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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:44
Sunrise: 7:14
Noon: 12:08
Evening: 17:21
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Weather Guide
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TUE |
WED |
Tehran: |
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High: |
-2 oC |
-2 oC |
Low: |
-3 oC |
-5 oC |
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Athens |
12 |
12 |
Ankara |
-1 |
-2 |
Cairo |
19 |
19 |
Copenhagen |
1 |
1 |
Frankfurt |
1 |
1 |
Karachi |
21 |
21 |
Kuwait City |
17 |
20 |
London |
7 |
5 |
Madrid |
7 |
13 |
Moscow |
-9 |
-12 |
New Delhi |
22 |
21 |
Paris |
4 |
0 |
Riyadh |
22 |
26 |
Rome |
9 |
7 |
Vienna |
0 |
-4 |
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Identification
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Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Executive Editor:
Editorial Dept. Tel: 88755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 88761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 88500616,88500617
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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GREETINGS
Iran Daily wishes its readers a Happy New Year. We hope and pray 2008 ushers in understanding, peace and justice in our troubled world.
May Lord bless all those striving for the honor and dignity of mankind.
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Iran Will
Not Forgo Caspian Rights
Iraq Talks at Ambassadorial Level
TEHRAN, Dec. 31--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said based on the principle of justice, Iran’s share of Caspian Sea resources will be around 20 percent.
Talking to reporters on Monday, the spokesman said, “Tehran has always made efforts to get its share and will not forgo its rights,“ IRNA reported.
“The Caspian Sea legal regime will be determined on the basis of the principle of justice, which has its own technical definition in international laws,“ he added.
Pointing to Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s remarks on Sunday that Iran’s share of the Caspian Sea never exceeded 11.3 percent in the past, Hosseini said during the Soviet rule, efforts were made to impose a quota on Iran by the Russians but this never materialized.
Following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea littoral states set forth to demarcate boundaries unilaterally.
“Iran instantly announced that it would accept the division only if it was based on justice,“ he said.
Hosseini reiterated that all consultations and meetings should take place on that basis.
Commenting on the alleged proposal for changing the Persian Gulf’s name, the spokesman stressed that the name of Persian Gulf will remain unchanged forever.
According to media reports, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili recently proposed that the term “Gulf of Friendship“ be used to refer to the Persian Gulf.
“Dr Jalili meant that the Persian Gulf can be a place for friendship and tranquility of regional states,“ he said.
Touching upon cooperation with Russia on Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Hosseini said the Russian supply of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr plant is based on the schedule agreed upon by the two sides.
“Tehran is following up the case to ensure that Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is completed and becomes operational as per the schedule.“
Hosseini noted that Iran did not attend the funeral procession of the assassinated Pakistani prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, due to “the special situation in Pakistan“.
“Iran voiced its readiness to take part in the funeral but Pakistani officials did not agree with it due to the special situation in the country“ resulting from Bhutto’s assassination.
Referring to the late Bhutto’s assassination as “a tragic event“, Hosseini expressed hope that peace would be restore to Pakistan as soon as possible.
On the issue of Iran-US talks on Iraq security, Hosseini said the next round of Tehran-Washington talks would be held soon “at the ambassadorial level“.
Hosseini stressed that the date of the talks “would be fixed during consultations“.
“We announced our views to the Iraqi side. Iran agrees with the principle of holding talks and the talks would not be held higher than at the ambassadorial level,“ he said.
Iran and the US have so far held three rounds of talks about Iraq’s security situation.
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ISAF:
No Proof Tehran Supplies Taliban
Afghan Deaths Mount
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 31--A high-ranking ISAF commander said there is no evidence that the Iranian government is smuggling weapons into Afghanistan for the Taliban.
Brigadier General Marquis Hainse, who is also a deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force, dismissed allegations made by Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, IRNA reported.
On December 25, MacKay had accused the Islamic Republic of supplying Taliban insurgents with weapons, particularly roadside bombs.
“With regard to the specific point that our minister made, I think we’re going to have to ask him where he got his information,“ the Canadian brigadier general said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 civilians and more than 850 policemen have been killed in Taliban-linked violence in Afghanistan in the past nine months, the interior ministry said on Monday.
The year 2007 has been the bloodiest for Afghanistan since the United States, supported by its western allies, toppled the Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders in 2001, AFP reported.
