Leader rules out regional cooperation with U.S.

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Iran designates 8
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We are not afraid
of any team:
Dirk Bauermann
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S P O R T S
E C O N O M Y
N A T I O N
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Leader orders establishing
Islamic human rights
body: Judiciary
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“Salesman”
named best at
Munich filmfest
I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y
Chinese
studying
Arak reactor
modernization
document
2
12 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.12591 Monday JULY 4, 2016 Tir 14, 1395 Ramadan 28, 1437
Leader rules out regional
cooperation with U.S.
POLITICAL More than a thousand stud e s k dents including represent-
atives of various students associations had
a friendly and open meeting with Ayatollah
Khamenei on Saturday evening, July 2, 2016.
In his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei described the
current crucial conditions of the country as very similar
to those of the Al-Ahzab battle (The Battle of the Confederates) at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
and added: “Today all the materialists and bullies of
the world have arrayed against the Islamic Republic
and have attacked it in all its aspects.”
2
“Save
Mesopotamia
Area” campaign
calls for ceasing
Turkish-sourced
dust storms
By Maryam Qarehgozlou
TEHRAN — Recurrent dust storms
have become a matter of serious
concern for Iran. The detrimental dust particles keep on haunting
western and southern cities of Iran
and sometimes become the unwelcome guests of central cities of the
country as well.
See page 10
Ataturk dam in Turkey
Two families on
emotional roller
coaster over nurse
grave mistake
Babies swapped
at birth
TEHRAN — On a popular show
called Mah-e Asal that goes on air in
Iran during the holy month of Ramadan, one true story went quite viral
this year.
Two families learned the hard way
that their babies were switched at birth
after passage of almost a year.
The story began when a newly
married couple, the Omidvars living in
the city of Shiraz, southern Fars province, took their 10-month-old baby for
a trip to pediatrician office; however
the routine checkup turned into a big
shock.
The doctor informed the family of
their baby’s slow development. Suspicious of mother’s milk, he sent the
mom for some lab tests, and this is
where the story takes a turn.
Looking at the test results in disbelief, the doctor broke the bad news to
Mr. and Mrs. Omidvar. “Your baby is
down with a rare genetic blood disorder that none of you have had, to top
it all, the baby’s blood type does not
match yours.”
After that doctor’s visit, the marriage was in for a bumpy ride. The
thought of marital infidelity was taking
root in Mr. Omidvar’s mind when they
decided to undergo a DNA test, the
result of which took two long months
to come out.
“The wait didn’t feel like two months
rather twenty years,” Mrs. Omidvar
said. I couldn’t bare the heavy burden
of my husband’s suspicion, neighbors’
cold and mean look, relatives … “our
marriage was going through some really rough patches.”
The result was finally out and the
unbelievable happened. The child was
not theirs.
The couple immediately filed a
complaint against the hospital and
began investigation. After months of
search, thankfully they met the other
family, the Keshavarzs, who live in another city in Fars province.
9
POLITICAL TEHRAN — The Irad e s k nian Foreign Ministry
on Sunday censured the deadly terrorist attacks in Baghdad, calling them acts
of desperation by Daesh and its supporters who have suffered repeated
defeats. “The Liberation of Fallujah and
successive defeats of Daesh at various
arenas are leading them and their supporters to take desperate actions and kill
the innocent people,” ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.
2
70 professors
regret removal
of S. Arabia from
child-killer list
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
HUMAN INTEREST STORY
Iran calls
Iraqi terror
attacks acts of
desperation
by Daesh
Western province of Kermanshah haunted by dust storm on June 18, 2016.
More than 70 professors in Europe
and North America have expressed
concern over a UN decision to remove
Saudi Arabia from its blacklist of child
rights violators amid Riyadh’s military
campaign in Yemen. In a letter to UN
chief Ban Ki-moon, 73 professors expressed shock at “the brazen vulgarity
of power that a single ruling family in
one member state can assert against
the entirety of the UN to prevent it
from documenting war crimes and
crimes against humanity.”
3
‘Brexit might help resolve EU-Iran disagreements easily’
INTERVIEW
By Javad Heirannia
TEHRAN — A professor of political science at Georgetown University says the exit of Britain from the
European Union would possibly
help resolve differences between
Tehran and the EU easily.
“Britain’s exit would not much
affect Iran’s relations with the EU.
However, because Britain has always had a more hardline approach to relations with Iran, its
exit might make resolving some
EU-Iran disagreement easier,”
Shireen Hunter tells the Tehran
Times.
Following is the text the interview:
Would the British exit from
the EU affect London’s ties with
European countries?
A: It is unlikely that the British
withdrawal from the EU would
dramatically alter its relation with
other European countries. The exception is of course trade where
new trade pacts would have to
be negotiated. Britain would become closer to the EFTA countries, namely Iceland, Lichtenstein,
Norway and Switzerland. Britain’s
traditional close political relations
with countries such as Holland and
Portugal will also survive. Howev-
er, much depends on how the process of separation unfolds.
Moreover, will the exit affect the quality of Britain’s ties
with Middle East countries?
A: The British exit is unlikely to
affect significantly its relations with
the Middle East especially its traditional allies such as Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, the UAE and Oman. However, the UK may grow even closer
to these countries and it will not
be bound by potential EU actions
regarding these countries human
rights record or arms sales to these
states. Britain’s relations with Israel
might also grow closer.
9
Iranians to enjoy summer time with new concerts
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d
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s
T TEHRAN — Theaters in Tehk ran and several other Iranian
cities will be brightened up over the coming
days by concerts from many musicians, including Alireza Qorbani, Salar Aqili, Mohsen Yeganeh and Lily Afshar.
July performances include a concert by
composer Mahyar Alizadeh and vocalist Alireza Qorbani who will perform selections
from their album “Fairylike Girl” at Tehran’s
Vahdat Hall.
Also included are several other performances to take place in Vahdat Hall including concerts by the ensembles Nariman, exclusive for
women, and the Sur with vocalist Hesameddin
Seraj.
Gil and Amard, a major ensemble playing
Gilaki folk music, and Lian, an Iranian band
from the southern city of Bushehr, will also give
Lian, an Iranian band from the southern city of
Bushehr, performs in an undated photo.
performances at Vahdat Hall.
Vocalist Salar Aqili is scheduled to perform
in Kerman on July 14.
Several cities in northern Iran will also be
hosting pop music concerts in July.
Pop singers Omid Hajili, Majid Kharratha,
Mehdi Moqaddam and Ruzbeh Nematollahi
will give concerts in the city of Nur, while Mohsen Yeganeh will perform in Chalus and Omid
Hajili in Ramsar.
The performances continue in August with
a performance by the U.S-based Iranian guitarist Lily Afshar ’s in the Niavaran Cultural
Center.
The Niavaran Cultural Center will also host
several other performances including a concert
by the Rasch Ensemble during which the group
will perform pieces of Latin music and a quartet
by Shahrdad Rohani, the new conductor of the
Tehran Symphony Orchestra.
Several additional concerts have also been
scheduled in other cities such as Kermanshah,
Mahabad, Khorramabad and Rasht.
Iran to increase gas exports to Armenia threefold
Head of National Iranian Gas Exports Company
(NIGEC) said an agreement was reached with
Armenia over a threefold increase in Iran’s gas
exports to the Caucasus country, Mehr news
agency reported Saturday, July 2.
Following an earlier power deal between
Iran and Armenia over increasing the electricity
exchange volume, the two countries reached a
new accord for boosting exports of natural gas.
Estimations reveal that electricity and gas
exchanges between Iran and Armenia will soar
threefold.
Managing Director of National Iranian Gas
Exports Company Alireza Kameli said Iran is
now deploying one million cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia per day, asserting that “the
figure will hit three million cubic meters overall.”
“The two sides are currently preparing the
required infrastructure for boosting natural gas
exchange,” stressed the official adding that “the
accord will soon be finalized.”
Kameli pointed to the country’s gas production capacity stating that “at present, there are
no limitations for increasing gas exports to Armenia.”
Last summer, the two countries signed a
contract for the construction of the third 400kV power transmission line worth more than
107 million euros.
The transmission line between Iran and Armenia is 275 kilometers long and the entire
process of procurement of equipment, construction, installation and commissioning will
be carried out by the Iranian party.
It has been estimated that with construction
of the new power network, electricity exchange
volume between Iran and Armenia will rise
from the current 300 to about 1000 megawatts.
(Source: panarmenian.net)
PERSPECTIVE
By Yuram Abdullah Weiler
Analyst and journalist
Shooting in
Orlando: A tragedy
in perspective
“The victims in Orlando lived out their
last moments in a sacred space for the
LGBT community; a place where gay
men and women have congregated for
years as an escape from isolation and
judgment.”
U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO)
A
t approximately 2 a.m. on
Sunday morning, June 12,
2016, a lone gunman walked
into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida
armed with a military-style assault rifle and opened fire, killing 49 people
and wounding 53 others in what has
been billed as the worst mass shooting in the United States so far. The
wanton act of slaughter has precipitated frenzied cries for action, ranging from banning Muslim immigrants
to banning assault weapons similar
to the Sig Sauer MCX reportedly
used by the gunman.
The
American-born
shooter,
Omar Mir Seddique Mateen , had
pledged allegiance to Daesh (ISIL,
ISIS or IS) by a call to 911 from the
midst of the bloodbath, which was
enough to bring the mass shooting
into the category of a terrorist attack
and hence something to be used by
presidential contenders for political
leverage. For his part, likely Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump took advantage of the carnage
to rail against U.S. president Obama
for not calling the shooting spree an
act of “radical Islamic terrorism.” In
contrast, presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton
issued a statement calling for redoubling defense against internal and
external threats, restricting firearms
and ensuring gays and lesbians are
not targeted because of their sexual
orientation.
In the wake of this horrendous act
of barbarism, we cannot help but empathize with the anguish of the families
and friends of the victims.
9
2
I NTE R NATI O NAL DAI LY
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
President thanks
Firouzabadi for his
services
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JULY 4, 2016
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l
Rouhani calls JCPOA ‘least costly way’
to serve national interests
PRESIDENT
POLITICAL TEHRAN — President
d e s k Hassan Rouhani said
TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani has thanked
Hassan Firouzabadi for his services during the time
he served as the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed
Forces, the president’s official website reported.
On the sidelines of the session of the Supreme
Council of National Security on Saturday, President
Rouhani also congratulated Firouzabadi on his new
position as the “senior military advisor to the commander in chief of the armed forces”.
ILNA
Leader orders
establishing Islamic
human rights body:
Judiciary
TEHRAN — Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the establishment of an Islamic human rights organization in the world, the Judiciary
spokesman announced on Sunday.
Qolamhossein Mohseni Ejei said in a press conference that related organizations are now obliged
to carry out the order, ILNA reported.
late on Saturday that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly called
the nuclear deal, was the “least costly
way” to meet its national interests and
objectives.
Rouhani made the comments during an Iftar party with figures involved
in brokering the nuclear deal with great
powers.
Rouhani also said, “There is no doubt
that we would have faced problems in
advancing the JCPOA if it was not for the
guidelines and supports of the Leader of
the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed
Ali Khamenei.”
He also highlighted the need to use
the post-JCPOA atmosphere.
“The pre-JCPOA time has gone and
now, the media, government and Majlis
(parliament) should think about how to
use the post-JCPOA atmosphere in line
with serving the national interests,” the
president noted.
I R N A
Tehran to host
world conference of
mayors and
councilors
TEHRAN — The managing director of Tehran
Waste Management Organization (TWMO) said
on Sunday that the Iranian capital is to host the 1st
world conference of mayors and councilors slated
for July 20-21.
Hossein Jafari said about 1,800 members of city
councils in Iran and mayors from different world
countries will attend the event, IRNA reported.
Also, over 100 think tanks and international investors from the UK, U.S., Italy, and Switzerland are
to take part in the Tehran conference, Jafari said.
ICANA
Iraqi Kurdistan should
not cooperate with
terrorists sneaking
into Iran: MP
TEHRAN — An Iranian MP has said that the Iraqi
Kurdistan should not cooperate with terrorists who
sneak into Iran, ICANA reported.
Nader Ghazipour said on Sunday, “Some people
entered the Iranian soil through cooperation with
the Kurdistan Region and killed the sons of Azarbaijan. The sons of Azarbaijan defended and did not
allow the region to fall in the hands of Daesh.”
FA R S
Four options as
to-be development
fund heads
TEHRAN — An unnamed source told Fars on Sunday that there are four people who are likely to replace Safdar Hosseini as the head of the National
Development Fund of Iran (NDFI).
A member of the NDFI board of trustees named
the four as Masoud Nili, Davood Danesh Jafari, Hamid Baradaran Shoraka, and Tahmasb Mazaheri.
MEHR
Iran needs more active
environmental
diplomacy: Larijani
TEHRAN — The Majlis speaker has said that Iran needs
to launch a more active environmental diplomacy.
The Department of Environment should do so
in cooperation with Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif, Ali Larijani told the Majlis on Sunday,
Mehr reported.
I S N A
Intelligence Ministry
says not linked to
threatening message
TEHRAN — The Ministry of Intelligence issued a
statement on Sunday dismissing any relations with
a threatening text message sent to some journalists
earlier this week.
The announcement stressed that the ministry
would not be the source of such messages since it
respects civil rights and cares for the society’s peace
of mind, ISNA reported.
PRESS TV
U.S. seeking pretexts
to stall Iran’s
economy: MP
TEHRAN — A senior Iranian lawmaker says the
United States is looking for pretexts to stall the
growth of the Islamic Republic’s economy.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, also on Sunday dismissed the recent
claims by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tehran’s support for terrorism.
He also highlighted the importance of
unity, noting that there is no alternative
other than maintaining national unity.
“The JCPOA had opponents and it still
has (opponents) in the U.S., Europe and
the region [the Mideast region] and even
in the nearby countries which are mistakenly concerned about Iran’s power… We
should protect this achievement and do
not provide excuse for the enemies,” Rouhani remarked.
He also said that boosting the country’s
defense capability, implementing the resistance economy and attracting foreign investment will strengthen “national power”.
Through the nuclear talks Iran sought
to prove to the world that interaction with
Tehran is beneficial and that Iran is not a
threat.
Also, the Iranian people’s rights to nuclear energy were upheld, he noted.
Elsewhere, Rouhani praised the performance of media during the nuclear
negotiations.
Iran and the 5+1 group - the United
States, Britain, France, China and Russia
plus Germany - finalized the text of the
JCPOA in Vienna in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January 2016.
Leader rules out regional cooperation with U.S.
U.S. busy practicing animosity towards Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei
1
More than a thousand students including representatives of various students associations had a friendly and
open meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday
evening, July 2, 2016.
In his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei described the
current crucial conditions of the country as very similar
to those of the Al-Ahzab battle (The Battle of the Confederates) at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
and added: “Today all the materialists and bullies of the
world have arrayed against the Islamic Republic and
have attacked it in all its aspects.”
Ayatollah Khamenei further noted that: “At such conditions, those who are weak in their belief or are perhaps
the enemies’ insiders, express hopelessness, desperateness and low self-esteem; however, those with a firm
belief in God- no matter how difficult the situations getresist with a unbendable determination and willpower.”
The Leader of the Revolution stressed that: “If we
want to resist against the arrogant front and achieve the
dignity and glory that the Islamic Republic of Iran deserves, we need to consolidate and strengthen our piety
in both personal and public behavior.”
