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INTERNATIONAL govt.: Lavrov ECONOMY sanctions lift SPORTS at World Cup ART& CULTURE changing life in Iran

WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y Tehran won’t let $2b ‘international theft’ takes effect: Velayati 2

12 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 37th year No.12540 Saturday APRIL 30, 2016 Ordibehesht 11, 1395 Rajab 22, 1437

Shahnameh captures Zarif to Ban: readers’ imaginations: Runoff parliamentary U.S. court Finnish translator ruling is fake EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW By Manijeh Rezapoor and phony I met Jaakko Hameen-Anttila, a professor of Arabic and elections held Iran firm to take every Islamic studies in the University of Helsinki, on a cool April morning in Tehran a few days after his translation of the POLITICAL TEHRAN — Iran Elections were held in 55 constituen- Polls opened at 8 a.m. and con- lawful measure to first half of Ferdowsi’s epic masterpiece Shahnameh into deskon Friday held run- cies in 21 provinces. tinued until 7 p.m. However, the restore the stolen Finnish had been introduced in the metropolis. off parliamentary election, where 139 The election will shape the power voting time was extended 2 hours in Hameen-Anttila said he believes the epic masterpiece candidates vied for 69 seats in the structure between a coalition of reform- all constituencies except two in Fars property, Zarif says makes a good read for a foreign audience since there is a 290-strong parliament. ists and moderates versus principlists. province. philosophy of thoughts in the Shahnameh that captures the POLITICAL TEHRAN — Te h - imaginations of readers. See page 9 deskran and Washington “I think Ferdowsi also realized that he had a message but have never been off the media’s radar he also knew that in order to get people to read his works, he screen. For one reason or another. had to put them in the form of narratives, and that is why the After the successful signing of the nu- stories in the Shahnameh are excellent”, he explained. clear deal, formally known as the Joint Hameen-Anttila considered the translation of the Comprehensive Plan of Action, a new Shahnameh a demanding task; however, he said, “I want to challenge has added more complexity emphasize that it was a work of love. I enjoyed doing it, al- to the uncharted waters. though sometimes it was difficult and tirtir-- According to the U.S. Supreme ing. I received the best rrewardeward from Court ruling, almost $2 billion in fro- the book itself and I becamecame mmoreore zen Iranian assets must be turned over familiar with Ferdowsi.” to American families of people killed As a schoolboy, he foundund it inter-inter- in the 1983 U.S. barracks bombing in esting to read the Shahanmeh.meh. “I got in-in- Beirut. terested in Persian literaturee whenwhen I waswas The ruling has drawn Tehran’s a school boy, when I wass 14 or strongest reactions, particularly 15. Then I started reading and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad finishing books in English aboutbout Zarif. Persian culture in general.. MMyy In addition to calling the verdict first acquaintance with Fer-Fer- “highway robbery” and threatening dowsi occurred when I startedarted to take the case to international learning Persian by myself,lf, bbyy arbitration, Zarif has penned a let- reading old text books fromm the ter to UN Secretary-General Ban 19thcentury. There were some Ki Moon, formally starting Iran’s stories in the appendices,s, and Behnam Abedi second international confrontation one of the textbooks containedined aann with the U.S.

excerpt from Ferdowsi, thehe birth YJC.ir/ 2 of Zal. See pageage 1122

Asia’s Iran oil imports Turmoil sure to follow Saudi reform plan unless handled CICA backs full surge 50% in March transparently: international business expert implementation Asian imports of Iranian oil in March jumped 50% from a year Professor Hossein Askari says the reform ‘will be politically challenging for the Al-Sauds and the government’ of nuclear deal earlier as shipments into India and South Korea have climbed Following is the full text of rule of law; a modern con- POLITICAL TEHRAN — In since international sanctions were lifted on Iran’s disputed nu- INTERVIEW By Javad Heirannia the interview: stitution; economic/financial deska statement is- clear program. The Saudi government policy reforms to include sued on Thursday, CICA - Con- The strong exports point to Iran’s success in regaining market TEHRAN — An interna- has ratified the 2030 pros- sound business regulations ference on Interaction and Con- share in Asia after the sanctions were eased in January. Before tional business expert who pect plan. What made Saudi and their monitoring and en- fidence Building Measures in Asia 2012, Iran exported around 2 million bpd, with more than half served as special advisor to Arabia to ratify such a plan? forcement; consistent long- – among other things called on all going to Asia, mainly China, South Korea, India and Japan. Teh- Saudi finance minister is of A: Let me give you a brief term economic goals and relevant parties to fully implement ran has been banned from selling oil to the US for decades. the opinion that the reform background as I try to answer policies; reduction in both the the JCPOA, commonly called the Iran’s oil flows to Europe have also begun to pick up after plan unveiled by Deputy your question. Saudi Arabia size of the government sector nuclear deal. a slow start. Crown Prince Mohammed has, maybe and finally, come and unproductive and waste- The nuclear deal, signed in July Imports by Iran’s top four buyers – China, India, Japan and bin Salman “will be politically to terms with the fact that that ful subsidies; reduction in 2015 and implemented in January South Korea – came to 1.56 million bpd in March, up 49.9% challenging for the Al-Sauds oil revenues cannot sustain its government dependence on 1016, obliges all sides (Iran, the U.S., from a year ago, government and tanker-tracking data shows. and the government.” future. This is something that oil revenues over a period of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and India’s imports last month totaled 506,100 bpd, the high- The plan, unveiled on April all countries that are major 10-15 years so that oil reve- China) to respect the terms of the est in five years, the data showed. The nation’s imports from 25, is aimed at ending the oil exporters and rely heavily nues can eventually go into a agreement. Iran are set to surge to a seven-year high during the fiscal Saudi kingdom’s “addiction” on oil/natural gas for govern- sovereign wealth fund, adop- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister year of 2016-17, industry sources said. to oil and transforming it into ment revenues and exports tion of an effective and eq- Morteza Sarmadi represented Iran in South Korea’s imports in March fell slightly from a two- a global investment power. revenues must address. I have uitable tax system to replace the CICA meeting held in Beijing. year high in February to 264,452 bpd but were still 94.5% The initiative is approved by spent a better part of half of oil revenues for financing the In its final declaration CICA also higher than a year ago. Imports by China and Japan fell from the cabinet. Hossein Aska- my life preaching this fact and government’s budget; and expressed support for Iranian initia- a year ago. (Source: Gulf Times) ri, professor of International suggesting the reforms and the establishment of a trans- tive for a united world against vio- Business at George Washing- policies that assure a thriving parent and well-managed lence and extremism, officially known PEEK FRAME Tehran Times/Idea by: Ali Kushki ton University, tells the Tehran and sustainable economy for At its core, the reforms must sovereign wealth fund to re- as WAVE. Cartoon by: Seyyed Rouallah Mirmohammadi Times that “turmoil is sure resource dependent coun- include institutional reforms ceive oil revenues in order to Following is the text of the to follow unless (the reform) tries. However, all govern- that lay the foundation for provide similar benefits to all two articles related to WAVE and handled very wisely, transpar- ments including Iran have not sustainable and vibrant econ- future generations of citizens.” JCPOA: ently, equitably and slowly.” adopted the basic reforms. omies. Here I list them: The 9 We emphasize that the inter- national community should joint- Iran, Italy join hands in training counter ly combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations in accordance narcotics police of Afghanistan with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and support full im- SOCIETY TEHRAN — Iran and would help countries in fighting the bat- plementation of the United Nations deskItaly collaborated on tle against drugs. Global Counter-Terrorism Strate- a counter narcotics training project for “Iran and Italy have taken a major gy. We also emphasize the need to Afghan officers which was held in Amin step towards transferring knowledge jointly curb the spread of terrorist Police University, Tehran, Tasnim news and experience on drugs,” the police and extremist ideologies; and pro- agency reported. chief said, adding, Afghanistan has mote interreligious and interethnic Over the courses the Iranian and made an active participation as well. tolerance, dialogue and understand- Italian anti-narcotics experts delivered He additionally thanked Iran and ing. In this context we welcome the training to afghan anti-drug officers. Italy’s foreign ministers who signed an adoption of the United Nations Gen- Iran’s Chief of Anti-Drug Police Gen- agreement on boosting cooperation eral Assembly Resolution entitled: “A eral Ali Moayyedi noted that fighting between the two countries on drug re- the closing ceremony of the training World against Violence and Violent drugs needs global effort, expressing lated issues. project which was held with United Na- extremism” (A/RES/70/109) on 10 hope for more regional and transre- European countries, he pointed, are tions Office on Drugs and Crime (UNO- December 2015, initiated by the Is- gional cooperation to fight this global inclined to transfer knowledge and ex- DC) in attendance. lamic Republic of Iran, and call for issue. perience on the battle against drugs He explained that transferring and the full implementation of this Res- Moayyedi made the remarks during and Italy is a forerunner among them. accumulating knowledge of this matter olution. We acknowledge the Joint Com- CONDOLENCES CONDOLENCES prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and E3/EU+3. We Dear Ali Asgari Dear Heidar Rezaei hope that all relevant parties will Managing director of Tehran Times and Mehr news agency Your colleagues at the Tehran Times and Mehr news fully implement JCPOA and the UN The staff in Tehran Times and Mehr news agency agency heard with great sorrow about the death of your Security Council Resolution 2231 in offer condolences to you on the death of your nephew. We offer our sincere condolences good faith, which will contribute to beloved brother. May his soul rest in peace. to you in this time of sorrow. enhancing mutual trust among re- gional countries. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y NATION 2 AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 http://www.tehrantimes.com/international

MEDIA MONITOR Too early to name parliament speaker, Indian PM due in Iran next month division derails parliament: MP Kazemi confirms contacts between Larijani and Aref TEHRAN — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi POLITICAL TEHRAN — Kazem Jala- in Tehran in the February 26 elections and Lar- plans to pay an official visit to Tehran next month to deskli, member of the outgo- ijani won a re-election, coming second in the hold talks with senior Iranian officials on a range of is- ing parliament who secured victory for the religious city of Qom. sues, including ways to boost bilateral ties between the next one too, has said it is premature to say On if there has been any communication two Asian countries, an Iranian diplomat announced. who will be the next parliament speaker, be- between the two hopefuls to form a coa- According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broad- lieving any division will undermine the par- lition, Kazemi said there have been but he casting (IRIB), Iranian Ambassador to India Ghola- liament. declined to comment further.

IRIB mreza Ansari said on Friday that the Indian prime “The incoming parliament should be The parliament member was unaware of minister will start his two-day trip to the Islamic Re- managed and steered in such way that no the news stating a seven-member commit- public on May 22. political faction feels failed.” tee is looking into the future of the chair. He also said that holding consultations with The remark comes amid guessing game While Larijani had his own way of run- Iranian officials on various political and economic on who will win the influential chair. Incum- ning the legislative body, on paper Aref can issues, including the contract on the development bent Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and introduce a different taste of leadership con- of Iran’s southern port city of Chabahar, as well as Mohammad Reza Aref will fight the duel, sidering his reformist thinking. delivering a speech at a gathering of Iranian busi- people familiar with the matter say. The parliamentary post plays an increas- nessmen and merchants are among Modi’s plans The reformist Aref, a Stanford-educated ingly important role as Iran is emerging from during the visit. former vice-president and minister, came first global isolation over its nuclear program.

Iran set to boycott European ISIL elements threaten international security, Iran says hajj if conditions POLITICAL TEHRAN — Iranian Defense Minister on its website on March 24. Iran’s efforts in countering terrorism. not met deskHossein Dehqan warned on Thursday The Iranian defense chief called for coordinated Ravkov said that Belarus attaches great importance that the European members of ISIL are a threat against campaign against terrorists. to expansion of ties with Iran and called for an increased international security. “Those who commit crime and murder under the name cooperation in defense area. TEHRAN — Iran’s minister of culture said on Thurs- Dehqan made the remarks during a meeting with Bela- of Islam have nothing to do with Islam and we all should In a separate meeting on Thursday with Mohammed day that Saudi Arabia should accept the conditions rusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov on the sidelines of a counter this evil movement through unity, convergence and Masoom Stanekzai, the acting defense minister of Afghan- Tehran has set for the upcoming hajj pilgrimage, conference on international security in Moscow. organized cooperation,” Dehqan noted. istan, Dehqan said that deepening Iran-Afghanistan ties is otherwise Iranian pilgrims will not be sent to this According to data provided by the Soufan Group, Dehqan also said that the U.S. has adopted strategy important to counter elements causing regional insecurity. year’s annual religious ceremony. between 27,000 and 31,000 people have traveled to of waging proxy wars to suppress new and big powers. He also highlighted the importance of establishing Speaking to Tasnim, Ali Jannati said plans for the Syria and Iraq to join ISIL and other violent extremist He urged the countries in the region and also “inde- long lasting security and stability in Afghanistan. travel of Iranians in the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage groups in the region. There are approximately 6,000 pendent states” to counter the U.S. infiltration through Masoom Stanekzai said that the two countries can have not been still scrapped, but made it clear that people from Europe - with the most fighters leaving “unity and comprehensive cooperation”. play an important part in resolving crises such as drug TASNIM Tehran will not agree to the conditions set by Riyadh. France, Germany and the UK, telegraph.co.uk reported For his part, the Belarusian defense minister praised trafficking and terrorism.

Parliament speaker Tehran won’t let $2b ‘international theft’ Tehran renews call for serious fight defends nuclear deal takes effect: Velayati on terrorism POLITICAL TEHRAN — Ali Ak- POLITICAL TEHRAN — Morteza deskbar Velayati, head deskSarmadi, the sec- of the Expediency Council Center for ond-ranking Iranian diplomat, on Friday TEHRAN — Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani Strategic Research, said on Thursday renewed Tehran’s call for a serious fight has defended Tehran’s attempt to close the nuclear that Tehran won’t allow the U.S. to rob against terrorism and extremist ideolo- dossier and end sanctions on the country. $2 billion of Iranian funds. gies by the international community. According to Larijnai, Iran’s performance during “The Islamic Republic has shown “Unfortunately, there is no country in two years of negotiations isolated the other side, it will never waive its rights… and the the world that is not harmed by terror-

