istanbul Basaksehir. The Super Lig is on a month long winter break, with league Liverpool crushed Arsenal 5-1 to move nine the German told reporters. Floyd Mayweather is promising entertainment Dec. 31. I want to go out and have fun,” action resuming on Jan. 20. points clear at the top of the Premier League Asked to reflect on 2018, which has seen when he fights Japanese kickboxer Tenshin said Mayweather, appearing relaxed and (Source: ESPN) on Saturday but manager Juergen Klopp Liverpool finish as Champions League run- Nasukawa in three rounds of exhibition box- gushing about how he liked Asia and his still would not get involved in any talk of ners-up and now go unbeaten in the league ing on New Year’s Eve, but not necessarily a fans in the region. winning the title. to become the title favourites, Klopp said knockout. “If it happens, it happens,” May- Mayweather hasn’t fought since beating Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur’s it was “not too bad. weather said Saturday when asked whether Conor McGregor more than a year ago for surprise defeat at home to Wolverhampton “The boys have made a big step but it’s he was going to knock out Nasukawa. his 50th win from 50 fights. N’Golo Kante goal gives Wanderers allowed Liverpool to extend their important to show it’s a positive process. But the American was adamant that Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the head of Rizin lead by three points although Manchester In 2018 I have nothing to moan about,” his opponent wasn’t going to knock him Fighting Federation, who traveled to the Chelsea victory at Crystal City, who are 10 points off the pace, could he added. out or down on Monday. “Throughout my U.S. to woo Mayweather back to the fight, cut the gap with a win at Southampton The ex-Borussia Dortmund coach was years at boxing, I never touched the canvas has said it involves the largest payout for an Palace on Sunday. pleased with his side’s reaction when they once,” Mayweather, 41, told reporters at exhibition fight but has not given specifics. Liverpool will, however, have an op- went a goal down to Arsenal after 11 minutes a Tokyo hotel, brushing off the upcoming Mayweather previously said he was N’Golo Kante’s second-half goal gave Chelsea a 1-0 win in portunity to take points off City when they but he was particularly satisfied with Mo- event as “just another day.” already making “seven figures” just by a drab match at Crystal Palace and took them to within a play Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad on hamed Salah’s decision to give a second-half “I can do three rounds in my sleep,” he talking about it. Nasukawa, 20, appearing point of third-placed Manchester City ahead of City’s game Thursday in what is the biggest game of penalty opportunity to Roberto Firmino. added. Neither kicking nor official results are earlier in the day, said he wanted people at Southampton. the season so far. The Brazilian had scored twice in the first part of the Rizin Fighting Federation match, to see his “courage, determination and Maurizio Sarri’s side dominated possession in the early stages Tiring of media questions about the title half and, having never managed a hat-trick but a knockout is possible under the special challenging spirit.” but were unable to get through Palace’s well-organised defence, race, Klopp said he was wary of falling into for the Merseyside club, Salah’s gesture rules. Mayweather had initially appeared Nasukawa, despite his no-loss record Marcos Alonso booked for throwing the ball away in frustration the trap of talking up his team’s chances allowed Firmino to complete his triple. to walk away from the fight, set for Saitama in kickboxing and mixed martial arts, was after failing to keep it in play. with 18 games of the 38-match campaign “Mo Salah gave the penalty to Bobby Super Arena, on the northern outskirts of previously little known outside Japan. He The Eagles posed their first glimmer of a threat after 11 min- remaining. and I almost cried because we all know how Tokyo. The Mayweather-Nasukawa bout said he enjoyed the sudden internation- utes when Wilfried Zaha went down under Antonio Rudiger’s “I’m not the smartest person in the much Mo wants to score goals.” said Klopp. will culminate an evening of more than a al attention. He acknowledged he didn’t challenge, but muted appeals for a penalty were waved away. world but I’m really not an idiot. It’s not Liverpool’s Scottish left-back Andy dozen fights, which will be streamed by understand what the English comments At the other end, Rudiger met a Willian cross with a flicked important how many points you are ahead Robertson, said all the focus was now on FITE for a fee, but not in the U.S. Fuji TV were saying on his Instagram account but header but could not generate enough power to trouble goal- in December... If we drop three points the the trip to the Etihad. is broadcasting the fights in Japan. added: “I love it.” keeper Vicente Guaita. next headline will be: ‘Are they nervous?’” (Source: Reuters) “It’s all about entertainment, come (Source: ESPN) Back came Palace, and Jorginho closed down Andros Townsend as he cut in from the wing, the hosts countering to set up a shooting chance for Kante, whose effort flew wide. NHL suspends Bruins’ Backes 3 games for head hit Olivier Giroud fired home an angled half-volley only to be The NHL on Friday suspended Boston Bruins forward David calendar year, the first coming in March for a late hit on on Thursday. frustrated by an offside flag, and as the half-hour approached Backes three games without pay for what the league called Detroit’s Frans Nielsen. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters on Friday Palace scrambled clear when Eden Hazard’s strike almost found “an illegal check to the head” of New Jersey Devils forward He will forfeit $219,512.19 during the suspension. that forward Brad Marchand will likely miss the game its way through to Giroud. Blake Coleman. The suspension will also keep Backes out of the NHL’s against the Sabres after taking a couple of high hits against Jorginho blasted wide as Chelsea pressed again, and Sarri’s The hit happened during the Devils’ 5-2 victory in Boston marquee game of the regular season. The Bruins play the the Devils. side won a free kick 25 yards out after a foul on Hazard, Willian’s on Thursday. With two minutes remaining in the game, Chicago Blackhawks on New Year’s Day in the Winter Classic “We’ll have a much better idea on him (Saturday),” effort hitting the outside of the post. Backes skated from the left circle into the slot and put his at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. The annual Cassidy said. “Doesn’t look likely for him (Saturday), (Source: Eurosport) shoulder into Coleman’s face as Coleman cleared the puck. outdoor showcase is the second of the three games Backes would be my guess. But he’s traveling with us, so that Backes drew a minor penalty on the play. will miss. could change.” It is Backes’ second three-game suspension in the 2018 Boston plays at Buffalo on Saturday and hosts Calgary (Source: Reuters) Kyrgios set for Brisbane Murray, Nadal look for Brisbane bounce-back after injury-hit 2018 despite spider bite Andy Murray aims to kick-start his stalled number one ranking. ed an operation on his right ankle and only career in Brisbane this week after an inju- “There are still things that I want to resumed training two weeks ago. Nick Kyrgios says he is ready to defend his Brisbane Interna- ry-plagued 2018, with Spanish great Rafael achieve,” he said. “Whether I am capable Forward step tional title despite being taken to hospital on Christmas Day Nadal also playing as he tests his troubled of that I don’t really know.” He made his comeback at the Mubadala with a spider bite. knee ahead of the Australian Open. The 31-year-old had intended to play World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi The Australian, 23, was put on antibiotics after waking with The season-opening tournament boasts Brisbane at the beginning of 2018, but was on Friday, but withdrew from his third-place a swollen foot, but practised in Brisbane on Saturday. a stellar field with Kei Nishikori and Grigor forced to withdraw on the eve of the tour- play-off match to ensure he didn’t push his body The world number 35 will face American Ryan Harrison, Dimitrov also in contention as they prepare for nament and pull out of the Australian Open too far too soon. “Being honest, I’m satisfied whom he beat in the 2018 final, in the first round on Monday. the first Grand Slam of the year at Melbourne with the hip problem. the way I was playing tennis. I am more or less “I didn’t take it (bite) seriously,” said eighth seed Kyrgios. Park. The women’s field includes seven of the He said he still had some pain, but “I’m in satisfied with how the body held,” he said. “It’s “I just felt an irritation on my foot the day before Christmas. world’s top 10 -- defending champion Elina a better place than I was a few months ago”. not the moment for me to take a step back, it’s There’s worse things in the world but I think I’ll be OK.” Svitolina, US Open winner Naomi Osaka, The former world number one spent the the moment to make a step forward. The match As he prepares to return for the first time since October, Kyr- Sloane Stephens, Petra Kvitova, Karolina off-season training in the heat of Miami to (in Abu Dhabi) is a step forward for me, that’s gios said he plans to reduce his 2019 schedule after struggling Pliskova, Kiki Bertens, and Daria Kasatkina. prepare for what can be gruelling conditions the main thing.” with his mental health last season. Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray only in Brisbane and then Melbourne. He told CNN last week that the decision He endured a frustrating 2018, dropping from 21 in the rank- played six tournaments last season and arrived He hasn’t played since pulling out of the to have surgery had been vindicated. the expense of Serena Williams, who had a ings before being forced to cut his season short because of a in Australia early to acclimatise and prepare China Open in September, with his ranking “It was a little bit of risk that we don’t make meltdown in the final. recurring elbow injury. as he continues his recovery from hip surgery. plunging to 256. it into the beginning of the season, but here Now world number five, she said she was “Just being away from home was the toughest bit,” Kyrgios ‘A better place’ World number two Nadal also battled injury we are, practising more or less hard and we comfortable in the limelight. “I never feel said. “Battling injuries, going to tournaments and not even playing The Scot, who won the Brisbane title in worries throughout 2018 but enjoyed success are excited to start the new season,” he said. pressure to perform. I enjoy Grand Slams was tough, but they’re not really big problems. 2012 and 2013, said he had been training as well. He won a record-extending 11th French On the women’s side, Osaka has become the most,” said Japan’s first major winner. “I’ll have a lighter schedule and when I play, enjoy playing hard to work himself back to the sort of fit- Open in June and reached the semi-finals both hot property after a breakthrough 2018 in “I always feel there is a certain degree of and just compete.” ness levels that saw him capture nine titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. which she captured her maiden WTA title pressure but it’s from myself.” (Source: BBC) in a stellar 2016 campaign and reach the But in November he announced he need- in Indian Wells then won the US Open at (Source: AFP) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 31, 2018 SPORTS 15

We are ready to ‘fight for our Iranian duo join Portuguese club Maritimo dreams’ in Asian Cup: Jahanbakhsh PLDC — Portuguese football club Maritimo has completed the signing of two Iranian players. SPORTS TEHRAN — Iran winger Alireza Ja- Mohammadreza Ghasemi, 19, who plays in left back position, deskhanbakhsh says that they will “fight for has joined Maritimo from Portuguese club Lusitania FC Lourosa. their dreams” to end a 43-year trophy drought in the Amirhossein Sheikholeslami, 21, who plays in midfield, has 2019 AFC Asian Cup. joined the Portuguese team from Iran’s Zob Ahan. Iran national football team last lifted Asian football’s most The pair have joined their countryman Amir Abedzadeh in coveted trophy on home soil in 1976, when they completed the Maritimo. third leg of three consecutive championship wins that mark Club Sport Maritimo MH M, commonly known as Maritimo, the country out as one of continent’s most successful ever. is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Iran head to the United Arab Emirates as one of favorites, Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal’s where they will meet Yemen, Vietnam and Iraq in Group D. top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. Albion’s record signing Jahanbakhsh sustained hamstring damage in the 3-1 defeat at Everton at the start of last month. He has not featured since and is now with Iran for the Asian Cup in Doha’s training camp. Iranian weightlifter collects “My recovery process goes well and I think I will be fit for three gold medals in the Asian Cup,” Jahanbakhsh told reporters. “We are desperate to win the title after 43 years. We feel Manama competition obliged to make our people happy and we also know that the fans’ expectations are very high after the 2018 World Cup. They are right to have a dream and we will do our best to make MNA— An Iranian weightlifter at 55 kg division has grabbed their dreams come true,” Jahanbakhsh said. three gold medals at an international weightlifting championships “Iran played very well against three powerhouse teams in underway in Bahrain. the 2018 World Cup and our people celebrated in the streets According to the official website of Iran Weightlifting Federa- despite we missed out on advancing from the group stage. It tion, on the first day of Weightlifting Championships, hosted by shows they are behind us and pushing us,” he added. Bahrain’s Manama in three cadets, junior and adult divisions, “Iran can make history in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup because the Iranian weightlifter at 55 kg Payman Dehghani from the we take advantage of one of the best generations we have ever Iranian Army Ground Force team grabbed three gold medals. had. Four years ago, we were knocked out of the Asian Cup in Dehghani lifted 79 kg weight at snatch move and 115 kg at penalty shootout against Iraq but this time we are determined clean and jerk, totaling 194 kg to win three gold medals. to win the title,” Jahanbakhsh stated. Two Bahraini weightlifters totaled 136 and 115 kilograms and stood at second and third places. Iranian women allowed access to watch live Persepolis coach Ivankovic football in stadium handed one match touchline ban SPORTS TEHRAN — Iranian women are match live was in 1981. deskpermitted to spectate a friendly In November, around 500 women were permitted match between Iran’s women’s football team and to join the 80,000 crowd attending the second leg of TASNIM — Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic was charged Russia’s in a women-only crowd at the Azadi Stadium the Asia Champions League final in the capital between with misconduct by the Iran Football League Organization after in Tehran. Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers. the match against Zob Ahan. The timing of the match is not out yet, although the Some 100 women also watched the men’s national The Croat has been handed a one-match touchline ban as a sports ministry’s officials have given the green light to team’s friendly against Bolivia in October. result of his actions in an Iran Professional League (IPL) meeting the women for attending the match. The Iranian women who are football-mad will have a with the Isfahan-based football team. The last female Iranians who got to watch a football chance to watch the friendly match with Russia live. Persepolis defeated Zob Ahan 1-0 in early December in Teh- ran’s Azadi Stadium. Ivankovic said the referee’s decisions went against Persepolis. Korea Republic coach Paulo Bento comments on contender tag Ivankovic’s first game in the stands will be against IPL leader Padideh in February. Finishing inside the top four in four out of out in the quarter-final following a loss to Iran. performed well in the last six matches. the five AFC Asian Cup competitions in the Now, Korea Republic have Paulo Bento “I’m confident that we’ll play well, but I 2000s, Korea Republic are hoping to end as their head coach and are hoping that the also know we’re not the only team chasing the championship drought in UAE in 2019. new coach can bring in a new result as they the title. Other teams will be ready, too. I Iran female squash player The two-time winners last tasted AFC leave as champions. don’t think we’re the top favourites.” Asian Cup glory in 1960 and were runners-up A report revealed Bento’s comments Korea Republic is in Group C of the 2019 ranks 15th in world in the 2015 competition. leading up to the AFC Asian Cup, saying: edition and will open their campaign against They were third in 2000, 2007 and 2011 “I can understand that we can have positive the Philippines. Next up are Kyrgyzstan and IRNA — Iranian female squash player Niki Shemirani ranked with 2004 as the glaring point as they bowed expectations for the Asian Cup because we then China PR. (Source: Fox Sports Asia) 15th in the world U-17 category. After receiving the 5th title in Belgium, World Squash Feder- ation announced that she is ranking 15th in the world. Total prize money revealed for AFC Asian Cup Squash is a ball sport played by two (singles) or four players With the AFC Asian Cup 2019 just around the corner, IT PAYS TO BE PART With two semi-finalists pocketing it, the total cash (doubles squash) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow 24 countries are hoping for one goal – and that is to lift Not just for champions or finalists, but simply taking prize given away at this point is at $6,800,000. rubber ball. The players must alternate in striking the ball with the title and be crowned as champions. part in the AFC Asian Cup will bring in an impressive ADDED INCENTIVES FOR THE FINALISTS their racquet and hit the ball onto the playable surfaces of the However, there is certainly more than winning a trophy USD $200,000 to the national team. Outside of being crowned as two of the best in the four walls of the court. in arguably the biggest continental competition, there is a That’s an incredible $4,800,000 among the 24 par- region, the finalists are also in for big money just for corresponding prize money attached to being champions ticipating nations. being the final two teams. that will certainly help the winning nation moving forward. REACHING THE KNOCKOUT STAGES The runners-up are going to pocket $3 million while And as stated earlier by AFC, this 2019 edition is set to Of course, reaching the knockout stages comes with the champions will get a whopping $5 million. 20 teams due to attend be the richest in history as a total prize money of nearly its perks and even losing in the semis will bring in $1 This brings a grand total of $14,800,000 in cash prizes int’l wrestling competitions USD $15 million is up for grabs. million each. in the AFC Asian Cup. in Iran

AFC Asian Cup 2019: 5 coaches with a point to prove IRNA — Some 20 domestic and foreign teams will compete in the 16th edition of Shahid Hasheminejad Wrestling Champi- With just over a week to go until the curtains are raised massive underdogs, however, the general consensus with- onship in northern Iranian city of Behshahr, head of Behshahr for the AFC Asian Cup 2019, FOX Sports Asia looks at the in the camp is that under Eriksson, anything is possible. Wrestling Committee said on Saturday. coaches who have a major point to prove in the competition. Azkals captain Phil Younghusband too stressed on the Speaking during a press conference, Shahram Jafari said that 1) Carlos Queiroz (Iran) importance of having such a well-reputed manager at the wrestlers from Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Georgia will Among the most high-profile coaches in the