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16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 39th year No.13138 Thursday JUNE 21, 2018 Khordad 31, 1397 Shawwal 7, 1439 Kazem Gharib Abadi Rouhani’s cabinet Iranian fin. min. Books good replacement named Iran’s ambassador to be joined by young, in Vienna for for cellphones: to IAEA 2 new faces 2 OFID meeting 4 actor Reza Kianian 16

OPEC not an organization to receive instruction from Trump: Zanganeh ECONOMY TEHRAN — “OPEC is nian minister told reporters on Tuesday Domestic desknot the organization to after arriving in Vienna, where OPEC is receive instruction from President Trump”, headquartered, Reuters reported. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zan- Zanganeh also said that he does not ganeh stated. expect OPEC to reach an agreement when “OPEC is not part of the Department the oil producer group holds policy dis- laws should of Energy of the United States,” the Ira- cussions this week. 4 Iran produces 22 types of biologic medicines SOCIETY TEHRAN – Iran has ternational conference center. deskalready gained the ca- Referring to the high production costs replace intl. pability of producing biologic medicines of biologic medicines, he stated that “the and in this regard 22 types of biologic use of biologic medicines to the current medicines have been produced in the extent would not be possible, if they were country over the past two years, IRNA not produced in the country”. quoted deputy health minister as saying. One of the most important plans the Reza Malekzadeh made the remarks at Ministry of Health has prepared for the the opening ceremony of the 18th Asian future is to reduce the medicine imports Clinical Pharmacy Congress which was by promoting domestic production, he held on June 20-22 at Tehran’s Razi in- remarked. conventions See page 2 12

U.S. withdraws from UN Human Rights Council over anti-Israel bias The United States has announced its The U.S. administration accused the withdrawal from the United Nation UNHRC of hypocrisy and harshly de- Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over nounced the 47-nation body as biased what it calls the body’s entrenched bias against Tel Aviv. against Israel. “For too long the Human Rights The announcement was made by the Council has been a protector of hu- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations man rights abusers and a cesspool of Nikki Haley alongside the U.S. Secretary political bias. Regrettably, it is now of State Mike Pompeo at the State Depart- clear that our call for reform was not khamenei.ir ment in Washington on Tuesday. headed,” Haley said. 13 EDITORIAL Trump has no political philosophy: Askari PERSPECTIVE Mohammad Ghaderi EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ical thought in the field of American social and lican Party as we have known it. He has used Mostafa Mousavi Sabet Tehran Times editor-in-chief By Javad Heirannia foreign policy? the party to promote his own personal agenda. Head of the Tehran Times @ghaderi62 A: Trumpism is not a school of thought and It will take decades for the party to become a Art & Culture Desk TEHRAN — Professor Hossein Askari, an expert never will be. It is a combination of destroying shadow of itself. on Saudi Arabia who also teaches international American institutions, dividing Americans, di- The president of the United States has used A contemplation business at the George Washington University, viding families, encouraging anarchy, catering to his own cabinet of neoconservatives, such as John Iran’s Russian strongly believes that “Trump is full of contra- misinformed and angry white men, re-enforcing Bolton. This is while he previously described on Washington- dictions. He has no political philosophy.” racism, spouting empty slogans that appear to put himself as George W. Bush’s sharp opponents. concerts, carrying Hossein Askari, who teaches at George Wash- America “first” but in reality promote Trump and How do you evaluate this contradiction? Beijing Trade War ington University, tells the Tehran Times that his family in their quest to secure more wealth. A: Trump is full of contradictions. He has no coals to Newcastle “Trump is not a traditional Republican—the Party When Americans finally wake up from what has political philosophy. He uses Bolton, a neocon he decision of the Trump’s govern- of Lincoln. He has destroyed the Republican Party just happened, Trumpism will be relegated to hawk, in his attempt to convey a tough guy image n ensemble composed of musi- ment to start its research on the dev- as we have known it. He has used the party to the trash heap of history. to Americans. A great deal of bluster.” cians from the Tehran Symphony Tastating effects of China’s measures promote his own personal agenda.” Trump has repeatedly stated that he is If we think of Trump as a Republican, which AOrchestra and National Orchestra on the American economy has led to a Following is the text of the interview: not a Republican. In your opinion, what is the spectrum of the Republican Party is closer his put on two concerts last Thursday and sharp reaction by the new generation of Is “Trumpism” a school of thought in the current political affiliation of Trump? conception of the Republican Party? (T-party, Sunday in Saint Petersburg, Moscow Beijing Communists. It is clear to everyone United States? Can the current president of the A: Trump is not a traditional Republican—the Neoconservatives or Traditional Republicans) and Kazan. that Donald Trump and his companions United States produce a political or philosoph- Party of Lincoln. He has destroyed the Repub- A: 75% T-party and 25% Neocon. 7 Ali Torabi, the director of the Music at the White House have challenged the Office of Iran’s Ministry Culture and “open doors” policy of Mao’s sons. What Islamic Guidance, and Ali-Akbar Safipur, attracts the attention more than anything The gradual death of Saudis dream to dominate Al Hudaydah the director of Rudaki Foundation, the else amid this conflict, is the insistence of By Ramin Hossein Abadian allies failed to overcome Yemeni forces over the Saudi-les coalition’s large-scale attacks have main organizers of the concerts, also the U.S. president on protectionist policies TEHRAN — It’s been a few days since the launch course of more than three years during aerial and targeted Yemen’s al-Hudaydah while human rights accompanied the orchestra during the on one side, and Beijing’s resistance to of large-scale and aggressive operation of the terrestrial battles, they decided to enter the sea organizations and institutions in the region and concerts. these policies on the other side. In other Saudi-led coalition in the strategic port of al-Hu- and set targets through the waterways in Yemen. world, warn about the serious consequences of They held a meeting with Margarita words, Washington and Beijing are going daydah. The Saudi-led coalition has suffered a Al-Hudaydah port was the best option for the the attacks. The United Nations Children’s Fund Karatygina, the director of the International to enter a full-fledged trade war during miscalculation in its estimates of the security attacks of the Saudis. (UNICEF) has also announced that the lives of Cooperation Department of the Moscow the presidency of Donald Trump. What and military conditions governing Yemen’s de- Although Saudi-led coalition have organized some 350,000 Yemeni children are at stake. The State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, who made has happened so far has only provided velopment. The Saudis and their allies, in the numerous attacks over the past days on Yemeni Red Cross said that the attacks would end up sharp, dismissive remarks suggesting that the basis for such a controversy. Here form of an all-out war against the defenseless forces and infrastructure, the fact is that they with a lot of human tragedies. the performances seemed like carrying are some point that need to be taken into and innocent people of Yemen, thought they have failed to dominate al-Hudaydad as well Robert Mardini, the regional director for coals to Newcastle. consideration: would be able to take over the strategic port of as other Yemeni regions and strategic cities. the Near and Middle East for the International “In symphonic music, Iran is follow- Firstly, the withdrawal of the United al-Hudaydah in a short time. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a conver- ing the path that Russia took during the States from multilateral trade rules in the The Saudis-led coalition, with the aim of cov- have not achieved much other than domination sation with Reuters that what’s called a “great eighteenth century,” she said. international system, and the insistence ering up their past defeats in the battle with the of the province of Aden in Yemen. Far from battle” for attacking al-Hudaydah could turn “We understand this fact that Iranians on unilateral economic protectionism, is Yemeni army and popular committees, headed the Yemeni capital, Aden is a province that is into a humanitarian catastrophe in the region, want to apprehend symphonic music and the result of a special outlook which is by the forces of Ansarullah, entered the al-Hu- virtually impossible to access Yemen’s critical because it’s one of the areas which has very high acquire it,” she added. dominant at the White House ruling. Eco- daydah campaign. When Saudi Arabia and its through it. population density. 7 “It is difficult for Iranians mentally nomic unilateralism and the pursuit of and physiologically to learn this type of protectionist policies are two main indi- music and how to use it, but if they learn cators of Trump’s economic approach in do it, they will be able to perform easily the field of global trade and international European symphonic music,” Karatygina economics. Obviously, Trump will firmly noted. stand against the Chinese charges of uni- Tehran Symphony Orchestra con- lateral protectionism. Beyond that, Trump ductor Shahrdad Rohani had previously knows well that if he can institutionalize Iran fans said that the concerts were designed to his unilateral protectionist policies within show off the ability of the selection of the eight years of his possible presence musicians from two major Iranian or- at the White House, next American gov- celebrating chestras in performing pieces by Russian ernments will have a very difficult job to composers in Russia. change this irregular (but smart) structure. the upcoming However, he and his colleagues pre- Therefore, the charge of “protectionism” ferred to keep mum about Karatygina’s can’t force Trump to retreat from its eco- game remarks, enjoying their journey to Russia, nomic policies towards Beijing and other which is currently hosting the FIFA World powerful international players. Iranian fans cheering Team Melli players Cup with its colorful visitors. The second point is that Trump has prior to the Iran-Spain football game in In an open letter sent to Persian media entered a new economic confrontation Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday. earlier in April, former Tehran Symphony with Beijing which relies on the possible Jubilant Fans! Some wrapped them- Orchestra conductor Ali Rahbari, who has violation of intellectual property rights and worked with over 100 European orchestras, Mohammadreza Abbasi selves in the Persian flag and others other issues related to technology. Pursuing waved the national flag enthusiasti- warned Iran’s cultural officials about their his goals, Trump didn’t resort to changing cally, as they counted down to watch plan to perform the concerts in Russia. exchange rates, creating administrative and the game. He described the decision as taking coal bureaucratic barriers, anti-dumping laws, Iran secured a goal against Morocco to Newcastle and said that the performance direct subsidies to U.S. domestic compa- on June 15, in an amazing, breathtaking would not receive any public welcome in nies, import quotas, and most importantly, Tehran Times/ game in the World Cup. the country, which is home to numerous customs tariffs. 7 professional orchestras. 16 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y POLITICS JUNE 21, 2018 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS Zarif responds to Europe’s proposals not enough to Pompeo’s list of demands save nuclear deal: Salehi POLITICS TEHRAN — The director He said he is in talks with the remaining deskof the Atomic Energy Or- parties on the future of the nuclear agreement, POLITICS TEHRAN — Foreign Minister Mohammad desk ganization of Iran (AEOI) has voiced doubts voicing his full support for the deal. Javad Zarif has written an article in about the future of the 2015 nuclear agree- Guterres further stressed that the nuclear response to a list of 12 demands set by U.S. Secretary of ment after the U.S. pullout from the deal, deal plays a significant role in protecting State Mike Pompeo for Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program, saying proposals put forward by the European international peace and the nuclear non-pro- ballistic missile tests and foreign policy. countries to safeguard the nuclear pact are liferation regime. According to Mehr news agency, Zarif’s response to his not satisfying for the Islamic Republic. Tehran’s political and economic expectations American counterpart was expected to be published by Iranian Ali Akbar Salehi made the comments in from the European Union are understandable, media outlets on Thursday. a Wednesday meeting with United Nations the world’s top diplomat said, adding that he Back in May, Pompeo demanded that all of Iran’s ballistic Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Oslo, would call on the remaining JCPOA parties to missile program be halted, that Iran must completely shut Tasnim reported. seriously respond to Iran’s demands. down its nuclear enrichment, and that it must desist its “If it continues like this, all sides will lose,” The two officials were in the Norwegian foreign policy over regional countries. Salehi warned. capital to attend the 16th edition of the Oslo Salehi denounced as “destructive” Wash- Forum, which brings together every year in- ington’s policies toward the Joint Compre- ternational conflict mediators, high-level Iran, France hensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the official decision-makers and other peace process name for the nuclear pact, saying such policies actors in informal retreats for discussions stress are “doomed to failure”. on global challenges and experience sharing. implementation Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in withdrew the United State from the JCPOA Norway on Monday, Salehi vowed to defend of nuclear deal and vowed to impose “the highest level” of Iran’s national interests “in the best way” at economic sanctions on Tehran, drawing strong the Oslo Forum. POLITICS TEHRAN — The 5th round of Iran- desk criticisms from the remaining parties and “Certainly, the JCPOA will be one the most France political consultations was held the international community. important issues which will be discussed and on Wednesday in Tehran between the Secretary-General of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also benefits from the JCPOA in the fields of UN chief: Nuclear deal key to we will declare Iran’s positions explicitly and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Maurice threatened Iran with the “strongest sanctions economy, banking and investment do not global security transparently,” he said, according to Press TV. Gourdault-Montagne on one side and Iranian Deputy Foreign in history” if it did not comply with a list of live up to Iran’s expectations, calling on the Guterres, for his part, underlined the need Iran has repeatedly said it will remain Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi on the other. steep demands, including ending uranium advocates of the pact, including the UN and to save the JCPOA despite the U.S. withdrawal, committed to the JCPOA as long as the Eu- During the meeting, the two sides stressed the importance enrichment. European states, to stand up to Trump’s saying the multinational agreement is key ropean Union as well as China and Russia of full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, also known The top nuclear official further said the hostile stance. to ensuring global security. safeguard its benefits from the deal. as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and exchanged views about regional and international issues, Mehr reported. They agreed on the necessity of immediate implementation Domestic laws should replace intl. conventions of political solutions to regional issues, especially the Yemen crisis and the fight against terrorism. “Some international conventions are unclear and contain problems” POLITICS TEHRAN — The Leader of the Islamic favor of the proposal and 6 parliamentarians voted against. to reimpose sanctions on Iran. deskRevolution has cast doubt upon the view Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani told the open session of Iran has warned the remaining parties to the nuclear Kazem Gharib that jointing the convention on Combating the Financing of the parliament then that the administration agreed with agreement – the European Union, E3 (Germany, France Terrorism (CFT) may go without problems for Iran, calling the suspension. and Britain), Russia and China – that if its interests are not Abadi named Iran’s it unnecessary to join such a convention. Reformist MP Gholamreza Tajgardoon said that the guaranteed it will not remain in the deal. ambassador to IAEA “There is no reason why we should accept for their good decision would provide the administration with an oppor- Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader raised voice against points something that we do not know where it leads and even tunity to announce to Europe that it should give essential the United States’ separating children of immigrants at border. know to contain some problems,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei guarantees to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal. “The issue of separating several thousand children from said in a meeting with parliamentarians on Wednesday. “The administration will have two months to negotiate their mothers in America is no small thing. It is a very big POLITICS TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani desk “Big powers draft such treaties according to their with Europe,” Tajgardoon said. issue. One cannot bear to listen on television to these kids appointed on Wednesday Kazem Gharib interests and expediency. Then governments which are On May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump officially with- crying. How can they be convinced over a policy, a procedure, Abadi as Iran’s new representative to the international aligned with them, or fear them, or follow them, ratify drew from the UN-endorsed nuclear agreement and plans to initiate such wrong and criminal overture of separating organizations, including the International Atomic Energy these conventions in their own countries.” several thousand kids from their mothers?” Agency (IAEA), in Vienna. “Then if an independent country like the Islamic Republic The issue of separating He added: “This is who they are. This is who they are. The appointment was made upon a proposal by Foreign rejects it, they attack it and say why it does not ratify it while These are the same several big, advanced powers which, Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mehr reported. 150 countries already have,” the Leader said, Fars reported. several thousand children equipped with modern arms, took to the sea to face the Prior to being appointed to the post, Gharib Abadi was He nevertheless underlined that “some of these treaties from their mothers in people of Yemen to take from them a port city which is Iran’s ambassador to the Netherlands, ambassador and have positive points… The solution is that the Majlis defines America is no small thing…. their only passage to breath. They kill people without a permanent representative to the Organization for the rules of its own. For example a law on fighting money laun- doubt. This is who they are.” Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and deputy dering; a law on fighting terrorism.” How can they be convinced “They are not bad only to the Islamic Republic. They secretary-general of the High Council for Human Rights Iran’s parliament on June 10 decided to suspend de- over a policy, a procedure, are innately oppressive people. They are the creatures of on international affairs. bates on joining the CFT for two months until negotiations systems of oppression. And yes, since the Islamic Republic Gharib Abadi is replacing Reza Najafi in his new post. with the European Union on the fate of the 2015 nuclear to initiate such wrong seeks justice, boasts of Islam, and boasts of defending the agreement becomes clear. and criminal overture of oppressed, they will severely oppose her and renege as they The decision came after 50 MPs issued a statement call- separating several thousand do. One should stand up against this. We should stay firm and Iran appoints ing for suspending discussion on the bill for two months. make sure that with the help of Almighty God, the Iranian new ambassador 138 out of 253 MPs present in the parliament voted in kids from their mothers? nation will gain victory over America and the enemies.” to Bern prior to Iran’s Kharrazi urges EU to stand up to Saudi-led coalition to lose more if war Rouhani’s visit U.S. pressure on Yemen continues: Velayati POLITICS TEHRAN — Iran has appointed a desknew ambassador to Bern, weeks before President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Switzerland at the official invitation of his Swiss counterpart Alain Berset, ISNA reported on Wednesday. Mohammad-Reza Haji-Karim-Jabbari has been appointed as Iran’s new ambassador to Bern. This is while the last time Iran had an ambassador to Bern was nearly 4 years ago. In a Monday statement, the Swiss government announced that President Rouhani is expected to visit Switzerland in early July and will be welcomed by President Berset in Zurich.

