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16 Pages Price 5000 Rials 33rd year NO.11343 Wednesday JANUARY 11 2012 Day 21 1390 Safar 17 1433
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has promised to hold a referendum on a new constitution in March. He also lashed out at foreign powers for attempting to destabilize Syria, criticizing the Arab League for its stance toward Damascus. We will defeat this conspiracy, Assad declared on Tuesday in a speech that lasted nearly two hours. The Syrian president said the Arab Leagues intervention is
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Bahraini protesters have gathered in front of the United Nations oce in the capital Manama to hold an anti-regime demonstration. Security has been tight in front of the UN oce. Tuesdays demonstration was previously organized by the main Bahraini opposition party, al-Wefaq. On Monday, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces attacked protesters in the villages of Dair and Bani Jamrah northwest of the country, arresting several people including children. Chanting anti-regime slogans, the angry demonstrators demanded the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime and the release of political prisoners. The protesters also condemned the Saudi-backed crackdown on the demonstrators. Meanwhile, a Bahraini military court has sentenced a policeman to 12 years in prison for defecting from the police and
joining the protesters in February 2011. Ali al-Ghanami, a 25-year-old junior police ocer, left the police force following a deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters massing in the capital, Manama, where two protesters were killed and more than a hundred were injured. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested or red from their jobs since the beginning of the popular uprising in Bahrain in February 2011. In addition, many health workers, teachers, opposition gures and human rights activists in Bahrain are still facing trial or serving prison terms over participation in anti-government demonstrations. Meanwhile, a report says that the Bahraini regime seeks to shift the demographic combination in the monarchy to protect the interests of the Sunni community. (Source: Press TV)
Taiwans President Ma Yingjeous re-election chances have increased after an inuential gure in eastern Hualien county threw his weight behind the proChina candidate ahead of Saturdays presidential elections. Hualien county magistrate Fu Kun-chi said on Sunday that despite his admiration for independent candidate James Soong he believed President Ma was the best choice for Taiwan, AFP reported. For Taiwans future, the public should bravely step up at this critical moment to support Ma Ying-jeou, Fu told a campaign gathering for Ma, who is seeking a second and last four-year term. The endorsement came as a spur for Ma, who is locked in a close contest against pro-Western candidate Tsai Ing-wen. Following massive rallies on Sunday, by both Ma, the chairman of the Kuomintang Party and Democratic Progressive Par-
ty chairwoman Tsai were back campaigning on Monday in the capital Taipei. Ma has planned to increase investment on women and younger people, including oering housing subsidies, and says that his partys policy of rapprochement with China has beneted the islands economy. Beijing appreciates Mas approach, which it says will lead to a political unication between China and Taiwan, but warns that Tsai victory can hinder economic progress and destabilize the Taiwan Strait. Beijing accuses Tsai of seeking Taiwans independence. Beijing and Taipei agreed on a 1992 Consensus, which, as described by observers, suggests that, on the subject of the One China principle, both sides recognize there is only one China. But Tsais party does not recognize that a consensus was reached. (Source: Agencies)
he new military strategy announced by U.S. President Barack Obama has one surprising section, which says that $450 billion should be cut from the countrys defense budget over the next 10 years. The open source document contains nothing secret, and Obama even used it as a campaign ploy for the 2012 presidential election in his address at the Pentagon on January 5. However, it is believed to have classied subsections that have not been made public. So why are U.S. officials publicizing their defense strategy, which is usually kept secret? The answer is that the Obama administration is attempting to influence public opinion in order to gain votes in the upcoming election. The content of the document also proves that it is a public relations move. For example, it requires Pentagon ocials to use technological innovations to modernize the structure of the military and decrease its dependence on human resources. Over the past few years, many U.S. soldiers have been killed due to the governments military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing great grief for their families. The use of unmanned drones and similar equipment is meant to reduce casualties and thus reduce the number of U.S. citizens experiencing emotional strain due to the loss of a loved one. The new document also calls for the U.S. military to shift its focus to East Asia in general and China in particular. Interestingly, the document mentions nothing special about Russia, which has been the United States traditional military adversary for decades. Contd. on P. 15
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Even if the candidates are not approved again, they will have one week to le protests with the Guardian Council, Tamaddon told the Fars News Agency. All the procedures carried out by the elections executive committees were in conformity with the law, and the assessment of qualications was conducted in line with the interests of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he stated.
He also said that the media hype about the start of uranium enrichment in Fordo is politically motivated. Soltanieh also told the Fars News Agency on Tuesday that the IAEA has overseen various stages of the completion of the nuclear facility, saying that no member state has pursued its nuclear program as transparently as the Islamic Republic. According to the online magazine Firstpost, the IAEA has confirmed that Iran has started the production of uranium enriched up to 20 percent in the Fordo enrichment facility. The news has drawn strong criticism from Western governments. France has warned of stinging international retribution for this new provocation, the Firstpost reported on Tuesday. A French Foreign Ministry statement has claimed that the move leaves us with no other choice but to reinforce international sanctions and to adopt, with our European partners and all willing countries, measures of an intensity and severity without precedent. According to the report, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has also described Irans move as a provocative act which further undermines Irans claims that its program is entirely civilian in nature. Hague has also claimed that Iran already has sufficient enriched uranium to power the (Tehran research) reactor for more than five years and has not even installed the equipment necessary to manufacture fuel elements.
He said that the Iranian embassy in Bangkok has made eorts to put a break on the growing number of arrests in Thailand, adding that fortunately, with the assistance of relevant organizations, the eorts have been successful. He also said that an agreement on the transfer of convicts has also been signed between the Islamic republic and Thailand.
Iranian ocials have expressed disapproval of Turkeys move and have repeatedly warned the Turkish government about the repercussions of the decision. In the meeting, Rohani said that cancelling the decision to host the radar would restore mutual trust between the two countries and pave the way for the expansion of ties. Elsewhere in his remarks,
Rohani commented on the popular uprisings that have challenged the governments of a number of regional countries, saying, Countries like Iran and Turkey should contribute to this auspicious event since better circumstances will be provided for all regional countries if democracy is established. And eorts should be made to prevent the hegemonistic powers and
the Zionists from taking advantage of the uprisings, he added. Rohani also said that Tehran and Ankara should play an inuential role in this regard. In addition, he commented on the crisis engulng Syria and said that outsiders should not be allowed to undermine the country, which is on the front line of the resistance in the Middle East.
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Parliament condemns attempts to Judaize al-Quds
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In a statement issued on Tuesday 210 Iranian lawmakers severely condemned the Knessets decision to declare al-Quds the capital of Israel. The Zionist regime, which has never shown commitment to international conventions on human rights, is seeking to gradually occupy all the Palestinian territories and commit ethnic cleansing against the regions people through making such a decision (the Judaization of al-Quds), the statement said. Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Tuesday that the United States is increasing its threats against the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic system in a desperate attempt to intimidate the Iranian nation. However, he said attempts by Washington and other enemies of the Islamic Republic to bring new European countries into line with U.S.-Israeli anti-Iranian bloc and impose new sanctions will not help realize White Houses dreams. Army Commander Ahmadreza Pourdastan said on Tuesday that the Army plans to test its new advanced military equipment during the war games, which will be staged in eastern Iran in the near future. He said that the purpose of the maneuvers is to enhance armed forces military preparedness and the countrys deterrence capability. He also said that Armys ground troops will practice the tactics of asymmetric warfare during the war games. An Iranian ship carrying petrochemical materials has been seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the Mehr News reported on Tuesday. No further detail of the incident was available until the Tehran Times press time and no official source confirmed the report.
Iran puts a weak America in its sights, with big plans for the future
Addressing pilgrims on November 5, 2011, just over two weeks after President Obama announced U.S. troops would withdraw from Iraq, Irans Supreme Leader cited American failures in Iraq and Afghanistan as proof that, Today, the West, the United States and Zionism are weaker than ever before. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went further, declaring the American retreat was not enough. So long as the American empire based in the White House has not been overthrown, we have work to do, he thundered. In the weeks since, the Islamic Republic has ratcheted up both its rhetoric and its deance. Iranian antagonism toward the United States took an even more dangerous turn in the Persian Gulf. On December 28, 2011, Iranian authorities threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile wide waterway through which more than one-third of the worlds oil tanker trac passes. Habibollah Sayyari, commander of Irans navy, likened the ease of closing the Strait to drinking a glass of water. In recent days, Iranian ocials warned the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier currently in the region, not to re-enter the Persian Gulf after it transited the strait during an Iranian exercise. Not only could Iranian authorities hold the international economy hostagethe net eect of acquiescing to Iranian claims to be the gatekeeper over the Strait but they also could threaten Americas strategic presence. (Source: Fox News)
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ing that used to happen, the FEP said in a statement. Moderate image Keen to present itself as a potential government-in-waiting, the Brotherhood has portrayed a moderate image, distancing itself from street protests by pro-democracy activists demanding the army relinquish power immediately. Parliamentary run-os scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday and reruns in parts of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities where the vote was cancelled in the rst round due to irregularities, are set to ll the 11 percent of seats as yet undecided, according to Brotherhood gures. The outcome of the runos and re-
runs are unlikely, however, to alter the dominance of the Islamic groups who now look set to wield major inuence over the shape of a new constitution to be drafted by 100-strong body that the new assembly will pick. The Brotherhood has promised that Egyptians of all persuasions will have their say. The strong Islamic performance has alarmed some liberal Egyptians and Western governments that backed Mubarak, but it is far from clear whether rival Islamic groups will form any alliance in the new assembly. With the exception of the parties that are part of our coalition, we stand at an equal distance from all parties, Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the
Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters. So far, we have begun limited consultations to gather the opinions of the blocs, parliamentary bodies and different parties but I will not announce these alliances until before parliament sits. Egypt's staggered three-stage parliamentary election began on November 28 and drew an unprecedented turnout. Under a complex system, a third of the seats are reserved for individuals, and some of these will be decided in the runos. The other two thirds are decided by proportional representation among party lists. The lower house will hold its rst session on January 23.