tournament, helm, saying, “When you bring in someone with such a big take part in the tournament. all eyes will be on Iran manager Carlos Queiroz when Team name they’re used to certain standards. He also said that wrestling committees from 15 Iranian prov- Melli begin their bid to end a 43-year trophy drought. “They’re used to good quality and I think having someone inces have made it certain to send wrestlers to the competition. Queiroz’s journey with the national team has been far who has those expectations and standards will, when he’s The tournament is scheduled to be held in Behshahr on Jan- from smooth-sailing, with feuds between him and former asking for things to be done, people in the organization are uary 17-18, 2019. manager Branko Ivankovic making headlines, aside from more inclined to do it because it’s coming from someone the usual problems with the board. following the Asian Cup. who has worked with the best in the world. Queiroz suffered backlash just weeks ahead of the tourna- Instead, the governing body backed the coach to help “If you bring that quality then that will benefit Philippine ment with his comments regarding the team’s expectations the team embark on a historic journey in their return to football, it will benefit the players, it will benefit the coach- Australia impress in win causing former striker Khodadad Azizi to lash out at the Asia’s premier footballing event. ing staff around him and you should see better results.” former Real Madrid manager. Regardless, the likelihood is that if India fail to leave The Swede won the Serie A during his time with Lazio over Oman Queiroz’s contract runs out at the end of the Asian Cup their mark in the competition, it will be Constantine’s and also led England to the World Cup quarterfinals in and nothing but victory will boost his chances of securing a head on the line. 2002; clear proof of his credentials as a manager, and if Defending champions Australia outclassed Oman 5-0 in an renewal. To make matters worse, Iran will also be without 3) Marcello Lippi (China PR) he can make history with the Azkals by winning a couple international friendly on Saturday, ahead of their AFC Asian a few key players, with star midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi chief The biggest name in the competition and one of the of games, it will go to show just how important having the Cup UAE 2019 campaign. among the absentees. most revered coaches in all of world football, Marcello right man at the helm is for a football team. Australia were in superb form at the Maktoum bin Rashid Al Despite that though, Iran still possess one of the most Lippi too will feel the heat when China’s campaign in the 5) Milovan Rajevac (Thailand) Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. talented squads in the competition. After narrowly miss- Asian Cup takes flight. After a disastrous Suzuki Cup campaign in which Thailand The Socceroos had suffered ing out on a knockout berth in the 2018 World Cup, the Lippi took the reins of the Chinese team in 2016 with failed to defend their crown, crashing out in the semi-finals, several setbacks in their prepa- onus will be on Queiroz to fulfill the expectations of the the hopes of making them a force to be reckoned with once manager Milovan Rajevac came in for some intense scrutiny. ration for their UAE 2019 chal- fans and the team by overseeing a historic run by Team again in the Asian circuit. However, his tenure has seen far Rajevac’s rather pragmatic approach right through the lenge with Daniel Arzani and Melli. No sweat! too many pitfalls thus far and China now enter the Asian competition eventually backfired against Malaysia in the Aaron Mooy missing out due to 2) Stephen Constantine (India) Cup with little to no expectations whatsoever. semi-finals and fans were left fuming as a result. injuries, but their dominance The man under possibly the most pressure going into Lippi’s side have struggled this year, winning just three The Thailand FA too have reportedly issued the Serb an over Oman began as early as the Asian Cup is Indian national team coach Stephen of nine matches and scoring seven goals in the process. ultimatum stating that Rajevac needs to ensure a knock- the 10th minute with Andrew Constantine. Their most recent defeat to Iraq has just piled the pressure out round berth for the War Elephants in the Asian Cup Nabbout opening the scoring. Constantine’s tenure with the Indian team start- on the Italian mastermind’s shoulders. to retain his job. Four minutes later, Chris ed positively, with the Blue Tigers winning the SAFF The World Cup-winning coach’s contract runs out after However, the coach has so far seemed immune to the Ikonomidis doubled Australia’s Championships as well as the Intercontinental Cup and the Asian Cup and reports suggested he is not looking pressure and criticism levelled at him. Thailand have failed lead with his first international embarking on a 13-game unbeaten run. for an extension which means he would be eager to end to make it into the knockout rounds of the Asian Cup since goal, before Awer Mabil made However, it’s been all downhill since then, with rifts his tenure on a high by making at least the quarter-finals 1972, when they reached the semi-finals, and the onus is it 3-0 in the 24th minute. between the coach and a few of the senior players hog- of the competition. on their coach now to deliver big-time. Two minutes from the hour- ging the headlines. 