Iranian Army overhauls F-4 POLITICS TEHRAN — Former sitions are not sufficient.” Ali Akbar Velayati, an international their objective due to Yemenis’ resistance. fighter jet deskIranian Foreign Minis- Kharrazi also said as Iran’s first and adviser to the Leader of the Islamic The United States, Britain and France ter Kamal Kharrazi who currently serves as leading trade partner, Italy is making Revolution, hailed recent victories of have backed the coalition in the Yemen the chairman of the Strategic Council on great efforts to abide by the implemen- the Yemeni army and Houthi fighters conflict and keep providing weapons POLITICS TEHRAN — Experts at the Iranian Air Foreign Relations has called on European tation of the JCPOA. against the Saudi-led coalition and said to both Saudi Arabia and the United deskForce have successfully overhauled an countries to show unity in the face of U.S. “I hope that Iran and Italy will con- the alliance will suffer more if it con- Arab Emirates. F-4 fighter jet, rendering it airworthy, IRNA reported pressure and save the Iran nuclear deal, tinue to make every effort to expand and tinues the “unequal war”. While the Yemeni army and popular on Wednesday. officially called the Joint Comprehensive broaden their bilateral relations,” added “The Yemenis’ situation is triumphant committees are fighting off the assailants The overhaul was carried out at the Shahid Lashkari Air Plan of Action (JCPOA). Kharrazi who was Iran’s chief diplomat and we are witnessing their advances and countering attacks on residential Force Base in northern Tehran Province, using up to 18,500 Kharrazi made the remarks after a from 1997 to 2005. every day,” Velayati told reporters in areas, international humanitarian or- man-hour works. After undergoing final tests, the aircraft meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Milanesi also said after the meeting Tehran on Wednesday. ganizations have warned of dire con- was returned to the Ari Force’s fleet. Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Wednesday, that his country supports the JCPOA in “The role of the Houthis and the re- sequences of any escalation of violence The Global Firepower List 2018 has ranked various as the two sides discussed various issues the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from sistant army of Yemen has been very around Hudaydah. countries in accordance with their defensive strength, including the fate of the JCPOA, bilat- the multilateral accord. influential, so that after three years of UN Humanitarian Coordinator placing the Islamic Republic on the 13th position above eral ties and regional and international He underscored the European Union’s bombardment (by the Saudi-led coa- Lise Grande recently said “as many as Israel and Saudi Arabia. developments. firm position on full implementation of lition), today, they are much stronger 250,000 people may lose everything President Donald Trump announced the the JCPOA, calling the JCPOA an im- than the first day of the war,” he added. -even their lives,” if there is a military U.S. pullout from the JCPOA last month. portant deal for non-proliferation of “The Emiratis and Saudis should know attack on Hudaydah. Three Iranian Iran has warned the remaining parties to nuclear weapons which can guarantee that if they continue this unequal war, Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the deal that if its economic interests are peace and security at regional and inter- they will suffer more than today,” the some of its Arab allies have been car- prisoners not guaranteed under the agreement it will national levels. top adviser went on to say. rying out airstrikes against the Houthi remove the cap on its nuclear activities. Kharrazi is also scheduled to meet The remarks came as the Saudi-led co- Ansarullah movement in an attempt to pardoned in “Iran always seeks the European Un- with high-ranking officials in Vatican, alition and its mercenaries have launched restore power to fugitive former pres- Oman ion’s solid guarantees with regard to the and depart for Spain to confer on a range massive attacks since June 13 to bring ident Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a JCPOA,” Kharrazi said. “We have said that of bilateral issues with the new Spanish Yemen’s port city of al-Hudaydah under close ally of Riyadh. POLITICS TEHRAN — On the occasion of Eid ul- the European Union’s mere political po- administration. their control, but have failed to achieve (Source: Tasnim) deskFitr three Iranian prisoners in Oman were pardoned and released by Sultan Qaboos. Iran’s embassy in Muscat said on Tuesday that two of Rouhani’s cabinet to be joined by young, new faces the prisoners were charged with drug trafficking and the POLITICS TEHRAN — In the run-up to a cabi- up certain ministries and add another one. come out of the umbrella of the Ministry of Sports and third one was held for illegal entry to Oman’s territorial desk waters, IRNA reported. net reshuffle, the presidential chief of The changes are part of reforms by Rouhani aimed at Youths and itself becomes a ministry. In year 2011, Sultan Qaboos pardoned all 80 Iranian staff announced on Wednesday that President Hassan achieving better governing performance. The reshuffle He also said a ministry of commerce will come off prisoners in Oman and they returned home. Rouhani plans to add “young and new faces” to his must still be approved by parliament. the existing Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Commerce. Currently around 100 Iranians are imprisoned in Oman. cabinet. Currently there are 18 ministries. Vaezi also hoped that a ministry of housing is derived They are mainly charged with narcotics trafficking. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Vaezi said following Rouhani’s promise of new moves from the existing Ministry of Transport and Urban Mahmoud Vaezi said plans are underway to divide for the youth, the National Youth Organization will Development to tackle housing problems. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 INTERNATIONAL EU leaders to hold crisis talks Pope criticizes Trump administration policy on on migration migrant family separation The leaders of eight European Union countries including Germany and France will hold crisis Pope Francis has criticized the United States President Donald talks on migration in Brussels on Sunday to Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the try to find answers ahead of a major summit Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the world’s next week. immigration problems. European Commission President Jean- Speaking to Reuters, the Pope said he supported recent statements Claude Juncker called the meeting as the by the U.S. Catholic bishops who called the separation of children issue causes fresh divisions in Europe, three from their parents “contrary to our Catholic values” and “immoral”. years after the bloc faced its biggest migration “It’s not easy, but populism is not the solution,” Francis said on crisis since World War II. Sunday night. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, the pope said he German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s was optimistic about talks that may lead to a historic agreement domestic coalition is under threat from the over the appointment of bishops in China, and said he may accept issue and there has also been a row over a more bishops’ resignations over a sexual abuse scandal in Chile. boatload of migrants rescued from the Med- Reflecting at his Vatican residence on his five years as pope, iterranean who were turned away by Italy’s he defended his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church against new right-wing government. criticism by conservatives inside and outside the Church who say “I am convening an informal working his interpretation of its teachings is too liberal. meeting on migration and asylum issues in He also said he wanted to appoint more women to top positions Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with in the Vatican administration. a group of Heads of State or Government of One of his most pointed messages concerned Trump’s zero-tol- Member States interested in finding European erance immigration policy, in which the U.S. authorities plan to solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO criminally prosecute all immigrants caught crossing the Mexican [European Council],” Juncker said on Twitter border illegally, holding adults in jail while their children are sent on Wednesday. to government shelters. Merkel, French President Emmanuel Ma- The policy has caused an outcry in the United States and has cron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez been condemned abroad as videos emerged of youngsters held in and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat concrete-floored enclosures and an audio of wailing children went will all attend the meeting, their governments viral. The U.S. Catholic bishops have joined other religious leaders said. in the United States in condemning the policy. The leaders of frontline states Italy and “I am on the side of the bishops’ conference,” the pope said, Greece will also be involved, as well as Aus- referring to two statements from the U.S. bishops this month. tria and Bulgaria, who are the incoming “Let it be clear that in these things, I respect (the position of) and outgoing holders of the EU’s rotating the bishops conference.” six-month presidency, European sources Francis’ comments add to the pressure on Trump over immigra- told AFP. tion policy. The pope heads a church which has 1.3 billion members All 28 European Union leaders are top of the EU agenda. countries must be able to turn back at phe” similar to the events of 2015 if Europe worldwide and is the largest Christian denomination in the United due at their full summit next Thursday Italy refused to let the vessel dock at its their borders all asylum seekers who does not agree a common response. States. The president has strongly defended his administration’s to discuss plans to overhaul the bloc’s ports, sparking a war of words with Malta previously registered in another mem- Kurz’s comments came as he and his minis- actions and cast blame for the family separations on Democrats. asylum system, which has been under and prompting Macron to accuse Rome of ber country, usually their Mediterranean ters held a special joint session in the Austrian “Democrats are the problem,” Trump said on Twitter on Tues- severe pressure since the migration crisis “cynicism and irresponsibility”. first port of call. city of Linz with their Bavarian counterparts day. “They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants.” exploded in 2015. Meanwhile after allowing more than one The United States President Donald Trump from the German CSU (Christian Social Un- The U.S. crackdown chimes with a new political mood sweep- The EU is considering setting up “dis- million asylum seekers into Germany since - himself facing an outcry at home over the ion) party, including Seehofer. ing western Europe over the large numbers of migrants and asy- embarkation platforms” outside the bloc to 2015, sparking a strong domestic backlash separation of migrant children from their “We can’t wait until we have a catastro- lum-seekers, most of them escaping conflict and poverty in the process migrants, according to draft summit against immigration, Merkel is now fighting parents - also laid into Merkel and falsely phe like the one in 2015,” said Kurz, whose Middle East and Africa. conclusions seen Tuesday by AFP. for her political future. said that immigration was driving up crime center-right People’s Party (OeVP) went into The pope said populists were “creating psychosis” on the issue But even as numbers crossing the Med- Her hardline Interior Minister Horst in Germany. coalition with the far-right Freedom Party of immigration, even as aging societies like Europe faced “a great iterranean have dropped since then, efforts Seehofer on Monday gave her a two-week The United States received more asylum (FPOe) after an election last year in which demographic winter” and needed more immigrants. to reach a consensus have been thrown into ultimatum to reach EU deals with Italy and requests than any other developed nation immigration was a central theme. Without immigration, he added, Europe “will become empty.” turmoil by fresh developments in Europe Greece to allow Germany to turn back asylum in 2017, overtaking Germany, the OECD Kurz has said he intends to make migration Church’s future “on the street” as countries disagree over who should host seekers who previously registered in another (Organization for Economic Co-operation a key theme when Austria takes up the EU’s Since assuming the papacy in 2013, Francis has promoted a new arrivals. member country. and Development) said in a report published rotating presidency at the beginning of July liberal interpretation of Catholic teachings at a time when politics in Last week’s row over the fate of more than Macron jumped to the aid of Merkel, on Wednesday. and will meet four central European leaders many parts of the West have shifted toward economic nationalism. 600 migrants on the Aquarius rescue boat his core European partner, saying as they Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on in Budapest on Thursday. He has faced internal opposition from conservative clergy helped thrust the migrant issue back to the met on Tuesday that he agreed that EU Wednesday raised the specter of a “catastro- (Source: AFP) who oppose his liberal interpretations, especially his approach to sexuality and showing mercy toward divorced Catholics. But the pope said he prayed for conservatives who sometimes said “nasty things” about him. Russia warns against Trump’s ‘alarming’ plans for U.S. Defending his leadership, the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff said the future of the Catholic Church was “on the street”. He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican space domination departments because they were better at resolving conflicts, though Russia on Wednesday expressed alarm in space.” with the aim of possibly staging military ac- While Russia has a branch of the mili- this should not lead to what he called “masculinism in a skirt”. over the United States President Don- Trump on Monday said at a speech in tion there.” tary called “space forces,” their activities are The pope said his health was good apart from leg pain related to ald Trump’s call for the United States the White House that “America will always “This is not based on guesswork, “purely defensive,” she stressed. a back condition. He reiterated comments first made shortly after to dominate space exploration and his be the first in space” and “we don’t want this is understanding the realities,” Space research is one of the few areas his election that he may someday resign for reasons of health as plan to create a separate branch of the China and Russia and other countries she insisted. where Russia and the U.S. continue inter- his predecessor, Pope Benedict, did in 2013, but said: “Right now, military called a Space Force. leading us.” The U.S. military build-up in space “es- national cooperation. I am not even thinking about it.” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman He also called for the Pentagon to create pecially after the appearance of weapons Both NASA (National Aeronautics and He spoke at length about immigration, a controversial issue in Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that a new “Space Force” that would become the there, would have a destabilizing effect on Space Administration) astronauts and Rus- Europe as well as the United States. The populist Italian govern- Russia “noted the U.S. president’s instruc- sixth branch of the American military, al- strategic stability and international security,” sian cosmonauts are crew members on the ment has refused port access to non-government ships that have tions... to separate space forces from the though this requires Congressional approval Zakharova warned. International Space Station and the orbiting been rescuing asylum-seekers trying to cross to Italy from Africa air force,” saying “the most alarming thing to take effect. Russia takes a “diametrically opposite po- laboratory is reliant on space launches from in flimsy boats. One ship was forced to disembark more than 600 about this news is the aim of his instruc- Zakharova warned that the U.S. is “nur- sition” that space must be used for “peaceful Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome. migrants in Spain at the weekend. tions, namely to ensure [U.S.] domination turing plans to bring out weapons into space aims,” she said. (Source: Daily Star) Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also leader of the far-right-wing League party, has criticized the pope in the past, once saying the pontiff should take in migrants in the Vatican if he was so concerned about them. Number of missing in Indonesia ferry disaster jumps to nearly 180: police “I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then Nearly 180 passengers are missing after a ferry sank into around 400 personnel. see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe,” Francis said. the depths of a volcanic lake in Indonesia, police said on “We are looking to search an area as deep as 400 meters, “Some governments are working on it, and people have to be Wednesday, almost tripling initial estimates - but the search- but we haven’t found anything yet because the area is very settled in the best possible way, but creating psychosis is not the and-rescue agency cautioned it was still unclear how many large,” Syaugi said. cure,” he added. “Populism does not resolve things. What resolves people were aboard the vessel when it capsized. Images from the scene on Wednesday showed rescuers things is acceptance, study, prudence.” The wooden boat, which sank on Monday on Su- covering up the bloated body of a woman who had washed Some struggles and tough decisions matra’s Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination, was ashore. Francis said he was saddened by Trump’s decision last year to thought to be operating illegally, with no manifest or It was not clear if any foreigners were on board the ferry implement new restrictions on American travel and trade with Cuba. passenger tickets. or what caused the disaster. The move rolled back his predecessor President Barack Obama’s The situation has sparked confusion - and different esti- “We’ll be here until they find my brother’s body,” said opening to the island nation. That deal, which the Vatican helped mates from various agencies - about the number of people Nurhayati, who was among the hundreds of grief-stricken broker, “was a good step forward”, the pope said. on board. locals waiting by the shore for news about missing loved He also said Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris agreement Indonesia’s disaster agency, separate to the search-and- ones, and like many Indonesians goes by one name. to curb climate change caused him “a bit of pain because the future rescue body, originally said some 80 people were on the “We just want to see his body and take him with us.” of humanity is at stake”. The pope said he hoped Trump would re- boat along with dozens of motorcycles when it overturned Survivor accounts said the boat started shaking as it think his position. Rejecting criticism that he is at risk of selling out and sank. 18 people rescued, according to the local disaster agency, struggled to navigate strong winds and high waves about Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican, Francis said talks to resolve Police said in a statement on Wednesday there were as as the search turned to recovering victims - including those halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the middle a dispute over the appointment of bishops in China – an obstacle many as 178 people missing, which if confirmed would make still trapped inside the sunken boat. of the lake to shore. to resuming diplomatic ties – were “at a good point”. it one of Indonesia’s worst maritime disasters. The search-and-rescue agency said search operations Muslim-majority Indonesia has been celebrating (Source: Reuters) The estimates have been based on local people report- would continue for at least a week given the size of the the Islamic festival of Eid since Friday and millions ing missing relatives who they believed could have been enormous body of water, which fills the crater of a super go on holiday during the festivities, with Lake Toba a on the ship. volcano that is believed to have erupted tens of thousands key destination. “But many people got on the boat without a ticket so it’s of years ago. The deadly disaster came days after more than a dozen unclear how many were on board,” Mohammad Syaugi, the It is one of the deepest lakes in the world and covers some people were killed in an unrelated maritime accident that head of the search-and-rescue agency, told AFP. 1,145 square kilometers. underscored Indonesia’s woeful boat safety record. Ukraine’s Tymoshenko So far, at least three bodies have been found and another On Wednesday the size of the search was increased to (Source: AFP) announces she will run for Taliban kill dozens of soldiers despite government ceasefire president Taliban terrorists have killed 30 security Provincial Governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai that the fighters prepared their attacks and In the statement on Sunday, the Talib- Ukrainian opposition leader and political veteran Yulia Ty- forces in an ambush on two checkpoints in confirmed the deadly attack. did reconnaissance of the area during their an repeated their preconditions for peace moshenko said on Wednesday she would run for president in the western province of Badghis on Wednes- Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis ceasefire. talks, including that they would only negotiate elections due next year. day, the provincial governor told the Reuters provincial council, said one military base Preconditions for peace talks directly with the United States and that foreign “I will run for the presidency of Ukraine,” she said during a news agency. was targeted, in the district of Balamerghab. The Taliban’s three-day ceasefire ended forces should leave Afghanistan. question-and-answer video posted on her official Facebook page. The attack early on Wednesday comes “Large numbers of Taliban came from on Sunday. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Taliban has waged a bloody armed re- Tymoshenko led an opinion poll conducted in May by the Ilko days after the Taliban said they would resume several directions,” Bek said. “After hours of Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group claimed bellion against Western-backed Afghan Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kiev-based fighting despite President Ashraf Ghani ex- heavy fighting 30 Afghan security forces were responsibility for a blast in Nangarhar province government since it was deposed by the Razumkov think-tank, with support among likely voters of 13 tending the Eid ceasefire by 10 days. killed and the Taliban captured the base.” that left at least 36 dead on June 17, bringing U.S.-led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Or- percent. Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko came fourth The Taliban did not immediately comment Fifteen Taliban were killed in other areas the death toll to more than 50 during the ganization) forces in 2001. in the poll. on the attacks. of the province overnight, he said, adding ceasefire period. (Source: Al Jazeera) (Source: Reuters) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 4 ECONOMY JUNE 21, 2018

STOCK MARKET Tehran-Damascus TEDPIX 108872.9 IFX 1241.61 seriously determined Sources: tse.ir, Ifb.ir to strengthen banking, CURRENCIES USD 42,4600 rials customs co-op EUR 49,163rials ECONOMY TEHRAN — In a news agency reported. GBP 55,885 rials deskmeeting in Tehran on He also said that Iranian Ministry of Tuesday, Iranian Finance and Economic Finance and Economic Affairs can play AED 11,562 rials Affairs Minister Masoud Karbasian and significant role in rebuilding and developing Source: mehrnews.com Syrian Economy and Foreign Trade Minister roads in Syria. Mohammad Samer al-Khalil expressed their Iranian engineering companies enjoy countries’ strong will for the expansion of high capabilities and are present in the Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Masoud Karbasian (R) and Syrian bilateral economic and trade ties specially Asian, African and Latin American markets; Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Mohammad Samer al-Khalil (L) met in Tehran in banking and customs sectors. and they are ready to cooperate in technical on Tuesday COMMODITIES In the meeting, Karbasian announced and engineering fields with Syria, the WTI $65.13/b his ministry’s readiness for economic minister noted. for cooperation in rebuilding the parts the two countries specially in the field of Brent $75.25/b cooperation with Syria, and Iran’s Samer al-Khalil, for his part, appreciated destroyed by war in Syria. customs, the Syrian minister called for preparedness for rebuilding the war- support of Iran’s government and people Referring to the existence of many presence of Iran in Syria’s free economic OPEC Basket $71.09/b damaged infrastructures in Syria, Shada to his country and said Iran is prioritized economic fields for cooperation between zone. Gold $1,273.95 /oz Silver $16.32/oz Iranian fin. min. in Vienna for OFID meeting Platinium $865.35/oz ECONOMY TEHRAN — Iranian Fi- on Wednesday and Thursday, Shada news OFID is the development finance institution alleviate poverty in all disadvantaged regions desknance and Economic Affairs agency reported. established by the member states of OPEC in 1976 of the world. Sources: oilprice.com, Moneymetals.com Minister Masoud Karbasian arrived in Austria’s Leading a delegation, the Iranian minis- as a channel of aid to the developing countries. The fund does this by providing financing capital on Wednesday morning to attend the ter will also make a one-day trip to Slovakia It works in cooperation with developing to build essential infrastructure, strengthen so- two-day ministerial Council meeting of OPEC afterwards to confer on mutual cooperation country partners and the international donor cial services delivery and promote productivity, OPEC not an organization Fund for International Development (OFID) with the country. community to stimulate economic growth and competitiveness and trade. to receive instruction from Trump: Zanganeh Daily gasoline output up 18m liters in 3-month on year 1 The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ENERGY TEHRAN — Daily production of gasoline Zanganeh has also announced that Iran will have no meets on Friday to set output policy amid calls from U.S. President deskin Iran has increased by 18 million liters gasoline import since the second half of the current calendar Donald Trump and China to cool down oil prices and support the during the three-month period started from the beginning year (starting on September 23). global economy by producing more crude. of current Iranian calendar year (March 21) compared In mid-December last year, the minister had said that Saudi Arabia, and OPEC non-member Russia have proposed to the same period of time in the past year, according to Iran will reach a stable status in gasoline production once the gradually relaxing production cuts - in place since the start of the managing director of National Iranian Oil Products second phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery comes on stream. 2017 - while OPEC members Iran, Iraq, Venezuela and Algeria Distribution Company (NIOPDC). The refinery in the southern province of Hormozgan have opposed such a move. Alireza Sadeqabadi said some refineries were under is the first of its kind designed based on gas condensate Zanganeh said he would leave Vienna on Friday before OPEC overhaul operation during the mentioned time span and feedstock. holds talks with non-OPEC producers the next day and added a the operations were conducted in a short time and at a low Planned to have a total crude oil processing capacity recent rise in oil prices was mainly the fault of Washington, which cost without any accident which was a unique job, IRIB of 360,000 barrels per day, Persian Gulf Star is projected imposed new sanctions on OPEC members Iran and Venezuela. reported on Wednesday. to be complete by the end of the current Iranian calendar Trump has called on OPEC to raise output, and Saudi Arabia “Despite all shortages we managed to fulfill our year (March 20, 2019). and Russia said in recent weeks the world needed more oil. commitment of the daily production of 78 million liters”, of the overhaul”, he said. Once fully operational, the refinery will add over 36 “Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third the official underlined. Iran’s daily gasoline production was 15 million liters million liters of Euro-4 and Euro-5 quality gasoline to quarter ... We could face a deficit if we don’t take measures,” Rus- “We will hopefully increase our gasoline production in in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), the country’s gasoline production capacity to increase it sian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. “In our the next three months when the refineries will come out according to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. to 100 million liters per day. view, this could lead to market overheating.” In addition to Iran, OPEC members Iraq, Venezuela and Algeria said they opposed a production increase despite supply outages Asian economies have a lot to lose in a U.S.-China trade war in countries such as Libya and Venezuela. Iran’s representative to OPEC, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Asian economies such as Taiwan, South Korea increasing threats to impose tariffs on each have been battered by capital outflows and have But until the targeted goods are known, it’s has said that Iran, along with Venezuela and Iraq, is going to veto and Southeast Asia could be badly hit if trade other’s products. While the final list of affected seen their currencies weaken in the process. difficult to quantify the actual impact that Asian Saudi Arabia and Russia’s proposal at the June 22 meeting. tensions between the U.S. and China heat up goods is not yet known, J.P. Morgan analysts By the end of Tuesday, the Taiwanese economies could see, experts said. In fact, the He told Bloomberg on Sunday that “Three OPEC founders further, experts have warned. wrote in a note that electronic products would dollar was down by around 1.7 percent damage could also be smaller than expected are going to stop it.” Those economies are among the largest likely be included. since the start of the year to 30.172 per since China is the dominant supplier of many “If the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Russia want to increase exporters of “intermediate goods” to China, That means that if the various tariffs U.S. dollar, while the Korean won weakened goods that it sells to the U.S., Leather said. production, this requires unanimity. If the two want to act alone, which then assembles those pieces into finished suggested by U.S. President Donald Trump 4.2 percent to 1,110.89 per U.S. dollar in “U.S. consumers would struggle to find that’s a breach of the cooperation agreement,” the official said. products to ship to final destinations such as come into effect and result in a fall in Chinese the same period. sufficient substitutes to replace the goods that Iran believes that OPEC and Russia not only do not need to ap- the U.S., noted Gareth Leather, senior Asia exports to the U.S., there will be knock-on In Southeast Asia, Singapore’s currency they currently buy from China, at least in the pease Trump, who sanctions two OPEC founders and also Russia, economist at Capital Economics. effects for the rest of Asia. was down 1.5 percent year-to-date on Tuesday short-term. What’s more, to the degree that but they should stand against such arrogant attitudes. Examples of “intermediate goods” include “By its very nature, such products are to 1.3567 per U.S. dollar, while the Thai baht other countries can step in, Asian exporters semiconductor chips and screens. Those highly reliant on tightly integrated supply saw a smaller dip of 0.6 percent to 32.73 are well-placed to benefit from any shift in components are typically manufactured in chains. To that extent, this would propagate per U.S. dollar during the same time frame. U.S. demand,” he said. different locations across Asia before they’re any trade shock into the region,” the J.P. All those currencies on Tuesday hit their “Until we know exactly which goods are OBOR Journalists forum sent to China for assembly into products such Morgan analysts said. weakest levels in seven months against the targeted, it will be impossible to calculate the kicks off in Beijing as mobile phones and computers. Such threats are coming at a time when greenback — after tensions between the world’s impact on the rest of Asia,” he added. Both China and the U.S. have traded emerging markets, including those in Asia, two largest economies escalated. (Source: CNBC) BEIJING — The ‘One-Belt One-Road Journalist Forum’ offi- cially kicked off on Wednesday morning local time in the Chinese capital city of Beijing, MNA correspondent reports. China at risk of losing title of world’s number 2 stock market China’s equity market is only one bad day from losing a title in Japan, which typically benefits from having a currency the government to soothe nerves rattled by the threat of it’s held for almost four years. that’s often seen as a haven asset in times of market stress. additional U.S. tariffs. Following Tuesday’s $406 billion wipeout, Chinese stocks China has been home to the world’s second-largest eq- The biggest equity market is in the U.S.: worth some $31 have lost more than $1.6 trillion in market cap since a peak uity market since it overtook its Asian neighbor at the end trillion, it’s more than twice as valuable as all the stocks in in January. It would only take another drop of a similar of 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The China and Japan combined. magnitude to make Chinese stocks less valuable than those country’s stocks rose on Wednesday, following efforts by (Source: Bloomberg) U.K. manufacturing growth Greece says expects decisions from bounces back in June Eurogroup on debt U.K. manufacturing picked up in June as proving mixed, economists and investors Greece said on Wednesday it expected “The accepted criteria for all sides is that The Vice-President of All-China Journalists Association Hu Xi- order books strengthened to their highest are looking for signs from BOE officials euro zone finance ministers to take this solution be convincing for markets and aohan opened the meeting and introduced the distinguished guests level in five months. on the next interest-rate move when the decisions on Thursday outlining embed the creditworthiness of our country, of the event. The volume of output in the sector central bank announces its latest decision “substantive” measures to render the the final act in restoring the credibility The minister of the state council information office was the first jumped to the strongest this year in the Thursday. country’s debt sustainable. of Greece to be able to plan for the next who got behind the lectern. Then, he was followed by the president three months through June, the Confed- There was evidence of that uncertain Government spokesman Dimitris day like any ordinary country.” of All-China Journalists Association Zhang Yannong. eration of British Industry said in a report picture in Wednesday’s CBI survey. The Tzanakopoulos also said there was no Euro zone finance ministers will After him, the President of the Russian Union of Journalists Vladimir Wednesday. Expectations for output prices report showed that businesses expect a truth in speculation that a deal settling a discuss debt relief for Greece on Thursday Solovyev addressed the gathering. also edged closer to the long-run average mild slowdown in output growth in the name dispute with neighboring Macedonia to ensure the country can return to market The President of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists, Thepchai after touching a 34-year high in January. next three months, suggesting the recent was tied in any way to Greek debt relief. financing after eight years of loans from Sae Yang, delivered his speech afterward. Orders for exports continued to grow. strength may prove temporary. “We are optimistic that we are on euro zone governments and to enable The speech by the President of the Federation of African Journal- The report backs up the outlook of Bank About half of economists in a Bloomberg the verge of a solution with substance, sustained economic growth. ists was the final part of the opening ceremony. of England policy makers, who expect the survey say they expect a quarter-point BOE which will have a multiplying effect to Athens is set to formally exit a bailout The conference is attended by more than 100 delegates from U.K. economy to bounce back in the second hike in August after the first increase in a the already noted momentum of the program in August, the third for the 52 countries. Iran is represented at the event by Mehr News cor- quarter after a sluggish start to 2018. With decade last November. Greek economy,” Tzanakopoulos told indebted country which first sought external respondent. (Source: Mehr news agency) Brexit clouding the horizon and recent data (Source: Bloomberg) a news briefing. aid in 2010. (Source: Reuters) Bank loans to economic sector Cryptocurrencies fall as Korean wxchange says $32m of coins stolen rise 21% in 2 months yr/yr Cryptocurrencies dropped after the second South Ko- Asia-listed stocks with exposure to digital currencies. rean exchange in as many weeks said it was hacked, Enthusiasm for virtual currencies has waned this ECONOMY TEHRAN — Iranian banking system’s offered renewing concerns about the safety of digital-asset year partly due to a string of cyber heists, including deskfacilities to domestic economic sectors during trading venues. the nearly $500 million theft from Japanese exchange the two-month period from March 21 to May 21 increased by 21 Bithumb, ranked by Coinmarketcap.com as the world’s Coincheck Inc. in late January. Last week, a South percent, in comparison with the same period of time in the year seventh-largest crypto exchange by traded value, said on Korean venue called Coinrail said that some of the before, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced. Wednesday that hackers stole about 35 billion won ($32 exchange’s digital coins appeared to have been stolen As reported, 689.5 trillion rials (about $16.33 billion) of loans million) and that Ripple was among the coins taken. The by hackers, though it didn’t disclose how much. were granted to Iranian economic sector in the said time, register- exchange halted cryptocurrency deposits and withdraw- While the latest theft has weighed on sentiment, ing 119.8 trillion rials (about $2.83 billion) growth compared to als, said it will compensate victims and moved investor investor reactions have been relatively subdued, said the same time in the preceding year, the CBI website published. assets to a so-called cold wallet, which is disconnected Ryan Rabaglia, head trader at cryptocurrency dealing Working capital loans paid to different economic sectors was from the Internet and less vulnerable to theft. firm Octagon Strategy Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The market above 450.9 trillion rials (about $9.61 billion) accounting for Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, dropped as much has sort of become a bit more battle-hardened. It can 65.4 percent of the total provided facilities in the said period, as 2 percent and was trading at $6,616 as of 8:25 a.m. according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Ripple, weather the storm on these negative reports.” registering a 16.7 percent increase year on year. in London, bringing this year’s decline to 54 percent, Ethereum and Litecoin also retreated, along with some (Source: Bloomberg) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 ENERGY 5

Oil up on U.S. stocks, Libya China excludes LNG from trade war with U.S.

