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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:43
Sunrise: 7:10
Noon: 12:16
Evening: 17:42
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Weather Guide
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THU |
FRI |
Tehran: |
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High: |
3 oC |
2 oC |
Low: |
-4 oC |
-5 oC |
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Athens |
14 |
16 |
Ankara |
-7 |
-13 |
Cairo |
15 |
17 |
Copenhagen |
4 |
4 |
Frankfurt |
3 |
5 |
Karachi |
23 |
23 |
Kuwait City |
16 |
11 |
London |
9 |
5 |
Madrid |
16 |
15 |
Moscow |
1 |
-2 |
New Delhi |
20 |
19 |
Paris |
6 |
5 |
Riyadh |
16 |
11 |
Rome |
12 |
11 |
Vienna |
6 |
7 |
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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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Progress
After 3 Decades
Muslims Need
To Shun Discord
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (r) talks with Iran's Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel in Cairo, Jan. 30.
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CAIRO, Egypt, Jan. 30--Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, the first such high-level meeting since the two nations froze ties almost 30 years ago.
Haddad hailed his meeting with Mubarak as “very good“, saying that the Egyptian president had insisted on rejecting any pressure from Washington aimed at stopping the resumption of diplomatic ties.
“The fact that I’m here is proof of the improvement in relations between the Islamic Republic and Egypt,“ Haddadl told journalists.
The Iranian official added: “Maybe some people think that the US is putting pressure to stop the return of relations between Egypt and Iran but President Mubarak has said that he does not accept any pressure from the US and that his positions are based on Egypt’s interests.“
Haddad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday heading a high-ranking delegating to attend a biennial Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting of Muslim countries where he is to deliver a keynote speech.
He told reporters that his three-day visit to Egypt was “the best chance to promote bilateral ties between the two important and vast countries of the Muslim world“.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday Tehran is at the threshold of restoring diplomatic ties with Cairo but was awaiting a signal from Egypt.
Addressing the fifth IPU meeting of Muslim countries, Haddad said ’Islamophobia’, which has escalated in the West in the aftermath of September 11 incident, is regarded as a major concern in the contemporary era.
He underlined that it is about hundred years that world Muslims have fallen victims to terrorism.
“The enemies try to depict a rough and inhuman image of Islam and Muslims through false propaganda and vicious slanders,“ he said.
“Another challenge threatening world Muslims is attempts by their enemies to sow discord among them.“
The Iranian speaker invited ’fair’ western intellectuals to sit at the negotiating table with Muslim intellectuals to help remove such unfounded slanders.
“We should prepare grounds for parliaments of Islamic countries to play a much more active role in the world of Islam,“ he said.
Referring to the massacre of Palestinians by the Zionist forces, he said, “We are now witnessing heinous atrocities by the Zionists in the Gaza Strip being perpetrated with the support of certain big powers.“
Haddad also pointed to the threats posed by the Zionist regime against Lebanon and its supporters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and other Muslim regions.
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Public Executions Banned
TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi on Wednesday issued a decree banning executions in public.
“No execution should be carried out in public henceforth,“ Ayatollah Shahroudi said, according to the Judiciary’s Media Center, IRNA reported.
“As of now, execution would only be carried out in public when the judiciary chief approves it,“ it said.
The judiciary chief also banned the mass media from publishing any photo or image of the execution.
Ayatollah Shahroudi also assigned all public prosecutors “to monitor proper implementation of the order“.
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Call for West’s Nuclear Cooperation
BUSHEHR, Jan. 30--President Ahmadinejad called on western countries to participate in Iran’s nuclear plant construction projects to ward off their baseless concerns over the country’s nuclear program.
Speaking at a huge public gathering on Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran would not back down from pursuing its legitimate right to use nuclear technology for peaceful means, Alalam.ir reported.
“Iranians...will not back down by even one iota in defense of their rights,“ he said, adding that the nuclear issue was the most important challenge since the revolution.
“With the help of God and your resistance, it is ending in favor of the Iranian nation,“ he said.
President Ahmadinejad urged the western powers to help build nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic, saying it will be too late if they do not decide to do so immediately.
“Today we invite western countries to cooperate with us in building new nuclear plants in Iran but we also reiterate that if the West does not work with us, our scientists and nuclear experts will rely on their own expertise to build nuclear plants in future. Then, in four years time, if western countries seek to participate in our projects, it will be too late,“ he said.
President Ahmadinejad arrived in the Persian Gulf port city of Bushehr, southwest of the country, on Wednesday, starting his fourth visit in the second leg of such provincial tours. The president’s visit comes two days after Russia delivered the last batch of nuclear fuel.
Russia completed the delivery of nuclear fuel for Iran’s first nuclear power plant, which began on December 17, by sending the eighth consignment of fuel.
Upon his arrival in the province, the president told reporters at the airport that the government delegation would investigate the implementation of decisions made in his previous trip to the city.
President Ahmadinejad also condemned the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the Palestinian nation and said “the days of the Zionist regime are numbered“.
Addressing the supporters of the Israeli occupying regime, Ahmadinejad said, “I advise you to abandon the filthy Zionist entity which has reached the end of the line. It has lost its reason to be and will sooner or later fall.“
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Serious Concern About Afghan Future
WASHINGTON,
Jan. 30--US President George W. Bush has called Afghanistan a young democracy, in his last state of the union address, where children go to school and Afghans are hopeful. But he didn’t mention the violence that has killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year.
According to an independent study, Afghanistan risks sliding into a failed state and becoming the “forgotten war“ because of deteriorating international support and a growing violent insurgency, AP reported.
The assessment, co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering, serves as a warning to the Bush administration at a time military and congressional officials are debating how best to juggle stretched war-fighting resources.