PESHAWAR A remote-controlled bomb blast killed 35 people and wounded more than 60 others on Tuesday in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in months, ocials said. The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud, one of the towns of the troubled Khyber tribal region, which also used to serve as the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan. The total number of deaths in the blast is 35 while 69 people were wounded, and of them the condition of 11 is critical, a senior administration ocial, Shakeel Khan Umarzai, told AFP. Another top ocial in Khyber, Mutahir Zeb, said the target of the attack was not immediately clear. According to initial information, it was a remote controlled de-
vice planted in a passenger pickup van, he said. "It was a huge blast and caused damage to a number of vehicles at (a) bus terminal," said Khyber tribesman Khan Zaman from the Jamrud bazaar, around 25 km (15 miles) west of the city of Peshawar. Tribesman said members of the pro-government Zakhakhel tribal militia were the target of the attack. Members of the militia -- or "lashkar" -- were filling their vehicles at the station when the bomb exploded, Reuters reported. "There was a loud explosion, everything shook," said Fariz Ullah, a fruit seller in Jamrud near the fuel station. "We all ran to the station. There were bodies everywhere. I saw bodies missing hands and feet," he said. Assistant Political Agent Jamrud Mohammad Jamil Khan said three members of the Khasadar
Rescue workers go through the wreckage of damaged vehicles at the site of a bomb explosion in Jamrud bazaar, about 25 km west of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, January 10, 2012.
tribal police force were among those killed. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Jamrud and Peshawar. Ocials said there had been no claim of responsibility yet for the attack. Pakistani forces have targeted militants in Khyber, including the Pakistani Taliban, on and o for more than
four years. Tuesday's bombing is the rst major one of its kind this year. On December 30, 13 people were killed in a bombing in the southwestern city of Quetta. On August 19, 2011, a suicide bomber killed at least 48 people inside a mosque in Jamrud. The attack also comes amid conicting reports of peace talks between the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani government. The TTP, formed in 2007 and allied with the Afghan Taliban, is an umbrella group of militant organizations entrenched in Pakistan's unruly tribal areas along the porous frontier with Afghanistan. There were about 120 bomb attacks in Pakistan in 2011 and the same number in 2010 according to an AFP tally an increase from 2009, but far below the violence of 2009 when there were more than 200 bomb blasts.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has conrmed she will run for a parliamentary seat in April by-elections. Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD), said on Tuesday that the Nobel Peace Prize winner had announced during a party meeting that she would seek a seat in suburban Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and her hometown. Suu Kyi said last year that she would run for parliament but had appeared to backtrack since then. A victory would give the longtime political prisoner a voice in parliament for the rst time after years as country's most prominent democracy campaigner. Her presence will add signicance to upcoming by-elections that will be held almost a year after nominally democratic elections ended a half century of military rule. NLD decided to rejoin electoral politics following recent signs that the new government is easing years of repression. Government reforms The 2010 Myanmar election is alleged to have been arranged to produce a civilian government that the former military rulers wanted, with Thein Sein, a former general, elected president. (Source: Agencies)
Israeli authorizations for the construction of Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem reached their highest number in a decade in 2011, an Israeli NGO said in a new report released on Tuesday. Peace Now, which opposes settlement construction, said Israel gave nal approval for the construction of 3,690 homes in occupied Arab east Jerusalem in 2011, despite Palestinian and international condemnation. The gures dwarf nal authorizations for east Jerusalem settlement homes over the previous decade. The closest number was in 2002, when the Jewish state approved 2,653 new homes. The report, entitled Torpedoing the TwoState Solution, said plans for another 2,660 east Jerusalem homes were deposited for objections in 2011, while construction began on 55 units located deep inside Palestinian neighborhoods. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, during the 1967 Six-Day War and considers all of Jerusalem its eternal, undivided capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state, and furiously denounce new settlement construction in the eastern sector of the city, as well as in the West Bank. (Source: Middle East Online)
BEIJING (Reuters) China's Premier Wen Jiabao will visit three key Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar -- from the weekend. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Wen would meet host leaders, including Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, to thoroughly exchange views on developing bilateral relations and on international and regional issues of common concern. Beijing faces pressure to go along with the U.S. sanctions by cutting what it pays for Iranian oil, if not the volume it buys. Wen's talks are sure to cover, at least in general terms, energy cooperation with his Middle Eastern hosts, said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University in east China. On any visit to the Middle East, these issues will be discussed, Lin told Reuters by telephone. Generally, there will be something that comes out of a visit like this, because a visit by a premier is not your average visit, he said of discussions on oil and gas. China bought a combined 1.15 million barrels per day (bud) from these three nations in the rst 11 months of 2011, customs data showed, nearly a quarter of its total crude imports.
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and the present situation demanded a solution that would not aggravate the already hotted up oil market. Under the proposal being prepared, National Iranian Oil Company will open a rupee account with Indian banks and can use the money to purchase non-strategic items like railway imports and buying commodities. It cannot, however, use the money to invest in India or buy shares or companies. A list of what Iran can do with the money and what it cannot is being prepared. India had in February last year started making euro payments through an Iranian bank based in
Germany. But under U.S. pressure, Germany soon stopped accepting money from India for onward transfer to Hamburg-based EIH Bank, sending India to the doorstep of Turkey. Mr. Menon has already held a round of meeting with ocials in the ministries of nance, petroleum and external aairs and the RBI after indications from Turkeys state-run Halkbank that it would have to stop settling payments on behalf of Indian companies. A meeting before the Indian team leaves for Iran has been scheduled in the oil ministry later this week. (Source: thehindu)
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New Delhi: Global agency Moodys today upgraded Indias short-term foreign currency rating from speculative to investment grade, a development which will help domestic companies to raise funds from overseas markets at better rates. there has been another upgrade by Moodys with the short-term country ceiling on foreign currency bank deposit increasing from NP (not prime) to Prime (P-3), suggesting acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations, the Finance Ministry said. The P-3? ratings suggest acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.
Iran is the second major oil exporter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. Irans oil exports to South Korea have increased 48 percent in November 2011, emerging as the second largest crude supplier to the South Asian country, a report says. According to Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), Iran exported about 279,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to South Korea in November, indicating a 48-percent growth over the corresponding period last year.
Benchmark crude oil prices will likely continue moving above $100 a barrel as an embargo on Iranian oil exports widens, CNBCs weekly survey showed. We are holding consistently above $100, noted Peter Turville-Ince, Director at Compass Global Markets. U.S. crude is rmly supported for an upside move right now given the Iran situation, better economic data and even as the USD rises we are seeing crude remain rm which is a bullish sign.
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LONDON (The New York Times) The smoldering issue of Scottish independence has ignited again, this time in a political context that appears to give Scottish nationalists at least an outside chance of gaining popular support for the end of Scotlands constitutional ties with Britain in a referendum among Scottish voters within the next two or three years. The issue has stirred passionate intensity ever since the parliaments of England and Scotland voted to unite in a single kingdom, Great Britain, more than 300 years ago. The advantages of being part of a far more powerful country, particularly during the height of Britains imperial power, have long been weighed, among Scots, against the bloody history of English military depredations north of the border, especially during Bonnie Prince Charlies rebellion in 1745. The political alignment in Scotland in the wake of the outright victory in last years election by the Scottish National Party, a group that has campaigned for independence since the 1930s, has created an unmatched opportunity to press the case for an end to the union. How that fares will depend on a referendum that seems certain now to be held no later than 2015, when the mandates of the contesting governments in London and Edinburgh, Scotlands capital, expire. The potential for bitter dispute was etched in the testy exchanges that erupted on Monday when, at a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain took the position, according to Downing Street spokesmen, that issues aecting British sovereignty are the exclusive purview of the British Parliament, as specied in the statute that granted limited powers of self-government to Scotland what is known in Britain as devolution in
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond(R) greets Prime Minister David Cameron (le photo).
1998. That prompted a shrill response from Scottish government leaders, who demanded that they alone should set the timing and the terms under which Scots would vote on the issue and accused Mr. Cameron of trying to interfere in Scottish democracy. Mr. Cameron sought to tamp down the emotions enveloping the issue later on Monday, telling reporters that in proposing that the central government have control of the terms and timing of a referendum he wanted to ensure that a Scottish referendum should be legal, fair and decisive, not to hijack the process. But Scotlands deputy rst minister, Nicola Sturgeon, accused Mr. Cameron of a blatant attempt to interfere in a matter that should be for the Scottish government and people, ve million in a British population of more than 60 million, to decide alone. This is Westminster trying to interfere, she told the BBC. Behind the sparring lay the competing objectives of the two governments: Scotlands rst minister, Alex Salmond, a former oil economist who is riding a wave of popularity in Scotland and is re-
garded among his adversaries north and south of the border as the most formidable advocate for independence Scotland has seen for generations, wants to delay a referendum until 2014 to allow time for the independence movement to build still further. He also favors posing the referendum question to allow voters unwilling to vote for independence to choose a lesser option, known among Scottish politicians as devolution max, under which Scotland would gain full autonomy in its domestic aairs, including the right to set taxes. Opinion polls in recent months have shown that independence has the support of roughly 30 percent to 40 percent of Scottish voters, the highest gures in many years, while the proposal for a broadening of the existing devolutionary powers has drawn support from as much as 70 percent of the electorate. On a BBC political program on Sunday, Mr. Cameron, whose party has seen a slump in its support in Scotland as the Scottish nationalists cause has gained ground, said, Lets not drift apart. Mr. Salmond, he said, knows the Scot-
tish people at heart do not want a full separation, and so he is trying to create a situation where that bubbles and happens, whereas I think we need some decisiveness so we can clear up this issue. The government said it was to plan to present its formal plan on the issue to Parliament on Tuesday. Conservative Party strategists in London have said that Mr. Cameron wants an earlier referendum in the hope of preempting further gains for the independence cause, and to end uncertainty among international investors, who are crucial to Scotlands hopes of ending its years as one of Britains perennial economic backwaters. In addition, they say, Mr. Cameron wants a straight up or down vote on the independence issue, in the hope that the groundswell for a breakup of Britain can be spiked. Robert Hazell, a constitutional scholar at University College London, told the BBC that Mr. Cameron appeared set on a shootout with Mr. Salmond, an approach that Professor Hazell called a big gamble. (Source: The New York Times)
aterville Valley, New Hampshire: Skiers in bright clothes snake down the mountain side in the brilliant sunshine of the White Mountains. But pus of ne fog further up the slope are a tell-tale sign of an unseasonable annoyance. No snow. The mist from half a dozen blowers is man-made snow. The skiing is ne, but the resort as a whole feels less wintry than it should. That is a worry to some in a state where tourism long ago replaced manufacturing as the main source of income. No-one blames President Obama for the weather. The White House isn't accused of stopping snow with too many regulations. That is almost a surprise. But the Republican candidates vying to become their party's candidate for president do blame him for most of the country's economic woes, and do so in strong language. They suggest he's killed jobs and is taking the U.S. on an un-American road. Front-runner Mitt Romney says in every speech that Obama is turning an enterprise culture into a European-style entitlement society. Given that the latest gures suggest the economy is picking up, I wonder how this plays now. Particularly in New Hampshire, a state that is richer, has less poverty and lower unemployment than most in the USA. The Waterville Valley ski resort's boss is Chris Sununu, the son of John, former White House chief of sta and New Hampshire governor. Chris Sununu says both as a businessman and a Republican he does blame Obama for the state of the economy. "When you have a strategy of big bloated government, a lot of regulation, and the sense that government can do better than the individual can, that's just not what America was built on, and that's not what drives a good free economy," he says. I put it to him that is ne as political rhetoric, but question whether Obama's policies have really hurt his thriving ski resort. "Without a doubt," Sununu said. "In the season, I have close to 500 to 800 employees at any given time. The healthcare costs alone can be enormous on that. But if I don't know what the regulations are gonna be, if I think government is going to be too overbearing on me, then I have to hold my cash. Contd. on P. 15
All ocials should leave their oce doors open to people/ Islamic Azad University has planned to train expert public relations forces in all provinces
Islamic Azad Universitys deputy president for training aairs:
Special Trophy Granted to Dr. Jassbi as National Exemplary Value-Oriented and Popular Director
All Ofcials Should Leave Their Ofce Doors Open to People So That They Can Mention Their Criticisms, Suggestions and Problems
ddressing the ending ceremony of Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations and granting special trophy of national exemplary value-orientated and popular director to Dr. Jassbi, Dr. Hassan Ahadi noted that the issue of public relations has been fortunately evolved in Iran and its signicance has been understood, in such a way that public relations has been promoted to the rst level of management in the country. Public relations departments and information dissemination centers have changed their approach from general to specialized; he said adding making balance between the factors inside and outside a unit is one of the responsibilities of public relations departments and they are also in charge of forming and illuminating the public opinion. Ahadi went on to say that for a public relations department, information dissemination is an issue more important than the formalities and public relations departments can form and lead the social ideas. He further explained that public relations perfor-
n the ending ceremony of the Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations, which was held in the international conferences center of Milad Tower, special trophy and plaque of honor was granted to Dr. Jassbi, the president of Islamic Azad University, as the national exemplary value-oriented and popular director. The panel of jurors in this symposium selected Dr. Jassbi as the national exemplary value-oriented and popular director according to the evaluation factors and for appreciating his valuable services and eective eorts in establishing 490 university branches and training centers, developing relations in the scientic centers and universities of the country, promoting culture of public relations and research activities. Due to the simultaneity of the ceremony of granting the special trophy of Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations and the inaugural ceremony of Pardis of IAU North of Tehran Branch, special trophy of Dr. Jassbi was received by Dr. Hassan Ahadi, the deputy president of IAU for training aairs. Also, in the Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations with the subject of Excellence Factors in Public Relations which was held in the international conferences center of Milad Tower, Dr. MohammadReza Karimi, director general of Islamic Azad Universitys public relations department and also the head of information dissemination center of Islamic Azad University, was named the national exemplary public relations director and was honored in this due. Professor Johanna McDowell, the president of International Public Relations Association, Dr. Hassan Zoragh, university professor, Professor Denis Vikox, the university professor in the U.S., Professor Korshen Namorti, Dr. Tony Mozzi Falkni, professor in the University of Milan, Dr. David Philips, professor in London University, Dr. Lyrcia Kansine, professor in Bucharest University, and Professor Mohammad-Baqer Sarookhani, professor in Tehran University, delivered speech in this symposium.