China’s tariffs on imported U.S.goods are wide-ranging as the ahead of OPEC meeting trade war between the two nations heats up. But there’s one thing the Middle Kingdom has specifically excluded from the standoff -- liquefied natural gas (LNG). The U.S. will remain its Oil prices rose on Wednesday, supported by Jack Allardyce, oil and gas research an- major LNG supplier. a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories alyst at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, said he The $50 billion in import tariffs on U.S. goods that China and the loss of storage capacity in Libya, expected OPEC would agree to pump more oil, announced this month came in retaliation for U.S. President with investors cautious ahead of a biannual probably a fairly modest 300,000-600,000 Donald Trump’s decision to place import tariffs on major Chi- meeting of OPEC exporters to decide pro- barrels per day, or only around 0.5 percent nese goods. China’s move came only weeks after the two nations duction policy. of total world production. signed an agreement, on 19 May, for China to buy more U.S. Benchmark Brent crude was up 70 cents “We could see this knocking $5 per barrel goods, principally gas and oil, as its energy demand ramps up. at $75.78 a barrel by 0735 GMT. U.S. light off Brent,” Allardyce said. China’s demand for LNG is being driven by its changing envi- crude was 60 cents higher at $65.67. Markets are also anxiously watching trade ronmental and air pollution policies, which have seen the country U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million tensions between the United States and Chi- turn away from coal-fired power to more gas-fired generation, barrels to 430.6 million barrels in the week to na, in which both sides have threatened to increasing its need for bigger LNG volumes during winter for June 15, according to an American Petroleum impose stiff duties on each other’s exports, heating. Institute report on Tuesday. including U.S. crude oil. Traders said a drop in Libyan supplies due A 25 percent tariff on U.S. crude oil im- to the collapse of an estimated 400,000-bar- ports, as threatened by China in retaliation rel storage tank also helped push up prices. for duties Washington has announced but not Looming large over markets, however, yet implemented against Chinese products, were meetings on June 22-23 in Vienna of would make American crude uncompetitive the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting in China versus other supplies. Countries with other big producers, includ- to loosen supply controls introduced in 2017 to this OPEC meeting is fraught with un- This would almost certainly lead to a sharp ing Russia. to prop up prices. certainty with Iran from the onset adopting drop-off in Chinese purchases of U.S. crude, De-facto OPEC leader and top crude Other OPEC-members, including Iran, a very entrenched opposition to any supply which have boomed in the last two years exporter Saudi Arabia, as well as Russia, are against such a move, fearing a sharp increase,” Harry Tchilinguirian, head of global to a business now worth around $1 billion which is not a member of the cartel but is slump in prices. oil strategy at French bank BNP Paribas, told per month. the world’s biggest oil producer, are pushing “Unlike previous meetings, the run up the Reuters Global Oil Forum. (Source: Reuters) Russia and Saudis push for big oil output hike at OPEC meeting despite opposition Russia and Saudi Arabia are pushing OPEC OPEC members Iran, Iraq, Venezuela and where the 14-member OPEC is headquartered. could encourage unacceptably high output Nicholas Browne, head of Asia Pacific gas and LNG at energy and its allies to raise oil output steeply from Algeria have opposed such a move. On Monday, Ecuador’s oil minister Carlos growth from the United States, which is not research consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said the exclusion of July to meet growing demand and cover sup- Three OPEC sources told Reuters a tech- Perez predicted a difficult OPEC meeting. part of the production agreement. LNG from the trade stoush wasn’t surprising for two reasons: ply outages in Venezuela and Libya despite nical panel - the organization’s economic “There are other countries that do not On Tuesday, the head of Russia’s sec- “Firstly, LNG demand is growing rapidly in China. Secondly, opposition from several members of the commission - met on Monday to review the want to reduce the cuts ... It’s going to be a ond-largest oil firm Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, the U.S. will be the key source of incremental supply growth in producer group including Iran. market outlook and forecast strong global difficult ... a tough meeting,” Perez said in said global production cuts should be halved 2018 and 2019,” he said. “Oil demand usually grows at the steepest demand for oil during the rest of 2018. the Austrian capital. and that Lukoil could restore its oil output Wood Mackenzie sees LNG demand rising further next year. pace in the third quarter ... We could face “If OPEC and its allies continue to produce OPEC’s second- and third-largest pro- levels within two to three months. “We currently forecast demand will grow an additional 9 million a deficit if we don’t take measures,” Rus- at May levels then the market could be in ducers, Iraq and Iran, have said they would Commerzbank commodities analyst tons in 2019 to reach 58 million tons. We forecast that U.S. sian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told deficit for the next six months,” one of the oppose output increases on the grounds that Carsten Fritsch said that given big differ- LNG will account for 30 per cent of incremental global LNG reporters. “In our view, this could lead to sources said. such moves would breach previous agree- ences in the positions of OPEC members, supply growth this year and 45 per cent in 2019,” it said in a market overheating.” Some countries including Algeria, Iran ments to maintain cuts until the year-end. the Friday meeting was likely to be tough. note to clients. Novak said Russia wanted OPEC and non- and Venezuela said at the panel meeting that Both countries would struggle to increase “Unanimity is needed for any OPEC deci- China is slated to become the largest single buyer of U.S. LNG OPEC to raise output by 1.5 million barrels they still opposed an output increase, one output. Iran faces renewed U.S. sanctions sion. This recalls the June 2011 meeting, when in 2018, having already imported around 1.25 million tons since per day (bpd), effectively wiping out existing of the sources said. that will impact its oil industry and Iraq has OPEC was unable to agree on an increase in the start of the year. This compares to 1.61 million tons of U.S. production cuts of 1.8 million bpd that have Demand growth has surprised market production constraints. production to compensate for the outages LNG for all of 2017. helped rebalance the market in the past 18 watchers on the upside in the past two years, Two OPEC sources told Reuters that even ... in Libya,” Fritsch said. An Australian resources analyst contacted by Fairfax Media months and lifted oil prices LCOc1 to $75 per with annual increases exceeding 1.5 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf allies Kuwait and “That meeting ended without any joint said these high volumes of gas - and many existing contracts barrel from as low as $27 in 2016. Global oil consumption is expected to hit Oman were against big, immediate increases declaration. The then Saudi Oil Minister Ali with U.S. suppliers - were the reason why China excluded LNG The Organization of the Petroleum Ex- 100 million bpd next year. in output. al-Naimi described it as the worst OPEC from the stand-off. porting Countries meets on Friday to decide Novak said that if a decision were taken One OPEC source said the Saudi-Russian meeting of all time.” “It’s not really surprising they didn’t do it,” he said. “If they output policy amid calls from major consum- this week to raise output, OPEC and its allies proposal of a 1.5-million-bpd increase was Adding to the tensions, Iran and Venezue- did [put an import tariff on LNG] they would have been just ers such as the United States and China to could meet again in September to review “just a tactic” aimed at persuading fellow la continued to insist that OPEC on Friday hurting themselves.” cool down oil prices and support the global the impact and fine-tune production policy. members to compromise on a smaller rise debate U.S. sanctions against the two coun- Browne agreed, saying long-term import tariffs would signif- economy by producing more crude. Big bargain of around 0.5-0.7 million bpd. tries, but the organization’s secretariat has icantly increase China’s LNG costs. Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia The energy ministers of Kuwait, Angola Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies rejected their requests, according to letters “LNG is clearly seen as an essential good by the Chinese gov- have proposed gradually relaxing production and the United Arab Emirates declined to have the capacity to raise output. Russia has seen by Reuters. ernment. Given this, in the event of an escalation, LNG is likely to cuts - in place since the start of 2017 - while comment on Tuesday when arriving in Vienna, also said that limiting supply for too long (Source: CNBC) remain outside the bounds of any additional tariffs,” Browne said. ’Logistical headaches’ “The introduction of tariffs would have posed a significant UK solar power growth halves for second year running challenge for Chinese buyers as they seek to meet surging de- mand,” he said. “It would also have created logistical headaches New solar power installations halved in the secretary, said: “Tory policies on solar includ- for suppliers to optimize their portfolios to ensure they could meet UK last year for the second year in a row, ing dramatic cuts to feed-in tariff subsidies, Chinese demand while redirecting U.S. LNG to other markets.” as the fallout of government subsidy cuts business and VAT rate hikes, and obstruction A move to exclude LNG from import tariffs could have pre- continued to shake the sector. to clean power auctions have held back one sented an opportunity for some Australian gas exporters, who Labor said the figures showed the gov- of the cleanest, cheapest forms of energy.” could have moved to fill the gap left by U.S. gas volumes, but ernment’s commitment to green energy was The UK currently sits third in the EU for Australia’s focus on long-term contracts has left it with little “nothing but an empty PR move”. total installed solar, but growth is expected flexibility to react quickly to market changes. The UK numbers were so poor that they to lag far behind other member states over Wood Mackenzie’s Browne said Chinese import tariffs on caused overall EU solar growth to flatline the next four years. LNG could have been a positive for Australian exporters, how- at a time when record amounts of new solar By 2022, SolarPowerEurope forecasts ever, another analyst said with so many existing contracts in were added globally. the UK will add just 2.1GW of solar, while place there was not much of an opportunity for Australian gas Europe’s solar trade body said the UK Germany will add 20GW, France 11.7GW companies to take advantage. had the slowest growth of the world’s top 20 and Spain 8.8GW. S&P Platts Global’s senior LNG editor Abache Abreu said solar markets, the lowest prospect for growth Turkey was Europe’s brightest solar spot Australia had little opportunity to take advantage even if LNG among its European peers in coming years last year, recording “gigantic growth” of 30%, tariffs existed. “The reason for this is Australian producers and the worst political outlook. driven by Istanbul’s renewable energy targets. haven’t offered flexible LNG [contracting] deals, as the U.S. James Watson, the chief executive of For the first time, China installed more has, which is a key reason China is keeping LNG out of the SolarPowerEurope, said: “Solar power has than half of the of solar power capacity added tariffs,” he said. been voted the most popular energy source worldwide in 2017. (Source: The Sydney Morning Herald) in the UK, it is therefore sad to see the UK A separate report by Bloomberg New En- government not take advantage of the huge The fall was so steep that the UK acted as British solar firms have been hit by a round ergy Finance predicted on Tuesday that the potential of solar.” a drag on the EU as a whole. “Even though of subsidy cuts in 2015 and 2016, as well as falling costs of wind and solar power would New solar capacity in the UK declined 21 of the 28 EU markets showed growth, this changes to business rates for buildings with see the technologies grow to provide half of Iraqi oil minister hopes to 0.95GW last year, down from 1.97GW in wasn’t enough to compensate for the British rooftop solar. global electricity generation by 2050. 2016 and 4.1GW in 2015. losses,” the trade body said in a new report. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business (Source: The Guardian) OPEC to reach final deal on Friday

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Luaibi said on Tuesday that Baghdad was Goldman: expect another bull run in oil not considering an increase in oil production in the framework of The expected increase in oil production 450,000 bpd. much steeper discounts than the already that the fallout will likely be “minimal, with the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) will not leave the market in a situation of Moreover, the recent downturn in prices very hefty discount that Midland crude is only a potential negative price impact on U.S. and non-OPEC oil output cut deal. oversupply, and in fact, barring no further does lessen the chance of a price spike, but currently fetching. crude if it needs to end another destination “We have not considered the increase yet, we will discuss it action, the world could still be short of oil the Goldman says the oil market is “still The implications of a potential shale other than China.” at the meeting,” Luaibi said. over the next year. in deficit, with the recent builds reacting a disappointment for the global market are Overall, the investment bank remains The minister pointed out that he had not heard about the Rus- There is no shortage of pitfalls for the transient slowdown in Chinese imports.” profound. “A tight global oil market requires highly bullish on crude oil, and while there are sian initiative to increase the daily oil production by 1.5 million bull run, with Trump’s expanding trade war, Therefore, the expected increase in more shale production, yet the Permian will plenty of sources of uncertainty, the outlook barrels. “I haven’t heard about it,” Luaibi said. weaker demand and a potential currency OPEC+ production is needed, and won’t soon be unable to provide it,” Goldman wrote is based on two overarching arguments: the On Saturday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said crisis in emerging markets, and the drilling spark a market meltdown. The bottom is in its latest report. “As a result, we believe oil market is fundamentally in a supply deficit that Russia and Saudi Arabia would offer the parties to the oil frenzy so far proceeding at an unabated pace falling out in Venezuela and a long list of the oil market has moved up the shale cost right now, and the forthcoming increase in output cut agreement to raise production in the third quarter of in West Texas. companies are packing up and getting out curve to incentivize more drilling in other OPEC+ production will be modest. Goldman 2018 by 1.5 million barrels per day. Even with those considerations, of Iran. Ultimately, Iran might see a sizable shale basins.” said it would require a pretty severe economic However, Iraqi Oil Minister expressed hope that the OPEC and however, “the oil market remains in deficit chunk of its oil exports disrupted because On the demand side of the equation, slowdown to derail this general trajectory. non-OPEC producers will reach an agreement on oil production with resilient demand growth and rising of U.S. sanctions. Libya and Nigeria are Goldman is betting on a rather strong 1.75- As such, the oil market will need during Friday›s meeting. disruptions requiring higher core OPEC and also in the midst of another wave of supply mb/d increase, or several hundred thousand more OPEC production in 2019 “to avoid On June 22, at its regular meeting in Vienna, the OPEC will Russia production to avoid a stock-out by disruptions. barrels per day higher than other leading historically tight stocks, as logistical discuss whether to raise oil production. year-end,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note Most forecasts bake in a massive increase forecasters, such as the IEA. constraints limit shale’s production growth.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince, on Monday. in U.S. shale production, an almost assumed There are risks to this prediction. The That will help ease the immediate shortage, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mohammad The conclusion is notable because the outcome based on the last few years of implementation of $50 billion in U.S. but “this supply response will further reduce bin Salman Al Saud, right, during a meeting. investment bank assumes a rather aggressive rapid growth. However, even though tariffs on Chinese goods was met with the market’s available spare capacity, bringing In 2016, the OPEC countries reached an agreement in Vienna increase in supply from OPEC+, on the shale does continue to grow briskly, the quick retaliation from China. Most recently, back to the fore the upside risks to oil prices to reduce daily oil production during the first half of 2017 to order of 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) pipeline bottlenecks in the Permian could President Trump directed his underlings that prevailed a month ago.” boost global oil prices. in the second half of 2018. Goldman says force a slowdown. In a separate report, to prepare an additional $200 billion in The upshot is that oil prices will remain The agreement was also supported by 11 non-OPEC states. In that the disruptions elsewhere, including Goldman Sachs said that pipeline relief is tariffs on China in what could be a dramatic “range-bound as OPEC initially increases late 2017, OPEC and non-OPEC states, including Russia, agreed in Venezuela, Iran and Libya, might mean more than a year away, and in the interim, escalation in the unfolding trade war. production,” but oil prices could rise as the to extend the agreement on reduction of oil output until the end that the decision to increase by 1 mb/d only trucks and trains won’t be able to resolve Goldman Sachs is not too concerned about year wears on. of 2018. actually results in a net addition of around the midstream bottleneck. That could force this cutting into oil demand growth, arguing (Source: oilprice.com) (Source: Sputnik) ADVERTISEMENTS

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 6 INTERNATIONAL JUNE 21, 2018

Why Trump’s ‘Space Force’ won’t — and shouldn’t — happen Israel’s invasion of By Jeffrey Kluger