There has been a sharp increase in the use of Iraq-style suicide bombings targeting Afghan and western troops in the major cities, including the capital, Kabul.
“About 970 civilians have been killed in violence, especially suicide attacks, since the beginning of this year,“ interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told reporters, referring to the Afghan calendar, which starts around late March.
In the same period, Bashary said, more than 850 policemen had also lost their lives in the violence--a Taliban-led insurgency launched months after the regime was ousted from power six years ago.
“We’ve lost more than 850 police in the past nine months,“ Bashary said.
Taliban militants who are said to be supported by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror network are trying to topple the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
More than 60,000 western troops, mainly in the UN-mandated NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, are based here to battle the Taliban insurgency and help train Afghan security forces.
Nearly 220 foreign soldiers--the latest of them a Canadian solider who died on Sunday--have also been killed in 2007.
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In 2007 Israel Raids Claimed Heavy Civilian Toll
BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Dec. 31--More than one-third of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007 were civilians who were not involved in hostilities, an Israeli human rights group said in a report released Monday.
The report by the B’Tselem organization said: “In 2007, about 35 percent of those killed were civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities when killed.“
Out of the 373 Palestinians martyred, 131, or some 35 percent, were civilians who were not involved in fighting, the report said--a decrease of 19 percentage points from the 2006 figure of 54 percent.
The number of Palestinians martyred by Israeli occupation forces in 2007 nearly halved compared to the previous year.
In 2006 the number stood at 657, with 348 of those martyred reported as innocent bystanders.
The majority of Palestinians who died by Israeli fire in 2007 were martyred in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the Israeli occupying regime has launched regular air and ground operations in the densely-populated Palestinian territory.
In its review of the status of Palestinian Territories, the group charges Israel with committing grave human rights violation in the West Bank and Gaza.
It said that 2007 saw a “deterioration in many other measures of the human rights situation in the occupied territories“.
“The primary one is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has declined to an all-time low, following Israel’s siege on the area.“
After Hamas came to power, the Israeli occupying regime in September declared Gaza “a hostile entity“, upping restrictions on the movement of goods and people to the impoverished territory.
According to a report, more than 80 percent of Gaza’s residents directly rely on international aid agencies to supply their food.
“If the stranglehold over the Gaza Strip is not removed immediately, the UN expects this number to keep rising,“ the group said.
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N. Korea Slams US
On Nuke Deadline
SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 31--North Korea, facing a looming deadline in a nuclear disarmament deal, blamed the US on Monday for hurting the prospects of peace on the Korean peninsula with plans to attack the reclusive state.
North Korea is almost certain to miss an end-of-year deadline to give a full accounting of its nuclear arms programs under a disarmament-for-aid deal it struck earlier this year with regional powers, including the US, Reuters reported.
“The reality testifies once again that there is no change in the US intention to invade us with force and occupy the whole of Korea, although the US is uttering ’peace’ and ’dialogue’,“ the North’s communist party newspaper said in a commentary.
“Dialogue and war attempts can’t stand together.“
The US government has said Washington has no plans to attack North Korea.
In Washington, US officials on Sunday said North Korea has not yet fully accounted for its nuclear activities.
In Tokyo on Monday, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official urged Pyongyang “to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs as quickly as possible“.
US officials estimate North Korea has produced about 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium, enough for about eight nuclear weapons, and launched a secret program to enrich uranium for weapons.
In early November, North Korea began disabling its ageing Yongbyon nuclear complex, which is also required under the nuclear deal. A US official who has been on hand at the site north of Pyongyang said North Korea has been cooperating.
The process is the first tangible action North Korea has made to take apart its nuclear arms program since it began its quest for atomic weapons in earnest in the 1980s.
Analysts said the nuclear deal North Korea struck with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US would not be jeopardized for now if the secretive state misses the deadline.
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Zionist Army Blamed for Lebanon War
Olmert Guilty of “Serious Failure“
BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Dec. 31--A report by an Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday placed responsibility for failures of last year’s war against the Lebanese Hezbollah on the military.
In presenting the report to the military leadership, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and War Committee, Tzahi Hanegbi, said: “(The Army) ignored basic principles of Israeli strategy, which aims to bring the battle to enemy terrain and to protect the civilian population,“ Alalam.ir reported.
He listed three major errors: reserve units were not mobilized early, it took too long to realize that air power alone could not halt Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel, and a ground offensive should have been launched earlier.
