WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 16 Pages Price 40,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13551 Wednesday DECEMBER 11, 2019 Azar 20, 1398 Rabi’ Al thani 14, 1441 Trusting scientists U.S. lying about Persepolis, Leader’s rare is best way to counter pharmaceutical Sepahan learn fate handwritten scripts sanctions 3 sanctions 3 at ACL2020 15 on view at NLAI 16 Iran exports $27b of non-oil products in 8 months TEHRAN— Iran exported $27 billion the figure of the same period of time in of non-oil commodities during the eight- the previous year. month period from March 21 to November Iran imported 22 million tons of non-oil 23, IRIB reported on Tuesday citing the goods valued at $28.3 billion during the data released by Islamic Republic of Iran eight-month period, with a 1.5-percent Customs Administration (IRICA). rise in weight while 4.8 percent fall in The IRICA’s data put the weight of the value compared to the same time span country’s non-oil exports at 88 million of the past year. tons during the mentioned time span, As reported, China, Iraq, United Arab which indicates a 16-percent rise from Emirates (UAE), 4 Foreign tour operators, travel marketers astonished by safe, modern Iran TEHRAN – International tour operators “Iran is more modern, cleaner and and travel marketers, who have recently even quieter than what the media pic- years of lying made a familiarization tour across Iran, ture,” ISNA quoted one of the travelers 18 are astonished by seeing a country that is as saying on Monday. far more safe and modern than that they Julian, the representative a Spanish Top U.S. officials previously thought. travel agency, reminded recent remon- A weeklong Famtrip organized by an strations in Iran to saying that protests repeatedly misled Iranian tour operator brought 17 travelers are not unusual in the world as Spain, from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Peru France and even Lebanon have experi- public about and China. enced protests. 10 Afghanistan War Qatari emir turns down Saudi invitation See page 13 to join PGCC summit in Riyadh Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad which is due to open in the Saudi capital Al Thani has turned down an invitation by later in the day. Saudi Arabia to attend the annual meeting The Qatari emir was invited to the of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council meeting last week by Saudi King Salman (PGCC) in Riyadh. bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The official Qatar News Agency (QNA) Sheikh Tamim’s no-show at the Riyadh reported on Tuesday that Sheikh Tamim meeting dampens hopes of reconciliation had named Prime Minister Abdullah bin between Qatar and a Saudi-led bloc, which Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani to lead the are involved in a 30-month diplomatic Qatari delegation to the 40th GCC summit, dispute. 13 EDITORIAL U.S. Democrats to impeach Trump on abuse of power, obstruction of Congress probe ARTICLE Mohammad Ghaderi Democrats announced formal charges against pressured Ukraine to investigate a Democratic The charges unveiled Tuesday stem from Hana Saada Tehran Times editor-in-chief President Donald Trump Tuesday that accuse political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to announce Journalist from Algeria @ghaderi62 him of abusing power and obstructing Congress, in the 2020 elections. investigations of his political rivals, including making him only the third U.S. president in his- Democrats accuse Trump of abusing power by former Vice President Joe Biden, as he withheld tory to face impeachment. withholding aid to Ukraine, a vulnerable U.S. ally aid to the country. UAE, a virus The full House of Representatives is expected facing Russian aggression, as well as dangling a Trump tweeted ahead of the announcement Algeria’s landmark to vote on the charges, or articles of impeach- possible White House meeting to get Ukrainian that impeaching a president with a record like threatening Iraq ment, next week. The chamber, controlled by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch the his would be “sheer Political Madness!” televised trial: Court Democrats, is almost certain to vote to impeach investigation. In drafting the articles of impeachment, Pelosi convicts, imprisons he United Arab Emirates is the the Republican president, setting the stage for Republicans accuse Democrats of seeking to faced a legal and political challenge of balanc- name of a country that did not ex- a dramatic trial in the Republican-controlled overturn the results of the 2016 election with a ing the views of her majority while hitting the 2 ex-PMs, ministers, Tist until 1971 and its geographical Senate, likely to begin in January.House Judi- “witch hunt” against Trump, who denies he did Constitution’s bar of “treason, bribery or other area was known as “the Trucial States”. ciary Committee chairman, Jerrold Nadler, told