MEHR forcing them to bow down to Tehran. Iranian people won’t allow the interna- ism and there is no doubt in the neces- tional theft to take effect.” sity of fighting it,” Sarmadi told reporters The remark comes after the U.S. Su- at the end of the Conference on Interac- preme Court ruled on April 20 that al- tion and Confidence Building Measures Russia says ready most $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets robbery. And believe you me, we will in Asia (CICA) in Beijing. peace and stability in the region. must be turned over to American fami- get it back.” He described “unity” among the coun- CICA is an inter-governmental forum to make T-90 tanks lies of people killed in the 1983 bombing Also, Zarif penned a letter to UN tries as the only way to counter terrorism. for enhancing cooperation towards pro- in Iran of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, where Defeating and eradicating terrorism moting peace, security and stability in Asia. and other attacks blamed on Iran. Zarif impressed on him that “the Unit- and sectarianism in the Middle East are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bah- Tehran has strongly objected to the ed States has devised a pseudo-legal the only ways to restore peace in coun- rain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, TEHRAN — Russia announced on Thursday that it is ruling, threatening to take the case to scheme that subjects Iranian assets tries like Syria and Iraq, Sarmadi remarked. Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, considering a plan that involves the licensed production international arbitration. held in U.S. and foreign banks, and Elsewhere, he said boosting interaction Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, of T-90 tanks in Iran in what could mark a new chapter In a recent interview with the New even Iranian cultural property held on and cooperation among CICA member Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, in strategic relations between the two countries. Yorker, Iranian Foreign Affairs Minis- loan by American museums, to spu- states is one of Iran’s strategies, calling Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, The announcement was made by Vyacheslav ter Mohammad Javad Zarif had said, rious rulings and unlawful collection on CICA members to make efforts in line United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Khalitov, the deputy director of the Ural Vagon Za- “It is a theft. Huge theft. It is highway proceedings.” with expanding relations and maintaining Vietnam are CICA members. vod (UVZ) which is the largest battle tank manufac- turer in the world. Khalitov was quoted by Interfax as saying that the project to produce T-90s in Iran will go ahead Zarif to Ban: U.S. court ruling is fake and phony as soon as there is a proposal from Tehran. 1 In what follows, the full text of the let- their Takfiri extremist siblings. you the UN general membership about the Hussein in his war of aggression against Iran “We are ready, if the customer wants it,” Khalitov said. ter has been given: In sum, in blatant contravention of the catastrophic implications of the US blatant dis- from 1980 to 1988, including provision of INTERFAX In the past few years, the United States has most fundamental principles of international respect for state immunity, which will cause sys- AWACS reconnaissance to aid Saddam’s use persistently engaged in a dangerous practice law – not to mention facts, the United States tematic erosion of this fundamental principle. of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers Iran easing visa of defying international law and order by al- has devised a pseudo-legal scheme that sub- The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the un- and civilians – which amounts to a war crime lowing, in fact instigating, private litigants to jects Iranian assets held in US and foreign lawful decisions by US courts in this respect, , deliberate shooting of an Iranian civil airlin- requirement for bring civil action before U.S domestic courts banks, and even Iranian cultural property held including the ruling that authorized the con- er in 1988, killing all 290 passengers, and the nationals of 42 against sovereign states, including the Islamic on loan by American museums, to spurious fiscation of nearly 1.8 billion US Dollars of as- plundering of Iranian assets held abroad. The countries Republic of Iran. Trials have been organized rulings and unlawful collection proceedings. sets belonging to the Central Bank of Iran to Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to in absentia; self-serving judgments have Excellency, the benefit of private litigants. The entire court take appropriate lawful action, including nec- TEHRAN — The deputy foreign minister for con- been obtained in default; and claims have The principle of state immunity is one of proceedings which led to the recent ruling essary and proportionate countermeasures, sular affairs said on Thursday that Iran is currently been laid on the assets of the Iranian peo- the cornerstones of the international legal have been fake and phony and a travesty of to restore and protect the rights of the Iranian observing an ease of visas requirement for nation- ple. Knowing full well that no self-respecting order and a rule of customary international justice in every sense of law, jurisdiction, merit, people against such persistent unlawful con- als of 42 countries. nation, certainly not Iran, would ever subject law, most recently codified in the United Na- fact and process. This clearly constitutes an duct by the United States. Hassan Qashqavi said negotiations are also un- itself to the jurisdiction of another state’s do- tions Convention on Jurisdictional Immuni- international wrongful act and entails inter- Mr. Secretary-General, derway with 30 countries to ease visa formalities. mestic courts, they have amassed billions of ties of States and Their Property. Its primacy national responsibility for the Government of There has seldom been so much at stake ILNA He added some 4.5 million foreigners obtained dollars in unlawful and factually flawed de- has also been recognized by the community the United States, for which it will be held ac- for the rule of law, the proper functioning and Iran’s visa last year, ILNA reported. fault judgements against the Islamic Republic of nations, all legal systems and the Interna- countable. The Islamic Republic of Iran holds integrity of the international legal and finan- During the said period, the number of Iranian of Iran and its organs. tional Court of Justice. With the sole possible the United States Government responsible for cial systems, and the prevalence of dialogue applicants who obtained European visas increased The U.S Executive branch illegally freez- permissible exception of “commercial activi- this outrageous robbery, disguised under a and accommodation over coercion and con- by 30 percent, he said. es Iranian national assets; the U.S Legislative ty”, claims against a sovereign state must be court order, and is determined to take every frontation. In view of the detrimental effects The diplomat added that the visas issued for Ira- branch legislates to pave the ground for their pursued either in accordance with mecha- lawful measure to restore the stolen property of continued unlawful conduct by the United nian applicants heading to non-European countries illicit seizures; and the U.S Judicial branch is- nisms provided for in bilateral or multilateral and the interest accrued to it from the date it States, I wish to call on Your Excellency to lend also rose some 50 percent, indicating the credibility sues rulings to confiscate Iranian assets with- agreements or through international courts was blocked by the United States. your good offices in order to induce the US of Iranian passports and the effectiveness of meas- out any base in law or fact. The veracity and or tribunals, as appropriate. It is in fact the United States that must Government to adhere to its international ures taken to ease visa issuance. credibility of the US justice system -- when it It is a matter of grave concern that the pay long overdue reparations to the Iranian obligations, put an end to the violation of comes to its treatment of Iran -- can be meas- United States Congress, along with other people for its persistent hostile policies. Such the fundamental principle of state immunity, ured by the recent ruling of a New York Dis- branches of the U.S Government, seem to wrongful US policies and actions against Irani- release all frozen Iranian assets in US banks Ahmad Khatami: trict Court that ordered Iran to pay more than believe that they can easily defy and breach an people, entailing international responsibil- and cease and desist forthwith from any in- $10.5 billion in damages to the families of the the fundamental principle of state immunity, ity, are self-admitted and based on solid his- terference with Iranian commercial and finan- Iran will never victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, claiming by unilaterally waiving the immunity of states torical evidence and not absurd fabrications. cial transactions outside the United States, in accept contemptuous, against all evidence and common sense that and even Central Banks in total contraven- They include overthrowing the democrati- compliance with its general international obli- insecure hajj Iran “provided active support to the attackers.” tion of the international obligations of the cally elected government of Iran in 1953, ac- gations and its obligations under the JCPOA. Such absurd allegation – not by a politician United States and under a groundless legal tively supporting and sponsoring the ensuing I will be grateful if this letter were circulat- TEHRAN — A Tehran interim Friday prayer leader but regrettably by a so-called court of law— doctrine that the international community brutal dictatorship and aiding and abetting in ed as a document of the General Assembly has condemned Saudi Arabia’s mischievous acts contradicts even public statements as well as does not recognize. its crimes – including tortures by US-created under agenda item entitled “Rule of law at the against Iran, saying that Iran will never accept con- findings – open or sealed -- of investigations In view of the detrimental effect of such and US-trained SAVAK -- against the Iranian national and international levels” and of the temptuous and insecure hajj pilgrimage. by the US Government and US Congress. practices on the integrity of the international people from 1953 to 1979, actively providing Security Council. Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said Saudis intend to Ironically the same court absolved the real public order, I wish to alert you and through intelligence, support and comfort to Saddam Please accept, Excellency, the assurances block the Iranian hajj pilgrims’ presence in the hajj culprits of any responsibility and ruled against of my highest consideration. ritual, but they are nobody as Mecca and Medina IRNA Iran, which was the victim of the same terrorist “U.S issues rulings to confiscate Iranian assets Mr. Javad Zarif are two cities belonging to all Muslims, IRNA re- group and has consistently been in the fore- Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic ported. front of international efforts against them and without any base in law or fact.” Republic of Iran I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

http://www.tehrantimes.com/international AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 INTERNATIONAL 3

U.S. troops in Syria to NEWS Syria war: UN aid chief topple govt.: Lavrov laments 'massive suffering' The United Nation's aid chief has issued a strongly word- Damascus: U.S. Special Forces in Syria, a blatant violation of Syria’s ed appeal to world powers to revive a shattered ceasefire in Syria and put an end to the “massive human suffering” By staff & agencies as terrorist. that has left millions of people facing desolation, death and Russia says the United States military Washington's acknowledgement of starvation. intervention in Syria is illegal, ultimately the groups “intermingling” with al-Nus- Stephen O'Brien told the United Nations Security Coun- aimed at toppling the government of ra Front follows Pentagon spokesman cil on Thursday that it must not squander what he saw as President Bashar al-Assad. Col. Steve Warren's claim last week in a an opportunity for peace in recently stalled talks in Ge- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lav- press briefing that “it’s primarily al-Nus- neva, and again called for unimpeded access to get aid rov has told Swedish daily Dagens Ny- ra who holds Aleppo.” to people trapped by renewed and fierce fighting in the heter that the intervention without the The U.S. State Department has also country. authorization of the “legitimate” Syrian urged a cessation of hostilities against “We must all be ashamed this is happening on our authorities was a “big mistake.” militant forces holding Aleppo while the watch,” Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council during “I've told our American partners re- Pentagon has said it is primarily al-Nus- a meeting on the humanitarian crisis caused by the five- peatedly that this is a big mistake. Just ra Front that is in charge of Syria's sec- year war. like they received approval from the ond largest city. While the number of humanitarian convoys crossing Iraqi government, they should have The Syrian army is pushing to drive borders and fighting lines has increased, O'Brien said “cur- obtained approval from Damascus or out terrorists from Aleppo with the rent levels of access still leave civilians starving and without come to the United Nations Security Russian air support but the deaths of medical care. Council,” he said. civilians in a recent airstrike in the city Elsewhere, on Thursday, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura “The fact that they went there ille- have become a lightening rod for crit- said that in the previous 48 hours, one Syrian was killed gally reflects, firstly, the arrogant stance icism. every 25 minutes, and one wounded every 13 minutes. that Syrian President Assad heads an On Thursday, Damascus and Mos- The upsurge in strikes, shelling and fighting came as illegitimate regime,” Lavrov said in re- cow vehemently denied accusations the main opposition bloc at the Geneva peace talks, the marks published on Thursday. from the opposition that they carried so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC), walked out “And, secondly, in my opinion, the out the strike on the al-Qudos hospital, and threatened to boycott a planned further round of dis- desire to keep their hands untied and in which nearly 30 people were killed. cussion unless the government stopped its campaign of be able to use the coalition to attack The U.S. State Department, however, air strikes. not only terrorist positions, but perhaps said Syria's government was solely re- The HNC left formal negotiations last week, saying that also the regime's forces later on in or- sponsible for the airstrike on the hospi- it needed a “pause” after at least 40,000 people fled fight- der to overthrow it, as it happened in country's sovereignty and an aggres- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria tal in Aleppo. ing near Aleppo when government forces pressed on with Libya.” sion. Zakharova said in Moscow. U.S. officials' call for a halt on attacks an offensive against rebel fighters there. Lavrov said Russia is “the only coun- A statement issued by the Foreign “What they are dispatched there for in Aleppo come after State Department De Mistura estimated last week that 400,000 Syrians had try engaged in anti-terrorism activities Ministry said the troops arrived in the and whether this is part of a program or spokesman Toner said in a February 22 been killed during the war, though that was not an official in Syria legally.” town of Rumeilan in Syria's predomi- a plan,” she added. press briefing that groups who fight figure. Millions more have been forced out of the country. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister nantly Kurdish province of Hasakeh in A U.S. State Department spokesman alongside al-Nusra Front or other ter- (Source: Al jazeera)) Sergei Ryabkov also said on Friday that the north. said earlier in the week that Obama’s rorist groups in Syria would be legiti- the deployment of U.S. Special Forces United States President Barack Oba- promise not to put U.S. boots on the mate military targets. to Syria without coordination with Da- ma announced this week the deploy- ground in Syria was never a promise. “We...have been very clear in saying mascus violates Syria's sovereignty. ment of 250 more troops to Syria, which The U.S. also appears to have reject- that al-Nusrah and Daesh (ISIL) are not Since September 2014, the U.S. and would bring the number of U.S. Special ed a Russian request for the United Na- part of any kind of ceasefire or any kind New RT documentary some of its allies have been carrying Forces in the war-torn country to 300. tions to blacklist a major militant group, of negotiated cessation of hostilities,” he exposes dirty oil secrets, out airstrikes against purported Islam- The Syrian statement said the de- which has attended UN-brokered Syria said. ic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ ployment of the troops is a “rejected peace talks in Geneva. Syria has been gripped by for- ISIL cozy ties with Turkey Daesh) terrorist group positions inside and illegitimate intervention that was Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vi- eign-backed militancy since March Syria. done without the Syrian government's taly Churkin said on Wednesday he 2011. According to a February report Exclusive eye witness reports and documents, abandoned by The Syrian government has charged consent.” had asked the UN to add Jaysh al-Is- by the Syrian Center for Policy Re- retreating terrorists and found by RT Documentary crew mem- that the airstrikes had targeted the Russia, meanwhile, said it wants de- lam (Army of Islam) and Ahrar al-Sham search, the crisis in the Arab country bers in a region liberated by Syrian Kurds, point to commercial country's infrastructure in many in- tailed information about the U.S. plan, (Free Men of the Levant) to a blacklist has claimed the lives of over 470,000 scale oil smuggling operations and cozy relations between the stances and done little to stop the ad- including the precise purpose of the that includes Daesh and al-Qaeda. people so far. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group vances of terrorists. deployment. The U.S. admits that the two groups The Takfiri militants, who were ini- and Turkey. U.S. 'aggression' “We would like to comprehend what are fighting alongside and are “in- tially trained by the CIA (Central Intel- Exclusive and unprecedented footage, along with witness On Thursday, Damascus denounced this is all about; whether this is a one- termingled with” al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra ligence Agency) in Jordan in 2012 to accounts, was filmed by the RT Documentary crew only ten the arrival of 150 U.S. Special Forces in time action, who these people are and Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), but has reject- destabilize the Syrian government, now days after the town of Shaddadi in Syrian Kurdistan was liber- Syria, calling it a blatant violation of the where they will be stationed,” Russian ed the Russian request to classify them control large parts of Iraq and Syria. ated from ISIL terrorists. The area surrounding the town is well known for its vast oil reserves and extraction activity that for months was reaped by ISIL command to generate revenue. Following Kurdish soldiers around the destroyed and aban- North Korea sentences Korean Britain: Labor suspends Ken doned homes, RT Documentary found documents which showed a direct link between Turkey and ISIL terrorists operat- American to 10 years hard labor Livingstone in 'Zionism' row ing in Syria. The paperwork included an entire pile of foreign North Korea's Supreme Court sen- Britain's opposition Labor Party has passports with Turkish entry stamps, and booklets encourag- tenced a Korean American man to 10 suspended Ken Livingstone, the former ing war against the Syrian government, printed in Turkey. years of hard labor on Friday for sub- mayor of London, after he argued that But most importantly, among piles of ISIL documents RT version, China's Xinhua news agency Adolf Hitler was a supporter of Zionism. journalists discovered heaps of detailed invoices used by the reported, in the latest conviction of a Amid an escalating row over alleged terrorists to calculate and report their daily revenues from ille- foreigner for crimes against the isolat- anti-Semitic rhetoric among its mem- gal smuggling activity. ed state. bers, the Labor Party said that it had “Of course, they wouldn’t get any weapons from Turkey if Kim Dong Chul was arrested in suspended Livingstone “pending an in- they didn’t ship them oil,” a teenage oil refinery worker told RT. North Korea in October and had ad- vestigation, for bringing the party into “They...go with the oil and come back with the guns. And so mitted to committing “unpardonable disrepute”. they go, back and forth, back and forth.” espionage” including stealing military In an interview with BBC radio, Liv- In addition, the documentary crew was also able to record secrets, the North's official news agen- ized American citizen, had confessed ingstone had defended Labor mem- hashtag #IsraelApartheid above a quote exclusive interviews with locals – as well as captured ISIL re- cy reported earlier. to committing espionage under the di- ber of parliament Naz Shah, who was saying “Never forget that everything cruits – who shed more light into the ISIL oil trade. According “The Supreme Court of the Demo- rection of the United States and South suspended on Wednesday for sharing Hitler did in Germany was legal”. to witnesses on the ground, fighters who came from Raqqa cratic People's Republic of Korea on Fri- Korean governments and apologized allegedly anti-Semitic posts on social Labor member of parliament John and Aleppo to pick up the oil constantly mentioned Turkey as day sentenced South Korea-born U.S. for his crimes, according to the North's media. Mann, who was later filmed chasing Liv- the final destination. citizen Kim Dong-chul to 10 years of KCNA news agency. During the course of the interview ingstone and calling him a “Nazi apolo- “A lot of money passed through here, because they (ISIL) hard labor for subversion of the DPRK Some foreigners held by North Livingstone made controversial com- gist”, was also reprimanded by party of- pumped plenty of oil. It's safe to say that they were making (Democratic People's Republic of Ko- Korea have said after their release ments about Israel, and made an ob- ficials for his “completely inappropriate” as much as a million dollars per week. Dealers from Aleppo rea) social system and espionage activ- that their confessions were coerced. scure reference to Adolf Hitler “support- public confrontation. would come in vehicles, with tanks that could take up to 170- ities,” Xinhua said. The North is also holding an ing Zionism before he went mad”. Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said 180 barrels. People said they'd take the oil, export it to Turkey There were no further details. American, Otto Warmbier, who was “When Hitler won his election in 1932 later on Thursday that his party “won't and other countries,” one local said. North Korea, which has been criti- sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in his policy then was that Jews should be tolerate racism”. Silav Serkeftin, a commander with the Kurdish Women's cized for its poor human rights record March for trying to steal a propagan- moved to Israel. He was supporting Zi- More than 20 Labor MPs had earli- Protection Units (YPJ/Yekîneyên Parastina Jin), said that “we for years, has used detained Americans da banner. It is also holding a Kore- onism before he went mad and ended er called on Corbyn to suspend Living- can say with certainty that Turkey actively supports ISIL. We in the past to extract high-profile visits an-Canadian Christian pastor, who is up killing six million Jews.” stone following his BBC interview. found Turkish walkie-talkies, Turkish phone numbers.” from the United States, with which it serving a life sentence for subversion. Naz Shah, was suspended on Sadiq Khan, Labor's candidate to One of the captured ISIL terrorists admitted that the terror- has no formal diplomatic relations. North Korea has tightened securi- Wednesday after she was caught hav- become the next London mayor, con- ist group sells oil to Turkey. Others have admitted that crossing It has previously handed down ty ahead of the first ruling party con- ing shared a graphic with a map of Israel demned Livingstone's remarks, saying the border into the neighboring country proved to be rela- lengthy sentences to foreigners before gress in 36 years which will begin on superimposed on a map of the United they were “appalling and inexcusable.” tively easy. eventually freeing them. May 6. It has also intensified its pur- States, bearing the caption “Solution for “There must be no place for this in “Crossing the Syrian-Turkish border was also very easy. It Six foreigners, including Kim and suit of nuclear weapons and ballistic Israeli-Palestine conflict: Relocate Israel our party,” said Khan, who looks set in was like crossing the street,” ISIL member from Saudi Arabia, three South Koreans, are known to be missiles since its fourth nuclear test in into United States.” She added the com- the polls to become the British capital's Muhammed Ahmed Muhammed told RT. “A man told me that detained in the North. January. ment “Problem solved.” first Muslim mayor. the ISIL erased the borders. That there were no borders. Kim, who has said he was a natural- (Source: Reuters) She was also found to have used the (Source: Al Jazeera) I’d heard about that, but I couldn’t quite get it until I saw it myself.” Despite the apparent ties between Turkey and ISIL, the teenage oil refinery worker expressed optimism that Syria Protests break out as Trump speaks in Southern California would come out ahead. “Turkey decided to support ISIL so they could destroy Syria. Raucous crowds of protesters took to At least four people were arrested and Mexican flags and posed for selfies. Build that wall!” -- a reference to Trump's But Syria will stand up to them,” he said. the streets in California as Donald Trump one Trump supporter had his face blood- Police in riot gear and on horseback call to create a barrier between the United Ankara has always fiercely denied any involvement in an brought his Republican presidential cam- ied in a scuffle as he tried to drive out of pushed the crowd back and away from States and Mexico to stop illegal border illegal oil trade with ISIL terrorist group, and any contacts with paign to conservative Orange County af- the arena. One man jumped on a police the venue. There were no major injuries crossings. the terror group whatsoever. RT has reached out to the Turkish ter sweeping the Northeast GOP (Grand car, leaving its front and rear windows and police did not use any force. The At one point, seven women wearing Foreign Ministry for a specific comment on the documentary Old Party) primaries. smashed and the top dented in and oth- crowd began dispersing about three no shirts and Bernie Sanders stickers over crew’s findings which Ankara has failed to provide thus far. Dozens of protesters were mostly er protests sprayed graffiti on a police car hours after the speech ended. their breasts entered the square outside Besides collecting irrefutable proof of quite cozy relations peaceful on Thursday as Trump gave his and the venue's marquee. Earlier in the evening, a half-dozen an- the amphitheater. They said they were between ISIL and Turkey, RT managed capture the mood of speech inside the Pacific Amphitheater. Dozens of cars -- including those of ti-Trump protesters taunted those waiting protesting Trump's lack of engagement the populace who have lived and worked under ISIL yoke for After the event, however, the demonstra- Trump supporters trying to leave -- were to get into the venue. Trump supporters on issues of gender equality and women's months. They shared their untold stories of survival under the tion grew rowdy late in the evening and stuck in the street as several hundred surrounded one man who waved a Mex- rights. terrorists' rule. spilled into the streets. demonstrators blocked the road, waved ican flag and shouted “Build that wall! (Source: AP) (Source: RT) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 4 ECONOMY AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy

NEWS Iran’s gasoil exports double during Lifted trade ban will boost Iranian poultry exports Mar. 20-Apr. 25: official Market experts foresee a significant boost in Iranian poultry exports as a result of the lifting of international sanctions ECONOMY TEHRAN — Iran has exported the on Iran this year. The country’s opportunities in terms of deskaverage of 9 million to 9.2 million lit- poultry meat exports, are huge, despite various challenges. ers of gasoil per day since the begging of the current “Giving the existing potential of the poultry industry, Iran Iranian calendar year (March 20) until April 25, according currently has the ability to export 1 million tons of poultry to National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company meat per year. At the moment, Iran produces more than (NIOPDC) Managing Director Seyed Naser Sajjadi. 2 million tons of poultry, primarily chicken, and 900,000 – As the official told the Mehr news agency, in the pre- 950,000 tons of eggs per ceding calendar year (which ended on March 19, 2016), year, while the volume of the figure stood at 4.5 million to 5 million liters per day egg products this year will and now the volume is almost doubled. probably be about 1 million Replacing more gasoil with natural gas as the feed- tons,” stated Habib Amini, stock of power plants and industrial units, due to up- director of the department surge in the country’s natural gas output, and also imple- of poultry and beekeeping mentation of fuel consumption management programs at the country’s Ministry of count for the upturn in the exports of gasoil, he added. Agricultural. “Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, “Iran currently holds 10th and some countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus place in the world in terms are among the buyers of Iran’s gasoil”, the senior official of poultry production. Cur- said adding, “Moreover, several shipments of gasoil have rently we have 23,000 spe- been sailed to international markets.” cialized broiler farms. In the The contract for exporting two million tons of gasoil time of the trade embargo to Iraq will soon be inked to turn the neighboring coun- Iran was forced to restruc- try into largest buyer of the Iranian oil product, Mehr Given that Iran possesses surplus capacity for the gic oil product to neighboring countries and the Middle ture its production to become fully self-sufficient and has reported on Friday. production and supply of gasoil, the export of the strate- East region has been put on the agenda. been so, for several years now,” said head of the National Association of Poultry Farmers of Iran (NAPFI) Homayoun Darabi. According to Darabi, the main importers of Iranian poul- Iranian, French oil institutes to sign MOU try are Saudi Arabia and Iraq. They also supply poultry to ECONOMY TEHRAN — The French plan to boost cooperation on the issues of fining and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran resentatives of foreign companies in Iran will Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. The lifting of the trade em- desk bargo this year should open the way for Iranian poultry to Institute of Petroleum ti- increasing production, water management, (Iran Oil Show 2016) which will be held from take part in the event. Russia, Pakistan and the European Union markets. Also, the tled Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP) is slated sweetening natural gas, establishing a joint May 5 to 8 in Tehran. China, South Korea, Turkey, Germany, country is exploring possibilities for export of poultry meat to pen an MOU with Iranian Research Insti- center for running international specialized This is the country’s first oil show in post- Spain, Italy, France, Austria and Finland are to countries in the South-East Asia region. tute of Petroleum Industry on oil, gas, re- courses to provide services to Iran's oil in- sanction era and number of foreign partici- among the countries that plan to set up 300,000 tons of chicken for export fining, and petrochemical cooperation, the dustry and to that of the region, and etc. pants has notably increased. As reported, their special pavilions in this show, which will Last year the government introduced an export subsidy Shana news agency reported on Friday. The intended contract will be endorsed 996 domestic companies and 634 foreign be held at Tehran Permanent International in the amount of $0.55 per kilogram of chicken supplied to According to the report, the two institutes during the 21st International Oil, Gas, Re- ones from 35 countries, as well as 157 rep- Fairground. foreign markets. Next year the country may increase this figure, meanwhile according to the country’s officials within the coming year following the lifting of the food embar- go Iran has the ability to boost poultry exports by nearly British banks weighing Iran sanctions lift 250,000 – 300,000 tons, according to Deputy Agriculture Britain's biggest banks are to set up a implications of the sanctions move. which is due to take place next month. which he referred to "the considerable Minister Hamid Adjanu. A substantial amount of the Iranian high-level panel to navigate the re- The decision to establish the group But sources said that many BBA divergence in both approach and inten- authorities hopes rest on the Russian market. moval of western sanctions against was reached at a BBA board meeting members, which include UK-headquar- tion between the EU, which is taking a “Iran aims to establish poultry meat exports to Russia in Iran amid continuing U.S. opposition to last week, according to industry sources. tered and international banks with op- positive approach towards Iran, and the the amount of 10,000 tons per month or 120,000 tons per some foreign economic engagement The working group's creation comes erations in Britain, had expressed un- U.S., where primary sanctions remain in year. This is not our maximum, and should there be a great- with Tehran. as UK banks come under pressure from ease about forging closer ties with Iran. place, thereby prohibiting U.S. individu- er demand from the Russian market we can easily boost the Sky News has learnt that the British the Government to expand links with Jes Staley, the Barclays chief execu- als or entities from engaging directly or volume of delivery,” commented Adjanu, adding that Iranian Bankers' Association (BBA) has agreed Tehran ahead of a trade visit to Iran led tive, responded to a letter from David indirectly in business related to Iran". poultry has good quality and can be more competitive on to form a working group to examine the by Sajjad Javid, the Business Secretary, Cameron earlier this year on the issue in (Source: Sky News) price, compared to Brazilian products, which account for the largest share of Russian poultry imports. SHANA “Along with Russia, Iran may also boost the volume of PICTURE OF THE DAY Hasan Hosseini Russian-Iranian deliveries to the traditional markets of Iraq and Afghanistan. They purchase 5,000 tons of Iranian poultry monthly and cooperation in we believe, that this figure may be increased to least 8,000 tons,” Hamid Adjanu said. “In fact, Iran has only just started energy sector may bring to explore its export opportunities. Previously, the country has been able to supply poultry abroad only to the ‘most results soon friendly nations’ which agreed to conduct trade without the MOSCOW (TASS) — Russian-Iranian co- use of the SWIFT banking system for payment. With the operation in the energy sector may bring lifted trade ban the geographic sales possibility is greatly good results over the short term, the Ira- expanded,” he added. Representatives of NAPFI also say nian Ambassador in Moscow, Mehdi Sanai that the country may establish chicken exports to South- said in an interview with the Kommersant East Asian countries. However, the market players in Iran Daily publication. have not, so far, determined what the potential could be. "Iran and Russia have held useful talks This is something that will develop in the years to come. on energy issues," he said. "Talks between (Source: worldpoultry.net) large Russian corporations and the Iranian side are incite hope and are moving ahead and I believe we'll see good results in that field shortly. Turkey sees ‘significant The Iranian government is interested in momentum’ in trade the Russian companies' presence in various investment sectors, Sanai said. ties with Iran "Seaports, including the southern ones located on the Persian Gulf coast may be Turkey aims to increase trade and economic ties with its the objects of attention and interest," he neighbor Iran following the lifting of international sanctions, indicated. For instance, India has reached Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci said in a major agreement on with Iran regarding Ankara Friday. a section in the seaport of Chabahar. Apart "We believe economic relations between Turkey and Iran from logistics, foreign businesses may take will gain a significant momentum with the lifting of sanc- interest in the facilities, transport fleet on tions." the Caspian Sea, and the railway linking He said the Gurbulak-Bazargan customs gate between Azerbaijan and Iran, Sanai said. the two countries will be rebuilt. Like at no other time previously, every- In 2015, trade volume between the two sides reached $10 Ambassador of the Netherlands to Tehran Susanna Terstal (C) and the representative of Royal Dutch Shell Company in Iran (R) met Iranian one realized today the importance of mak- billion. According to the minister, the plan is to increase the Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (L) in Tehran on April 27. ing the North-South transport corridor a volume to $30 billion level in the coming years. practical functioning project. Turkey tries decisively for the expansion of economic ties with Iran, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a meeting with the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Teh- Amazon profit tops RBS losses more than Ford reports best first ran on April 16. estimates as fast double to £968m quarter in 113 years Expressing content with his trip to Tehran, Davutoglu un- derlined his country’s decisiveness in expanding vigorous delivery, cloud fuel relations in various economic fields, specifically in banking, growth and noted that some measures have been done on the way to reinforce cooperation between the two sides’ stock ex- Amazon.com Inc.’s sales and profit topped esti- Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a £968m loss Ford Motor’s profits more than doubled during change markets. mates on robust demand for quick-turnaround de- for the first three months of 2016 - more than double the first three months of the year, giving the 113-year The Turkish prime minister, elsewhere, underscored the livery, cloud services and gadgets like the Kindle and the loss in the same period last year. old automaker its best first quarter in its history. vitality of converting the current preferential trade agree- Echo, adding to evidence the e-commerce giant can RBS said a one-off dividend payment of £1.2bn to Ford’s results were lifted by strong U.S. sales and ment (PTA) between the two countries into free trade make money even as it invests heavily in future hard- the UK government dragged down an otherwise prof- a continued turnaround in Europe. Ford’s European agreement (FTA) in future. ware, software and entertainment. itable period. profit during the first quarter topped all of the com- Earlier this month, Iranian Communications and Informa- The results were a validation of Jeff Bezos’s cus- Operating profits rose to £421m for the quarter, pany’s European earnings collected during the en- tion Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi visited Davutoglu tomer-centric philosophy and the Amazon Prime up from just £37m in 2015, but total revenue fell 13% tirety of 2015. in Iran-Turkey Joint Economic Committee, where expressed membership model, sending the shares up more to £3.06bn. Overall the number of cars Ford sold worldwide Iran’s readiness to develop ties with Turkey in banking and than 13 percent in late trading. The co-founder and RBS is still 73% owned by taxpayers after its gov- last quarter rose nearly 10% to 1.7 million, lifting tourism sectors. CEO continues to invest to add services to the com- ernment bailout during the financial crisis. revenue to $38 billion. Net income jumped to $2.5 Davutoglu, for his part, said that his country is keen to pany’s $99-a-year subscription program by deliver- The bank said that excluding the one-off payment billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier. And its auto- invest in Iran’s different sectors, including tourism, empha- ing products in as little as an hour and creating exclu- to the government, which will allow RBS to resume motive operating profit also more than doubled to sizing that the administrations of both countries should di- sive video programming for online streaming. paying dividends to private shareholders in due nearly 10%. rect their private sectors toward the realization of shared NEWS IN BRIEF course, it would have posted a profit of £225m. economic aims. (Source: agencies) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y http://www.tehrantimes.com AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 HISTORY & HERITAGE 5

