TOURISM TEHRANTOURISM. de sk. INTERNATIONAL. de sk. Syed Zafar Mehdi. Journalist from New Delhi. Taliban talks: Dialogue and violence can’t go together. D. ialogue and violence cannot

W W W . T E H R A N T I M E S . C O M I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Ebrahim FallahiTehran Times journalist

A R T I C L E

T O U R I S Md e s k

I N T E R N A T I O N A Ld e s k

Syed Zafar MehdiJournalistfrom New Delhi

A R T I C L E

Taliban talks: Dialogue and violence can’t go together

Dialogue and violence cannot go hand in hand. The first cardinal principle of ‘peace negotiations’ is

an unconditional ceasefire. That is how the two warring sides build trust, bury the hatchet and make peace with each other. You cannot extend an olive branch and point the barrel of gun at the same time. That renders the whole exercise futile.

Over the past few weeks, Afghan Taliban has been actively involved in so-called ‘peace talks’ with the U.S. government, even though the group has intransigently refused to engage with the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul, calling it a “pup-pet government”. What makes the U.S. government a credible ‘stakeholder’ in this whole peace exercise is something only the Taliban leadership can explain.

U.S. government recently appointed seasoned diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad as its ‘peace emissary’ to facilitate talks with the insurgent group. According to reports, he held first round of talks with the group, which however did not yield anything ex-cept a few handshakes. Before Khalilzad, a few senior Trump administration officials had held secret parleys with representatives from Taliban’s political office in Doha, during which Taliban were reportedly offered a role in Kabul government too, much to the chagrin of anti-Taliban po-litical stalwarts in Afghanistan.

Not to be left behind, America’s tra-ditional rival Russia has also jumped the bandwagon, offering to facilitate ‘peace talks’ between the Taliban and Afghan govern-ment. Pertinently, the present day Taliban leaders, backed by the U.S., had once fought against Russians in Afghanistan. How the political dynamics change is evident from the manner in which both the U.S. and Russia are now playing ‘mediators’ between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

On Friday, Moscow hosted a landmark ‘peace’ conference on Afghanistan, which saw the participation of representatives from the Taliban, Afghan government and many regional countries. The ‘talks’ aimed at reviving the ‘peace dialogue’ after 17 years of mindless war is the first time Moscow has invited the Afghan Taliban to the table. 1 3

The impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil industry, market in focus

Right from the day Trump withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal, announc-ing his plan for cutting Iranian oil

exports to zero, the oil scholars and experts all around the world begun contemplating the impacts of this decision on the Iranian oil industry especially on the country’s oil exports.

Today, near five months after Trump’s announcement and while the U.S. has re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, still nobody has a clear idea about the out-comes of the U.S. actions against Iran, and there is still great disagreement over the magnitude of the impact on Iranian oil industry and especially on crude exports.

However, the oil markets have been through various changes in the past few months based on which we can draw a relatively neat picture of what to expect in the future.

Markets moving toward ‘oversupply’In January 2017 OPEC and a group

of non-OPEC producers including Rus-sia began cutting their output in order to balance an oversupplied market in which the oil prices had fallen from over $100 a barrel to under $30. After OPEC+ agreement the glut was slowly drained and the prices stared to move in an upward trend reaching $80.

The rise in oil prices started to concern Trump’s administration who were close to the midterm elections and also planning to re-impose sanctions on Iran; and the surging oil prices were not at all in line with their interests. This made Trump to begin pushing the U.S. allies in the Middle East to pump more oil in order to lower the surging prices.

In June 2018, led by Saudi Arabia as the biggest U.S. ally in the Middle East, OPEC and non-OPEC group agreed to restore some of their output to help re-balance the market which this time was considered “very tight”.

Afterward, despite the 2017 agreement, some OPEC members were allowed to pump at their maximum levels and also the world’s top three oil producers namely the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia, hit new production records. 4

See page 1 3

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Larijani urges Europeans to act more independently

Saudis close to Bin Salman tried to kill Iranian officials

Mohammadi named Iran’s freestyle wrestling coach 15

Martyna Kosecka to conduct Poland’s independence concert in Tehran 16

Top Obama-era officials urge immediate end to U.S. involvement in Yemen war

Top Obama administration officials have drafted a letter acknowledging their re-sponsibility for initiating U.S. involvement in Yemen’s destructive civil war and call-ing for the Trump administration to halt America’s role in the conflict.

Thirty former senior officials, in-cluding former national security adviser

Susan E. Rice and former CIA director John Brennan, said the Obama admin-istration decided in 2015 to provide limited support to a Saudi-led military coalition in an attempt to ensure a pru-dent operation against Yemen and to steer the conflict toward a diplomatic resolution. 1 3

UNWTO chief sees Iran as a safe, peaceful destination

E C O N O M Yd e s k

‘EU to continue transport co-op with Iran despite sanctions’

TEHRAN — Euro-pean Commission’s

deputy director-general for mobility and transport said EU is going to continue its transport cooperation with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, IRNA reported on Monday.

Speaking in a two-day workshop on ports, maritime and logistics held by Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) in collaboration with the European Union

in Tehran, Maja Bakran Marcich said “the EU will continue to cooperate with Iran in the framework of agreements signed in various fields of transportation.”

The official noted that 80 percent of the world’s trade is conducted through sea transport and since a big chunk of this trade is between Asia and Europe, it cannot be stopped under any circum-stances. 4

TEHRAN — The vis-iting United Nations

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) secretary general on Monday said “We are willing to introduce Iran to the world as a safe and peaceful destination.”

“We are here to help Iran become more powerful, and as a result, to make the World Tourism Organization more powerful,” Zurab Pololikashvili

stated, Tasnim reported. He made the remarks in a press conference

followed by the opening ceremony of the 40th UNWTO Affiliate Members Plenary Session, which opened in the city of Hamedan.

“We know that dozens of hotels are under construction in the country that create jobs… all of these investments and efforts made by the government will help bring more tourists to Iran.” 1 0

16 Pages Price 20,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13253 Tuesday NOVEMBER 13, 2018 Aban 22, 1397 Rabi’ Al awwal 5, 1440

By Javad HeiranniaEXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

TEHRAN — State House Representative, Anna V. Eskamani, says that the recent elections in the U.S. were a referendum on President Trump.

Democratic member for the Florida House of Representatives also says “President Trump’s influence over elections is still present, and efforts to scare voters and divide us continues.”

Following is the text of the interview: Some argue that the congressional elections

were a referendum on President Trump. What is your opinion?

A: Yes, I agree that these past elections were a referendum on President Trump. However, I will add that President Trump’s influence over

elections is still present, and efforts to scare voters and divide us continues.

Republicans still hold the majority in the Senate but Democrats succeeded to win the House after 7 years. Why led to the victory of Democrats in the House?

A: Democratic candidates were inspirational and issue-based. We offered a vision for the future that focused on everyday Americans.

Now, Democrats have the majority in the House. Can this impact Trump’s foreign policy, especially toward Iran?

A: Absolutely, but I think it is more likely that divisions between the two chambers and two parties will continue, leading to not much change for the next two years.

TEHRAN — In a significant development that augurs well

for Iran-India relations, New Delhi has managed to keep the strategic Chabahar Port project out-side the ambit of U.S. sanctions against Iran that came into effect on November 5.

After getting snubbed by New Delhi, to save itself from further embarrassment, the U.S. administration “granted” exemp-tions to eight countries, including India, and announced that the Chabahar project and Afghanistan specific railway project (under INSTC) would be kept out of the purview of sanctions for the purpose of “development” in Afghanistan.

A report in India Today, quoting the U.S. State Department spokesman, said the U.S. would allow the projects to move forward and allow

carrying of “non-sanctionable” goods through the port to Iran.

“After extensive consideration, the Secretary has provided for an exception from the imposition of certain sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (IFCA) with respect to the development of Chabahar Port and the construction of an associated railway and for the shipment of non-sanctionable goods through the Port for Afghanistan’s use, as well as Afghanistan’s continued imports of Iranian petroleum products,” the spokesperson was quoted saying.

Chabahar and INSTC are important strategic projects for India and Afghanistan and New Delhi had been exerting pressure on Washington for a waiver, according to sources. Chabahar is seen as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar port

project, which will keep Islamabad out of the equation and give India direct access to Kabul through Iran.

India is scheduled to hold a ministerial-level meeting with Tehran and Moscow this month to implement the much-delayed International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), according to a report in daily Economic Times.

The report said Indian officials held detailed discussions with the U.S. on the one hand and with Iran-Afghanistan on the other to continue and expand its presence at Chabahar Port.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, while ad-dressing an Indo-Pacific connectivity meet in New Delhi last week, announced that India will continue to use Chabahar Port as part of its wider Indo-Pacific connectivity project. 6

Elections were a referendum on Trump: Anna Eskamani

Exemption of Chabahar project from U.S. sanctions win-win for India, Iran

Paper dino in Shiraz marks Origami Day

Iranian art students from the University of Shiraz pose with a huge origami dino-saur they created at the Shahre Aftab Art Complex on November 11, 2018 to mark Origami Day.

The five-meter high origami was created from a sheet of paper measuring 100 square meters under the supervision of Reza Sarvi, a professional origami artist.

November 11 is annually celebrated as Ori-gami Day in Japan, home to the art.

In addition, origami institutes such as the Japan Origami Academic Society, the British Origami Society and OrigamiUSA celebrate a period from October 24 to November 11 as World Origami Days (WOD).

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Rockets fired atoccupied lands

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

P O L I T I C S

In a report published on November 11, the New York Times revealed that senior Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, tried to assassinate Iranian officials including the IRGC Quds Force commander last year.

Following is an excerpt of the report titled “Saudis Close to Crown Prince Dis-cussed Killing Other Enemies a Year Before Khashoggi’s Death”:

Top Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked a small group of businessmen last year about using private companies to as-sassinate Iranian enemies of the kingdom, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The Saudis inquired at a time when Prince Mohammed, then the deputy crown prince and defense minister, was consolidating power and directing his advisers to escalate military and intelligence operations outside the kingdom. Their discussions, more than a year before the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, indicate that top Saudi officials have considered assassinations since the beginning of Prince Mohammed’s ascent.

Saudi officials have portrayed Mr. Khashoggi’s death as a rogue killing or-dered by an official who has since been fired. But that official, Maj. Gen. Ahmed

al-Assiri, was present for a meeting in March 2017 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where the businessmen pitched a $2 billion plan to use private intelligence operatives to try to sabotage the Iranian economy.

During the discussion, part of a series of meetings where the men tried to win Saudi funding for their plan, General Assiri’s top aides inquired about killing Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and a man considered a determined enemy of Saudi Arabia.

The interest in assassinations, covert operations and military campaigns like the war in Yemen — overseen by Prince Moham-med — is a change for the kingdom, which historically has avoided an adventurous for-eign policy that could create instability and imperil Saudi Arabia’s comfortable position as one of the world’s largest oil suppliers.

As for the businessmen, who had intel-ligence backgrounds, they saw their Iran plan both as a lucrative source of income and as a way to cripple a country that they and the Saudis considered a profound threat. George Nader, a Lebanese-American busi-nessman, arranged the meeting. He had met previously with Prince Mohammed, and had pitched the Iran plan to Trump White House officials. Another participant

in the meetings was Joel Zamel, an Israeli with deep ties to his country’s intelligence and security agencies.

Both Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel are wit-nesses in the investigation by Robert S. Mu-eller III, the special counsel, and prosecutors have asked them about their discussions with American and Saudi officials about the Iran proposal. It is unclear how this line of inquiry fits into Mr. Mueller’s broader inquiry. In 2016, a company owned by Mr. Zamel, Psy-Group, had pitched the Trump campaign on a social media manipulation plan.

A spokesman for the Saudi government declined to comment, as did lawyers for both Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel.

During the March 2017 meeting about the plan to sabotage Iran’s economy, according to the three people familiar with the discus-sions, the Saudis asked the businessmen whether they also “conducted kinetics” — lethal operations — saying they were inter-ested in killing senior Iranian officials. The businessmen hesitated, saying they would need to consult their lawyer.

The lawyer flatly rejected the plan, and the businessmen told the Saudis they would not take part in any assassinations. Mr. Nader told the Saudis about a London-based com-pany run by former British special operations troops that might take on the contract. It

is unclear which company he suggested.Before he was ousted last month, Gen-

eral Assiri was considered one of Prince Mohammed’s closest advisers, a man whose sharp ascent tracked the rise of the young crown prince. In 2016, he became the public face of Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen, giving briefings about the state of the war. He traveled frequently to Washington, where Saudi-paid lobbyists brought him to think tanks to give optimistic assessments about the campaign’s progress and he extolled the Saudi concern for the welfare of civilians.

By 2017, however, the Saudi campaign that General Assiri oversaw in Yemen had ground into a military stalemate and, despite his assurances, a humanitarian catastro-phe. But his patron, Prince Mohammed, also consolidated his power over all of the kingdom’s security apparatuses, and he pro-moted General Assiri to the deputy head of the kingdom’s spy agency, the General Intelligence Directorate.

Western analysts believe that Prince Mohammed moved General Assiri there in part to keep an eye on the spy chief, Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah al-Humaidan, known as Abu Ali, who was close to West-ern intelligence agencies and suspected of harboring loyalties to one of the crown prince’s royal rivals. 3

NY Times: Saudis close to Bin Salman tried to kill Iranian officials

European failure to save nuclear deal will destabilize Mideast, Kharrazi warns

P O L I T I C Sd e s k


MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Mo-

hammad Javad Zarif has said that Pakistani officials have promised to take more actions to liberate the Iranian border guards who were recently kidnapped by terrorists at Iran-Pakistan border.

“The Pakistani officials, including prime minister, foreign minister and army commander, promised that they will take more actions to liberate all the Iranian hostages. They also promised that they will have good news for Iran in future,” he told the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA) in an interview published on Monday.

Pointing to his visit to Pakistan in October, he said that the armed forces will follow up implementation of the agreements between the countries made during the visit.

“During that trip, we agreed to take actions to prevent any evil moves in long-term,” he said.

On October 15, the Jaish ul-Adl ter-rorist group kidnapped 12 Iranian bor-der guards at the Mirjaveh border post in Sistan-Baluchestan province and took them to Pakistan.

The abductees were stationed at a border post in Iran’s Mirjaveh region when they came under attack from the terrorists.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said the security personnel were un-conscious when they were kidnapped.

According to the IRGC, infiltrators had helped with the abduction of the military staff to Pakistan.

The border guards were from local Basij forces, policemen and the IRGC personnel.

During his visit to Pakistan, Zarif met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tehran Rifat Masood said on October 23 that Islamabad is determined to rescue Iranian border guards from kidnappers.

“The Pakistani military and government officials are making efforts in this respect and hopefully Iran’s kidnapped guards will be found,” she told IRNA.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry also issued a statement announcing readiness to help liberate the border guards.

Pakistan has vowed to act quickly to free Iranian captives: Zarif

TEHRAN — The White House only considers

its own interests in all circumstances, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Iranian parliament speaker has said, adding that the U.S. is after a controlled presence of the terrorists in West and Central Asia.

This policy “aims to intensify pressure on countries with which the U.S. does not see eye to eye,” Mehr quoted Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying in a meeting with Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tehran, Nasir Ahmad Nour, on Monday.

“While claiming to be fighting terror-ism and promoting security and peace, the U.S. is in fact supporting the terrorists in Syria and is setting up military bases there without coordinating [with the Syrian government],” he said.

Amir Abdollahian also said the U.S. and NATO practice a “double standard” policy when it comes to their policies in Afghanistan.