4) Sven-Goran Eriksson (Philippines) “We were able to spend a lot of time together because of mark, Milos Degenek also Sunil Chettri, in particular, had an alleged falling out Sven-Goran Eriksson took charge of the Azkals ahead of the ASEAN Championship and with the Asian Cup we’ll be opened his international account, and Jackson Irvine complet- with Constantine, losing the captain’s armband in the pro- the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup amid much hype and expectations looking to achieve something we haven’t achieved before. ed a super win for Australia with his goal in the 89th minute. cess. According to reports, a few senior players also sought and coached the Philippines to a respectable semi-final berth. Our minimum expectation is to go through to the Round In the Continental showpiece, Graham Arnold’s charge, will the removal of the English coach as they felt he was not The Azkals will be a part of the Asian Cup for the first of 16, to go through the group,” Rajevac said. play Jordan in their Group B opener on January 6, before playing fit enough to guide the team from a tactical perspective. time in their history and Eriksson will be looking to make “That’s our minimum, but going to the best 16 is not Palestine and Syria, while Oman will have a final friendly with Dull, uninspiring football has been the theme of the their journey a memorable one. going to satisfy us. We won’t just be happy with that and Thailand on January 2. Indian team under Constantine, but the AIFF refuted re- Philippines have been grouped alongside Korea Republic, we’ll try to go step-by-step.” (Source: the-afc) ports that stated they were planning on giving him the boot China and Kyrgyz Republic and enter the competition as (Source: Fox Sports Asia) Prayer Times Noon:12:07 Evening: 17:21 Dawn: 5:44 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 7:14 (tomorrow) DECEMBER 31, 2018 ART&CULTURE I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y www.tehrantimes.com Managing Director: Ali Asgari Editor-in-Chief: Mohammad Ghaderi Book City Editorial Dept.: Fax: (+98 21) 88808214 — 88808895 [email protected] Switchboard Operator: Tel: (+98 21) 43051000 Advertisements Dept.: Telefax: (+98 21) 43051450 Public Relations Office: Tel: (+98 21) 88805807 Subscription & Distribution Dept.: Tel: (+98 21) 43051603 to celebrate www.eshterak.ir Distributor: Padideh Novin Co. Tel: 88911433 Webmaster: [email protected] Printed at: Rooztab - ISSN: 1017-94 No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, Iran J. D. Salinger’s P.o. Box: 14155-4843 Zip Code: 1599814713 100th birthday

ARTTEHRAN – The Book Ali-Asghar Mohammadkhani and Persian deskCity Institute in Tehran literature scholar Abolfazl Horri are plans to celebrate the 100th birthday of scheduled to deliver speeches and critic GUIDE TO American writer Jerome David Salinger Amir Puria will hold a dialogue with writer SPIRITUAL AWAKENING during a program titled “A Day with Salinger”. Mostafa Mastur on Salinger. “Little, Brown and Company, the Excerpts of several of Salinger’s stories will American publisher of Salinger’s books, be read live by actors Nima Reisi and Gelareh There is no price for your soul but heaven; so, is scheduled to celebrate his birthday on Abbasi. A number of Iranian celebrities, beware of selling it for anything else. January 1 and we also decided to mark including Hutan Shakiba and Habib Rezai, Imam Ali (AS) the day,” the secretary of the celebration, will talk about Salinger on videos, which will Homeira Afshar, told the Persian service be screened during the program. of MNA on Sunday. A Persian audio version of Salinger’s A poster for Book City’s program “A Day with Salinger”. “We intend to review Salinger’s works and widely read novel “The Catcher in the Rye” discuss his style of writing, special isolation, will also be unveiled at the celebration, which Two Persian translations of the book of an Infantryman”, “Once a Week Won’t and lifestyle during the celebration,” she will be organized in collaboration with the by Ahmad Karimi and Mohammad Najafi Kill You” and “Raise High the Roof Beam” Fajr theater festival added. Novin Audio Book Institute, the publisher have been published in Iran. are among Salinger’s numerous stories announces Iranian lineup Book City Institute deputy director of the audiobook. “The Inverted Forest”, “Personal Notes published in Persian in Iran. for intl. competition

ARTTEHRAN – Seven Iranian plays will be “The Fisherman and Spring” Manhattan festival to screen deskperforming in the international competition published in English “Empty View” of the 37th Fajr International Theater Festival, the organizers announced on Sunday.