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out to Iranian nation’s
“landmark and inevitable struggle against the arrogant
front” and said: “The struggle first began when the Iranian nation decided to be independent and developed
and this was incompatible with the global domineering
powers’ interests.”
His Eminence described certain individuals comments- which states that the Islamic Republic is looking
for excuses for not getting along with the major powersas superficial and unintellectual, saying “ this struggle
and resistance does not need any excuse as long as the
Iranian nation resists in accordance with their dignity and
their revolutionary and Islamic background. This resistance exists and there are only two ways to end it: either
the Islamic Republic of Iran obtains such a power and
capability that the other party won’t dare attack it or that
the Islamic Republic of Iran loses its original identity and
turns into a lifeless outward,” adding that for the Iranian
nation, the first i.e. “achieving full power” is what would
bring an end to the struggle.
“Of course it might be that today the U.S. policies
require that it distinguished between different officials
of the Islamic Republic of Iran and categorizes them as
‘good’ and ‘bad’ authorities, but if find the capability,
they will call the same so-called ‘good’ authorities as bad
ones, too,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.
Tapping on issues of the necessity of rationality in the
country, the Leader of the Revolution stated that: “these
days many comments are made regarding rationality
and the necessity of rational dialogue between the po-
Based on the spiritual, religious
and ethical duty that I have, I will
resist as long as I am alive and
I trust the people; just as I am
certain that the outcome of the
resistance is victory, Leader says.
litical parties- which is in essence a practical and very
appropriate topic and in accordance with the advice of
Islam, the Quran and Imam Khomeini’s- who was one
of the greatest wise men of the world,” describing the
Islamic Revolution “a rational revolution” and those who
think Iran needs to rely on the West for development,
have actually lost their rationality since “the reason orders us to learn from experiences.”
His Eminence pointed out to the very bad treatment
of the JCPOA by the French and the Americans and
stressed that: “Regarding the JCPOA, it was proven that
the Americans- both the Congress and the State- are
still busy practicing animosity towards Iran. Rationality
orders us to deal with such an enemy with wisdom and
prudence and avoid being deceived by it, falling into
what the enemy has plotted.”
Also, Ayatollah Khamenei tapped on US’s claim on
willingness to negotiate and cooperate with Iran on regional issues including the Syrian crisis and said: “We do
not want such a cooperation because their main goal is
to cut Iran’s presence in the region.”
Finally the Leader of the Revolution stressed that:
“Based on the spiritual, religious and ethical duty that
I have, I will resist as long as I am alive and I trust the
people; just as I am certain that the outcome of the resistance is victory.”
Laying emphasis on the fact that the Islamic Republic
of Iran favors US absence and non-interference in the
region, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: “These
positions of the Islamic establishment about the issues of
the region lie within the framework of wisdom.”
Iran calls Iraqi terror attacks acts of desperation by Daesh
1
Two separate bomb attacks at a busy
commercial street in Baghdad around
midnight Saturday left at least 83 killed
and 176 wounded.
In the deadliest attack, a car bomb hit
Karada, a busy shopping district in the
center of Baghdad, killing 78 people and
wounding 160, according to police and
hospital officials. It struck as families and
young people were out on the streets
after breaking their daylight fast for the
holy month of Ramadan.
According to the Iraqi officials, the
death toll could rise as more bodies
could be lying under the rubble of devastated buildings.
Daesh, also called ISIL/ISI and IS,
claimed responsibility for the bombings
in a statement posted online.
Qasemi said Iran will stand beside the
Iraqi government and people in these difficult days.
On June 17, the Iraqi forces recaptured
Fallujah from Daesh. The city was occupied by the terrorists in January 2014.
In a statement issued by the Iranian
MPs on June 21, it is said that “victory”
in liberating Fallujah opens new prospect
for defeating Daesh in other Iraqi cities
such as Mosul and the Syrian cities of AlRaqqah and Aleppo.
According to new UN figures, acts of
violence in Iraq left a total of 662 people
dead and 1,457 others injured in June,
Press TV reported.
Chinese studying Arak reactor modernization document
POLITICAL TEHRAN — The Atomic Energy Ord e s k ganization of Iran (AEOI) announced
on Sunday that it has prepared a draft
on modernization of the Arak heavy water reactor, now
under consideration by China.
Behrooz Kamalvandi, the AEOI spokesman, said the
document has been drafted on the basis of modernization negotiations between Iran, China, and the other
countries which signed the nuclear deal.
“We are in talks over which part the Chinese side will
take on in collaboration with the other countries and
which part the Iranian side will,” Kamalvandi explained.
Tehran and Beijing had started brainstorming sessions on the re-designing of the Arak reactor under the
terms of the nuclear deal Tehran and the 5+1 group of
countries forged in July 2015.
The technical meetings were a follow-up to the
talks held between Iranian and Chinese expert panels in Beijing previously.
Iran and China signed an agreement on the modernization project during the visit to Tehran of Chinese
President Xi Jinping in January.
Under the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran will redesign and rebuild a modernized heavy water research
reactor in Arak, based on an agreed conceptual design, using fuel enriched up to 3.67 %, in a form of
an international partnership which will certify the final
design.
The modernization will aim to support peaceful nuclear
research and radioisotopes production for medical and industrial purposes.
Terror attack in Bangladesh proves ‘all countries’ must fight terrorism: Iran
POLITICAL TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minisd e s k try spokesman Bahram Qasemi con-
demned on Sunday a terrorist attack in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, urging the world to listen to Iran’s
“peace-seeking voice in fighting terrorism”.
This terrorist incident proves the fact that fighting terrorism requires “all countries’ collective efforts”, he said.
“Adopting double standards on horrible terrorist
and Takfiri actions in the region [the Middle East region] will definitely endanger the international peace
and security and undermine stability and security,”
Qasemi added.
All the “peace-loving” countries in the world should
exert pressure on supporters of the extremist groups in
order to reduce “inhuman crimes”, the ministry official
remarked.
On Friday, gunmen attacked the people at a restau-
rant in Dhaka and took hostages and exchanged gunfire
with police until police forces moved in and killed the
gunmen.
According to CNN, twenty people inside the restaurant were killed, along with two police officers and six
terrorists.
Bangladeshi officials announced that the nationalities
of the killed ones included nine Italians, seven Japanese,
one Indian, two Bangladeshis and one U.S. citizen of
Bangladeshi origin.
Daesh, also called ISIL /ISIS/IS, claimed responsibility
for the attack, saying it had deliberately targeted the citizens of “Crusader countries”, but it was not clear if the
plot was organized by the group’s leadership in Syria or
developed locally in Bangladesh.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
wrote in his Twitter account, “Latest terror attack in
Dhaka, less headline-making in the West, nonetheless shows we must be united in ridding our world
of this evil.”
h t t p : / / w w w. t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l
INTERNATIONAL
JULY 4, 2016
Scores killed as Baghdad bombings hit
Ramadan crowds
ISIL claims responsibility for Baghdad blasts
More than 131 people, including many
children, were killed and hundreds
wounded in bombings on two crowded
commercial areas in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, hospital and police sources have
said.
The powerful explosions early on
Sunday came near the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when the
streets were filled with young people and
families out after sunset.
The vast majority of the casualties
came in the first blast, as a truck packed
with explosives blew up in the Karada
district in central Baghdad, a predominantly Shia neighborhood.
Sources told Al Jazeera at least 131
people were killed and 200 wounded
in the explosion which targeted a busy
shopping area.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group claimed
responsibility for the attack in the Karada
district in an online statement, according
to the SITE Intelligence Group, a United
States-based monitoring service.
Many of the victims were children, offi-
cials said, and there were fears the death
toll could rise as more bodies could be
lying under the rubble of devastated
buildings.
In a separate blast, an improvised
explosive device went off in a popular
market in the mainly Shia neighborhood
of al-Shaab. Reports said at least at least
five people were killed in that attack, and
16 were wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second bombing.
The overall death toll from the two
explosions was initially reported much
lower, at 23, and there were conflicting
reports about the exact number of peo-
ple killed.
The bombings were the deadliest in
the country since Iraqi forces late last
month dislodged ISIL terrorists from Fallujah, the terrorist group’s stronghold just
west of the capital that had served as a
launch pad for such attacks.
Despite a string of territorial gains
by Iraq’s ground forces against ISIL, the
terrorist group has repeatedly shown it
remains capable of launching attacks in
Iraqi territory far from the frontlines.
ISIL still controls Iraq’s second largest
city of Mosul.
Iraqi politician Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie said ISIL was “resorting to classic,
traditional, terrorist acts” in response to
losing territory in Iraq.
“They are so desperate to boost the
morale of their fighters, many of whom
are leaving the group daily. I think attacks
like this will increase,” he told Al Jazeera.
Rubaie added, however, that ISIL
would eventually fail in its mission of
deepening sectarian tensions between
Shia and Sunni communities.
(Source: Al Jazeera)
Pakistan flash floods ‘kill 43’
Flash floods caused by overnight monsoon rains have
killed at least 43 people in northern Pakistan, the majority from a village near the border with Afghanistan,
officials said on Sunday, as supplies were airlifted to survivors.
The rains began late on Saturday and were concentrated mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, which has been badly affected by flooding in recent years that some scientists have linked to
climate change.
The worst hit district was Chitral, on the country’s
northwest border, where flood waters swept away a
mosque, dozens of houses and army post in the remote
village of Ursoon, district mayor Maghfirat Shah told AFP.
Forty-one people were killed in the village, and at
least eight of the dead are thought to be soldiers.
Latifur Rehman, a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority, said: “Sixteen of the dead
were offering prayers in the mosque when it was swept
away by the flood.”
Deadly rains
He added that a military-led rescue and relief operation was now underway, with helicopters being used to
reach the affected people and provide them with food
and medicines.
A statement issued by the government said 82 houses were affected by the waters, and efforts were underway to provide food and relief items to the villagers.
Another senior local official, Osama Waraich, said
that the bodies of eight of the victims from Ursoon had
been found on the Afghan side of the border.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office meanwhile issued a statement expressing his grief and sorrow.
Separately, two Chinese engineers were killed and
five Pakistani workers injured when the heavy rains
caused the roof of a construction site to collapse at
Tarbela Dam, Rehman said.
In April rains and landslides killed 127 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Gilgit-Baltistan region and Pakistani Kashmir.
Poorly built homes across the country, particularly in
rural areas, are susceptible to collapse during the annual spring and monsoon rains in July-August, which are
often heavy.
Severe weather in recent years has killed hundreds
and destroyed huge tracts of prime farmland.
During the rainy season last summer, torrential
downpours and flooding killed 81 people and affected
almost 300,000 across the country.
The worst flooding in recent times occurred in 2010
and covered almost a fifth of the country’s total land
mass. Nearly 2,000 people were killed and 20 million
affected.
Rapid deforestation brought about by decades of illegal logging in the country’s north and the growth of
farming along the river Indus in the south is believed by
experts to have exacerbated the effects of the annual
floods.
Energy-starved Pakistan relies on a multitude of dams
and barrages to prevent Himalayan rivers from flooding
and help meet its power needs, but some academics
believe the slowing of rivers due to the structures mean
that silt accumulates, decreasing their capacity.
A research paper commissioned by conservation
group WWF and published in 2000 looked at various
countries, and warned of similar consequences. It noted
the drainage of wetlands as well as deforestation associated with dams led to a loss of natural “sponges” to
absorb flood waters during rainy season.
(Source: AFP)
Bangladeshis behind restaurant killings, international link probed
Seven militants who killed 20 people at
a restaurant in Dhaka were local Bangladeshis and authorities had tried before
to arrest five of them, police said, as investigators probed for possible links with
international extremist groups.
The gunmen stormed the upmarket
restaurant in the diplomatic zone late on
Friday, before killing mostly non-Muslim
hostages, including at least nine Italians,
seven Japanese and an American.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group claimed
responsibility, warning citizens of “crusader countries” that their citizens would
not be safe “as long as their aircraft are
killing Muslims”, the group said in a statement. It also posted pictures of five fighters grinning in front of a black flag who it
said were involved in the attack, according to the SITE monitoring website.
The claims have not been confirmed,
but Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters late on Saturday that neither ISIL nor al-Qaeda was
involved. He reiterated the government’s
line that home-grown militants were
responsible for a spate of killings in the
country over the past 18 months.
“This was done by JMB,” Khan said,
referring to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which claims to represent ISIL in
Bangladesh.
Analysts say that as ISIL loses territory in Iraq and Syria and its finances get
drained, it may be trying to build affiliates in countries such as Bangladesh for
extremists to launch attacks locally and
cheaply.
Rich families
Deputy inspector general of police,
Shahidur Rahman, told Reuters on Sunday that authorities were investigating
any connection between the attackers
and trans-national groups such as ISIL or
al-Qaeda.
He said the militants were mostly educated and from rich families, but declined
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to give any more details.
National Police Chief Shahidul Hoque
said all the gunmen were Bangladeshi.
“Five of them were listed as militants
and law enforcers made several drives
to arrest them,” Hoque told reporters in
Dhaka late on Saturday.
Whoever was responsible, the attack
marked a major escalation in violence
by militants who have demanded rule
in Bangladesh, whose 160 million people
are mostly Muslim.
Previous attacks have mostly singled
out individuals advocating a secular or
liberal lifestyle or religious minorities.
(Source: Reuters)
Syria reshuffles
cabinet, key posts
retained
Syrian President Bashar Assad has issued a presidential decree forming a new Syrian government
following parliament elections that were held in
April.
Key ministers kept their previous posts in
the new Cabinet that was announced Sunday.
They include Foreign Minister Walid
al-Moallem, Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar
and Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij.
Adib Mayalleh, the former central bank governor, was named minister of economy and
foreign trade.
Syria held parliament elections in April in government-held parts of the war-devastated country.
Earlier this month, Assad appointed
Electricity Minister Imad Khamis, a member of his Baath par ty, as prime minister-designate and tasked him with forming
a government.
(Source: AP)
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
3
N E W S
China delivers first
batch of military aid to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan has received its first batch of Chinese military
equipment as part of Beijing’s commitment to provide millions of dollars of assistance to help Kabul fight terrorism.
The shipment on board a Russian cargo plane arrived
Sunday in Kabul where Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing handed it over to Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar.
German
The cargo apparently contained among other things
logistical equipment, parts of military vehicles, ammunition
and weapons for the Afghan National Defense and Security
Forces (ANDSF).
Jing said Beijing wants to have regular and normal stateto-state relations with the Afghan government and the Afghan people, which includes military cooperation.
“Afghanistan is our close neighbor and a very important
neighbor to China… So, this is the beginning of our regular
military-to-military exchanges and cooperation,” Jing said.
Atmar declined to discuss further details or value of the
Chinese equipment, saying such military matters required
secrecy. He said the assistance shows a joint resolve against
terrorism facing Afghanistan and China.
“The military aid is just the beginning of our joint struggle against terrorism. I consider it a major change in China’s
relations towards Afghanistan that China is standing with the
Afghan people in the counterterrorism fight,” Atmar noted.
He said that a next shipment due later this year is expected to include more military equipment along with
scanners for Afghan police to enable them to detect
bombs such as vehicle-born improvised explosives devices. Afghan officials plan to install the scanners at four entry
points to Kabul.
“Both China and Afghanistan, we don’t have any ambitions ...
But we do have our own duty to safeguard our own peace and
the sovereignty. So, in this regard China and Afghanistan are on
the same front. We will fight together,” Jing resolved.