Good government is often unglamorous stuff — fixing pot holes, the Arab capitals plowing snow, collecting trash. At a White House event on June By Mohammad Ayesh its economy. How do the Arabs and their 18, President Trump was supposed to deliver a brief address on governments think? Where did they get the trash-collecting part. Yes, the junk in question is in space — An Israeli delegation will visit the Kingdom the mindset to fight their friends? If the the growing belt of debris that has been accumulating in Earth of Bahrain on Sunday, adding a new link Arabs have governments following this orbit since the very beginning of the space age and poses an to the chain of Arab normalization with unfortunate approach, where do they find increasing risk to satellites and other spacecraft. But it’s still Israel. This is occurring at a time when the people to encourage and support them? just trash, and managing it was the focus of Trump’s latest Space Arab countries are being isolated from their With the authorities in Manama making a Policy Directive — the third he has signed since taking office. national surroundings and depth, including point of announcing the visit of the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, which is suffering how do the people of Bahrain feel? Will they from a silent boycott as the PA President is welcome them? Will they go out to greet the in undeclared “isolation” because he rejects delegation with flowers? Of course not, and the “deal of the century”. the clue to all of this is simple; the government The delegation will participate in the has had secret relations with Israel for years UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. and now wants to go public. It is both strange to see, and unusual, that Why? What difference would it make Israel’s participation in the meeting was as long as Bahrain’s interests and Israel’s announced in a local pro-government interests are already being served? The newspaper, Akhbar Al Khaleej. The newspaper main point here is that there are plans for As Trump has been known to do, however, he riffed a bit in quoted a Bahraini official in its reporting of the entire region to reach a new arrangement. his address, veering off-script to a topic he has raised before: this information. I fear that this is a prelude to forcing the the establishment of a “Space Force” as a separate branch of It is also strange that the official could Palestinians to accept a new deal that goes the military, joining the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and announce explicitly the visit of the Israelis beyond the constants that neither the late Coast Guard. Signing an executive order, Trump announced, “I but had no knowledge of whether or not a President Yasser Arafat nor his predecessors am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon delegation from Qatar would be there. This or successors agreed to concede, including to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space suggests that it is now easier for Israeli arrangements related to the occupied city of Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. We are going to delegations to enter some Arab countries than Jerusalem, six million Palestinian refugees have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, it is for Qataris. Moreover, there is currently and other important strategic issues. separate but equal.” no ground, air or sea links between Doha In conclusion, talk of an official Israeli For observers who got past the regrettable “separate but equal” and Manama, which are only a few dozen delegation openly visiting an Arab capital phrasing, redolent of the Supreme Court’s noxious 1896 Plessy kilometers away from each other. cannot remain within a superficial and shallow v. Furgeson decision which legalized racial segregation, there The Arab world is witnessing an The Arab world is witnessing an context. It means that we are facing a new was a lot to ponder in the idea of a Space Force. And none of that unprecedented deterioration as more Arab and regional reality that is gradually pondering leads anywhere good. governments are held in Israel’s embrace. unprecedented deterioration as more being imposed through events such as the Let’s start with the fact that a Space Force, authorized by the Many Arab regimes are struggling to governments are held in Israel’s embrace. World Heritage Committee meeting or other President, already exists. Only the President was Ronald Reagan convince their people that Israel is better programs that do not concern us. What does and the force was activated on Sept. 1, 1982. It is formally known than some of their Arab brothers, a theory their doors, borders, airspace and airports Arab governments which support and fund concern us, though, is the fact that there as the Air Force Space Command, and, as its name suggests, it that is contrary to reason, logic and the are closed to Arabs. In the Arab world, destabilizing projects beyond and within is an Israeli invasion of Arab capitals in is not a co-equal branch of the military, but a division of the proper understanding of a normal human some countries voted in favor of the U.S.- the Arab world, while refusing to spare preparation for turning secret relations into Air Force — which itself was once a division of the Army, Navy being. Today, in the Arab world, there are Canada-Mexico hosting the 2026 FIFA funds for a country like Jordan to provide public normalization. That should worry us all. and Marines. But the Space Command’s somewhat lesser status countries hosting Israeli delegations, while World Cup rather than Morocco. There are it with development aid that would revive (Source: Middle East Monitor) doesn’t mean it’s not a robust organization, with more than 36,000 service people stationed at 134 locations worldwide. Space Command’s work involves Earth surveillance, weather forecasting, communications, command and control of ground- Trump’s immigration policy: Hateful and wrong based weapons and satellite security. And it has the money to execute that mission: The Air Force’s space-related budget request It is not just the current cruelty which should frighten comparison with the mass internment of Japanese for 2019 included $8.5 billion for acquisition and development us. The border separations are of course immoral and Americans, though George Takei, held as a five-year-old, of new Space Command systems, which is itself just part of a unconscionable. Children are ripped from the arms of writes that “even then, they didn’t separate children”. $44.3 billion space hardware bill over five years. None of that their mothers; they wail for Papa without answer; they are Some hope that this is Trump’s “Katrina moment”; includes the cost of personnel, logistics, deployment, and all caged. Even when the immediate suffering of the 2,000 that he has fatally misread the mood of the nation. Even of the other expenses associated with keeping an operation of already taken has passed, many will be affected for life by prominent evangelical leaders have denounced the policy 36,000 people running. It’s an impressive enterprise. So what the trauma. For some, the divisions will prove permanent. as antithetical to their family values. Yet Trump retorts would you get out of spinning it off into a Space Force, which Parents are being deported without their children. Last that illegal immigration “infests” the country. Advisers would require a completely separate command structure, Chief of month, a father killed himself after separation from his like speechwriter Stephen Miller believe that such Staff and bureaucracy, all of which would exponentially increase family. Yet as the human cost becomes starker, the pace controversies ultimately plays in his favor with voters. its budget? The answer is: not much. of separations has increased. It is vastly less helpful to many Republicans facing When the Air Force was formally established in 1947, the need Amnesty International argues that these acts the midterms. But since they long ago threw in their for such a freestanding operation was clear. Aerial warfare was deliberately inflict such mental suffering that they lot with the president, the rhetorical backlash has yet a relatively new but increasingly important part of all modern constitute torture – inflicted not just on adults facing to be matched by action. Trump is using children as militaries, and it required specialized personnel with specialized harsh choices, but also children who cannot make political hostages to force through harsh immigration skills, not the least being the pilots themselves, who had to learn choices at all. The president of the American Academy reforms. Legislators must not be strong-armed into how to fly complex, high-speed machines that didn’t even exist of Pediatrics rightly calls it child abuse. It demonstrates backing either of the Republican immigration reform fifty years earlier. Donald Trump’s willingness to wield his power in the most packages – one punitive, the other far worse – the House Military space technology has not progressed nearly as far brutal and intrusive ways and to dehumanize the victims, of Representatives is likely to vote on this week. as aviation had by the middle of the last century. The hardware fostering the “us and them” culture in which he thrives. The effects will be felt not only at home, but further does not remotely exist for solo pilots to fly heroic dogfights Its inhumanity is matched by its mendaciousness. It is away, as populist politicians draw inspiration and in low Earth orbit. It doesn’t even exist for the kind of robotic another step along America’s alarming authoritarian path. confidence. Virulent nativism is on the rise; Italy’s far- space war that Reagan envisioned with his Strategic Defense The administration has claimed there is no policy of Dividing migrant families right interior minister Matteo Salvini has called for a Initiative (SDI), which burned through $30 billion from 1983 separation. Trump blames the Democrats. But these census of the Roma community and expulsion of all to 1993 trying to come up with x-ray lasers, sub-atomic particle horrors result from the “zero tolerance” policy he is despicable. But the U.S. non-Italian Roma. Democracy and a decent society are beams and electromagnetic rail guns, all to shoot down incoming introduced. Asked specifically about the cost to families, president doesn’t care. always works in progress, perpetuated and shored up missiles — and came away with nothing at all that actually worked. key aides portray separation as a deterrent. These mixed by daily acts of commitment. That doesn’t mean that the technology the Air Force Space signals reflect the administration’s divisions, but also Republicans up for election Historian Timothy Snyder reminds us that “the Command has to develop and manage isn’t exquisitely complex its ability to confuse opponents and throw them off ought to. system does not in fact defend itself, it depends upon and doesn’t take extraordinary skill. It does. Hardening those balance. In truth, toddlers are being instrumentalised ethics and conventions, and … these have to be named, assets against potential attacks by competing powers is also critical. to persuade parents to stay away, to attempt to force administration may say – but people of color have too defended, and exemplified”. The GOP’s hunt for a face- China has not been coy about its drive to develop an offensive harsh immigration reforms through Congress – and often been treated as less than human, incapable of saving compromise is on. But Republicans should not just satellite destruction capability, while Russia has been nothing most of all to send a message to the base: not a dog the same feelings and undeserving of the same rights; condemn but outright oppose these shocking separations, but clear about its hopes to regain superpower status—on the whistle, but a klaxon. including that of family life. Slaves saw their children and the attempt to use them as leverage. If they fail to do land and the sea, and in the air and in space. Trump has prospered not by appealing to the better sold to other owners; Native Americans were snatched so, it falls to ordinary Americans to change their minds The Space Command could clearly use even more funding angels of the country’s nature, but by feeding its demons. from their parents and placed in institutions. The Chinese by uniting against this policy of hate. to manage all of that, as well as to upgrade and replace existing America is a nation of immigrants – whatever the Exclusion Act splintered families. Laura Bush drew a (Source: The Guardian) satellites systems. But it can do that within its current Air Force billet. “Creation of a separate military service as a ‘Space Force’ is a solution in search of a problem,” said Sean O’Keefe, former Administrator of NASA and currently a professor of citizenship and Macron is neither Margaret Thatcher nor Tony Blair public affairs at Syracuse University, in response to the President’s By Sophie Pedder to Paris. At the same time, a public spending that put equality before liberty. Pragmatic, announcement. “There’s no reason to believe that space-related review, designed to find budget savings, is supportive of business, and an advocate of programs would fare any better than they do today under the While Emmanuel Macron appears increasingly about to be published. Yet his thinking has anti-poverty policy conceived as an investment U.S. Air Force recognizance.” isolated in Europe over his ambitious plans little to do with a Thatcherite conception in human capital, Rocard — along with Paul Finally, and not insignificantly, as TIME reported last spring, to reform the eurozone, he is succeeding in of the state, or of laissez-faire economics. Ricoeur, for whom Macron worked as a a Space Force is arguably against International law. A 1967 advancing his domestic agenda. But what, “I believe in the market economy, the open student — informed the president’s political international accord, “The Treaty on Principles Governing the exactly, does this amount to? At home, his world,” Macron told me last summer. “But philosophy. The French left accuses Macron Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, opponents have dubbed him Margaret we need to rethink regulation so as to deal of a sharp swing to the right. There are some Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” explicitly Macron or Emmanuel Thatcher. Abroad, with the excesses of global capitalism.” grounds for this charge, but it also says much establishes that “States shall not place nuclear weapons or other his showdown with the rail unions has been With illiberal populists at the door, he about how the French political class thinks. weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or depicted as his “Thatcher moment”: a test of argues that voters need to feel that they are When the government halved class sizes in whether France’s homme de fercan face down not out there alone faced with the threat primary schools for five and six-year-olds in station them in outer space in any other manner” and that “the The French Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for striking workers and shake up the country. of machines, algorithms or open borders. disadvantaged areas, it was treated as school peaceful purposes.” On the streets Macron is indeed facing the What Macron seeks is a benign way for the president starts reform. For Macron, it constituted the heart stiffest test yet of his will to “unblock” France. Certainly, even a first-year space law student could slalom state to offer reassurance: a framework of of his anti-poverty policy. His starting point is But, in inspiration, the French president is protection that generates the confidence from a vision of a vision of empowerment and social mobility through those rules. Nothing the U.S. would be proposing for its closer to a first-term Tony Blair than to people need in order to feel they can accept empowerment and that draws not only on Rocard, but also on Space Force would include — at least for now — nukes or WMDs Thatcher — and would probably dislike or adapt to change. English-speaking political philosophers in space. And no military assets at all would be on the moon or social mobility. the comparison to either former UK prime Only then, he judges, will they accept such as Amartya Sen and John Rawls. It is other bodies. But there is the spirit of the law and the letter of minister. It is understandable that his critics the rules of competition and liberalization. because Macron’s “Jupiterian” style is a world rounded off with a belief, which recalls the the law. Reagan’s SDI program stayed within the limitations depict Macron as a red-blooded capitalist. This mix of market economics and social away from the “call-me-Tony”, shirtsleeve French theorist Henri de Saint-Simon, that of the 1967 accord, but that didn’t stop the then-Soviet Union A former investment banker at Rothschild, protection does carry echoes of Blair’s Third manner of Blair’s first term. Above all, the the best way of achieving the transformation from warning that the plan threatened both the existing Anti- trained at the country’s top institutions, he Way politics. Macron has read Anthony French president does not seek to define his he seeks is by putting technocrats in charge. Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and Strategic Arms Limitation embodies the rootless globalizing elite. Today, Giddens, and knows some of the former prime politics in relation to the left and the right. Macron’s ambition for the French state Treaty (SALT), which did regulate nukes. Even in zero-g, all the left accuses him of dismantling France’s minister’s inner circle, though he has met him This is why he rejects the label “centrist”. is to render it more agile, and cap public slippery slopes lead only downward. cherished social model. only a few times. The pragmatism, and the In reality, Macron’s core philosophy has spending at 52 per cent of gross domestic Humanity’s savage and yet ingenious nature being what it is, Last month, Forbes magazine put the borrowing from the left and the right, recall more to do with the deuxième gauche, or product. He may not achieve this. But, if there may well be a time when we have the tools for actual warriors French president on its cover under the title early Blairism too. Yet Macron sees the Third second left, a current of thought embodied he does, it would still leave France as one to do battle in actual space. A space force then would then be a very “Leader of the free markets”. Macron is indeed Way as a political response to a particular by the late Michel Rocard, the former prime of Europe’s most generous states. A hint of good thing. But that time isn’t now. And a Presidential executive unapologetic about backing the private sector post-Thatcher moment in British history. minister. The president is close to many Blair perhaps, but a Thatcherite vision this order, no matter how great the flourish with which it was signed, in order to encourage investment and job “France’s challenge is different: one of an former Rocardiens, including even his center- is not. Macron, like many of his generation, won’t change that. Meantime, while we’ve all been distracted by creation. To that end, he has cut taxes on over-dominant state that needs to become right prime minister, Edouard Philippe. may speak English. But he does not seek to star wars, someone still has to take out all that space trash. business and the rich, loosened labour rules, more efficient,” he told me this year. The Rocard’s thinking about social progress broke emulate les Anglo-Saxons. (Source: Time) and devised schemes to lure tech start-ups Blair comparison has other limits, not least with the prevailing Socialist party doctrine (Source: FT) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 ANALYSIS & INTERVIEW 7 A contemplation on Trump has no political Washington-Beijing Trade War philosophy: Askari

1 Rather, on his economic confron- with China, without creating the necessary tation with Beijing, he focused on the least requirements inside the country. Hence, costly way which was intellectual property Trump›s protectionist policies can›t improve rights. This equation is somewhat compli- the U.S. domestic industry. Alan Tennyson, cated: The fact is that the President of the a well-known American businessman who United States intends to use terms such as has been supporting Trump during the presi- intellectual property in the field of invention dential competitions, is now firmly opposing and trade as a cover for applying nationalist the imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese protectionist policies. In order to complete goods, and believes that it would be an un- this process, Trump will further strength- planned intervention in the U.S. economy. en bureaucratic administrative law in the Many American economists are criticizing near future as opposed to importing Chinese of Donald Trump›s protectionist approach goods. In short, Trump›s short-term goal in this equation: all these economists are is to create bureaucratic obstacles so that it warning about a major economic war between would be difficult for China to import goods the United States and China. The conflict 1 Is it Trump›s protective approach to the economy and products to the U.S. between Washington and Beijing, based on or his special emphasis on «American values» that can be the The third point is about the introduction Trump›s unilateralist policies, can redefine source of his influence on a particular economic and political of customs tariffs against Chinese goods. The the economic ideas of both countries. «The school (thought)? Trump government has also increased tariffs competition formed in the domestic market policy would allow for a system of trade in emergence of modern protectionism» or A: Trump does not represent American values. He is attempt- on some of the imported goods from China. is also not usually a dynamic one. This rule China open to all countries equally, and no «redefining open door policy» can be the ing to destroy America’s justice system, he is creating greater Trump also subsidizes American producers. also applies to the imposition of punitive country has particular privilege over other objective outcome of this conflict. On the inequality, he is depriving many poor American children of one However, it is not yet clear that granting in- tariffs on Chinese goods. countries. This approach is in contrast to the other hand, China and the United States will hot meal a day at school, he is tarnishing America’s international dustrial subsidies to domestic factories and China is buying the most Treasurys at monopolistic economic thinking (based on probably both use the tools and methods in image by breaking America’s word as is the case in the JCPOA, manufacturers in the United States could the U.S. government auctions since 2011. It unilateral protectionism). Unilateral protec- the economic conflict, which contradicts their he is bullying America’s adversaries as well as its friends, and lead to lower commodity prices, and more wasn›t without a reason that politicians like tionism is not only opposed to the open door economic red lines in recent years. maybe worst of all he lies all the time. What he does and says are importantly, to increase the productions› Hillary Clinton, the Democrat candidate in policy, but also directly targets the principles In such a situation, we will witness a lot not reflective of American values, they are instead the behavior quality. the 2016 presidential election, have warned of liberal economics. of changes in the economic and business of a neighborhood bully. Basically, this is the critique that comes against economic opposition with China. In Finally, the adoption of unilateral protec- structure of both countries. It should not be He garners some influence because he appeals to ignorant with protectionism. Accordingly, making bar- such a situation, the United States full-fledged tionist policy by the Trump›s government forgotten that in the field of economics and beliefs that he can bring back more jobs to the United States riers to imported goods and the introduction trade war with Beijing can be interpreted will be followed by the Chinese retaliato- commerce, many revisions occurred during and win trade wars or that he can make coal a growing source of punitive tariffs can endanger consumers as a major business and economic mistake. ry measures, which will further lead to a international disputes, and not in the sta- of energy. These are short-term and counterproductive policies, and even the government in the long run. Undoubtedly, the open-door policy is devastating trade war between Beijing and bilized international markets. It should be which in the end will harm those who they are supposed to help. Due to lack of competition with imported against the approach taken by trump based Washington. Many American economists acknowledged that this conflict isn›t going One of the many problems with Trump is that he cannot see goods, the owners of such industries prac- on protectionist economy. Since 1899, China warn against this economic confrontation. to be limited to Washington and Beijing, the full picture on any issue. He perceives everything in isolation tically have no incentive for increasing the has been pursuing an open door policy for Many American economists have argued that and their trading partners, voluntarily or and sees no linkages to other developments. quality of their manufactured goods, and the its economic development. The open-door Trump has embarked on an economic war involuntarily, will enter this war. Is the election of Trump as the president of the United States in 2016, a symbol of American tendency towards pop- ulism? Otherwise, how can such a phenomenon be interpreted? A: I think it is first and foremost a result of the fact that many Trump rips up JCPOA to reduce Iran regional Americans, especially younger Americans, don’t bother to vote. But there were many other factors at work. Hilary Clinton was a flawed candidate and hugely unpopular among a vast number importance, foster internal division of Americans. Clinton ran a bad campaign, she came across as entitled and arrogant. Many Americans were and are fed up with the corruption with lobbying and Trump promised change—that By Lachin Rezaian until he was dismissed by President Truman. Nevertheless, between 1950 and 1953, the U.S. subjected he would “drain the swamp,” but he has made the swamp even TEHRAN (MNA) — Internationally recognized strategist North Korea to a devastating bombing campaign, which bigger! Trump promised a lot and Americans believed him! FBI of the multipolar world and the founder of Difference Group destroyed 85 percent of the country’s buildings and caused Director Comey’s statement about the Clinton emails was the Dan Steinbock said Trump pulled U.S. out of JCPOA under one million civilians to perish. It set the standard for U.S. icing on the cake. Let me make final point about the Trump the name of freedom and democracy, but in fact due to in- interventions in Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia. Strategy. Trump promised many, many things, with some even terest in Iran’s energy resources, to reduce Iran›s regional Yet, since the 1953 Armistice Agreement, Washington has contradicting others. Given that many Americans are one issue importance, and to foster internal division. seen North Korea as a “rogue state.” Even with the Soviet voters—such as abortion—he garnered many votes from people Leaders of two historically hostile countries for over half Union, Washington supported “peaceful coexistence”, but who were focused on only one issue and paid no attention to the a century, shook hands on June as they posed for photogra- with North Korea, only a “temporary ceasefire.” Pyongyang’s dozens of other things he promised that were not in their interest. phers in Singapore Summit; U.S. President Donald Trump concerns for U.S. intrusion are not without a basis. and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged on Tuesday As Washington insiders acknowledge, for a long time, to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Pyongyang has sought a peace treaty to replace the [1953] Peninsula while Washington committed to providing security ceasefire. North Koreans want peaceful relations with the guarantees for its old enemy. U.S. and regional neighbors. The real question is what is The gradual death of Saudis This happened one month after Trump, according to his that the U.S. really wants in the region. dream to dominate Al own words, tore an important international deal, i.e. Joint Why demilitarization is the key to neutralize tensions Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and announced prevailed between the countries. In contrast, the ties between in the region? Hudaydah that he was pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. the Shah and the U.S. grew intimate, but at heavy cost to A: In his 2013 New Year’s address, Kim Jong-un advocated Research Director of International Business at the India, Iranian people, due to the terror regime, the brutal security «a radical turn in the building of an economic giant on the China & America Institute Dr. Dan Steinbock pointed to apparatus (SAVAK), and development that mainly served strength of science and technology by fanning the flames of pressing environmental concerns, Pyongyang’s feeling about the needs of a tiny oligarchic elite in Tehran. the industrial revolution in the new century.” its strong hand for talks, and Trump’s more willingness to After the Islamic Revolution, the U.S.-Iran ties were Instead of seizing the transition in Pyongyang to work talks than his predecessors, as three important incentives frozen practically three decades until the multilateral nu- for the peace, President Obama opted for cooperation with for North Korea to give OK to nuclear negotiations with U.S.. clear deal (JCPOA). As the Six-Party Talks did not lead to the then-President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, the con- Regarding Trump›s efforts to rip up a previously-signed parallel talks, North Korea pressed ahead with its nuclear servative daughter of the controversial former President deal, but to hold negotiations, on the other hand, with North program. Unlike Iran, however, North Korea is not a major Park Chung-hee. Instead of rapprochement, Washington Korea regarding the same issue, Steinbock noted that «un- energy producer in a strategic region and lacks the kind of pushed for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD); like Iran, North Korea is not a major energy producer in a geopolitical clout Iran enjoys in the Middle East. In view of an anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea that is offi- strategic region and lacks the kind of geopolitical clout Iran the Trump administration, it is these two factors –regional cially a means to subdue Pyongyang and, unofficially, to enjoys in the Middle East. In view of the Trump administra- might and its energy resources - that make Iran very different contain China. Yet, these plans complicated in early 2017, tion, it is these two factors –regional might and its energy from North Korea. when President Park was impeached and sentenced to 24 resources - that make Iran very different from North Korea.» There is thus a double standard that has prevailed through years in prison. That paved the way to the presidency of 1 Head of Yemen›s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Here is the full text of his interview with Mehr News the postwar era. While the rhetoric is for freedom and de- the more moderate Moon Jae-in, who seeks reconciliation Mohammad Ali al-Houthi said Yemenis emphasize the defense of correspondent Lachin Rezaian: mocracy, actions only reflect interest in Iran’s energy re- with North Korea. al-Hudaydah›s province against the aggression of the Saudi-led What was the most important incentive for North sources, reduced regional importance, and efforts to foster Nevertheless, Park’s hawks were able to postpone the coalition. Saudi Arabia is responsible for any attack or threat Korea to give OK to nuclear negotiations with U.S.? internal division. repeal of the Operation Control agreement (OPCON), which against the al-Hudaydah port. A: In Pyongyang’s view, North Korea’s quest for nuclear Do you believe that the U.S.-North Korea joint statement allows the Pentagon - not Seoul - to control its military fate. The Yemeni army and popular forces targeted Saudi Arabia›s weapons has been completed. With requisite nuclear ca- in Singapore has the potential to take forward the objective The mission of the South Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Com- Aramco Oil Company in the Southern province of Jizan. While pabilities, perhaps Pyongyang felt it had the strong hand of denuclearization? mand (CFC) is to “deter hostile acts of external aggression” Yemeni ballistic missiles are heading one after the other over it needed for talks. A: The joint statement has potential to take forward the South Korea by a “combined military effort.” The CFC is strategic positions of the Saudis at border crossings. Reportedly, there were also pressing environmental con- objective of denuclearization but whether, how and when that commanded by a U.S. General and it has operational con- Russian officials have also explicitly stated that such an attack cerns. Last September, after a test of a hydrogen bomb, a potential can be achieved is a different story. The four-point trol (OPCON) over more than 600,000 active duty military would put the peace process in Yemen at serious risk and will 6.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded as a result of the agreement seeks to achieve the “complete denuclearization” personnel both countries. President Park managed to defer complicate the crisis even further. The strategic significance of detonation. It was followed by a 4.1 magnitude quake, due of the Korean peninsula. However, it does not include a the transfer to 2022. In the event of war, U.S. interests will al-Hudaydah, which the Saudis covet in the eyes of greed, is that to a suspected cave collapse. Chinese scientists have warned “verifiable” and “irreversible” pledge by North Korea to thus override the interests of South Koreans - in their own al-Hudaydah is very close to the capital of Yemen, Sana›a. The that North Korea’s nuclear test site is at risk of imploding. So abandon its nuclear weapon program. country. difference between al-Hudaydah and Aden for the Saudis is that even if further tests were needed, they posed increasing risks. The agreement is not a final or even an intermediate President Park managed to defer the transfer to 2022. Aden is far from other cities and provinces of Yemen. Finally, nuclear talks require two parties. President Obama deal, but rather a “memorandum of understanding.” This In the event of war, U.S. interests will thus override the What adds to the strategic importance of al-Hudaydah prov- ignored the opportunity for talks when Kim signaled such is not to downplay the importance of the U.S.-North Korean interests of South Koreans - in their own country. ince is the presence of al-Hudaydah’s strategic port. The Saudis an opening. Senator Clinton flirted with regime change in rapprochement. U.S. and North Korean leaders have never How do you evaluate the future scenarios for U.S.-North themselves are well aware that full control of this strategic port, the region. These views have been shared by surprisingly met before. So for these two leaders to sit down and outline Korea ties, regarding U.S. breach of Iran deal? which overlooks other coastal provinces in northern Yemen, can many in the Congress. Setting aside the aggressive bilateral a path to resolve those disagreements is a big deal. A: The U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is a pave the way for them to reach the northern coastal provinces. On rhetoric of the past year, Kim knew that Trump would be more The Singapore deal highlights a promising understanding. serious breach in international relations and one that will the other hand, domination of the harbor of al-Hudaydah by the willing to talk than his predecessors. So, it was time to talk. But that’s all for now. A real peace and stability requires tarnish American credibility for years to come. Saudis allows them the domination of all Yemen›s waterways. Why did Trump decide to rip Iran nuclear deal, but far more. In the short- to medium-term, denuclearization efforts Al-Hudaydah port is the first waterway to the Yemeni islands insist on nuclear talks with North Korea? Is it a kind of What do you think are included, and should be in- alone will prove challenging. In the medium- to long-term, at the strategic depth of the country. The same strategic signif- Trump’s double standard? What are the consequences? cluded, in U.S.-North Korea talks other than nuclear issue; peace agreement and U.S. withdrawal from the region are icance has also led the Saudis to refuse to halt their aggressive A: Despite nuclear parallels, North Korea’s population e.g. North Korea’s human rights record, cyberattacks, bank vital conditions. Yet, it is hard to see how the White House operations. The most important Yemeni islands that the Saudis is 30% relative to Iran, and its living standards are barely heists, and missile technology? would agree to them. seek to reach through the port of al-Hudaydah are Greater Hanish a tenth of those in Iran. North Korea’s GDP is about 5% A: The broader the scope of the proposed talks, the less Worse, there are a series of very near-term challenges in (Hanish Al Kubra), Hanish al-Soghra, and Jebel-Sagar. relative to Iran. In this view, Iran represents a difference likely will be any actionable outcomes. It would be thus U.S. politics that have potential to undermine or dilute the Meanwhile, the United States also plays a major role in the of economic magnitude. preferable for the two parties to focus only on the nuclear agreement. The latter is predicated on a Trump adminis- widespread assaults of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Ameri- Yet there are odd parallels as well. For decades, both issue that may permit some compromise. That should be tration that will continue to support the talks. It thus pre- cans are now, in addition to arming Saudi offensive forces, Emi- Iran and North Korea have been seen as threats in Wash- the immediate, short-term objective. sumes failed impeachment efforts and minimal losses for rati and their allies, have been directly involved in the battle of ington. In both cases, U.S. has favored regime changes. In Even if Washington and Pyongyang could agree on the Republican incumbents in the U.S. mid-term elections. Al-Hudaydah. North Korea, destabilization efforts were initiated during procedures to avert nuclear weaponization in the Korean As Trump’s tacit timeline suggests critical bilateral steps The reason behind Washington’s interference in the war is the Korean War in the early 1950s. In Iran, similar attempts peninsula, that will not mitigate all tensions in the region. in the early 2020s, the U.S.-North Korean agreement is that the Saudi and Emirati forces are not able to dominate the began concurrently as the democratically-elected Prime Min- Only peace and demilitarization might. predicated on another Trump election triumph in 2020 and port›s strategic al-Hudaydah. The Saudi mercenaries, such as ister Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown by the U.S. Why the peace agreement continued support for the peace process in South Korea’s the Sudanese, Moroccans, and part of the Egyptian forces, not CIA and British MI6. In North Korea, Washington failed Pyongyang has seen America as an existential threat, for 2022 election. Any step toward peace is positive. However, only were not able to approach the port of al-Hudaydah, but to beat Kim Il-sung. In Iran, the coup d›état paved way to a reason. In 1951 – after Washington had lost its nuclear a number of far more critical steps are required to denu- also suffered a lot of damages. The American strategy is to take the Pahlavi decades. monopoly to the Soviet Union - the early setbacks in the clearization to peace agreement and U.S. withdrawal, amid away the Red Sea from Muslims so that the sea will no longer Through the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea was on the Korean War prompted General MacArthur to consider using rapidly-fluctuating U.S. politics that may change – as hap- be available to the Islamic countries. In a nutshell, taking over backburner of U.S. geopolitics, even as a state of war has nuclear weapons against the Chinese and North Koreans pened in the case of Iran. Al-Hudaydah is a dead dream for Riyadh. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 8 INTERNATIONAL JUNE 21, 2018 Europe’s democrats must unite to prevent a far-right takeover By Natalie Nougayrède and attuned to the notion of an open society; the Merkel in Berlin. The chancellor has now been More anarchy is loosened October in Seehofer’s powerful southern regional The battle lines are now drawn for Europe’s ulti- other is fortress-minded, illiberal and intolerant. given a two-week ultimatum by her own federal Trump had earlier given the nod to irreden- German state, and the Austrian presidency of the mate test: the May 2019 elections for the European This has global implications: anti-EU leaders in minister of the interior, Horst Seehofer, leader of tism in Europe, in claiming: “Crimea is Russia EU Council starting on 1 July, Catholic-dominated, Parliament. That’s when far-right and populist Washington and Moscow want to reap their own the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Un- because people there speak Russian.” Who else will German-speaking regions of Europe look set to parties will attempt to complete their power grab in rewards from the mayhem – which they are play- ion, a party that has absorbed just about all of the have heard that message loud and clear: far-right define much of the debate about Europe’s future. the EU. In the elections of 2014, they made gains. ing their own part in fomenting. far-right Alternative für Deutschland rhetoric on Hungarian irredentists perhaps, who still dream Trump may well be oblivious to the minutiae Next year, they’ll seek to dominate. The dramatic June 2018 shook Europe’s liberal order in un- migrants. The EU summit scheduled for the end of a Greater Hungary stretching beyond current and dark symbolism. But be sure that Vladimir events we’ve witnessed over the past fortnight, in precedented ways. First, there was a far-right show of this month, and destined to dominated by the borders? One could be forgiven for quoting Yeats: Putin isn’t. Some of these political forces have a Germany and Italy have been a mere foretaste of of strength in Italy (the first EU founding state subject of immigration, is likely to be an acrimo- “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere track record of closeness to Russia’s strongman. the showdown that lies ahead. to be run by a far-right dominated government), nious shambles. anarchy is loosed upon the world.” The far-right Freedom party, to take one exam- It’s often said that anti-establishment and na- as the Aquarius migrant rescue ship was turned To top it all off, from across the Atlantic Don- “Axis”, with its World War II connotations, ple, has a formal partnership with the Kremlin- tionalist parties want to dismantle the European away. Next, the 31-year-old Austrian chancellor, ald Trump decided the occasion warranted one of is perhaps an innocent choice of words by Kurz sponsored United Russia party, and regularly project altogether. But what’s at stake is more Sebastian Kurz, who governs alongside the Free- the most provocative tweets of his presidency. In – or perhaps not. An ideological nexus does con- calls for the lifting of EU sanctions – just as likely to be a full-on effort to redraw it to their dom party, an institution created in the 1950s by an intervention unprecedented for a U.S. leader, nect him to Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Seehofer Seehofer does. Meanwhile, in the midst of his liking. The migration issue is the starting point former Nazis, heralded the creation of a new “axis Trump appeared to relish the possibility of Mer- in Bavaria and Matteo Salvini in Italy. Look at the World Cup extravaganza, Putin is reportedly of a continental power struggle pitching two very of the willing” in Europe, comprising like-minded kel’s downfall, writing: The “people of Germany map, and what emerges is the shaping of a core awaiting a call from Washington soon to set up different versions of the principles that should populists in Italy and Hungary. are turning against their leadership as migration transalpine and Danubian Europe of the far-right a meeting with Trump – a summit Kurz would bind Europe together. One is liberal democratic, Then came an assault on the power of Angela is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition.” and nationalist conservatism. With elections due in like to host in Vienna. 13