Persian silk textile A CLOSER LOOK Tips for traveling well history: textile images A traveler ventures into a snake cave on the Indonesian island of Flores and is bitten by an angry python while standing During the 17th century, the Persian ar- mostly by dignitaries and commanders, waist-deep in bat guano. An old Indiana Jones plot? Nah, it’s istocracy wore their social status on their whereas other kinds of decorative pieces just one true-life challenge deftly handled by Karen Barry, sleeves. They were anything but timid of cloth, such as velvet and satin were the unflappable nurse for the National Geographic Society. about flaunting their rank through the worn by men and women. Brocades and From HQ in Washington, D.C., Barry is charged with keep- use of rich textiles. They regaled them- golden velvet, in their historical course, ing explorers safe and free of disease in every corner of the selves and their horses with these luxu- attracted the attention of brocade artists globe, from Papua New Guinea to the jungles of Peru. Here rious woven accoutrements and spread during the Qajar period, and this art was she answers your travel wellness questions. them unabashedly on the walls, floors retained, more or less, from one genera- I just booked a safari/Amazon boat trip/Himalaya expedi- and furniture of their magnificent palaces, tion to another; and in the past regime tion. Now what? Visit a travel medicine clinician at least one even using them to decorate their coffins. too, it was used as decorative clothes, month prior to departure. A consultation will include risk as- In many cases, the textiles were given to upholstery of court’s furniture, ceremo- sessment, which takes into account your exact itinerary—spe- royals as tribute. nial dresses as well as curtains of general cific cities, types of accommodations, seasons, style of travel. Persia’s shimmering woven silk textiles, or special halls. I love street food, but it doesn’t always love me. How often inspired by poems and miniature Making of silk in nature can I avoid Delhi belly (traveler’s diarrhea)? Remember the paintings, exuded a refinement that is a In Iran, during the spring month of golden rule about food: Boil it, peel it, cook it—or forget it. great source of inspiration for design to- Ardibehest (late April), the process of Wash hands often, and carry hand sanitizer. Don’t eat raw day a sometimes vivid, sometimes pale spinning silk thread starts with silkworm veggies washed in water or anything in which water has (or palette, urbane and understated compo- breeders buying boxes of eggs of the silk may have) been added, such as juices or fruit sold by weight. sition, with cosmopolitan touches import- moth, Bombyx mori (Latin for ‘silkworm of Still, you may get diarrhea anyway. Before leaving, ask your ed by way of the merchants of Venice. the mulberry tree’). They place the eggs physician for an antibiotic. If meds don’t help, you could have These gracious courtly works, with their in a warm place or in an incubator to help a parasite and should report symptoms to a doctor. origins based upon naturalistic images of speed the hatching of the eggs, a process How can I stay malaria-free? Mosquitoes feed from dusk flora and fauna, established the sophis- that takes about ten days. The eggs will to dawn. Stay in well-screened areas, use insecticide-treated ticated design vocabulary of the Safavid hatch into larvae called silkworms. bed nets, and cover up. Travel clinicians can identify which Empire in its sumptuous textiles as well At the same time, mulberry trees will medications are effective in the specific areas you’re visiting, as as its majestic Persian carpets. They are have grown new leaves which silkworm resistance to some drugs has developed in parts of the world. quite a contrast to the geometric abstrac- breeders buy to feed their silkworm lar- Bring a map of where you’re going. No detail is too small. tions found in a wide range of colorful vae. in Iran, mulberry trees grow in Gilan, I have itchy bug bites, and my knees hurt. Do I have tribal designs one associates with Persian Mazandaran, Khorasan, Eastern Azarbai- --malaria? Probably not, but it’s true that joint pain can be a textiles and rugs woven in the outlying Persian Silk Brocade, Brocade weaver: Master Seyyed Hossein Mozhgani (1974 A.D) jan, Isfahan, Yazd and Kerman. Once the warning sign of malaria. Same with flu-like symptoms, fever, villages. larvae hatch they eat the leaves of the headache, and fatigue. Symptoms can develop as early as The history of brocaded silk weaving ments. Brocades are woven by means of od. But before that date that is during the mulberry continuously. seven days after exposure to the Anopheles mosquito bite. dates back to the time before the Sassan- old tools, and its raw materials are silk and Mogul period the textile was forgotten in In Yazd, the town of Taft situated some Severe cases can cause seizures, mental confusion, kidney gold and silver lace (braid) and are dyed Iran for many years, and brocade makers failure, coma, even death—so report any concerns imme- The history of by means of natural stuffs and materials. lived in hiding for a long time out of fear According to historical diately. brocaded silk weaving In ancient times, ornament making of their lives. narrations, two How do I deal with motion sickness? Stay away from workshops produced valuable textiles for The Golden Period for Textiles begins heavy, spicy, or fatty foods before and during travel; avoid dates back to the time home consumption as well as for exports. from the Safavid Era. thousand years ago strong odors; find a part of the plane or boat that’s less before the Sassanid Some samples of silk materials from the The silken Safavid pieces of cloth are some pieces of cloth bumpy, like the area over the wing on an aircraft. Low cabins beginning of the Islamic period and wo- of three kinds: near the center of the vessel generally rock less. Bonine helps dynasty. At that time were made with gold (Source: National Geographic) ven in Sassanid style are available now 1 - Simple fine silk; 2 - Brocade or gold and is sold over the counter. this handicraft was and can be found in private collections silk; 3 - Silken velvet and silver laces used in exported to Europe and in European churches. For example, Three pieces of cloth were used for their design and fabric. and Rome. After the design of the face of Jesus Christ is dresses of aristocrats, commanders, As far as proportionality the Sassanid period, found in Saint Victoria Church, and the kings and courtiers. They were deco- and coordination of piece of cloth on which the design of ele- rated by designs of human beings, ani- History of shadow puppets due to the fact that phant is woven, is preserved in “Sceance” mals, birds, flowers and plants as well designs and color are the use of gold was Cathedral. as scenes of war and feasts. During concerned, the designs More than 2000 years ago, a favorite concubine of Wu Em- prohibited for men, so According to historical narrations, the period of Shah Abbas, the second, of the Sassanid cloth peror of the Han Dynasty died of illness; the emperor missed two thousand years ago some pieces valuable brocade and golden velvet her so much that he lost his desire to reign. One day, a min- weaving of this kind of cloth were made with gold and silver pieces of cloth continued to be woven attained the utmost ister happened to see children playing with dolls where the of cloth was almost laces used in their design and fabric. As skillfully and with a great care, which degree of artistic shadows on the floor were vivid. Inspired by this scene, the stopped. far as proportionality and coordination bore the name of the weaver, called perfection. smart minister hit upon an of designs and color are concerned, the “Ghias”. There are two small pieces of idea. He made a cotton pup- id dynasty. At that time this handicraft was designs of the Sassanid cloth attained the dated silk cloth from the Shah Abbas 18 km southwest of Yazd city is a major pet of the concubine and exported to Europe and Rome. After the utmost degree of artistic perfection. The era in Metropolitan museum. The name silkworm breeding centre. painted it. Sassanid period, due to the fact that the Sassanid designs are mostly birds, ani- of the weaver, Shah Hossein, and the After the larvae (the silkworm) have As night fell, he invited the use of gold was prohibited for men, so mals, hunting ground and horsemen as date 1008 lunar hijira year are inscribed molted four times, that is when they are emperor to watch a rear-illu- weaving of this kind of cloth was almost well as some abstract designs. After the on it. The famous weavers of this era in the fifth instar, they loose their appetite minated puppet show behind stopped. During the Mogul era, the tex- Sassanid period, on account of the fact were: Ghias, Abdullah, Bin Mohammad, and are ready to transform themselves a curtain. The emperor was tile industry was almost forgotten in Iran, that men were forbidden to use gold, so, Moezeddin, Ibne Ghias and Issa Abbasi. into moths. To protect themselves while delighted and took to it from and the masters, for fear of their lives, brocades were not made for a relatively During the Shah Abbas era, some they are in a vulnerable almost motion- then on. This story recorded lived in hiding. The textile industry was long time until the Seljuqi period. During royal workshops were established and less transformational pupa state, they en- in the official history book is revived during the Safavid period, and the Islamic period, the brocade and gold brocade artists were asked to migrate close themselves in a protective cocoon believed to be the origin of during the reign of Shah Abbas, brocade designs of animals and birds such as lions, to Isfahan and revive this ancient art. enclosure. The cocoon is made out of silk shadow puppetry. artists were asked to migrate to Isfahan, phoenix and eagles made on the fabric of Their cooperation showed that the thread, a continuous natural protein fila- Shadow puppets were and start working in the royal workshops. cloth were quite glorious, demonstrating community of brocade makers could ment that they produce in their salivary first made of paper sculpture, During the period between the 11th the progress of textile technique during produce and market valuable pieces of glands and exude to form the filament. later from the hides of don- and 13th lunar hijira centuries, weaving the Seljuqi period. Among the decorative work. During this period, in addition to The larvae’s cocoon is built up from keys or oxen. That’s why their Chinese name is pi ying, which of brocaded silk declined; and during the elements of cloth weaving during this pe- Isfahan, Yazd and Kashan were centers about 300 to 900 metres (1,000 to 3,000 means shadows of hides. Shadow puppetry was very popular Qajar era and the past regime, brocaded riod, one could mention the designs of of brocade artists in Iran. During the feet) of silk filament. The filament is fine, lus- during the Tang and Song Dynasties in many parts of China. silk and velvet were used in formal dress- tulips and water lily. period between 11th and 13th hijira trous, and about 10 micrometers (1/2,500th Shadow puppetry was related to politics. In Beijing, for es, upholstery of furniture and curtains of During the succeeding periods, new centuries, production of brocade and of an inch) in diameter. Each cocoon con- example, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, this folk art was courts. At the present period, some mas- designs were initiated by designers and silk cloth was reduced and was replaced sists of about a kilometre of silk filament, so popular that there were eight generously paid puppeteers ters such as Mahmoud Farshchian, have textile weavers, which laid the foundation by calico and various kinds of needle and about 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are re- in one prince’s mansion.Chinese Shadow Puppetry When put forward novel designs by increas- for an independent, genuine and credit- lace. quired to make a pound of silk. the Manchu rulers spread their rule to various parts of China, ing or decreasing some ornamental ele- able identity of textile of the Safavid peri- Brocades and gold cloth were used (Source: textileasart.com) they brought the puppet show with them to make up for the fact that they could not appreciate local entertainment due to language barriers. PICTURE OF THE DAY IRNA/Morteza Aminoroayaee From 1796 to 1800, the government forbade the public How did showing of puppet shows to prevent the spreading of peas- ant uprising at the time. It was not until 1821 that shadow puppet shows gained some vigor. WW1 end? Today, shadow puppetry shows face extinction like other traditional art forms such as Nuo Drama. Contrary to Marxist mythology, the First Features of Shadow Puppet Show World War ended not through mutiny Shadow puppetry wins the heart of an audience by its or popular uprising, but through deci- lingering music, exquisite sculpture, brisk color and lively per- sive military defeat. Certainly, the major formance. combatants were exhausted, and their One mouth tells stories of thousands of years; a pair of peoples weary of the war, but the only hands operates millions of soldiers. This is how the shadow country voluntarily to withdraw from the puppeteer works. Nicknamed the business of the five, a shad- war was Bolshevik Russia. ow puppet troupe is made up of five people. One operates Germany launched its forces into a huge the puppets, one plays a horn, a suo-na horn, and a yu-kin, offensive in France in the spring of 1918, one plays banhu fiddle, one is in charge of percussion instru- breaking the trench deadlock and threat- ments, and one sings. This singer assumes all the roles in the ening Paris. The Allies regrouped, broke the puppet show, which of course is very difficult. That is not all; German advance and counter-attacked. the singer also plays several of the over 20 kinds of musical On 8 August, at Amiens, Haig inflicted a instruments in a puppet show. These ancient musical instru- devastating defeat on the Germans – Ger- ments enhance this ancient folk art. man general Erich Ludendorff called it the Chinese Shadow Puppetry The stage for shadow puppet ‘Black Day of the German Army’. is a white cloth screen on which the shadows of flat puppets Further heavy defeats followed, and are projected. Shadow puppet looks similar to paper-cut ex- by September both he and Paul von Hin- cept that their joints are connected by thread so that they can denburg [a senior military figure] were be operated freely. The scene is simple and primitive; it is the demanding an end to the war. Faced consummate performance that attracts the audience. with total defeat, in November the Ger- For example, a puppet can smoke and breathe out a mans forced the Kaiser to abdicate and smoke ring ¨C with operator help. In one drama, as a maid declared a republic, which then asked for sits in front of a mirror, her reflection matches her actions. The an armistice. It is difficult to conceive that operator plays five puppets at the same time, each of which this would have happened had Germany Mausoleum of Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) (R) and tomb of Persian poet and has three threads. Ten fingers handle 15 threads. No wonder not been crushed on the battlefield. the operator is compared to the 1000-hand Kwan-yin. Sufi Attar Neyshaburi (c.1145 – c. 1221) are located in the city of Neyshabur, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran (Source: History Extra) (Source: Travel China Guide) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

6 INTERNATIONAL AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 http://www.tehrantimes.com/International What U.S. elections should look like in a real democracy

By Susan Abulhawa Honduras to Iraq to Libya, champion of envi- cause, he said: “I do not want to be responsible social, philosophical, economic and political ronmental devastation, and holder of the title for electing some right-wing Republican to be views, their appeal to voters is based on the he United States presidential primaries “America’s most corrupt politician in 2015”. president of the United States.” same principle. are unfolding an impossibly grim choice Having an understanding of Clinton, I find This not only seems like an ego-driven be- Both candidates are viewed as political Tfor citizens voting in the November gen- myself feeling that as a Palestinian American trayal to the millions of his supporters, but it is mavericks willing to challenge the status quo. eral elections. On one hand is Donald Trump, Muslim woman, I’d rather find myself in a Don- based on an inconclusive prediction. It is en- Their support base is predominantly people an egomaniac racist with an insatiable appetite ald Trump internment camp rather than live in tirely conceivable that Sanders, with the right who feel disenfranchised from a dual-party for power, a fifth-grade vocabulary, and little a world led by Clinton’s chauvinistic, neoliberal, strategy, could also split Trump’s supporter system. or no experience in political or intellectual life. faux-feminist warmongering. base and walk away with the presidency as a Contrary to popular perceptions, Trump’s On the other hand is Hillary Clinton, argu- Bernie Sanders has already made it clear third party candidate. supporters are not particularly ideological. ably a war criminal, destroyer of nations, from that he would not run as an Independent be- Although Trump and Bernie hold opposing 9

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Saudi Arabia, 9/11, and what we know about the COMMENT What's really holding back secret papers that could ignite a diplomatic war reconstruction in Nepal