China is also part of a Quadrilateral Cooperation Group
or QCG, which also includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and the
United States, working to bring about a peaceful end to the
Afghan conflict. But the four-nation process has been unable
to start peace talks between the Afghan government and
the Taliban.
The increased Chinese involvement in the conflict-torn
Afghanistan, critics believe, stems from concerns that continued instability in its immediate neighborhood could fuel
problems in the far western Xinjiang region where Uighur
Muslims are waging a low-level separatist insurgency against
Chinese rule.
(Source: voanews.com)
70 professors regret
removal of S. Arabia from
child-killer list
1
The signatories, all professors of top universities including Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, Princeton, Oxford and
Cambridge, further pointed to the exclusion of Israel from a
similar list.
It is the second time in a year that the UN has dropped
the name of a regime charged with war crimes from such
rosters, they said.
“Such egregious violations of the human rights of a beleaguered nation by Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners,
aided and abetted by the US and the UK, make a mockery
of the sovereignty of nations, of international humanitarian
conventions, of the rule of law, and above all of the rule of
reason and sanity.”
“If not the UN then what international body has the duty
of documenting such criminal offenses? If not the UN then
who should hold Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners accountable for such war crimes?” they asked.
The professors also said it is up to the UN to document
Saudi Arabia’s barbaric violations of Yemeni children’s safety
and security.
On June 6, the UN gave in to a Saudi demand to drop the
kingdom from its annual blacklist of child rights violators, less
than a week after it blamed Riyadh for the killing of hundreds
of Yemeni children.
The Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report, published on June 3, said Saudi Arabia and its allies were responsible for 60 percent of child casualties in Yemen last year,
during which 510 children were killed and 667 others injured.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UN drew international criticism
after Ban acknowledged that he had expunged Riyadh from
the blacklist under “undue pressure.”
Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against
Yemen on March 26, 2015 in a bid to bring Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi — who has resigned as Yemen’s president and
is a staunch ally of Riyadh — back to power and defeat the
Houthi Ansarullah movement.
More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least
16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression.
(Source: Axis of Logic)
NEWS
Renault to arrive in Iranian auto
market with 5 new products
E CO N O M Y TEHRAN— “The French car maker, Renault,
d e s k plans to cooperate with two Iranian giant
auto makers on manufacturing its five new products for the
Iranian market,” an official in Iran Development and Renovation
Organization (IDRO) told IRNA.
“Renault plans to manufacture three of its new products in
collaboration with Saipa Group and two of them in cooperation
with Iran Khodro Company
(IKCO),” Fardad Daliri said.
“The two prominent Iranian
companies have accepted the
partnership in a bid to improve domestic car manufacturing industry.”
As of the execution of the
nuclear deal between Iran and
the six world powers in January, cooperation with Asian
and European major auto
manufacturers has been on
top of Iranian officials’ agenda.
The country’s first auto contract was endorsed between
IKCO and the French carmaker, Peugeot, and the second one
is to be inked between the auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen and
the same Iranian company.
Renault would be Iran’s third post-sanction major auto-partner. As Tasnim news agency reported in April, the stake of French
car maker, Renault, in Iranian auto market has been increased
seven times in the first three months of 2016, compared to the
same time in the preceding year.
As reported, in the said time, 14,540 of Renault sedans have
been assembled in Iran, which is seven times more than the registered amount in the same period in 2015, when the figure did
not pass 2,130 cars.
Iranian trade delegation to visit
Mexico, Ecuador next month
E CO N O M Y TEHRAN— A senior official in Trade Promod e s k tion Organization of Iran (TPO) announced
that to fasten trade ties with the American continent in post
sanction era, an Iranian trade delegation will embark for Mexico
and Ecuador next month.
As ISNA reported on Sunday, Abolfazl Koudei said that the
delegation, led by the head of TPO and a number of prominent
private companies, will pay a visit to the two American countries
to investigate improvement of commercial exchanges with them.
“Following the face-to-face negotiations with their economic
entities and activists, a number of MOUs would be signed between the Islamic Republic and the officials from the said two
countries,” he hoped. Petrochemicals, agriculture, mining and
industry would be the key areas of Iran’s possible future cooperation with Mexico and Ecuador.
Saudi economic growth
slowest in three years as
austerity bites
Saudi Arabia's economy expanded at its slowest rate in three years
during the first quarter of 2016 as low oil prices forced the government to cut spending and raise costs for industry, official data
showed on Sunday.Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation,
grew 1.5 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, down from
a revised growth rate of 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. It
was the slowest growth since 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
The oil sector expanded 5.1 percent in the first quarter of this
year as the world's biggest oil exporter increased its production
of crude and exported more refined products.
But the non-oil sector shrank 0.7 percent, its worst performance in at least five years. This may be a source of concern
to Saudi policy makers because an ambitious reform plan to
help the economy cope with an era of cheap oil, announced last
month, assumes rapid growth in non-oil businesses.
Last December, to curb an annual budget deficit of nearly
$100 billion caused by slumping oil revenues, the government
announced major cuts in spending and energy subsidies. More
austerity measures are expected in the next few years.
(Source: Reuters)
Fears for future of
Bangladesh’s garment industry
after deadly cafe attack
The horrific slaughter of diners at a Dhaka cafe has fanned fears
that surging violence may imperil the giant garment industry in
Bangladesh, which built its economy on cheaply supplying fashion to the world’s big-name brands.
Gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital’s
diplomatic quarter on Friday evening, rounding up foreign hostages before murdering 20 people with explosives and machetes, in a brutal targeting of the small expat community. Most of
the victims were Italian or Japanese.
“This attack will turn away foreigners,” said Faruque Hassan,
senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers
and Exporters Association, which represents 4,500 factories.
“The impact of this attack will be very damaging for the industry. We are now extremely worried,” added Hassan, whose
Giant Group supplies clothes to retailers including Britain’s Marks
& Spencer and Next.
(Source: South China Morning Post)
E C O N O M Y
JULY 4, 2016
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / e c o n o m y
Iran designates 8 domestic
partners for western energy majors
E CO N O M Y TEHRAN — Mohamd e s k madreza Moghadam,
the deputy Iranian oil minister for
research and technology affairs, released the list of eight permitted local partners to take western energy
companies into partnership for the
implementation of joint exploration
and production (E&P) projects in Iran,
IRIB news reported on Sunday.
The companies, selected from
among the pool of 37 ones, include
Petropars Company, Mapna Group,
Iran Energy Market Oil Industries’ Engineering and Construction (OIEC),
Dana Energy Company, Petroiran
Development Company, Khatam-al
Anbiya Construction Headquarters
(KAA), Industrial Projects Management of Iran (IPMI)- an affiliate of Iran
Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO)- and Persia Oil and gas
Development Company.
The names of the companies has
been eagerly awaited by western energy companies such as BP, Total and
Eni, as they hope to gain access to the
OPEC member ’s oil and gas reserves
after years of sanctions.
As Reuters reported on June 23,
on the way to taking Iran a step closer to opening up its oil and gas fields
to western investment, the National
Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced the name of Iranian companies initially chosen as foreigners’
energy partners. At the time, the put
for ward list included governmentbacked Petroiran, Petropars and
Mapna Group.
Afghanistan in talks with Iran over
gas imports
Iranian media reported on Sunday that
a series of negotiations are underway
between Iranian officials and Afghan
private sector to increase export of gas
to Afghanistan.
“There are two initiatives to export the
strategic commodity to the neighboring
country, one of which is through extending pipelines. Moreover, natural gas can
be transferred to Afghanistan in the form
of compressed natural gas,” Managing
Director of National Iranian Gas Exports
Company (NIGEC) Alireza Kameli said as
he was quoted by Iran’s IRNA.
Underscoring the fact that Iranian
officials are awaiting Afghanistan’s private sector proposal, Kameli said, “as
soon as their plan is submitted and
based on the amount of natural gas
they want to purchase, talks will resume
deciding about the price.”
According to the official, in case
Afghans show interest in receiving the
commodity via a pipeline, they should
Iran recommences petchem exports
to Britain
E CO N O M Y TEHRAN — Iran red e s k sumed petrochemical
exports to Britain sending a consignment
to the country for the first time after lifting of the international sanctions, Mehr
news agency reported on Sunday.
According to the report, before
international sanctions imposed on
Iran, European countries accounted
for about 13 percent of the country’s
exports of petrochemical products, so
that each year about $2.5 billion worth
of Iranian petrochemical products were
sent to European countries.
In the post-sanction opportunity,
Iran plans to regain its lost market
share for this strategic industry. In this
regard Iran began exporting petrochemical products to Britain again,
making it Europe’s fourth largest country to join the customers of Iranian petrochemical products after France, Italy
and Germany.
It is worth mentioning that other
make it clear to what border point the
pipeline will be extended as it affects
the total price.
Gas experts opine that Afghanistan
is a potential and lucrative market for
Iran’s gas and it is very likely that it will
buy gas from Iran.
However, they do not seem to be
prepared to import natural gas from
Iran due to their undeveloped energy
infrastructure.
(Source: tolonews.com)
countries such as Bulgaria, Romania
and Greece are also among customers
of Iranian petrochemical products.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Mehr,
Deputy Director of Iran’s Petrochemical Employers Association Fariborz Karimaei mentioned rivals such as Saudi
Arabia and Qatar seizing Iran’s share of
petrochemical exports to Europe and
said, “With sanctions fully lifted, it is possible for Iran to regain its lost market
share within 1.5- 2 years.”
Iran's e-commerce industry is booming
Two politico-economic decisions have exerted enormous influence on the growth potential of the Iranian e-commerce
sector, somewhat mitigating the risk of investing in the industry. The first is the product of internal Iranian deliberation;
the second is the result of externally-induced circumstances.
First, the introduction of an easily accessible 3G network
in Iran has quickly accelerated widespread penetration of
the internet.
Because most people first experience the internet
through their smartphone, the Rouhani government’s recent decision to grant 3/4G licenses to two additional mobile broadband companies has led to large increases in
internet usage and a country-wide reduction in the digital
gap between urban and rural areas.
It has since become apparent that the underlying logic
for e-commerce in the country is strong.
The fact that Iran’s population primarily consists of
online youth – over 60 percent of Iranians are under 30
years old – is likely to play a role in the industry’s success. Given that gaining access to a variety of different
products at a reasonable cost can be quite challenging
in the Persian market, buying products online has proved
increasingly popular.
Second, the Rouhani government’s agreement to the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – or nuclear
deal – has had an important impact on Iran’s internal business climate. According to a managing director at Bamilo,
one of two major Persian e-commerce players, investor interest in the company has noticeably increased since the
nuclear accord was signed last year.
Iran’s e-commerce firms have had another decisive advantage. Because many international providers have been
(or are still) effectively shut out of Iran, Bamilo and Digikala
have been able to capture the lion’s share of a promising
sector in an important emerging market. It remains illegal for American companies like Amazon to invest in the
country. Investor interest, space for expansion and limited
competition by major foreign distributors are potential ingredients for continued success.
(Source: Business Insider)
China to create new methods to evaluate 'new economy'
China is studying new methodologies to
assess the economic contribution from industries seen as part of the "new economy",
ranging from biotech firms to online retailers, a deputy head of China's statistics bureau said in speech published on Sunday.
The rise of some new and high-growth
industries has brought challenges to evaluating a country's economic growth.
Xu Xianchuan said free services provided by internet companies had contributed
to the country's gross domestic product, in
VW says U.S.
‘Dieselgate’
settlement not to be
replicated in Europe
N E W S NIENWBSR I N
E FB R I E F
4
I NTE R NATI O NAL DAI LY
Volkswagen’s CEO has rejected calls for the carmaker to compensate customers in Europe over
the ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal along the lines
of its $15 billion (€11 billion) deal in the United
States, telling a German newspaper a similar settlement would be inappropriate and unaffordable.
Europe’s Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska last week called on Volkswagen to also
compensate European owners of its diesel-powered cars, saying it would be unfair for them to
be treated differently from U.S. customers just because of a different legal system.
Matthias Mueller said while VW was on a solid
financial footing, replicating the U.S. deal in Europe
would be tough for VW to cope with financially.
“In the U.S. the (emission) limits are stricter,
which makes the fix more complicated. And taking part in the buyback is voluntary (for customers), which is not the case in Germany, for example,” he said.
comments carried on the Shanghai Securities Journal website.
Such services were underestimated, leading to lower official GDP numbers, he added.
Xu's comments come as China is due
to release second-quarter GDP figures on
Alibaba launches new
anti-fake drive, urges
brands to help out
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. on Friday went public with a new drive to display
its determination to stamp out fake goods, urging
brands to help its anti-piracy campaign rather than
trade rebukes on the issue.
The U.S.-listed online shopping powerhouse has
been dogged by accusations its sites are flooded with
copy-cat products, culminating with its ejection this
year from a U.S.-based anti-counterfeiting alliance
only weeks after being admitted.
At an intellectual property conference it’s hosting
in Hangzhou, Alibaba on Friday unveiled a new online
system to help track and remove fakes as its top antipiracy official called for more cooperation with makers
of branded goods.
“In the face of such a complex problem we can’t
be complaining about each other, or criticizing each
other...We have to have everybody involved and work
together to do it,” said Jessie Zheng, Alibaba’s chief
platform governance officer.
July 15. The veracity of China's statistics is
frequently called into question by investors.
The government has set a growth target of 6.5-7 percent for 2016, though some
analysts believe real growth levels are already
(Source: Reuters)
much weaker.
ING planning Europewide website as
one-stop shop for
customers
ING Group is working on a Europe-wide platform
enabling customers to handle all their bank accounts,
including money transfers, in one place, in response
to upcoming rule changes and growing competition
from non-bank rivals such as Apple.
So-called aggregator websites allow customers to
manage all their accounts in one place. Traditional
banks see the independent ones such as Mint.com
in the U.S. as a potential threat to their business, and
some have already responded, such as SocGen’s
Boursorama and Credit Mutuel Arkea’s Fortuneo.
Regulatory changes are set to make the online
banking world even more competitive. The EU revised
Payment Services Directive (PSD2) means member
states will have until January 2018 to offer freedom for
customers to make banking transfers between various
bank accounts with the help of a third-party player.
ING Direct, part of the Netherlands’ largest financial services group, is already the biggest online bank
in France.
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m
JULY 4, 2016
HISTORY & HERITAGE
Village of Pamenar: The other face of Iran
My latest obsession with finding unfamiliar landscapes in Iran lead me to the
province of Khuzestan, where I won the
lottery in a tiny village called Pamenar. It
was a bucolic heaven!
I had heard of this place and even
thought about including it in our itinerary long before we went off, but having to
trim a whole day of our trip last-minute,
messed up all the plan.
Our trip to khuzestan was jam-packed
with visits and day trips to other cities.
We had hired a driver to take us around
every single day which proved to be the
greatest decision despite being a little
too expensive. So when he told us that he
could arrange to fit everything we wanted to see in 3 days and give us another
day at Pamenar, we squealed in delight!
We knew of a family that could host us in
the village. Apparently everyone else knew
them too. We called them up, made a deal
on the price and headed over to Pamenar
on our last evening in Khuzestan.
Our journey to the village turned out
to be a battle of life and death! There was
hardly any light in some parts of the way,
the roads were bumpy and full of turns and
twists and a driver with a poor night vision
who wouldn’t accept us to take the role
topped everything off! Nevertheless we arrived safe and sound and were greeted by
Abootaleb, the youngest son of a family in
Pamenar who are now renting two of their
rooms beside the lake to visitors. The room
was small, there was heating and all five
of us were given mattresses, blankets and
cushions for the night.