mance is inside and outside the organization and its main pivot is making relation and connections with the addresses and customers and said that public relations departments should make balance in an organization through leading and controlling the trend of information and lay the ground for creating motivation and encouraging the human resources inside the organization. The Islamic Azad Universitys deputy president for training aairs noted that public relations departments should also make the manager informed about the way of oering services, quality and quantity of commodity and services, amount of addressees satisfaction and behavior of human resources inside the organization. Referring to the excellent public relations department, Ahadi said that an excellent public relations department acts to aect the public opinion through organizing properly and managing scientically in the form of dened performing plan by observing ethical
and professional principles and oering consultation data on time to the manager. By developing activities on investigating the public opinions and also public relations activities, an excellent public relations department tries to make the trend of transferring message between the organization and addressee mutual and make necessary feedback in the process of relation with the addressees in the national and international levels, to make positive eects in the organization and also in terms of national development plans and support the public opinion as a civil entity, he emphasized. Ahadi further referred to using information and promoting theoretical knowledge of the public relations, dominating social relations, and proper use of the new mass media to form the public opinion as some current necessities in the evolving process of the public relations departments and said that today public relations has become a science and art and those persons should perform it that enjoy enough experience and expertise, so training expert manpower is very serious in this eld. The Islamic Azad Universitys deputy president for training aairs further noted that training the manpower has been paid attention a lot in such a way that public relations experts are trained in different stages. We should promote training public relations expert in all universities in all provinces. he mentioned. While emphasizing that all ocials should lave their oce doors open to the people so that they can mention their criticisms, suggestions and problems, Ahadi noted: We have no private task with any body. So listen to the peoples problems and remove them. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Islamic Azad Universitys deputy president for training aairs pointed to creating happiness among all people specially the youth as the main and serious responsibility of public relations departments and noted that humans should strengthen love for themselves and love for each other inside themselves and should know that others love them as well. He denes loving oneself as knowing the abilities and disabilities and said: Expectations of the people should not annoy us and we should love every one. Ahadi further emphasized: Mental health is achieved when we are loved by others besides loving ourselves and other people.
Director General of Islamic Azad Universitys Public Relations Department Named Exemplary Nationwide in Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations
n the Seventh International Symposium of Iran Public Relations with the subject of Excellence Factors in Public Relations which was held in the international conferences center of Milad Tower Dr. Mohammad-Reza Karimi, director general of Islamic Azad Universitys public relations department and also the head of information dissemination center of Islamic Azad University, was named the national exemplary public relations director and was honored in this due. In this symposium, which was attended by many domestic and foreign professors and experts in the eld of communications and public relations as well as the representatives of staterun and non-governmental organizations, the national exemplary public relations directors special trophy was granted to the Islamic Azad University. It is worth that Dr. Mohammad-Reza Karimi, the university faculty member, holds Ph.D. in the media management and has written several books as well as scientic and research essays and ISI. Professor Johanna McDowell, the president of International Public Relations Association, Dr. Hassan Zoragh, university professor, Professor Denis Vikox, the university professor in the U.S., Professor Korshen Namorti, Dr. Tony Mozzi Falkni, professor in the University of Milan, Dr. David Philips, professor in London University, Dr. Lyrcia Kansine, professor in Bucharest University, and Professor Mohammad-Baqer Sarookhani, professor in Tehran University, delivered speech in this symposium. It is worth mentioning that the Public Relations Department of Islamic Azad University was named exemplary nationwide for the sixth consecutive year.
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Tour dhorizon: An Iranian optic on the Middle East and its prospects
By Seyed Mohammad Marandi
lmost a year ago, in a well-remembered Friday prayer sermon delivered on February 4, 2011, Ayatollah Khamenei spoke at length, in Arabic, about the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. At the time, the Egyptian people were on the streets attempting to topple the Western-backed dictator, Hosni Mubarak. In his sermon, after praising the Tunisian people, Ayatollah Khamenei spoke of how Mubarak had humiliated Egypt by becoming an American pawn and an ally of Israel. He also recalled the sharp pain that Egyptians felt when Mubarak helped implement the Western-imposed, inhuman siege of Gaza and when his regime worked in partnership with Israel and the United States during the 22-day onslaught against women, men, and children there in late 2008. Iranians firmly Ayatollah Khamebelieve that nei went on to speak about the history stability or and intellectual tradiinstability tions that have given from the Egypt its unparalleled importance in Mediterranean the Arab world. In to the borders this context, he described the moveof India is ment unfolding in inextricably Egypt as both Islamic linked to peace and freedom-seeking, with its potential and stability in for signicant impact the Persian Gulf on the Middle East. Noting that the upregion. A look at a map makes risings in Tunisia and Egypt had parallels clear that Iran to Irans revolution more than three has the ability decades ago, he also to respond underscored that the situations are not to threats all identical; each is throughout unique, in accordthe region and ance with dierent beyond. If there geographical, historical, political, and is no security cultural conditions. Claims that Iran is for Iranians or seeking to export its for Iranian oil ideology or model exports, then, of government to Egypt, he said, were in Iranian eyes, dishonest attempts there will be no to keep the peoples security for Irans of the region divided. He went on to antagonists in warn that the United the region. Under States has recognized it cannot keep such conditions, its pawns in power, the United so it will attempt to move its pawns States and its allies should not around to preserve its hegemony and expect oil or gas should not be trusted. to flow out of Sharp criticisms the Persian Gulf, were leveled at Ayatollah Khameneis sernorthern Iraq, mon in the West and or Central Asia. by parts of the Arab It would be a media. Commentators attacked the grave mistake idea that these moveto underestimate ments constituted an Islamic Awakening, the Islamic claiming they had Republics nothing to do with remilitary power ligion. It was an Arab Spring, they intoned; and resolve the revolutionaries as well as the were looking to esregions popular tablish secular liberal democracies, not emresponse to yet brace theocratic another Western rule. However, as time act of aggression went by, it became clear that the Westin a very ern political establishunstable region. ment, the Western media, and most Western expertswho had not anticipated the coming revolutions in the rst place were once again incapable of correctly understanding the situation in Egypt or correctly interpreting the broader regions realities. Hence, their dismay with the results from the rst round of the parliamentary elections in Egypt, in which the Muslim Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice coalition and the Salast Noor coalition together received over two thirds of the votes, despite the fact that voting mostly took place in areas not normally considered to be religious strongholds. It is already apparent how the parliament that will emerge from these elections is likely to
steer the process of drafting a new constitution for Egyptif it is allowed to do so by the countrys U.S.-backed military. The Western (or Western-aliated) Middle East experts, who were previously so adamant that these revolutions were secular in nature, now wonder how to read unfolding events. Some are putting on a brave face, expressing hope that, after a few years, Islamic parties will fail and people will vote for Western-oriented liberal partiesas if people in the region do not remember who backed and continues to back Arab dictatorships. They do not seem to recognize that the social and economic crisis currently taking place throughout Europe and the United States has already raised serious questions about the nature and future of liberal capitalism, especially in the Middle East and other non-Western parts of the world. Western elites diculties in understanding the Middle East are exacerbated because their sources of information in the region are basically local secular eliteswealthy, Western-educated, and even Western-oriented Muslim intellectuals. Westerners collectively fail to recognize that such people are simply not representative of their societies. As in Iran, the large majority of Egyptians are religious. If past experience in Iran is something to go by, the Muslim Brotherhood will probably at some point split into two or more separate parties, which will then provide competing interpretations of how society should be run. Hence, religious parties will probably be the dominant forces in Egyptian politics for many years to comenot just for one or two electoral cycles. Indeed, if the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet popular expectations in the coming months and years, it is the Salasts who are likely to capitalize on this to expand their own inuence over Egypt, not Western-style, secular liberals. The Salasts strong electoral performance and substantial external funding positions them to declare, in the not-so-distant future, that it is time for true Islam to save the country. This is something that Western countries should be deeply concerned about, as the ideologies of these Salast groups have a great deal in common with those of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Of course, Americans and Europeans cannot complain about the Salasts religious intolerance or their externally backed rise to power, because they are heavily nanced by the Wests closest regional allies. For reasons largely linked to selfpreservation, Saudi Arabia and other Arab dictatorships in the Persian Gulf region are nancing such extremist groups all over the Arab World and beyond. Over the past three decades they have radically aected societies in signicant parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, creating a culture of intolerance and radically altering the local culture. In sumand notwithstanding the scorn directed at Ayatollah Khameneis observations a year agothis is looking very much like the manifestation of an Islamic Awakening. Many factors such as injustice, social inequality, despotism, and western domination contributed to the recent events, but they do not at all contradict the idea of an awakening. For those who kept their eyes open, there were clear signs of this from the prevalence of Islamic slogans as well as the role of mosques and Friday prayers. Signicantly, the term Islamic Awakening has been used by Ayatollah Khamenei in his public statements as leader nearly two hundred times over the past two decades. He has repeatedly stated that Islamic movements are on the rise and that the region is heading for major changes that are, for the most part, in sharp conict with Western interests. Unlike in the West, the Iranian leadership, along with others in the region, has expected these events for many years and is thus much better prepared than Europe and the United States to deal with this reality. The Islamic Republic is rapidly expanding relations with rising political entities throughout the region. It recently held the First International Islamic Awakening Conference, with over seven hundred participants from a host of key regional movements. In the Conferences Inaugural speech, Ayatollah Khamenei told attendees what he believed to be the principles and slogans of the revolutions: independence, freedom, the demand for justice, opposing despotism and colonialism, the rejection of ethnic, racial, or religious discrimination, and the explicit rejection of Zionism. All of these, he said, are Islamic values, based on the Quran. In the eyes of many Iranians, these ex-