Twenty-eight secret pages of a report locked away in a By Thomas Bell room in the Capitol in Washington lie in the centre of a crisis between America and Saudi Arabia which threat- year ago last weekend, an earthquake in Nepal killed ens to have severe and widespread repercussions. around 9,000 people and destroyed three quarters of The U.S. Congress is considering legislation which Aa million homes. There's been a lot of water under the would enable the families of victims of the September 11 bridge since then. attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, presented by the West as its The survivors may feel that not much has happened: most valuable ally in the Middle East, over alleged links around two million of them are still huddled miserably under with al-Qaeda terrorists who carried out the attacks on tin sheets and tarpaulins, awaiting the onset of a second mon- New York and Washington. soon. Meanwhile, among the direct and indirect consequences The issue had cast a long shadow over the recent of the disaster, billions of dollars have been pledged (but not visit of President Barack Obama to Riyadh, with the Sau- spent); the country's rulers rushed out a flawed and conten- dis threatening to sell off $750b of American assets they tious new constitution, provoking months of protests in which hold if the bill is passed by Congress. dozens died; and this in turn led to a four-month disruption of The classified pages are in a file titled “Finding, Dis- imports from India that crippled the economy. cussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive Nar- It's been a dreadful 12 months, which have left many peo- rative Matters”, which have never been published from ple deeply depressed about the state of the country. the findings of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the Patchy humanitarian response attacks which killed 3,000 people and injured more than After that, one probably has to look at what hasn’t hap- 6,000 others. pened. Thanks to a difficult, slow, and patchy humanitarian Former President George W Bush claimed the publi- response, which probably at least managed to give most peo- cation of this part of the report would damage America’s ple something, and a large measure of luck, there has been no national security by revealing “sources and methods that secondary disaster. would make it harder for us to win the War on Terror”. There's been no major outbreak of disease. A weak mon- But there is growing clamour for declassification of soon last year meant there were fewer devastating landslides the pages along with allegations about attempts by the on the weakened slopes than feared. Saudis to keep their alleged role in the attacks hidden. In difficult circumstances, immediately after the quake, a The latest public figure to demand disclosure was Rudi Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) was hurriedly com- Giuliani, the mayor of New York at the time of the at- pleted. tacks. This proved to be quite seriously flawed, but was the basis Saudi prince’s role for a donor conference at which $4.1bn of reconstruction aid A Saudi prince, claimed Giuliani, had given him a was pledged. cheque for $10m (£7m) in an effort to persuade him to The alleged links of the Ministry’s officials to the Sep- company called Dallah Alco. He was listed in FBI files Four days before the conference, the government decided deflect attention away from the Kingdom. The former tember 11 plotters is a key claim in the projected lawsuit. before the September 11 attacks as a Saudi agent (some- that the money would be spent by a National Reconstruction mayor said he returned the cheque after tearing it up. Giuliani’s charge of attempted bribery against the thing the authorities in the Kingdom deny). Authority (NRA). He declared: “His money he can keep and go burn it in Saudi prince came a day after it was revealed that the Al-Bayoumi acknowledged to U.S. investigators that But as soon as the money was pledged, politicians switched hell. The American people need to know exactly what flight certificate of an al-Qaeda bomb maker named he had an hour-long meeting with Fahad al-Thumairy, their attention to power politics. The “fast track” constitution was the role of the Saudi Arabia government in the at- Ghassan Al-Sharbi, who had taken flying lessons for the an official of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, who he de- had a lot to do with forming a new government, which would tacks: we are entitled to know who killed our loved ones September 11 mission, was found in an envelope stashed scribed as his spiritual mentor at the Saudi consulate in control this unprecedented windfall. and who almost killed us all.” away at the Saudi embassy in Washington. Los Angeles, the same day that he had met al-Ham- Rebuilding private houses is the biggest and most difficult It was reported that White House House officials have The certificate, along with other documents was zi and al-Mindhar. Two years later al-Thumairy was task of reconstruction. said privately that at least some of the 28 pages will be found at the embassy during investigations after he was stripped of his diplomatic immunity and deported from Around 26,000 people remain in camps, with no plan for made public. captured in 2002 in Pakistan, which has become a con- the U.S. because of suspected terrorist links. their relocation. And former Democratic Senator Bob Graham, the duit for Wahaabi-funded terrorism. Osama Basnan, another Saudi living in San Diego at Survivors poorly served former head of the Senate intelligence committee, re- There was also a connection, it has emerged, be- the time, also spent time with the hijackers, al-Hamzi It's not actually surprising that the survivors have been so iterated his belief that Saudi Arabia was involved in the tween the Kingdom’s legations in America to two Saudis, and al-Mihdhar. Basnan received around $75,000 from poorly served: the survivors of flooding and landslide disasters attacks at the highest level. He said “The most impor- Nawaf al-Hamzi and Khalid al-Mindhar, who had arrived Princess Haifa bin Sultan, the wife of Prince Bandar bin in preceding years haven't yet been taken care of either. tant unanswered question of 9/11 is: did these 19 people in the U.S. in 2000 as the part of the first wave of Sep- Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. . The money Amid all these problems, the four-and-a-half month conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they tember 11 hijackers. was said to be for medical treatment for Basnan’s wife. “blockade” of imports, especially fuel, across the Indian border supported? So who was the most likely entity to have Saudi agent Some of it went to Al-Bayoumi. Basnan was arrested for deepened the crisis. It caused great public hardship, perhaps provided them that support? I think all the evidence The two men were set up in an apartment in San visa fraud in August 2002 and deported two months lat- especially in urban areas which are most reliant on imported points to Saudi Arabia. I think it covers a broad range, Diego by Omar al-Bayoumi, a fellow Saudi, who also er to Saudi Arabia. commodities, and massive damage to the economy. It also from the highest ranks of the Kingdom through these, helped them with social security paperwork and infor- The lawsuit being brought over alleged Saudi cul- undoubtedly hindered humanitarian operations. what would be private entities.” mation about flying courses. There were reports that he pability claims that some of Princess Haifa’s money was The international community found it necessary to make Two Congressmen, both of whom have seen the se- also introduced them to Anwar al-Awlaki, who later be- used in the upkeep of the two hijackers in San Diego. a series of unpublicized demarches (or official diplomatic re- cret document, are behind the bipartisan motion for came known as the “Bin Laden of the internet” and was The FBI maintains it has no evidence of this and the 9/11 quests) to the government to ensure that the relatively small declassification. Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Dem- killed in an American drone strike in Yemen. Commission stated it had found no link between the at- amount of fuel which was needed for humanitarian logistics ocrat, held that the report offers evidence of links be- Al-Bayoumi received Saudi government funding for tacks and the royal family. was made available. tween “certain Saudi individuals” and the terrorists be- his stay in the U.S. through a Saudi aviation services Al-Bayoumi moved to the UK in July 2001 and began About seven tankers a month were required by each of the hind the 2001 attacks. Walter Jones, a Republican, said it a PhD course in business management at Aston Univer- three “humanitarian hubs”. Somewhat belatedly, the govern- also sheds light on why President Bush was so opposed sity in Birmingham. He was arrested ten days after the ment obliged. to publication: “It’s about the Bush administration and There is growing clamor for September 11 attacks by British police at the request of On December 2, six months after the donor conference, its relationship with the Saudis.” declassification of the pages the FBI. However, the U.S. authorities subsequently said following much political interference in the selection of its The current round of exporting hardlineis traced back they had found no link between him and terrorism. He CEO, the NRA was finally established. However, it remains only to 1992 when the Saudi Arabia’s senior Wahaabi clerics along with allegations about was released, continued his studies at Aston and later semi-functional because of understaffing. Bureaucrats think it issued a Memorandum of Advice to the royal family ef- attempts by the Saudis to moved back to Saudi Arabia. Under Congressional pres- would be “career suicide” to work there. fectively threatening a putsch unless they were allowed keep their alleged role in the sure the FBI later reopened the case, but stood by its On the anniversary of the disaster, the NRA is only now to play a central role of the policies of the Kingdom both previous decision. beginning the first, modest disbursement of reconstruction home and abroad. attacks hidden. (Source: Independent) funds. Critically, “epic levels of uncertainty” remain over which projects will be implemented. It is, of course, easy to blame the government, and it does bear most of the responsibility - especially after taking so “The most impossible job in the world” may finally go to a woman this year much trouble to discourage or hinder others from doing any- The United Nations, the international sembly, the 193-member governing body thing to help. For many months, survivors were even told not organization with a mandate to address of the United Nations made up of rep- to rebuild their own homes. some of the world’s biggest humanitarian resentatives from every member nation, But it is almost as important to ask where the internationals issues, will elect a new secretary gener- must then vote on those candidates. A stand in this fiasco. After all, they are paying for much of it, as al to replace Ban Ki-moon in 2016. And two-thirds majority is required to win the well as supposedly being a font of expertise. this year, “the most impossible job in the election. It appears that by early this year the international commu- world” could finally go to a woman. While the Security Council selects nity was beginning to realize that the NRA was not going to be Former New Zealand PM Helen Clark candidates, the Council’s five perma- ready to “concretize” the donors' pledges with actual plans in announced her candidacy for secre- nent members have veto power to any time to have anything to show on the anniversary. tary-general on April 4, joining former individual choice. Of these five—China, Donors confused Croatia PM Vesna Pusic, director general France, Russia, the United Kingdom and By March they started talking about doing a Post Disaster of UNESCO Irina Bokova from Bulgaria, the United States—only France and the Needs Framework (PDNF, to go with the PDNA) “which has and deputy PM of Moldova Natalia Gher- IRINA BOKOVA HELEN CLARK UK have been lead by women in the taken up everybody’s time for the last six weeks”. This is a plan- man. A win by any one of these women equality are particularly stark. In a glob- the 16 skills. modern political era. ning document to be launched with great fanfare as a mark of would be a historic first for the 71-year- al organization that has made achieving The study, further explained in Busi- Three of the four women and seven progress on the anniversary. old organization. gender equality one of its main priorities, ness Insider, also revealed that women of the eight total candidates running “I would say that there's a 50 percent chance that after next According to the job description on why not lead by example? improve their leadership skills as they represent eastern European countries. week we’ll never hear of it again,” says one of those who spent the UN website and official charter, the And yet, the world remains a decid- age. While most men over 40 stop asking Irina Bokova from Bulgaria is one of the time on it. UN requires the secretary-general be edly patriarchal place, politically speak- for feedback and taking initiative, women perceived favorites, according to the Even some bigger donors say in private that they “don’t “equal parts diplomat and advocate, ing. As of Jan. 2015, there were only 19 continue to ask for feedback and work on Economist. She currently runs UNESCO, know what’s going on”. civil servant and CEO” and serve as the female heads of state or government self-improvement later in their careers. a sizable UN agency that focuses on ed- According to an insider, they are “letting themselves be “Chief Administrative Officer of the or- actively serving the world, according to The candidates for secretary-general are ucation, science and cultural reforms, so driven”. Smaller donors are “totally confused, and who can ganization.” He or she must rub elbows UN Women. In the past 50 years, 63 out all experts in their respective fields, hav- she’s well-versed in the organization’s blame them?” with world leaders, serve as a modera- of 142 nations studied by the World Eco- ing previously served as heads of state, bureaucracy. “What can you do?” says another, “It's all got tangled up tor when international conflict arises, and nomic Forum have had female govern- members of parliament or leaders within Nevertheless, in an attempt to make in politics. bring any issues that threaten interna- ment leaders. the UN itself. It would seem that in this the process more democratic and trans- One might just as well ask: “If you can't get the job done, tional peace to the UN Security Council. Indeed, studies show that women context, women might actually make bet- parent, the UN is changing things up then what are you paying for?” Past secretary generals have used make better leaders than men when ter leaders than their male counterparts. (slightly) this year. As part of this change, a Indeed, it seems that some donor headquarters are now their position to lobby for gender equal- evaluated on a variety of metrics. In one But leadership roles are not based website listing every candidate’s name, re- asking that. With three “Level Three” emergencies currently ity and work with world leaders to serve study, conducted by the Harvard Busi- solely on merit. As a case in point, the sume, and application is available online. going on around the world, plus the European refugee crisis, as mediators in the middle of global con- ness Review, 7,280 leaders from a variety selection of the secretary-general is an Each candidate has also been required there is a great danger that Nepal will lose some of the funds flicts. of organizations were evaluated on the opaque process that takes part largely to submit a 2,000-word essay listing their that have been pledged if it can't put them to good use soon. Former secretary-general Kofi Annan 16 competency skills that HBR believes behind closed doors. The Security Coun- qualifications and motivations. There are At the beginning, there was much talk of “building back won the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf are most important for leadership ef- cil, made up of five permanent members a number of public-facing events sched- better”, not so often heard these days. Practitioners see of the UN in 2001 for its work building fectiveness based on years of research. and 10 elected members, appoints a uled for the campaign, including a ques- post-disaster reconstruction as an opportunity to make the “a better organized and more peaceful Women scored higher than men in 12 of number of candidates. The General As- tion and answer debate session in the UN country more “resilient” to the next disaster. world.” Trusteeship Council on Apr. 13 where UN Who, for instance, will respond to secondary disasters such Gender equality Women might actually make better leaders members, nonprofits, business, and other as landslides this monsoon? At the moment there is no answer Given the organization’s egalitarian organizations asked candidates questions to that question, and the Home Ministry and NRA are each mandate, the UN’s struggles with gender than their male counterparts. in person. (Source: Quartz) pointing to the other. (Source: Al Jazeera) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

8 MED & SCI AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 http://www.tehrantimes.com

NEWS IN BRIEF New heart failure drug fast-tracked Iranian researcher converts agricultural for approval waste into biofuel The NHS in England is approving funding toms persist despite them being on the An Iranian researcher has advised a method to convert agricul- for a new heart failure drug called sacubitril maximum dose. The committee heard from tural waste into biofuel, and won the 29st Khwarizmi Interna- valsartan. clinical experts and patient experts that a tional Award (KIA). This is the first of a new kind of medica- new treatment option would provide hope Project manager Mohammad Jafar Taherzadeh who has won tion called angiotensin receptor neprilysin and generate optimism. the second place of the Khwarizmi Award in basic research, told inhibitors. It helps the heart by widening Innovative new treatment Mehr News that one of the blood vessels to increase blood flow and "We are pleased to be able to recom- problems in the agricultural sec- reduce blood pressure. mend this innovative new treatment for those tor is the production of waste The drug is the first non-cancer drug to people with a severely reduced ejection frac- which is ultimately useless. be fast-tracked through UK licencing by the tion and whose symptoms can mean they are He added that the waste regulator MHRA. almost constantly bedbound. and debris are utilized as the Assessors from the funding body NICE "This recommendation will help ease most abundant renewable re- say sacubitril valsartan could help prevent the symptoms of very ill people, improve sources to produce valuable many deaths and reduce hospital admis- their quality of life and help them to take products, including organic sions for heart failure by more than 30,000 part in normal daily activities. It should also fertilizers, biofuels, green and cases a year. reduce their need for hospital treatment." organic solvents and Amino The treatment costs £3 per day and will However, she says the drug may not be Acids. be an option for people with moderate to effective for everyone with heart failure: Taherzadeh underlined very severe symptoms where the heart can "There was not enough evidence to show however that the production only pump a reduced amount of oxygen- the clinical and cost effectiveness of sacubitril of valuable materials from the ated blood, called a reduced ejection frac- Sacubitril valsartan is the first non-cancer drug valsartan in people who do not have such a waste is very costly and time- tion, and also whose heart failure is not to be fast-tracked through UK licensing by the severely reduced ejection fraction, or in peo- consuming due to its complex structure. controlled by the commonly used drugs regulator MHRA. ple who have very mild symptoms, and for He went on to say that the process requires complex, multi- such as angiotensin converting enzyme people who have not already had an ACE in- step methods that include pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) or angiotensin II son, director of the NICE Health Technolo- ment for chronic heart failure for almost hibitor or ARB, so the committee weren't able fermentation and purification. receptor blockers (ARBs). gy Evaluation Centre, says: "ACE inhibitors 25 years. to recommend the drug for these people." Taherzadeh, who is a professor in the University of Borås in In a statement, Professor Carole Long- have been the initial gold standard treat- However, for some people their symp- (Source: webmd.boots.com) Sweden, added that the facilitation of these processes is very im- portant since it could produce biofuels from agricultural waste. The "research mainly deals with the design of an efficient and inexpensive process for the production of valuable prod- Huge subglacial lake discovered underneath Antarctica's ice ucts such as bioethanol, biogas, amino acids, green solvents and Antarctica might be an icy, barren, windswept landscape The finding echoes the discovery of Lake Vostok in Subterranean channels polyesters in the laboratory, pilot and industry levels. today, but millions of years ago it was home to thriving for- the latter half of the 20th century, another Antarctic Subterranean channels leading away from the lake might (Source: Mehr) ests, dinosaurs, and a breathtaking landscape replete with subglacial lake from which samples have been taken still funnel flowing water into the ocean many miles away. rivers, lakes and massive canyons. Much of its past is still that contain evidence of life. This new lake is slightly Since this lake would likely have been isolated, trapped sitting there, buried underneath layers of ice, waiting to be smaller than Lake Vostok, but its close proximity to an under the ice, for around 25 million years, biologists are discovered in the form of fossils and geology. established research station means it could be more giddy at the possibility that ancient life forms could still Researchers use a vitamin It's even possible that ancient creatures still live under easily probed for life. survive within it. to slow the aging of Antarctica's ice, hidden for millennia beneath the conti- The lake was discovered after researchers noticed that The fact that signs of life have been discovered at Lake nent's cold glacial cap. ice at the surface was unusually grooved on a large scale, Vostok only increase the odds that creatures may be lurk- internal organs Now researchers have made an extraordinary discov- indicating the potential presence of liquid water below. It ing in these icy waters too — perhaps alien-like creatures ery that could house some of the continent's many secrets: appears connected to a massive canyon — now consid- that have evolved strange features to help them survive in Researchers have for the first time successfully tested a vita- a massive, 62-mile long, ribbon-shaped subglacial liquid ered the largest canyon system on Earth, which was re- such a frigid habitat. min’s ability to help the internal organs of elderly mammals lake, reports Motherboard. cently discovered using the same method. (Source: Mother Nature Network) regenerate their cells. Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) gave mice Nicotinamide riboside (NR), which proved to Monsanto announces new technology to NASA unveils details of Hubble have a positive effect on the functioning of stem cells. make its GM crops more pest resistant successor It is hoped that the method used will prove useful for treating a number of degenerative diseases, allowing vital organs and muscles to regain the regeneration process that deteriorates with age. “We supplied NR as a supplement to the diet of 700-day- old mice, which is an advanced age even for a lab mouse,” Dongryeol Ryu, second author of the study, tells Newsweek. The “mice that received the substance lived longer than the mice that didn’t receive it.” No negative side-effects were observed in the mice given NR, even at high doses. NR, which is a form of vitamin B3, has not been scientifically tested on humans but is already available in certain nutritional supplements found in the U.S. The EPFL researchers said caution should be observed when it comes to branding NR an elixir of youth, as further studies are required. One avenue of study would be to make sure the vitamin does not also boost the functioning of pathological cells, Monsanto says it has developed pests are able to become resistant. NASA has unveiled details of the succes- 2018, it will study every phase in our such as those found in cancerous tissue. breakthrough technology to help “It’s a breakthrough in a way we can sor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope, universe's history, ranging from the first (Source: newsweek.com) make its crops more resistant to bugs handle resistance in the future,” Tom Mal- the James Webb Space Telescope. The luminous glows after the Big Bang to and pests. The new techniques will var, the head of insect control discovery largest space telescope ever built, NASA the formation of remote solar systems help target insects that have devel- at Monsanto said, according to the Ag- provided an animation of what they hope capable of supporting life on planets oped resistance to previously geneti- riculture journal. “This technology is not the telescope will be capturing. like Earth. Tunisian start-up introduces cally modified crops. limited to insect control. We envision this The ultra-high-tech successor to the The monster scope The research was conducted by sci- having broad applications,” he added. ageing Hubble Telescope will open an The monster scope, known affection- blade-free wind turbine entists at Harvard University in conjunc- GM crop industry exciting new window on the cosmos, ex- ately as Webb, will follow Earth's path tion with Monsanto. The aim was to try In November, a report by Green- ploring unseen realms – some of which around the Sun, from a distance of 1.5 mil- The Tunisian start-up Saphon Energy has created a bladeless and speed up the process of generating peace slammed the genetically modified might harbor life, albeit not necessarily as lion kilometers - far enough away to be wind turbine that is more efficient than traditional ones. Inven- proteins, which have properties that can (GM) crop industry, for failing to tackle we know it. undisturbed by our planet's light and heat. tors say that it produces twice as much energy at a much lower kill pests. problems regarding superbugs caused NASA engineers have revealed the Testing the mirrors for the James cost, is safer for birds and is ideal for developing countries. The team was using PACE (phage-as- by insects becoming resistant to previ- James Webb Space Telescope, the largest Webb Space Telescope, which NASA will About fifty will provide sisted continuous evolution) technology, ously genetically modified crops. of its kind ever built, has an eight-meter launch in 2018. enough energy for a village which is able to eliminate insects that “GM crops can only increase yield by gold-coated mirror, seven times bigger Credit Ball Aerospace "Webb is de- with a population of about have grown resistant to prior agricultural reducing losses to pests in years of high than Hubble's. Fully deployed, the whole signed to observe in the infrared because 1,000 and are extremely quiet. solutions. The PACE method is 100 times infestation, and this effect is not perma- telescope will be as wide and long as a the most distant galaxies in the universe Called Saphonian, the turbine faster than other methods in trying to nent as pesticide-producing crops lead tennis court and about four storeys tall. are only detectable in that band," said was inspired by the sails of an- identify protein with insect killing prop- to resistant ‘superbugs’. GM crop yields Scientists say it will be the world's ICRAR-Curtin University astrophysicist Dr. cient Carthaginian ships that erties, according to the research team. have often failed to isolate the effects premier observatory for the next decade, Rob Soria. competed for dominance in “Scientific breakthroughs like PACE of GM technology from other factors, serving thousands of astronomers world- So, all being well, it should shed light the Mediterranean Sea dur- technology are key to continue bring- or to compare like-for-like farms,” the wide, including hundreds in Australia. on the nature of dark matter – and even ing the Roman Empire. The ing solutions to farmers to help them report stated. Under construction at NASA's Godd- dark energy, a mysterious force driving disc, similar to a pot cover, get more out of every acre,” Tom Adams, GM corn and soya beans have given ard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the the universe's accelerating expansion. is mounted on top of a pole vice president of biotechnology at Mon- smaller yields in recent years in the U.S. $10 billion space-based telescope is a "Webb's bigger mirror means it will reminiscent of the mast of ship santo said in a press release. due to pests and weeds becoming re- joint venture between the U.S., European find much fainter objects than Hubble and serves to collect wind en- The importance of the technique sistant to weed killers used to protect and Canadian space agencies. could in the colors it can detect," Dr. Soria ergy through a wave-motion means that the proteins are able to be the plants. After being launched on an Ariane 5 explained. converter. developed at faster than the insects and (Source: RT) rocket from French Guiana in October (Source: The Sidney Morning Herald) All wind turbines are subject to the Bertz's Law, which indi- cates that the maximum power that can be extracted from the wind is 59%. However, the developers of the Saphonian say that their product can surpass this limit due to not having blades and Does turmeric have proven health benefits? manage to convert up to 80% of the wind hitting its surface into electricity. Saphon Energy won the Gulfstream Navigator Award Curcumin, the plant compound that gives turmeric its sorbed. Attempts to develop forms of the compound that standard drugs used to reduce the severity and flare-ups 2015, opening it up to large investors. bright yellow-orange color, has demonstrated antioxidant, are better absorbed are under way, she said, but will need of ulcerative colitis. But, Dr. Delage said, “You can’t con- Its project is also financed by such market giants as Microsoft, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and neuroprotective prop- to be tested for safety and effectiveness. clude anything with one or two small studies, and you which is seeking sustainable ways to feed its huge cloud-com- erties in lab and animal studies. Lab studies have shown that curcumin inhibits media- have to be very skeptical because you know the bioavail- puting systems across the world. However, the best application But “claiming that it can be useful for humans is pre- tors of inflammation, and mouse studies found that, in ability is terrible.” of it - given its lower costs - may be in developing countries, mature, given the current evidence,” said Barbara Delage, rodents at least, it can ease colitis, blunt the immune re- A clinical trial that examined the effect of a mixture which will use Saphonian as an intelligent and economic solution a scientist with the Linus Pauling Institute’s Micronutrient sponses in rheumatoid arthritis and reduce nerve inflam- of curcumin and other compounds on digestion found for providing off-grid energy. Information Center who recently reviewed the published mation in traumatic brain injury. it improved nausea, bloating and gastric pain but not The Tunisian start-up already has a partnership with India, where literature on the spice. Clinical trials acid reflux in people with H. pylori infections. But that it would like to set up a wind park with 50 turbines having a 20-KW Few good human clinical trials have been completed, In human studies, a few small clinical trials have found study had no control group for comparison, and other capacity each, for a total of 1 MW, which would provide electricity Dr. Delage said. Curcumin has “very poor bioavailability,” curcumin to be as effective as nonsteroidal anti-inflam- studies have found curcumin may actually cause gastro- for about a thousand inhabitants of a small community. she said -- that is, it doesn’t stick around in the human matory drugs for alleviating the stiffness and swelling of intestinal upset. (Source: ansamed.info) body for very long, and little of the plant compound is ab- rheumatoid arthritis, and it was more effective than some (Source: The NYT) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y http://www.tehrantimes.com/international APRIL 30, 2016 WORLD IN FOCUS 9