“We should be vigilant about the events taking place in the region right now … De-spite America’s peace plan, Saudi strikes against Yemen have escalated, and defense-less women and children continue to be massacred there,” he lamented.

The senior advisor also hoped that the new Afghan parliament will start its work soon, underlining Tehran’s readiness to boost parliamentary ties with Afghanistan.

Ahmad Nour, for his part, called for further regional cooperation in a bid to build trust among neighboring countries and to prevent the “unpleasant presence

of outsiders” in the region.----‘Those who gave birth to terrorists

will not also see peace’ “Afghanistan is struggling with nu-

merous troubles including drug traffick-ing, human trafficking and the presence of Takfiri terrorist groups,” the Afghan ambassador said, adding, “Those who gave birth to these terrorist groups will also not see peace and security.”

He went on to thank the Islamic Re-public for playing a “constructive role” in fighting terrorism and promoting the region’s security.

“If security and peace are established in Afghanistan, the refugees will return to their country, innocent people won’t be killed and human trafficking will be prevented, which in turn will lead to the strengthening of the security of [Iran-Af-ghanistan] borders.”

‘U.S. after controlled presence of terrorists in region’



Larijani urges Europeans to act more independently

TEHRAN — Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Rela-

tions, warned on Monday that a failure by Europe to save the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, will destabilize the Middle East region.

“It is essential that Europe meets its commitments as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting with former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in Paris.

Kharrazi said Europeans’ move in meeting their commit-ments to save the JCPOA will show whether they can be trusted.

For his part, De Villepin said that countries in the Middle East region should be vigilant to avoid more crises, noting that Europe is ready to cooperate in this respect.

According to Bloomberg, the European Union announced on November 7 that work “has accelerated” on a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV) to help avoid the U.S. admin-istration’s reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump officially withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal and ordered sanc-tions on Iran. The first round of sanctions went into force

on August 6 and the second round, which targets Iran’s oil exports and banks, were announced on November 4.

France, Germany, Britain and the European Union issued a joint statement on November 2 condemning the U.S. move in reimposing sanctions on Iran and vowed to protect European companies doing “legitimate” business with Tehran.

The statement read that Europe will also seek to “maintain financial channels operational with Iran and to ensure the continuation of Iranian oil and gas exports”.


Jahangiri: U.S. playing ‘lose-lose game’

TEHRAN — Vice President Es’haq Ja-hangiri on Monday denounced the U.S.

for starting a “lose-lose game” by imposing sanctions on Iran, saying Washington has been internationally isolated after the failure of its anti-Iran plots.

“No government has supported the U.S. sanctions against Iran, except the Zionist regime and some regional govern-ments,” Tasnim quoted Jahangiri as saying.

He further said the Iranian administration’s strategy over the past six months has foiled the bulk of hostile plots, pointing to the U.S. failure to reduce Iran’s oil ex-ports down to zero.

TEHRAN — Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Lar-

ijani said on Monday that Europeans should play a more independent role which will be more beneficial to them.

In a meeting with Sigmar Gabriel, the former German foreign minister, Larijani said, “U.S. President’s [Donald Trump] behavior has caused chaos at the international arena and also caused problems for the Europeans.”

Larijani also said that Iran-Eu-rope ties have been promoted after the clinching of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

For his part, Gabriel said that Eu-ropeans are firm to keep the nuclear deal after the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in May.

Gabriel said that there are many small and mid-sized companies in Germany which are not dependent on the U.S. and are willing to cooperate with Iran.

The former German foreign minis-ter also said it is understandable that

Iran’s patience in regard to the nuclear deal has a limit.

Gabriel went on to say Germany and France are more determined than other European countries to respect their commitments toward the nuclear agreement, expressing hope that others would also respect their obligations.

“If we back down on the JCPOA (in the face of U.S. pressure), it may happen to other issues,” Gabriel remarked.

Gabriel, who is a member of the German Social Democrats, added the European Union’s stance toward inter-national issues is not just restricted to the Iran deal because the “European independence” should also be given special attention.

Elsewhere, he said that Germany has problems with the Saudi kingdom and has even stopped selling weapons to the country.

However, he said that Saudi Arabia receives message from the White House.

Commenting on the Yemeni crisis, he criticized lack of attention to killing of the Yemeni kids.


Army: Iran to protect oil tankers against threats

TEHRAN — The Iranian Armed Forces will protect its oil tankers against possible

threats, a top Iranian military official said on Monday after the United States warned ports operators not to allow the ships to dock and called them a “floating liability”.

Iran’s armed forces are “prepared today as in the past to protect our fleet of oil tankers against any threats so that it can continue to use marine waterways,” said Rear-Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, the deputy commander of the Iranian Army, according to ISNA.

His comments appeared to be a response to U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, who warned Iran’s business partners to “rethink your decision” to buy Iranian oil in the wake of Washington’s “toughest” sanctions against Tehran.


Khuzestan governor rejects execution of suspects linked to Ahvaz attack

TEHRAN — The governor of Khuzestan Province on Monday rejected as false a

recent report which claimed 22 individuals who were ar-rested over the September 22 terrorist attack in Ahvaz have been executed.

“This is an utterly false report,” Gholamreza Shariati was quoted by the IRNA news agency as saying.

Shariati said the charges pressed against the Ahvaz ter-rorist attack suspects have been explained to them, adding that the justice department have detailed information about the cases.


Russia voices determination in working with Iran

TEHRAN — Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said her

country is determined to strengthen cooperation with Iran.Zakharova said cooperation with Iran is valuable to Russia

and that Moscow has declared its opposition to unilateral sanctions against other countries, IRNA reported on Monday.

Russia sees the decisions made by the United Nations Security Council as a basis for adopting policies, and in other cases the country’s interests and mutually beneficial coop-eration would form the basis of its approach, according to the spokeswoman.

“The countries that unilaterally impose sanctions are those that claim to support human rights, economic devel-opment and democracy, but in practice they are far from their ideals,” she said.


‘Colonists seeking to split up Muslim states’

TEHRAN — Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani on Monday empha-

sized the importance of unity within the Islamic Ummah, saying Muslims should focus on their commonalities to strengthen unity and counter the enemies.

Speaking at a meeting ahead of the unity week, Amoli Larijani said colonial countries have long sought to divide Muslims and split up Muslim countries, ISNA reported.

“They have intensified their divide and rule policy today,” he warned.

He also expressed the hope that rulers of regional coun-tries take measures to boost unity among Muslim nations.


Ex-Brazilian president meets Zarif

TEHRAN — Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello, the former Brazilian president and

the chairman of the Brazilian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Monday.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the latest developments in mutual relations, parliamentarian coop-eration and significant regional and international issues, the Foreign Ministry website reported.

Also in two separate meetings later in the day, the new ambassadors of Tunisia and Sierra Leone met with Zarif and presented a copy of their credentials to him.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s former foreign minister (L), held talks with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran on Monday.

NOVEMBER 13, 2018 INTERNATIONALI N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, Joel Zamel, an Israeli with deep ties to Saudi intelligence and security agencies, started discussing an ambitious campaign of economic warfare against Iran similar to one waged by Israel and the United States during the past decade aimed at coercing Iran to end its nuclear program.UN envoy wants Libya election by June after Libyans decide format

Yemeni forces have pushed back a large-scale assault by militants and mercenaries on the port city of Hudaydah, a source in the so-called Saudi coalition has told Agence France-Presse.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deployed about 10,000 new troops to Yemen’s west coast after repeated campaigns to seize Hudaydah were thwarted by Houthis and their allies in the Yemeni army.

After 11 days of clashes, Saudi-backed militants say they have now reached resi-dential neighborhoods in Hudaydah’s east, sparking fears of street fights that would fur-ther endanger civilians trapped in the city.

Medics and military sources were quoted as saying Monday that nearly 150 people had been killed in 24 hours of clashes, including several civilians.

Based on a tally provided by AFP, 110 protectors of the city and 32 invaders were killed overnight. A military official in Hu-daydah confirmed seven civilians deaths, without giving further details.

Houthi fighters and their allies, however, have pushed back the massive offensive to occupy Hudaydah, the news agency admit-ted, citing a source in the coalition as saying.

Residents told AFP that Yemeni snipers had taken positions on rooftops in eastern Hudaydah, a few miles from the port on the western edge of the city, in preparation for street battles.

Battle-hardened Houthi fighters and their allies are expected to fare better in street battles. To overwhelm them, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are most likely to resort to heavy bombing of the city in order to pave the way for ground advances.

On Monday, UN Secretary General An-tonio Guterres warned that the destruction of the vital Yemeni port of Hudaydah could trigger a “catastrophic” situation.

“If the port at Hudaydah is destroyed, that could create an absolutely catastrophic situation,” Guterres told France Info radio during a trip to Paris.

The massive invasion has put the safety of nearly 600,000 people living in Huday-dah at risk and imperiled the livelihoods of

millions of others dependent on the port for shipment of scarce food and humanitarian aid into Yemen. Yemen is under a Saudi blockade which has put the impoverished nation on the brink of the worst humanitarian crisis in 100 years, according to the United Nations.

In their offensive against Hudaydah, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are using heavy weapons and armaments, enlisting many mercenaries from Africa and elsewhere amid close aerial support by military helicopters and fighter jets.

Mariam Aldogani, Save the Children’s field coordinator in Yemen, has said the people in Hudaydah are living in a “state of fear.”

The intensified battle for Hudaydah comes despite Pentagon chief James Mattis calling last month for a ceasefire and negotiations between Yemen’s warring parties within 30 days.

Both the United States and Britain are major suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was due in Saudi Arabia on Monday, with the Foreign Office saying he would press King Salman and Prince Mohammed to support UN efforts to end the conflict.

Head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in an op-ed published by The Washington

Post on Friday that the escalating offensive in Hudaydah showed Mattis’ ceasefire call was “nothing but empty talk.”

Saudi Arabia launched its devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015. According to the Armed Conflict Lo-cation and Event Data Project (ACLED), the war has claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis so far.

On Friday, a senior Houthi official said Yemen would turn into a “graveyard” for ag-gressors as Saudi-backed militants announced that they had begun a military operation to take over Hudaydah.

(Source: AFP)

Yemeni fighters beat back Saudi push in eastern Hudaydah

2 General Assiri was dismissed last month when the Saudi government acknowledged Mr. Khashoggi’s killing and said he had organized the operation. On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said his government had handed over a recording of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain and France, pressuring President Trump to more harshly punish the Saudis over the murder.

Mr. Nader’s and Mr. Zamel’s plan dates to the beginning of 2016, when they started discuss-ing an ambitious campaign of economic warfare against Iran similar to one waged by Israel and the United States during the past decade aimed at coercing Iran to end its nuclear program. They sketched out operations like revealing hidden global as-sets of the Quds Force; creating fake social media accounts in Farsi to foment unrest in Iran; financing Iranian opposition groups; and publicizing accusa-tions, real or fictitious, against senior Iranian officials to turn them against one another.

Mr. Nader is an adviser to the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, a country that, along with Saudi Arabia and Israel, has identified Iran as the primary threat to stability in the Middle East.

Both he and Mr. Zamel believed that Hillary Clinton’s anticipated victory in the 2016 election meant a continuation of the Iran nuclear deal signed by President Barack Obama — and little appetite in Washington for a concerted campaign to crip-ple the Iranian economy. So, they decided to pitch the plan to Saudi and Emirati officials, even submitting a proposal to General Assiri during a meet-

ing in Belgium. The election of Donald J. Trump changed their calculus, and shortly after, Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel traveled to New York to sell both Trump transition officials and Saudi generals on their Iran plan.

Mr. Nader’s initiative to try to topple the Iranian economy was first reported in May by The New York Times. His discussions in New York with General Assiri and other Saudi officials were reported last month by The Daily Beast.

Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel enlisted Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater and an adviser to the Trump transition team. They had already discussed elements of their plan with Mr. Prince, in a meeting when they learned of his own paramilitary proposals that he planned to try to sell to the Saudis. A spokesman for Mr. Prince declined to comment.

In a suite on one of the top floors of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in New York, Mr. Zamel and Mr. Nader spoke to Gen-eral Assiri and his aides about their Iran plan. The Saudis were interested in the idea but said it was so provocative and po-tentially destabilizing that they wanted to get the approval of the incoming Trump admin-istration before Saudi Arabia paid for the campaign.

After Mr. Trump was inaugu-rated in January 2017, Mr. Na-der met frequently with White House officials to discuss the economic sabotage plan.

General Assiri’s interest in assassinations was unsurpris-ing but unrepresentative of official policy, said one Saudi familiar with the inquiry into the Khashoggi killing. The in-vestigation has shown the general to be a grandiose and ambitious novice to intelligence who sought to impress the crown prince with unauthorized schemes for black operations, the person said.

But General Assiri’s well-known closeness to the crown prince — the general often joined Prince Mohammed for meetings in Riyadh with visiting American officials — might make it difficult for the prince’s supporters to distance him from the proposals, just as the same connections have helped convince Western intelligence agencies that the prince must have known about the plot against Mr. Khashoggi.

Moreover, General Assiri and his lieutenants were meeting with Mr. Nader around the same time that Mr. Nader was meeting with Prince Mohammed himself, as Saudi officials have acknowl-edged. In emails to a business associate obtained by The Times, Mr. Nader sometimes referred to conversations he held with Prince Mohammed — also known by his initials, M.B.S. — about other projects he had discussed with General Assiri.

“Had a truly magnificent meeting with M.B.S.,” Mr. Nader wrote in early 2017, discussing possible Saudi contracts. The crown prince, he said, had advised him to “review it and discuss it with General Ahmed.”

NY Times: Saudis close to Bin Salman tried to kill Iranian officials

Italy will host a Libya conference that starts on Monday and aims to push forward a new UN plan to stabilize the troubled North African country after a initiative to hold elections next month failed.

Last week, UN Envoy Ghassan Salame officially abandoned a Western plan to hold national elections on Dec. 10 as way out of conflict that has raged in the oil producer since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Instead the United Nations, which has been trying to mediate for years, wants to hold first a national conference to reconcile a country divided between hundreds of rival armed groups, tribes, towns and regions.

Western powers that helped topple Gaddafi then left Libya to its chaos, letting militias and radical groups grow.

But worried about it turning into a source of instability on the shores of Europe, European powers have recently paid Libya more attention, and diplomats hope the two-day meeting in the Sicilian city of Palermo will keep up that interest.

France hosted a summit in May during which the main Libyan rivals pledged to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in December.

But weeks of fighting between militias in the capital Tripoli, as well as deadlock between rump parliaments in Tripoli and the east, has made that plan unrealistic.

Italy hopes the conference will help keep pressure on Libyan players to overcome their divisions.

The OPEC oil producer has two governments, a UN-backed administration in the capital and a largely powerless eastern version aligned with influential veteran commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control much of the east.

RivalsItalian officials were scrambling at the weekend to secure

Haftar’s presence. If he shows up, it will be his first meeting with the Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj since

the Paris summit, analysts said.“I expect him (Haftar) to be present since there is no doubt

that he is one of the decisive players of the stabilization of his country,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper.

Also in attendance will be the internationally recognized House of Representatives, as well as the State Council, a rival assembly.

Western diplomats hope the meeting will help overcome differences between Italy and France, which both have exten-sive oil interests in Libya but have used different approaches to trying to resolve the conflict.

France has been courting Haftar, who is supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which see his forces as a bulwark against extremists.

Italy is the main backer of Serraj and his weak Govern-ment of National Accord (GNA), and has worked with lo-cal groups in Libya to stop Europe-bound migrants from embarking by boat.