traordinary changes in the Middle East and North Africaalongside Americas forced withdrawal from Iraq, its inevitable defeat in Afghanistan, the sharp social and economic decline in the West, and the rise of new international players such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa will ultimately lead to a rapid decrease of American and European inuence, regionally and globally. From an Iranian perspective, this provides at least a partial explanation why the United States and the EU are now so explicit in their (so far unsuccessful) attempts to inict severe pain on ordinary Iranians through crippling sanctions. While, in the past, it was clear that the objective of sanctions was to make average Iranians sueras the Wikileaks cables conrmthere was at least a hypocritical attempt to portray these actions as humane and directed at the government. Now, the incessant and shrill calls to assassinate and murder Iranian scientists, military ocials, and politicians and to launch military strikes on the country reveals the existence of a disturbed mentality among many of the political elite in the West and in the United States in particular. The recent urry of absurd accusations made against Iran by the U.S., such as the so-called plot against the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, the rehashed IAEA report presented by a deeply biased director general, cyber attacks, and the attempts to impose sanctions on the Iranian central bank which politicians like Ron Paul consider to be an act of war, is also leading many in Iran to conclude that the United States is currently too irrational for any form of meaningful dialogue. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the IAEA report had a set goal to deliver a guilty verdict, despite the fact that, as Russias Deputy Foreign Minister elsewhere pointed out, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to show that Irans nuclear program is anything but peaceful. That is why, contrary to the dominant narrative in the Western media, the majority of the international community, such as the 120 Non-Aligned Movement states, have consistently backed the Islamic Republics position on its nuclear program. Iranians well remember the American governments duplicity when President Lula attempted to nd a diplomatic solution to the refueling of the Tehran Research Reactor. The reactor, which each year produces medical isotopes for hundreds of thousands of dying cancer patients, was running out of nuclear fuel. Western governments were preventing it from being refueled in order to put pressure on Iran, eectively playing with innocent lives. In April 2010, Obama sent ocial letters to the Brazilian president and the Turkish prime minister stating the conditions that would have to be met for the United States to accept an agreement. When the conditions were met and Lula, Ahmadinejad, and Erdogan signed the Tehran Declaration, Obama shocked the three leaders by immediately rejecting it and pushing for a new UN Security Council resolution to increase sanctions against Iran. Not only did Obama lie to the Brazilian and Turkish leaders and publicly humiliate them, but it later became clear that his letters to them had been intentionally written to mislead both Brazil and Turkey. It did not take long for history to repeat itself. In July 2001 the Russians put forth a new step by step proposal to resolve the nuclear issue. Senior Russian ocials informed their Iranians counterparts that the proposal has the support of the United States and subsequently, despite reservations, the Iranians agreed in principle with the plan. It later became clear to the Iranians that the Americans had misled the Russians too and that they did not actually accept the Russian proposal. American actions make it reasonable for Iranians to conclude that the actual U.S. objective is for the nuclear issue not to be resolved and that the real problem for the United States is Irans opposition to and resistance against American hegemony. Contrary to claims made in the West, Obama has never seriously attempted to engage with the Iranians on the basis of mutual respect. The irony is not lost upon Iranians that they have had to experience four rounds of sanctions, even though they have never produced Weapons of Mass Destruction. Yet the countries that have actually pushed for the sanctionsmeaning the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany actually helped provide Saddam Hussain with WMDs to use against Iranian civilians and combatants, as well as against the Iraqi people. In other words,
these countries were deeply implicated in crimes against humanity; they compounded their complicity by preventing the UN Security Council from even declaring that Iraq had used such weapons, much less condemning it. Iran on the other hand, despite its capability, refused to produce or use such weapons. In fact, the Islamic Republic has, to this day, never produced chemical weapons, because it considers them inhumane. As war veterans and civilian casualties in Iran continue to die because of the WMDs provided to the former Iraqi regime by the West, it is an understatement to say that Iranians are angered by these governments continued attempt to strangle the Iranian economy. More recently, the extraordinary capture of the unmanned American stealth plane by the Iranian armed forces, not only reveals the extent of Iranian military competence; it also exposes the extent of U.S. hostility towards Iran as well as its sheer disregard of international law, including Afghan sovereignty. What is the point of talking with the United States, Iranians ask themselves, when it carried out such provocative acts of hostility with such total unaccountability and impunity? Many in Iran feel that, to a large extent, the Syrian public has also been made the target of sanctions and foreign intervention because of the Wests extraordinary hatred towards the Islamic Republic. In other words, Syrians must cease to earn a living, because their government, alongside Iran, stands in opposition to the Israeli regimes apartheid policies. From almost the start of the troubles in Syria, Iranians were aware that external forces were involved, notwithstanding repeated denials by Arab regimes in the Persian Gulf, Turkey, and Western countries. As time passed, this has become even clearer, despite unending media propaganda claiming that it is simply a struggle between unarmed street protestors and the Syrian army and intelligence services. Indeed, the dictatorships of the Arab League are even having problems forcing their own monitors in Syria to tow the ocial line and now even a poll funded by Qatar, whose results have clearly been spun and completely ignored by the Western media, reveals that the majority of Syrians actually support President Bashar Assad. There is no doubt that the foreign anti-Syrian alliance is, responsible for arming groups, for the devastating car and suicide bombings, and, thus, for the many deathsincluding the large number of sectarian murders, largely ignored in the Western mediathat have occurred as a result. When American ocials and the Western media speak of Syrian brutality and constantly repeat unsubstantiated casualty gures presented by Western funded Syrian NGOs, it would be good for them to recall how many tens, if not hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq were killed during the insurgency against U.S. occupation. The regular killing of civilians in Afghanistan and the regular drone attacks in Pakistan among other countries are, of course, ongoing tragedies. Iran believed that the Syrian president should have been given a chance to carry out the reforms which were promised, but that from the start, Western governments and Arab dictatorships were adamant that reforms should not succeed under President Bashar Assad. Hence, they attempted to overrun the legitimate internal opposition with an external one that backs Western military intervention. While the Islamic Republic was critical of the treatment of peaceful protestors with legitimate grievances by Syrian security forces, Iranians knew that, unlike other Arab regimes, President Assad had and continues to have signicant popular support. His stance against the Israeli regime, his support for resistance groups, and the fact that unlike other Arab leaders he lives a
relatively normal lifestyle, gives him much more street credibility that Saudi, Jordanian, Bahraini, Yemeni, or Egyptian rulers. On multiple occasions in recent months, enormous crowds have taken to the streets in simultaneous pro-Assad demonstrations in major Syrian cities; in contrast, none of the Arab dictatorsincluding his current antagonistshave ever been able to muster such public support for themselves. Indeed, Iran believes that this is the main reason why cruel sanctions have been imposed on Syria: they are meant to do nothing but hurt the general public and cause discontent among the population. President Assads foreign adversaries recognize that he has signicant popular support; hence, the Syrian people must be punished until this support is diminished. As in Gaza and Iran, the goal is to punish people for backing political forces critical of the West. In the 1980s the United States had success with such a policy, as they removed the Sandinistas from power in Nicaragua by making life unbearable for ordinary people through sanctions and a bloody insurgency. While Iranians recognize that international law has been unfairly constructed to favor Western powers, the increasing Western, Turkish, Saudi, and Qatari disregard for Syrian sovereigntyand even for their own UN Security Council resolution on Libyais creating a strong sense of lawlessness and chaos. Add to this, of course, the regular and arrogant violation of Iranian sovereignty through drones and crippling sanctions as well as active support for anti-Iranian terrorist organization. In an extraordinary Wall Street Journal interview, the pro-Western Syrian National Councils spokesman, Burhan Ghalioun, revealed clearly where things stand. He eectively said that if the Syrian state is overthrown, the new regime would relinquish the Resistance against Israel and would move politically towards the principal Arab powers, meaning the current Arab dictatorships. Therefore, while there is no doubt that the Syrian government has major deciencies and that excessive force has been used by army soldiers and security service members, leading to the deaths of innocent people, Iranians do not believe that the U.S., EU, Qatari and Saudi led attempts for regime change in Damascus are being carried out for the sake of freedom or democracy. If only for selfpreservation, these absolute monarchies will, with the aid of their Western backers, try to deter any meaningful move towards democracy near their borders, at all costs. Hence, the continued U.S. support for the Jordanian king, the Egyptian military, the Yemeni regime, the Saudi occupation of Bahrain, and the Al-Khalifa dictatorship. The United States has a policy of deterring democracy in the region, so why should anyone believe, they have a sincere interest in freedom for Syrians? There is evidence indicating the United States has been viewing sectarianism as a potential tool for weakening its adversaries for quite some time now. This ts well with the current situation in Syria. The fact that Turkey, which seems to be showing Neo-Ottoman tendencies, has allowed Abdulhakim Belhadj (who was close to both the al-Qaeda leadership and the Taleban) to meet with leaders of the so called Free Syrian Army in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey is mind boggling. In addition, Sala clerics close to the insurgency repeatedly incite religious, racial, and sectarian violence, such as the well known Saudi cleric Saleh Al-Luhaidan, who said a third of the Syrian population should be killed so that the rest could live. The foreign-backed extremists even murdered the son of the Syrias Grand Sunni Mufti, just as their allies killed many Sunni clerics and sheikhs in the Anbar province in Iraq. Contd. on P. 15
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The slave trade, started by the Portuguese, assumed large proportions in the 18th century, when they were required in large numbers for the French sugar plantations in the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. The ruling Islamic dynasty of Zanzibar and its foreign merchants became
very rich and embellished the Stone Town with palaces and ne mansions. These were built in a variety of styles and traditions, which were amalgamated and homogenized into a characteristic Swahili architecture. In the 19th century, this Swahili tradition was overwhelmed by new styles brought in
by the oods of immigrants: the Minaret Mosque dates from this period. The vernacular architecture is preponderantly of two-storey buildings with long narrow rooms disposed round an open courtyard, reached through a narrow corridor. (Source: UNESCO)
Mexican archaeologists found some 3,000 cave paintings, some almost 2,000 years old, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said. The discoveries were made between August and October 2011, but were not announced until specialists conrmed their antiquity and completed their analyses. The oldest images refer to rites of passage, healing, prayers for rain and mountain worship, and were created by ancient hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the area during the rst centuries A.D. These paintings, with yellow, red and black the predominating colors, generally represent human gures with headdresses, robes and shields, as well as some as yet unidentied in-
struments. Often in hunting and battle scenes they carry bows and arrows. Also discovered in the area were religious images and inscriptions from the colonial era painted by Otomi Indian communities, along with others created by ranchers and clergy of the 19th and 20th centuries. The discoveries are added to the more than 70 rock-art locations discovered in Guanajuato since the late 1980s. Mexico has hundreds of cavepainting sites, with outstanding examples in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Yucatan, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Durango and Nuevo Leon, as well as in the Valley of Mexico. The oldest artwork documented in Mexico up to now is in Baja California and dates back some 7,400 years. (Source: Latin American Herald Tribune)
If they exist at all, most unglazed clay objects from ancient times are now rubble, mere fragments of their former glory. This terracotta head, at around 2000 years old, is a rare exception. Excavated from a village in Nigeria, this is one of the best-preserved examples of its kind ever discovered. It is a product of the Nok culture that flourished from about 1000 BC to AD 500, when it mysteriously died out, and provides examples of the earliest figurative art in sub-Saharan Africa. Archaeologists Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp of the GoetheUniversity Frankfurt in Germany uncovered the head during the 2010 field season. It was found in Kushe, a small village north of the capital Abuja.