Moscow has voiced concerns over the a ground invasion. landing of 150 United States soldiers in Moscow slams Obama decision to On Wednesday, about 150 U.S. sol- Rumeilan, northeastern Syria, without the diers arrived in the Kurdish-controlled consent of the Syrian government, calling send 250 more U.S. troops to Syria town of Rumeilan in northeastern Syria, JUMP it a “violation of the country’s sovereign- according to a report on Thursday by the ty.” SANA news agency. A source said part Runoff parliamentary “Speaking from the position of the of the contingent immediately headed to elections held Foreign Ministry, we can’t help but be the north of Raqqa province. concerned about the fact that such ac- The Syrian Foreign Ministry reacted 1 Nearly 17 million people were eligible to vote. Un- tions are being carried out by the U.S. negatively. til our closing hour there was no report about the election without the consent of the legitimate “This intervention is rejected and il- turnout. government of the Syrian Arab Republic,” legitimate, and it happened without the The turnout in the first round of election, held on Feb. 26, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Syrian government’s approval,” SANA stood at 62 percent. Ryabkov told TASS. quoted a source at the ministry as saying. Under the law, two candidates compete for every seat in “It is a violation of sovereignty,” he The source added it was a “blatant act of the runoff and the one who wins a simple majority of votes said. “I emphasize that a similar political aggression that constitutes a dangerous wins the seat. assessment has already been given by intervention and a gross violation of Syr- official Damascus, and we express our full ian sovereignty.” solidarity with it,” the Russian diplomat As a truce was proclaimed in the said. country in late February, airstrikes against He added that “contacts between terror targets by Russia and the U.S.-led Russia-U.S. defense ministries are taking coalition did not stop. But after President place on a daily basis.” Vladimir Putin ordered the start of the Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister said withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria the issues are being discussed by “pro- last month, the coalition did not stop its fessionals who are well versed in the sit- activities. uation, its dynamics, and in the existing Last week, U.S. Central Command dis- threats and challenges, which can be closed that 20 civilians in Iraq and Syria tackled by the corresponding contin- were killed as a result of airstrikes target- gents.” ing ISIL fighters between September 10 On Monday, U.S. President Barack and February 2. According to the latest communiqué of the Interior Min- Obama confirmed plans to increase The report stated that the anti-ISIL istry, election results will be announced on Saturday or early American troop presence in Syria by coalition takes “all feasible precautions to Sunday. deploying an additional 250 personnel, avoid civilian casualties during the course The next Majlis will start work on May 28. bringing the total to 300. He said the The move raised eyebrows as it con- 2013 pledge was when he sent 50 U.S. of military operations,” and that in all cas- Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazil, visiting the elec- troops would help drive out the Islamic tradicts Obama’s earlier promise not to special operations forces to Syria last es of civilian deaths it was determined tion headquarters in Tehran, said some complaints of election State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) put any “American boots on the ground year, saying the move was a “counterter- that “all appropriate precautions were violations had been received during the election campaigns terrorist group. in Syria.” The first time Obama broke his rorism” measure and not a step closer to taken.” (Source: RT) by rival candidates which have been studied. Campaigns started on April 21 and lasted until 8 a.m. on April 28. Romania accuses the Saudi ambassador of sexual Rahmani Fazil also said so far no evidence has been found that executive bodies or other organizations have been in- molestation and murder of a local female secretary volved in the elections in favor of a particular candidate or candidates. Lazar Comanescu, the Romanian minister of foreign af- 25-year-old Romanian medical student who worked in sexually abused and later strangled with a belt. Ioa- fairs has summoned the Saudi ambassador to Bucha- the Saudi embassy as a secretary. na’s body was found rest following accusation that Abdulrahman I. Al Rassi “According to preliminary forensic reports, the victim floating in a pond in the vicinity of Grozavesti Power has sexually abused and later murdered Ioana Veliscu, a had been Station, 24 miles south of Bucharest. (Source: liveleak) What U.S. elections should China, Russia urge U.S. to drop Korea missile defense proposal look like in a real democracy China and Russia urged the United States Russia and China. U.S. and South Korean needs of the relevant countries. If it is de- clear weapons capability has angered 6 Although his base spans to the right in the politi- on Friday not to install a new anti-missile officials have expressed concern that the ployed it will directly impact China’s and Rus- China, Pyongyang’s sole major diplomatic cal landscape, at least 20 percent of his supporters describe system in South Korea, after Washington North could attempt a fifth nuclear test in sia’s respective strategic security,” Wang said. and economic supporter. But Beijing fears themselves as “liberal” or “moderate”, with 65 percent ticking said it was in talks with Seoul in the wake a show of strength ahead of its Workers’ “Not only does it threaten the resolution THAAD and its radar have a range that “conservative” and only 13 percent “very conservative”. of nuclear arms and missile tests by North Party congress, which begins on May 6. of the peninsula nuclear issue, it quite pos- would extend far beyond the Korean pen- Trump’s supporters Korea. North Korea test-fired what appeared to sibly could pour oil on the fire of an already insula and into China. Approximately half of his supporters are 45-65 years The United States and South Korea be two intermediate range ballistic missiles tense situation, and even destroy strategic Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thurs- in age, 34 percent are over 65 years, and slightly more have begun talks on possible deploy- on Thursday, but both failed, the U.S. mil- equilibrium on the peninsula.” day that Beijing would not allow war and cha- than half are women. The majority have a high school ment of the Terminal High Altitude Area itary said. Speaking at joint press briefing North Korea’s actions should not os to break out on the Korean peninsula. education or less, with only 19 percent earning a col- Defense (THAAD) system after North with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, be used as an excuse to make moves North and South Korea remain tech- lege post-graduate degree. Over a third earn less than Korea tested its fourth nuclear bomb Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the that would escalate tensions, espe- nically at war after their 1950-53 conflict $50,000 a year. on Jan. 6 and conducted missile tests. United States should respect “legitimate cially the U.S. deployment of an an- ended in a truce, rather than a treaty. The In other words, Trump’s support comes from under-ed- The nuclear test and missile launches concerns” of China and Russia over the ti-missile system, Lavrov said, accord- North routinely threatens to destroy South ucated, economically disadvantaged, middle-aged to older are in violation of United Nations reso- missile system. ing to an interpretation in Chinese. Korea and its major ally, the United States. Americans ostensibly seeking lives of greater promise and lutions against North Korea backed by “This move goes beyond the defensive North Korea’s drive to develop a nu- (Source: Reuters) opportunity. Ironically, this is precisely the demographic that would be most favorably served by Bernie Sanders’ proposed eco- Turmoil sure to follow Saudi reform plan unless nomic and social policies. Trump’s only articulated plans include schemes to rid the handled transparently: international business expert nation of brown people, which will ultimately offer his sup- ports nothing in the way of better lives. It is entirely reasona- 1 business interests, the ruling Al-Saud easier during the good times. But rulers bin Salman desires to do this for a num- ble to believe that making this truth apparent to voters could Based on this plan Saudi Arabia family, those with lucrative government and governments do not adopt reforms ber of reasons: turn Trump fans into Bernie voters. is going to prepare itself for post-oil jobs, the religious establishment, and unless they are forced!!” -It will give the government a quick Such a scenario may be an uphill and risky battle, but real economy. What are the hurdles for even the general citizenry who lose According to the plan, Aramco will source of revenues, namely the pro- leaders should not shirk from a challenge when the public such a goal? the handouts afforded by benefits. Tur- be changed into a holding company. What ceeds from 5% or 10 % sales of ARAMCO welfare is at stake. A: “The hurdles are simple to list but moil is sure to follow unless handled elements necessitate this for Saudis? shares through an IPO—in my opinion, Further to this point, it seems that Dr. Jill Stein has reached politically difficult to adopt and imple- very wisely, transparently, equitably A: “Nothing necessitates this but, to this could raise them $150 billion (5% out to Sanders to join forces, possibly offering the support ment: and slowly. All of this would have been my thinking, young Prince Mohammad IPO)-$300 billion (10% IPO). Green Party voters. -Effective, comprehensive and equita- -It will introduce transparency into the It is no secret that Republican Party leaders are desperate ble taxation of its citizenry (including the All of these will be politically challenging for management of oil and the public sector to derail Donald Trump’s nomination and there have been ruling Al-Saud family) the Al-Sauds and the government. Each will more generally. suggestions to contest his nomination at in July at the Repub- -A dramatic reduction in subsidies -It will send an important signal to lican National Convention. -A dramatic reduction in the size of cause a backlash from different segments of foreign investors and companies that the Although doing so could potentially weaken the Re- the public sector, public sector employ- the society: business interests, the ruling Al- country is now open for business. publican Party, it remains a possibility that party leaders ment and public sector salaries (to be- Saud family, those with lucrative government -It will then allow the government might take that risk rather than put Trump forth as their come comparable to the private sector) jobs, the religious establishment, and even to sell a number of other public sector candidate. -Reduction in corruption and the priv- assets through IPOs; if it can do it in Unlike Sanders, Trump did not rule out an independent ileges of the ruling Al-Saud family the general citizenry who lose the handouts the case of oil, then it can do it for an- run if he does not secure the nomination. If that happens, a -Institutional reforms that must in- afforded by benefits. Turmoil is sure to follow ything—such as PIF (the public sectors’ new reality would be created that could clude the rule of law and a modern con- unless handled very wisely, transparently, holdings in joint stock companies and the assuage Bernie’s reticence to also run independently, thus stitution like), Saudia Airlines, etc. creating a four-way presidential race, moving the U.S. closer All of these will be politically chal- equitably and slowly. All of this would have -If all goes well and it is successful, it to what elections in a real democracy are supposed to look lenging for the Al-Sauds and the gov- been easier during the good times. But rulers will cement Prince Mohammad’s position like. ernment. Each will cause a backlash and governments do not adopt reforms unless and maybe move him up to the position Collective fate from different segments of the society: of Crown Prince.!” It should be clear by now that Americans are acutely aware they are forced!!” that our collective fate is being steered by a ruling elite whose principle pursuit is one of self-interest and consolidation of power as they simultaneously pay lip service to the very real Protests erupt in Venezuela as power crisis deepens human struggles in this country. As the populace inches closer to the condition of ir- Looting and violence have been reported Another Venebarometro poll indicat- On Thursday, the opposition, which To save power, his government has redeemable discontent - whether it is with rigged elec- in parts of Venezuela, as the country fac- ed more than two thirds of Venezuelans took control of the legislature in January, also slashed the working week to two tions, sustained economic hardship or unrelenting social es widespread food and power shortag- wanted President Nicolas Maduro to quit. said that a million people backed its call days for state employees and ordered and environmental injustice - it would behove the po- es, forcing the government to ration food The opposition blames government for a referendum to remove the presi- schools to close on Fridays. litical establishment to comprehend that the status quo and electricity. mismanagement for the power crisis as dent. Since Maduro became president in is untenable. Several towns and cities, including the well as for the shortage of food and basic The signatures will be handed over to 2013 after Chavez died of cancer, the Lastly, and this is the most important point I can make: second-biggest city Maracaibo, were hit supplies. the National Electoral Board, which will economy has been hit with shortages Real change can only ever come from popular mass move- by rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday The opposition tried to sack the food take a final call on whether the referen- and skyrocketing inflation. ments. The leaders we have allowed in office in my lifetime after daily power cuts started from Mon- minister, but it was blocked by President dum can be organized. The collapse of global crude prices have largely acted to curtail, discredit, and/or disband pop- day. Maduro. Maduro blames the situation on an have also worsened the economy of the ular opposition, from the Black Panthers to the Occupy Wall Residents in the Caracas area of Pe- “We are facing the worst food emer- “economic war” against the country by Latin American nation with the world’s Street movements. tare this month said they were eating gency in Venezuela’s history,” said Ismael capitalists and right-wing conspirators largest oil reserves. We merely need a leader who will not actively block our more starches and skipping meals be- Garcia, an MP leading the motion to sack seeking to destabilize his government. The political tension, shortages and efforts to organize as we work to expand labor unions, em- cause they could not find food or afford Food Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres. He has vowed to press on with the so- now enforced electricity blackouts that power students, protect consumers, create activists, educate to buy what was available. The socialist president has already cialist “revolution” launched by his late started this week have raised fears of un- our young so that we might produce critical thinking, com- In a survey published by pollster Ven- blocked several bills brought by the op- predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999. rest in the country, already ranked by the passionate, and imaginative generations to steer us away ebarometro on Thursday, 13 percent of position by challenging them in the Su- He also says the El Nino weather phe- United Nations as one of the most violent from the current individualistic, rapacious capitalism setting Venezuelans said their household only preme Court. His critics say he controls nomenon has dried up the country’s hy- in the world. our planet aflame. (Source: Al Jazeera) ate once a day. the court and the electoral authorities. droelectric dams. (Source: agencies) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 10 SOCIETY AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 http://www.tehrantimes.com/society

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Occupational fatalities drop by 21% in Iran

SOCIETY TEHRAN — Work-re- The report indicates that 322 workers desklated deaths in Iran de- died of striking by a hard object, 247 died of creased by 21 percent in the past Iranian electrocution, 56 died of burns, 70 died of calendar year (March 2015-March 2016) lack of oxygen and the remaining 141 died compared to the year before, Mehr news of other reasons. agency reported. Over this one-year period, provinces of According to a report released by the Tehran with 290, Khorasan Razavi with 106, forensics, 1,494 workers died during per- and Isfahan and Mazandaran each with 97 forming work-related tasks last year, a de- deaths set the records for the highest occu- crease of 397 deaths year on year. pational fatalities. Of the total number of work-related On the other hand Zanjan with 10, deaths reported over the past year mere- Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and South The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ly 15 were women, meanwhile the report Khorasan each with 11, and Semnan Mark Twain states that in the year to March 2015, with 15 deaths are of the least number of deaths amounted to 1,878 among men and work-related fatalities over the same period. only 13 among women. Additionally, the number of injuries The leading causes of worker deaths caused during course of work also shows are falls as for the previous year 44 percent a fall of 8.4 percent. The number of the in- LEARN ENGLISH of the deaths were resulted from falling. In jured is 27,510, of which 26,267 were men Insider Trading other words, 658 workers died of falling. and 1,243 were women.