anything wrong. Trump is unlikely to be convicted high crimes and misdemeanors”. tycoons for corruption On December 2, 1971, the UAE ap- reporters that Trump had endangered the U.S. in the Senate, given it is controlled by his party, Some liberal members of Congress wanted peared as a country on the map of the Constitution, undermined the integrity of the but his impeachment may yet have an impact on more expansive charges encompassing the findings or the second time since Algeria’s pro-de- world. Today, the UAE interventions 2020 election and jeopardized national security. the campaign trail as Democrats seek to retake from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s mocracy mass protests, following the first in the Arab states’ affairs and its role in “No one, not even the president, is above the control of the White House. probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ftrial with long prison terms handed to creating instability is clear to everyone. law,” Nadler said. If the House approves the articles, as expected, Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the im- former spy chiefs, leftist political party SG, and Regarding the destructive role of Democrats have moved rapidly in their im- the Republican-controlled Senate would hold a peachment articles more focused on Trump’s the brother of the ousted President Abdelaziz the UAE, the al-Monitor newspaper peachment inquiry since launching an investi- trial to decide whether to remove the president actions towards Ukraine. Bouteflika, over charges of plotting against wrote that after the 2011 incidents, gation on Sept. 24 into allegations that Trump from office. A conviction is considered unlikely. )Source: agencies( the state and undermining the army, senior the role of the UAE, especially in political officials and oligarchs, including two quelling popular movements, be- former Algerian prime ministers, went on live came more obvious. The UAE, along trial on groundbreaking corruption charges with its allies, made every efforts in the most high-profile act of transparency to prevent the success of popular Greece says Libya-Turkish deal invalid, in bad faith and accountability. movements in the Arab countries. Greece has lodged objections to the faith,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas serves around that island. The exceptional trial came few days before Arab media outlets have recently United Nations over an accord be- told reporters. Greece and Turkey are at loggerheads the historical presidential election for the released reports that reveal the UAE tween Libya and Turkey mapping out “It violates the (U.N.) Law of the Sea. The over mineral rights in the Aegean Sea, and replacement of the long-serving president interference in the Iraqi domestic af- maritime boundaries as a violation of sea zones of Turkey and Libya do not meet, Greece has accused the internationally-rec- Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to step down, fairs. The Al Mayadeen news channel international law, a Greek government and nor is there a sea border between the ognised Libyan government of deceiving this April, following mass protests. It resulted reported that three UAE planeloads of spokesman said Tuesday. two states,” Petsas said. Athens by negotiating the deal with Ankara from the sweeping investigations into graft arms were sent to the Iraqi Kurdistan Greece expelled the Libyan ambassador A row over eastern Mediterranean gas signed last month. allegations launched after the resignation following the visit of the Kurdistan Re- in response to the deal last week, infuriated reserves offshore has become increasingly It carves out a slanting sea corridor of of former president Bouteflika. gional Government’s officials to Abu at a pact which skirts the Greek island of shrill with countries in the region jostling maritime boundaries at the closest points The televised trial took place at the Sidi Dhabi. Crete and infringes, in Athens’s view, its to stake their claims. between Libya and Turkey, potentially clear- M’Hamed court in Algiers. It involved Al- Informed Iraqi sources told Al continental shelf. Turkey has had a long-running disagree- ing the way for oil and gas search there. gerian power players, including former Mayadeen that Baghdad is not aware “This agreement was compiled in bad ment with ethnically split Cyprus over re- )Source: Reuters( premier; Ahmed Ouyahia, considered as of the weapons that were sent to the one of the veteran statesmen of the North KRG. It is not clear that whether the African country, and a “crisis manager”. KRG or the Syrian Democratic Forces He has served as prime minister for four (SDF) will use these weapons. terms since mid-1990s, before tendering his The sources stated that sending resignation in March amid protests against arms to the KRG means that the UAE Mr. Bouteflika and the whole old guard, as is interfering in the KRG-Iraq case.