We could have asked for a chicken
barbecue for dinner, but we had enough
chicken for a lifetime and decided to cook
ourselves an omelet instead.
Right before sleep, we went to wander in the village under a blanket of stars.
Abootaleb told us one too many tales and
stories of Pamenar and showed us the perfect spot to watch the sunrise in case we
managed to pull ourselves from the blankets. Something I was not able to do.
Next day it was rise and shine. We had
a huge breakfast and were off for a full
morning over the lake. The lake in Pame-
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
5
NEWS
UN World Tourism
Organization: ‘Please don’t
abandon Turkey’
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has called on the
travel sector not to abandon Turkey after the attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.
“Now is the time to support Turkey,” stressed UNWTO
Secretary-General Taleb Rifai in a statement that released on
Tuesday night from Madrid.
nar is the result of the construction of Dez
dam which was once one of the highest
dams built in the world. It comes with the
clearest water, tiny islands with rich vegetation and extraordinary wildlife.
We cruised around the lake on a bright
sunny day with the wind gently stroking our
faces and the mild heat not wanting us to
ever go back home to chilly Tehran. It had
been long since I had been anywhere that
would convey the feeling of freedom so
well and I did not want to leave.
We got off on one of the islands and
found campers who had succeeded in
finding a little piece of heaven to lodge.
Abootaleb told us that he would drop
many of them here and bring them food
and other stuff whenever needed. We
were already regretting the idea of not
staying there longer and were planning
a trip to just here for God knows when.
We visited Khuzestan in early winter
which was probably the most delightful
time of the year. However up here in Pamenar, temperatures were a bit lower and
not warm enough to go for a dip in the
lake no matter how tempting it looked.
I cannot really articulate the peace and
calm we experienced while sitting on cliff
tops and contemplating over the dramatic landscapes right before our eyes. Our
time here was a sublimely charming one.
According to Abootaleb, the whole
field was going to be covered in red flowers in spring time. We were still grateful to
see a few of them at least.
After one satisfying morning and our
full immersion in Mother Nature we got
back to the house only to find Abootaleb’s
mother busy preparing the most delicious
fish from the lake. We had an incriminating amount of food and packed our stuff
to leave for Andimeshk, from where we
would take a train back to Tehran.
This place is still very unknown even
among Iranians, so it’s the perfect place
if you’re looking for somewhere to relax
and enjoy the nature. Our accommodation was basic. Toilets were outdoors but
were clean and came with warm water.
There’s decent heating and the blankets
were clean enough, even though we had
taken our own sheets. Something I’d suggest doing.
Price for accommodation was 30 Tomans per person with breakfast. That’s
about 8€.
There are only two rooms and honestly I don’t think anymore than five people
could have slept in each of them.
Lunch prepared by the family costs
about 25 Tomans per person. I thought
that was too expensive considering we
had eaten a lot cheaper all over Khuz-
estan, but it was absolutely delicious.
Usually your rent comes with a boat
ride over the lake, however we paid an
extra 200 Tomans (50€) since we had the
boat all to us for almost 2-3 hours.
According to Abootaleb who is also an
official local guide of the region, the best
time to visit here would be just before
Nowruz. The weather would be warm
enough to go for a swim and flowers
would have already bloomed all across
the island.
By any chance, do not drive to this
place at night! There’s not enough light
and road conditions are not exactly the
best.
We arrived here when it was dark but
we could see the sun setting over the lake
on our way and it was absolutely sublime.
If we didn’t have tickets for Tehran the
next day, we would have stayed another
night just to watch the sunset.
I would say give yourself two full days
here to explore everything.
I know so many of you come to Iran
for the culture, the architecture and the
desert. But Iran has so many faces and so
many other natural sceneries that are left
undiscovered. Next time you visit, consider hitting the jackpot before it’s too late.
Because they won’t be unknown for long.
(Source: travestyle.com)
Tourists taking pictures at Sultanahmet neighborhood, Istanbul,
Turkey
“Turkey is one of the most important holiday destinations
in the world and we are sure that the country will remain so,”
he added.
Safety has become the most important factor in the travel
industry. Tourism has become a terrorist target, because in
many countries it is one of the main supporting pillars of the
economy.
“We need to stand together at times like these and not
isolate those travel destinations targeted by terror attacks,”
the head of the UNWTO stated.
Istanbul’s main airport was operating again on Thursday morning, less than two days after the devastating
gun and suicide bomb attack here that killed at least
44 people. At the international arrival hall, workers replaced shattered panes of glass and affixed new tiles to
the ceiling. Luggage in tow, travelers emerged from the
baggage claim arriving from cities like Geneva, Mombasa and Riyadh, part of stream of travelers into and
out of Ataturk airport, the third-busiest in Europe. At
the near the taxi stand outside, black-clad police stood
guard, guns at the ready.
(Source: Deutsche Welle)
6
I NTE R NATI O NAL DAI LY
INTERNATIONAL
JULY 4, 2016
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m
The hypocrisy at the heart of Trump’s campaign
By Dana Milbank
P
aul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign
manager, had a message to deliver.
“Hillary Clinton is the epitome of
the establishment; she’s been in power for
25 years,” he informed Chuck Todd on NBC’s
“Meet the Press” last Sunday.
When Trump, Manafort added, “says he’s
going to bring real change to the country, voters believe him — unlike Mrs. Clinton, who has
been saying that for 25 years and in those 25
years, the only changes that have happened
have made people’s lives worse.” But then, at
the tail end of the interview, Manafort slipped
when discussing evangelical Christians’ support
for Trump. “In my 40 years in politics, I have
never seen such a broad-based base of support within that community for one candidate.”
Forty years in politics? But it’s Clinton’s 25
years that make her the “establishment”?
Businessman Donald Trump has become
the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee
for president.
If that weren’t enough, Manafort was giv-
ing the interview from the Hamptons — playground of the eastern elite.
This is hypocrisy
This is the hypocrisy at the heart of the
Trump campaign, now under Manafort’s undisputed control. Manafort’s inspiration, which
Trump has embraced, is to portray Clinton as
the embodiment of the establishment. But
Manafort (not unlike Trump) has been the voice
of the wealthy and the well-connected for four
decades, building a fortune by making common cause with the world’s most avaricious.
It’s Manafort’s right to represent dictators and
thugs and regimes that torture. He has, for decades, helped autocrats who battle human rights
and democracy. But now this man, who made his
fortune helping the rich and powerful get more
so, is setting up a general-election campaign
that portrays Trump as a man of the people and
Clinton as the captive of special interests.
Manafort has been widely credited with last
week’s speech by Trump laying out his generalelection theme: that Clinton is the defender
of the big-money interests and the “rigged”
economy.
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“Hillary Clinton has perfected the politics
of personal profit and even theft. She ran the
State Department like her own personal hedge
fund, doing favors for oppressive regimes,”
Trump argued. “Hillary Clinton wants to bring
in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death … Hillary Clinton
may be the most corrupt person ever to seek
the presidency of the United States.”
And the man who led Trump to deliver such
accusations? Here’s what my Post colleagues
Steven Mufson and Tom Hamburger reported
in April:
“In one case, Manafort tried unsuccessfully
to build a luxury high-rise in Manhattan with
money from a billionaire backer of a Ukrainian
president whom he had advised.
“In another deal, real estate records show
that Manafort took out and later repaid a
$250,000 loan from a Middle Eastern arms
dealer at the center of a French inquiry into
whether kickbacks were paid.
“And in another business venture, a Russian
aluminum magnate has accused Manafort in
a Cayman Islands court of taking nearly $19
million intended for investments, then failing to
account for the funds.”
Republican establishment
Manafort has been a paragon of the Washington Republican establishment for two generations, working on Gerald Ford’s reelection in
1976 before helping Ronald Reagan, George
H.W. Bush and Bob Dole. He started two lobbying firms, and he has used his contacts in attempts to enrich himself. His lobbying firm recruited veterans of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, then lobbied for $43
million in subsidies for a housing project, while
holding an option to buy a stake in the project.
Manafort is steeped in the racial politics
Trump has exploited. As Franklin Foer writes for
Slate, Manafort ran Reagan’s Southern operation in 1980; the candidate kicked off his general-election campaign outside Philadelphia,
Miss., scene of the murder of civil rights activists in 1964. Manafort later became a business
partner of Lee Atwater, who gained fame for
Bush’s Willie Horton campaign in 1988.
Introduced to Trump by Roy Cohn, lawyer to
Joe McCarthy, Manafort helped Trump fight Indian casinos by alleging that the Native Americans had a crime problem; Trump and his associates paid a $250,000 fine after secretly funding
advertisements besmirching the Indians.
Now Trump is engaged in a general-election
campaign to portray Clinton as the candidate
of the establishment. That’s fair enough: She
has been atop the country’s elite for a quartercentury. But the man leading this effort spent a
much longer career benefiting the wealthy and
powerful, including Trump, at the expense of
the poor and weak. That’s rich.
(Source: The Washington Post)
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h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l
JULY 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL
Israel- Turkey ‘diplomatic victory’ would lead
to incremental genocide: Pepe Escobar
Whatever deal has been struck still leaves Palestine under a horrendous, medieval siege. Israeli historian Ilan
Pappe was not far off the mark when he qualified it as
“incremental genocide.” It’s like this was a post-modern
normalization of relations with apartheid South Africa.
Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst.
He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows
ranging from the U.S. to East Asia. He is the former
roving correspondent for Asia Times Online, where he
wrote the column The Roving Eye from 2000 to 2014.
Born in Brazil, he's been a foreign correspondent since
1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before
9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle
East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big
Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of
“Globalistan” (2007), “Red Zone Blues” (2007), “Obama
does Globalistan” (2009) and “Empire of Chaos” (2014),
all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is “2030”,
also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015. He currently lives between Paris and Bangkok. In an exclusive
interview with the English section of Khamenei.ir, Mr.
Escobar’s sheds light on Turkey-Israel relations and the
issue of Palestine.
The following is the full text of the interview:
Q: What's behind the new deal between
Turkey and Israel?
A: It’s all about gas, gas, gas. Netanyahu himself said
on the record that the deal with Turkey is essential to
unblock further, immensely profitable eastern Mediterranean gas deals. And here we get to the heart of the
matter - the “secret” of the Israeli maritime blockade on
Gaza. Palestinians are not allowed to access their own
territorial waters because Israeli drilling platforms and
export pipelines must be “protected” – even by Iron
Dome missile interceptors (protected from what? Palestinian fishermen with “dangerous” fishing nets?)
Palestinians cannot even develop their own gas fields
in Gaza’s territorial waters. Land grab meets water grab.
As if this was not illegal enough, Israel is fully backed
up by Western energy majors, multinational companies
and the always patronizing EU – everyone involved in
one way or another with pipeline deals to export gas
from the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to the West.
In the near future, Ankara will not only buy Israeli
gas for internal consumption; but crucially will position
itself as the prime East-West energy hub towards the EU,
while Israel strengthens its producer status with buyers
such as Egypt and the EU.
Q: Turkish leaders describe it as a “diplomatic
victory”, and announced 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid is being shipped to Gaza on Friday;
what's your take on that?
A: Whatever deal has been struck still leaves Palestine
under a horrendous, medieval siege. Israeli historian Ilan
Pappe was not far off the mark when he qualified it as
“incremental genocide.” It’s like this was a post-modern
normalization of relations with apartheid South Africa.
Predictably the AKP in Turkey has been desperate to
spin the whole thing in their favor. It’s impossible. The
deal has absolutely nothing to do with Gaza. Erdogan
initially had established his conditions; an Israeli apology
and compensation over the Mavi Marmara attack, and
the end to the siege of Gaza. Only when Erdogan gave
up on Gaza there was a deal. The Israeli blockade of
Gaza will continue. Israel will only allow the token Turkish
“humanitarian” help and some token infrastructure projects. Neocolonial land theft and apartheid – the whole
apparatus remains in place.
It’s not an accident that Netanyahu is pleased with
the “strategic importance” of the deal. He managed to
get business done. And without giving up as much as an
inch; he said, on the record, that the “defensive maritime
blockade” of Gaza stays.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, for his part,
maintains that the siege of Gaza has been “largely lifted”. This is absolutely false. What we’re having now is
some sort of double-edged “aid under siege” program.
Ankara joins the UN in aiding Israel to manage the siege
while at the same time Israel manages to what extent
Turkey is able to deliver aid to Palestine.
So, in a nutshell, this is an appalling extension of the
illegal, so-called Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism.
Q: Last month in a joint appearance, Saudi
prince Turki al-Faisal and ex-Netanyahu adviser
General Yaakov Amidror sparred over peace. Is
this an indication of the next phase in Saudi-Israeli relations - from secret meetings to public
meetings?
A: No, they prefer to keep everything in the shade.
Prince Turki, former close pal of one Osama bin Laden,
is a very wily operator. For Arab public consumption,
high-profile Saudi-Israeli negotiations have always been
sold as anathema, while everyone seriously following
the Middle East knows their convergence of interests;
first and foremost to try to demonize and/or isolate Iran
by all means available, and then to prevent the expansion of the (non-existent) Shi'ite crescent. Wahhabis and
Zionists working hand in hand.
Furthermore, whatever the spin, there’s nothing they
can do together towards a two-state solution between
Israel and Palestine because the Israeli establishment,
across the spectrum, and especially the right-wing nutters, don’t want it. There’s only Plan A - apartheid, as
long as it’s supported by the powerful U.S. Israeli lobby,
which it always will.
Q: What common interests have enhanced
ties among these two Islamic countries with
Israeli regime?
A: Erdogan finally realized how his foreign policy
committed terrible blunders across the Middle East.
He found himself totally isolated; he managed to antagonize both the U.S. and Russia; and his only “ally”
was a fearful, mired in crisis House of Saud. So the only
answer is to do business - and that's where Israeli gas
fits in. And if you have to throw the Palestinians under
the (apartheid) bus, that's the price to pay. Ankara and
Riyadh already do business. Prince Turki certainly used
his skills to “facilitate” a rapprochement between Ankara
and Tel Aviv.
But then there’s the Syria question. Israel wants Syria
in perpetual chaos. But Turkey and Saudi Arabia are still
obsessed with regime change. Still, all three can live with
it as long as there's no definitive Damascus victory over
terrorists and “moderate rebels”.
Q: How can an Islamic country have relations
with Zionist regime?
A: Business. Dirty business - linked to regional geopolitical calculations. It's a matter of power politics. And
that will always trump Islam versus Zionism - which is a
form of fascism.
(Source: Khamenei.ir)
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
7
COMMENT
How to revive the promise
of the European Union
Far-right politicians in Britain, France and other European
countries blame the European Union for all the real and perceived problems of their countries. Many of their arguments
are wildly off base, but there is also good evidence that the
union urgently needs reform.
The complaints against the EU are somewhat different in
each of its 28 member nations, but they reflect similar frustrations. Many Britons voted to leave the union because they
wanted to restrict immigration from other European countries and to get rid of EU regulations. The Five Star Movement
in Italy wants the country to leave the euro currency and return to the lira to revive a weak economy. And the French
nationalist politician Marine Le Pen said in March that the EU
was “the death of our economy, our social welfare system
and our identity.”