Amazingly, this specimen was very close to the surface - only 60 centimeters down. The Nok terracottas are a mystery. No one knows for sure what they were used for. They may represent dead members of the Nok community and could have been a votive oering at a shrine. Africa has seen a resurgence of archaeological activity to investigate Nok culture. Part of this has to do with interest in Iron Age societies in Africa, which is surging as anthropologists consider how technologies - especially those based on iron - spread. The Nok are considered to be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, people to smelt iron on the African continent. (Source: New Scientist)
O N T H I S D AY
1758 Russian troops occupy Konigsberg, East-Prussia 1787 Titania & Oberon, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Herschel 1861 Alabama secedes from the United States 1879 Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins 1892 Hawaiian Historical Society founded 1913 1st sedan-type car (Hudson) goes on display at 13th Auto Show (NYC) 1919 Romania annexes Transylvania 1920 French passenger ship Afrique sinks near La Rochelle; 553 die 1923 French & Belgian troops occupy Ruhr to collect reparations 1942 Japan conquers Kuala Lumpur, Malaya 1943 U.S. & Britain relinquish extraterritorial rights in China 1954 2 ton locomotive swept into ravine by avalanche, 10 die (Austria) 1957 The African Convention is founded in Dakar. 1957 Mass-murderer Jack Gilbert Graham is executed via the Gas Chamber 1960 Chad declares independence from France 1962 Volcano Huascaran in Peru erupts; 4,000 die 1964 Panama ends diplomatic relations with U.S. 1982 Honduras adopts constitution 1989 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc) 1991 Congress empowers Bush to order attack on Iraq
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he Food and Drug Administration warned of potential mix-ups involving certain prescription pain pills and over-the-counter medicines that were made at a Novartis AG manufacturing plant in Nebraska. Novartis is recalling 1,645 lots of its Excedrin, NoDoz, Buerin and Gas-X medicines because the products could contain stray capsules or caplets from other products, or contain broken or chipped tablets. The plant in Lincoln, Neb., where the products are manufactured was shut down last month. The plant also makes some opioid prescription painkillers for Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., including Opana, Percocet and an extended-release version of morphine tablets. Both Novartis and the FDA said they werent aware of any adverse events in patients from any mix-ups. Novartis said it was oering customers a refund. The company said Gax X Prevention is the only Novartis product manufactured on the same line as the Endo products and that it doesnt have any reports of any mix-ups of those medicines. List of recalled drugs The recall aects 1,645 lots of Both Novartis and these medicines: Excedrin, expiration the FDA said they of Dec. 20, 2014 or earlier dates werent aware NoDoz, expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014 or earlier of any adverse Buerin, expiration events in patients Dec. 20, 2013 or earlier dates of Gas-X Prevention, expiration from any dates of Dec. 20, 2013 or earlier mix-ups. Novartis is the most recent Novartis said company to suer from production problems. Just last month it was offering Johnson & Johnsons McNeil Concustomers a sumer Healthcare unit recalled 12 million bottles of Motrin, sayrefund. ing some pills may not dissolve as quickly as intended. That company has been plagued by manufacturing quality problems since 2009 and has dozens of product recalls including Tylenol and Benadryl. However, given existing inventories, the expected restart of Novartis production and our ability to shift production to other facilities we believe the supply constraints of our products should be
limited, said Julie McHugh, the companys chief operating ocer. Novartis said it would take a charge estimated at $120 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 related to the recalls and the work needed to x the Lincoln facility. We are committed to a single quality standard for the entire Novartis Group and we are making the necessary investments and committing the right resources to ensure these are implemented across our entire network, Joseph Jimenez, the Swiss companys chief executive, said. Edward Cox, a director in FDAs oce of new drugs, said theres a potential for tablets to be retained in a machine involved in the product packaging process but said the FDA couldnt comment further on the ongoing investigation into the plants problems. Mr. Cox said the agency opted against asking for a recall of Endos prescription pain products because the potential for drug mix ups appeared to be low and pharmacists can screen for any problems before the pain pills reach consumers. He said theres been three reports of mix-ups
since 2009 that were caught by pharmacists. Endo on Monday said there may be a short-term disruption in the supply of some of its pain products and recommended that doctors refrain from starting new patients on the extended-release version of Opana to preserve supply for existing patients. A July inspection report released by the FDA cited several consumer complaints of certain formulations of Excedrin being mixed up. For example some consumers said they found Excedrin Migraine Tablets being mixed with Excedrin Migraine caplets or geltabs. The agency said Novartis failed to adequately investigate 166 complaints related to foreign tablets in your drug products since 2009. Specically Novartis is recalling three types of Buerin, an aspirin product, and Gas-X Prevention, a food-enzyme supplement, with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013 or earlier. The company is recalling certain bottle sizes of its pain medicine Excedrin and NoDoz products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014 or earlier. NoDoz contains caeine and is marketed as an alertness product. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
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to be exact. The site features a picture of reality TV star (and ocial product endorser) Nicole Snooki Polizzi of Jersey Shore pulling a bottle of the pills out of her purse. (The website calls her a celebrity, and, yes, the term is in quotation marks.) Amy Heaton, director of scientic aairs for Zoller, says that caeine and caeine-like compounds have been proved to improve energy, stamina, concentration, mood and metabolism. But, she says, they have not been shown to signicantly increase weight loss. Heaton adds that its not just about weight loss. Its about fat loss and increased energy. To drive home the message, she points to Snookis transformation from a self-professed meatball to a sexy and slim reball. The website for LipoFuze says that the supplement increases the metabolic mechanism in your body. The site also says the green tea and caeine will rev up your metabolism and increase energy, focus and physical performance. The site features testimonials it says are from users who claim they have lost huge amounts of weight with the help of LipoFuze. One man says he dropped more than 100 pounds, although its unclear how long that took. A woman says she lost 40 pounds in less than a year, including 20 pounds in her rst month. Attempts to reach E Nutrition Research for comment were not successful.
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time distortion, another co-author of the study, Ludovic Van Waerbeke of the University of British Columbia, said in a statement. It gives us privileged access to this mysterious mass in the universe which cannot be observed otherwise. Knowing how dark matter is distributed is the very rst step towards understanding its nature and how it ts within our current knowledge of physics. Distribution of dark matter Scientists hope that by plotting out the distribution of dark matter throughout space, they will come closer to understanding what it is. By analyzing light from the distant universe, we can learn about what it has travelled through on its journey to reach us, Heymans said. We hope that by mapping
more dark matter than has been studied before, we are a step closer to understanding this material and its relationship with the galaxies in our universe. What we see here is very similar to the simulation, Van Waerbeke said. Dark matter is concentrated in lumps and the rest stretches in laments. The web of dark matter throughout the universe revealed by the map agreed well with predictions made by computer simulations based on scientists best theory of dark matter. So far we havent seen any o things, or any deviation from what we expect, Van Waerbeke told SPACE.com. To create the map, the astronomers used data collected by the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope in Hawaii during a veyear project called the CanadaFrance-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey. These lensing maps are very important tests of our cosmological paradigm, said astronomer Rachel Mandelbaum of Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University, who was not involved in the new study. These results could be used as a test of dark matter, dark energy and even the theory of gravity. In a separate study also presented today at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Sukanya Chakrabarti of Florida Atlantic University developed a new method of mapping the dark matter in individual galaxies. Chakrabarti studied ripples on the outskirts of spiral galaxies to trace the shape The new map of the dark matter within and reveals the surrounding the distribution galaxies. This research, of dark targeting the matter over a invisible stu on larger swath of a much smaller scale than the space than ever rst study, also before. It covers helps astronomers hone in on an more than 1 understanding of billion light-years. dark matter. One light-year is These results with spiral galaxies the distance light allow the study travels in a year, of matter in a about 6 trillion regime of individual galaxies, which has miles (10 trillion not been possible kilometers) with weak lensing, Mandelbaum said. Both of these results represent two important ways of studying the dark mater, but theyre in two very dierent regimes. (Source: The Christian Science Monitor)
Intel Corp. is looking for ways to help famed British physicist Stephen Hawking reverse the slowing of his speech, according to a senior executive with the American chipmaker. Hawking was 21 when he was diagnosed Lou Gehrigs disease, an incurable degenerative disorder that has left him almost completely paralyzed. While an infrared sensor attached to his glasses translates the pulses in his right cheek into words spoken by a voice synthesizer, the nerves in his face have deteriorated and those close to him say his rate of speech has slowed to about a word a minute. birthday in the English city of Cambridge, Intel Chief Technology Ocer Justin Rattner said his company had a team in England to explore ways to help the celebrity scientist communicate more quickly. This is a research project, Rattner told The Associated Press, saying the teams task was to gather data for further study. Hawking has gained world renown as an expert on cosmology and the author of a best-selling series of books popularizing the eld of theoretical astrophysics. His achievements have been all the more remarkable because of his condition. Most of those with Lou Gehrigs disease die within two to ve years of their diagnosis, but Hawking has spent nearly half a century carrying out pioneering research work.