In his newspaper interview, Conte denied that there was

rivalry with France over Libya, saying Paris and Rome share “the same viewpoint and objectives”.

“We face a common challenge (the stabilization of Libya) and the risks of a further deteriorations of the crisis are weighing on us all,” Conte said.

Western power want Serraj’s government to enact economic reforms to a system that they say gives Libya’s multitude of armed groups easy access to cheap dollars.

The UN’s Salame told la Repubblica newspaper that the question of economic reform and security would be central to the Palermo meeting. “We need to work to make sure Libya’s resources benefit the entire population and not just a few millionaires who are becoming ever richer,” he was quoted as saying.

Diplomats say delayed reforms introduced in September, including a fee on purchases of foreign currency, can only partially ease Libya’s economic woes as long as the central bank remains divided and predatory factions retain their positions.

Meanwhile, The UN envoy for Libya hopes another at-tempt to hold an election will take place by June after he scrapped a December plan, but said Libyans should first use a national conference in early 2019 to decide on the poll’s format.

UN Special Envoy Ghassan Salame decided to abandon a plan to hold elections on Dec. 10 after a spike in violence in Libya, which has been gripped by conflict and paralyz-ed by political deadlock since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Salame was speaking to Reuters before the start of a conference in Palermo organized by Rome with the aim of pushing forward a new U.N. plan. Salame said last week this plan would include an election in the spring, without elaborating.

(Source: agencies)

The Netherlands has temporarily halted visa and passport services in Pakistan, but its foreign ministry on Monday denied that its embassy had closed over security concerns after it gave shelter to the lawyer of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case.

Extremists in Pakistan have blocked streets and called for the killing of judges after the Supreme Court on Oct. 31 overturned the conviction of Asia Bibi, a mother of five, who had been on death row for eight years.

Bibi’s lawyer, Saiful Mulook, fled to the Netherlands soon after the verdict, citing death threats.

The Dutch government said on Thurs-day that it had offered temporary shelter to Mulook.

The Dutch government said in a statement its embassy in Pakistan, which is in a tightly guarded “diplomatic enclave”, had temporarily halted issuing visas “due to circumstances beyond our control”.

Pakistani media reported that the embassy had been forced to close because of threats.

But the Dutch foreign ministry said reports of the embassy’s closure were mistaken.

“The Dutch embassy in Pakistan is open,” the ministry said.

“I can add that we take the security of the embassy and our employees very seriously. This is also the subject of consultations be-tween the Netherlands and Pakistan,” an

official at the Dutch foreign office said.No one answered the telephone at the

Dutch embassy after office hours on Monday.Bibi, 53, was convicted of blasphemy in

2010 over allegations she made derogatory remarks about Islam, which is punishable by death in Pakistan. She always denied having committed blasphemy.

The militant Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party, which has made blasphemy a rallying cry, took to the streets after the Supreme Court ruling and blocked main cities and highways for three days.

The protests ended after the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan struck a deal with the TLP that the state would not block a petition to review Bibi’s acquittal in light of sharia Islamic religious law and ensure she wouldn’t leave country until that was decided.

Pakistani government officials have said Bibi is in a secure location while the court considers her case.

(Source: Daily Strar)

Italy hosts Libya conference to push new UN peace plan

Netherlands halts visa service in Pakistan but denies closing embassy

Ahmed al-Assiri Bin Salman George Nader

They sketched out operations like creating fake social media accounts in Farsi to foment unrest in Iran; financing Iranian opposition groups; and publicizing accusations, real or fictitious, against senior Iranian officials to turn them against one another.


NOVEMBER 13, 20184 E C O N O M Y

1 Mentioning the U.S. sanctions on Iran and its effect on transport, Bakran said “I am sure that there will be no problem between Iran and the EU despite U.S. sanc-tions and its restrictions on Iran.”

During the workshop, PMO’s Managing Director, Mohammad Rastad presented Iran’s significant potentials and capabilities in mari-time transportation areas to the audience.

According to the official, the Islamic Re-public of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) is among the world’s Top 100 shipping companies and

IRISL currently accounts for 1.1 percent of the world’s total shipping capacity.

“With 5,800 kilometers of sea borders, Iran currently has 230 million tons capacity of commodity transportation in northern and southern ports”, he said.

Rastad further noted that over 300 million tons of crude oil and non-oil commodities were loaded and unloaded at Iran’s ports during the last Iranian calendar year (March 2017- March 2018).

Attended by representatives of the Euro-pean Commission and high ranking officials from Iran’s transport sector, the Workshop

on Ports, Maritime and Logistics kicked off on Monday in Tehran.

1 Oil demand and a broken cycleAfter pumping at their highest levels for over four months,

Saudi Arabia and U.S. producers had to face the fact that there might not be enough demand for their oil in the markets.

The rising trade tensions between U.S. and China, rising interest rates and currency weakness in emerging markets have raised concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth and consequently in oil demand.

So getting back to the starting point [safe to say in a broken cycle], Saudi’s begun to believe that, once again, the markets were moving toward a glut and even with the cuts in Iranian output, the markets didn’t have the appetite for the new oil flows.

Consequently, in their latest gathering in Abu Dhabi, OPEC+, announced that the current situation “may require new strate-gies to balance the market.”

Gathered for their 11th meeting on Sunday, the OPEC-Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) an-nounced that “the Committee reviewed current oil supply and demand fundamentals and noted that 2019 prospects point to higher supply growth than global requirements, taking into account current uncertainties.”

Following the meeting, Saudi Arabia announced its plans to reduce oil supply to world markets by 0.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, Reuters reported on Monday.

Iran sanctions and the exemptionsFacing resistance from Saudi Arabia for pumping more oil

and pressured by high oil prices, the U.S. government had no choice but to soften their stance against Iran and let go of its “zero Iranian oil” dream.

So, just few days before OPEC+ meeting, when there were talks of a new strategy for cutting output, the U.S. government

announced that it has agreed to let eight countries, includ-ing China, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and India to continue buying Iranian oil.

With the new waivers coming to effect, a significant amount of the cuts in Iran’s oil exports will be compensated.

The impacts on Iran’s oil industrySo far, affected by the U.S. sanctions, Iran’s oil exports have

fallen from an average of more than 2.5 million barrels per day to around 1.5 million bpd in recent weeks.

This means currently near 1 million bps of Iranian crude oil has been wiped from the markets and Iran is currently selling a lot less than what it used to sell before the re-imposition of the sanctions.

So how big the effect of these cuts could project on the country’s economy?

First of all, the oil revenues envisaged in Iran’s current budget for Iranian calendar year 1397 (March 2018-March 2019) is estimated to be 1.01 quadrillion rials (near $26.5 bil-lion) planned based upon $55 oil. This means under a $55 scenario, for this amount of oil revenues to be realized, Iran should sell 2.410 million barrels per day of oil up to March 2019.

What should be taking into consideration here, is the fact that since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2018), average oil price has been at least over $60 and according to Reuters ship tracking data, Iran has been export-ing 2.5 million barrels of oil and condensate on average during this time span, that is about 400,000 barrels more than what is expected in the country’s budget.

As for the current oil prices, according to the Reuters’ latest report on Sunday, after Saudi Arabia announced a decision for cutting their output by 500,000 bpd in December and

considering the U.S. announcement regarding the waivers over Iran sanctions, oil is currently being traded at over $70 per barrel that is still over $15 more than the price based on which Iran’s budget is set.

Aside from the increase which is due to come from the resumption of purchases by the exempted countries, Iranian crude exports are also keeping steady with the demand staying strong in the EU. European buyers including Italy, France, Spain and Croatia continuing their intakes even after announcement of the sanctions.

This indicates that even at the current levels, and even without considering the barrels which are going to be back to Iranian oil exports due to the waivers for the mentioned eight countries, the U.S. sanctions are not having as a severe impact on Iran’s economy and oil industry as they were supposed to.

Let’s not forget the country’s ample domestic storage which can easily absorb the barrels that are not exported. Previously, when the U.S. and EU imposed sanctions on Iran, the country put almost 50 million barrels of crude and condensates on floating storage between 2012 and January 2016.

Meanwhile, the country’s refineries have also been picking up in the past few months. Iran’s gasoline production has surged 50 percent over the last 12 months, with further increases to come, according to the oil ministry.

In the end, considering the global supply and demand pat-terns, the trade tensions between the U.S. and China and with OPEC+ considering new cuts to be executed in 2019, as well as U.S.’ recent waivers over Iran sanctions, we can see that the odds are quite slim for U.S. sanctions having a significant impact on the Islamic Republic’s economy and its oil industry in the long run.

COMMODITIES

CURRENCIES

STOCK MARKET

USD 42,000 rialsEUR 48,494 rials

GBP 55,053 rials

AED 11,379 rials

TEDPIX 182211.7IFX 1986.18

WTI $60.54/b

Brent $71.05/b

OPEC Basket $70.68/b

Gold $1,207.9/oz

Silver $14.16/oz

Platinium $855/oz

Sources: tse.ir, Ifb.ir

Source: iribnews.ir

Sources: oilprice.com, Moneymetals.com

TEHRAN — The 13th International Auto Parts Exhibition of Iran, which kicked off on

Monday, is hosting 190 foreign companies from 11 countries, IRNA reported.

Besides the companies from France, Greece, Turkey, China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Italy, Poland, Malaysia and Ro-mania, he four-day event is also hosting 510 Iranian exhibitors.

Some countries such as Turkey, China, Taiwan, South Ko-rea and India have set up their country’s group pavilion in the international exhibit, which is being held at the Tehran Permanent International Fairground.

E C O N O M Yd e s k

N E W S I N B R I E FTehran hosting 190 foreign firms in intl. auto parts exhibition

‘EU to continue transport co-op with Iran despite U.S. sanctions’

E N E R G Yd e s k


NOVEMBER 13, 20184 A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Second Announcement

Extension of INTERNATIONAL TENDER NO. 97-04/141Tender Holder: ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING (IRIB)

Subject of Two-Stage Tender: Supply of System Equipment HEVC HEAD END (Ground Communications Department General) according to the tender documents

Deadline of Receiving Documents: As of publishing second announcement of advertisement latest by the business hour dated on Sunday Nov. 18 , 2018 .

Place of Receiving Documents: Secretariat of Tenders’ Commission, Technical Purchasing (KALA) Dept., Media Technology and Development Deputy Office, Bldg. No. 2, IRIB, Jam-e Jam St., Vali-e Asr Ave., Tehran

Type and Amount of Guarantee for Participating in Tender: The amount of USD 55,995 which should be in the form of extendable bank guarantee

Time and Place of Delivering Priced Bid:The sealed A, B & C packages/envelopes should be submitted within one main envelope marked with tender number no later than 15 p.m. on Tuesday Dec. 18, 2018 and submitted to the Secretariat of Commission of Tenders.

Time and Place of Opening Envelopes The date of opening envelopes A&B is at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday Dec. 22, 2018 in the office of Vice President of IRIB Planning and Financial Resources and opening of envelope C will be after technical evaluation. It should be noted that bidders should hold license from the authorized bodies.

For more information, please contact the following phone numbers: 0098-21-22166313It is obvious that cost of publishing two advertisements shall be borne by the winner of tender.

Public Relations Dept. of IRIB

IN THE NAME OF GOD ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN BROADCASTING

China says will further open up its

economy, slams rising protectionism

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday Beijing will further open up its economy in the face of rising protectionism, as he headed for meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore that are expected to focus on trade tensions.

Li’s remarks in an article in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, ahead of his arrival in the city-state later in the day, came as Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for more regional integra-tion, saying multilateralism was under threat from political pressures.

“China has opened its door to the world; we will never close it but open it even wider,” Li said in the article, in which he called for an “open world economy” in the face of “rising protectionism and unilateralism”. He did not directly refer to China’s bruising trade war with the United States.

Notably absent from this week’s meetings is U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said several exist-ing multilateral trade deals are unfair, and has railed against China over intellectual property theft, entry barriers to U.S. businesses and a gaping trade deficit.

Vice President Mike Pence will attend instead of Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are among those also expected to join Li and the ten-member member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

It was not clear if Li and Pence will hold separate talks on the sidelines of the meetings, which would be a prelude to a summit scheduled between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the month in Buenos Aires.

The encounter, if it happens, would come on the heels of high-level talks in Washington where the two sides aired their main differences but appeared to attempt controlling the damage to relations that has worsened with tit-for-tat tariffs in recent months.

Meanwhile, in remarks at a business summit on Monday ahead of this week’s meetings, Singapore PM Lee said:

“ASEAN has great potential, but fully realising it depends on whether we choose to become more integrated, and work resolutely towards this goal in a world where multilateralism is fraying under politi-cal pressures”.

Lee has previously warned that the U.S.-China trade war could have a “big, negative impact” on Singapore, and the city-state’s central bank has warned it could soon drag on the economy.

Both Singapore and China are expected to rally support for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact now being negotiated, show-cased to be the free trade deal that will encompass more than a third of the world’s GDP.

The pact includes 16 countries, including China, India, Japan and South Korea, but not the United States. Li said China would work to “expedite” RCEP negotiations this week. (Source: Reuters)

The impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil industry, market in focus

Disappointing third-quarter earnings another blow to battered European marketEuropean companies are delivering their most disappointing earnings in nearly three years as a sluggish economy and rising costs take their toll on bottom lines, dealing another blow to investor confidence shaken by Italy’s budget crisis and Brexit.

Stocks have seen sharp swings on results days as firms reveal the damage wrought by higher trade tariffs and weaker global demand against a backdrop of sliding equity markets and ris-ing volatility.

Some of Europe’s biggest companies, from cement makers and car manufacturers to engineering firms and airlines, warned of weaker margins.

“Macro momentum did roll over more than people had an-ticipated and I think that is coming through in the (earnings) numbers,” said Caroline Simmons, deputy head of the UK in-vestment office at UBS Wealth Management.

The rate of earnings beats so far this earnings season is its weakest since the fourth quarter 2015 results, I/B/E/S Refinitiv data shows.

Many investors had hoped a solid corporate earnings season would help offset a slew of political and macro economic chal-lenges across the region from Rome’s budget crisis to London’s struggle to clinch a Brexit deal. The STOXX 600 is on track for its worst year since 2011.

But analysts have slashed their earnings estimates for the STOXX 600 at their fastest pace since July 2016. Downgrades started well before the earnings season even started three weeks ago, suggesting that confidence was already low.

“The biggest reason why the Q3 earnings season has felt weaker than usual is the absence of very good results rather than significantly more big misses than usual,” said Morgan Stanley analysts. (Source: Reuters)

European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport Maja Bakran Marcich speaking in the Workshop on Ports, Maritime and Logistics in Tehran on Monday

NIOC to continue selling oil at IRENEX

TEHRAN — Selling crude oil at Iran En-ergy Exchange (IRENEX) will be continued,

Saeed Khoshrou, director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), announced.

The official mentioned offering of one billion barrels of crude oil at IRENEX as a successful trial procedure, Shana reported on Monday.

On October 28, just few days before new U.S. sanctions on Iran’s petroleum sector took effect (November 4), NIOC could sell some 280,000 barrels of crude oil at $74.85 per barrel on the first day of offering crude oil for export at the international ring of IRENEX. With the daily supply amount of one million barrels per day, the market wrapped up by selling eight 35,000-barel-cargos of oil on the day.

And on Sunday, NIOC sold 700,000 barrels of light crude oil at IRENEX at the price of $64.97 per barrel. The set price for this round of oil sales was $71.59 per barrel.