Rita: I just got a hot tip from my brother to buy stock in McQ Corp. UK government faces second court battle over air pollution plans Rick: Your brother works for McQ Corp., doesn’t he? Rita: Yeah, he’s a director in the company, so he should High court to hear case against government’s ‘woefully inadequate’ plans to tackle air pollution, just a year know if something big is brewing. after losing in the Supreme Court Rick: If he’s a director and he knows something that isn’t publicly disclosed about the company, and he’s telling The UK government is to be sued in the high court over and continued investment in clean technologies will create you to buy stock, isn’t that insider trading? its air pollution plans, just a year after losing at the su- cleaner, healthier air for all. We cannot comment on ongo- Rita: Insider trading?! I’m not a major investor. I don’t plan preme court and being ordered to fulfil its legal duty to ing legal proceedings.” to buy so many shares that I’ll become a major sharehold- cut pollution rapidly. The MPs’ report said the government needed to do er. All I can afford are a few shares. A request for a new judicial review by environmental much more, including introducing a scrappage scheme for Rick: Still, he’d be considered a corporate insider and may lawyers at ClientEarth was granted by a judge on Thursday. old, dirty diesel vehicles, giving dozens of cities stronger be breaching his fiduciary responsibilities. Giving you this ClientEarth argues the government is in breach of its powers to deter polluting vehicles with charging schemes tip could get him, and you, into a lot of trouble. legal duty to produce new air quality plans to cut pollution and acting to cut pollution from farms. Rita: Who are you, an SEC regulator? People do this kind to legal levels in the “shortest possible time”, despite being “There is clear consensus that the government’s plans of thing all the time, and there’s nothing shady about it. If ordered to do so by the supreme court in 2015. The devel- are wholly inadequate to address this public health crisis,” you’re smart, you’d buy a few shares yourself. opment puts the spotlight on the environment secretary, said Kerry McCarthy, Labor’s shadow environment secre- Rick: Uh, no thanks. I don’t think I’d look good in an or- Liz Truss, who is named as the defendant in the new case. tary. “It should not take legal action to force the environ- ange jumpsuit. Air pollution was called a “public health emergen- ment secretary to take urgent action and help save lives.” (Source: eslpod.com) cy” by MPs on Wednesday, and causes 40,000-50,000 Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foun- Words & phrases early deaths every year. A report from two Royal Col- Protesters stage a die-in protest at an anti-pollution rally dation, said: “This is the second time the government has hot tip: a good piece of advice about the likely result of a leges of medicine estimated the cost of the damage at outside the Department for Transport in London, 27 April, been taken to court over air pollution. They must now take race, business deal etc. £20bn a year. 2016. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/Getty Images immediate action to prevent people being needlessly killed stock: a share in a company A deadline for the UK to meet EU air quality rules was we saw yesterday, MPs from across the political spectrum by the air they breathe. Air pollution affects everyone [and] something big is brewing: that something important is go- missed in 2010 but the plan put forward by the govern- agree with us that the government is not doing enough.” it has greatest impact on the most vulnerable – children, ing to happen but no one knows exactly what it is, it’s secret ment after losing at the Supreme Court would not cut pol- Mary Creagh MP, chair of the environmental audit com- the elderly, and those with lung conditions.” information lution to legal levels until 2025 in some cities. mittee, which is currently investigating air pollution, said: The government has been accused of trying to bury publicly: in a way that is intended for anyone to know, see, “The government’s new plans to tackle air pollution “The government has dragged its feet on tackling air pol- the news of its air pollution plans. The government re- or hear are woefully inadequate and won’t achieve legal limits for lution and that is simply not good enough. It is about time leased a draft of the plan required by the `Supreme Court disclosed: to make something publicly known, especially years to come,” said ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews. “The the government set out a clear, comprehensive plan to go on the Saturday in September on which Jeremy Corbyn after it has been kept secret longer they are allowed to dither and delay, the more peo- much further, much faster.” was elected leader of the Labour party. The final plan was insider trading: the crime of using secret information that ple will suffer from serious illness or an early death.” A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment, published on “take out the trash day” in December, along you have about a company or knowledge of a situation to “Today’s decision means we will be returning to court to Food and Rural Affairs said: “Our plans clearly set out how with dozens of other ministerial statements and many buy or sell shares at a profit demand that ministers respect our right to breathe clean we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new pro- hundreds of government documents. investor: someone who gives money to a company, busi- air,” Andrews said. “The health evidence is mounting and, as gram of Clean Air Zones, which alongside national action (Source: The Guardian) ness, or bank in order to get a profit share: one of the equal parts into which the ownership of a company is divided shareholder: someone who owns shares in a company or Labrador helps save Arizona man stranded in snowstorm business FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — insider: someone who has a special knowledge of a par- Police say Arizona Daily Sun. Roccaforte said he went outside and was about 32 degrees at the time. ticular organization because they are part of it a man wearing only a T-shirt during a The dog’s owner, John Paul Roc- eventually heard someone moaning and “If that dog hadn’t heard him out breach: to break a law, rule, or agreement snowstorm would have frozen to death caforte, said he let Marley go outside calling for help. He called 911. Paramed- there, he would have definitely frozen to fiduciary: involving trust, especially with regard to the rela- at the base of an Arizona mountain had around 1 a.m. when he started barking ics and law enforcement arrived around death for sure,” Seay said. tionship between a trustee and a beneficiary it not been for an alert 2-year-old black and wouldn’t stop. 1:20 a.m. After the rescue Marley was reward- SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission Labrador mix. “He just kind of starts really sniffing First responders found a man who ed with cuddles and treats as well as an regulator: someone who makes sure that a system oper- Flagstaff officer Melissa Seay says around and then starts barking,” Rocca- appeared to be in his mid-20s lying in informal hero designation, which Roc- ates properly or fairly the dog named Marley heard the forte said. “He just wouldn’t let up. He a secluded area nearby. The man was caforte said the pup doesn’t think too shady: probably dishonest or illegal man’s cries for help, according to The was relentless.” wearing only a T-shirt with no coat. It much of. jumpsuit: a piece of clothing like a shirt and a pair of trou- sers joined together, worn especially by women IN FOCUS IRNA/Mehdi Qorbani orange jumpsuit: refers to the clothes worn by prisoners

QUIZ OF THE DAY 147) What does the idiom mean? Give me a hand: a) help me b) applaud c) get married (Quiz No. 146 missing word is: to *the* brim)

PHRASAL VERB Sign away Mdical students from universities of medical sciences carried out diabetes and blood pressure test for free at Tehran’s subway stations on Thursday. Meaning: give up one’s rights or ownership For example: He signed away his property and joined a religious community. LEARN NEWS TRANSLATION

ﻭﺍﻡ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ 20 ﻣﻴﻠﻴﻮﻥ ﺗﻮﻣﺎﻥ ﺷﺪ Wedding loans more than tripled ENGLISH PROVERB ﺑﻪ ﮔﺰﺍﺭﺵ ﺧﺒﺮﮔﺰﺍﺭﻯ ﺻﺪﺍ ﻭ ﺳﻴﻤﺎ ﻧﻤﺎﻳﻨﺪﮔﺎﻥ ﻣﺠﻠﺲ ﺭﻭﺯ ﺷﻨﺒﻪ ﻗﺎﻧﻮﻧﻰ ﺭﺍ ﺗﺼﻮﻳﺐ ﻛﺮﺩﻧﺪ ﻛﻪ ﺑﺮ ﺍﺳﺎﺱ ﺁﻥ -Majlis approved a bill on Sunday, based on which wedding loans will be more than tri ﺗﺴﻬﻴﻼﺕ ﻗﺮﺽ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻨﻪ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﺑﺮﺍﻯ ﻫﺮ ﻳﻚ ﺍﺯ ﺯﻭﺟﻴﻦ ﺭﺍ ﺍﺯ 3 ﻣﻴﻠﻴﻮﻥ ﺗﻮﻣﺎﻥ ﺑﻪ 10 ﻣﻴﻠﻴﻮﻥ ﺗﻮﻣﺎﻥ ﺍﻓﺰﺍﻳﺶ ﺩﺍﺷﺖ. .Death is the great leveler pled to 100 million rials (nearly $2,800) for each of the spouses, IRIB reported ﺗﺴﻬﻴﻼﺕ ﻗﺮﺽ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻨﻪ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﻛﻪ ﺳﺎﺑﻖ ﺑﺮ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻣﺒﻠﻎ 3 ﻣﻴﻠﻴﻮﻥ ﺗﻮﻣﺎﻥ ﺑﺮﺍﻯ ﻫﺮ ﻳﻚ ﺍﺯ ﺯﻭﺟﻴﻦ ﺑﻮﺩ -Wedding loan which used to be 30 million rials (nearly $850) for each of the spous Explanation: all people are equal when they die es has now risen by more than three times. Additionally, the 3-year payback period ﺑﻪ ﻣﺒﻠﻎ 10 ﻣﻴﻠﻴﻮﻥ ﺗﻮﻣﺎﻥ ﺑﺎ ﺩﻭﺭﻩ ﺑﺎﺯﭘﺮﺩﺍﺧﺖ 4 ﺳﺎﻟﻪ ﺑﻪ ﺟﺎﻯ 3 ﺳﺎﻝ ﺍﻓﺰﺍﻳﺶ ﻳﺎﻓﺖ. .has now increased to 4 years ﺑﺮ ﻃﺒﻖ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻗﺎﻧﻮﻥ ﺑﻪ ﻣﻨﻈﻮﺭ ﺣﻤﺎﻳﺖ ﺍﺯ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﺟﻮﺍﻧﺎﻥ ﻭ ﺗﺸﻮﻳﻖ ﺁﻧﻬﺎ ﺑﻪ ﺍﻣﺮ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﺗﻤﺎﻡ ﺑﺎﻧﻚ ﻫﺎ The law states that in order to support young couples and encourage marriage all ﻣﻮﻇﻒ ﻫﺴﺘﻨﺪ ﺗﺎ ﺗﺴﻬﻴﻼﺕ ﻗﺮﺽ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻨﻪ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﺭﺍ ﺩﺭ ﺍﻭﻟﻮﻳﺖ ﻧﺨﺴﺖ ﭘﺮﺩﺍﺧﺖ ﻗﺮﺍﺭ ﺩﻫﻨﺪﺑﻪ ﻃﻮﺭﻳﻜﻪ Without banks are due to give top priority to the wedding loans so that by the end of each ﺗﻌﺪﺍﺩ ﺟﻮﺍﻧﺎﻥ ﺩﺭ ﺻﻒ ﻭﺍﻡ ﺍﺯﺩﻭﺍﺝ ﺩﺭ ﭘﺎﻳﺎﻥ ﻫﺮ ﻣﺎﻩ ﻛﻤﺘﺮ ﺍﺯ 50 ﻫﺰﺍﺭ ﻧﻔﺮ ﺑﺎﺷﺪ. .month less than 50,000 applicants remain in the waiting lists for the loans earth no Meanwhile, the central bank has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of ﺑﺎﻧﻚ ﻣﺮﻛﺰﻯ ﻭﻇﻴﻔﻪ ﻧﻈﺎﺭﺕ ﺑﺮ ﺍﺟﺮﺍﻯ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻗﺎﻧﻮﻥ ﻭ ﺟﺮﻳﻤﻪ ﺑﺎﻧﻚ ﻫﺎﻯ ﻣﺘﺨﻠﻒ ﺩﺭ ﺍﻳﻦ ﺯﻣﻴﻨﻪ ﺭﺍ ﺑﺮ ﻋﻬﺪﻩ ﺩﺍﺭﺩ. birth! the law. Violation of the law is punishable by a fine levied by the central bank. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

http://www.tehrantimes.com/sports AAPRILPRIL 330,0, 22016016 SPORTS 11

AAzmoun:zmoun: IIt’st’s mmyy ddreamream ttoo pplaylay fforor PAPER ROUND Jose Mourinho told United job is his, Chelsea and Arsenal IIranran aatt WWorldorld CCupup fight for Mkhitaryan