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 ADVERTISEMENT 9 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 10 HERITAGE & TOURISM JUNE 21, 2018 Last chance tourism: Is this trend A cruise ship passenger demanded a full refund for his trip because his just causing more damage? One of the greatest ironies of our time is that neighbors snored too loudly humans are simultaneously intrepid travelers, and one of the main causes of the irreversi- Brendan Ritson, a passenger on a Royal Caribbean South Pacific ble damage happening to our planet. Rising cruise, claimed that his holiday was “ruined” by his snoring neighbors sea levels, erosion, deforestation and urban and demanded a full refund from the cruise company. However, his development are just some of the man-made appeal for $2436.78 was rejected in court because the Queensland reasons our most treasured corners of the earth Civil and Administrative Tribunal Court said his refusal to move to are changing beyond recognition. a different room on the cruise ship was “unreasonable.” But this irony is big business; visiting parts The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ritson and his partner of the world before they disappear is becoming departed on an 11-day Royal Caribbean cruise from Sydney to Fiji increasingly common. Last chance tourism, on December 11, 2016. On the first night, the couple found a water which Forbes named as one of this year’s top leak in their interior cabin. Therefore, they were upgraded to a larger travel trends, is attracting visitors to the Amazon and more expensive exterior double cabin. rainforest, the retreating mangroves in the However, as Ritson explained to the tribunal, a mother and Everglades in Florida, Australia’s bleaching Great Barrier Reef, the melting ice in Mon- tana’s Glacier National Park and the sinking city of Venice. Since 2003, tourism to the Maldives has increased by 68 per cent, and the number of visitors to the Galapagos Islands have increased by 38 per cent, according to travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth. But with these increasing numbers comes more damage to already fragile areas. Tourism to the Glacier National Park, which is warming at twice daughter moved into the next-door cabin three nights later. Ritson the overall rate of the planet, rose 15 per cent claimed that his new neighbors were “very loud” and they “snored, between 2001 and 2005, but tourists there spoke loudly, argued and used offensive language.” are trampling over vegetation, introducing According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Ritson complained non-native species to the ecosystem, litter- to cruise staff about his snoring neighbors twice on the night of De- ing and causing pollution, the National Park cember 18. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship management offered to Service has said. move Ritson and his partner to an interior cabin that was equivalent Damage is also on a much wider scale. to the one that the couple had originally booked, according to the A longhaul journey to view polar bears in Sydney Morning Herald. However, the tribunal heard that Ritson Churchill, a town in the Canadian province search has found. including the Antarctic, where regulation is and governments on sustainability, says last refused to accept the interior cabin, claiming that he “did not want of Manitoba which is the only easily accessible In 2012, scientists estimated that the Great left up to the private sector because no country chance tourism needs to be controlled like to be downgraded.” place to view the creatures in their natural Barrier Reef had already lost more than half of is allowed to own sovereign territory on the this in order to reduce stress on ecosystems The next day, the cruise staff reportedly informed Ritson that habitat, can contribute up to 8.61 tons of carbon its coral cover since 1985, but the way research continent, in accordance with the Antarctic and the environment. another cabin was available for him. According to the Sydney Morning dioxide per person per trip. is reported, and the threats that drive tourists Treaty, signed in 1959 by 12 countries. “Without proper management and thinking Herald, Ritson told the management that he would let them know This is compared to the 10.9 tons someone to visit such endangered places, are misplaced, Amanda Lynnes, of the International Asso- about the limits to acceptable change, places if he wanted to be moved. That night, Ritson again complained to living in the UK contributes over the course according to ecologist Peter Mumby. ciation of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), are being ruined beyond repair. Tourism is the cruise staff about his snoring neighbors, claiming that the noise of an entire year, according to a 2010 study “The reef has experienced a very serious AECO’s equivalent in the Antarctic, says the planned for the short-term, and policies or was so intrusive that he and his partner were being kept awake. On published in the journal Current Issues. impact over the last few years in particular, Antarctic can be a role model for managing plans are not developed with the medium or the final day of the cruise, Ritson was reportedly offered a new cabin One defence of last chance tourism is that it but remember that it’s the size of Italy,” he tourism in other wilderness areas. long-term impacts,” she told The Independent. again by the cruise staff, but Ritson claimed that at this point his helps raise awareness of climate change, which says. “There remain many wonderful areas, “It’s about collaborating with as many “Once an ecosystem has been destroyed it holiday was already “ruined.” offsets the damage caused. But the researchers and I’ve little doubt that tourists will always expert groups as possible, and long-term can’t easily be brought back. What we don’t seem Ritson filed for a full refund from Royal Caribbean Cruises, claim- have found that while tourists to Churchill find something valuable to enjoy. monitoring,” she says. to realize is that development is irreversible.” ing that his holiday had been “ruined” by his snoring neighbors. perceive climate change to have a negative “Yes, the reef is likely to deteriorate, and Last chance tourism is on IAATO’s radar, Other areas, such as Machu Picchu in Peru, Ritson brought an appeal to the Queensland Civil and Administrative impact on polar bears, they don’t necessarily we need to accelerate action to protect it, but but it isn’t driving tourism to the area, Lynnes have been inundated with increasing numbers Tribunal Court, demanding a refund for everything he paid while he understand how they themselves contribute the notion that it will die is wrong.” says. “We hope last-chance tourism doesn’t of tourists for years and suffered erosion and was on board the cruise ship — an amount that totaled $3,270.29. to greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly, while you can see climate change drive people here, because ultimately we want litter. Some experts warn that recent meas- But after the initial hearing, this amount was reportedly reduced Similarly, a survey of Antarctic cruise passen- having an impact on the people and wildlife to protect it. If there is a trend, I’m sure it will ures to control this don’t go far enough. But to cover only the cost of accommodation, which was $2,436.78. gers found that 59 per cent felt that their travel living in the Arctic, it isn’t disappearing or pass on to the Antarctic, which can take more Machu Picchu is a world heritage site, which The tribunal court adjudicators found that, while the noise from did not impact on climate change, and fewer melting, as media reports may have us believe. visitors, but it’s about not sitting back and some argue fuels tourism and the challenges Ritson’s neighbors may have been disruptive, the cruise management than 7 per cent said they had or might offset At least, so says Edda Falk, of the Association letting it happen.” that come with it. had not failed to provide quality service to Ritson. their emissions as a result of their experience. of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO), If and when the time comes, Lynnes says Peter Debrine, who’s in charge of world “I accept the noisy neighbours’ snoring caused Mr Ritson and his Eke Eijgelaar, researcher and lecturer at the which helps regulate tourism in the region. the response will be to balance the priorities of heritage sites at Unesco, says tourism is only partner annoyance, even great annoyance, and disturbed their sleep Centre for Sustainability, Tourism and Trans- “It’s such a massive area of land, and spe- environment and tourism. “It’s about making going to increase. and enjoyment of the cruise,” Adjudicator Howe said, according to port at NHTV Breda University of Applied cies and people adapt and develop. It’s not more of what people can see there, while making “We’re travelling more as countries develop the Sydney Morning Herald. Sciences, says he doesn’t believe last- chance disappearing, it’s just going to change. Polar decisions to balance protecting the Antarctica and the middle class increases. It’s human to However, Howe also pointed out that Ritson made his complaint tourism raises people’s awareness of the ef- bears are considered vulnerable and climate and delivering a unique experience,” she says. want to travel and experience other cultures,” on December 18 — five whole days after the new neighbors moved in. fects of climate change enough to outweigh change is affecting their habitat, but it’s not “Once you start diminishing the experience, he told The Independent. But this has brought Furthermore, the cruise company had offered multiple times to the unwanted effects they can have on fragile disappearing,” she says. you’ll miss the opportunity to educate and with it negative impacts, such as a rise in what move Ritson into another cabin. The adjudicator concluded that environments. Eijgelaar says last chance tourism is hap- inform people how special it is here.” Debrine calls “in-and-out selfie tourism”. Ritson’s refusal to change cabins was “unreasonable,” and he dis- “The impact of these mostly long-distance pening mostly in areas that “make it into the However, Lynnes says that ecosystem “This is where visitors visit a site for an hour missed Ritson’s appeal for a refund. journeys is just too big. Just imagine all 500 headlines”. protection ultimately comes before tourism. and take pictures, which raises the question of Brendan Ritson could not be reached for comment, and Royal million Europeans travelling to either the “Tourism’s constantly on the rise. Per- “You don’t want to ruin the environment you’re whether they’re really experiencing it.” Caribbean Cruises Ltd. did not immediately respond to INSIDER’s Great Barrier Reef or Antarctica. Their total haps, with more and more tourists looking promoting and selling,” she says. He advises taking time to visit places. “If request for comment. carbon footprint would amount to the annual for new and exotic things, they are a bit more This concern goes the other way for some you go to Venice, go for a few days and visit (Source: Insider) carbon footprint of 250 million British or Dutch attracted by media accounts of coral losses policy makers. The Australian government, for nearby world heritage sites; don’t just spend people,” he says. at the Great Barrier Reef and sinking imag- example, successfully suppressed information the day so you can tick a box saying ‘I saw Another argued benefit of last chance es of Venice, and then choose that as their about the unhealthy state of the Great Barrier Venice’, when really you didn’t. Eat in local tourism is that it raises money and publicity destination,” he says. Reef in a 2016 Unesco report, worried that it restaurants, and if you spend money, spend it ROUND THE GLOBE for conservation efforts. The president of the But these areas are suffering greater num- would drive away tourism. on local providers, rather than cheap keychains Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, said last year that bers of tourists year-on-year. Mumby says the But in many cases, tourism is balanced with to say you were there,” Debrine says. Sewell Mining Town mass tourism will create the funds it needs to majority of the tourism industry acts respon- conservation. Tourism in the Galaposos is very Ultimately, Debrine says, we all want adapt to climate change, and has backed plans sibly, particularly in Australia, and aware of tightly controlled, with strict regulations on to see the world without the downsides of to increase tourism from 1.3 million people a the impacts of climate change, but this isn’t where visitors can walk and how many can over-tourism. Situated at 2,000 m in the Andes, 60 km to the east of Ranca- year to more than 7 million in 10 years. the case globally. visit each island daily, and it rotates which “We all need to do some soul-searching, gua, Chile, in an environment marked by extremes of climate, Money from tourism to the Great Barrier “I’ve seen unregulated mass tourism in much islands are available to avoid erosion. According because we’re all travelers. There’s some dis- Sewell Mining Town was built by the Braden Copper company Reef contributes to the marine park that is of Asia and Micronesia, where snorkellers and to a report by the Galapagos National Park connect, but we’re all part of the problem. It’s in 1905 to house workers at what was to become the world’s tasked with protecting the reef. But the down- divers are let loose with no instructions.” Directorate, tourism increased by 4 per cent like sitting in traffic complaining about traffic. largest underground copper mine, El Teniente. side to this is that human activity also pollutes Regulations on tourism are increasingly between 2014 and 2015. We have vision about what we want – but a It is an outstanding example of the company towns that the individual reefs, which can be damaged being implemented to combat damage to pre- Rachel Dodds, a professor at Ryerson Uni- billion others have same vision.” were born in many remote parts of the world from the fusion by tourists getting sun lotion into the sea, re- carious and threatened ecosystems in places versity in Toronto and adviser to businesses (Source: Independent) of local labor and resources from an industrialized nation, to mine and process high-value natural resources. The town was built on a terrain too steep for wheeled vehicles around a You can visit this abandoned, ivy-covered town in China for just 50 cents large central staircase rising from the railway station. Along its route formal squares of irregular shape with ornamental Houtouwan, a once-thriving Chinese fishing village located about 40 miles southeast of Last year, a tourist entry fee of 50 yen (about 50 cents) was enacted in the town. The trees and plants constituted the main public spaces or squares Shanghai, is now empty and eerily overgrown with ivy. Well, not entirely empty—the destination is popular among hikers and has a dirt path that winds through the village and up of the town. The buildings lining the streets are timber, often abandoned town has become a popular tourist destination since it was “rediscovered” by the hill. (Emphasis on “uphill”: It’s a two-hour hike, so be sure to bring good walking shoes.) painted in vivid green, yellow, red and blue. At its peak Sewell travelers in 2015, as Travel+Leisure reports. According to National Geographic, the journey from mainland China to the town of numbered 15,000 inhabitants, but was largely abandoned Located on Shengshan, one of 394 islands that make up the Shengsi archipelago, the Houtouwan takes about five hours by bus and ferry, and it’s easy to get lost. (A videographer in the 1970s. town was home to 2000 people in the ‘90s. However, when villagers could no longer com- and photographer spent 36 hours trying to get there because they couldn’t find the right pete with commercial fishing operations in Shanghai, they picked up and moved to the ferries or connections.) Per the magazine’s directions: mainland in search of better opportunities. Some left all of their furniture and belongings From Shanghai, you can go to the Nanpu Bridge Bus Station and take a bus and ferry ride behind, which can still be seen if you peer inside some of the abandoned homes. to Shengshan Island or to Gouqi Island, which is connected to Shengshan via bridge. That Only a few people still live in the village, including tour guides ready to cater to curious commute alone takes about four hours. From there, you can take a taxi to Houtouwan and hike tourists who find themselves captivated by the half-ruined buildings blanketed in plants through the village and the surrounding area. When you see a big temple, you’re getting close. and vines. “It feels like this place belonged to nature from the very beginning, and the old As for whether any ghosts inhabit this ghost town, there isn’t much to fear. One longtime invaders finally left, and nature finally made it back,” Huang Dan, a recent visitor to the resident told the AP, “I’ve lived in this world for such a long time, and have never met one.” town, told the Associated Press. (Source: msn.com) How bats protect books at this Portuguese library Visit the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra in rare items that date from before the 19th century. The bats Portugal at night and you might think the building has a bat act as a natural form of pest control: At night, they feast problem. It’s true that common pipistrelle bats live there, on the insects that would otherwise feast on library books. A view of Sewell Mining Town, a World Heritage in Chile occupying the space behind the bookshelves by day and The Joanina Library is famous for being one of the most swooping beneath the arched ceilings and in and out of win- architecturally stunning libraries on earth. It was constructed The most outstanding attributes of the property are the dows once the sun goes down, but they’re not a problem. As before 1725, but when exactly the bats arrived is unknown. industrial installations, which take advantage of the hillside Smithsonian reports, the bats play a vital role in preserving Librarians can say for sure they’ve been flapping around incline for the mineral grinding process; the buildings that the institution’s manuscripts, so librarians are in no hurry the halls since at least the 1800s. combine houses on the upper floors with business or services to get rid of them. Though bats have no reason to go after the materials, in the ground floor; the service buildings, public spaces and The bats that live in the library don’t damage the books there is one threat they pose to the interior: falling feces. pedestrian circulation system; the electric infrastructure and and, because they’re nocturnal, they usually don’t bother Librarians protect against this by covering their 18th-cen- drinking water and sewer systems; as well as the assorted and the human guests. The much bigger danger to the collection tury tables with fabric made from animal skin at night and diverse networks of pipes crossing the town. is the insect population. Many bug species are known to cleaning the floors of guano every morning. (Source: UNESCO) gnaw on paper, which could be disastrous for the library’s (Source: mentalfloss.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 SCI/MED 11 Losing weight may reduce pain caused MIT neural network accelerates MRI image by knee osteoarthritis, study shows processing by 1,000 times Shedding those pounds could help weight within 18 months. Doctors often need to compare two MRI images to track changes in alleviate some of the pain caused But the new study suggests that if a the body over time, but the process of lining up the images to make brought by knee osteoarthritis, a com- patient loses more than 20 percent of accurate measurements is extremely time-consuming. It can take mon condition among overweight or their body weight, they can expect an hours for a computer to match all the locations in a 3D map, but obese individuals. additional 25 percent reduction in pain. researchers from MIT have developed an algorithm that could cut According to a new study, losing Weight loss importance that time to less than a second. 20 percent of one’s body weight could The “importance of our study is that MRI scans are cumbersome to manage because of how much lead to a 25 percent reduction in knee a weight loss of 20 percent or greater — information they contain. Each scan is essentially hundreds of stacked osteoarthritis pain. Researchers from double the previous standard — results 2D images. These form the 3D map known as a volume. The volume the Wake Forest University in North in better clinical outcomes, and is achiev- is made up of 3D pixels known as voxels. When a computer aligns two Carolina studied data from a previous able without surgical or pharmacologic different MRI scans, it’s sifting through millions of voxels to assign trial that involved 240 overweight and intervention,” said Stephen Messier, the them locations in a new, unified image. Scans can also come from obese patients with knee osteoarthritis study’s lead author. different machines with varying spatial properties, slowing the work and pain, each of whom lost weight over Studies have shown that excess even more. a period of 18 months. weight can put unnecessary stress on the Several hours of computing time is considered quite good for MRI The level of weight loss among the weight-bearing joints such as the hips and analysis. Researchers trying to analyze data from large populations participants varied. Some lost between knees. Knee arthritis can make it hard to do across multiple patients with the same disease can end up waiting 5 and 10 percent of their overall body many everyday activities, such as walking hundreds of hours for a computer to generate aligned images. Simply weight, others shed between 10 and 20 or climbing stairs. It is a major cause of throwing more processing power at the problem isn’t practical, but percent, and a few burned 20 percent lost work time and a serious disability the “VoxelMorph” system from MIT researchers might do the trick. or more. Every single of them reported for many people, according to OrthoInfo. VoxelMorph is a convolutional neural network, so the team started improvements in terms of pain, quality For now, it seems that losing weight is by training it with 7,000 publicly available MRI brain scans. In a neural of life, knee joint loads, and inflam- the best palliative cure to knee osteoar- network, you add data at one end, and the network passes it through mation. In addition, the more weight thritis-related pain, as there is currently numerous nodes that feed forward into other nodes. Depending on a participant loses, the better chances no medical treatment that cures or even the weighting of each node, you end up with an output that should they get at reducing pain, the researchers slows down the condition, according to provide the desired results. discovered. The “importance of our study is that a Messier. After training, the team used 250 new scans to test the network’s This good news isn’t that surprising, Pain management can be aided with a effectiveness. VoxelMorph completed in two minutes what would though. Since 2015, the National In- weight loss of 20 percent or greater — combination of weight loss and injections, have taken a conventional MRI analysis program several hours to stitutes of Health has been saying that double the previous standard — results in according to Sidney Kimmel School of do. That’s just with a regular CPU. (Source: extremetech.com) overweight or obese individuals with better clinical outcomes, and is achievable Medicine’s James J. Purtill, who wasn’t knee osteoarthritis can reduce their part of the study. Physical therapy, pain pain or discomfort by 50 percent, plus without surgical or pharmacologic medications, and other anti-inflammatory improve their function and mobility, if intervention drugs also help, he says. Remarkable fossil of strange they just lose 10 percent of their body (Source: Tech Times) platypus-like armored fish discovered Machine learning may be a Light pollution a reason Paleontologists have discovered the remarkable fossil of a bizarre game-changer for climate prediction for insect decline: study armored fish with a long, paddle-like beak resembling that of a platypus. The strange creature, named Brindabellaspis, belonged to an extinct group of animals called placoderms — primitive-jawed fishes which existed throughout the Devonian Period (around 416 to 359 million years ago). The first Brindabellaspis specimen was found in 1980 in lime- stone near Lake Burrinjuck, southeastern Australia — a region that was once home to an ancient reef and contains some of the earliest known examples of reef fish. However, the fossil was missing its snout area. But newly discovered specimens have shown that the fish had a long bill extending out in front of its eyes, according to researchers from Flinders University and the Australia National University (ANU). Their findings have been reported in a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. “This was one strange-looking fish,” Benedict King, lead au- thor of the study and a Flinders University graduate now based at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands, said in a statement. The “eyes were on top of the head, and the nostrils came out A major challenge in current climate clouds and thus better predict global Climate change, pesticides and land use IGB researcher Dr. Maja Grubisic looked of the eye sockets. There was this long snout at the front, and the prediction models is how to accurately and regional climate’s response to rising changes alone cannot fully explain the at the locations of the areas involved in jaws were positioned very far forward.” represent clouds and their atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.” decline in insect populations in Germany. the 2017 study: areas in conurbations The researchers found that the fish had a unique sensory system heating and moistening. This challenge The researchers used an idealized Scientists from the Leibniz-Institute of that have a higher than average level on its snout, which would have helped it to search for prey on the sea is behind the wide spread in climate setup (an aquaplanet, or a planet with Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fish- of light pollution. floor, while the eyes at the top of its head kept watch for predators. prediction. Yet accurate predictions of continents) as a proof of concept for eries (IGB) have now discovered that Escaping from predators The site at Lake Burrinjuck is particularly rich in fossils, many global warming in response to increased their novel approach to convective regions that have experienced a sharp “Half of all insect species are noctur- of which are shining a light on animal evolution. Recent discoveries greenhouse gas concentrations are parameterization based on machine decline in flying insects also have high nal. As such, they depend on darkness here have helped researchers to better understand electroreception essential for policy-makers (e.g. the learning. They trained a deep neural levels of light pollution. Many studies and natural light from the moon and (a specialized sense that allows aquatic animals to detect electrical Paris climate agreement). network to learn from a simulation that already suggest that artificial light at stars for orientation and movement or to currents) and the evolution of jaws, among other insights. In a paper recently published online explicitly represents clouds. night has negative impacts on insects, escape from predators, and to go about (Source: Newsweek) in Geophysical Research Letters, The machine-learning representation and scientists should pay greater at- their nightly tasks of seeking food and researchers led by Pierre Gentine, of clouds, which they named the Cloud tention to this factor when exploring reproducing. An artificially lit night dis- associate professor of earth and Brain (CBRAIN), could skillfully predict the causes of insect population declines turbs this natural behavior - and has environmental engineering at Columbia many of the cloud heating, moistening, in the future. a negative impact on their chances of Did plate tectonics set the Engineering, demonstrate that machine and radiative features that are essential The biomass of flying insects has de- survival”, explains Maja Grubisic the stage for life on Earth? learning techniques can be used to tackle to climate simulation. creased by more than 75 per cent - this starting point of their investigation. this issue and better represent clouds Gentine notes, “Our approach may alarming figure made front page news The scientists analyzed all recent A new study suggests that rapid cooling within the Earth’s mantle in coarse resolution (~100km) climate open up a new possibility for a future of in autumn 2017. The study, published studies on the effects of artificial light through plate tectonics played a major role in the development of models, with the potential to narrow model representation in climate models, in 2017, analyzed trends in biomass of at night on insects, and found that the first life forms, which in turn led to the oxygenation of the Earth’s the range of prediction. which are data driven and are built ‘top- flying insects in selected protected areas there is strong evidence to suggest a atmosphere. The study was published in the March 2018 issue of “This could be a real game-changer for down,’ that is, by learning the salient within agricultural landscapes over the credible link between light pollution Earth and Planetary Science Letters. climate prediction,” says Gentine, lead features of the processes we are trying last 27 years, and concluded that changes and declines in insect populations. For author of the paper, and a member of to represent.” of climate and habitat are to blame for example, flying insects are attracted by the Earth Institute and the Data Science The researchers also note that, the decline in insect populations. At the artificial lights - and, at the same time, Institute. “We have large uncertainties because global temperature sensitivity same time, they pointed out that these are removed from other ecosystems - in our prediction of the response of the to CO2 is strongly linked to cloud impacts alone are unable to explain this and die from exhaustion or as easy prey. Earth’s climate to rising greenhouse representation, CBRAIN may also drastic decline. Additionally, rows of light prevent flying gas concentrations. improve estimates of future temperature. Clearly an assignment for scientists insects from spreading; causing a lack Machine-learning techniques They have tested this in fully coupled from the Light Pollution and Ecophys- of genetic exchange within fragmented The primary reason is the climate models and have demonstrated iology research group at IGB. After all, insect populations that could reduce their representation of clouds and how they very promising results, showing that they know from previous studies that resistance to other negative environ- respond to a change in those gases. Our this could be used to predict greenhouse artificial lighting at night strongly af- mental influences, which are especially study shows that machine-learning gas response. fects the number of insects and insect pronounced in agrarian areas. techniques help us better represent (Source: phys.org) communities. Therefore, the team led by (Source: eurekalert.org)