The energy market is basically exports-oriented and has the capacity to increase Iranian oil customers both domestically and internationally. Price setting relies on the base price determined by NIOC according to global prices. Receiving a trading code, foreign companies can purchase oil cargos from IRENEX. By now, over 100 trading codes have been received by foreign customers at IRENEX which could be used to purchase oil cargoes and oil products. The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) pre-serves the customers’ data from all across the world confidential.

5I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

E N E R G Y

North Dakota oil prices set to weaken further amid pipe, rail constraints

Oil groups budget just 1% of spending to green projects

Bakken crude prices are set to weaken from already low levels in coming months, with the frigid winter in North Dakota likely to disrupt rail loadings and worsen bottlenecks as production soars, traders and executives said.

U.S. oil producers ramped up produc-tion in the nation’s third-largest oilpatch, boosting crude output to a record 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, overwhelming pipelines and rail cars.

The region’s pipeline capacity is just 1.25 million bpd, per market intelligence firm Genscape, forcing producers in North Dakota to rely on less efficient rail, which could face difficulties oper-ating in the winter. In addition, nearby Canadian producers also grappling with bottlenecks are pushing more oil into the United States, worsening the constraints.

Bakken crude traded at a record $20-per-barrel discount to U.S. crude futures WTC-BAK last week, and last traded at a $13.50-per-barrel discount on Friday.

Refinery maintenance exacerbated the discounts but as work wraps up, prices could find some support, company executives said.

Discounts on Bakken oil are nothing new, due to capacity constraints that forced refiners to rely on rail. The start-up of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline in 2017 changed that, but record production is straining capacity again.

“That basin is flush with barrels and there’s no way out,” Rick Hessling, senior vice president at U.S. refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp, said in an earnings call last week, adding that winter will make rail loadings more difficult. “We kind of see that as a perfect storm.”

Dakota Access pipeline was full in October, according to Genscape’s latest

data, while one of the other major lines had an 85 percent utilization rate.

North Dakota’s crude production typically is not affected enough to lift prices the winter, but rail operations face severe challenges in the frigid weather, said John Zanner, crude analyst at RBN Energy.

“Winter weather makes crude-by-rail operations much more difficult. You have stuff freeze up, especially in North Dakota,” Zanner said.

Energy Transfer LP plans to expand the Dakota Access pipeline system to as much as 570,000 bpd from about 525,000 bpd currently.

New pipeline and refining projects have been announced, but takeaway capacity will remain tight in the near-term as they get completed, analysts said. That is more apparent after a judge halted construction on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, potentially adding to a supply glut.

Several Canadian producers have al-ready announced production cuts due to bottlenecks, but that is not enough. “We’re going to need curtailment and higher rail capacity,” one trader at a merchant said.

(Source: Reuters)

Oil rose by more than 1 percent on Monday, set for its largest one-day increase in a month after Saudi Arabia said OPEC and its partners believed demand was softening enough to warrant an output cut of 1 million barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, said on Sunday it would cut its shipments by half a million barrels per day in December due to seasonal lower demand.

Brent crude futures rose 92 cents on the day to $71.10 a barrel by 0924 GMT, while U.S. crude futures rose 50 cents to $60.69 a barrel.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday OPEC and its partners agree that technical analysis shows a need to cut oil supply next year by around 1 million bpd from October levels to avoid an unwelcome build-up of unused crude.

“The balances for 2019 do show, especially in the first half of the year, that there will be significant global oversupply,” Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency release their respective

monthly reports on the outlook for oil supply and demand later this week.

“OPEC and the IEA are releasing their updates to the oil market this week and the outlook for 2019 was already on the weak side. I think those reports are going to be even

weaker because they will have to adjust for the increase in U.S. production,” Jakob said.

The oil price has fallen by around 20 percent in the last month, driven lower by a rapid increase in global supply and the threat of a slowdown in demand, especially from

those customers, such as India, Indonesia and China, whose currencies have weakened against the dollar and eroded their purchasing power.

Production from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States alone has risen by 1.05 million bpd in the last three months, based on official output figures.

This has left OPEC scrambling to adjust its own output, which, at around 33.3 million bpd, accounts for roughly a third of total global daily supply.

An official from group member Kuwait said on Monday major oil exporters over the weekend had “discussed a proposal for some kind of cut in (crude) supply next year”, although the official did not provide any detail.

One of OPEC’s biggest problems right now is the surge in U.S. output.

“One thing that is abundantly clear, OPEC is in for a shale shocker as U.S. crude production increased to a record 11.6 million barrels per day and will cross the 12 million threshold next year,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.

(Source: Reuters)

Saudi Arabia expressed the need for oil producers to cut 1 million barrels a day from October levels and announced fewer shipments from next month, as OPEC and its allies began laying the groundwork to reduce oil supply in 2019, reversing an almost year-long expansion.

Saudi Energy will export 500,000 fewer barrels a day in December than this month, taking the lead in OPEC to counter the price rout battering the finances of group members and energy companies alike. While a meeting with other producers on Sunday yielded no change in supply policy, OPEC+ warned in a statement that it might need “new strategies,” raising the prospect of a wider and co-ordinated cut in 2019.

“We are going to do everything we can to keep invento-ries and supply demand fundamentals within a reasonably narrow band around balance, and we believe markets will calm down,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Monday in a speech at an industry event in Abu Dhabi. “We are not in the business of pinpointing a price going forward.”

Oil collapsed into a bear market in little more than a month, and pressure is mounting on the OPEC+ group to act sooner than their policy meeting in December. The producers need prices that are high enough to balance their budgets and low enough to stimulate demand and shield themselves from attacks from the White House, all while they contend with wild swings in supply as sanctions hit OPEC member Iran.

Although there are signs of a glut emerging in the U.S., the Saudi minister said Sunday it was too early to talk about coordinated production cuts within OPEC+. Counterparts from Russia and the United Arab Emirates echoed that sentiment. Oman, a smaller member of the group, had said earlier it would support a cut by consensus of 1 million barrels a day.

Iranian lossesThe group’s caution arises partly from the unpredictability

of Iranian supply. The U.S. at first insisted it would seek to curtail all of the country’s exports, only to grant waivers to eight of its customers just as Washington reimposed

sanctions this month. That confounded a market that was anticipating a stricter enforcement.

“With Iranian waivers coming in higher than anyone expected, Saudi Arabia is acting responsibly by reducing its production that it had earlier brought online to offset possible Iranian losses,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd, a consultant in London.

The committee that oversees the 2016 OPEC+ agreement to manage supply met Sunday in Abu Dhabi. “The committee reviewed current oil supply and demand fundamentals and noted that 2019 prospects point to higher supply growth than global requirements,” it said in a statement. Weaker global economic growth “could lead to widening the gap between supply and demand.”

“OPEC+ nations sent a clear signal they are concerned rising supply and weaker demand may keep pushing oil prices down,” said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York. “While Saudi Arabia is cutting back output in December, the group may wait to see how Iranian supply and other variables play out before it is able to agree on collective action to prop up prices.”

Oil pricesBrent crude, the global benchmark, rose 1.2 percent to

$70.99 a barrel at 10:55 a.m. Singapore time. Futures are still down about 18 percent from a 2014 high reached early last month. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. marker, climbed 0.9 percent to $60.75, paring its losses after falling into a bear market last week.

While current crude prices are still higher than a year ago, they’re well below what Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget. Russia, by contrast, is in a more comfortable position, and Energy Minister Alexander Novak showed no sign he was ready to act immediately. The market should be balanced by the middle of next year, though there are forecasts for a surplus of 1 million to 1.4 million barrels a day, he said.

“I think it all comes down to Russia,” said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Market LLC. “They seem to be sitting squarely on the fence about pulling the barrels back.”

Saudi Arabia may also struggle to convince other pro-ducers to follow its lead. Iraq has successfully boosted production to a record, and its more fragile economy may make it loathe to reverse course.

Al-Falih said that demand for Saudi crude was weaker for the first time since the kingdom started boosting production in the May-June period. If Riyadh reduces daily exports by 500,000 barrels next month, it would effectively wipe out most of the production increases of the last six months. Saudi Arabia will cut production as well as exports, he said.

“Ideally, we don’t like to cut,” Al-Falih said. “We will only cut if we see a persistent supply glut emerging, quite frankly. We’re seeing some signs of this coming out of the U.S. We have not seen the signs globally, nor can we predict that they will persist into 2019.”

Russia’s Novak said it’s “hard to say” if oil markets will be over-supplied next year. “We need to wait some time, to see how the market develops,” he told reporters. Russia is currently pumping about 10,000 to 20,000 barrels a day below October levels, and demand from customers is “fairly stable,” Novak said.

(Source: Bloomberg)

The world’s biggest energy companies are spending only a fraction of their investment budgets on low-carbon pro-jects, even as the oil and gas industry comes under fire for its contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions.

European companies such as Total, Shell, Equinor and Eni are among those spending the most on low-carbon invest-ments, but the industry on aggregate allocated just 1.3 percent of its total 2018 capital expenditure to these ventures.

The figure is in a new report from environmental non-profit and invest-ment research provider CDP, which has ranked 24 companies by their prepar-edness for a global transition towards cleaner fuels.

European energy majors, which are pivoting towards less-polluting gas, set-ting climate-related targets and investing in low-carbon technologies, ranked the highest in building resilience. China’s Cnooc and Sinopec, Russia’s Rosneft, and Marathon Oil of the U.S. were at the bottom of the list of 24.

“The shift to a low-carbon econo-my presents the question of what role oil and gas companies will play,” said Luke Fletcher, senior analyst at CDP. “Companies are now facing increasing scrutiny from investors.”

Shareholders have put pressure on energy companies to take responsibility for the sector’s role in contributing to global warming. Even as a number of companies have launched initiatives to cut gas flaring, reduce methane emissions and set long-term ambitions to reduce their net carbon footprint, environmental advocates and investors do not believe they have gone far enough.

Increased investor scrutiny has come as oil and gas players are grappling with

how to invest in greener investments when they are not as profitable as their traditional fossil fuel businesses.

Investors are also pushing companies to invest in projects that will be eco-nomically resilient as the world shifts towards greener energy and provide disclosures of the risks posed by global warming for investor returns and fi-nancial stability.

Energy majors are recovering after a multiyear oil downturn that forced companies to cut costs, pay down debt and rein in spending. As crude prices and cash flows pick up again investors are demanding that they divert invest-ments into clean energy.

Big producers have warned that forc-ing companies to pull back spending on traditional oil and gas projects in favor low-carbon investments or flexible U.S. shale production will only threaten ener-gy security and create supply shortages.

“Renewables are growing at a re-markable rate,” BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley said last month, adding they could supply about a third of the energy mix by about 2040. “But we still need to meet the remaining two-thirds of demand.”

(Source: Financial Times)

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Oil rises after Saudi warns weaker demand may warrant new output cuts

Canada eyes new ways to move stranded crude Canada’s biggest railroad says it is attracting interest from oil producers in its effort to move crude in solid, puck-like form, as clogged pipelines divert more oil to riskier rail transport.

Congested pipelines have stranded much of Canada’s crude in Alberta, driving discounts to record-high levels. Canadian heavy crude traded on Friday for less than one-third of the U.S. benchmark light oil price.

The latest blow to the sector landed on Thursday, when a U.S. court ruled construction must stop on TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline.

Pipeline pressure has pushed more crude onto trains owned by Canadian National Railway Co and smaller rival Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. But crude movement by rail is costly and prone to spills and sometimes disastrous accidents, such as the 2013 derailment at Lac Megantic, Quebec that killed dozens of people.

Enter CN’s patented Canapux product, which is solidified crude encased in plastic, named to evoke the country’s most popular sport, hockey. The railroad argues that solid crude, never before commercially shipped in the world, can be transported more cheaply, efficiently and with less environmental risk than liquid crude in tank cars. Since it floats, Canapux is easier to recover from a spill into a water body.

Interest from crude producers, buyers and transport companies picked up after a Canadian court in August overturned Ottawa’s approval for the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion, said James Cairns, CN’s vice-president of petroleum and chemicals.

“There have been a lot more discussions about, ‘How do we get this done?’” Cairns said. “Conversations are much more ad-vanced than they were.”

CN is seeking commercial partners to build a pilot plant that will process 10,000 barrels per day of undiluted heavy crude into Canapux.

The plant, to be built either at the Alberta crude storage hub around Edmonton or on an oil producer’s site, is estimated to cost less than C$50 million ($37.8 million). It could be running as soon as 2020, Cairns said.

CN’s oil pucks would move in gondola cars, which weigh less than tank cars, allowing the railroad to load them with more crude. They also do not require diluent, an ultra-light oil that is mixed with crude when it is shipped in liquid form by rail or pipeline.

As a result, Canapux’ shipping costs would knock off nearly half the expense of rail transportation in liquid form, according to CN.

Other entrepreneurs have pursued similar ideas for several years, from semi-solid blobs to pellets.

Alberta inventor Cal Broder said two refineries in China are interested in his BitCrude product, which he intends to produce from bitumen. He plans a test shipment of several containers of his butter-like crude to Asia before year-end.

Both BitCrude and Canapux still require government regulatory approvals. Success of either product also hinges on convincing oil refineries to make changes needed to convert solid crude back to liquid for processing. (Source: Reuters)

Saudis see need to cut oil output by 1 million barrels a day

Permian drillers prepare to go into overdrive in 2019 In recent months, pipeline capacity shortage in the Permian has been the center of shale drillers and oil analysts’ attention as much as the surging production from this fastest-growing U.S. oil region that has helped total American crude oil production to exceed 11 million bpd for the first time ever.

Many of the big U.S. companies—including supermajors Exxon and Chevron—boosted their Permian oil production in the third quarter as they have firm capacity commitments and integrate Permian production with downstream operations.

Many smaller drillers, however, are going on a ‘frac holiday’—as Carrizo Oil & Gas said in its Q3 earnings release this week—in some of their Permian acreage by the end of this year, to sit out the worst of the pipeline constraints, and to be ready to return to completions next year.

The majority of company executives and industry analysts expect that the Permian bottlenecks and the wide WTI Midland to Cushing price differential are transitory issues that will go away by the end of 2019, when many of the new pipelines out of the Permian will have started operations.

Until then, some smaller drillers like Carrizo are on a ‘frac holiday’ this month and next. Commenting on the Q3 performance, Carrizo’s President and CEO S.P. “Chip” Johnson said that the company had been drilling more in the Eagle Ford than in the Permian in order to capture higher pricing from the Eagle Ford oil.

“We expect our activity to remain weighted to the Eagle Ford Shale until the second half of 2019, when we plan to begin moving rigs back to the Delaware Basin,” Johnson said. In the earnings call, he noted that the shift to the Eagle Ford “shielded us from the dramatic widening of differentials in the Permian Basin during the quarter.”

The Permian oil differentials are less of an issue for the bigger companies. Pioneer Natural Resources increased Q3 Permian pro-duction by 5 percent over Q2, benefiting from firm transportation contracts that helped it deliver 165,000 bpd of Permian oil to the Gulf Coast. Pioneer is also boosting firm transportation capacity to the Gulf Coast to 185,000 bpd this month. “Effective September 2018, Pioneer has no exposure to Midland oil pricing through 2020,” the company said this week.

Diamondback Energy has doubled its volume commitment to 100,000 bpd to the Gray Oak Pipeline expected to be in service by the end of 2019. Diamondback now has a total of 200,000 bpd volume commitment to new pipelines, including Gray Oak and EPIC Crude Oil Pipeline, it said in the Q3 earnings statement.