Finding ways to keep Hawking communicating has long been a challenge. Lou Gehrigs disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, attacks the cells that control muscles - leading to weakness, slurred speech and paralysis. Hawking managed to overcome his deteriorating speech for a while by dictating scientic papers to a secretary, or speaking through an interpreter. He lost his voice entirely after a tracheotomy in 1985, and a computer was built to synthesize his speech in a distinctive, robotic monotone that has since become almost as famous as the scientist himself. At rst, Hawking retained some limited hand movement and could manage about 15 words a minute. Now that even the nerves in Hawkings cheek are beginning to fade, Rattner argued it was time for a new approach - saying that solutions based on brainwaves or eye tracking were among the technologies being considered. But Rattner said his best bet was on high denition cameras that pick up on the minute movements in Hawkings face to synthesize his speech. My wager is some form of facial feature recognition will unlock it for Stephen, he said. Rattner did not give any specic timeframe for the companys work, and Intel didnt immediately respond to a request for further information. (Source: FoxNews.com)
Scientists at Glasgow University say they have found a key genetic indicator of how long an individual will live. They say the lengths of tiny pieces of DNA called telomeres indicate whether a young creature is likely to live long into old age. But before you rush out to get your telomeres stretched - were such a process possible - it is worth pointing out that the creatures they have been working with are not humans but altogether shorter-lived zebra nches. Everything that is made up of living cells contains chromosomes: the genetic code that makes us what we are. At the ends of each chromosome lie the telomeres. They have been likened to the caps on the ends of shoelaces - they stop things from unraveling. Over time they wear down - and when they do, the DNA they protect is compromised and the cell can malfunction or die. This is where the zebra nches came in: how early and accurately could longer telomeres predict a longer life? To nd out, the Glasgow researchers collaborated with colleagues at Exeter University, with Glasgows Prof Pat Monaghan leading the team. Tiny blood samples were taken from a group of 99 zebra nches and the lengths of their telomeres measured. They were tested again
throughout their lifetimes. To nd out how long the birds lived, the researchers had to wait until they died. The rst turned up its claws in just over six months. But the last hardy specimen kept them waiting almost nine years. In every case the longest lived birds had the longest telomeres, but the best predictor of lifespan was the length of the telomeres at just 25 days old. Prof Monaghan says the study shows the importance of processes acting early in life. The next step will be to nd out why the length of telomeres can vary so much from individual to individual. We now need to know more about how early life conditions can inuence the pattern of telomere loss and the relative importance of inherited and environmental factors, she said. The results of the research have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. They are certain to raise the question of whether our telomeres are similar predictors of how long we will live. But it is a big leap from the laboratory to the real world - whatever our telomeres may say, human life spans also have to contend with additional factors like diet, drink and stress. (Source: BBC)
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WORLD SPORT
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
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NBA
cords that exist in this sport. He's going to be one of the best footballers in the history of the sport.'' Messi dedicated the award to his coach and team-mates, reserving special mention for Xavi. "It is a huge pleasure and honour to win my third award," Messi said. "I wanted to share it with those who voted for me, my coach and my teammates at Barca and in the Argentina national team. "Moreover, I want to share this
award specially with my friend Xavi. This is the fourth time that we are are together at this ceremony and it is a pleasure for me to be with him on the pitch. This Ballon d'Or is also yours. Without your help I would not be here." Pep Guardiola was named the FIFA Men's Football Coach of the Year, nishing ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho. "I dedicate this trophy to Tito Vilanova, my assistant," Guardiola said. "It's an honour to share
Lionel Messi may have claimed top billing, but this years FIFA Ballon dOr Gala was also dominated by Japanese football. In winning the 2011 FIFA Womens World Player of the Year crown, Japan midelder and captain Homare Sawa brought to an end Martas ve-year reign at the top of the women's game. FIFA.com spoke to the happy, elegantly dressed winner shortly after the ceremony. FIFA.com: Your kimono certainly caught the eye tonight. Can you explain why you chose to wear it? Homare Sawa: The kimono is part of Japanese culture. For us this dress signies purity and also allows us to look graceful for special occasions like this one. It was a way of representing my country with pride, and it also forces me to walk nice and straight! How did you feel the moment your name was read out? It was a very exciting night. It was actually when I heard the name of my international coach being announced as Womens Coach of the Year that my legs started to shake and I began to feel very excited and nervous. And then when I heard my own name, my mind just went blank. I almost couldnt believe it. To whom would you like to dedicate the prize? This award is not just for me. Im able to play at such a level because of all the great people I have around me: my coach, my team-mates and my family. So Id like to dedicate it to all of them.
The award will now be put on display at the Japanese Football Association, where lots of fans will be able to see it; that thought really thrills me. It was a great night for your country because, in addition to the two individual prizes that were handed out, the FIFA Fair Play trophy was awarded to your national association, after what was a very tough year for Japan. If you had to choose a special moment in 2011, what would it be? Thats dicult, but I think it has to be winning the Womens World Cup in Germany. That success came just a few months after the terrible earthquake that hit Japan. Many people suered enormously. And although all we did was win a football competition, so many people told us that our victory raised their spirits and gave them the courage to carry on. Helping my compatriots to feel that way made me very happy indeed. You are due to play in the upcoming Olympic Games. Do you hope to repeat the personal and collective success that you experienced in Germany? Im not thinking about personal awards for the year to come. Id rather win as a team, and in that sense I hope that we can secure the gold this summer Id be delighted with that. And if because of that another individual accolade comes my way, that would be fantastic, but my priority is to win with my team-mates alongside me. (Source: FIFA)
Lionel Messi was the undoubted star of Monday evenings FIFA Ballon dOr 2011 Gala, the ever-humble Argentinian winning the award yet again. Wreathed in smiles as he clutched on to the coveted accolade, he gave his rst impressions to FIFA.com. FIFA.com: Youre the rst player since Michel Platini to win the Ballon dOr three times in a row. How do you feel? Lionel Messi: Im very proud to have won it three times, especially one after the other. Its hard to win one, let alone three. Im very happy and this award gives me as much pleasure as the rst. You dedicated the award to Xavi in particular. Do you think he might stop passing the ball to you so that he can win the Ballon dOr himself? No! Hes said lots of times what he thinks of me and Ive said the same about him. We need each other and the friendship we have goes beyond any award. Youre still very young. Have we seen the best of Messi or is there still more to come? I hope I can keep on performing like this and win more team titles, which is what you need to make it to wonderful occasions like this. I want to achieve things with my national team and keep playing the way I am.
Do you think you still have something to prove with Argentina? Yes. Id love to win a title with the national team and I hope thatll happen one day. In which ways do you think you can still improve? Like I said I just want to keep on performing. This is the fth time Ive had the good fortune to be at the Gala and I hope to come back many more times. Did you ever think youd ever achieve so much in such little time? To be honest I didnt. I dreamed about playing in the first division, but I never imagined that all these things would happen to me. How does it feel to be the centre of attention on a night like this, with so many great players alongside you, many of whom you no doubt admired as a youngster? (Blushes) I just want to keep on playing and enjoy this sport and the team weve got, and I hope we can keep our run going. Whats your next objective for 2012? The same as the start of every year: to try and do it all over again. We know its getting more and more dicult though. (Source: FIFA)
Nicolas Sarkozy in the polls. Even if Cantona were able to get 500 signatures, a dicult task without the backing of a party, he would have virtually no chance of reaching the sec-
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S O C I E T Y
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NEWS
n front of me I have two socalled baby books, both given to me as presents, in which I was supposed to chronicle the infant achievements of my sons, George and Johnny. Georges has been meticulously filled in: everything from the names of the midwives who delivered him, to the order in which his teeth came through, his first illness (conjunctivitis) and an account of his first Christmas so overwrought with emotion that it makes the Nativity itself seem like the warm-up act. And Johnnys baby book? Empty. Not a thing. Not even a record of his birth weight, or his middle names which, I must admit, I am struggling to remember. Thats not all. On my computer, there are more than 2,000 photographs of Georges first few years and 300 of Johnnys. So do I love Johnny less? Certainly not! The very idea of it. Yet if this isnt favouritism the urgent desire to document for posterity every twitch, dribble and grunt of one child, while blithely consigning the other to obscurity what is? Jeffrey Kluger, no doubt, would say I am in denial. The American science writer has just published a book in which he argues that, whether we admit it or not, parental favoritism is hard-wired into the human A firstborn psyche. It is my automatically belief that 95 percent of the parents in the absorbs a world have a favorite huge amount child, and the other of parental five percent are lying, he declares time and in The Sibling Effect: energy; and What the Bonds Among Brothers and once youve Sisters Reveal About invested that Us. much in one That particular figure may be child. guesswork, but there is plenty of evidence that would seem to back him up. Kluger cites a Californian study of 384 families, who were visited three times a year and videotaped as they worked through conflicts. The study found that 65 per ent of mothers and 70 percent of fathers exhibited a preference for one child. And those numbers are almost certainly under-representative, since people behave less naturally when they are being watched. Every couple of years, in fact, a new report comes out purporting to lift the lid on parental favoritism. Most often though as we shall see, by no means always older siblings seem to come out on top. In 2009 two British professors, David Lawson and Ruth Mace, published a study of 14,000 families in the Bristol area. They found that each successive sibling received markedly less care and attention from their parents than their predecessors. Older siblings were even fed better, as a result of which they were likely to be up to 3cm taller than their younger siblings. They also had higher IQs, probably because they had the benet of their parents undivided attention for the rst part of their lives. Anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists argue that there is a sound Darwinian logic to this. A rstborn automatically absorbs a huge amount of parental time and energy; and once youve invested that much in one child, you might as well keep going if only to protect the investment. I dont like to think of myself as a survival-of-the-ttest type parent but, once again, the evidence is against me. I breastfed George for longer and weaned him like a king. Nothing passed his infant lips but fresh, organic meat and vegetables, hand-pured by moonlight. He wasnt allowed any sugar until he turned one, and my husband used to bake him bread made from spelt our and aromatic spices, rather than pollute his pristine body with processed our. By the time