European project
Le Pen and her ilk have found a receptive audience for their
nativist and isolationist views because many people have lost
faith that the EU and its officials can deliver the stability and
prosperity that was the purpose of the European project. In
recent years, the failure to find a unified response to the flow
of refugees from Syria, Africa and elsewhere has further damaged the EU’s reputation. Whether or not Britain ultimately
leaves the union, it is now up to leaders like Chancellor Angela
Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France and
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy to reform the EU or watch
its credibility and effectiveness drain away further.
One of the most basic critiques of the union is that it is not
democratic. This is an exaggeration, but it includes a kernel of
truth. Of the EU’s three main institutions, the most powerful is
the European Council, which is made up of 28 national governments. Its decisions, which are subject to political compromise, rarely reflect the pure preferences of the people of any
of its member nations.
Then there is the European Commission, which negotiates trade agreements, enforces antitrust rules and proposes legislation. Voters do not directly elect the commission’s
president; instead, the president is selected by the European
Parliament. While voters in every member nation do elect
the 751-member Parliament, its members cannot introduce
legislation and have limited control over the union’s budget.
As a result, the Parliament is weak and doesn’t actually dictate
the union’s direction.
Reforms to this opaque structure could include making the
Parliament more central in decision-making. Another improvement would be to let Europeans directly elect the president of
the commission, which would make that office more accountable to the union’s citizens.
9
8
I NTE R NATI O NAL DAI LY
NEWS IN BRIEF
Mom gives birth in
poultry house
M E D I C A L ISFAHAN — An expecting mother goes
d e s k into labor and delivers her newborn in a
poultry house in Naeen, in Isfahan Province, according to
IRNA on Saturday.
The head of disaster and
emergency medicine in Isfahan reported that at around
11:20 a.m. a woman, experiencing true labor contractions called the emergency
telephone number, 115 for
help and upon her request
paramedics were dispatched
straightaway to the location.
Ghafoor Rastin said that
the woman’s cramps were
too close and frequent to be
transferred to the hospital,
so the healthcare technicians
rolled up the sleeves and assisted the mother-to-be to have her baby right in the henhouse.
The mom and her baby boy were then transported to a
hospital in the city for further care and they are reportedly
both healthy and in good conditions, he expressed.
Iranian prof takes out
international patent on
invention
S C I E N C E TEHRAN — Faribourz Froohandeh, an
d e s k Iranian professor at Azad University of
Sahhroud, has invented and internationally patented a hydroforming sheet/ machine capable of shaping pieces of
titanium parts, deputy of research and technology of the
university announced on Saturday.
The machine, tested in the Indian Institute of Technology, has been given a patent in India’s ministry of Industry
as well.
According to IRNA, Sahebali Manafi said the invention
is designed to have dual symmetric and asymmetric forms.
Manafi added hydroforming has many applications in
mechanics, among which is the possibility of manufacturing
complex malleable metal parts.
Hydroforming is a metal fabricating and forming process
which allows the shaping of metals such as steel, stainless
steel, copper, aluminum, and brass. The process is a costeffective and specialized type of die molding that utilizes
highly pressurized fluid to form metal.
In the design of the machine, Manafi said, the precise
shape of mold has not been a factor but instead the vacuum
is filled with oil.
Titanium and its alloys, recognized for its high strengthto-weight ratio, have gained widespread applications in
aerospace and biomedical industries; although regretfully,
he said, it poses a hazard to the tools due to high strength,
low thermal conductivity and chemical reactivity with tool
materials.
Yet, Manafi concluded, the new apparatus is capable of
forming cold, warm, and hot titanium parts without any
problems and is ready to hit the market.
New breast cancer drug
could bring hope to women
with mutation
Scientists have made a discovery that may help woman at
high risk of developing breast cancer. These women have a
mutation in a breast cancer gene.
Scientists say a drug already on the market shows promise
for women with this gene.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 65 percent of
women with a mutation in the breast cancer gene BRCA 1 will
develop the disease by age 70.
That number is only 12 percent for women in the general
U.S. population, but a new study suggests a drug could provide new hope for women at the higher risk.
Denosumab, also known by its brand names Prolia and
Xgeva, is already on the market for osteoporosis.
Researchers used the drug to target a molecule called
Rank that's linked to the growth of cancerous cells.
The study looked at breast tissue samples and mice with
the BRCA1 mutation, and scientists discovered doses of Denosumab showed promise in blocking the molecule associated
with the development of cancerous growths.
Researchers say this is merely a first step and that results
from a large clinical study would take up to 10 years.
However study co-author Geoff Lindeman said, "This does
offer hope for the next generation of women."
(Source: CNN)
Employment
International Co. is looking for a
secretary position.
• Minimum 5-year experience
• Must be fluent in English
• Turkish language is an advantage
Pls. send CV to:
[email protected]
M E D
&
S C I
JULY 4, 2016
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m
NASA spaceship barrels toward
Jupiter, 'planet on steroids'
Juno, an unmanned NASA spacecraft, is
barreling toward Jupiter on a $1.1 billion
mission to circle the biggest planet in the
Solar System and shed new light on the origin of our planetary neighborhood.
On July 4 and 5, the solar-powered
vehicle -- about the size of a professional
basketball court -- should plunge into Jupiter's poisonous atmosphere to begin orbiting for a period of almost two years.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun.
Its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen
and helium and packed with so much radiation that it would be more than 1,000
times the lethal level for a human.
The gas giant is also shrouded in
the strongest magnetic field in the Solar System.
Planet on steroids
"Jupiter is a planet on steroids," said
Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton,
of the Southwest Research Institute in
San Antonio, Texas. "Everything about it
is extreme."
Jupiter is perhaps best known for its
Great Red Spot, which is actually a massive
storm, bigger than the Earth that has been
Jupiter is perhaps best known for its Great
Red Spot, which is actually a massive storm,
bigger than the Earth that has been roiling
for hundreds of years.
roiling for hundreds of years.
The planet is marked by cold, windy
clouds of ammonia and water that ap-
pear as reddish, brown and beige stripes
and swirls.
Getting close, and surviving, is no easy
feat. Even though the spacecraft is entirely
robotic and controllers on Earth can do
nothing at this stage, Bolton admitted last
week to being nervous about its entry into
orbit, five years after its launch from Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
Juno, an unmanned NASA spacecraft, will use a microwave radiometer
instrument to measure water, essentially
a radio receiver that can help Earthbound scientists "see" inside Jupiter's
atmosphere
Steve Levin, Juno project scientist from
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said water figures are the most important ones
that Juno is going to bring back.
"If Jupiter formed far from the sun,
where it is cold, out of blocks of ice … you
would get a different amount of water inside Jupiter than if it formed closer to the
sun than it is now."
The spacecraft will use a microwave
radiometer instrument to measure water,
essentially a radio receiver that can help
Earth-bound scientists "see" inside Jupiter's
atmosphere.
(Source: phys.org)
Just 30 minutes of nature a week could reduce your risk of depression
Just 30 minutes a week spent outdoors - whether you’re
visiting the park, hiking, or exploring new tracks with your
dog - is enough to lower your risk of developing high
blood pressure and depression, a new study has found.
Australian researchers also found that city residents
who made an effort to spend time in a ‘green space’ once
a week were more comfortable being in social situations,
so it really is time to shut your computer and get some air.
"If everyone visited their local parks for half an hour
each week, there would be 7 percent fewer cases of depression and 9 percent fewer cases of high blood pressure," says ecologist Danielle Shanahan from the University of Queensland.
Physical activity
Shanahan and her team analyzed data from 1,538
residents of the city of Brisbane, Queensland, who
were asked about their weekly habits when it came
to nature and physical activity, and assessed on their
mental and physical health.
The participants’ experiences of nature were measured
by three factors: the average frequency of visits to outdoor
'green spaces’ during a year; the average duration of visits
to these spaces across a week; and the intensity of nature
in these spaces - measured by the amount and complexity
of greenery in that space.
Health risks for the group were established using a
standardized test that identifies mild or worse depression,
anxiety or stress, and recording who’s undergone treatment
for high blood pressure.
An individual’s perception of social cohesion - which
means a willingness to cooperate with others in a social
situation - was assessed via responses to a survey that
measures things like trust, reciprocal exchange within communities, and general community cohesion.
The team found that people who made regular long
visits to green spaces had lower rates of depression and
high blood pressure, and those who visited more frequently had greater social cohesion.
"Higher levels of physical activity were linked to both
duration and frequency of green space visits," they conclude in the journal Scientific Reports.
(Source: ScienceAlert)
New therapy treats autoimmune disease
without harming normal immunity
How do frigatebirds stay aloft for
months at a time?
In a study with potentially major implications for the future treatment of autoimmunity and related conditions, scientists
from the Perelman School of Medicine at
the University of Pennsylvania have found
a way to remove the subset of antibodymaking cells that cause an autoimmune
disease, without harming the rest of the
immune system. The autoimmune disease
the team studied is called pemphigus vulgaris (PV), a condition in which a patient's
own immune cells attack a protein called
desmoglein-3 (Dsg3) that normally adheres skin cells.
Current therapies for autoimmune
disease, such as prednisone and rituximab, suppress large parts of the immune
system, leaving patients vulnerable to
potentially fatal opportunistic infections
and cancers.
The Penn researchers demonstrated
their new technique by successfully treating an otherwise fatal autoimmune disease in a mouse model, without apparent off-target effects, which could harm
healthy tissue. The results are published in
an online First Release paper in Science.
Powerful strategy
"This is a powerful strategy for targeting just autoimmune cells and sparing the
good immune cells that protect us from
infection," said co-senior author Aimee S.
Payne, MD, Ph.D., the Albert M. Kligman
Associate Professor of Dermatology.
Payne and her co-senior author Michael C. Milone, MD, PhD, an assistant
professor of Pathology and Laboratory
Could a bird stay aloft for days at a time,
without landing or taking a break? How
about an entire month? More than two
months?
The answer, as you may have
guessed, is a resounding "yes." And
which bird, exactly, could accomplish
such a feat? That would be the frigatebird.
In a new study researchers employed the services of solar-powered
transmitters attached to dozens of
these seven-foot wingspan creatures,
delving into the detail of how such epic
exploits are feasible.
"It is impressive," Henri Weimerskirch, an
ornithologist at the National Center
for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France
and the lead author of the study, told
The Washington Post. "There is no other
bird species like them."
The mystery of how they carry out
those marathon flights "has attracted
much interest, but remains largely unknown because of the inherent difficulties of studying such behaviors in situ,"
Dr. Weimerskirch and his colleagues
note in their paper. To tag along on the
journey, the team fitted the birds with
devices to measure an array of variables, including wing beat frequency,
heart rate, GPS coordinates, acceleration, and altitude.
They found that the average distance covered by frigate birds is 410
kilometers (255 miles) daily. Remarkably,
Medicine, adapted the technique from the
promising anti-cancer strategy by which T
cells are engineered to destroy malignant
cells in certain leukemias and lymphomas.
The key element in the new strategy
is based on an artificial target-recognizing
receptor, called a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, which can be engineered
into patients' T cells. In human trials, researchers remove some of patients' T cells
through a process similar to dialysis and
then engineer them in a laboratory to add
the gene for the CAR so that the new receptor is expressed in the T cells.
The new cells are then multiplied in the
lab before re-infusing them into the patient. The T cells use their CAR receptors
to bind to molecules on target cells, and
the act of binding triggers an internal signal that strongly activates the T cells -- so
that they swiftly destroy their targets.
(Source: Eureka Alert)
juveniles were the ones who embarked
on the longest journeys, and they did so
without adult accompaniment.
Planet’s circumference
One youngster was recorded flying
more than 55,000 kilometers (34,000
miles), greater than our planet's circumference, over a period of 185 days, taking island breaks for less than four days
during the entire period.
What the researchers found was that
the frigate birds, when gliding, stayed
at an altitude of anywhere between 30
to 2,000 meters (98 to 6,562 feet); only
when they needed to forage for food
did they dive below that minimum level.
To stay aloft, the birds took advantage of circular updrafts, originating under cumulus clouds, which carried them
to heights of up to 1,600 meters (5,249
feet) with barely a flap of the wing.
(Source: The CSM)
MIT team develop software to control smartphone with your eyes
A team of international researchers, including an Indianorigin graduate student, is developing software that could
let you control your smartphone through eye movements
to play games, open apps and do other stuff.
The team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Georgia and Germany’s Max Planck
Institute for Informatics has so far been able to train software to identify where a person is looking with an accuracy
of about a centimeter on a mobile phone and 1.7 centimeters on a tablet, MIT Technology Review reported.
According to study co-author Aditya Khosla from MIT,
the system’s accuracy will improve with more data.
To achieve this, the researchers created an app called GazeCapture that gathered data about how people look at their
phones in different environments outside the confines of a lab.
Users’ gaze was recorded with the phone’s front cam-
era as they were shown pulsating dots on a smartphone
screen. To make sure they were paying attention, they were
then shown a dot with an “L” or “R” inside it, and they had
to tap the left or ride side of the screen in response.
GazeCapture information was then used to train software
called iTracker, which can also run on an iPhone. The handset’s
camera captures your face, and the software considers factors
like the position and direction of your head and eyes to figure
out where your gaze is focused on the screen.
Eye-tracking applications
About 1,500 people have used the GazeCapture app so
far, Khosla said, adding if the researchers can get data from
10,000 people they’ll be able to reduce iTracker’s error rate
to half a centimeter, which should be good enough for a
range of eye-tracking applications.
The study results were recently presented at the IEEE
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
in Seattle, Washington.
Other potential usage of the software could be in medical diagnoses, particularly to diagnose conditions including
schizophrenia and concussions, Khosla said.
(Source: Indi Live Today)
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l
Syrian government forces have made important advances in their bid to capture
Aleppo from foreign-backed militants,
state media and a monitor say.
The army and its allies were locked in
fierce battles with al-Nusra Front (Jabhat
al-Nusra) and the Islamic State in Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorists
north of Aleppo on Sunday in a bid to
cut the last route out of the city.
Fresh clashes broke out overnight
in Mallah, a section of farmland on the
northern edge of the divided city of
Aleppo.
Syrian forces have been attempting to
seize Mallah for more than two years as
it runs adjacent to the Castello Road, the
last route militants can use to access districts they control in the city.
Syrian daily Al-Watan, which is close
to the government, quoted a field commander as saying that the army has fully
overrun Mallah but has not yet, cut off
the Castello Road.
“The army has two kilometers (less
than two miles) left to cut the militants’
only lifeline from the eastern neighborhoods to the outside world via the Cas-
WORLD IN FOCUS
JULY 4, 2016
Syrian army makes
important
advance in Aleppo
tello Road,” the paper wrote.
London-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights confirmed the report.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said government forces “were able
to advance in the area, but the Castello
Road is still open.”
“If they seize control of all of Mallah,
they will be able to besiege the opposition neighborhoods of Aleppo city,” he
added.
Fighting has rocked Mallah since a
government assault on the area began
in late June, followed by a militant-led
counterattack.
Dozens of militants on both sides of
the frontline, including from the al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, have been killed there over the past
week, the observatory said.
Aleppo province is crises-crossed with
supply routes for nearly all of Syria’s warring parties.
The city itself, known as the country’s
pre-war commercial capital, has been divided since mid-2012 into militant-held
and government-held areas.
(Source: Press TV)
Brexit might help resolve EU-Iran
disagreements easily: Georgetown professor
Will the exit also influence
1
the relations between London and
Tehran? Or will the withdrawal benefit
Iran?