Most oil and gas firms expect the bottlenecks to have eased by the end of next year, according to the Third Quarter 2018 Dallas Fed Energy Survey. More than half, or 56 percent, of the 168 oil and gas executives surveyed in September 12–20 expect that new crude oil pipeline capacity will be enough to ease the current constraints by the end of next year. The other 44 percent see new capacity suf-ficient to ease the bottlenecks in 2020 or later. The most frequent response—selected by 27 percent of executives—was the fourth quarter of 2019, the second most frequent response was Q3 2019 and the third most frequent was Q1 2020.

A total of 70 percent of executives surveyed expect the oil price differentials between WTI Midland and Cushing to have a slightly negative impact on oil production growth in the Permian over the next six months. That’s compared to 17 percent who see significantly negative impacts, and 12 percent expect no impact.

Jeff Miller, CEO at Halliburton, the leading fracking services provider in the United States, said last month that the current softening of demand in North America—a combination of offtake capacity constraints and customers’ budget exhaustion—is a tem-porary issue. Permian constraints will be overcome by the end next year, Miller told Bloomberg TV earlier this week.

(Source: oilprice.com)

NOVEMBER 13, 20186I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL

ساعت: امضاء سردبیر: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: 17:00 امضاء صفحه آرا:

INTERNATIONALd e s k

TEHRAN — In a signifi-cant development that

augur well for Iran-Pakistan relations, the PTI government in Islamabad led by Imran Khan has decided to kick off discus-sions on Iran-Pakistan (I-P) gas pipeline project that got shelved by the previous government in 2016.

Pakistan’s minister for petroleum Ghu-lam Sarwar Khan has reportedly written to his Iranian counterpart seeking resumption of talks on the gas pipeline, also known as ‘peace pipeline’, which experts believe can prove instrumental in address Pakistan’s power crisis.

According to sources, an Iranian delegation is expected visit Islamabad by the end of this month or in the beginning of next month to hold talks with their Pakistani counterparts as part of a joint working group.

The joint working group level talks have assumed significance as it would be interesting to see how Pakistani government manages to evade U.S. sanctions to make headway on this important energy project.

“Pakistan has many options to address its energy crisis, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI), CASA-1000 and Qatar LNG projects to name a few,” said Raghib Hussain, a writer and researcher. “But one of the important projects that need to be revived is the Iran-Pakistan gap pipeline project. It is not simply a gas pipeline, but an energy lifeline for Pakistan.”

Pakistan and Iran had signed GSPA (gas sales purchase agreement) in 2009 during the

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government under the IP gas pipeline project. Iran had to lay down the pipeline on its side and Pakistan had to build the pipeline in its territory and the project was supposed to be completed by December 2014 and become operational by January 1, 2015.

However, the project never really took off, partly due to the U.S. sanctions under successive administrations in Washington. The successive governments in Islamabad

buckled under pressure.In 2016, the previous government headed

by Nawaz government shelved the project apparently due to pressure from Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies, since Sharif was considered close to Riyadh.

Taken aback by the decision to unilater-ally shelve the project, Iran had reportedly threatened to move the arbitration court against Islamabad, invoking penalty clause.

When Imran Khan led PTI government

assumed power few months ago, the project got a new lease of life, which was apparent from some of the statements given by Khan in the first few weeks, expressing his desire to cement ties with Iran and revive the stalled project.

A prominent Pakistani columnist com-menting on the reasons why Pakistan put the project on backburner and why it did not built a transmission line with Iran, said the reason was not hard to identify. “The U.S. and the (Persian) Gulf States were dead opposed to Pakistan improving its ties with Iran. Once again, politics had stumped eco-nomics,” he wrote.

But, under the new government in Paki-stan, the project is likely to take off, which will give much needed impetus to Pakistan’s relations with Iran. And, the decision to re-vive talks on the project is a good beginning, believe experts.

Mehdi Honardoost, Iranian envoy to Pakistan, speaking at an event in Islama-bad this week, said Pakistan and Iran are like brothers and the ‘hidden powers’ have always sought to destroy this brotherly relation. “Muslim Ummah is looking to-wards Pakistan and Iran to lead it out of the vulnerable conditions but we can do this when we are in long, uninterrupted and good relations,” he said.

The envoy said that bilateral trade between the two states has reached up to $1.3 billion from $500 million in the past two years. He said it will grow manifolds with bilateral ef-forts and understanding.

Iran, Pakistan to kick off discussions on stalled gas pipeline project

N E W S I N B R I E F


India-Russia deal under sanctions cloud

Pakistan, IMF start bailout talks

TEHRAN — Although India has managed to get a waiver from U.S. sanctions for pur-

chase of Iranian crude oil, there is still no word from the Trump administration on similar waiver for India’s ambitious deal with Moscow to purchase S-400 missile system worth $5.4 billion.

Both India and Russia signed the contract for supply of long- range surface to air missile system during Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin’s visit to India last month. However, the ominous shadow of U.S. sanctions has been hanging over the deal ever since.

According to reports in Indian media, quoting senior govern-ment officials, while India has demanded waiver on grounds that the negotiations of the deal happened before the CAATSA, any exemption by U.S. will only be known when Indian government makes the initial payment for the missile system.

India kept the Trump administration in confidence while signing the contract for purchase of S-400 systems. India’s De-fense minister Nirmala Sitharaman had pitched for a CAATSA waiver during her meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on October 19 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting plus in Singapore.

TEHRAN — Pakistan is expected to start policy-level meetings with the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) over the bailout program to maintain its foreign exchange reserves from Monday, according to reports. IMF’s senior economist Harald Finger will lead the talks which are scheduled to take place till November 20. Pakistan will be represented by secretary finance, chairman federal board of revenue (FBR) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Tariq Bajwa along with others.

IMF is expected to review the country’s monetary and fiscal policies as well as its monetary needs during the meet-ings. Moreover, SBP’s financial independence and FBR’s performance will also be reviewed, reports said.

On November 7, IMF team arrived in Pakistan after the Imran Khan led PTI government had approached them for loans. According to sources, Pakistan is likely to pitch for loans up to $6 billion.

Pakistan and the IMF mission, according to the report, will evolve agreement on memorandum of economic and financial policies and then sign of letter of intent to secure a 36-month extended fund facility loan.


Exemption of Chabahar project from U.S. sanctions win-win for India, Iran1 Meanwhile, the waiver will allow India to continue

importing oil from Iran. India aims to sign an initial agree-ment with Iran this month to settle their oil trade in rupees through UCO Bank, government sources were quoted by India’s official news agency PTI.

“We have to do some paper work. It should be signed as early as possible. We are aiming for this month,” one of the sources is quoted in the report.

India, which got a waiver from the latest U.S. sanctions against Tehran, had used a similar mechanism in previous round of sanctions but settled only 45 percent of the pay-ments in rupees.

Iran used the funds to import goods from India, a move that helped boost India’s exports to Tehran. Paying for Ira-nian oil in rupees will also strengthen the Indian currency against the US dollar.

Indian refiners will make payments in rupees for purchases of Iranian oil made since September, one of the sources said. Iran grants a 60 day credit period to Indian refiners.

Pertinently, India is Iran’s second largest buyer of oil. Iran’s share in India’s import volumes stands at 10.4 percent in the current financial year, and the recent developments indicate enhanced cooperation between the two countries, with New Delhi refusing to stop or cut oil imports from

Tehran despite overwhelming U.S. pressure.Iran was main supplier of crude oil to India even at the

peak of Western sanctions between 2012 and 2016. Although the volume of business was affected by the sanctions, the partnership did not break down.

During President Rouhani’s historic visit to India in Feb-ruary, the two countries with age-old historical, commercial and cultural ties had pledged to deepen bilateral ties and enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including energy, petroleum and gas. The two sides had also agreed on ‘rupee-rial mechanism’ to evade banking problems caused by the draconian U.S. sanctions.


NOVEMBER 13 , 2018 ANALYSIS & INTERVIEW

Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC) co-hosted “The First Joint Educa-tional Workshop” with the Cooperation of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea on October 29th at IRIB International Conference Center.

In this one-day workshop performed with the presence of the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, H.E Mr. Ryu, Jeong-Hyun and President of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives Mr. Bahman Abdollahi and also prominent Iranian and Korean lecturers which had focus on three key Topics: supply chain man-agement, international marketing, and e-commerce that are the main and important commercial challenges of most businesses. By the growing of human needs and according to changes in recent years in business methods and due to developing of new technologies, international market conditions are overpowered than traditional business and adaption to these new ways are con-sidered essential which even if powerful business and trades exclude themselves from these rules, they cannot stay in this competition for a long time and they will soon out.

The supply chain and manage-ment includes a set of internal and ex-ternal systematic activities of a company that systematically and with a compre-hensive view organizes and directs all business processes within the supply chain and the aim will be optimizing processes with minimum costs and maximum efficiency.

The International marketing is a process in which a business firm must decide on its marketing equation beyond its borders and coordinate the company’s marketing strategy around the world.

And finally, with the development of communication tools and Internet network and its impact on people’s lives, also the trade methods and rules

are affected by this issue, set new ways for business operators and the E-Com-merce debate was introduced which is a new topic that has great potentials. The emergence and development of this way of business is affected by factors such as cost reduction, time saving, the direct supply of goods from manufacturer to Consumer, lifestyle changes, and welfare of people and many other factors. In the subject of e-commerce, the seller’s and buyer’s relationship is out of the traditional way and forms in the context of the created technology. In this regard, all buy and sale operations are car-ried out online; that is, the Internet serves as an intermediary between consumers and producers / vendors that nowadays, we all struggle with. Of course we should mention that, this type of business also has a structured mechanism and it contains all the rules and regulations of commerce.

In this regard, this important joint event with the aim of promoting Iranian traders and cooperators’ skills and in-

creasing the interactive and more efficient interaction between the two countries to enter and survive in international markets and transferring Korean companies and business people’s knowledge and experi-ences regarding mentioned topics to their Iranian counterparts with considering the country’s leading role in these areas, it was held as an educational course.

The event lasted from 8am to 17pm and eventually ended with granting Certificate of participation.

With these current economic con-ditions in Iran and the internal and external crises and changing the way of trade and as the necessity of society for being in the global competition and markets, it is hoped that holding such workshops will be a turning point in improving the economy of Iran in the global arena.

To learn more about the details, our correspondent conducted an interview with Ambassador of the Republic of Ko-rea, H.E Mr. Ryu, Jeong-Hyun which comes as follows:

In the beginning, the ambassador

pointed to a joint seminar which was held with the cooperation of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC) and Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Tehran in the following three main topics: 1- Supply Chain Management, 2- E-Commerce and 3- International Marketing. He went on to say that these three topics seem connective very closely.

“Iranian Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC) is a very important and signifi-cant organization for Small- and Me-dium-Sized economies in Iran. The importance is the same in South Korea actually. My new president and ad-ministration puts great importance on boosting the medium-sized economies. As you know, some big companies in-cluding SAMSUNG, LG and Hyundai are the kind of important players of South Korean economy. They are leading our economy but at the same time, as men-tioned in above, South Korea has put a great importance on supporting policy

of Small- and Medium-Sized economies. Currently, more than eighty percent of our companies are small- and medi-um-sized enterprises (SMEs). I think, even though, their size and volumes are small, these small- and medium-sized enterprises are doing business with Iran. These companies have solid platform of trade. However, SMEs in South Korea can play a leading role in boosting trade relations with Iran in future. I share the same view with the president of the ICC Seminar. I think we can further develop the kind of Seminar and Conferences in the future.”

In response to a question on the potentials of cooperatives, he said that cooperatives play an important role in materializing most objectives of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). As mentioned in above, more than eighty percent of South Korean companies are cooperating directly with Iran within the framework of SMEs.

Mr. Ambassador, the theme of energy is very important. We have been badly affected by the global warming and this issue is not the matter of one country. Global warming has no boundary and it makes us to join our hands together in order to reduce the sped of warming. What is your opinion about this?

A: You are right. Some issues like global warming, environmental issues, we have to address it with each other. Both Iran and South Korea share geo-graphical similarity and commonalities. At the same time, we can address the issue precisely. We have to develop our further cooperation in this regard. We can take effective steps in order to solve global challenges. The two countries require to accelerate humanitarian assistance as well.

Holding the First Joint Workshop of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives and The Embassy

of the Republic of Korea in I.R. IRAN


ساعت: امضاء سردبیر: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: امضاء صفحه آرا:

NOVEMBER 13, 2018 ANALYSIS & INTERVIEW

By Javad HeiranniaEXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Bin Salman will step down: Hossein Askari

TEHRAN — Professor Hossein Askari, an expert on Saudi Arabia who also teaches in-ternational business at the George Washing-ton University, believes that with no doubt Mohammad bin Salman, ordered Khashoggi kidnapping, murder and disposal of the body.

“I don’t believe that MBS can survive,” Hossein Askari, who served as special advisor to Saudi finance minister, tells the Tehran Times.

Following is the text of the interview: What new facts are there in the

Khashoggi tragedy?A: Erdogan has released some of the tapes

surrounding what happened to Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate to the U.S., UK and Saudi Arabia among others. These tapes purportedly confirm the murder and dis-memberment of Khashoggi. I say some of the tapes because we don’t know what he has and what he has released.

Is there any evidence in the tapes or anywhere else connecting Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) to Khashoggi’s murder?

A: This is a red herring. Let me tell you why and with no doubt in my mind, Mohammad bin Salman, or MBS, ordered this kidnapping, murder and disposal of the body. Such ac-tions are not carried out unless ordered from the top. MBS is today the effective top man. This is the way Saudi Arabia works. There is no doubt about this. The U.S. knows it. The UK knows it. The hypocrisies of all these leaders is unbelievable. Let me repeat, MBS the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia ordered this horrific act and its every detail.

What are the inconsistencies in Saudi Arabia’s story of what happened to Khashoggi?

A: Where is the body? If the Saudis gave the body to a ‘collaborator’, where is the collaborator? Why did the Saudis send in a ‘cleaning’ crew? And above all, the Saudis have spewed out lie after lie. Even Trump, who is not exactly regarded as a man of truth, has said that the Saudis have engaged in a very bad cover up.

What does Erdogan say he wants from Saudi Arabia?

A: There are a number of things that Er-dogan has demanded. He wants the 15 or 18 people involved in this murder extradited to Turkey to stand trial. He wants the name of the so-called collaborator in Turkey that Saudi Arabia keeps alluding to. He wants Khashoggi’s body to further confirm what happened. But nothing. And given all these lies, how can anyone be expected to believe in the investigation that MBS is supposedly conducting?

Will the Saudis comply with Erdogan’s demands?

A: No. MBS cannot risk even letting one of the 15 or 18 and the Saudi Consul in Turkey who was a witness to it all leave Saudi Arabia for the foreseeable future. Why? Because they could tell all. This is one of the reasons supporting the assertion that MBS ordered every detail. If he had not, he would let them speak and tell all. He has to now keep all of the perpetrators in Saudi Arabia. There is no collaborator in Turkey so he cannot produce him or her. And as for Khashoggi’s body, I believe that it was cut up and dissolved

in acid. Why else would they send it such a cleaning crew?

What is Erdogan’s game? What does he really want?

A: Erdogan is playing a chess game. First he wants the U.S. to lift any and all sanctions on Turkey. He wants to extract a number of concessions from Trump for Turkey, including the military aircraft that he wants. And also he wants the U.S. to pressure a change in Saudi policies. That is to lift the embargo on Qatar, a Turkey ally. And to pressure Saudi Arabia to rescind most of its demands on Qatar. He wants to pressure Saudi Arabia directly and indirectly through the U.S. to be more accommodating towards the Mus-lim Brotherhood and reform in the Middle East and North Africa. Erdogan wants Saudi Arabia to change its regional policies and to give financial support to Turkey.