Johnny came along, needless to say, standards had slipped. He was simply handed a supermarket sachet of baby mush and left to suck out the contents unaided. In Darwinian terms, it would appear, my mothering style is about as evolved as a gerbils. Johnny should count himself lucky I havent absent-mindedly eaten him. Which boy will turn out cleverer remains to be seen; but its certainly true that I have always monitored and fussed over Georges developmental progress far more than I do Johnnys. Somehow, it seems to matter more perhaps because the oldest one is always the test case. I have no idea what Im doing as a parent, or whether it will turn out all right. Its anxiety, really, but it could be mistaken for favoritism. As the oldest of two children myself, I can testify that being fussed over doesnt necessarily feel like preferential treatment. Quite the reverse, in fact. My sister got away with far more mischief than me, simply because my parents were much less anxious about enforcing the rules As my mother herself admits, I was harder on you because I was always worried about whether I was doing the right thing. Youre much madder with a first child. With a second one, you dont have time to be so neurotic. Indeed, depending on how you frame it, the benign neglect of younger siblings can itself be seen as a form of favoritism. Just last month, a survey of 1,803 British parents with two children claimed to show that younger siblings were given preferential treatment 59 percent of the time. Parents were more likely to side with a younger child in an argument, lavish them with affection and see? See? let them have their own way. The truth is that favoritism is an awfully blunt word for such a complicated subject. How we treat our children is aected by any number of shifting, interlacing factors: birth order, gender, changes in circumstances, our own childhood experiences. Then, too, some characters just hit it o better than others. My friend Anna, the third of four sisters, says it has always been obvious which one her mother loves best: the second-born, Maggie. The thing is, Maggies my favorite too, Anna told me. Shes incredibly funny, inventive, rude and naughty. More than anything, my mum loves people who can make her laugh and Maggie makes her cry with laughter. Maggie also happens to be unusually beautiful and accomplished. My mum never normally pays anyone a compliment, unless its something backhanded like You dont sweat much for a fat girl. But with Maggie shell say really egregious things, like, You look like Grace Kelly. My other sisters and I tease her about it, but she still doesnt seem to realize what shes
doing. Now married with a baby of her own, Anna is only just starting to appreciate how much Maggies supremacy has shaped her own personality. Im sure it explains why I care desperately whether people laugh at my jokes. Im never going to be as glamorous as Maggie, so being funny is the only way I can compete. It is a testament to the essential niceness of both sisters that they have managed to remain close through all this. Not all siblings are so lucky. Terri Apter, a psychology professor at Cambridge University and author of several books on family dynamics, says the scars left by parental favoritism often run deeper than anyone realizes. Buried resentments may suddenly are up when elderly parents need looking after, or die and leave a controversial will. I have seen grown siblings quarrelling at funerals over who was Mums favorite, who gave her more happiness, Apter tells me. The psychological fallout is unpredictable: favored children may be left brimming with condence, or they may suer from terrible guilt, deliberately sabotaging their own careers or relationships because they dont feel they deserve to be happy. Unfavoured children, meanwhile, may grow up feeling unworthy of love or they may become adept at nding it outside the family. Its at this point, I must admit, that I start to feel a bit impatient with the headshrinkers. A science that can absorb so many contradictory variables hardly seems like science at all. And if, as the experts all seem to agree, favoritism is so common as to be almost universal, doesnt that make it just well, normal? Undoubtedly there are families where favoritism is blatant and sustained enough to be seriously destructive. But in most cases, surely, it does not merit such anthologizing. When I solicited confessions of favoritism from my fellow parents, I had no luck at all. Lots of people admitted to treating their children dierently at dierent times, according to their needs (and how annoying theyre being). But not one felt this reected any fundamental preference. It is simply part of the warp and weft of family life. I think most of us have shortterm favorites, depending on whos going through a phase, says Suzanne, a mother of four. You can feel immense aection for one child on a Tuesday who then drives you to distraction on Wednesday. But the underlying love is just as intense for all of them. I think long-term favoritism is bookselling nonsense in the majority of cases. In an anonymous online survey for the website Mumsnet, 16 percent of mothers admitted to having a favorite child. Thats quite a lot its a big deal to admit to such parental malpractice, if only to yourself but it hardly amounts to the psychological pandemic of
Klugers imaginings. On the other hand, things do tend to look different from a childs perspective. Even in the happiest families, siblings instinctively compete for their parents love. Scrupulous emotional accountants, they are constantly totting up incidents of perceived unfairness. So it makes sense for parents, too, to keep a watchful eye on their own behavior. Despite my failures as an archivist, I truly believe that Johnny feels and is every bit as loved as his brother. For now. In February I am having a third baby. Everyone knows that in three-child families, its the middle one who gets squeezed out. And to make matters worse, the new baby is a much-longed-for girl. Could she prove to be Johnnys final nemesis? Second and subsequent pregnancies tend to come laced with this kind of apprehension. Will I love this child as much as the last one? Too much? What will it do to the delicate equilibrium of our family? Yehudi Gordon the celebrity obstetrician, birthing guru and founder of the parenting organization Babies Know believes that, even in the womb, babies can sense how wanted they are. If, for example, the mum has a preference for a boy or a girl, he told me, that information will be picked up by the child before birth. Babies might not understand language, but they understand feeling. The scientific explanation he offers for this seems a bit vague something about molecules crossing the placenta but Im not one to quarrel with an obstetrical legend. What, I ask him, can a pregnant mother do to mitigate the effects of her own ambivalence? Its essential to be honest with your kids, he says, because if youre not, theyll know anyway. If youre disappointed by the sex of your child, he suggests, talk to them about it both in and ex utero. Tune into the baby and say, I really was hoping youd be a girl, and thats been difficult for me. But Ive got a lot of people supporting me and I want you to know that Im coming through it and working hard to overcome those feelings. Myself, Im not so sure. Though a pre-verbal child (or, lets face it, a post-verbal one) might not understand the exact meaning of such a statement, there are some things that are better left unsaid. Voicing a feeling doesnt necessarily exorcise it. In fact, it may make it harder to escape both for you and your children. Apter, too, believes that favoritism is one form of love that should not speak its name. Dont admit it, she says. Even if you think you have a favorite, the likelihood is that feeling is transient. But if you speak it, if you tell either child, it will become fixed in their minds forever. (Source: Telegraph)
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INTERNATIONAL DAILY
13
F O O T B A L L
Internazionale president Massimo Moratti has conrmed the club are exploring the possibility of signing Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez. The Argentine, who has not played since September due to disciplinary reasons, has been in talks with Italian champions Milan and was expected to sign for the Rossoneri. However, it is now said Inter are hoping to usurp their city rivals to sign Tevez and are ready to take him on loan for the remainder of the season, with an option to buy the 27-year-old for 22.3 million in the summer. Though Tevez may favour a move to Milan - a club currently challenging for the Serie A title - Moratti says Inter could be in contention. "If you do something you don't do it as a joke, but because you think it can be a good operation," Moratti "We've acquired information on how things are going, there's room to act, we'll see if we can do it or not. There are still three weeks left. It's not about being optimistic but rather seeing how things are."
Meanwhile, Mario Balotelli insists he is happy at Manchester City amid reports linking him with a move to AC Milan. The Italy international has been a reported target of the Italian champions since moving to City in 2010 from Inter Milan. Balotelli told Italian radio station Radio Radio: "The newspapers are saying that I want to get away from Manchester but I've never spoken to them. "They can say what they want, but I'm in Manchester, I am under contract with City and until the right time, will not talk about a new contract." The 21-year-old striker is tied to City until June 2015 and has no intention of leaving the club in the near future. The Premier League has been a new experience, even if at rst it was dicult," he said. "But if I have to tell the whole truth now, it's that I'm really happy here." When asked about his relationship with City coach Roberto Mancini, Balotelli described it as "great". (Source: PA Sport)
Queens Park Rangers have announced the appointment of Mark Hughes as their new manager. The 48-year-old had opened talks with the west London club on Monday following the sacking of Neil Warnock at the weekend, and has signed a two-and-a-half year contract at Loftus Road. The Welshman, whose most recent job was a year-long spell at QPR's neighbours Fulham last season, begins work by taking rst team training on Tuesday afternoon. QPR are currently 17th in the Premier League table, one place and one point above the relegation zone. Hughes's rst match in charge will be Sunday's trip to Newcastle United. Hughes told the club's ocial website: "It's a great feeling to be back in football and to be the Manager of QPR. "I'm fully aware of the challenge in the short and long term and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the owners. "Nobody can doubt the history of this great Football Club and the passion of its fantastically loyal supporters. "Now the immediate priority is to consolidate our place in the Barclays
Premier League, but beyond that, the future is very bright and lls me with great enthusiasm." QPR chairman, Tony Fernandes, added: "Mark has a proven track record in the Premier League, bringing a wealth of experience at both Club and international level. "He has a great passion to achieve as a Manager and has already been hugely successful in his career. "His ambitions match those of the Board and we are delighted to have him at the helm." Hughes quit Fulham at the end of last season after less than a year in charge, suggesting the club's ambitions did not match his own. He therefore sought assurances on that front from QPR before agreeing to join the Championship winners, who were taken over earlier this season by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes. Reports suggest Fernandes is ready to bankroll a January recruitment drive which could see between 20 million and 30m of new talent arrive at Loftus Road, with plans for a new 30,000 seater stadium also in the pipeline. (Source: Eurosport)
award for services to the game at the gala event in Zurich on Monday. And Rooney, who was the only Eng-
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WORLD ECONOMY
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IN THE NEWS
tional debt topped the size of the economy for three years during and after World War II. It dropped to 32.5% of the economy by 1981, then began a steady climb under President Reagan, doubling over the next 12 years. The combination of recession and stimulus spending caused it to soar again under Obama. Among advanced economies, only Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Portugal have debts larger than their economies. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Italy are at the root of the European debt crisis. The rst three needed bailouts from European
central banks; Italys books are monitored by the International Monetary Fund. The White House and Congress agreed in August to cut about $1 trillion from federal agencies over 10 years. An additional $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts looms beginning next year if lawmakers cant agree on a better way to do it. Economist Mark Zandi of Moodys Analytics says reaching the 100% mark shows the grave need to address our long-term scal problems. (Source: usatoday)
N E W S
Canada jobless rate rose for third month in December to 7.5%
I N
B R I E F
Canadas unemployment rate (CANLXEMR) rose for a third month in December, the longest advance in two years, as a gain in jobs trailed growth of the labor force. The jobless rate increased to 7.5 percent from Novembers 7.4 percent and the recent low of 7.1 percent in September, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Employment (CANLNETJ) rose by 17,500, the first gain in three months. Over the past six months, the number of jobs has grown by 7,400, compared with a gain of 191,800 in the rst half of 2011.
U.K. recession The best that can be hoped for the U.K. fears build economy is that it will stagnate rather than
MAJOR CURRENCIES
Currency US dollar British Pound Swiss franc Swedish krona UAE dirham Kuwait dinar To U.S. Dollars 1 1.546 1.055 0.145 0.272 3.580 To IR. Rial 11240 17398 11857 1632 3061 40244 Currency 100 Japanese yen Canadian dollar Australian dollar Saudi riyal Chinese yuan Euro To U.S. Dollars 1.302 0.983 1.034 0.267 0.158 1.280 To IR. Rial 14639 11026 11585 2998 1781 14363
fall back into recession in the first half of 2012, according to a survey of British businesses published Tuesday. And while a separate survey indicated that British shoppers spent heavily in December, they did so only because of heavy discounting, which will likely mean sales gures in coming months will be weak. The British Chambers of Commerces quarterly survey found that growth in the manufacturing and services sectors was minimal in the nal quarter of 2011. Chinas exports and imports grew at their slowest pace in more than two years in December as foreign and domestic demand ebbed, data showed on Tuesday, bolstering expectations of more policy action from Beijing to support the worlds number two economy. Annual export growth of 13.4 percent in December was in line with expectations, albeit the slowest since November 2009 except for a February distortion caused by Lunar New Year holidays. But it was a big downside surprise for import growth that caught investor attention, sinking to a 26-month low of just 11.8 percent year-on-year versus the 17 percent forecast by economists in the benchmark Reuters poll.