Scientists at the University of Adelaide and Curtin University in Australia, and the University of California at Riverside, California, IRALCO to Launch Five New Production Lines by Yearend USA, gathered and analyzed data on igneous rocks from geological Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO) will launch a March 20, 2018) while the rest aluminum ingot is and geochemical data repositories in Australia, Canada, New Zea- number of five new production lines by the year end consumed in the country. land, Sweden and the United States. They found that over the 4.5 (to end March 20, 2019), Public Relations Dept. of Goudarzi put the per capita aluminum consumption billion years of the Earth’s development, rocks rich in phosphorus the company reported. in the country at 5 to 6 kg and reiterated, “more accumulated in the Earth’s crust. They then looked at the relation- For his part, CEO of IRALCO Mohammad Goudarzi consumption of this metal is encouraged in the country, ship of this accumulation with that of oxygen in the atmosphere. said that aluminum transfer system will be commissioned because, per capita consumption of this metal is increased Phosphorus is essential for life as we know it. Phosphates, which by end of Dec. 2018 and presently, die casting workshop which can accelerate production activity.” are compounds containing phosphorus and oxygen, are part of the has been put into operation. Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the backbones of DNA and RNA as well as the membranes of cells, and Given the above issue, five production lines of the construction of major aluminum equipment and help control cell growth and function. company will go on stream with the production capacity machinery in Arak and said, “4,400 manpower are To find out how the level of phosphorus in the Earth’s crust has of about 25,000 tons by the yearend. stilling working in this industrial and production increased over time, the scientists studied how rock formed as the In addition, alumina powder transfer system will complex. In addition, a major part of equipment and Earth’s mantle cooled. They performed modeling to find out how go on stream by the end of Dec. 2018, he said, adding, machinery required for Al-Mahdi, Hormozal and SALCO mantle-derived rocks changed composition as a consequence of “this system benefits from world’s most modern and companies are manufactured in Arak.” the long-term cooling of the mantle. advanced technology which will reduce pollution and IRALCO was set up in 1967 and was put into Their results suggest that during an early, hotter period in Earth’s conserve fuel consumption to a great extent.” company’s billet production capacity, the manager operation in 1969, he said, adding, “the company history – the Archaean period between four and 2.5 billion years Presently, 80,000 tons of billet ingot is produced observed. started manufacturing aluminum with two production ago – there was a larger amount of molten mantle. Phosphorus in the company in order to meet demand of steel and About 60,000 tons of aluminum ingot produced lines in 1972.” would have been too dilute in these rocks. However, over time, the profile manufacturers of the country, he maintained. by IRALCO were exported to the countries including In the end, CEO of the company said, “the company Earth cooled sufficiently, aided by the onset of plate tectonics, in Once two 110,000-ton production lines are launched India, China, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, South has currently taken effective steps in line with which the colder outer crust of the planet is subducted back into the in Kheirabad, 220,000 tons will be added to the Korea and European countries in the past year (ended materializing most of its objectives.” hot mantle. With this cooling, partial mantle melts became smaller. (Source: space.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 12 SOCIETY JUNE 21, 2018

Iran produces 22 types of Early Childhood Development biologic medicines

1 Malekzadeh also mentioned that the pharmaceutical market programs being piloted in Iran in the health sector is one of the most important sector econom- SOCIETY TEHRAN — Early of life are a window of opportunity to lay a ically, adding, Iran’s pharmaceutical market reaches to a total of deskChildhood Development strong foundation for a child’s life. Proper 160 trillion rials (about $3.8 billion) a year. Only one fourth of the (ECD) programs are being piloted in three health, nutrition, and early stimulation play a pharmaceutical market amounting to 40 trillion rials (nearly $950 cities in provinces of Tehran, Kordestan critical role for brain development and child million) is imported and the rest is domestically produced. and Kerman, head of the Welfare Organ- well-being. Around the world, poor children He further expressed hope that the amount of imported drugs ization has said. under five lag behind their more advantaged would decrease in the future. According to the World Bank, ECD refers peers in physical, language, cognitive, and “Regarding domestic production, medicine in Iran is low- to the physical, cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional development. Without ac- priced compared to other countries around the world, and the socio-emotional development of a child cess to quality ECD, poor children often fall current insurance coverage make it available to almost all pa- from the prenatal stage up to age eight. behind their more advantaged peers before tients,” he concluded. This development happens in a variety of they even begin school. As they get older, 97% of medicines are domestically-made settings (homes, schools, health facilities, the gaps widen: they are likely to perform Over 97 percent of the medicines in the country are made community-based centers); and involves a poorly in school, earn less as adults, and domestically, so new medicines such as biotic ones are started to wide range of activities from child care to engage in risky social behaviors. be produced in the country shortly after being produced in other nutrition to parent education. Providers Therefore, supporting early childhood devel- countries, head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said of services can include public, private, and opment improves equity improving the health, on the sidelines of the event. non-governmental agencies. nutrition, and education outcomes of children. The cost of producing medicine in the country is one tenth of Welfare organization is implementing the Research shows that ECD interventions benefit the cost spent for imported medicines, IRNA quoted Gholamreza pilot programs in Malard, Tehran province; the poorest and most disadvantaged children Asghari as saying. Divandarreh, Kordestan province; and Zarand, the most even though these children currently He also noted that the average per-capita medicine consump- Kerman province, IRNA quoted Anoushirvan are the least likely to have access to them. In tion in Iran is about $60 per year, adding, “So, Iran has reached Mohseni-Bandpey as saying on Tuesday. addition, it is more difficult and more costly a moderate level in the world due to its good health system”. Mohseni-Bandpey expressed hope that to intervene later in children’s lives. “We plan to provide Iranian researchers with a list of required the Ministry of Education will execute the Furthermore, ECD targeted to the most pharmaceuticals to be produced, and then put restrictions on programs in the near future. disadvantaged are a cost-effective strategy imports of pharmaceuticals,” he concluded. Once policy makers recognize the im- to promote children’s success in school and portance of health and education the way life. Children who participate in quality ECD will be paved for social well-being of the programs are more ready to learn when they UN General Assembly elects citizens, he noted. begin school and are less likely to repeat grades For one providing preschoolers with one or drop-out of school, which reduces the overall Iran as the member of hot meal in underprivileged provinces and costs of the education system. When they get outskirts of the cities which, according to the have help in improving nutrient intake by Why is ECD so important? older, they are more likely to earn more and Economic and Social Council figures revealed by the Ministry of Health, 50 percent in those areas, he highlighted. The World Bank states that early years less likely to engage in crime.

The General Assembly has elected 18 members of the Eco- nomic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2019. World Refugee Day 2018: How many displaced people are there around the globe? Those elected were Angola, Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, World Refugee Day is held on 20 June every year to draw stateless, raise awareness of their circumstances and develop Ethiopia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mali, Netherlands, attention to the plight of displaced people around the globe. long-term solutions to their problems with governments. Pakistan, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Inaugurated by the UN Refugee Agency, the occasion was The organization’s efforts aim to protect those fleeing the United States. The 18 outgoing members were Afghanistan, first observed in 2001, 50 years on from the 1951 Convention conflict from sexual exploitation, abuse, violence and forced Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czechia, Guyana, Iraq, Italy, Relating to the Status of Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland, enlistment in military groups, offering education, training, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, Somalia, which defined the term and agreed on the responsibilities medical aid and emergency shelter, often in partnership South Africa, United States and Viet Nam. of nations to grant asylum to those rendered stateless by with international humanitarian organizations. The new members were elected according to the following pattern: warfare, famine or natural disasters and most vulnerable According to the 1967 amendment to Article 1 of the Five from African States; four from Asia-Pacific States; two from to persecution. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is: Eastern European States; three from Latin American and Caribbean This year’s World Refugee Day has seen the UN publish “A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being per- States; and four from Western European and other States. a damning new report stating that just 100,000 refugees secuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership The Assembly also elected Cambodia, Malta and Yemen to were resettled by the international community in 2017, a of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the complete the remaining terms of three current Council members year in which 2.9m new asylum seekers were created as country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, who had decided to relinquish their seats before the end of their conflicts raged in Syria, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; respective terms. In doing so, Assembly President Miroslav Laj?ák of Congo and Sudan. or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country (Slovakia) announced that Tajikistan would relinquish its seat on That total, the biggest single-year increase in the history South Sudanese refugees sit at the Al-Nimir camp in the of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, the Council on 31 December 2018 for the remainder of the term, in of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sudanese state of East Darfur is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” favour of Cambodia; the United Arab Emirates would relinquish (UNHCR), equates to 44,500 a day and brings the total This year’s World Refugee Day also comes after the U.S. its seat in favour of Yemen; and Spain would relinquish its seat in number worldwide to 68.5m. are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to made the divisive decision to withdraw from UN Human favour of Malta. The new members would fill those seats from 1 “We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Rights Council, with ambassador Nikki Haley branding the January until 31 December 2019, in the cases of Cambodia and displacement globally requires a new and far more compre- Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United organization “not worthy of its name” and a “protector of Yemen, and in the case of Malta, expiring on 31 December 2020. hensive approach so that countries and communities aren’t Nations General Assembly. human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias” over As of 1 January 2019, the remaining States making up the left dealing with this alone,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High “No one becomes a refugee by choice, but the rest of us its inclusion of states like China, Cuba and Venezuela among 54-member organ will be Andorra, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Commissioner for Refugees. can have a choice about how we help.” its members. Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, “But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries The UNHCR works to provide legal protection for the (Source: Independent) El Salvador, Eswatini, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Togo, Turkey, United Kingdom, 88% of children of refugees in Iran go to schools Uruguay, Venezuela and Yemen. SOCIETY TEHRAN — Some 88 Karimi added. (Source: UNIC) deskpercent of children of A total 88 percent of the refugees’ children refugees who are living in Iran are study- are studying in Iranian schools, it is anticipated ing in schools across the country, head of that this rate increases to 90 percent in the LEARN ENGLISH the international affairs department of the elementary schools by the next school year Ministry of Education has said. (September 2018), he highlighted. Presentation - Discussing Gholamreza Karimi made the remakes He also noted that the number of high on the sidelines of a conference on foreign school refugee students is also 29 percent. the Competition national students’ educational affairs in The Ministry of Education has allocated Iran, Mehr reported. 10 trillion rials (nearly $240 million) for refu- Mr. Ford: Now, of course, with all this cutting-edge tech- A decree issued in May 2015 by the gees’ education, while international donations nology there must be a catch, you might ask yourself. I bet Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah constitute only 2-2.5 percent of this amount, the retail price will be too much for most consumers, you Seyyed Ali Khamenei allows all foreign he said, mentioning that this great gap led might say. Well, you’d be wrong! nationals, even those who have no iden- to a majority of problems. Mr. Ford: Yes, of course the x420 is aimed at the luxury tification and are living in Iran illegally, “We are calling on NGOs and inter- market, but if you compare the price of our leading com- to attend schools in Iran. national entities to help improve the petitors, the x420 represents incredible value for money. Currently some 110,000 illegal Afghan quality of education for these children At only15,000RMB it is far more affordable and far more national students are studying in Iran, in Iran,” he concluded. attractive than almost every leading brand and model. Mr. Ford: So, what differentiates us from our competitors? Well, if we compare Orange’s luxury MP40 range then we can really highlight some of the differences. ENGLISH IN USE Mr. Ford: Now, of course Orange has an enviable record LEARN NEWS TRANSLATION for producing revolutionary and top class products, and I must admit the MP40 is a breathtaking machine. However, for most consumers the MP40 is simply far too expensive to consider. Mr. Ford: The questions we must ask ourselves are” What Tehran subway short of 10,000 عضو شورای شهر تهران: کمبود 10 هزار واگن does the Alpha brand stand for?” and also” How can we set ourselves apart from our competitors?” The answer to both cars: councilor در مترو تهران .of these questions is the same my friends محمــد علیخانــی عضــو شــورای شــهر تهــران بــا بیــان اینکــه ۱۰ هــزار واگــن بایــد وارد خطــوط ,Mr. Ford: Alpha stands first andforemost for quality, for Tehran subway is short of some 10,000 cars in order to be fully operational excellence and for service. If we always stick to this philoso- councilor Mohammad Alikhani has said. متــرو شــود، گفــت: بــا ایــن کار میتوانیــم از تمــام ظرفیــت خطــوط اســتفاده کنیــم. phy, then I’m confident that we will really be able to expand علیخانــی در گفــت وگــو بــا خبرگــزاری فــارس، بــا بیــان اینکــه اولویــت اصلــی مــا تجهیــز ,It is a high priority for us to equip the current operational subway lines our market share significantly. Okay, let me move on now Fars quoted Alikhani as saying. Adding 2,000 new cars carries a cost of 100 خطــوط فعلــی متــرو اســت، گفــت: بــرای ورود 2 هــزار واگــن 10هــزار میلیــارد هزینــه الزم .to give you an idea of our marketing campaign for the x420 trillion rials (nearly $2.4 billion) and equipping the station and subway lines اســت و 12 هــزار میلیــارد تومــان هــم هزینــه تجهیــز خطــوط اســت بنابرایــن بــرای تجهیــز ایــن Key vocabulary خطــوط 22هــزار میلیــارد تومــان اعتبــار الزم داریــم. .cutting edge: the newest and most advanced drives up the costs to 220 trillion rials ($5.2 billion), he explained بــه گفتــه علیخانــی ایــن موضــوع فراتــر از اعتبــارات شــهرداری اســت و بــا اعتبــارات فعلــی catch: hidden problem that makes something complicated The aforesaid expenses greatly exceed the municipality’s budget and it takes اگــر بخواهیــم ایــن کار را انجــام دهیــم در 10 ســال آینــده محقــق مــی شــود امــا بــه دنبــال aim: to direct (something) at a particular goal some 10 years to achieve this goal, Alikhani lamented, adding, “But we differentiate: to make different in some way راهکارهــای جــدی هســتیم تــا بتوانیــم ســریع تــر ایــن کار را انجــام دهیــم. انتظــار مــا ایــن اســت are looking into other options to raise fund for equipping subway lines by highlight: to make or try to make people notice drawing from the National Development Fund.” کــه بتوانیــم از صنــدوق توســعه ملــی اســتفاده کنیــم. enviable: causing envy; very desirable foremost: most important Supplementary vocabulary high-end: at the top level of consumer purchases, aimed at PREFIX/SUFFIX PHRASAL VERB IDIOM luxury and high quality markets outsource: to send a job somewhere else, often overseas “ante-” Hash something out Bundle of nerves hotline: a phone number people can call to get help any time of day Meaning: before or preceding Meaning: to discuss something very thoroughly Explanation: very nervous, tense or worried motto: an expression that is the guiding principle of a person For example: In the southern end of the antechamber and carefully, especially until you reach an agreement For example: My son is doing his driving test today. or organization there lay a pile of dismantled chariots of the king. For example: The reorganization plan was hashed Needless to say he’s a bundle of nerves! trademark: something (symbol, logo, phrase, etc.) that out September 16. distinguishes one company›s product from its competitors I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 WORLD IN FOCUS 13 U.S. withdraws from UN Human Israeli forces arrests 20 Palestinians in overnight Rights Council over anti-Israel bias raids across West Bank