SPORTS Iranian youngster Sardar Azmoun, The Old Trafford boardroom tell Jose Mourinho the job is his, Henrikh deskwho plays for FC Rostov, had a dream Mkhitaryan is off to London while Manchester United are close to of playing at the World Cup when he was a child. He is signing £46m wonderkid Renato Sanches. It’s Friday’s Paper Round. now very close to his dream and believes that he will Mourinho given assurances the United job is his give his best for the Iran national team to reach the 2018 Jose Mourinho is still the man the boardroom at Old Trafford World Cup in Russia. want, according to the Sun. They reveal that despite worries PSG’s “The first world cup I remember watching on television manager Laurent Blanc would available to take on the gig at United, was the 2006 tournament in Germany. I was at my cousin’s there have been reassurances made to Mourinho in the last couple house in Iran, I was very young ten or eleven years old we of days that he still in demand by were watching Iran’s last group game against Angola which the Red Devils. The report also finished 1-1. When Iran scored I celebrated widely and I says negotiations have been at remembered thinking I wanted to follow in their footsteps. an advanced stage for a while I wanted to play in a FIFA World Cup one day and score and are close to being complet- goals for my country,” Sardar Azmoun told FIFA.com. ed, ensuring the former Chelsea “As a child I used to look up players like Ali Daei boss will earn a record £60 mil- and Zalatan Ibrahimovic, watching and studying them lion over three years. thought me a lot as a player. Ali Daei was a gentleman Paper Round’s view: It’s still and he still holds the record for the most goals in inter- very hard to tell what exactly is national football. Ibrahimovic is also a great player and going behind the scenes, but as a fellow forward he is probably the player I most want it seems as if other interested to play like,” The 21-year old striker added. managers have an uphill bat- “In 2014 my dream of playing in a world cup near- tle to convince United to make ly came true. I was in the provisional squad but I was them a priority over Mourin- dropped before the tournament. It wasn’t a great feeling ho. This should be enough to and maybe sad, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. The coach keep us dreaming of a Pep vs Jose Manchester derby. knew what he wanted in his team and he recognized I United seek to close £46m deal for teenage sensation wasn’t quite ready that I still need to work on my game. To Renato Sanches be honest that just made me hungrier to play at a World Benfica’s decision makers have arrived in London for talks Cup; I believed in myself, I knew that I can play better and selected in 2018. Even I’m part of the national team now “Like every player who plays for the national team I with United according to the Daily Mail, as the Red Devils seek then I could develop more as a player,” he added. I know it’s not certain to be picked. I haven’t reached my want to help the team qualify and do well. I want to play to finalise the signing of wonderkid Renato Sanches. Sanches “To play for Iran is important to me; after I missed out full potential but I as long as I continue to work hard I at the World Cup here in Russia and I’ll give my all to be is currently under contract at Benfica until 2021 with a buyout in 2014 I started to think about what I need to do to be think I can establish myself,” he added. there,” Azmoun added. clause of nearly £60m, but the Mail are reporting they are willing to sell for £31m upfront with £15m in add-ons. The report says the lively box to box midfielder has a strong chance to head to Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic Iran Volleyball squad announced for United, pending on this round of talks. Paper Round’s view: £46m plus other handling fees is a lot of apologizes to fans World Olympic Qualifying money for someone in their first season of football. By all means believe the hype, as Sanches has incredible speed, skill and spatial awareness. But it is a massive risk and no one is guaranteed to become world class. Time to haggle for a less risky price, United. Arsenal join Chelsea’s chase for Dortmund’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan The Mirror are reporting that Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Borussia Dortmund could be on his way to the Premier League, as Chel- sea and Arsenal fight for the services of the Armenia internation- al. Mkhitaryan has reportedly made it clear he wants a move to London, as Dortmund fear they could lose the ace as early as the summer. The Gunners can offer him Champions League football next season whereas Chelsea can’t, and it was a significant factor in Mkhitaryan’s failed move to Liverpool, opting for Dortmund instead because of the promise of elite European game time. Paper Round’s view: Mkhitaryan would be interesting in Premier League football, purely to see how his pure pace would work in a SPORTS Persepolis coach Foolad match which has been scheduled SPORTS Iran volleyball coach Olympic Games. more physical league. The promise of Champions League should deskBranko Ivankovic for the next 10 days,” Branko said. deskRaul Lozano has in- Iran Roster be the decider on where he goes, depending on if Chelsea can apologized to the team’s fans for their “I am really sad because of the defeat. vited 21 players to the team for the Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi, stump up enough cash to make the wait a bit easier. Swansea eye Joe Allen reunion loss to Naft Tehran in Iran Professional It’s not right time to lose. I am ashamed World Olympic Qualifying Tourna- Mohammad Taher Vadi, Amir Gha- League (IPL) on Thursday. of our fans that we could not make them ment in Tokyo, Japan from May 28 to four, Shahram Mahmoudi, Amin Alavi, Joe Allen could be heading back to Wales, as Swansea are With three weeks to go, IPL leader happy,” the Croat said. June 5. Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, attempting to get the midfielder back from Liverpool, accord- Persepolis was defeated against Naft “From now, title destiny is not ‘in our hands’ Iran will face powerful oppositions Armin Tshakkori, Mohammad Fallah, ing to the Daily Mail. Allen left the club in 2012, after coach 2-0 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in front but we will never give up. We will do our best such as Australia, Canada, China, Mostafa Sharifat, Saman Faezi, Mi- Brendan Rodgers brought him along to Merseyside and of about 90,000 spectators and moved in the two remaining matches,” he added. France, Japan, Poland and Venezuela lad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi, Mo- dubbed him the “Welsh Xavi”. Allen is in the final year of his down to third place. Elsewhere, Esteghlal defeated Saipa 2-1 in the Round-Robin tournament. The hammadjavad Manavinezhad, Alireza contract at Liverpool, with Swansea attempting to haggle the “First, I congratulate Naft Tehran due to and returned to top of table on goal differ- best Asian team along with the three Mobasheri, Hamzeh Zarrini, Rahman £10m price tag that the Reds have put on him. victory. They took advantage of our mis- ence, followed by Esteghlal Khuzestan who top-ranked teams in the tournament Davoudi, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, Farhad Paper Round’s view: Allen has shown a fair bit in the second takes. We have to be ready for Gostaresh beat struggling Rah Ahan 3-1 and Persepolis. will get the tickets to the Rio 2016 Zarif, Mehdi Marandi. half of the season, an obvious ploy now he’s being made to play for that next Liverpool contract. Whether he’s back at Swansea next season is entirely down to how Jurgen Klopp rates him as a player in an end of season review. Tehran derby 33th most important derby in the world (Source: Eurosport) SPORTS British website FourFourTwo has by – Iranian football wasn’t organized into a national port foreign referees for improved impartiality – but deskranked Tehran derby as the 33th big- league until 1970, and the sides first bumped heads it didn’t stop a 2000 brawl when needle between Es- gest derby in the world of football. in 1968. During the ‘70s the rivalry became class-con- teghlal goalkeeper Parviz Broumand and Persepolis Mauricio Pochettino agrees two- Here is the FourFourTwo article about Persepolis vs. scious, with Persepolis as the people’s club while Esteg- striker Payan Rafat led to the keeper whacking the year Spurs contract extension Esteghlal rivalry: hlal – known as Taj until the 1979 Revolution – was seen forward in the face. The consequences – besides a If you don’t think a game’s worth mentioning un- as being supported by the elite. black eye for Rafat – were post-match riots in which til there’s 50,000 people in the ground, you’ll love the In a noteworthy 1995 scrap, Persepolis were 2-0 250 buses were destroyed and 60 arrests made, in- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has said he Tehran derby. Iran’s two most successful teams both use up and sailing with 10 minutes left but a controversial cluding three players from each side. has agreed a two-year contract extension, ending speculation the huge Azadi Stadium, and it’s usually packed to its penalty helped Esteghlal draw level. Such were the Persepolis thrashed Esteghlal 4-2 in the latest meet- that he may quit the club in the summer. 95,000 capacity for this clash. It’s a relatively young der- accusations of favoritism that the FA started to im- ing between the two teams two weeks ago. The Spurs manager made the announcement in a press con- ference ahead of his side’s match with Chelsea. Pochettino said: “ It was an easy decision when you feel the love of the people Iran runner-up at Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation Cup and the potential of the club is massive, so why change? “ “We create a good atmosphere on the training ground and Iranian junior freestyle team finished in second and Sajjad Gholami in the 69kg won silver medals. I think we can achieve big things in the future. I believe in this place in the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation Cup on In the 42kg, Ali Azimi claimed a bronze medal. Amir project and this club. I want to stay here.” Thursday. Hossein Khodabakhshi won a bronze medal in the 46kg. Pochettino has recently been linked with the Paris Saint-Germain The Iranian team claimed four gold, five silver and Reza Alijanzadeh snatched a bronze medal in the 54kg job, is one of the contenders to succeed Roy Hodgson should he four bronze medals in the competition held at the “Sar- and Erfan Ayoubi seized a bronze in the 100kg. step down after the Euro 2016 tournament and has been strongly ru- hadchi” Sport Olympic Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan won the competition with 86 points, fol- moured to be a rival to Jose Mourinho for the Manchester United job. Mehdi Eshghi in the 46kg, Amir Parasteh in the 50kg, lowed by Iran (85) and Turkey (76). The Argentine manager has seen Spurs mount their first seri- Mostapha Najafi in the 76kg and Erfan Jafari in the The tournament brought 100 wrestlers from Azer- ous Premier League title challenge, with hope for more success 100kg snatched four gold medals. baijan, Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, in future years. While mathematically still in with a chance of Ali Hafezi in the 42kg, Majid Dastan in 54kg, Hamed Russia, Iraq, Turkey and Kazakhstan together. winning the league this season, Leicester are strong favourites. Rahimi in the 58kg, Amir Hossein Kavusi in the 63 kg, (Source: Tasnim) This contract extension should end speculation over his ca- reer for at least the summer. Our View This appear to be, on the surface, a coup for Spurs. It would be the first time that they have made a serious and sensible step Asian Weightlifting Championships: towards becoming a force in England, whereas in the past they have lost players like Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Luka Iran’s Mousavi wins silver Modric and Gareth Bale. The extension of the contract will make it easier for them to persuade Harry Kane to refuse overtures Ayoub Mousavi from Iran claimed a silver medal with a total of 373kg and bronze medal went to Su Ying from other clubs over the summer. in the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships on from China with 355kg. But it should not be overstated, as this is an extension for just two Thursday. The tournament, which will run until April 30, has years, and will have little use should Pochettino decide that he’d like to In the 85kh weight category, Mousavi lifted 156kg in brought a total of 161 lifters from 30 countries together quit at the end of next season. With Mourinho likely to go to United and snatch and 198kg in clean & jerk for a total of 356kg. and serves as a qualification event for the Olympics. Laurent Blanc likely to stay in Paris for another year, his loyalty is yet to Denis Ulanov from Kazakhstan won the gold medal (Source: Tasnim) be seriously tested by bigger, richer clubs. (Source: Eurosport) b

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NEWS Shahnameh captures Shiraz to display Gunther Uecker’s paintings inspired readers’ imaginations: by Hafez ARTTEHRAN — A collection of paintings by Finnish translator deskGerman sculptor and op artist Gunther Uecker, all inspired by ghazals of Persian poet Hafez, will be 1 but also the Shahnameh. For me the displayed in an exhibition in Shiraz opening on May 1. That was the first thing I read in Per- Shahnameh has been the main work Entitled “Tribute to Hafez” (“Huldigung an Hafes”), the col- sian.” until now”. lection will be unveiled at the mausoleum of Hafez, but it will He continued that he finds the story Asked if his choice had something to later go on display in a month-long exhibit at Tar-o-Pood of Zahhak, the most interesting story of do with Kalevala— the Finnish nation- Gallery, the director of Iran’s Office for Visual Arts, Majid Mol- the Shahnameh. “Everybody would say al epic compiled by Elias Lonnrot—he lanoruzi, said in a press conference on Thursday. Rustam, Sohrab, Bijan and Manijeh. But replied, “There are some similarities be- “The paintings inspired by ghazals of Hafez will be dis- in addition to these stories admired by tween the two epics, but I would have played in the exhibit to portray the two-year efforts of the every individual, my personal favorite is translated the Shahnameh anyway. It artist on works by Hafez,” Mollanoruzi added. Zahhak who met Kaveh, and Ferdow- makes more sense to the Finnish people He said that Uecker has donated the works to the Tehran si’s ability to build his character. Zahhak since we have our own epic stories; they Museum of Contemporary Art, but first, they will be show- starts as quite a nice young person, a might be somewhat different but there cased in Shiraz. young hero initially, and one could not are also similarities.” Jaakko “The collection will later be shown in the Imam Ali (AS) say that he was bad in the beginning. Hameen-Anttila also said that Religious Arts Museum in Tehran for one month,” he asserted. Hameen- He is ambitious and because of this, he he chose the Persian version of the Anttila A number of Iranian and German officials are expected to transforms into a monster. This is also Shahnameh complied by the distin- in an attend the opening ceremony. one of the best stories among the oth- guished Iranian Shahnameh research- undated The 82-year-old Uecker is a member of the ZERO move- ers.” er, Jalal Khaleqi-Motlaq, as his original photo ment, best known for his signature use of nails arranged into To the question why he chose to fo- source, and translated Shahnameh from tactile, sculptural paintings. cus on Ferdowsi and not other classical verse into prose. “I think this is what ed to translate from the beginning and tiq at-Tayr” (“The Conference of the Uecker’s oeuvre includes paintings, art objects and in- poets, he said, “I have always been fas- most other translators have done. That ended with the death of Rustam. A Birds”) by Farid od-Din Mohammad ibn stallations as well as stage designs and films. He is mainly cinated by the Shahnameh. But I have is, the translation is [the translator’s] complete translation of the first half ap- Ebrahim Attar. interested in the eastern European avant-garde of the 1920s also translated literary poetry earlier personal conception. It is more or less pears in the first volume.” He said he is planning to start work and 1930s, but he is likewise fascinated by Asian cultures and such as works by Hafez and Rumi. But word by word. Basically, it is a very faith- Hameen-Anttila translated a selec- on the second half of the Shahnameh in their ideas. I wanted to translate the epic poetry, so ful translation; I have just made the lan- tion of Rumi’s Masnavi-ye Manavi into a year or two, but that he would select His works can be seen in collections and at large fairs that the Finnish people would be able to guage Finnish.” Finnish, as well as excerpts from the Di- one or two stories from the Shahnameh in both the West and the East. Uecker’s artistic creativity read different kinds of Persian literature, He next explained that the project van of Hafez and the Rubaiyat of Omar to translate into verse as his next pro- reached a climax in 2000 with the prayer room he designed not just the ghazals of Hafez and Rumi, took three years to complete. “I start- Khayyam. He has also translated “Man- jects. for the rebuilt Reichstag building in Berlin. Veteran singer Nader Golchin honored

NEWS IN BRIEF ARTTEHRAN — Veteran singer Nader chin is a good singer must give reasons why. The hidden activities, he can also be categorized as a pop singer. deskGolchin, famous for his renditions of characteristic in his voice has made him a distinguished The pop music he offers is quite different, that is, he al- “Yahya Didn’t Keep memorable old-time songs, was honored during a cer- singer. ways offers a type of music that bears a sign of intellect,” Quiet” tops at emony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Wednesday evening. “He enjoys a unique voice with a specific type of vo- Nurbakhsh said. A large number of musicians from his time, including cal sound with a vast and proper limit of singing. He A bust of Golchin was handed to the 80-year-old Lebanese filmfest Abdolvahhab Shahidi, attended the ceremony. also has a full knowledge of singing, making him into a singer by Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Ali The event began by screening a video featuring a perfect singer. Moradkhani. Golchin, in his brief words, called love the short interview with the singer. It was then followed “Singers like Golchin prove that singing is not limited main element in his success. ARTTEHRAN — Iranian director by an improvisation by santur virtuoso Fazlollah Ta- to classical performances, since he can also focus on The ceremony was organized by Radnoandish Art deskKaveh Ebrahimpur’s social dra- vakkol. other key components not necessarily related to clas- and Cultural Institute, a private organization active in art ma “Yahya Didn’t Keep Quiet” won the award for Vocalist Hamidreza Nurbakhsh, who is also the man- sical singing, and yet he still remains a perfect singer,” and cultural activities. best long fiction at the Tripoli Film Festival, which aging director of Iran’s House of Music, praised Gol- he explained. “Plaything”, “Arrow of Eyelashes” and “Song of Cara- was held in the Lebanese city from April 20 to 27. chin’s artistic career and said, “When we say Nader Gol- “While he has engaged in a wide range of musical van” are among the songs by Golchin. The film starring Fatemeh Motamed-Arya tells the story of a seven-year-old boy who severely PICTURE OF THE DAY ISNA/Farzad Khaboshani tries to uncover the mysteries of his aunt’s life. Robert Downey Jr. heaps Tina Pakravan is the producer of the movie. praise on new Seven other films from Mexico, Germany, Es- tonia, Palestine and Ireland were also screened Spider-Man Tom Holland in the section. LONDON (Reuters) — Hollywood actor Museum of Persian Robert Downey Jr. heaped praise on rising British star Tom Holland at the European Gulf maps opens on premiere of “Captain America: Civil War” Hormoz in London on Tuesday. The “Iron Man” star said he was im- pressed by the 19-year-old actor who ARTTEHRAN — A museum show- takes on the role of Spider-Man in the film. deskcasing historical documents and “This Tom Holland guy is something maps related to the Persian Gulf opened its doors else...thank you for lending us your na- to the public on Friday on Hormoz, an island lo- tional treasure,” he said. cated in the strategic waterway in southern Iran. The new movie sees Marvel's usually Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali friendly super heroes split. Chris Evans' Jannati, Hormozgan Province Governor Jasem Ja- Captain America fights for superheroes deri and several local officials and artists attend- to govern themselves and goes head to ed the opening ceremony, which was held on the head with his former ally, Robert Downey Persian Gulf National Day. Jr.'s Iron Man, who wants the heroes to be governed by the United Nations. Featuring a wide range of characters, including Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye and Anthony Mackie's Falcon, the movie has WHAT’S IN ART GALLERIES been largely well received by the critics so far. Sculpture Holland said he had a “great time” Sculptures by Arash Fateh-Barkhordari are working with the cast, and that he was currently on display in an exhi- excited to attend the London premiere, bition at Basmeh Gallery. The Alliance Orchestra under the baton of Iranian-born French maestro Pejman Memarzadeh performs at Chehel Sotum Palace in Isfahan on which took place in the large Westfield The showcase runs until May April 27, 2016. shopping mall -- where he said he used 11 at the gallery located at Block to buy jeans. A, Park Prince Bldg., Hakim- Azam St., North Shiraz St. Stuttgart art exhibit explores changing life in Iran Painting ARTTEHRAN — An art in today’s social and political contexts ernization over the last century, after ing Yesterday a Tomorrow… Iran: Archi- A retrospective of painter Jalaleddin Sol- deskshow underway at IFA and reflecting the transformation of a process of refurbishment and rein- tecture and Art”, the Persian service of tan-Kashefi is underway at Gal- Gallery in the German city of Stuttgart traditional norms in a rapidly changing terpretation of historical heritage had IRNA reported on Thursday. lery 26. explores many aspects of changing life world,” IFA Gallery stated on its website. been initiated. “Iran is a land with millennia of high The exhibit named “Edge” in Iran, the Institute for Foreign Rela- “Both Iranian architecture and these A video by Khosro Salarian and Sina culture that has a population of 80 mil- runs until May 11 at the gallery tions (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen artistic positions question seemingly Ahmadi juxtaposes “images of two for- lion, most of whom are young, educat- located 26 Salmanpur-Zahir St., – IFA) has announced. binary categories of past and present, mal idioms, Persian and modern”. Old ed people,” Zeller said. in the Farmanieh Sharqi district. The exhibition, which opened on tradition and modernity, seeking to bowls from ceramic water pipes are She emphasized the need for ex- Shokuh Gallery is hosting an exhibition of April 21, is showcasing polyptych light combine them and make them pro- woven together in a net to form an panding cultural relations with Iran and paintings by Suzan Vaziri. boxes by Iranian artist Dadbeh Bassir, ductive for the future.” installation that combines traditional said it would also help Iran and Germa- The exhibition named “My video stills by Amsterdam-based Irani- The exhibition also includes “Instant elements and contemporary patterns. ny increase their economic ties. Beliefs” will come to end on an artist Mehraneh Atashi and instal- Past”, which forms a section for Iranian IFA Visual Department Ursula Zeller Rose called Iran a stable country May 4 at the gallery that can lations by Berlin-based Iranian artist architecture and provides an update and the ministerial director of the Min- that needs to reconstruct its economy be found on 16, Amir Nuri Al- Mona Hakim-Schuber. of the presentation made for the 14th istry of Science, Research and the Arts and added, “German companies have ley, North Salimi St., Andarzgu The exhibition shows “traditional Venice Architecture Biennale. Baden-Württemberg, Claudia Rose, announced their readiness provide Blvd. technologies, old legends and Persian This section examines different delivered speeches at the opening cer- what Iran needs in this way.” poetry, looking at their significance buildings in Iran undergoing mod- emony of the exhibition entitled “Giv- The exhibition will run until July 3.