A: Britain’s exit would not much
affect Iran’s relations with the EU.
However, because Britain has always
Ultimately, Iran-EU relations will continue to
be determined by factors such as Iran-U.S.
relations and Iran’s Middle East policies and
the British exit will not change these dynamics.
had a more hardline approach to re-
lations with Iran, its exit might make
resolving some EU-Iran disagreement
easier.
Ultimately, Iran-EU relations will continue to be determined by factors such
as Iran-U.S. relations and Iran’s Middle
East policies and the British exit will not
change these dynamics.
Shooting in Orlando: A tragedy in perspective
Nevertheless, we must force
1
ourselves to take a rational view of this
horrific shooting perpetrated by an obviously deranged person who never should
have been granted a license to carry a lethal weapon. Yet Mateen had been employed since 2007 as a security guard by
British security and mercenary giant G4S,
which has previously faced accusations
of inadequately screening employees for
mental disorders.
For their part, G4S, which also provides security services at Guantanamo,
claims that Mateen was re-evaluated
mentally in 2013, the same year in which
the FBI began to take an interest in him.
He was interrogated by the FBI again the
following year, but found not to pose a
threat. Of course, Mateen was shot and
killed in the standoff with the police so we
will never know the extent of his mental
afflictions, but rather than a radical Islamic terrorist on a mission sanctioned by
Daesh, he appears to have been a deeply
disturbed American, most likely plagued
by a profound mental illness, acting on
his own.
Then there is the factual matter of calling the Orlando atrocity the worst mass
shooting in the United States. Unless the
aboriginal people of the North American
continent are not considered to be human beings, something which Islam and
our Holy Qur’an would strongly dispute,
then the shooting of 49 people executed
by a deranged lone wolf, gruesome as it
may have been, was not the worst mass
shooting in the U.S. A brief glance at history reveals that some 150 to 300 Native Peoples were slaughtered mercilessly
by the federal white-colonizer troops at
Wounded Knee on the Lakota Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of
South Dakota on December 29, 1890.
News reports suggesting that the
shooter may have been gay or one of the
participants in the activities taking place
at the Pulse Nightclub, which bills itself
as “the hottest gay bar” in Orlando, also
appear to be baseless. Had these accusations been true, many Muslims no doubt
would have jumped upon this to further
distance themselves from the shooter,
whom they would then have been able to
condemn as not being a true follower of
Islam. However, Omar Mateen, beyond
merely having a Middle-Eastern-sounding name, apparently was considered a
Muslim at least by some given that he
was buried by the Bism Rabbik Foundation in the Muslim Cemetery of South
Florida near Hialeah. The arrangements
were made by Riyadh Ul Jannah Funeral Home, which bills itself as “A Muslim
funeral home for the sole use of Sunni
Muslims.”
This, then, seems to be more than
enough evidence for the Islamophobes
to proclaim the Orlando shooting an act
of “radical Islamic terrorism” and Omar
Mateen an “Islamic terrorist,” with the
not-so-subtle inference that this act is
typical behavior for Muslims and condoned by Islam. As a result, Muslims
and Islamic organizations have reacted
by issuing numerous statements in their
called a Christian suicide attack, Joseph
Stack flew a plane into the Echelon office
complex in Austin, Texas, where an IRS
office was located, killing himself and IRS
employee Vernon Hunter.
-On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller
was shot and killed by right-wing Christian extremist Scott Roeder.
-On July 27, 2008, Christian Right
sympathizer Jim David Adkisson walked
into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee during a children’s play and began
shooting people at random, killing 2 and
injuring 7.
-On July 27, 1996, Eric Rudolph, a
Christian extremist, carried out the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta during the
However, if this tragedy can be seen as another
in a series of shootings that even president
Obama has conceded is “a pattern now of mass
shootings in this country that has no parallel
anywhere else in the world,” then perhaps
progress towards their prevention can be made.
But in order to do this, Americans must first
undertake a long-overdue process of soulsearching and self-examination to find the root
of this national propensity towards violence.
own defense condemning the shooting
out of fear that some right-wing pundit
might accuse them of harboring an atom
of sympathy for the shooter. The desire
by Muslims and Islamic institutions to distance themselves from someone identified as Muslim who has perpetrated such
a heinous crime is completely understandable, but also entirely unwarranted.
Why? Consider for a moment that
there is no similar defensive, knee-jerk
reaction by Christians to distance themselves whenever some overzealous extremist linked to a right-wing Christian
group perpetrates a similar abhorrent act
of murderous violence. Typically, these
predominantly white criminals with Christian ties are systematically written off as
being mentally unbalanced lone wolves.
And there are numerous examples of
what would be termed “radical Christian
terrorism” if the same criteria were applied to them as are used to denigrate
Islam:
-On Feb. 18, 2010 in what could be
1996 Summer Olympics there that killed
spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded
111 others.
-On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh,
a militant Christian, carried out the
bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killing 168
people and injuring over 600.
-On December 30, 1994, the radical
Christian John C. Salvi attacked a Planned
Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts, shooting and killing receptionists Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols and wounding several others.
All the fanatical individuals who carried
out these abominable acts were linked to
fundamentalist Christian groups. All of
these acts would be branded as “radical
Islamic terrorism” if the perpetrator had
any remote link whatsoever to Islam. Yet
none of these events were even called
acts of terrorism, except the Murrah
bombing, and, at the time, speculation
was rampant that it had been executed by Muslims. Likewise, there were no
outcries to reform Christianity because of
its inherent violence as there have been
concerning Islam.
As Muslims, we of course grieve the
loss of life of all the individuals concerned
and condemn the violence, but we
should not feel compelled to apologize
for being Muslims or to further distance
ourselves from Omar Mateen. Christians
were certainly not coerced into apologizing for being Christians or distancing
themselves from Timothy McVeigh after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building. Yet as Muslim Brothers
and Sisters, we have been made to feel
obliged to apologize after every atrocity
carried out by some nutcase with a Middle-Eastern-sounding name. This simply
should not be the case.
How do we put this tragic event in
perspective? By viewing the shooting for
what it was: a wanton act of mass murder committed by a deranged American
citizen. If we focus on Mateen’s tenuous
connection with Islam, or the victims’
presumed connection with the Orlando
gay community, our perspective will be
distorted, and we will be distracted from
focusing on the underlying issue, which is
the high incidence of mass shootings like
this in America.
On one hand, if we insist on identifying
the victims as part of the LGBT community, as does Congresswoman DeGette,
we are led to the absurdity of calling a
gay nightclub a “sacred space.” On the
other hand, if we insist on identifying the
shooter as a Muslim with ties to Daesh,
then we are led to believe that all the
blasphemies spouted by Trump are valid
and even American-born Muslims should
be placed under continuous surveillance.
I personally doubt that the Daesh cadre in al-Raqqah, Syria had ever heard of
Mateen before the Orlando shooting,
much less had any part in facilitating it.
However, if this tragedy can be seen
as another in a series of shootings that
even president Obama has conceded is
“a pattern now of mass shootings in this
country that has no parallel anywhere
else in the world,” then perhaps progress
towards their prevention can be made.
But in order to do this, Americans must
first undertake a long-overdue process
of soul-searching and self-examination to
find the root of this national propensity
towards violence.
ESC’s national rail production project to go on stream very near future
E CO N O M Y National rail production project of
d e s k Esfahan Steel Company (ESC) will be-
come operational in the very near future.
Senior Engineer of Esfahan Steel Company for Planning and Development Affairs Hamid-Reza Nour-Mohammadi announced the above statement and said:
“Presently, this project is under construction in cooperation with Esfahan Steel Company and German Kuettner
Company as joint venture.”
It should be noted that rail is a standard part which is
readied according to the predefined scales and benefits
from domestic technical know-how and knowledge.
He drew a comparison between hot and cold rolling
test of rail project and said: “Cold rolling test stage is
conducted to test coordination of all parts and relevant
mechanisms for production. Once this stage is turned
positive and favorable, hot rolling test coupled with production of final product start.”
In this project, cold rolling test in shelves 5 and 6 is
yet to be completed, he said, adding: “99 percent of
cold rolling test of this project has been done which will
be put into operation after undergoing hot rolling test
and production of final product.”
In response to a question on the production capacity of rail, he said: “Considering the cooling system and
available infrastructures, the company can produce approx. 70 tons of rail/hour.”
It should be noted that “UIC60” and “UIC54” rails are
manufactured for intercity and metro lines respectively,
he said, adding: “Production of quality rail is the main
objective of this company, derails of which have been
put atop agenda.”
I N T E R NAT I O NALDAI LY
9
NEWS
Support for Kurdish militia
part of ‘dirty calculations’:
Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says certain countries support Syrian Kurdish militants and the Islamic State
in Iraq and t6he Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorists as part of a
regional plot.
The Turkish leader did not name any country, but Ankara
has already accused Washington of “two-face behavior” in
supporting Kurdish militia in Syria.
Speaking in the southern border city of Kilis on Saturday,
Erdogan said some countries were backing the militants as
part of their “dirty calculations” in the region.
Ankara and Washington have long been at loggerheads
over the role of a United States-backed Syrian Kurdish militia.
Turkey says the fighters are a terrorist organization affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) but the
U.S. sees them as a partner in Syria operations.
Last month, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey
would not allow cooperation with terrorist organizations
in Syria, referring to Kurdish groups which the U.S. supports.
He said Turkey would not allow the formation of new
states in Syria, echoing suspicion that the Kurdish campaign
was aimed at establishing a separate state.
Turkey has been rocked by a series of bombings, including a deadly assault on Istanbul’s international airport which
killed 45 people last week.
The attacks have prompted speculations that Turkey is facing a spillover of the Syria conflict.
Turkey stands accused of actively training and arming the
Takfiri elements in Syria and facilitating their safe passage into
the country which has been gripped by foreign-sponsored
militancy since March 2011.
In his Saturday remarks, Erdogan however accused Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad who is fighting militants of being a
“more advanced terrorist” than ISIL.
Turkey used as ‘base for militants’
Meantime, Abdulsukur Mert, the ex-mayor of Ovakent
located close to the Syrian border, said militants from the
Caucasus and Central Asia used Turkey as a base before the
Syrian conflict broke out.
In an interview with Russia’s Sputnik news agency, Mert said
on Saturday that the militants from Uzbekiatan, Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan left for Syria after spending some time in Turkey.
“We later learned that many of those who had arrived here
from Uzbekiatan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were heading to Syria to join the ranks of either the opposition or Daesh,” Mert said.
The comments came as three suspected ISIL terrorists,
who set off their explosives at the Istanbul airport were said
to be from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
(Source: Press TV)
How to revive the promise
of the European Union
7
Europe’s big challenges
Though nationalists are sure to rail against greater European unity, addressing Europe’s big challenges — like the
refugee crisis — will require just that. The EU’s current leadership made that crisis worse by leaving Italy and Greece to
handle it on their own with little assistance. And the EU policy
requiring refugees to seek asylum in the country where they
first arrive has created further disruptions by encouraging
people to travel across the continent in an effort to get to the
country of their choice. Recently, the union agreed to create
a long overdue European border and coast guard operation,
which will help manage migration and security. Officials need
to go further by centralizing the registration and screening of
refugees and resettling them based on the capacity of countries to accept them. This means that EU members will have
to share more resources and intelligence.
The EU could strengthen the European economy by restructuring the debt of weaker countries. It could increase
public spending to stimulate private investment and boost
consumer demand. Another important idea, creating a European deposit insurance system to protect savers, was proposed years ago but has not yet happened.
From its earliest days, European integration was built on
the idea that it would guarantee peace and, with a single
market, ensure greater prosperity across the continent. In
many ways, it has achieved those goals. But it is alarming
that Brexit and its fallout have emboldened those who seek
to dissolve this union.
(Source: The NYT)
Two families on emotional
roller coaster over nurse
grave mistake
A few months back, Mr. and Mrs. Keshavarz re1
ceived a phone call from the hospital asking them to take
their baby for a blood test.
That test, too, came as a shock to the family, proving the
couple was not the baby’s biological parents.
The two families eventually got to meet to prepare the
ground for swapping the babies, a process which requires
great deal of care, dealing with babies and parents emotional
and psychological trauma.
According to psychologists, the dreadful experience of
separation of the baby from his caregivers can leave permanent scars on all parties involved, therefore the families were
advised to live in one house or in their close proximity for a
while before the separation takes place.
The story ends happily here, but perhaps the emotional
trauma taking its toll on both families will remain.
We all make mistakes. True. But some are far more costly
than others. One careless mistake from a nurse who perhaps
was having a bad day, turned out traumatizing two families
and their newborn babies.
The families say the nurse at fault is yet to come forward
to apologize.
10
I NTE R NATI O NAL DAI LY
IRAN’S WILDLIFE
Red Deer
General Information
The Iranian red deer with the scientific name of Cervus
elaphus maral is bigger than the European race, an adult stag
reaching a height of approximately 140 cm at the shoulder
and a weight of 250 kg.
It is also distinguished from the European deer by almost
invariably possessing two brow tines, rather than one, for
each antler. Otherwise the two races are very much alike. It is
of a dark gray color except during the summer, when the pelage becomes a rufous dark
brown.
The fawns are reddish
brown with white spots.
Only the males grow antlers
which are shed in February and start re-growing in
spring. The antlers are rather straight, with the fourth
and fifth tines forming a fork,
which may develop into a
crown if more than five tines
are developed.
Mature Red Deer usually
stay in single-sex groups for
most of the year. During the
mating ritual, called the rut, mature stags compete for the
attentions of the hinds and will then try to defend hinds that
they attract. Rival stags challenge opponents by belling and
walking in parallel.
This allows combatants to assess each other ’s antlers,
body size and fighting powers. If neither stag backs down,
a clash of antlers can occur, and stags sometimes sustain
serious injuries.
The rut usually commences at the end of summer in Iran
and is manifested by the roaring (bellowing) of the mature
stags. The onset of the rut and degree of roaring are predicated on weather conditions; thus a drop in temperature will
activate the males, whereas warmer weather will reduce it.
Outside the rutting season, males and females travel in
separate herds. Hind herds consist of a number of mother
families consisting a hind and her sub-adult and juvenile
offspring. In mountain areas, there is a vertical migration
with the hot summer months being spent at high altitudes.
The red deer is a social and mainly nocturnal animal. It
swims well, and both sexes like to wallow in a mud bath.
Natural lifespan is about 15 years, but a captive animal
lived up to almost 27 years.
Diet
They feed on a variety of leaves and grasses and occasionally on mushrooms and berries. They eat fruits and berries in
the summer, while acorns are particularly favored in autumn and
winter. In woodland, its diet consists mainly of shrub and tree
shoots, but in other habitats it also consumes grasses, sedges
and shrubs.
Habitat
It inhabits open deciduous woodland, upland moors and
open mountainous areas, natural grasslands, pastures and
meadows. Bushes and trees are critical for protection from
predators such as Wolves, and as an important source of food
during the winter in the form of browse. Maral favor oak forests. Herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees appear to be of
equal importance as sources of food.
Distribution in Iran
The Caspian region, particularly to the east in the Dodangeh Wildlife Refuge and Golestan National Park.
Distribution in the world
The Red Deer has a large global distribution extending
from Europe and North Africa through central Asia, Siberia,
the Far East and North America.