Erdogan wants to become the leader of the Muslim World. He wants to expose Saudi duplicity, injustice, corruption and ultimately its illegitimacy as the self-declared leader of the Muslim World. In this quest to become the leader of the Muslim World, Erdogan has to be careful. He cannot be accommodating

towards the U.S. and to Saudi Arabia and in the process alienate Muslims around the world. So he cannot compromise too much and forget his stated quest for justice and transparency.

How will this affair end? Will MBS stay in power? Will the Qatar embargo end? Will Turkey get Saudi financing? Will U.S. support for Saudi Arabia be curtailed?

A: I don’t believe that MBS can survive. How can the Al-Sauds pretend to be up-holders of the Islamic faith? The custodian of the two holy mosques? Their only claim to legitimacy is religion. Yes, they have freely taken from the country’s treasury to finance their lavish lifestyles but now under MBS they are being stripped naked of even more serious crimes—murder of a journalist, genocide in Yemen, the kid-napping of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, wholesale torture of political opponents, lies to the world and on and on. How can MBS be respected by any foreign leader and especially in the Muslim World? They must all be bought but Saudi Arabia does not have enough money! It is too embarrassing for Saudi Arabia and for all Muslims. The best that the rulers of Arabia can do is to at least replace MBS for 2 or 3 years until this whole affair has receded in the minds of all. And then bring him back.

Yes, the Qatar embargo will end within the next few months. This is a minimum concession that Saudi Arabia has to make.

Yes, the U.S. will have to walk back its over the top support for MBS and the Al-Sauds. But who knows what Kushner will do behind the scenes?”

What does this tragedy say about the future of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World?

A: Reform. Saudi Arabia will be nudged into more meaningful reforms than allow-ing women to drive. Muslims worldwide will be demanding representative governance, transparency, better policies and social and economic progress from their rulers. Khashog-gi’s death may turn out to be the spark for much-needed reform in the Muslim World, and especially in Saudi Arabia.

TEHRAN (FNA) — According to a new study by Brown University on the cost in lives of America’s Post-9/11 Wars, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, between 480,000 and 507,000 people were killed in the course of the three conflicts.

This includes combatant deaths and ci-vilian deaths in fighting and war violence. Civilians make up over half of the rough-ly 500,000 killed, with both opposition fighters and U.S.-backed foreign military forces each sustaining in excess of 100,000 deaths as well.

The report also notes that over 60,000 U.S. troops were either killed or wounded in the course of the wars. This includes 6,951 U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. According to the Brown study, these conflicts are “inhibited by governments determined to paint a rosy picture of perfect execution and progress.”

And by these governments it means Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and a host of others who continue to wage wars on Syria and Yemen, and who purchased U.S. arms to the tune of $192.3 billion in the year ending September 30 - a result of looser restrictions on sales coupled with high-level efforts to

close deals and prolong wars of choice amid international apathy and inaction.

This terrible situation will get worse, because President Donald Trump wants to make the U.S., already dominant in the global weapons trade, an even bigger arms mer-chant to the world, despite concerns among human rights and arms control advocates. This grandiose thinking in the Middle East is putting the entire world in danger too, and it has become deeply entangled with lingering resentments from the world community.

This is often stated explicitly. At the United Nations many members say it is very obvious that it’s exceptionally important for war-party Washington to accept that the reason they lost the war of choice in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen is because they were wrong, and because they chose a coalition of allies who are corrupt, who are allied with terror groups, who are extremely disliked by the nations they rule or invaded, and who symbolize all of the worst failings of the United Nations and humanity. If they inflate the importance of the purported Iran meddling in their affairs it is to excuse their painful defeat. They see Iran bashing as a way to undermine efforts to end America’s endless wars and support

for the tyrannical regimes.The evidence is overwhelming that Amer-

ica is still playing a very harmful role, an unacceptable role in the ongoing human-itarian crisis, and that playing at war with Iran through economic warfare is Trump’s way of helping the failing terrorist groups, appeasing disappointed allies, and also an effort to try to undermine in a significant way the anti-terror alliance of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Russia. The alliance is not, as they claim, a self-interest group relying only on its members. They are drawing support from the world community - unlike the U.S. which is loathed and isolated, which relies on fake news and reports from terror groups and media lackeys to claim otherwise.

Let us not forget that the dire situation across the region, marked by the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, fractured societies, proliferation of non-state actors, and unbelievable human suffering, could still be resolved through policy rever-sal and a surge in diplomacy for peace. In any true sense, it is America’s arms sales, misadventures, threats of new war, as well as the self-appointed roles as the warden of world order, the guarantor of other nations’

security, the shepherd of the world economy, and the custodian of the global commons, that can once again open the doors to foreign intervention and manipulation, breeding in-stability and sectarian bloodshed.

What is clear is that America’s one-man foreign policy and wars of choice are not the answer to the region’s never-ending woes. They only prolong the humanitarian crises for America’s regional designs and wishful thinking. This being the case, it falls upon the United Nations and the international civil society to step up their opposition to America’s wars of choice, sanctions and par-anoia upon the people of Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. They must help to put these failed states back on their feet again. It’s a responsibility for us all.

Perhaps President Trump thinks he is different. Perhaps he wants a fresh start only because his predecessors didn’t do well. Per-haps he thinks that America’s war machine and institutions are still superior in a multi-polar world. Whatever he thinks, it still doesn’t change the fact that he is doomed to repeat the same failed delusion and increasingly the same unenforceable foreign policy of his predecessors at huge humanitarian costs.

TEHRAN — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) announced the kickoff of Saudi Arabia’s massive Vision 2030 economic reform when implementation of these reforms required maximum stability and control of the country.

To reach the goal of “stability”, MBS adopted an invasive policy, marginalized his political rivals, silenced critics, and imprisoned political activists. However, the pursuit of the reforms intensified the challenges facing the Saudi gov-ernment about its identity and ideological underpinnings.

The House of Saud has been irrational in dealing with critics such as Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journal-ist. This has reinforced the assumption that Saudi Arabia is turning back to its traditional police state identity and does not intend to reform itself.

The war in Yemen, the embargo of Qatar and the scandal in Lebanon have underscored Saudi Arabia’s vulnerability and the problems it has in creating a secure environment while its power transformation, religious degeneration and burnout of ideology has led the country’s movement towards a police state.

The police state refers to regimes that deny fundamental freedoms to their people, especially a free press, freedom of expression and assembly. Such states control the actions and movements of their people with repressive police and the security forces that act in an arbitrary way.

The Saudi government’s murder of Khashoggi portrays a police state action. The Saudis also brutally suppress women’s rights activists, especially after the alleged reforms and then the disappearance of reform leaders. More liberal minded people like Khashoggi have often left the country.

The attempted transformation in Saudi Arabia began with changes to civil liberties for women, and the government sought to change its global image along with the economic and infrastructure development and to reduce dependence on oil revenues. However, despite western style symbolic reforms for women, such as driving rights, no plans were found for freedom of expression or the establishment of political organizations and the reduction of the constraints

on religious minorities, especially the Shiites. Meanwhile, the Saudi government has lost much of its

religious legitimacy, which used to be a priority. Implemen-tation of the reforms in a society that still supports a tribal and traditional culture and lacks proper infrastructure is shocking. In fact, the superficial social and economic re-forms in a society without first implementation of political reforms are fruitless. The ruling of an individual over the entire country instead of rule by a democratic and participatory election, in addition to the ambitious foreign policy of MBS in the West Asia region, has led to unbalanced domestic and foreign policies which have sparked a legitimacy crisis for the House of Saud and widened the gaps in the ruling family that will eventually lead to economic and social instability.

Although MBS reforms have pushed the country forward in some areas, the police state style of running the country has imposed a high cost to the Saudi government. Also, the Crown Prince’s attitude towards civil society and Saudi citizens and his disregard for Saudi issues, including the condition of women, workers and immigrants, the Shiites and human rights issues, could lead to the dismissal of MBS as the crown prince since his one-year tenure has been so rocky.

It seems that the United States wants to keep MBS in power, although Trump’s policy and his support of MBS are being criticized by some political analysts in the West. Some believe that involvement in incidents such as Khashoggi’s murder puts Riyadh at a distinct disadvantage and threatens the status quo rather than shores it up.

The enduring shame: U.S. wars killed 500,000 - and counting

Saudi Arabia, a dilemma over ruling colonial or police state

By Seyedeh Mahdieh Qoreishi

7

TEHRAN (Tasnim) — A prominent political expert based in the Italian city of Milan referred to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan’s policy toward Syria and said he is “playing a very complicated game” in the Arab country’s rebel-held province of Idlib.

“Erdogan is currently playing a very complicated game in Syria and Idlib,” Federico Pieraccini said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

Pieraccini is an independent freelance writer and political expert based in Milan, Italy. He specializes in international affairs, conflicts, politics, and strategies. He has covered conflicts in Ukraine, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.

The following is the full text of the interview: Turkey recently rejected Syrian government accusations that

it is not meeting its obligations under an agreement to create a demil-itarized zone around the insurgent-held Idlib region, saying the deal was being implemented as planned. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem had said that Turkey appeared unwilling to implement the deal. What is your opinion about the comments and the future of the Idlib province, which with adjacent areas is the last stronghold of insurgents?

A: The situation in Idlib remains frozen in terms of fighting and any government advances in terrorist-controlled areas. The de-es-calation zone agreement between Turkey, Russia, Iran and Syria has as its sole purpose the avoidance of a larger conflict involving these very countries attempting to drive terrorism from Syria and such countries as the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey that have been financing and arming militants in Syria over the last seven years.

The words used by Walid al-Moualem do not surprise those who have been following the aggression against Syria over the last few years and know very well Erdogan’s personal position on the mat-ter. Erdogan’s ambition is to recreate the Ottoman Empire, and this aspiration has guided Turkey’s foreign policy over the last several years, serving, in the end, only to lead the Arab country to a dead end. Idlib contains tens of thousands of militants who have no inten-tion of abandoning their fight against the Syrian people and Bashar al-Assad. It is an illusion to believe that Erdogan or Saudi Arabia can (or would want to) control these terrorists and direct them towards the path of moderation.

This ambition leaves one amazed at its scale as well as its lack of understanding of the general dynamics in the region. Erdogan is currently playing a very complicated game in Syria and Idlib. On the one hand, he needs to cooperate with Iran and Russia to maintain the ceasefire, thus avoiding the danger of government troops advancing into Idlib and pushing tens of thousands of militants into Turkey. On the other hand, Erdogan needs to nourish the dreams of glory for the militants in Idlib, who are disappointed by the outcome of the war but are reluctant to return home through Turkey. At the moment, the situation in the province remains frozen; that is at least until the next summit between the United States and Russia scheduled for November 11 in Paris.

A four-way summit on Syria recently ended in Turkey’s Istanbul without any major breakthrough. In a joint communique following their meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for “an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process” and said conditions needed to be created for the safe and voluntary return of refugees. The comments came as the summit was not attended by any Syrian groups. What do you think about the summit?

A: This summit represents quite a novelty in terms of those at-tending, namely the two European countries of France and Germany together with Russia and Turkey. The summit represents a desperate attempt by Berlin and Paris to continue to try and have influence in the Syrian process, although both countries are now irrelevant to the future of the Arab country. Macron and Merkel would also like to steer the reconciliation process towards the Geneva talks under the auspices of the United Nations rather than the Astana summit that involved Iran, Turkey and Russia. The summit represents a new diplomatic success for the Russian Federation, in the wake of the meetings organized in Sochi with the Syrian opposition.

The summit with the two European countries represents a tran-sition phase during which time the four parties can confront each other to present their concerns and desires. For France, and especially Germany, the issue of refugees and fighting terrorism is a matter of primary importance, especially in relation to the search for a domestic consensus on immigration and counter-terrorism policies. In this sense, Turkey and Russia above all have everything to gain in terms of international visibility linked to the ongoing diplomatic process.

The absence of Syrian representatives at the summit shows that the Russian Federation has a broad mandate to represent the interests of Damascus in negotiations with international partners, highlighting the trust and personal understanding between Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. Syria’s sovereignty belongs to the Syrian people, and nobody intends to question this principle, especially Putin, who has made the defense of the national interests of his country a cor-nerstone of his presidency.

Iran, Russia, and Turkey - the three guarantor states of de-es-calation zones in Syria - have held several rounds of peace talks in Kazakhstan’s Astana and elsewhere to help end the conflict in the Arab country. The fourth round of those talks in May 2017 produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria, sharply reducing fighting in the country. What is your assessment of the parallel talks between the three countries on the Syrian crisis and Tehran’s role in the peace process?

A: The role of Iran and Russia in Syria has been paramount. The Russian Federation mainly relies on six means of assisting its Middle Eastern allies: through aerospace and naval forces, missile strikes, air defense, electronic warfare, and diplomacy. For Iran, the situation is different, as the Islamic Republic contributes a great deal in relations to land operations and ground troops that directly fight against mili-tants in Syria. Without Iran and Hezbollah’s contribution, Damascus would hardly have achieved the progress seen so far.

The strength of the Iranian and Russian duo, in addition to sharing tasks equally in terms of military assistance, is in having the strong ability to mediate complicated situations with numerous actors. Through the Astana summit, Moscow and Tehran were able to place strong pressure on Turkey that allowed them to obtain the best possible conditions for Syria and its people. The creation of the de-escalation areas was a temporary measure that allowed Russia, Iran and Syria to organize troops and priorities, reorienting the country’s liberation strategy against terrorism. It worked amazingly well, with Idlib re-maining within about 12 months the only significant de-escalation area yet to be liberated from the scourge of terrorism.

Thanks to the combined military and diplomatic efforts of Iran and Russia, Damascus can now begin thinking about the necessary reconstruction of the country. And it here where the role of the Peo-ple’s Republic of China will be of crucial importance for the future of Syria and the region.

Erdogan playing very complicated game in Syria’s Idlib: Italian analyst

NOVEMBER 13, 20188I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

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H E A L T HNOVEMBER 13, 2018

Exposure to a high level of noise on a regular basis can wreak havoc on the cardiovascular system, according to new research.

A new study examines the impact of chronic noise on heart health.

The leader of the study was Dr. Azar Radfar, Ph.D., a research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The findings will be presented at Scientific Sessions 2018, held by the American Heart Association (AHA) in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Radfar›s team found that noise ex-posure causes an elevated stress response in the human brain.

This can lead to inflammation in the blood vessels, which can cause serious health prob-lems, including a heart attack or stroke.

The research included 499 participants, who were free from cardiovascular disease and cancer at the study›s start.

Noise and cardiovascular eventsThe participants underwent positron

emission tomography (PET) and CT scans of their brains and blood vessels. The re-searchers also looked at the activity of the amygdala, a region of the brain that regulates stress and emotional response.

The team estimated participants› regular exposure to noise by comparing their home addresses with data from the United States Department of Transportation›s National Transportation Noise Map, which includes information about levels of roadway and aviation noise.

Years later, the researchers examined the participants› medical records for evidence of cardiovascular events. Of the 499 origi-nal participants, 40 had experienced a heart attack or stroke in the 5 years that followed the initial testing.

After analyzing the data, the team dis-covered that participants with the highest

levels of noise exposure also had the most noticeable stress-related brain activity. In addition, they had more inflammation in their arteries.

Increased blood vessel inflammation is a well-established risk factor for heart disease, so finding a link between this inflammation and cardiovascular events was no surprise.

However, participants with the most stress-related brain activity were more than three times as likely to experience a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke.