Russia calls out U.S. ‘cynicism’ for rights council pullout Israeli military forces have arrested nearly two dozen Palestin- 1 “Human rights abusers continue in Gaza after the regime’s deadly reaction ians during separate overnight operations across the occupied to serve on and be elected to the council … to protests along the Gaza fence which he West Bank. Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago, described as “wholly disproportionate.” The rights group Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said on Wednes- if we did not see any progress, the United The U.S. administration has for long been day that Israeli military vehicles rolled into the northern West States is officially withdrawing from the UN pushing the UNHRC to end its scrutiny of Bank city of Nablus, located approximately 49 kilometers (30 Human Rights Council,” she added. Israel’s widespread human rights abuses miles) north of al-Quds (Jerusalem), and violently ransacked it Haley accused governments with woe- against Palestinians. before taking four Palestinians away to an unknown location. ful human rights records of seeking a seat Cynicism & Disregard Israeli soldiers also stormed the town of Tell, and detained on the UNHRC to avoid scrutiny and then Meanwhile, Russia on Wednesday voiced two Palestinians there. resisting proposals for reform. surprise at the United States’ decision to with- Moreover, three Palestinians were detained in the north- “When we made it clear we would strong- draw from the UN Human Rights Council, western West Bank city of Tulkarm, one in al-Bireh, located 15 ly pursue Council reform, these countries accusing Washington of “gross cynicism” kilometers (9.3 miles) north of al-Quds (Jerusalem), three in came out of the woodwork to oppose it,” she and “disregard” for the world body. Jenin refugee camp and another in Hindaza village, located six said. “Russia, China, Cuba, and Egypt all “The U.S. has once again brought a pow- kilometers southeast of Beit Lahm (Bethlehem). attempted to undermine our reform efforts erful blow to its own human rights reputation Israeli troopers also arrested a Palestinian in Beit Fajjar town, this past year.” by demonstrating its disregard for the UN situated eight kilometers south of Bethlehem, and another in The U.S. ambassador to the United Na- and its bodies,” Russian foreign ministry Ramallah. tions blasted the Geneva-based council as “a spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a brief- In the southern West Bank city of Halhul, located five ki- hypocritical and self-serving organization ing in Moscow. lometers (3.1 miles) north of al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli forces that makes a mockery of human rights.” She charged the U.S. with “stubbornly detained four Palestinians. Last year, Haley accused the council of refusing to acknowledge the existence of More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held at Israeli “chronic anti-Israel bias” and warned that serious human rights problems at home jails. Hundreds of the inmates have apparently been incarcerated Washington was reviewing its membership. while at the same time trying to shape the under the practice of administrative detention, a policy under During the Tuesday announcement, established in 2006 and Washington joined defense of Israeli abuses takes precedence council under its own interests”. which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities Pompeo was also scathing in his assess- in 2009 after President Barack Obama above everything else. She also criticized the U.S. for “imposing without trial or charge. ment of the UN Human Rights Council, came to power. Since President Donald Scores of Palestinians have been killed a specific American understanding of human Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative calling the body an “exercise in shameless Trump took office in 2017, the U.S. has by the Israeli forces in Gaza since March 30, rights on other countries”. detention for up to eleven years. hypocrisy, with many of the world’s worst quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO when they began protests for their right to Zakharova said the withdrawal was “un- Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in protest human rights abuses going ignored, and (United Nations Educational, Scientific return to their homelands in the occupied expected” for Moscow although “a precedent at the administrative detention policy and their harsh prison some of the world’s most serious offenders and Cultural Organization), cut UN funding territories. was already set with UNESCO”, the UN’s conditions in Israeli jails. sitting on the council itself.” and announced its withdrawal from the In May, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Paris-based cultural body that Washington According to reports, at least 13 Palestinian lawmakers are “The only thing worse than a council that UN-backed Paris climate agreement and al-Hussein said Israel has systematically left in October last year. currently imprisoned in Israeli detention facilities. Nine of them does almost nothing to protect human rights Iran nuclear deal. deprived Palestinians of their human rights, “The UN Human Rights Council has are being held without trial under administrative detention. is a council that covers for human rights Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said with 1.9 million in Gaza “caged in a toxic worked effectively without the U.S. in the Israeli warplanes attack over two dozen targets abuses, and is therefore an obstacle to pro- the withdrawal is “a sad reflection of the slum from birth to death.” past and we hope that it will continue to in Gaza Strip gress and an impediment to change,” he said. U.S. administration’s one-dimensional The UN official backed calls for an in- do so,” she said. Meantime, Israeli fighter jets have conducted fresh airstrikes The UN Human Rights Council was rights policy,” adding that Washington’s ternational probe into Israeli war crimes (Source: agencies) on the Gaza Strip, hitting 25 targets across the blockaded Pal- estinian territory. The Israeli army said in a statement that the targets hit early on Wednesday were military compounds belonging to the Pal- Saudi regime-backed forces claim control of Hudaydah airport estinian Hamas resistance movement, which runs Gaza. However, a Gaza medical source said the Israeli strikes had Yemeni prisoners say UAE officers sexually torture them: AP struck empty sites, including some already hit in recent weeks. The town of Rafah in southern Gaza was among the targets By staff & agencies military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of an- of the Israeli air force. The House of Saud regime-backed Yemeni forces, loyal to onymity for fear of retaliation. According to sources in Gaza, four people have been wounded ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, claim that they One is at the Buriqa base - the headquarters for the in the attacks. have seized the airport in the port city of Hudaydah from Emirati forces. A second is at the house of Shallal Shaye, Elsewhere in its statement, the Israeli army said its air raids the Ansarullah (Houthi) movement fighters. the Aden security chief closely allied with the UAE, and came in response to rocket fire from Gaza to the occupied territories. Brigadier Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, a Saudi regime-led a third is at a nightclub-turned-prison called Wadah. It also claimed that Israeli “Iron Dome” missile system had coalition commander in Yemen’s Red Sea coast, said in a The fourth is at Beir Ahmed, where the March atrocities intercepted seven out of some 45 rockets fired from Gaza late video posted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) official occurred. Tuesday night and early on Wednesday. WAM news agency on Wednesday that the Hudaydah airport The U.S. personnel have been seen at the Buriqa base, Meanwhile, Eshkol regional council said three projectiles had is “completely cleared” and “under control.” along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two pris- fallen inside populated communities, with one causing damage However, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a top figure in the oners and two security officials. to buildings and vehicles. Ansarullah movement’s Supreme Political Council, had The detainees could not say whether the Americans, (Source: Press TV) early on Wednesday rejected reports of the airport’s seizure some of whom wear military uniforms, are members of by the Saudi regime-led aggressor. the U.S. government or mercenaries. Shehi’s remarks came one day after the Saudi regime-led A former security chief who himself was involved in Europe’s democrats must troops announced that they had entered the main com- torturing detainees to extract confessions told the AP that pound of the Hudaydah airport amid a military offensive tion last June. rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with unite to prevent a far-right to capture the flashpoint port city. The news agency has since identified at least five prisons the Emiratis in spying. Coalition forces claim to have entered the airport in where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and “In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while takeover Yemen’s Red Sea port city. But Ansarullah fighters deny break inmates. raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them,” What Seehofer, Orbán and others are gearing up for the claims and say they have managed to repel the attack The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because of 8 is an overthrow of the values of the liberal order within the EU. by UAE-led militants. committed by the UAE one year ago. security concerns. They want to mould it according to their conservative Christian, The Hudaydah airport lies just eight kilometers from But despite well-documented reports of torture report- Based on the AP investigation last year, the House of nation-centered beliefs, and they see the west as being under the city’s port, through which three-quarters of Yemen’s ed by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Representatives voted on May 24 to require Defense Sec- assault from non-white and Muslim threats and migration. This imports pass, providing a lifeline for millions of people. Nations (UN), Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, retary Jim Mattis to determine whether the U.S. military was a vision also laid out by Trump, remember, in his 2017 War- Backed by the Saudi regime-led airstrikes, the UAE and a Pentagon spokesperson, said that the U.S. has seen no or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations saw speech. allied militants loyal to the former Yemeni government evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. of detainees in Yemen. They don’t want to break up Europe, they want to take con- launched the Hudaydah assault on June 13 despite warn- The U.S. officials have acknowledged that American The House adopted the measure as part of the 2019 trol of it. The “axis” will grow branches in Poland’s populist-led ings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have defense authorization bill. The amendment was sponsored government and in parts of the Balkans. These people may not humanitarian crisis. participated in interrogations in Yemen. by Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. agree on everything, (for example, Salvini wants compulsory The Ansarullah and allied armed forces, however, said UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment. The Defense Department has to submit a report within EU relocation plans for refugees, which Orbán rejects) but their that they have dealt a heavy blow to the aggressors, inflicting In Yemen’s three-year Saudi imposed war, UAE forces 120 days to Congress. interests are sufficiently aligned to make this the perfect moment heavy losses on the invaders. that are purportedly fighting on behalf of Yemen’s govern- The U.S. provides arms worth billions of dollars in addi- to launch a common assault on EU institutions. The United Nations says fierce clashes in the port city ment have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and tion to logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led The “axis” aims to get rid of Merkel and seize control of the have driven 5,200 families from their homes. cities in the south. coalition. European People’s party (EPP), which has dominated the EU The Saudi regime-led coalition, which has been wag- They have swept up hundreds of men into a network of The U.S. has also intensified its drone campaign against parliament for years and encompasses all the mainstream right- ing a war against Yemen since early 2015, claims that the at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaeda al-Qaeda and the ISIL group in Yemen. The Pentagon wing forces. The EPP has been a vehicle for Merkel’s hegemony Ansarullah are using Hudaydah for weapons delivery, an or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) has said that American forces are helping UAE and Ye- over the EU all these years, which is one of the reasons she has allegation rejected by the fighters. terrorists. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. meni forces in driving al-Qaeda fighters from southern always refrained from chucking out Orbán and his Fidesz party. Yemeni prisoners say UAE officers sexual- Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the di- Yemeni cities. rection of Emirati officers have used various methods of Another prisoner gave the AP what he said were the Utterly powerless EU Parliament ly torture them: AP These leaders are now uniting to attempt a national-populist Meatime, the 15 officers who arrived at the prison in sexual torture and humiliation. real names of five Emirati torturers. UAE officials did not takeover of the EU as we’ve known it. Merkel is only the first southern Yemen hid their faces behind head dresses, but They raped detainees while other guards filmed the respond to requests for comment about the men. target in a wider endeavor. And don’t be fooled by talk of an their accents were clearly foreign - from the UAE. assaults. They electrocuted prisoners’ genitals or hung One of the most brutal torturers is Yemeni, a former utterly powerless EU parliament: it does matter if the populists They lined up the detainees and ordered them to un- rocks from their testicles. They sexually violated others prisoner called Awad al-Wahsh, who was arrested and gain control, because the parliament has co-decision powers on dress and lie down. The officers then searched the anal with wooden and steel poles. tortured before agreeing to work with the Emiratis, four legislation, alongside the council of ministers. cavity of each prisoner, claiming that they were looking “They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel witnesses told the AP. Orbán, who’s arguably the most outspoken about this, made for contraband mobile phones. pole from the right and the left so you are spread open His supervisor, Yosran al-Maqtari, could not be reached the strategy abundantly clear in a speech last week. He suggest- The men screamed and wept. Those who resisted were in front of them. Then the sodomising starts,” said one for comment. Al-Maqtari is Aden’s chief of anti-terrorism. ed the EPP would need to change if it wanted to survive, and threatened by barking dogs and beaten until they bled. father of four. Other torturers named by detainees are Emirati officers threatened to set up a new, “pan-European anti-immigration Hundreds of detainees suffered similar sexual abuse From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled known to prisoners by their noms de guerre: Abu Udai, formation” if the EPP isn’t ready to be renewed on his terms. during the event on March 10 at Beir Ahmed prison in letters and drawings to the AP about the sexual abuse. The Abu Ismail, and Hitler. What’s to be done? The French president, Emmanuel Macron, the southern city of Aden, according to seven witnesses drawings were made on plastic plates with blue ink pen. The prisoners who were sexually abused in March had and Merkel (if she survives the coming weeks in power) will try interviewed by the Associated Press news agency. The drawings show a man hanging naked from chains tried to fight back. They had organized three hunger strikes to peel away some parts of the “axis”. Macron has already courted Descriptions of the mass abuse offer a window into a while he is being electrocuted, another inmate on the floor to protest their treatment. Kurz in the Elysée palace, despite his association with the far world of rampant sexual torture and impunity in UAE-con- surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, They had launched a campaign with their families to right. On Tuesday Macron met Merkel at a castle north of Berlin trolled prisons in Yemen. and graphic depictions of anal rape. get human rights groups to secure their release. to try to showcase a plan for eurozone consolidation. The news The UAE is a key United States ally whose secret prisons Of the five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, That’s when the 15 Emirati officers showed up with coming out of Europe isn’t all bad. Spain has a new, center-left and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investiga- four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and their dogs. government. The EU’s economy is also doing better, and polls show growing support for it among citizens. But for the democratic-minded across Europe, now is the time to make a clear choice. There’s no need to be obsessed with Bahraini regime urged to drop charges against top opposition leader history to know that, when the “rough beast” slouches, “its hour More than 30 independent rights groups have called on They also called for an end to the “prosecution of political Sheikh Salman was also charged with “revealing defense come round at last” (Yeats again), surely anti-far-right forces the Bahraini regime to drop all charges against prom- dissidents and human rights activists for exercising their secrets to a foreign country and disseminating information must unite. inent Shia and opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman right to freedom of expression,” demanding the Manama that would harm Bahrain’s status and reputation.” Given the context, hard-left clashes with centrists become as the ruling House of Khalifah dynasty does not shy regime to stop using legislation to “criminalize the peaceful The senior Bahraini Shia cleric has been in jail on a nine- something of a distraction. And criticism of the EU’s institutional away from its heavy-handed clampdown on political practice of freedom of opinion and expression.” year prison sentence since late 2014 for what the Manama “democratic deficit” is currently a sideshow. Let’s protect what dissidents and pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny On November 1, 2017, the 52-year-old secretary regime has called “insulting” government officials, “inciting” we have. On 14 June, in the European parliament, the far left and Persian Gulf state. general of the dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic unrest through his speeches targeting the authorities during the far right voted together against a resolution calling for the The 32 NGOs announced in a joint statement that the Society and two of his colleagues, Hassan Sultan and the 2011 uprising, attempting to overthrow the regime and release of political prisoners in Russia. Would they likewise have June 21 trial against Sheikh Salman constitutes a violation Ali al-Aswad, were charged with “spying on behalf collaborating with foreign powers. voted together against a call for the release of migrant children of his “rights to liberty, fair trial, free expression, and free of a foreign country... with the aim of carrying out Sheikh Salman denies all the charges, saying he has merely held in cages by Trump’s America? Some people need to get their association… [and] further contracts democratic space in subversive acts against Bahrain and harming its na- been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means. priorities right, before it’s too late. the country.” tional interests.” (Source: Press TV) (Source: The Guardian) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 14 WORLD SPORTS JUNE 21, 2018 Signs bad for Messi’s last England less threatening than Belgium, says Panama’s chance to emulate Maradona Rodriguez

Panama midfielder Jose Luis Rodriguez believes England will not pose as big a threat as the Belgium side that defeated the Central Americans 3-0 in their World Cup opener on Monday. The tournament debutants held their own against a highly rated Belgian side in the first half in Sochi before a stunning volley from Dries Mertens and a Romelu Lukaku brace after the break helped the Europeans climb to the top of Group G. Panama are bottom of the group on goal difference and need a positive result against England in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday to retain any hope of progressing to the knockout stages. “For me, Belgium are a more difficult opponent than England,” Rodriguez was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. “England are a big team with very good players but we will try to win. I watch Premier League football every week... It is fantastic to play against some of those players and I will try to have a good game. “It will be difficult to stop England — we have to be well organised — but we will take the same (physical) approach against them and we will try to win.” Belgium manager Roberto Martinez expressed concern over “Feel the power of dream at potential injuries emerging from Panama’s hard tackling but de- 2018 World Cup” fender Roman Torres says his team will continue to be aggressive to counter a speedy England side. Lionel Messi’s 31st birthday this weekend is an ominous Iceland was a collective failure, the signs are bad. “The Champions League is now the pinnacle of the global “Football is like that — you always have to impose yourself, you reminder Russia may be his last World Cup and final chance “Look, I love Messi, we all do. But it’s just not working out game in terms of quality, and Messi has won that on multiple have to mark out your territory,” he said. “I think we competed to emulate fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona in lifting for him internationally,” said Guillermo Aguirre, strolling occasions,” he added, noting Messi won the Golden Ball as well against Belgium, and I think when there were tackles, they the ultimate prize. round Nizhny Novgorod as Argentine fans began to arrive best player in Brazil and may have taken the World Cup got stuck in just as much as we did. The diminutive Argentine captain known as “La Pulga” for Thursday’s game against Croatia. trophy had Gonzalo Higuain finished better. “England are a bit more direct than Belgium. They try to (The Flea) has won every club accolade imaginable with “I want to see him lift the cup so the Maradona debate At home, Messi’s face and number adorn billboards, make use of the pace they have. We’ll need to be compact and Barcelona, but has agonisingly missed out on international can be ended because it’s not fair on him. But if I’m realistic, masks and shirts around the nation, yet his life story does limit their space.” trophies both at the World Cup and Copa America. Brazil was the best opportunity,” added Aguirre, in refer- not command the same sympathies as Maradona, who rose England are second in Group G after their 2-1 win over Tu- For many Argentines, that means while he may be the ence to Argentina’s 1-0 defeat by Germany in the 2014 final. from a grimy slum and showed his flaws with addictions to nisia on Monday. world’s best player currently, Messi has not entered the Some expect Messi to exit international football after drugs and alcohol. (Source: Reuters) same pantheon as Maradona “El Pibe” (The Kid) who won Russia, after his aborted “retirement” in the aftermath of By contrast, the more reserved Messi moved to Spain the 1986 World Cup. a devastating penalty shootout defeat to Chile in the 2016 aged 11 and has a model family image. But if he does With Argentina looking dysfunctional and under-per- Copa America where he again missed from the spot. fail again in Russia, there will be sympathy from fellow forming throughout the qualifiers, Messi’s dream of matching He has enjoyed a glittering club career, winning World professionals who feel team mates and chaotic national Maradona in Russia always looked a tall order. Player of the Year five times with a string of La Liga and authorities let him down, while fickle fans forget he is VAR helps tournament But it became harder in the 64th minute of Argentina’s Champions League titles. still Argentina’s top scorer. reach 10 penalties - so is it opener when his tame penalty was saved by Iceland’s goal- “It is clear that Messi’s legacy and standing within the “You can’t give all the responsibility to Messi. Because keeper - watched inevitably by Maradona who had lapped game would be enhanced with victory in Russia this summer, then what’s the point of you being there?” said former Ar- working? up adoring cries of “Dieeeeego!” beforehand. but he does not need to win the World Cup to be viewed gentine forward Claudio Caniggia. “Messi doesn’t get the Though Maradona, 57, consoled Messi that even he too as Maradona’s equal,” argued London-based sports writer same support from his team mates as Maradona.” once missed five consecutive penalties and the 1-1 draw with Greg Lea in an article for The Sportsman. (Source: Euro Sport) A “fairer World Cup”, better player behaviour and a reduction in the “mobbing” of officials. The introduction of video assistant referees was one of the Iceland keeper Halldorsson swaps Hazard warning fires hungry Lukaku major issues heading into this World Cup and, as expected, it has been a near constant talking point during the first round of games. film-making for World Cup drama up for glory Four penalties have been given using VAR, while England and Brazil both had cause to be unhappy with the system. Like it or not, it is certainly having an impact - 10 penalties have been awarded in 17 matches. The World Cup record is 18 for an entire tournament. Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey told BBC Radio 5 live the failure of VAR to give spot-kicks to England for fouls on Harry Kane against Tunisia showed the system is “inconsistent” and “should not be in this tournament”. But Fifa says it is “extremely satisfied with the level of refereeing to date and the successful implementation of the VAR system”. And David Elleray, technical director of the International Foot- ball Association Board - the body which oversees the laws of the game, told BBC Sport its overall impact has been “very positive”. “There have only been five reviews in the first 17 matches, which conforms to the global average of one in every three games,” said Elleray, who helps to train referees in the use of VAR. “This is ‘minimal interference’ and with the outcome of three Iceland film maker-turned-goalkeeper ers have, but I think film-maker must be up It may have needed a half-time rocket from Martinez played down rumours of dis- matches being directly affected by the VAR intervention this is Hannes Halldorsson showcased his skill there among the strangest - it’s not a usual captain Eden Hazard to jolt Romelu Lukaku harmony and said he had faith in Lukaku ‘maximum benefit’ and a fairer World Cup. at creating drama in his side’s 1-1 World combination, footballer and film-maker,” into action in Belgium’s World Cup opener delivering not just on his promise of be- “The behaviour of players has been excellent, with only one Cup draw against Argentina, taking centre Halldorsson said. The heightened exposure but coach Roberto Martinez believes the coming the best striker in the world but red card and a low average of yellow cards and little mobbing stage as he saved a penalty from Lionel brought about by World Cup qualification striker has the hunger to fulfil his ambition also for a team anxious to go further than of referees.” Here, we take a look at the incidents so far and get Messi in front of millions of TV viewers. has caused Halldorsson, who plays his club of global domination. Belgium’s previous best of semi-finalists Elleray’s verdict on whether VAR worked in each case. To complement the modest wages on football for Danish club Randers, to take The Chelsea playmaker gave Lukaku in 1986. “My team can share views,” the (Source: BBC) offer as he started his career in the domestic a seat in the director’s chair once again, a piece of his mind in Sochi on Monday Spaniard told reporters on Tuesday. “Any league, the 34-year-old net-minder worked if only briefly, to make a TV ad. after Belgium had huffed and puffed but sort of negative word between the players... in the film business before going full-time Big sponsors failed to blow Panama’s modest defensive is not a type of attitude that we have. as a professional footballer when he moved “It was a commercial for Coca Cola, they fortress down before the interval. “Of course, we want to demand from to Norway in 2012. are one of the big sponsors of the football “At half-time, I told him we needed him. each other, and that’s natural, what hap- Mexican captain Márquez on Back home in Iceland, 99.6 percent of the federation and we made a commercial short- He’d been hiding out a bit up front,” Hazard pens in a dressing room.” country’s TV viewers saw him stop Messi’s ly before the World Cup. The response has told reporters. “It’s not easy playing with Vertonghen, the side’s most capped US sanctions blacklist shot as the tiny island nation made their been very positive,” he said. a man missing. But once he got in there, player, also denied talk of a rift, calling it World Cup debut on Saturday. With the team dominating the TV rat- involved in the game, like magic, he scored the best Belgian team he has known: “We’re “Many footballers, when they play in ings and Halldorsson’s commercial rolling two. “I hope he understands that now,” a complete team,” the Tottenham Hotspur the Icelandic league, they have a job on regularly during the ad breaks, the nation’s Hazard added after Belgium opened their defender said. “There’s always going to be the side, it’s a semi-professional league,” footballers are almost never off Icelandic Group G campaign with a 3-0 win. stress, but I think we coped well.” Haldorsson told reporters ahead of Iceland’s screens, and there is also a documentary That public dressing down fuelled talk Lukaku could get better yet, Martinez clash with Nigeria on Friday. film being made about their progress. of discord in the camp outside Moscow, said: “The drive is what interests me in a “My job just happened to be a film-mak- Though he may have another starring where Martinez gave his players Wednesday young player, why does he play football? er. I always had a passion for it when I was role to play between the posts in Friday’s off following their exertions on the humid And Romelu Lukaku plays football to be young, and that’s what I got sucked into Group D clash with Nigeria, Halldorsson Black Sea coast before they face Tunisia the best in his position. after high school,” he added. says he will not be offering the documentary on Sunday and England next Thursday. “He can be as good as he wants to be.” Plenty of players in the squad have fol- crew any advice. Images of defender Jan Vertonghen Lukaku himself, in an interview with lowed the same path through the semi-pro- “It’s a very ambitious project. They are screaming at a lack of cover from Yannick The Players’ Tribune magazine, spoke of fessional ranks as Halldorsson, and head following us and I am looking forward to Carrasco before the winger was withdrawn, the childhood poverty and smears against The United World Cup 2026 bid might not be quite as united as coach Heimir Hallgrimsson still practices seeing the result, but I’m staying out of have also sounded alarm bells about a re- his Congolese heritage as motivation for its principals claim as US authorities pursue Mexican football as a dentist when he has the time. the way this time!” he said. turn of the infighting that has dogged the his ambition. legend and national team captain Rafael Márquez, 39, who in “I’m not an expert in which jobs the play- (Source: Euronews) Red Devils at previous big tournaments. (Source: Mirror) the past week has become only the third player ever to appear at five World Cups. The US justice authorities have, according to a report in the New York Times, had him on a US Treasury blacklist since Au- Hamilton boosted for ground-breaking F1 triple-header gust, with a number of businesses connected to him accused of Lewis Hamilton can expect a welcome boost in engine power Ferrari and other rivals had an engine upgrade for that data,” said team boss Toto Wolff. acting as fronts and holding assets for Raúl Flores Hernández this weekend as Formula One embarks on an unprecedented race and Mercedes did not. “It makes preparing for the weekend a bit trickier than – a suspected leader of a major drug trafficking organisation. triple-header at a French grand prix returning to the calendar Reigning champions Mercedes had delayed the intro- usual, but that element of the unknown also adds to the Márquez denies any links to drug traffickers and is supported after a decade’s absence. duction of their planned upgrade due to what they said challenge. “The triple header ... will test all F1 teams to their by both the Mexican FA and the Mexican government in that they Le Castellet’s Paul Ricard circuit last hosted a Formula was a ‘quality issue’, a problem that also affected customer limits, but also offers the chance to score a lot of points over have known of his situation for months but still allowed him to One race in 1990, before 10 of the current 22 drivers were teams Williams and Force India. the course of three weeks — which is precisely what we’re lead the national team at Russia 2018. born, and has been reconfigured from the one fondly re- That should change as of this weekend, with Mercedes setting out to do.” The US authorities have nevertheless frozen his financial as- membered by older generations. planning on making the change and Hamilton determined McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raik- sets in the United States, as well as his Mexican assets with ties France’s most recent grand prix was at Magny-Cours in to hit back hard in the first of three races on successive konen, 36 and 38 respectively, are the only current drivers to the American financial network. 2008, the year Hamilton won his first world championship weekends. “I’m really going to make sure that we come back to have won a grand prix on French soil — although former Márquez’s lawyers, Jose Luis Nassar, told press “we are in a with McLaren, and it remains a rare country that has yet to strong at the next race,” he said after Canada. double world champion Alonso won the Le Mans 24 Hours frank phase of collaboration” with American officials to resolve see the Mercedes driver triumph. If the four-times world The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a at the weekend. the matter. champion does so on Sunday, he will take another record fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed Renault will have plenty of support for their first home The situation has caused for extreme measures surrounding from retired great Michael Schumacher; that of the most only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season race, as will the country’s Formula One drivers Romain Márquez for fear of Treasury sanctions against any company or wins at different grands prix. The pair are tied on 22 at hurrying to the halfway point. Grosjean (Haas), rookie Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) and organisation associated with him – these can include fines of up present, although Hamilton already holds the record for The three-in-a-row format was scheduled specifically Esteban Ocon (Force India). to nearly $1.5 million per violation, rising to $10 million and a different tracks (25) after winning in Azerbaijan this year. to avoid a clash with the World Cup soccer final in Russia Sauber’s Charles Leclerc is the most local of the lot, grow- maximum of 30 years in jail for individuals who knowingly break Hamilton is one point behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel on July 15. ing up in Monaco, about three hours up the road from the the rules, according to the NYT. after seven races, with the German taking the lead in Canada “France should be an interesting race. We don’t often circuit between Marseille and Toulon. (Source: Insidefootball) two weekends ago when he celebrated his 50th career win. get to race on a track where we have little to no historical (Source: Euronews) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y JUNE 21, 2018 SPORTS 15 We are not afraid of any team Pakdaman wins bronze medal in World Cup: Mehdi Taremi at Asian Fencing C’ships TASNIM — Iranian sabrist Ali Pakdaman claimed a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Fencing Championships. Pakdaman, who had defeated Japanese Kenta Tokunan 15-6 in quarter-final, lost to eventually champion fencer Bongil Gu from South Korea in the competition’s semi-final and failed to advance to the final.

