Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Seyyed Hassan Khomeini (c) are seen at the holy shrine of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini in Tehran, Jan. 31.

TEHRAN, Feb. 1--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei here Thursday paid tribute to the founder of the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini.
On the eve of the annual “Ten-Day Dawn“ celebrations marking the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the leader renewed his allegiance to the ideals of the father of the revolution, IRNA reported.
He also visited the tombs of martyrs who gave their life in line of duty in the 1980-88 Iraqi-imposed war.
More than five million people lined the streets of Tehran on this day in 1979 to welcome the homecoming of the late Imam from exile in Paris.
From Mehrabad International Airport the Imam immediately proceeded to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in south Tehran, where he delivered a landmark speech to the nation and declared that the fate of the monarchy had been permanently sealed.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was imprisoned by the Shah in 1963 for his opposition to the king’s land reforms and was expelled the following year, to Iraq.
He spent the last few months of exile in France, near Paris, from where he coordinated the activities of the revolution and its supporters that eventually brought down the pro-US regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The anniversary of the revolution is the most important national festival in the country for almost three decades.

BUSHEHR, Feb. 1--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Thursday his cabinet’s visit to this southern province marked a turning point in the reconstruction of the region.
He made the remark before chairing another provincial cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon, and noted that delayed projects will be completed as soon as possible following decisions made during his tour.
Pointing to the outstanding and rich natural resources and potentials of the key province, he said it has access to large fossil fuel resources along with great human talents.
Adding that the former Pahlavi monarchy in Iran had neglected the rich province, the president said the situation has now improved impressively following implementation of several development and infrastructure projects across the province bordering the strategic Persian Gulf.
Ahmadinejad added that since coming to office in the summer of 2005 his government had strived to help lift the quality of life in Bushehr and had achieved good results.
He paid tribute to the people of the province and termed it as one of the “the strong bastions of Iran“ from which many martyrs had emerged over decades. He named Raeis Ali Delvari, leader of a resistance movement that fought foreign colonialists in the early part of the 19th
century.

PRETORIA, South Africa, Feb. 1--A one-month delay to consider a new UN Security Council draft resolution that would punish Iran for moving ahead with its nuclear program would not be a disaster, a South African official said on Thursday.
The Security Council’s five permanent members--the United States , Britain , Russia , China and France--along with Germany have circulated a draft that would toughen existing sanctions on Iran . The text calls for asset freezes and travel bans on specific Iranian officials, Reuters reported.
Ambassadors from the group, known as the P5+1, are expected to meet representatives of South Africa --a non-permanent member of the Security Council-- to discuss the proposals. South Africa has not taken an official position on imposing new sanctions against Iran.
“One-month (delay) cannot cause a nuclear disaster, but I don’t know what the P5+1 have in their minds,“ George Nene, head of multilateral affairs in South Africa ’s foreign ministry, told reporters in the South African capital Pretoria“.
He did not say whether South Africa would propose the delay in the meeting in New York.
“South Africa hopes no party will take action that will undermine the progress that has been made in the context of the IAEA,“ Nene said
South Africa is an important member of the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of developing countries that has resisted the idea of forcing Iran to halt uranium enrichment. They worry that wealthier countries want a monopoly on enriching uranium fuel.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to deliver a report at the end of February or in early March after talks with Tehran over the country’s nuclear work, which has prompted calls for the Council to hold off on the resolution.
South Africa and other countries have expressed concerns that taking a tough line on Iran at this stage could derail what they see as positive signs in the negotiations between the IAEA and Tehran.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday the bloc was willing to help Iran develop its nuclear program, but not until it was convinced that such a program was being carried out for peaceful purposes.
Solana’s comments to the European Parliament followed calls from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for western states to help his country build nuclear power plants, DPA reported.
“None of us have a problem with an Iranian civil program, indeed we are offering to help. But none of us will do so unless we are certain that Iran’s intentions are exclusively peaceful,“ Solana told European lawmakers.