Last year saw a record level of violence in Afghanistan, and military leaders and analysts expect the suicide bombings, clashes and kidnappings to increase in 2008.
“The security is going from bad to worse, especially in the south and the east,“ said Abdul Kaiyoom, 47, who works for Afghanistan’s Education Ministry. “International forces have very modern equipment, but the Taliban have a heavy influence in the outlying areas, and they are taking territory from the government.“
“Afghanistan stands at a crossroads,“ concludes the study. “The progress achieved after six years of international engagement is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, mounting regional challenges and a growing lack of confidence on the part of the Afghan people about the future direction of their country.“
A major issue has been trying to win the war with “too few military forces and insufficient economic aid“, the study adds.
Among the group’s nearly three dozen recommendations: increase NATO force levels and military equipment sent to Afghanistan, decouple US management of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, establish a special envoy to coordinate all US policy on Afghanistan, and champion a unified strategy among partner nations to stabilize the country in five years.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was not familiar with the study’s findings, but he struck a more optimistic tone on Afghanistan’s future.
“I would say that the security situation is good,“ Gates said. “We want to make sure it gets better, and I think there’s still a need to coordinate civil reconstruction, the economic development side of it.“
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Lebanon Presidential Frontrunner Phones Assad
DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 30--Lebanon’s presidential frontrunner, Michel Sleiman, has contacted Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, a minister said Wednesday.
General Sleiman, who is army chief, “recently telephoned President Assad“, Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told a press conference, AFP reported.
“He has also called the defense minister (Hassan Turkmani) and the chief of staff (Ali Habib). We welcome these calls,“ said the minister, whose country withdrew troops from Lebanon in 2005 after an almost three-decade deployment.
Bilal said Sleiman’s ties with the Syrian leadership were “very longstanding“ and ’brotherly’.
He said Damascus welcomed the statement issued on Sunday after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that called for Sleiman to be elected by MPs at their next scheduled parliamentary session on February 11.
“Syria wants Lebanon to make progress towards an overall settlement,“ said the minister, spelling out the three-point Arab plan.
In Beirut’s political crisis, Sleiman has emerged as the consensus candidate for the post of president left vacant since the incumbent Emile Lahoud stepped down in November at the end of his term.
The Arab League has proposed a three-point plan calling for electing Sleiman as president, forming a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and adopting a new electoral law.
The parliamentary majority in Beirut has accepted the bid but the opposition, led by Hezbollah, demands it be granted a third of the seats in a new government so the opposition can have veto power.
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Biggest Passenger Aircraft Ready
SINGAPORE, Jan. 30--Singapore Airlines (SIA), the first airline to fly the superjumbo Airbus A380, said on Wednesday it will start commercial flights of the airliner to London on March 18.
Service will begin after the airline receives its third double-decker A380, the largest airliner ever built, SIA said, AFP reported.
SIA currently files two A380s between Singapore and Sydney after commencing service in October.
“For the first time, an aircraft larger than the B747-400 will fly this route, thereby meaning more seats without the need for more frequencies to what is already one of the world’s busiest airports,“ said Huang Cheng Eng, SIA executive vice president for marketing and the regions.
Flights will land at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Passengers on board the inaugural London flights will receive personalized certificates, souvenirs and “exclusive premium giveaways“, SIA said.
The giant plane can carry up to 853 passengers but SIA, one of the world’s most profitable airlines, chose a setup with a maximum 471 seats.
The design includes 12 ’suites’, each with a full-length bed behind sliding doors, sheets by French design house Givenchy and flat-screen televisions.
SIA has committed to buy a total of 19 A380s.
Singapore Airlines executives have said service to Japan could come after London.
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A Step Forward
By Tahmineh Bakhtiari
After months of arguments and counterarguments, the government in Ankara finally decided to lift the controversial ban on women wearing the Islamic head scarf in universities. This week’s decision must be approved by the parliament.
Although the ban stays in effect in Turkey’s schools and other government institutions, the measure is seen as a big victory for the ruling Justice and Development Party whose main aim initially was to lift the Hijab ban in all sectors.
But as the long-awaited government move has raised concerns among hard-line secularists and laic opposition groups, the popular government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to proceed with wisdom and extra caution on one of the most sensitive issues in the country of 70 million people.
Hijab is indeed an issue of faith and religious freedom. A majority of Turks see the measure as good for both religion and democracy. A Turkish state organization which deals with religious affairs has described the Islamic dress code as a necessity for the people and on par with prayers and fasting.
More than 70 percent of Turkish women are observant Muslims and wear the Hijab. Recent opinion polls suggest that most of the people in the country perched between Europe and the Middle East support the decision to lift the ban, and do not consider it as against the laic system in their country.
A 2006 study by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, a respected research institute based in Istanbul, found that 59 percent of Turks described themselves as “very religious“ or “extremely religious“. About two-thirds of the women in the study (reported by the western press), which interviewed 1,500 people, said they covered their heads in some way when they left the house.
This is while extremists and laic circles preoccupied with trying to marry the great Turkish culture to European standards claim the Islamic attire is a danger to their brand of laicism and should be opposed.
For years the controversy over the Hijab in Turkey has attracted public opinion both in the region and beyond. Human rights organizations and activists have often asked why in a democratic country with a 98 percent Muslim population, religious and moral values and human rights are ignored.
This is while Jews are free to practice their faith and wear their religious attire of choice without any restriction.
Restrictions including preventing veiled women from entering the parliament or getting medical treatment in hospitals, opposition to the election of a president whose wife observes the Islamic dress codeÉ have been seen as strange by many informed observers.
Though the recent successes and efforts by Islamists in Turkey to lift the Hijab ban at universities cannot address all the demands of Turkish women, it is big step in the right direction.
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