Even after accounting for other risk factors, such as air pollution, smoking, and diabetes, the team concluded that participants exposed to higher levels of noise pollution had an

increased risk of cardiovascular events.“A growing body of research reveals an

association between ambient noise and car-diovascular disease, but the physiological mechanisms behind it have remained unclear,” explains Dr. Radfar, adding, “We believe our findings offer an important insight into the biology behind this phenomenon.”

Heart healthCardiovascular health is an extremely

important topic of study. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is responsible for around 1 in 4 deaths in the U.S., or about 610,000 deaths each year.

Many elements can increase the likelihood of developing heart disease. While we cannot control some risk factors, such as age, we can influence our overall risk to a certain extent.

Tobacco smoke, physical inactivity, and being overweight are three risk factors that a person can avoid. By following a healthful diet, quitting smoking, and exercising, it is possible to reduce the chances of developing heart disease.

Stress can also increase cardiovascular risk, as can alcohol consumption. In addition, people with diabetes or high blood pressure have a higher risk.

What are the next steps?Determining whether decreasing noise

exposure can reduce the risk of heart disease will require further research. The study›s authors urge doctors to consider high noise levels as an independent risk factor for car-diovascular events.

While simply moving away from an area with noise pollution is usually not an option, the authors urge their readers to consider ways to decrease high levels of ambient noise.

(Source: SG Talk)

Chronic noise can impact heart health

Even after accounting for other risk factors, such as air pollution, smoking, and diabetes, the team concluded that participants exposed

to higher levels of noise pollution had an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health crisis. In this Spotlight feature, we look at the use of antibiotics in animals and its consequences for human health, covering research presented recently at the London Microbiome Meeting.

Crowded farms contribute to disease transmission among animals, which, in turn, boosts the use of antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance poses a serious threat to public health, both in the United States and globally.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antibiotic resistance is responsible for 25,000 annual deaths in the European Union and 23,000 annual deaths in the U.S. As many as 2 million U.S. individuals develop a drug-resistant infection each year.

By the year 2050, some researchers predict that antibiotic resistance will cause 10 million deaths every year, surpassing cancer as the leading cause of mortality worldwide.

Some of the factors that have led to this crisis include the overprescription of antibiotics, poor sanitation and hygiene practices in hospitals, and insufficient laboratory tests that can detect an infection quickly and accurately.

An additional factor that may contribute to drug resistance in humans is the overuse of antibiotics in farming and agriculture. Using antibiotics in animals may raise the risk of transmitting drug-resistant bacteria to humans either by direct infection or by transferring “resistance genes from agriculture into human pathogens,” researchers caution.

So, how are antibiotics currently being used in animals, and what might be the implications for human health? At the London Microbiome Meeting, which took place in the United Kingdom, Nicola Evans — a doctoral researcher in structural biology at King’s College London — shared some of her insights on these issues.

In her presentation, Evans drew from the work she conducted at the U.K. Parliament, which can be read in full here. In this Spotlight feature, we report on the key findings from her talk.

Global use of antibiotics in animalsOn a global scale, the U.S. and China are the largest

users of antibiotics for food production. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 80 percent of the total antibiotic use in the U.S. is in agriculture, with pigs and poultry receiving five to 10 times more antibiotics than cows and sheep.

Why are antibiotics used so widely in these animals, however? One answer comes from the demands of the meat industry, which place a strain on the animals’ health.

Farming animals for meat is a particularly intense process, with pig sows, for instance, not being given enough time to recover in-between births. This compromises their immune system.

Also, pigs and chickens live in confined, crowded spaces, which increases their stress and the risk of disease transmission.

Additionally, antibiotics are sometimes used to make the animals grow faster. In humans, studies have shown that antibiotics raise the risk of weight gain and obesity, as they wipe out beneficial gut bacteria that help regulate weight.

In animals, however, this phenomenon has been seen as a positive, with several countries still using antibiotics as growth promoters.

Until a year ago, U.S. farmers used antibiotics as growth promoters, but the practice has since been banned. China and the E.U. have also outlawed this practice, but many other countries continue to use antibiotics to promote growth in animals, Evans explained.

Finally, the prophylactic, or preventive, use of antibiotics also adds to the problem. Many farms give chicks antibiotics as soon as they are born, regardless of whether they are ill or not.

Antibiotics and the animal microbiomeThe weaning practices that take place in farms influence

the animals’ microbiome and create a false need for antibiotics. As Evans explained in her talk, piglets are taken away from their mothers too early — that is, before they’ve had a chance to develop a strong immune system or a healthy, fully matured gastrointestinal tract.

Chickens rarely get outdoor access in modern farming systems.

For example, piglets would naturally wean when they are around 3–4 months of age.

In the U.S., however, piglets are weaned when they are 17–28 days old.

Evans explained that not having access to the natural antibodies present in the mothers’ milk impacts the animals’ immune system. “Abrupt” weaning has also been found to raise the risk of gastrointestinal disease in calves and lambs.

In turn, these diseases call for the use of antibiotics, sometimes prophylactically. For instance, piglets, calves, and lambs can have post-weaning diarrhea and associated infections, so farmers give them antibiotics to prevent such infections.

Also, Evans explained in her talk, a pig’s microbiome “is colonized at birth and subsequently modified during the suckling period” and the weaning period. During this time, the gut microbiome diversifies.

However, research has shown that abrupt weaning, which involves a drastic change in diet and environment, can cause a loss of microbial diversity and an imbalance between beneficial and harmful bacteria in the gut.

Furthermore, genomic studies cited by Evans have found a dramatic increase in Escherichia coli in the pigs’ small intestines after receiving antibiotics. E. coli is responsible for half of all piglet deaths worldwide.

An animal’s environment also plays a critical role in developing a diverse and healthy microbiome. Past studies, for example, found that a pig’s microbiome can be influenced by something as simple as the presence of straw.

Having straw in the environment led to a different ratio of gut bacteria in pigs, and straw has been associated with a lower risk of developing porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.

Separated from their mother and with no outdoor access, chicks cannot develop a healthy immune system and microbiome.

As Evans noted in her talk, the poultry microbiome is even more affected by intensive farming practices than that of the pig.

The main reason for this is that in birds, the early gut colonization occurs during the development of the egg in the mother’s oviduct. The chicks absorb microorganisms from the mother at this stage, as well as through the pores of the eggs during brooding.

Once the chicks have hatched, they continue to enrich their microbiome by exposure to feces. However, in modern farming systems, the eggs are taken away from the mother and cleaned on the surface, which removes the beneficial bacteria.

Also, when the eggs hatch, the chicks do not get access

to an outdoor space where they would have access to feces and other sources of beneficial bacteria. They also do not interact with adult chickens.

Finally, the crowded conditions that chickens often live in can cause heat stress. This, in turn, is a fertile ground for the development of E. coli and Salmonella infections. This is yet another example of how the environment can affect the birds’ microbiome.

Implications for human healthSo, what does this use of antibiotics in animals mean

for human health? We spoke to Evans about the potential implications for antibiotic resistance in humans.

“The most important thing to consider,” she said, “is that any single time antibiotics are used, whether in animals or humans, you risk selecting for drug-resistant bacteria. We need to safeguard [antibiotics] for the use in both animals and humans, to ensure they can be used for the treatment of infection in the future.”

There are a few main ways in which antibiotics in animals can affect humans, Evans explained. Firstly, direct contact between animals and humans can cause disease. “For example,” said the researcher, “farmers are at risk of being colonized by the Livestock-Associated MRSA (LA-MRSA).”

“LA-MRSA isn’t as dangerous as [Hospital-Associated]-MRSA,” she explained, “as it is adapted for animals and does not spread as easily from person to person. However, there is a risk that bacteria could change and adapt to humans,” Evans cautioned.

She went on to quote a Danish study that found that 40 percent of commercially sold pork meat contained Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

A review of existing studies on the pork production chain found that “the slaughter process plays a decisive role in MRSA transmission from farm to fork.”

A second way in which animal antibiotic use can affect humans is through the consumption of antibiotic residues in meat, which then “provide a selection pressure in favor of [antibiotic-resistant] bugs in humans,” Evans explained.

The use of antibiotics in animals may affect the human gut bacteria.

However, “the risk [of] this is considered to be very low in the E.U. and America,” she continued. “In these areas, there is something called a withdrawal period, [in which] antibiotic treatment of an animal is stopped so that antibiotics can clear the system before the animal is culled for meat or milked.”

This applies to both organic and nonorganic farming practices, Evans noted. After the withdrawal period, she said, “[t]he levels of antibiotic in the food are considered to be several hundred times below the levels [that] should affect bacteria in any way.”

Finally, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria present in meat may transfer antimicrobial resistance into human bacteria. However, the risk of this occurring is very low due to high cooking temperatures. Also, “because of the withdrawal period,” Evans said, “it is very unlikely that antibiotic residues in meat would affect the [human] microbiome.”

Overall, the researcher told Medical News Today, “I think that all use of antibiotics poses a risk to human health, and that reducing unnecessary antibiotic use in animals should be part of the overall solution.”

“Antibiotics are needed [...] to safeguard animal health and welfare, but should only be used when the animals are sick and not used for growth promoters or to prevent animals getting sick in the first place. However, animal use shouldn’t detract from the fact that the vast majority of antibiotic resistance in humans is caused by overuse in humans.”

“[C]urrent evidence indicates that there is no direct impact of antibiotic residues in meat on human health, but the risk of generating antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals poses a potential risk to humans. However, human antibiotic use is far more damaging in both respects.”

(Source: Medical News Today)

Drug resistance: Does antibiotic use in animals affect human health?

How do you lower your resting heart rate?Heart rate refers to the number of heartbeats a person has per minute. It is also commonly called the pulse. Having a lower resting heart rate is usually a sign of good health.

In this article, learn how to measure the resting heart rate. We also discuss the ideal range, and how to lower the heart rate immediately and in the long term.

The easiest way to check the pulse is by placing the index and middle finger side-by-side on the neck, below the edge of the jawbone. Count how many heartbeats occur in 60 seconds. Some people can also feel their pulses on the inside of their wrists.

It may be easier to count the number of heartbeats that occur in 30 seconds, then multiply the result by 2.

It is best to measure the pulse after periods of prolonged rest. A person should ideally count their heartbeats first thing in the morning, still lying in bed.

Resting heart rate and healthPerson lowering their heart rate with fingers on wrist to measure pulse.A relatively low resting heart rate is considered healthy, while a

high resting heart rate may increase the risk of various conditions.A lower heart rate allows the heart to maintain a healthful

rhythm and respond to routine stressors efficiently. These may include exercise, illness, and day-to-day activities.

Having a relatively low heart rate is a significant contribution to overall health. An abnormally high heart rate can lead to a variety of health risks and conditions.

Complications associated with a high heart rate include:low energy levelslow physical fitnessobesitychest pain or discomfortdifficulty or discomfort breathingreduced blood circulation, especially to the hands and feetlow blood pressureweaknesslightheadedness, dizziness, and faintingblood clotsheart failure, heart attack, or strokeideal heart ratesThe heart rate varies. Many factors contribute to a changing

heart rate, including:physical activitytime of dayageweatherhormonal changes or fluctuationsemotional stressA healthy resting heart rate will vary from person to person.

For most people, however, a target resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm).

A person can calculate their maximum heart rate by subtracting their age in years from 220. A healthful heart rate range is usu-ally 50–70 percent of this maximum during moderate exercise.

During strenuous activity, the healthful range will be 70–85 percent of the maximum heart rate.

How to lower the heart rateYoga class in meditation pose, with man in middle on yoga mat.Practicing meditation or yoga may help to lower the heart rate.If the heart rate is suddenly spiking in response to issues

such as emotional stress or environmental factors, addressing the cause is the best way to reduce the heart rate.

Ways to reduce sudden changes in heart rate include:practicing deep or guided breathing techniques, such as box

breathingrelaxing and trying to remain calmgoing for a walk, ideally away from an urban environmenthaving a warm, relaxing bath or showerpractice stretching and relaxation exercises, such as yogaMany lifestyle habits can contribute to lower the resting heart

rate in the long term.They may also improve a person’s ability to maintain a healthy

heart rate during physical activity and stress.The following tips may help to lower the heart rate in the

long term: 1. Exercise: The easiest and most effective way to achieve a

lasting lower heart rate is to do regular exercise. 2. Stay hydrated: When the body is dehydrated, the heart

has to work harder to stabilize blood flow. Throughout the day, drink plenty of sugar- and caffeine-free beverages, such as water and herbal tea.

3. Limit intake of stimulants, such as caffeine and nicotine: Stimulants can cause dehydration, increasing the heart’s workload.

4. Limit alcohol intake: Most forms of alcohol dehydrate the body. Alcohol is also a toxin, and the body must work harder to process and remove it.

5. Eat a healthy, balanced diet: Eating a varied diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, nuts, and legumes can help to improve the health of the heart, as well as overall health.

Foods and supplements rich in antioxidants and healthy fats can lower blood pressure and make it easier for the heart to pump.

Heart-healthy nutrients include:omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, lean meats, nuts, grains,

and legumesphenols and tannins, found in tea, coffee, and red wine (in

moderation)vitamin A, found in most leafy, green vegetablesdietary fiber, found in whole grains, nuts, legumes, and most

fruits and vegetablesvitamin C, found especially in citrus fruits, leafy greens, and

bean sproutsA variety of supplements are available for purchase online,

including multivitamins, omega-3 supplements, and fiber sup-plements.

6. Get enough sleep: A chronic lack of sleep puts stress on the whole body, including the heart. Most adults should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night.

7. Maintain a healthy body weight: Extra weight also puts stress on the body and heart.

8. Reduce or resolve sources of substantial long-term stress: Stress caused by work, caring for a loved one, or financial burdens all cause the heart and the rest of the body to work harder, to maintain a normal rhythm and flow.

9. Seek counseling or psychological services: Traumatic experiences, grief, and certain mental health conditions stress the body and can impact brain chemistry, making it harder for people to cope with everyday activities and stressors.

10. Get outdoors: Research shows that people who spend more time in nature, even by taking a short walk in the woods or a park, tend to be happier and less stressed than people who do not.

11. Practice relaxation techniques: Activities that increase self-awareness and mindfulness, such as meditation and guided visualization, can help to reduce stress when practiced routinely.

(Source: Medical News Today)


HERITAGE & TOURISM NOVEMBER 13, 2018

1 Referring to U.S.-led sanctions against Iran, Pololikashvili said that majority of such sanctions help us to become more powerful.

Pololikashvili arrived in Iran early on Sunday. He held separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and several other officials. On the first day of the journey, he also paid a visit to the National Museum of Iran in downtown Tehran.

“Tourism will show the world how attrac-tive Iran is,” the UN official said on Sunday in an interview with Iran Press website.

“It is very important to internationalize and to attract more and more tourists to Iran … and I truly believe that tourism is one of the best instruments for creating peace in the world.”

“I think we need more international pres-ence in Iran that is why we are here. It is not the last meeting which we are organizing and we have more upcoming UNWTO events. I want to express my thanks to the Iranian government which is very active abroad, and I see Iranian diplomats and representatives everywhere in international events.”

A host of international representatives, scholars and academia attended the opening ceremony of the 3-day session which also explores ways to advance cultural tourism in Iran.

According to the UNWTO website, the seminar addresses the role of innovation and technology in the development of cultural tourism and in enhancing destinations’ com-petitiveness and attractiveness.

“Technology and innovation, including information and communication technology (ICT), serve as enablers of the sustainable development of cultural tourism whereby im-

proving governance, enhancing profitability, and competitiveness along with preserving intangible and tangible cultural resources.”

In this regard, the seminar aims to pro-vide a platform to foster in-depth discussions

through panel debates and the sharing of good practices.