Conservation
Threats: The leopard and, to a lesser extent, the wolf
and the brown bear are the maral’s main predators; but
the toll taken by these beasts nowadays is quite minimal
when compared with man’s depredations. In the absence
of adequate control, poachers (or hunters) shoot anything
before their guns—fawns, stags, or (pregnant) hinds. If this
is remorseless and destructive, the clearing and destruction
of their habitat, the forests, is no doubt much worse. In
fact, the very survival of the maral obviously hinges on the
maintenance and protection of sufficiently large areas of
undisturbed and pristine forests.
Conservation Status: This species is listed as Least Concern due to a wide circumpolar distribution and presumed
large populations. There have been range contractions and
presumably population declines in some parts of the species’
range both in Eurasia and North America, but it is not believed to approach the threshold for the population decline
criterion of the IUCN Red List. However, genetic mixing as a
result of introductions of deer from different areas is a problem that should be addressed.
(Source: persianwildlife.org)
NEWS
Texas city council votes to
reinstate library cat
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (AP) — A North Texas city council has voted unanimously to reinstate Browser the cat to his
job as live-in mascot of the city’s public library.
KRLD-AM in Dallas-Fort Worth reports the governing
council of the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement voted
3-0 to let Browser stay at the library two weeks after voting 2-1
to give the tabby 30 days to check out.
Mayor Ron White had said the move against Browser was
a response to officials’ denial of permission to an employee to
bring a puppy to work at City Hall. But he says he was overwhelmed with more than 1,000 messages on social media, all
in support of keeping Browser on the job.
The vote was taken without hearing from Browser’s supporters who jammed the council chamber.
ENVIRONMENT
JULY 4, 2016
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / s o c i e t y
Predominant hubs of zoos
African leopard in Tehran Zoo, photo by Alireza Shahrdari
African lion in Babolsar Zoo, photo by Danial Nayeri
African lion in Tehran Zoo, photo by Alireza Shahrdari
wide array of elements are involved in long-term
protection of biodiversity. If the last remaining
populations of a rare and endangered species are
too small to maintain, if they are declining despite conservation efforts, or if the remaining individuals are found
outside protected areas, then in situ or on site preservation may not be effective.
Ex situ facilities for animal preservation include zoos,
game farms, and aquariums, as well as the facilities of private
breeders are an important conservation strategy to protect
endangered species and educate the public. In this article
some benefits from zoo experience are represented.
The return of the Ark concept
With the rise of the animal welfare movement and increasing concern for the environment in general, and the
loss of biodiversity in particular, zoos have moved the focus
of their activity towards conservation. The potential role of
zoos in wildlife conservation has been recognized for at least
60 years and since the 1960s zoos have considered the conservation of endangered and threatened species as one of
their most important functions. But what zoos actually bring
to the table for the wildlife conservation?
Andrew E. Bowkett who works for whitley Conservation
Trust in Conservation Biology Journal (Volume 23, June 2009)
wrote: “Here I focus on the extent to which the importance
of captive breeding and reintroduction as a conservation
strategy is reflected in planning and policy, particularly by
the world zoos and aquaria. Zoos and aquaria were to play
a key role in conservation by maintaining populations of
threatened species ex-situ. These institutions were seen as
pre-adapted to the role by their long tradition of keeping,
breeding, and transporting animals. It is likely that the only
way to prevent species in circumstances such as remaining
small populations of a rare and endangered species, declining despite conservation efforts, or remaining individuals
outside protected areas from going extinct is to maintain
individuals in artificial conditions under human supervision.”
Tied closely to the name of zoo
In the minds of many people, the term of zoo (Zoological
Garden) has a strong association with animals being kept
in poor conditions in old-fashioned iron cages. Some famous zoos around the world have adopted new names in
an attempt to disassociate themselves from these outdated
notions and to emphasis their role in wildlife conservation
and environmental education. Paignton Zoo Environmental
Park and Marwell Wildlife are two famous sample of these.
But many famous zoos show no sign of following this trend.
Data about Iran’s zoos are so patchy, it is noted that
considerable evidences about function of zoos are always
underestimated in our country. But public interest to wildlife
and zoos have seen a spectacular increase in Iran.
All relevant associations
The term of zoo is an abbreviation of zoological gardens and was probably first used as an abbreviation for
the Clifton Zoo in Bristol, England, in 1847. Zoos refer to
all permanent establishments where animals of wild species are kept for exhibition to the public. This definition
encompasses traditional zoos, drive-through safari parks,
aviaries, snake parks, insect collections, aquariums, birds of
prey centers, and all manner of other animal collections
which are open to the public, but this definition excludes
pet shops, circuses and laboratories that keep animals.
Much less known
Richard B. Primack addressed to the impressive number of animals of the zoos around the world: “Zoo, along
with affiliated universities, government wildlife departments, and conservation organizations, presently maintain over 500,000 terrestrial vertebrates individuals, representing almost 8000 species and subspecies of mammals,
birds, reptiles, and amphibians.”
It seems that era of old-fashioned zoos in Iran still is not
over, only pioneer zoos such as Tehran zoo directed more
of their efforts to conservation terms especially in the past
2 years. Most of zoos in Iran e.g. Mashhad Zoo, Khorasan
Razavi province, Babolsar Zoo, Mazandaran province, and
Shiraz zoo, Fras province, couldn’t make any balance between maintaining animals and obey standard rules.
In a country such as Iran with all magnificent biodiversity, zoos must effectively work together to conserve some
of the endangered species.
In the United State alone, zoos cost about $1 billion per
year to run. Some of Iran’s zoos traditionally focus on maintaining animals because these species are of greatest interest
to the general public, whose entrance fees fund zoo budgets. It is quite important that zoos are commercial facilities
where the principal business is holding wildlife in captivity for
exhibition purposes but here are also other key notes.
Zoos in Iran must play their important role for wildlife
conservation. Tehran Zoo as mentioned before, is one of the
pioneer zoos in Iran. It provides great care and protection to
animals because actually brings knowledge and experience
in animal care and veterinary medicine. It has been building facilities and developing the technology necessary for
maintaining species such as Caracal, Euracian lynx, Persian
leopard, African leopard, African lions, Brown bear, Marbled
Polecat, Striped hyaena, wolf, Persian fallow deer, Red deer,
Jebeer Gazelle, wild Sheep, Persian wild ass or Onager, etc.
The importance of captive breeding
Currently, only around 10% of the terrestrial vertebrates
kept in zoos were collected in the wild, and this number is
declining as zoos gain more experience in captive breeding. Richard B. Primack mentioned in Conservation Biology: “The success of captive breeding programs has been
enhanced by efforts to collect and disseminate the knowledge and experience acquired by the world’s zoos. Some
management methods come directly from human and
veterinary medicine. Zoos often use the latest methods of
veterinary medicine to establish healthy breeding colonies
of endangered species.”
Some Iranians still condemn zoos hinge on ignorance
about animal’s welfare. Zoo’s past life is integrated in pure
human entertainment but today researchers set out canvas opinions on how zoos should behave in no-win situations. Do you remember Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris
virgate)? Three generation ago, the tiger ranged from the
Caucasus and Turkey through the southern Caspian region of northern Iran to the forested areas along the Oxus
River in Afghanistan, the shores of the Aral Sea and Lake
Balkhash, Sinkiang, the Altai and the Irtish Basin. The subspecies of virgate intermediate between the Siberian and
Indian tigers, both are now present in Tehran Zoo. What
was the destination of Caspian Tiger?
Caspian tiger disappeared from Iran at about 1953, although some reports of sighting declared just few years later.
Why there is no live specimen of Caspian Tiger even in the
zoos? Why Pere David’s deer survived only in parks and zoos
and Caspian tiger didn’t?
Did Caspian Tiger have the chance of survival in zoos?
Sure, if there were standard zoos in Iran or if there was any
undertaker who could arranged sending animals to standard zoos. Przewalski’s Wild Horse is another similar case,
there now appear to be no PrZewalski’s horses surviving
in the wild, but fortunately there are some in captivity. The
horses were never domesticated but kept as a rarity in Zoos.
Zoos in Europe, North America, and former Soviet Union collaborated constructively to manage a cooperative
breeding program that aimed to share animals and to
avoid mating between close relatives. About 200 horses
are covered by this program, and purebred Przewalski’s
horse are now well established in captivity just because
of efforts of zoos.
All of the above cases are significant successful experiences that confirmed the great role of zoos in conservation terms. As we notice to the footage of these events,
we understand why zoos can effectively work together to
conserve endangered animals and that’s why we need
more standard zoos in our country.
African lions enclosure in Shiraz Zoo, photo by Hesam Kordestani
Brown Bear in Babolsar Zoo, photo by Danial Nayeri
Euracian lynx in Tehran Zoo, photo by Alireza Shahrdari
By Farnaz Heidari
M.Sc. of Environmental Science Engineering
A
“Save Mesopotamia Area” campaign calls for ceasing Turkish-sourced dust storms
Some believe that the Ataturk dam
1
which is a part of a big Turkish project,
called Southeastern Anatolia Project (with
its Turkish acronym GAP), is the major culprit for this detrimental phenomenon as this
dam and another 14 ones are built on the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers and are almost
completely restricting and violating the water right of other countries these two rivers
pass through.
Ataturk dam itself stores some 50 billion
cubic meters of water which almost equals
the amount of water that all 650 dams in
Iran hold, Fatemeh Zafarnejad a researcher
in the field of water and sustainable development said.
Euphrates river originates in Turkey and
runs into Syria then to Iraq and finally it flows
into Horolazim wetland which is shared between Iran and Iraq.
She further explained that Tigris river
which also originates in Turkey directly flows
into Iraq and winds its way to Horolazim wetland too. Tigris and Euphrates are the rivers
which flow into Horolazim and they play an
important role in keeping the wetland full.
But since the beginning of the GAP project, a project aims at contributing to Turkey’s economic and social development by
mobilizing and utilizing the resources of the
region, the two rivers cannot fulfill their natural and original purpose which is to flow
into Iraq and Syria and subsequently the
two countries are facing great problems and
many villages became deserted and uninhabited in these areas, she regretted.
Moreover, Horolazim wetland is also
partly dried up and became a hot spot for
the recurrent dust storms for Iran, she noted.
She went on to say that what the Turkish
government is trying to accomplish by hindering the natural flow of the two rivers of
Tigris and Euphrates is in sharp contrast with
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which (surprisingly) Turkey has
adopted and is a member of.
In line with what’s just said and to stop
any further damages to the region’s environment, Hooman Khakpour, an environmentalist and a member of the environmental organization networks and natural
resources of Iran, is one the people who
initiated a campaign called “Save Mesopotamia Area” in Iran, a campaign which is
almost a week old.
Fatemeh Zafarnejad, Mohammad Dar-
vish an official with the Department of Environment, and Hamidreza Khodabakhshi an
official with water and electricity organization
of Khuzestan province are the other three
who started the campaign.
The campaign is aiming at shedding light
on the devastating effects of Turkish dams on
the political, social and environmental challenges the region is facing.
Khakpour explained that so far some
3,500 environmentalists and more than 200
environmental organizations have voiced
their support for the campaign and the
number is keep on growing day by day.
Khakpour noted that the campaign is
gaining strength among environmentalist for
the time being and that in the next step they
would propagate the idea among the public.
“What we are trying to achieve is to
make the public care about this issue,” he
said, adding, “some might be aware of the
issue and have some information about it
but they don’t care.”
“At this stage we are not seeking any
governmental support,” he added, “When
we succeed in getting enough members we
take the issue to the higher levels.”
He went on to say that “all governments
worldwide might get forgetful and might not
give priority to such matters. That’s why we
started to get the public support first.”
Khakpour, who has been an environmentalist for over a decade, explained that
Turkey is also planning on increasing the
number of the dams and develop its farmlands by another one and a half hectares by
the end of 2016.
However, he believed that Turkey is not
an exception and even Iran might have done
the same mistakes about its transboundary
rivers and have caused problems for other
countries as well.
Turkey has adopted UNCCD and UNDRIP and is bound by those contracts to
let the water flow into those rivers once
again, he said.
Turkey must provide the aforementioned
rivers with their water right in the first place
and the extra amount of water can be used
for developmental purposes of the country,
he highlighted.
Right now we have to wait to see if
the Foreign Ministry or the international
bodies such as UN would employ any
practical measures to stop such a project
which has set the scene for many social,
political and environmental predicaments
in the region.
h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / s p o r t s
S P O R T S
JULY 4, 2016
We are not afraid of any team:
Dirk Bauermann
S P O R T S Iran basketball coach Dirk Bauermann says
d e s k that his team is not afraid of any team in the
2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Iran will open the campaign with a match against Greece
in Group A on Monday.
The Persians will also play Mexico on Tuesday.
“We are in good condition at the moment and well-prepared
for the competition. Iran won the title of the West Asia Basketball Association (WABA) with a group of young players. Nobody
thought we would win the tournament. We also won the 2016
International Basketball Challenge,” Bauermann said.
“Lithuania and Latvia training camps has helped us a lot and
our young players gained experience, though we still have a
long way to go,” the German coach added.
“Greece is an experienced team and its players have played in
Euroleague. Also, three Greek players are playing in NBA. Anything
can happen in the match. We will play to win the match and will be
focused to start the competition with victory,” Bauermann added.
“We are not afraid of Greece because we’ve already defeated the good teams. Without a doubt, my players think so,”
Bauermann stated.
The top two sides will advance to the Final Round to meet the
top two sides from Group B, which includes Tunisia, Croatia and Italy.
The first-place team in Group A will take on the second-place team from Group B in one semi-final, and the side
that comes top of Group B will go up against the second-top
team in Group A in the other semi-final.
The winners will them meet in a do-or-die showdown for a
spot in the Olympics.
Ehsan Haji Safi linked with
Esteghlal move
S P O R T S Former Sepahan and
d e s k FSV Frankfurt defend-
er Ehsan Haji Safi has been linked with a
move to Iranian side Esteghlal, according
to reports in local media.
The 26-year old defender, who joined
FSV Frankfurt from Sepahan last summer,
left the German side following their relegation to Germany’s third division league.
Haji Safi is eager to continue his career in Europe but if he couldn’t find a
descent team he will return to Iran Pro-
fessional League to join Esteghlal.
Haji Safi has scored two goals in 27
appearances for FSV in last season’s 2.
Bundesliga. His superb long-range goal
against Freiburg nominated as one of the
best goals of the month.
Haji Safi has represented Iran at the
2011 AFC Asian Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup
and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, in addition to
Sepahan at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.
He has scored six goals in 77 caps
for Iran.
Samad Marfavi appointed as new
Saba head coach
S P O R T S Saba football club has
d e s k announced the ap-
pointment of Samad Marfavi as the new
coach 24 days ahead of the start of the
Iran Professional League 2016-17 season.
This is the fourth time Marfavi accepts
Saba job. After managing Esteghlal and
Mes Kerman, Marfavi joined Saba to replace Yahya Golmohammadi in 2012-13
season and he led Saba to ninth place.
In 2013-14 season he came back to
replace Mohammad Mayelikohan and
led Saba to ninth place again.
In 2014-15 season he managed Saba
until the winter break but left his role
due to a financial disagreement with the
club officials.
Marfavi’s fourth spell at the club
has come at the time while most of the
team’s key players has gone and there is
so much little time left until the start of
the season.
Saket Elhami will be Marfavi’s assistant
at Saba.
Arsene Wenger open to offers when Arsenal contract ends
Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out taking the England manager’s job, but not until after his contract with
Arsenal finishes.