The report also accused military chiefs of “not having developed its operational plans and not to have prepared an appropriate plan of attack against Hezbollah“ and criticized the government for “not having presented the army with clear objectives“.
The report was the latest to blast political and military leadership over the war that lasted for 34 days last summer, killing more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.
A wave of public criticism erupted in Israel following the conflict, widely perceived here as a failure for not having stopped Hezbollah rocket fire and for having failed to retrieve two hostage Israeli servicemen.
A government commission established to look into the conflict, the Winograd Commission, is due to release its final report early next year.
In April, the commission published an interim report in which it blasted former army chief Dan Halutz and ex-war minister Amir Peretz for having failed in their duties. Both have resigned.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was responsible for “serious failure“, it said. He has refused to step down.
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Investing in Hope
By Armin Hedayati
When it comes to the year-end people normally want to know the outgoing year’s major developments. Many, rightly so, are more curious about what lies in store for them in the New Year.
Answers to these and other relevant questions will help give some insight into how the complicated and chaotic world will look like in the year that started today.
If there is no bolt from the blue, 2008 will probably have its fair share of hope and fear, opportunities and challenges, war and peace, happiness and grief, success and setbackÉ
The biggest hope might be the return of peace and stability on planet Earth. We all should hope and pray that reason prevails in the halls of power and there is less of war, greed, turmoil, tyranny, crime, bloodshed, and insecurity in the coming 365 days.
We should take part in and contribute to improving the quality of life of millions mired in abject poverty, hunger, disease and lack of basic education. Added efforts will obviously be needed during this year and the many more to come to put in place effective programs to fight natural disasters and the rapidly increasing dangers of global warming, especially in the developing world.
Sustainable peace and security also demand the comity of nations forge a better understanding of global priorities and the threats that may undermine our future and that of our children.
Though hope is not a policy, we should yarn for stability and calm in wherever there is war, particularly in occupied Iraq and Afghanistan--two Muslim countries that have known little other than death and destruction thanks to George Bush and his neocon murderers out to export “freedom and democracy“ to the Middle East!!
The same is true for the long pained and afflicted Lebanon trying to stand on its own feet, and Occupied Palestine whose oppressed people are paying a colossal price for wanting to live in decency and in their own independent state.
If the much publicized Annapolis conference is to be believed in any small measure, the Middle East will see some semblance of peace and the process that should lead to a free and independent Palestinian state. This is what the high-profile gathering in the US has promised.
But experience is a good teacher. Peace and stability in the volatile region will remain as elusive as ever because of US arrogance and ignorance and Israeli lawlessness so shockingly supported by Uncle Sam.
The Lebanese are also hopeful to eventually come to terms over a new president and put an end to serious concerns over a new and bloody civil war in the multi-ethnic nation.
Regarding the protracted conflict in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, the people of Iraq can be more hopeful than their Afghan peers about some improvement in their security and economy although this will be a tall order for the popular but embattled government in Baghdad.
For the poor Afghans living in despair for almost three decades due largely to the greed and self-interest of the former Soviets and Americans, the year will hardly be better as civil strife, stone-age extremism and narco terror continue to take their toll.
One of the most serious challenges this year could be the search for political harmony and law and order in Pakistan following the brutal murder of two-time prime minister and leading opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto. Pakistanis of different persuasions still invest hope in the logic of their political parties to help save the nuclear-armed state of 160 million people from slipping further into the vortex of violence and extremism.
It is expected that political-economic unity among African states would improve and the senseless violence in Somalia and the Congo would give way to reconciliation and reconstruction. Hopefully those who decide policy and make decisions in Sri Lanka, Colombia and Thailand would follow suit.
Presidential elections in the US and Russia are also of great significance. Peace activists and the world at large hope the arms race between the two powers would be curbed. American voters are expected to defeat unilateralism of the Bush-neocon model by showing the exit door to the Republican warmongers.
We can also wish that the crisis in Kosovo and the controversial US missile shield plan for Central and Eastern Europe would soon become a thing of the past.
It is believed that if Russia and the West shun their unhelpful antagonism this year, many problems in economic and political domains, particularly those related to energy security, can be settled.
Needless to say, in 2008 there will be, among other things, a very strong need for multilateral cooperation and understanding among nations and governments to help reduce and remove threats including war, political unrest, mass displacement, poverty, hunger, disease and environmental degradation.
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