A scene from “Oblomov” by Siavash Bahadori. Among the plays are “Flight Instructions for Captain and Front cover of the English version of Iranian children’s book writer Mojgan Kalhor’s A scene from Iranian short animation “Empty View” by Ali Zare Qanatnoi. Cabin Crew” by Farhad Fozuni, “Steve Jobs” by Mehran Ranjbar “The Fisherman and Spring”. ARTTEHRAN – Iranian unravels the gloves and knits them over and and “She” by Arash Dadgar. ARTTEHRAN – Iranian Sunday. deskshort animation “Empty over again. When their small home is bombed, The lineup also includes “Mother” by Majid Kazemzadeh, deskchildren’s book writer The book tells the story of a fisherman View” by Ali Zare Qanatnoi will go on screen the gloves burn into ashes. Mother sits atop “Death and the Penguin” by Payam Dehkordi, “The Play” by Mojgan Kalhor’s “The Fisherman and who lives in a snowy region with a very at the 8th edition of the Bronx World Film the rubble, plucks her white hair one by one Masud Haqpanah and “Oblomov” by Siavash Bahadori-Rad. Spring” has recently been published in long winter. Fisherman supposes that Cycle, an annual film and multi-arts event and knits the gloves with her hair. Finally, The 37th Fajr International Theater Festival will be held in English in Tehran. the spring has lost its way to the region, in Manhattan, New York City. spring arrives and the war ends. The mother Tehran from February 11 to 23. Illustrated by Nazanin Abbasi, the therefore he starts searching for it. A The film tells the story of a mother who hears the sound of military boots nearing. book has been translated into Persian little fish and a group of birds also join keeps a look out for her son to return home She gathers all the strength left in her and by Siamak Mazlumi, the Institute for him in searching for the spring. from war. She knits him a pair of gloves walks down the stairs with anticipation. “Sicily” to recount transfer Intellectual Development of Children An animated adaptation of the book remembering how her son rubbed his cold Over 35 films from 23 countries will and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the directed by Seyyed Hassan Soltani was hands together on the wintry morning he compete during the event, which will be of power in New York mafia publisher of the book, announced on produced by IIDCYA in early 2018. left. The war goes on; the mother waits. She held from January 4 to 6. family at Tehran theater ARTTEHRAN – An Iranian troupe is scheduled to Multigenerational 50th-anniversary Santa, romance and horror? deskperform a play titled “Sicily” about the transfer of power in a mafia family in Woodstock event set for 2019 ‘Bird Box’ bucks holiday trend New York at Tehran’s Mehregan NEW YORK (Reuters) — Fifty years NEW YORK (AP) — For so long, movies Theater on Wednesday. after the Woodstock music festival be- around the holidays have been merry “Sicily” will be directed by came one of the watersheds of hippie and bright. Lately, more and more seem Farhad Mehrkheirani who will counterculture, an anniversary event murderous and designed to fright. also play a role in the play, a will take place in August 2019 on the Released just days before Christmas on public relations team announced same field north of New York City. Netflix, the Sandra Bullock-led thriller is on Sunday. The Bethel Woods Center for the about monstrous entities that compel any The cast also includes Arts announced a three-day festival of human who sees them to quickly try to kill Aqil Bahrami, Aida “music, culture and community” that themselves. Not exactly the stuff of sugar Razzaqzadeh, Behruz Ebadi, will celebrate “the golden anniversary at plum fairies. Maryam Qorbanian, Parisa the historic site of the 1969 Woodstock But even though Netflix declines to release Mohammadzadeh, Ramin festival.” viewership numbers, “Bird Box” seems to Masumian, Mohammadreza The Bethel Woods Center, a have struck a nerve, triggering the creation Mansur, Tiam Moniri, and nonprofit that now owns the 37-acre of memes and online chatter for a very dark Amir-Hossein Mehmandoost. (15-hectare) field that was the site of film dropped into the festive period. The play will be on stage until the 1969 Woodstock festival, said in “I have never ever had as much attention A poster for “Sicily”. January 15. a Facebook posting on Thursday that or as many page likes, post likes/ shares and Janet Huey displays her original ticket This image released by Netflix shows the Aug. 16-18 festival will be a “pan- comments on any of my other pages as I Sandra Bullock in a scene from the film generational event.” at the site of the original Woodstock have had on this one,” says Heather Drake, Music Festival in Bethel, New York, “Bird Box”. (Merrick Morton/Netflix After a decade of dormancy, It will feature live performances who started a Facebook page for fans of the via AP) from prominent and emerging artists U.S. August 14, 2009. (Reuters/Eric story and is not affiliated with the film or Chaka Khan blooms again across multiple genres and decades, Thayer/File Photo) distributors. “It’s been insane. I can’t even and ‘Netflix and chill’ on a cold night when as well as talks from leading futurists come close to responding to all the feedback, they don’t have to worry about school or work PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — If Chaka Khan were a flower, and tech experts. The festival