Wenger, who is approaching the end of his second
decade in charge of the Gunners, has one more year on
his current deal and intends to honour it.
The Frenchman is believed to be one of the early
front-runners for the position that Roy Hodgson vacated following England’s 2-1 round-of-16 defeat against
Iceland at Euro 2016.
“I’m under contract until 2017,” he told Bein Sports.
“What I’ll do afterwards, I don’t know.
“But for the moment, I’ve always respected all of my
contracts until the very end. I’ll continue to do the same.
Iran’s Machine Sazi signs Brazilian
defender Edson
Iran’s Machine Sazi football team has signed
Edson Henrique da Silva or simply Edson.
The 28-year-old Brazilian defender
has joined the Iranian football team on a
one-year contract.
The central defender has joined Machine Sazi from Croatian football club
Slaven Belupo.
Edson started his career with Brazilian
club Figueirense and has also played at
Belenenses, Botafogo, Uniao de Leiria
and Academica.
Machine Sazi, led by Rasoul Khatibi, won promotion to Iran Professional
League in May.
(Source: Tasnim)
“I saw how Roy Hodgson looked after the elimination against Iceland... so for the moment I’m very happy
where I am.”
When asked if he would be interested in the job one
day, he added: “It’s a good challenge at the moment for
any manager since the team have just had two disappointments.
“I’m not talking about myself here. I think it’s an interesting challenge because it’s a young team that has
quality players all the same and they’re coming off two
disappointments at the World Cup in Brazil and the European Championships here.
“So when things improve, he [the new manager] can
only do better.”
(Source: Soccernet)
Iranian women Kabaddi team comes
third in Asia Cup
Iran women’s Kabaddi team lost to
Thailand and finished in third place in
the 4th round of Asia Kabaddi Cup in
Busan, South Korea on Sunday.
Iranian team was defeated against
Thailand 29-31 in the third-place
match.
Iran is in the same group with South
Korea, Taiwan and Turkmenistan.
Iranian national Kabbadi team has previously ranked second and third in Asian
competitions in Tehran and New Delhi; it
also ranked second in India world competitions and stood in the third and second
places in China and South Korea.
(Source: Irna)
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
11
Germany’s Sami Khedira
and Mario Gomez injury
doubts for semifinal
Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez are doubts for Germany’s
Euro 2016 semifinal against France or Iceland on Thursday
after departing the penalty shootout victory over Italy injured.
Khedira exited after 16 minutes with a muscular injury following a collision with Italy defender and Juventus teammate
Giorgio Chiellini, while Gomez was replaced in the 72nd
minute with a similar knock but the signs for the 30-year-old
striker are slightly more positive, according to Germany
coach Joachim Low.
“It was not positive for
Khedira to have to go off after
15 minutes. He has muscular
problems in his thigh. I am not
sure it will be working out for
Thursday,” Low said. “Mario
Gomez also had muscular
problems, but I think he came
off early enough.
“It was clear we would
need [substitute] Bastian
Schweinsteiger over the
course of the tournament.
He did well, he worked hard and it was important to have his
experience on the pitch.
“You need different players in such a tournament, it is not
unusual for players to pick up injuries or suspensions. Mats
Hummels is suspended for the next game.”
Hummels was booked in the final minute for a foul on
Eder, his second yellow of the tournament which earns him a
one-match ban
Following the game the defender said: “The second yellow card is hurting, to be suspended because of those two
situations. But my body can rest two or three more days.”
Khedira, meanwhile, praised Germany’s collective effort against
the Azzurri after they restricted Antonio Conte’s side to few chances.
“The Mannschaft has played like one big team. We didn’t
really allow them anything. We were very unlucky to concede,” he told UEFA.com.
“Mario Gomez and I had to come off. We now have some
ailing players, which is normal in such a big tournament. We
will once more field a competitive side in the semifinal.”
(Source: Soccernet)
Antonio Conte bids fond
farewell to Italy after Euro
2016 quarterfinal loss
Antonio Conte has bid an emotional farewell to the Italy national
team as he departs for West London to take up the vacant manager’s role at Chelsea.
Conte’s Azzurri were dumped out of Euro 2016 after losing
6-5 on penalties to Germany in their quarterfinal on Saturday,
with the match ending 1-1 draw following extra time.
Speaking at a postmatch news conference, Conte said: “Today feels much harder than
yesterday. Now that it is over,”
Conte told a news conference
on Sunday.
“I still feel emotionally attached -- it was a great honour for me to coach these
lads. It is a shame for them
to go out because they gave
everything they had.”
Conte said he hoped he
had left incoming manager
Giampiero Ventura a blueprint
for which to take his successes
with the team forward, after
progressing further in the tournament than many had previously anticipated.“I wish all the best to
Ventura and I hope I have left a good outline for him to continue,”
he said. “I wish the national team and Ventura well. I feel we have
left a strong path that can take our colours higher and higher.
“The most important thing from these Euros was ensuring Italy were respected by everyone, including the European [Spain]
and world [Germany] champions.
Conte went on to thank the president of the Italian Football
Federation, Carlo Tavecchio “for allowing me this extraordinary
experience that will stay with me forever.”
Despite an assertion that he often felt unsupported by the
media and Serie A during his tenure as Italy boss, Conte also
thanked the media.
“I know I am not an easy person to deal with,” he added. “But
we got to know each other over these two years and reached
great mutual respect.
“I hope this is just goodbye and not a final farewell. Thank
you from the heart.”
Meanwhile Tavecchio added: “This is a sad day for Italy. We
restored honour to the Azzurri shirt and found a real leader in
Antonio Conte.
“Conte made his own precise plan. It’s difficult to hold back a
leader such as him and we hope he will return.
“We made a huge effort, competing with big clubs, to get Conte
on our bench. We knew it would be tough and probably wouldn’t
last very long, but we had to rebuild and that is what we achieved.
“When we arrived after the 2014 World Cup, the situation
was a total disaster and there was no federation. The national
team was totally lost, without a commanding figure or a structure. Now, we are not inferior to anybody.
“We will go again from this point. A route has been drawn
out and we can’t stop. Italy will have their own staff who are all
developed at home.”
(Source: Soccernet)
b
Poem of the day
I N T E R N AT I O N A L D A I L Y
A garden the water of whose river was limpid
A grove the melody of whose birds was
harmonious.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/culture
NEWS
Leev to perform Chekhov’s
“Bear”, “A Marriage
Proposal” in Rasht
A
d
e
Sadi
No. 18, Bimeh Lane, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, Iran
P.o. Box: 14155-4843
Zip Code: 1599814713
SINCE 1979
R
T TEHRAN — Leev, an Iranian theater
k troupe led by actor /director Mohammad-
s
Hassan Majuni, is scheduled to perform celebrated Russian
playwright Anton Chekhov’s “The Bear: A Joke in One Act”
and “A Marriage Proposal” in
the northern Iranian city of
Rasht from July 15 to 22.
“A Marriage Proposal” is
a fast-paced, one-act farce
that tells the story of a longtime neighbor of Stepan
Stepanovitch
Chubukov,
who comes to propose
marriage to his 25-year-old
daughter, Natalia.
One of Chekhov’s lesserknown plays, “The Bear: A
Joke in One Act” condenses
so much of human nature
into a short and comical act
to demonstrate how close
the relationship between anger and passion can be.
The plays translated by Maryam Nejad will be performed
in Gilaki, which is spoken in the northern Iranian province of
Gilan.
Borna Ansari, Barnush Purghaffari, Roshanak Shabani and
Mahyar Nedai are the main members of the cast for both
plays that will be performed at Rasht’s Dr. Rahmatdel Hall.
Managing Director: Ali Asgari
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Prayer Times
Noon:13:09
Evening: 20:45
Dawn: 4:09 (tomorrow)
Sunrise: 5:54 (tomorrow)
Printed at: Kayhan - ISSN: 1017-94
“Salesman” named best
at Munich filmfest
A
d
e
R
s
T TEHRAN
— Asghar Farhadi’s
k acclaimed drama “The Salesman” won
the ARRI/Osram Award, which is presented to the best
film in CineMasters -- the international competition -at the Munich International Film Festival, the organizers
announced on Saturday.
German-based Iranian actress Pegah Fereydoni,
French producer Stephane Tchalgadjieff and former
Munich mayor Christian Ude were the members of the
CineMasters jury.
“We choose to give the award to a film that we found
contemporary and yet universal and, most importantly,
with an opening to the future; a story that was both
thrilling and full of surprise,” the jury said in their
statement.
“The Salesman” brought Farhadi the best screenplay
award and its star, Shahab Hosseini, the Palme d’Or for
best actor at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in May.
“Rabin: the Last Day” by Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai
received a special mention in CineMasters.
The CineVision Award, which goes to an international
newcomer filmmaker, was presented to French director
Houda Benyamina for her “Divines” while the audience
award went to “The Three of Us” by Kheiron from France.
A total of 207 films from 62 countries went on screen
during the event, which was held in the capital of the
German state of Bavaria from June 23 to July 2.
Shahab
Hosseini
(L) and
Taraneh
Alidusti act
in a scene
from “The
Salesman”.
Iranian animators taking undying conflict between roosters and foxes to screen
NEWS IN BRIEF
Tehran gallery
displaying posters on
Palestine
A
d
e
R
s
T TEHRAN — An exhibition
k displaying posters on Palestine
opened at the Abolfazl Aali Gallery of the Art
Bureau in Tehran on Wednesday.
Posters by Iranian graphic designers, including
Hossein Yuzbashi, Hamid Sharifi, Abolfazl Khosravi,
Saeid Ajami and Mohammad Khazai, have been
selected for the exhibition entitled “The Color of
Freedom”.
The exhibit run until July 20.
Italian festival honors
“A Moment”
A
d
e
R
s
A
d
e
R
s
T TEHRAN — Animator brothers Babak
k and Behnud Nekui, who co-directed
the acclaimed movie “Stripy”, have begun making a
104-episode series that highlights the undying conflict
between foxes and roosters in Persian folk culture.
Nekuis’ studio, Gonbad Caboud, has received
the commission for the series titled “The Fox and the
Rooster” from the Saba Animation Center.
“The series, which has no dialogue, tells stories
from the everlasting conflict between fox and rooster,”
Behnud said in a press release published by the center
on Sunday.
“The stories are set in a farm where a rooster lives in
peace with his family while a fox in their neighborhood
intends to ruin the peaceful atmosphere,” he added.
“The fox and the rooster have symbolic meanings in
Persian classical literature and culture,” Babak stated.
PICTURE OF THE DAY
A scene from “The Fox and the Rooster”
“The fox symbolizes cunning and artfulness and
rooster represents prudence and waking up early,” he
added.
He said that quality is their main priority in the series
and noted, “Our aim is not only to attract audiences in
the country, but also we intend to attract
audiences
elsewhere in the world.”
Children under seven are the target audience of the
series, Saba Director Morteza Shamsi said.
“The center used to convey educational messages in
its previous productions, but now we intend to produce
animations like ‘The Fox and the Rooster’ that seek to
entertain children,” he stated.
Gonbad Caboud’s “Stripy”, about a factory worker
who has tolerated boring daily routines for a long time
but suddenly decides to make a change, was screened
at the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows at the
ArcLight Hollywood in 2015.
The movie won the award for best feature animation
at the 17th Iran Cinema Celebration in 2015.
Honaronline/Gatha Ziatabari
Dubai Iranian
Club screens
“Barcode”,
“We Won’t Be
Habituated”
T TEHRAN — Iranian director
k Naqi Nemati’s “A Moment” has
won the Reset-Dialogues on Civilizations Prize at
the 23rd Capalbio International Film Festival in
Rome, Italy.
This award goes to films that are able to bring
down prejudice and stereotypes with a vision of
equal dignity that the human condition deserves.
“A Moment” is about unexpected occurrences
minutes before the death of some people.
The film also won the best cinematography
award for Ruzbeh Rayga at the festival, which was
held from June 25 to July 2.
A
d
“Deer Hunter”, “Heaven’s
Gate” director Michael
Cimino dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Cimino, the Oscar-winning
director whose film “The Deer Hunter” became one of the great
triumphs of Hollywood’s 1970s heyday, and whose disastrous
“Heaven’s Gate” helped bring that era to a close, has died.
Cimino died Saturday at age 77, Los Angeles County acting
coroner’s Lt. B. Kim told The Associated Press. He said Cimino had
been living in Beverly Hills but did not yet have further details on
the circumstances of his death.
Eric Weissmann, a friend and former lawyer of Cimino’s, said
friends had been unable to reach Cimino by phone for the last
few days and called the police, who found him dead in his bed.
He said Cimino had not been ill that he had known of.
Cimino’s masterpiece was 1978’s “The Deer Hunter”, the story
of the Vietnam War’s effect on a small steel-working town in
Pennsylvania. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best
Picture and Best Director for Cimino. It helped lift the emerginglegend status of Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Christopher
Walken also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
“Our work together is something I will always remember. He
will be missed,” De Niro said in a statement Saturday.
Despite controversy over its portrayal of the North Vietnamese
and use of the violent game Russian roulette, the film was
praised by some critics as the best American movies since “The
Godfather” six years earlier.
Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, called it “one
of the most emotionally shattering films ever made.”
A woman poses in front of a 3-D painting by Abdi Asbaqi on display in an exhibition titled “Transmutation of Fact and Truth” at Tehran’s Sohrab
Gallery on July 2, 2016. The exhibit runs until July 12 at the gallery located at 5 Arabali St., off Khorramshahr Ave.
R
T
k TEHRAN
— The
Dubai Iranian Club
in the UAE is screening “Barcode”
directed by Mostafa Kiai and “We
Won’t Be Habituated” by Ebrahim
Ebrahimian.
Screenings began on Sunday and
will run for a fortnight.
“Barcode”
starring
Bahram
Radan and Pejman Bazeqi seeks to
demonstrate how certain social factors
may shape the fate of citizens as it tells
the story of two young simple-minded
friends who turn into dangerous
criminals.
Earlier in February during a press
conference at the 34th Fajr Film
Festival, Kiai said that “Barcode” is
a caricature of the current Iranian
society.
“We Won’t Be Habituated” with an
all-star cast including Mohammadreza
Forutan, Hedieh Tehrani and Sareh
Bayat is about a university professor
who doubts the loyalty of his wife.
e
s
Iranian, Austrian officials discuss cultural cooperation
A
d
e
R
s
T TEHRAN
— Bilateral cultural
k cooperation between Iran and
Austria was discussed in a meeting in Tehran between
Austrian Cultural Forum Tehran (OKFT) Director
Gabriele Juen and Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS)
Director Farid Farkhondehkish.
Gabriele Juen, who is also the cluster representative
of EUNIC (European national institutes of culture), was
accompanied by deputy director Thomas Kloiber, the
IYCS announced on Sunday.
In her brief talk, Juen proposed organizing a film
week with the embassies of Austria, Poland, France,
Greece, Switzerland and Italy in Tehran in collaboration
with the IYCS.
Juen hoped that screening films from these
countries would help introduce the culture and pave
the way for establishing cultural relations between Iran
and Europe.
In his speech Thomas Kloiber also pointed to the
great success of Austrian filmmaker Patrick Vollrath
who won the best fiction award for his “Everything Will
Be Okay” at the 32nd Tehran International Short Film
Festival last year.
He said that he has heard good things about
the Tehran International Short Film Festival and
the organizers from Mr. Vollrath, and that he hopes
to collaborate with the IYCS as a major center for
production of short films in Iran.