MAJOR COMMODITIES
Light Crude Gold Copper 101.31 1,608.10 3.42 Silver Platinum Wheat 28.78 1,429.60 641.75 Source: cnnmoney.com
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WORLD IN FOCUS
requires nothing short of a change in Indians mindset. For every Indian bribe-taker, there is a bribegiver looking for a shortcut or an undue advantage. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, we need to be the change that we wish to see in India. Corruption will not end until Indians stop giving bribes as well as stop taking them. Indias parliament must continue to debate all the options available. It is important that we do not betray public expectations; but nor can we act irresponsibly. We must do the right thing, but we must also do the thing right. Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. He previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and as the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs. He is also a prolic author, columnist, journalist and a human rights advocate. (Source: The Project Syndicate)
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
15
ndia ended 2011 amid political chaos, as the much-awaited Lokpal Bill, aimed at creating a strong, independent anti-corruption agency, collapsed amid a welter of recrimination in the parliaments upper house, after having passed the lower house two days earlier. The episode, which leaves the bill in suspended animation until its possible revival at the next session, raises fundamental issues for Indian politics which will need to be addressed in the New Year. The need for the bill Lokpal loosely translates as ombudsman was rst mooted in 1968, but eight subsequent attempts to create one had never reached a parliamentary vote. The credit for imparting urgency to an issue that had become a hardy perennial of Indian politics goes to the mass campaign that coalesced around a Gandhian leader, Anna Hazare, who insisted that a Jan Lokpal Bill (Peoples Ombudsman) drafted by his followers had to be enacted in toto. Two well-publicized fasts by Hazare, attended by hundreds of thousands and breathlessly covered by Indias news channels, pushed the government to expedite preparation and consideration of a bill. The draft diered in many respects from Hazares, but it retained what most people sought an independent agency with its own investigative resources and prosecutorial powers. After parliamentarians were summoned back to work after Christmas in an unprecedented extended winter session, the bill passed the Lok Sabha (the lower house), where the ruling coalition commands a narrow majority. But the governments attempts to entrench the law in a constitutional amendment, thereby elevating the authority of the oce, failed to command the necessary two-thirds support. Still, the bills passage after 43 years of stalemate was little short of historic. Blame game The action then shifted to the Rajya Sabha (the upper house), where the government lacks a majority. After a session lasting until midnight, punctuated by the introduction of 187 amendments (most by the opposition but some by coalition allies of the ruling Congress Party), the government pleaded incapable of processing all the amendments in time. Agitated members shouted their dissatisfaction (one rather melodramatically tearing up the draft bill), and the Rajya Sabhas chairman, Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari, halted the proceedings without a vote. All sides have ung accusations at each other. Some allege that the governments bill, by requiring a similar ombudsman in each of Indias states, was an assault on Indian federalism. Others claim that the government colluded in the disruptions in the Rajya Sabha, because it knew that it could not win the vote; some, preposterous-
ly, suggest that the government did not want the bill to pass; still others claim that it would have created such a weak Lokpal that it was not worth passing. The government has grimly suggested that it would go back to the drawing board with a view to reviving the bill during the parliaments budget session, due in March. Whatever happens, the need to tackle corruption is undeniable. In a recent survey by the anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International, 54 per cent of Indian respondents said that they had paid bribes in the last two years, in interactions with police, bureaucrats, and even educational institutions. Petty corruption has often affected people more directly. The mass outpouring of support for Hazare reflected the genuine frustration that most Indians feel over the corruption that assails their daily lives, rather than a
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
clear understanding of Hazares proposals to combat it. Every time a poor pregnant woman must bribe an orderly to get a hospital bed (to which she is entitled), or else deliver her baby on the floor; every time a widow cannot get the pension that should be hers by right, without bribing a clerk to process the papers; and every time a son cannot obtain his fathers death certificate without greasing the palm of a petty municipal official, Indians know that the system has failed them. The Lokpal will not be a panacea. It is one instrument among many that are needed, along with reforms, to increase transparency, protect whistleblowers, prevent tax evasion, clean up campaign financing, and reduce officials discretionary power, which allows them to profit from the power to permit. Inspectors and prosecutors can catch only some criminals; India needs to change the system so that fewer crimes are committed. Corruption isnt only high-level governmental malfeasance; overcoming it
Tour dhorizon: An Iranian optic on the Middle East and its prospects
Contd. from P. 6 Whether the Syrian regime survives in its current form, reforms itself, or falls is not really the central issuethough in Tehran it is widely believed that President Assad will survive this crisis and most probably remain in power. What is striking is how the Americans and Europeans simply do not learn from history. One would imagine that, after the September 11 attacks, they would have learned a thing or two about blowback. If extremist ideologies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, funded by the Saudis and other oil-rich Arab regimes, can create such immense diculties for Western countries, imagine the problem when their sphere of inuence reaches North Africa, India, Nigeria, Central Asia, and Turkey. In any case, despite American attempts to preserve the old order, the region is rapidly changing. This has enormous implications for the Islamic Republic, the United States, and Israel. There is no doubt that future political orders in Egypt and Tunisia will, to say the least, be highly critical of Zionism. It is even possible to imagine the rise of radically dierent political orders in the future in countries like Jordan. Iran will no longer be an isolated voice in its opposition to Israeli apartheid. This alone will be a major breakthrough for the Islamic Republic, since it will signicantly decrease Western pressure on the country. Ongoing events in Yemen also have the potential to help bring about major change in the Persian Gulf region, especially after the role that the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others have played to preserve the current regime. In the midst of all this, oil-rich countries to the north of the Islamic Republic are also beginning to show signs of instability. It is important to note that, contrary to Western propaganda, no Iranian leader has at any point advocated the dismantling of Israel through military annihilation. Despite the often willful distortion of the Iranian presidents words in the Western media, the Islamic Republics position has consistently been that Israel, like apartheid South Africa, is a colonial entity entitling a particular group of chosen people exceptional rights while denying those rights to the majority of the native population, thereby leaving the regime without any legitimacy. Irans stance against Israel is based on what it sees to be an important moral principle. The Islamic Republic followed the same principle in its opposition to apartheid South Africa, at a time when Western countries backed the regime. From the Iranian perspective, the only way for the Palestinian issue to be resolved is for the Zionist ideology to be relinquished, so that Muslims, Christians, and Jews can live as equals in the land of Palestine. If the Palestinian people as a whole, including refugees, come to an agreement with Israel, the Islamic Republic would respect the Palestinian decision and refrain from interference. Nevertheless, on moral grounds it will not recognize the Israeli regime as legitimate. Of course, the extremist ideologies promoted by wealthy Arab dictatorships have a very dierent view of religious diversity and coexistence. The claim that the Islamic Republic is somehow a military threat is not only dishonest, but the reverse of reality. The United States and Israel, along with other Western countries have repeatedly made military threats against the Iranian people, while the Iranians have never made threats of their own. Of course, Iranians believe that an attack on Iran is unlikely, because even senior American leaders admit that the consequences would be highly detrimental to the United States and its interests. However, the mere threats themselves are seen as inhuman and irrational; because of such American behavior, Iran has prepared itself for any potential American miscalculation. Ayatollah Khamenei recently stated that, while Iran will never carry out aggression, from now on the Islamic Republic will respond to threats with threats. Iranians rmly believe that stability or instability from the Mediterranean to the borders of India is inextricably linked to peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region. A look at a map makes clear that Iran has the ability to respond to threats throughout the region and beyond. If there is no security for Iranians or for Iranian oil exports, then, in Iranian eyes, there will be no security for Irans antagonists in the region. Under such conditions, the United States and its allies should not expect oil or gas to ow out of the Persian Gulf, northern Iraq, or Central Asia. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the Islamic Republics military power and resolve as well as the regions popular response to yet another Western act of aggression in a very unstable region. Hence, it is in the interest of the declining Western powers to take a more rational approach towards regional issues and a more reasonable approach towards the Islamic Republic. Any attempt to hurt or humiliate Iranians will simply harden Irans stance and have an opposite eect, whereas reason and respect can lead to a solution acceptable to all sides. As things stand; however, the Islamic Republic has no option but to make conditions more dicult for the United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf region. It is also in the interest of those so-called Iran experts in Western countries who consistently distort reality inside Iran to behave more responsibly. Their constant caricature of Iranian society as well as their unfounded claims of fraud in the 2009 presidential elections, have largely served the interests of unwise advocates of confrontation within the United States who need to delegitimize the Islamic Republic in the eyes of the American public. Iranians know quite well that a country engaged in perpetual warwhere even establishment gures such as Helen Thomas, Rick Sanchez, and Octavia Nasr are silenced, where academics are denied tenure for their political views,, where people are imprisoned for making television channels like Al-Manar available to the public, and where innocent citizens are regularly harassed by the FBI and IRS or arrested on trumped-up charges, simply because they are antiwar, anti-Wall Street or because of their sympathy for Palestinians, Lebanon, or Iran has little right to speak about Iran. Those who do so anyway should at least have the decency to wait until the last Iranian gas victim dies. Seyed Mohamed Marandi is an Associate Professor at the University of Tehran and is currently spending asabbatical year in Beirut. He is a regular commentator on various international news channels.
JUMP
ABUJA, NIGERIA (The New York Times) Tensions are running high in the streets here, days after the removal of gasoline subsidies at the start of the year and two weeks after horrific Christmas Day bombings of several churches around the country by extremists. Yet the government of President Goodluck Jonathan is steering through these hazards, giving Nigeria a chance to cast off the instability, poverty and corruption that have long plagued this country. And Nigerias powerful governors, for the moment, are coalescing around the reform agenda. Meeting with the president and his economic team in Abuja last week, in the midst of protests against the subsidy removal, conrmed my view that the Nigerian government has an unprecedented opportunity to clean up its act and win back the support of a long-suering population. The president spoke of taking the tough medicine necessary to build the foundations for long-term growth. His lead economic architect is Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, newly returned from a top spot at the World Bank. I dont envy their task. At 155 million people and rising, Nigeria is the worlds eighth-most-populous country and one of the hardest to govern. The country is deeply splintered, with more than 250 ethnic groups, 500 languages, a stark and sometimes violent Muslim-Christian divide, and a population now evenly divided between urban and rural areas. If these fracture lines were not enough, corruption is rampant, income inequality is sky-high, poverty and disease are pervasive, and the youth population is bulging, with half of all Nigerians under the age of 20. Ive advised dozens of countries, including Nigeria, on economic development and public health, and very few come close to Nigerias scale and complexity of challenges. Yet just as other large and complicated devel-
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Simorgh in the Iranian lms competition at the 30th Fajr International Film Festival, the organizers announced on Tuesday. Celebrated lmmaker Dariush Mehrjuis The Orange Dressed, on a photojournalist who turns into a sanitation worker due to his enthusiasm for the environment, is one of the entries to the festival, which is Irans most important cinematic event. Mehdi Sabbaghzadeh has returned with Way to Heaven, which is about the early history of Islam. Actor-turned-director Peyman Moadis debut Snow on the Pines, a social drama, will be screened at the festival.
A number of renowned Iranian directors are also to premiere their latest lms at the event. Following is a list of some of the lms: The Guidance Patrol by Saeid Soheili, We Will Say Amen by Saman Salur, The Bear by Khosro Masumi, A Simple Love Poem by Saman Moqaddam, The Queen by Mohammad-Ali Ahangar, Growing in the Wind by Rahbar Qanbari, Kissing the Moon-Like Face by Homayun Asadian, A Simple Entertaining by Mani Haqiqi and Waiting for a Miracle by Rasul Sadr-Ameli. The lms have been chosen by a selecting board composed of nine cineastes. However, festival secretary Mohammad Khazaii had previously said he would personally rule out the
lms that will likely provoke protests. Needlessly and Causelessly by Abdorreza Kahani and Tehran 2121 by Bahram Azimi, Laboratory by Hamid Amjad, The Private Life of Mr. and Mrs. M. by Ruhollah Hejazi and 11 other have been left out. Last week, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which is the main organizer of festival, announced the dissolution of the Iranian House of Cinema (IHC) that is the guild of the countrys cineastes. The decision to disband the society was allegedly made due to a breach of the IHC chapter. Analysts have said the Fajr festival will be overshadowed by the row if the Culture Ministry does not settle it before the beginning of the event.
Culture D e s k Organizers
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from their motherlands with Iranian children at the festival running from January 26 to 29 in Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province. Seventeen storytellers are invited for the festival, out of which 12 will be taking part in the competition section, four will be attending the
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side section, and one storyteller from Tajikistan is among the jury members. The 12 storytellers are coming from Thailand, Afghanistan, Canada, Lebanon, Kenya, Romania, Indonesia, the United States and Denmark. The festival has been organized
by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the Public Relations Office of IIDCYA reported on Tuesday. Storytellers Hans Laurens from Denmark and Eric James Wolf from the U.S. are among the participants, the report added.
D e s k based
during the festival, which will be held from January 25 to February 11. Pradier was a professor at the University of Paris VIII and has headed the Theatrical Investigation Department since his retirement in 2009. Pradier, 73, was born in Morocco. He has doctorates in psychology and literature. He is the author of numerous publications.
Iranian nomad children play ball in the Hosseinieh Andimeshk region, in northern Khuzestan Province, on January 9, 2012.