is a joint peacefully on our site inspired to change if that tells you anything.” the next day?” she’d be a perennial. venture with concert promoters Live the world through music,” Darlene Critics have been mixed toward “Bird Netflix’s decision may also be an attempt “Because I go dormant and then I...” Khan stops and gracefully Nation. Fedun, chief executive of the Bethel Box,” with many noting similarities to to replicate last late-December’s hit “Bright,” lifts her arms together, then slowly brings her hands apart, like Details of performers, tickets and Woods Center, said in a statement John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place.” Variety starring Will Smith and Joel Egerton. That a tulip emerging in spring. other participants will be announced at a announcing the 50th-anniversary event. complained about the “inexplicably bland supernatural cop drama also wasn’t received “I’ve done it many, many times,” explained the singer, perhaps later date, the Bethel Woods Center said. “We remain committed to ensemble” and The Hollywood Reporter well by critics but garnered strong word-of- best known for her multimillion selling 1984 cover of Prince’s The August 1969 Woodstock preserving this rich history and spirit, sniffed that it was “not all that it might mouth interest and a sequel has been promised. “I Feel For You.” festival, billed as “three days of peace and to educating and inspiring new have been.” The Guardian declared it “a Bullock has been one of Hollywood’s top On the brink of her first new album in a decade, and, on New and music,” is regarded as one of the generations to contribute positively to bird-brained mess.” stars since her 1994 hit “Speed” but had never Year’s Day, serving as grand marshal at the Rose Parade, Chaka pivotal moments in music history and the world through music, culture, and In some ways, it shouldn’t come as a made a horror movie until “Bird Box.” She Khan is in bloom again. 1960s counterculture. community,” Fedun added. surprise that a film about monsters attacking told The Associated Press before a special After receiving the call from the Pasadena Tournament of Over three sometimes-rainy days, The Bethel Woods festival is people showed up on the online video streamer screening in New York this month that the risks Roses Association, the term “grand marshal” had the 65-year-old more than 30 acts - including Jimi not affiliated with Michael Lang, a on Dec. 21. Alternate Christmas movies are she and the cast undertook were somehow Khan’s mind running wild. Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, The promoter of the 1969 festival, who all the rage these days, from “Die Hard,” ?In appealing. “This is all new for me,” the 65-year-old Khan commented. Band, and the Grateful Dead - performed has also spoken of plans to organize a Bruges,” ?Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “Lethal To evade the movie monsters, Bullock “I love challenges. And I love new stuff.” around the clock to a 400,000-strong 50th-anniversary event but has yet to Weapon.” and two young children are blindfolded while Khan will also open parade festivities with a performance. audience, most of whom watched for make any announcement. Woodstock Drake thinks the holiday timing of “Bird navigating through a forest and a treacherous Publicists were unable to confirm whether the grand marshal- free and camped onsite in the mud. The anniversary festivals were also held in Box” isn’t that important, noting the need river. The title refers to a literal box of birds performer double duty is a Rose Parade first, but they did note festival was documented in an the 1970 1994, 1998 and 1999. for fresh and intriguing movies during the that her character carries — the birds begin it was the first time in recent memory. Khan said she would sing film “Woodstock,” which won an Oscar. Many of the 1969 Woodstock artists holidays far from usual stale fare like “It’s a to chirp when the unseen evil approaches. two songs: “I Feel for You,” as well as “Hello Happiness,” the Although it was known as Woodstock, are now dead. Surviving musicians Wonderful Life” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Like the timing of the final film, it seemed second single from the new album. the festival actually took place in Bethel, who are still performing into their 70s Reindeer.” to be a fresh challenge. The new song is not a political statement — unless you want some 70 miles (110 km) south of the include Joan Baez, Roger Daltrey and “I don’t honestly think it would have “Anytime that they yelled ‘Stop!’ we knew it to be. village of Woodstock in upstate New Pete Townshend of The Who, and David mattered if it was Dec. 21 or July 21,” she said. we knew we had gotten to a place where we “I think we need a shot of just not taking the little things so York. Bethel is 90 miles (144 km) north Crosby, Neil Young, Graham Nash and “However, Dec. 21 would give an advantage could all get injured,” Bullock said. “And we seriously,” Khan said of the “Happiness” lyrics. “Little things are of New York City. Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash as many people are on vacation from school fell. And I said don’t stop the camera unless important. It’s about the little things, but just flow.” “Fifty years ago, people gathered and Young. and work. And who doesn’t want to cozy up I say, ‘Stop!’”