TEHRAN, Feb. 1--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday that Iran-Africa meeting will be held here in the near future at the level of deputy foreign ministers.
He made the statement following separate meetings with his Tunisian, Malawian and Burkinabe counterparts on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, IRNA reported. Iran has observer status at AU.
The capacity and prospects of Iran and the African states will be further explored during the meeting.
The year 2008 will be a year of expansion of relations between Iran and the Black Continent, IRNA quoted him as saying.
Regional issues of interest and concern along with two-way ties were topics discussed in Mottaki’s meetings with his African counterparts.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah, supported the idea of further building Iran-Africa interaction and said his country is ready to help Iran hold the meeting.
He condemned the Zionist regime’s crimes against the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza and called for unity among all Palestinian groups irrespective of their political affiliations.
The Malawian and Burkinabe foreign ministers also announced their countries willingness to attend the Tehran meeting.
The African Union was established in 1999, supplanting the Organization of African Unity. It is involved in peacekeeping activities, and major social and economic projects.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 1--Iran’s ambassador to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) said here Friday an extraordinary meeting of OIC foreign ministers is scheduled to be held in Jeddah on Sunday.
Mostafa Boroujerdi told IRNA “the meeting will be held upon the initiative of the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed at adopting a common Islamic stance to help halt the Zionist regime’s criminal acts in Gaza.“
Following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s phone talks with several Muslim leaders on the need for an urgent OIC meeting to tackle the problem, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki forwarded a message to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoqlu early last week calling for the urgent gathering.
Mottaki in his message referred to the continuation of the heavy ground and air strikes by the Israeli army against Gazan civilians, blocking crossing points, halting the entry of medicine, fuel and food inside the Occupied territories that have led to a huge human disaster for the strip’s 1.5 million people.
Mottaki in his message added that in addition to the Zionist regime’s officials, the responsibility for Israel’s crimes lies also on the shoulders of its international supporters.

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Feb. 1--Children in Gaza will start the second half of their school year on Saturday without textbooks because Israeli authorities delayed authorizing imports of paper to print them on, a UN official said.
“It will take 45 days and four printing presses working full-time to get those books ready,“ Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, told AFP.
Gunness said 200,000 children in grades one to nine would be affected until the 42 different titles are ready.
He said UNRWA had applied in November for Israeli authorization to import 754 tons of paper but only received it on Thursday evening.
Israel has imposed severe restrictions on the shipment of goods into Gaza since the democratically-elected movement Hamas seized control of the coastal strip in June after a week of clashes with Fatah rivals.

MOSCOW, Feb. 1--Moscow and Europe’s top election watchdog on Friday argued over conditions for sending monitors to Russia’s presidential elections next month.
A Russian foreign ministry official accused the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of trying to “sabotage“ reforms to the election observation system proposed by Moscow, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Russia’s Central Elections Commission (CEC), Vladimir Churov, has invited the director of the OSCE’s election arm, Christian Strohal, for crisis talks in Moscow on February 4 or 8, the CEC said in a statement.
Moscow accuses the OSCE of political interference in its elections, while the OSCE accuses Russia of imposing “unprecedented restrictions“ that make thorough monitoring of the polls impossible.
The democracy watchdog, of which Russia is a member, boycotted a mission to observe December parliamentary elections, citing similar problems.
OSCE spokesman Curtis Budden in Warsaw told AFP that “we’re currently considering our response“ to the invitation for talks with Churov.
He accused Russia of making “a unilateral reinterpretation of its commitments“ as a member of the OSCE.
At the heart of the row is the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the most experienced and large-scale election monitoring organization in Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Its post-election reports can have a major impact in determining whether polls are accepted by opposition parties and the international community as having been fair or not.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb. 1--UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew into Kenya on Friday to provide heavyweight diplomatic clout for efforts to end a month of post-election turmoil in which more than 850 people have been killed.
Ban went straight to see negotiating teams for President Mwai Kibaki and his rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga, Reuters reported.
“Look beyond the individual interest. Look beyond the party lines. Look towards the future, the brighter future of your country,“ the U.N. boss urged them.
African leaders at a summit in neighboring Ethiopia are demanding urgent action to stop the bloodletting, which has turned one of the continent’s more stable nations and strongest economies into its most pressing crisis.
Ban came from Ethiopia in the morning for a one-day visit intended to bolster mediation led by his predecessor Kofi Annan.
Ban told the 53-nation African Union summit on Thursday the violence threatened to “escalate to catastrophic levels.“
Kenya descended into political and ethnic killing after Kibaki’s disputed re-election on December 27.
More than 300,000 Kenyans are living as refugees.
Odinga says Kibaki stole the vote, Kibaki says he is the legitimately-elected leader. International observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell who won.
In a statement after speaking to east African leaders about the crisis at the AU summit, Kibaki urged Odinga to go to court.