The 2018 Asian Fencing Championships are being held in Bangkok, Thailand from 17 to 22 June 2018 at the Rangsit Campus. The Asian Fencing Championships are the fencing zonal “80 Million People, championship organized by the Asian Fencing Confederation for the Asia-Oceania zone. One Nation, One Heartbeat” The tournament began in 1989 and it has been held annually since 2007. It awards points for the Fencing World Cup. KAZAN, Russia — Iran national football team striker words cannot describe the joy and happiness we feel Melli’s victory over the Lions of Atlas. Mehdi Taremi says they are not afraid of any team when the final whistle blew,” Taremi said. “I felt pain in my back and played with pain for in the 2018 World Cup. “Iran were under pressure against Morocco in the my people but I am hopeful of quick recovery for the Ahead of a crucial match against Spain in Group first 15 minutes but we controlled the match towards coming matches,” Al Gharffa striker stated. Mohammad Ansari extends B of the 2018 World Cup, Taremi says Team Melli the end. We had some goal scoring chances but failed “We want to make history in the World Cup and have the potential to qualify for the next stage for to convert them into the goal,” he added. make our people happy, that’s why we are here. Team contract with Persepolis the first time. He came off the bench at the last minutes of the Melli respect all the teams but we are not afraid of “We won a great match against Morocco and the match against Morocco and played a role in Team any team,” Taremi concluded. PLDC — Persepolis defender Mohammad Ansari has extended his contract with the club for three more years. Ansari had been already linked with a move to Chinese and Iran goalkeeper Beiravand’s story source of inspiration for Croatian football teams but he has penned a three-year contract extension with Persepolis on Tuesday. Ansari joined Iranian giant Persepolis from Azadegan League soccer fans worldwide side Shahrdari Tabriz in 2015 and quickly became a first team The life story of the first-choice goalkeeper team joined the Portugal national football regular at the left back position. of the Iran men’s national football team team, nicknamed A Selecção, Spain’s La He was one of the surprise performers of the 2015–16 season Alireza Beiranvand, who worked in a bak- Furia Roja and Atlas Lions of Morocco in and played an important role for Persepolis in his second season ery, a car wash, a pizzeria and as a street the preliminary round of the tournament. helping the team win the Persian Gulf Pro League in the 2016–17 sweeper before rising to stardom, could The host nation, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and which resulted in calling up to Iran national team. be a source of inspiration for millions of Uruguay form Group A in the upcoming It will boost Persepolis since the team is not allowed to sign soccer enthusiasts around the globe. quadrennial international sports event. new player in the summer transfer window. Beiranvand, born on September 21, France is drawn in Group C, and is pit- 1992 in Sarab-e Yas village of Iran’s west- ted against Australia, Peru and Denmark. ern province of Lorestan, started playing Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria football as a goalkeeper at an early age but are drawn in Group D. Iran captain sidesteps his father vehemently objected. Group E consists of Brazil, Switzerland, His father told him that being a footballer Costa Rica and Serbia. women in stadiums issueo could not be a job, and preferred his son While the 2014 FIFA World Cup cham- to be a simple worker and make money. pion Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South By Nick Mulvenney “My father didn’t like football at all Korea shape Group F, Belgium, Panama, and he asked me to work. He even tore my Tunisia and England are in Group G. KAZAN, Russia (Reuters) — Iran captain Masoud Shojaei clothes and gloves and I played with bare Group H has Poland, Senegal, Colombia said on Tuesday that the World Cup was the wrong place to hands several times,” the custodian of the and Japan. discuss the issue of women being allowed to watch football Iran national football team, nicknamed The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off matches at stadiums in the Islamic republic. Team Melli, said. on June 14 and will run through July 15. At last, Beiranvand bought a ticket with Beiranvand then started working in He was then invited to Iran national un- Russia opened the event against Saudi the money he had saved working as a baker, a pizza shop so he could sleep there at der-20 football team (also known as Iran Arabia in a Group A fixture at Moscow’s and traveled to the Iranian capital Tehran night. One night, his coach came to buy Youth Team) and Iran national under-23 Luzhniki Stadium. The hosts won the in the hope of joining a club. pizza. The goalkeeper did not want him football team – domestically known as match 5-0. He met Hossein Fayz, the manager of to know his situation, but the shop owner Iran Olympic Team. A total of 64 matches will be played in Tehran-based Vahdat Football Club, on forced him to serve. Beiranvand left the In April 2014, he was called up to the 12 venues located in 11 cities. the bus. Fayz told Beiravand he would shop a few days later. Iran national football team training camp Iran started its World Cup campaign let him train if he paid him some money. His next job was working in a car wash, in South Africa by coach Carlos Queiroz. against Morocco at Krestovsky Stadium The young goalkeeper told Fayz he did where he achieved fame for washing Beiravnad currently plays as a goal- in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 15. not have any money at all, so the manager sport-utility vehicles because of his height. keeper for Persepolis in the Persian Gulf The Iranians were gifted a gifted a 1-0 felt pity and agreed to give Beiranvand After that, he worked as a street cleaner Pro League. win over Atlas Lions when Moroccan strik- an opportunity. and started his job as early as 5 o’clock in During the official 2018 FIFA World Cup er Aziz Bouhaddouz thumped a powerful He did not have a place to sleep so he the morning. draw ceremony at Kremlin State Palace header into his own net five minutes into spent nights around Azadi Tower, where Finally, Beiranvand signed for Naft-e in the Russian capital city of Moscow on injury time. many migrants and street vendors gathered. Tehran under-23 team and began to shine. December 1 last year, the Iran football (Source: Press TV) Iranian women are expected to be in the crowd at the Kazan Arena on Wednesday when their country takes on Iran’s soccer icon Daei turns down FIFA invitation to aid quake victims Spain, taking advantage of an opportunity not available Former Iranian footballer Ali Daei has declined an invitation tralia, Peru and Denmark. to them back home. by the world’s soccer governing body to visit the Russian Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria are drawn in A banner proclaiming “#NoBan4Women” and “Support city of Kazan, where the Iran men’s national football team Group D. Iranian women to attend stadiums” was held up when Iran will take on Spain in a 2018 Fédération Internationale de Group E consists of Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and played Morocco in their World Cup Group B opener in St. Football Association (FIFA) World Cup Group B fixture. Serbia. While the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion Germany, Petersburg last Friday. The 49-year-old, who currently manages Iran’s Persian Mexico, Sweden and South Korea shape Group F, Belgium, Shojaei, though, told the official pre-match news con- Gulf Pro League club Saipa Tehran, offered his profound Panama, Tunisia and England are in Group G. ference that the debate was one that would be better con- apologies for the rejection, citing his efforts to reconstruct Group H has Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan. ducted in Iran after the tournament. homes devastated in the quake that struck western Iran The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14 and “We are a family, we are a nation when we are out on last November. will run through July 15. Russia opened the event against the pitch,” he said through a translator. The quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale rattled Saudi Arabia in a Group A fixture at Moscow’s Luzhniki “These are not just empty words. To talk about this issue the border region between Iran and Iraq on November 152 Stadium. The hosts won the match 5-0. now would be disrespectful to the tournament. 2017, causing extensive damage and loss of life. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located “I prefer to solve our problems within our family According to official figures, at least 432 people lost their in 11 cities. and if we have the opportunity to talk about this later, lives and over 7,817 others sustained injuries in the earth- Iran started its World Cup campaign against Morocco at we will.” quake. More than 12,000 homes were also been completely nicknamed A Selecção, Spain’s La Furia Roja and Atlas Lions Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 15. According to media reports in Iran, Shojaei has previ- destroyed in the incident. of Morocco in the preliminary round of the tournament. The Iranians were gifted a gifted a 1-0 win over Atlas ously offered backing to the lifting of the ban, which was During the official 2018 FIFA World Cup draw ceremony The host nation, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay Lions when Moroccan striker Aziz Bouhaddouz thumped a imposed on women attending all sports events after the at Kremlin State Palace in the Russian capital city of Moscow form Group A in the upcoming quadrennial international powerful header into his own net five minutes into injury time. revolution of 1979. on December 1 last year, the Iran football team, nicknamed sports event. Iran will face Spain at Kazan Arena on Wednesday. Team Melli, joined the Portugal national football team, France is drawn in Group C, and is pitted against Aus- (Source: Press TV) Morocco out of 2018 FIFA World Cup as Portugal grabs 1-0 win Andres Iniesta wary of facing The Morocco men’s national football team, The Iran men’s national football team, The host nation, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and June 14 and will run through July 15. Russia Iran National Football Team nicknamed Atlas Lions, has failed to book a better known as Team Melli, stands in the Uruguay form Group A in the upcoming opened the event against Saudi Arabia in a spot in the Round of 16 of the 2018 Fédération second spot, having earned three points. quadrennial international sports event. Group A fixture at Moscow’s Luzhniki Sta- TASNIM — Spain veteran midfielder Andres Iniesta says they Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Spain’s La Furia Roja has racked up one France is drawn in Group C, and is pitted dium. The hosts won the match 5-0. will have a difficult match against Iran. World Cup in Russia, slumping to its second point to claim the third position, while fourth- against Australia, Peru and Denmark. A total of 64 matches will be played in La Roja will face Iran in Kazan’s Kazan Arena on Wednesday consecutive defeat in the preliminary round. placed Morocco has not earned any point. Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria 12 venues located in 11 cities. in Group B of the 2018 World Cup. On Wednesday, Portuguese profession- During the official 2018 FIFA World Cup are drawn in Group D. Group E consists of Iran started its World Cup campaign “Wednesday’s game is like a final,” said Iniesta. “If we win it al footballer Cristiano Ronaldo thumped draw ceremony at Kremlin State Palace in the Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia. against Morocco at Krestovsky Stadium in will give us an advantage in our group and then we can start to a fourth-minute header to give A Selecção Russian capital city of Moscow on December While the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 15. look towards the later stages. a 1-0 over Morocco in a Group B tie at the 1 last year, the Iran football team joined the Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea The Iranians were gifted a gifted a 1-0 win “It will be a tough game but you have to remember we’re Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital Portugal national football team, nicknamed shape Group F, Belgium, Panama, Tunisia over Atlas Lions when Moroccan striker Aziz a really united team that’s been together for many years,” the city of Moscow. A Selecção, Spain’s La Furia Roja and Atlas and England are in Group G. Group H has Bouhaddouz thumped a powerful header into Barcelona captain added. Portugal is now the top-ranked soccer Lions of Morocco in the preliminary round Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan. his own net five minutes into injury time. “We trust each other blindly.” team in the group with four points. of the tournament. The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on (Source: Press TV) Prayer Times Noon:13:06 Evening: 20:45 Dawn: 4:02 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 5:49 (tomorrow) JUNE 21, 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 Books good replacement for 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 cellphones: actor Reza Kianian www.eshterak.ir Distributor: Padideh Novin Co. Tel: 88911433 ARTTEHRAN – Actor Reza Webmaster: [email protected] desk Printed at: Rooztab - ISSN: 1017-94 Kianian has asked a group of young students at a Teheran No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, Iran P.o. Box: 14155-4843 film school to replace cellphones with Zip Code: 1599814713 books. “If you are interested in acting you need to read books. You must read books written about acting,” Kianian said during a surprise birthday party the students organized for the 67-year-old actor at the Seventh Art Film School on Tuesday. Kianian was attending the Transferring Experience Workshop held at the school dedicated to teens. “If you are really interested in acting you should make every effort to achieve your goal,” he told the participating teens. Tbilisi gallery hangs works He also said that he has written five by Iranian artists books about acting, which carry his opin- ions about acting and his articles about ARTTEHRAN – Iart Gallery in the Georgian cap- cinema and theater. deskital of Tbilisi is playing host to an exhibition of “Those who have entered cinema as paintings by a group of Iranian artists. a result of their attractive images or be- cause of money, will not remain if they do not have the talent. Bahram Radan and Mahnaz Afshar are those who joined cinema because they were good-looking, but remained by working hard. We should do our job right and think about it. We should have nothing to do with others and should not make laws for them,” he explained. Actor Reza Kianian blows the candle of his 67th birthday cake in a ceremony held at the Seventh Art Film School on June 19, 2018.

Iran’s National Orchestra to perform Iranian movies picked in Azerbaijan to screen at intl. festivals Art lovers visit “You Look for”, an exhibition of paintings by Iranian artists, at Iart Gallery in Tbilisi, Georgia on June 18, 2018. (Nidar Art) The exhibition named “You Look for” is displaying about 60 paintings by 20 artists including Nima Ansari, Zeinab Khodabakhsh, Maryam Izadi, Mehdi Mansuri and Elika Keshavarz, organizer Nidar Art announced on its Instagram. Iranian group Nidar Art is an international platform for young artists organizing pop-up exhibitions and art events all over the world. The exhibit will be running until June 24. 12-year-old photog focuses on Persian architecture in new collection

ARTTEHRAN – A 12-year-old Iranian photographer deskhas highlighted Persian architecture in his solo Vocalist Salar Aqili performs a concert with the National Orchestra in an undated photo. A scene from “It Rains Slowly” by Saeid Nejati exhibition, which will open at the Niavaran Cultural Center in ARTTEHRAN – Iran’s and Hossein Dehlavi will be performed ARTTEHRAN – A Society (IYCS) that is the producer of Tehran on Friday. deskNational Orchestra will during the concerts. desknumber of Iranian the movies announced on Tuesday. A collection of 30 photos perform two concerts in the Azerbaijani “Airiliq” (“Separation”), a piece by Ira- films has been selected to screen at two The festival opened in Srinagar on depicting aspects of architecture cities of Baku and Ganja next week. nian Azarbaijani composer Ali Salimi, is festivals in Kashmir and Italy. Tuesday and will run until June 25. in a number of Iranian historical The performances, which are part of a one of the highlights of the repertoire. “It Rains Slowly” by Saeid Nejati, The Lago Film Fest, which will buildings will showcase at the five-day Iranian cultural festival, will be The National Orchestra and a selection “Grey Umbrella” by Mohammad be organized from July 20 to 28 in exhibition of Parsa Khadem, held on June 27 and 29. of musicians from the Tehran Symphony Pustinduz and “Foruzan” by Mir Abbas LAGO, ITALY, is scheduled to screen the center announced on A repertoire of pieces from Iranian Orchestra have been in Russia over the Khosravinejad, are competing in the “Animal” co-directed by Bahram and Wednesday. composers such as Aref Qazvini, Nasrollah past week, performing three concerts in short film category of the Kashmir World Bahman Ark in the International Film “Iranian Architecture in My Zarrinpanjeh, Ali Tajvidi, Babak Zarrin Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan. Film Festival, the Iranian Youth Cinema Competition. Vision” will run until June 30. Khadem began learning photography from veteran photographer Leila Nurai Rubaiyat of Persian poet Baba Afzal Kashani appear in Turkish when he was seven. He is also CULTURE TEHRAN – A in Turkey. Persian works on philosophical and have been mistakenly identified as pursuing his education through deskTurkish translation of The book has been rendered into metaphysical subjects and has translated Khayyam’s. courses held by Hossein Kiani, a selection from the Rubaiyat of Baba Turkish by Behruz Dijurian and has the Arabic version of Aristotle’s “The According to Dijurian, the book with whom he co-organized an Afzal Kashani, a book by the Persian been released by Okumuslar Publishing Book of the Soul” into Persian. He also bears the Persian version of the A poster for photographer Parsa exhibition at the Kazan National poet who lived during the 12th and 13th House in Istanbul last week. was a Sufi and the author of about poems with a description of the correct Khadem’s exhibition “Iranian Cultural Center in the capital of centuries, has recently been published Baba Afzal is the author of many 500 mystical Rubaiyat, some of which pronunciation of the poems in Turkish. Architecture in My Vision” Tatarstan during October 2017. CBS to expand “Star Trek” Michael Jackson show headed to Iran’s Russian concerts, with five-year deal for new TV shows Broadway in 2020 carrying coals to Newcastle LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — U.S. broadcast LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A musical 1 Rahbari also called the musical program costly for Iran network CBS will expand the popular “Star inspired by the life of late pop singer and asked the cultural officials to spend the sums allocated for Trek” science-fiction franchise with new Michael Jackson will open on Broadway in travel to Russia to improve the orchestras instead. series, mini-series and animation under a 2020, Jackson’s estate and its producing “These showoff exercises are unnecessary and unproductive production deal announced on Tuesday. partner said on Tuesday. for Iran that enjoys a century-long history of orchestral music, CBS said in a statement that it had signed a The story will be written by two-time which has dropped off to sleep as a result of mismanagement and five-year deal with producer Alex Kurtzman to Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, the misappropriation of public funds,” noted Rahbari who is the supervise a range of new programing related according to a statement from the conductor of the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra. to “Star Trek”. “Thriller” singer’s estate and Columbia “Why don’t you take a group of prominent Persian traditional Kurtzman is a writer and producer of Live Stage, co-developers of the untitled musicians such Hossein Alizadeh and Keyhan Kalhor to Russia if “Star Trek: Discovery”, which premiered production. you insist upon giving performances in the country?” he asked. in September 2017 on the CBS All Access Director Alex Kurtzman arrives for the The show will feature songs from U.S. popstar Michael Jackson performs All these words, which are almost identical to those uttered streaming service. A second season is currently premiere of the film “The Mummy” in Jackson’s extensive catalog of hits, it said. during concert in Vienna, July 2, 1997. later by Karatygina, fell on deaf ears and the selection of musicians in production. New York, U.S., June 6, 2017. (Reuters/ Known as the King of Pop, Jackson (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger) from the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra He also co-wrote and produced the 2009 Lucas Jackson) died at age 50 in 2009 from an overdose Jackson gained success with songs along with a number of officials with a mania for foreign travel “Star Trek” feature film and 2013 sequel “Star It was created by the late Gene Roddenberry of the anesthetic propofol and sedatives. such as “ABC” and “I’ll Be There” as a embarked on the Russian tour. Trek: Into Darkness.” and featured characters including Captain His estate previously collaborated on child singer with his brothers, and later The original “Star Trek” debuted in James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, a live tribute show by Cirque du Soleil pursued a solo career that earned him 1966 as a U.S. television series depicting and Vulcan officer Mr. Spock, played by the called “Michael Jackson One,” which has worldwide fame and fans with hits such Colombian pop star loses the adventures of the Starship Enterprise. late Leonard Nimoy. been running in Las Vegas since 2013. as “Rock With You,” “Bad” and “Beat It.” $785,000 in valuables at World Cup Hollywood producers speak out against Fox over immigration stance LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Some pow- spect for senior Fox group executives Peter centers being used to house the separated MOSCOW (Reuters) — Colombian pop singer Maluma was erful Hollywood producers and directors Rice, Dana Walden and Gary Newman. “For children “as essentially summer camps.” robbed of luxury items worth over 50 million roubles ($785,000) have criticized Twenty-First Century Fox now, I will take some time to see where those On Sunday, author Ann Coulter appeared from his hotel room near Moscow’s Red Square, Russian media Inc over its news commentators’ support people land, and at that point, make a decision on Fox News show “The Next Revolution” reported on Tuesday, citing police sources. for the U.S. immigration crackdown that about my future,” he said in a statement. and described the detained migrant children An intruder stole valuables including a Louis Vuitton bag, 11 separates children from their parents, with Levitan’s criticism of Fox News was echoed as “child actors weeping and crying” and luxury watches, various items of Cartier jewelry and 10 glasses one award-winning producer threatening to by three other influential television and movie urged U.S. President Donald Trump: “Do studded with diamonds and pearls, two police sources told news take his work elsewhere. producers and creators as an outcry grew in not fall for it, Mr. President.” Host Steve portal RBC. Steve Levitan, the co-creator of Emmy-win- the United States and abroad over a policy Hilton said in a statement later that he did Maluma, who is one of the biggest names in Latin music, is ning comedy “Modern Family”, said on Twit- to separate immigrant children from their not endorse Coulter’s comments. in Russia to watch the soccer World Cup. ter he was “disgusted” to work for the Fox parents who cross the U.S. border illegally. Representatives for Fox News and the Moscow police opened an investigation into suspected theft on television studio because it is owned by the elsewhere” after his contract with Fox for one Conservative commentators on Fox News Fox television studio declined to comment. Tuesday, both RBC and Interfax said, quoting a source as saying same company as Fox News. He tweeted on more season of the series expires next year. have spoken in support of the policy. Laura The 20th Century Fox film studio did not he had been staying at the Four Seasons Hotel near the Kremlin. Tuesday that he would be “setting up shop Levitan later backtracked, expressing re- Ingraham on Monday described the detention respond to requests for comment.