Hamedan is currently taken on appearance of the “capital of Asian tourism in 2018”, a privilege which was approved in the sec-

ond ACD Tourism Ministers Meeting held in Cambodia, June 2017.

Earlier this month, the UN body added Hamedan Municipality and Kish Free Trade Zone to its list of affiliate members from Iran.

T O U R I S Md e s k

UNWTO chief sees Iran as a safe, peaceful destination

TEHRAN — Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural-His-torical Complex will be hosting a pomegranate

festival dedicated to western Iranian farmers and producers. The event will be running from November 15 to 21 and it

will embrace regional live performances and various cultural traditions, IRNA reported.

Every year in autumn, many pomegranate farmers hold such festivals to thank God and to celebrate harvest season. Throughout the Orient, the pomegranate has since earliest times occupied a position of importance alongside the grape and the fig.

Tehran to host pomegranate festival

Rainforests of the Atsinanana

The Rainforests of the Atsinanana are a serial property com-prising six components. They contain globally outstanding biodiversity and have an exceptional proportion of endemic plant and animal species.

The level of endemism within the property is approximately 80 to 90 percent for all groups, and endemic families and genera are common.

The serial property comprises a representative selection of the most important habitats of the unique rainforest biota of

Madagascar, including many threatened and endemic plant and animal species.

These relict forests are critically important for maintaining ongoing ecological processes necessary for the survival of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, which reflects the island’s geological history. Having completed its separation from all other land masses more than 60 million years ago, Madagas-car’s plant and animal life evolved in isolation.

(Source: UNESCO)

ROUND THE GLOBE

Revival is a sort of attendance to the lives of the people from the past, an optimal usage of the present moment and a great way to rely on those values in order to build a bright future.

Revival is like a bridge that connects the historic and sustainable values to the future; it is a process through which the fortunes of our ancestors are stabilized for our descendants. The view and approach adopted for the re-vival and re-utilization of historic sites is to preserve these treasures and values.

It should also be noted that revival is the opposite point of mortality and the time-worn, and it adopts two major approaches: negating mortality and employing restoration principles and methods. Thus, it is possible to stop the mortality and exhaustion of a historic build-ing and revive it; a revival that is only possible through utilization and changes the status of the historic building and makes it stable.

Sustainability of a building means protecting it against

exhaustion and erosion, which holds a mirror in front of our descendants in order to have a new look at their ancestors. In a city, every revived historic building can be the stage for a historic play to perform for our descendants.

Therefore, revival can exchange erosion and mortality for sustainability. This sustainability can be thought of as a kind of development, because necessarily the sustaina-bility of values is a kind of development and provides the possibility of preserving and using domestic assets such as natural sceneries, urban and rural sights, qanats, man-made spaces, etc.

The fact that a space is utilizable for more than a few hundred years and different generations can experience one single message in the form of architecture and ceremonies, is an indicative of sustainability (because sustainability is an operational process and cannot be neglected).

For example, using qanats – given the fact that qanat is dependent on in-land capacities without hurting them – for hundreds of years have provided habitant in inhabitable places and this capacity cannot be neglected.

It should also be noted that revival is both a technique and an approach which needs faith, because it refers to a special subject that knows in-land treasures and stabilizes them through different advices and methods.

Revival is methodologically a tool for accessing sus-

tainability and sustainable development and saves iden-tity-related values of action from globalization. In fact, revival wants to protect cultures against the dangers of globalization, because globalization is the opposite of local and ethnic values.

In order to reach homogenization, globalization tend to change, and this cultural homogenization is in stark contrast to local identity. Revival is a warning against globalization in order to preserve national, ethnic and religious identities and values.

It should be noted that the most important problem with globalization is to do with beliefs: the beliefs that insist that the old and obsolete is of no value; the beliefs that say one must forget the past and look forward to future.

By relying on the new technology, these beliefs humil-iate the past, steals national self-confidence and negates the correlation of human societies. For example, in some developed countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and even the U.S., speaking of identity will lead to nowhere and all of them are only dependent on their national wealth and incomes. But whenever it comes to identity, there is nothing but perplexity and bewilderment for contem-porary human.

The revival approach is not a societal approach, but it is a useful approach for those races, nations and societies with a rich past and a fruitful history.

Ancient Egyptians were serious cat people, if a discovery in a tomb near Cairo is any indication.

On Saturday, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities announced that a team of archaeologists had uncovered dozens of mummified cats, along with 100 wooden cat statues and a bronze bust of Bastet, the ancient Egyptian goddess of cats. The artifacts, found in a tomb in a cemetery in what would have been the ancient city of Memphis, are about 6,000 years old.

Members of the Egyptian Ministry of An-tiquities tweeted several pictures of the finds.

It was part of an effort, they said, to draw visitors back to Egypt after tourism nose-dived following the Arab Spring. Those working to excavate the tomb hope to “show the excep-tional richness of the Egyptian civilization and to attract the attention of the world to-wards its magnificent monuments and great civilization so that it becomes the focus of the world as it deserves,” according to the ministry’s release.

Ancient Egyptians were often buried with

mummified animals and animal statues, experts say. It was seen as a way for the dead to bring pets with them to the afterlife, archaeologist

Salima Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo, wrote on her blog.

There were other incentives as well:

Animals were buried in tombs “to provide food in the afterlife, to act as offerings to a particular god and because some were seen as physical manifestations of spe-cific gods that the Egyptians worshiped,” she wrote.

In an interview with NPR, Ikram said an-imal mummification was the ancient-world equivalent of lighting a candle in church to ask for a blessing.

Along with the cats, researchers un-covered gilded statues depicting a lion, a cow and a falcon. There also were wooden snakes and crocodiles and a handful of mummified scarab beetles. Mostafa Wa-ziri, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, called the bugs in particular unique.

“It is something really a bit rare,” he told Reuters. “A couple of days ago, when we dis-covered those coffins, they were sealed coffins with drawings of scarabs. I never heard about them before.”

(Source: The Washington Post)

Revival of historic buildings, a manifestation of sustainable development

Archaeologists have discovered dozens of cat mummies in an ancient Egyptian tomb

TEHRAN — A sales exhibition of rural and tribal rugs is underway at Tehran’s Sadabad

Cultural-Historical Complex Handmade carpets, rugs, and pictorial rugs are sold by some

80 stalls from East Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Kerman, Fars, Golestan and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari amongst other provinces, CHTN reported.

Organized by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the exhibit will be running through November 17.

Sprawled on about 110 hectares of a mountainside parkland in northern Tehran, the complex is used to be a royal summer residence during the Qajar era (1789–1925) and subsequent Pahlavi epoch (1925–1979).

TEHRAN — Some 105 stalls are estimated to run during the South Khorasan province’s

crafts exhibit, which will be held from December 2 to 6.Of the total stalls, 45 will be dedicated to exhibitors from

guest provinces and 60 to natives of South Khorasan, CHTN reported on Monday.

Craftspeople from 28 provinces are scheduled to take part in the event.

Iran’s handicrafts exports reached $107 million in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), growing 9.5 percent year on year.

Rural, tribal rugs on show at Tehran exhibit

Over 100 stalls to run in South Khorasan’s crafts exhibit

H E R I T A G Ed e s k


A general view of the 40th UNWTO Affiliate Members Plenary Session in Hamedan, central Iran, November 12, 2108.


Iranian-Italian team resume project on Pasargadae TEHRAN — A team of Iranian and Italian archaeologists and

restorers have commenced a new round of conser-vation project on Pasargadae, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Iran.

“A new season for the conservation and restoration of this ancient site has begun in cooperation with Italy on the southeastern porch of the Cyrus’ individual palace,” IRNA quoted Hamid Fadaei, director of the World Heritage site, as saying on Sunday.

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tour-ism Organization in June extended its cooperation

with the Superior Institute for Conservation and Restoration (Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro), which is a body of Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

The ISCR experts and Iranian technicians have worked side by side on the preservation of the Tomb of Cyrus the Great and encircling ruined palaces in Pasargadae.

Situated in about 50km north of Persepolis, itself a World Heritage, Pasargadae was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great who reigned mighty Persian Empire from 559 to 530 BC.

By Ali Mokhtari Taleghani

Editor-in-Chief at Revival of Historic Buildings and Districts Quarterly

Valuable species of shellfish have become harder to find on the East Coast because of degraded habitat caused by a warming envi-ronment, according to a pair of scientists that sought to find out whether environmental factors or overfishing was the source of the decline.

The scientists reached the conclusion in studying the decline in the harvest of four commercially important species of shellfish in coastal areas from Maine to North Car-olina—eastern oysters, northern quahogs, softshell clams and northern bay scallops. They reported that their findings came down squarely on the side of a warming ocean en-vironment and a changing climate, and not excessive harvest by fishermen.

One of the ways warming has negatively impacted shellfish is by making them more susceptible to predators, said the lead author of the study, Clyde MacKenzie, a shellfish researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is based in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

“Their predation rate is faster in the warm-er waters. They begin to prey earlier, and they prey longer into the fall,” MacKenzie said. “These stocks have gone down.”

Natural resourcesMacKenzie’s findings, the product of a

collaboration with Mitchell Tarnowski, a shell-fish biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, appeared recently in the journal Marine Fisheries Review. The findings have implications for consumers of shellfish, because a declining domestic

harvest means the prices of shellfish such as oysters and clams could rise, or the U.S. could become more dependent on foreign sources.

The scientists observed that the harvest of eastern oysters from Connecticut to Virginia fell from around 600,000 bushels in 1960 to less than 100,000 in 2005. The harvest of the four species declined from 1980 to 2010 after enjoying years of stability from

1950 to 1980, they found.The scientists reported that a positive shift

in the North Atlantic Oscillation led to the degradation of shellfish habitat. The oscillation is an irregular fluctuation of atmospheric pressure that impacts weather and climate, which in turn affects things like reproduction and food availability for shellfish.

The study mirrors what Maine clam har-vesters are seeing on the state’s tidal flats, said

Chad Coffin, a clammer and the president of the Maine Clammers Association. Maine’s harvest of softshell clams—the clams used to make fried clams and clam chowder—dwin-dled to its lowest point since 1930 last year.

Adapting to the environment“Clammers aren’t the reason there’s

no clams,” he said. “We need to adapt, we need to focus our efforts on adapting to the environment we have.”

Some near-shore shellfish harvests in the U.S. remain consistently productive, such as the Maine sea scallop fishery, which takes place in bays and coastal areas in the winter. The state’s scallop fishery bottomed out at about 33,000 pounds in 2005, but has climbed in recent years, and its 2017 total of almost 800,000 pounds was the most since 1997.

Many in Maine attribute the health of the fishery to conservative management, said Alex Todd, a scallop fisherman who also works the waters off Massachusetts.

“Up and down the coast, there have been good years recently compared to 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.

But the scientists’ findings track with others who have studied the impact of warming waters on shellfish, such as Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias. Beal, who was not involved in the study, has said rising seawater temperature could spell “doom and gloom for the clamming industry and probably for other industries as well.”

(Source: phys.org)

NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity fell silent earlier this year, but even if it never regains full function, it had one last gift to give. Scientists have transformed Opportunity’s image of its 5,000th sunrise on Mars into music using a process called data sonification.

“Image sonification is a really flexible technique to explore science, and it can be used in several domains, from studying certain characteristics of planet surfaces and atmospheres, to analyzing weather changes or detecting volcanic eruptions,” says Domenico Vicinanza, director of the Sound and Game Engineering research group at Anglia Ruskin University.

“In health science, it can provide scientists with new methods to analyze the occurrence of certain shapes and colors, which is particularly useful in image diagnostics.”

He and his co-creator, the University of Exeter’s Genevieve Williams, will debut their two-minute composition (“Mars Soundscapes”) at NASA’s booth at the Supercomputing

SC18 conference this week in Dallas, Texas. Elevation of terrain

To create their composition, Vicinanza and Williams

scanned the image, pixel by pixel, from left to right. Then they assigned specific pitches and melodies to such characteristics in the data as brightness, color, and the elevation of the terrain. You can listen to the resulting Martian “soundtrack” in the video below. Those lucky enough to be at the conference will also be able to experience it via vibrational transducers, feeling the vibrations with their hands as well as listening to the sounds.

This isn’t Vicinanza’s first foray into sonification. He previously composed music based on particle physics data used to discover the Higgs boson, as well as from magnetometer readings from the Voyager mission.

And in 2014, he composed a 12-minute piece (for harp, guitar, two violins, a keyboard, a clarinet, and a flute) based on data from the four major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider to mark CERN’s 60th anniversary,

(Source: arstechnica.com)

S C I E N C ENOVEMBER 13, 2018 11I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Astronomers found that the way almost 3,000 stars in one of the richest star clusters move belies their true ages, which has helped solve a long-standing puzzle about how stars evolve.

Do star clusters harbor many genera-tions of stars or just one? Scientists have long searched for an answer and, thanks to the University of Arizona’s MMT telescope, found one in the Wild Duck Cluster, where stars spin at different speeds, disguising their common age.

In a partnership between the UA and the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute, a team of Korean and Belgian as-tronomers used UA instruments to solve a puzzle about flocks of stars called open clusters.

Astronomers have long believed that many open clusters consist of a single generation of stars because once stars have formed, their radiation blows away nearby material needed to make new stars. But in the Wild Duck Cluster - known by scientists as Messier 11, or M11 - stars of the same brightness appear in different colors, suggesting they are of different ages. Unless scientists had missed important clues about stellar evo-lution, there had to be another explanation for the spread of colors in this accumulation of about 2,900 stars.

Multiple generations“Astronomers have been working on this

question for decades,” said Serena Kim, an associate astronomer at the UA’s Steward Observatory. “Do clusters form in one gen-eration or multiple generations? Our study answered this question for the Wild Duck Cluster.”

Beomdu Lim of Kyung Hee University led an international team of astronomers who used the MMT telescope - jointly operated by

the UA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory - to study the cluster. In a study published in Nature Astronomy, the team discovered that it is not the stars’ ages that cause them to appear in a spread of color: it is their rotation.

Open clusters contain thousands of stars that astronomers hypothesize formed from the same giant clouds of gas. These stars come in all sizes, from short-lived, giant blue stars dozens of times more massive than our sun, to long-lived low-mass dwarves that will burn for 10 billion years or longer. The brightness and color of each star changes as it grows older, allowing scientists to determine its age.

“As a star is getting older and older, it brightens and becomes redder,” Lim said.

The main sequenceAstronomers plot young stars’ brightness

and color in a diagonal line - from bright, blue and massive at the top of the line, down to faint, red and less massive at the bottom - called the main sequence.

The turning point - the point at which a star ages and veers off the main sequence - is used to determine the age of clusters based on the known life expectancy of each star. If the stars leave the main sequence at the same point, like cars on a freeway taking the same exit, then the stars of the cluster are all the same age.

They turned the MMT telescope toward the cluster to examine the color spectrum of the stars using a Hectochelle. The instrument acts like a prism and spreads starlight into its components, which astronomers call a spectrum. The spectra are like barcodes, with each line identifying a different chemical in the star’s makeup.

(Source: eurekalert.org)

Aging a flock of stars in the Wild Duck Cluster

Galaxies smash into each other on a pretty regular basis, but the collisions don’t destroy them – rather, the two galaxies just merge together. Their stars jostle each other around before settling into new orbits, and the supermassive black holes at their centers meld into one even larger object. Using data and observations from Hubble and the Keck Observatory, astronomers have now imaged the late stages of this incredibly slow process for the first time.

According to the team, the new images mark the closest pass of two black holes ever seen – a cosmic hair’s breadth, at just 3,000 light-years apart. That might still sound like a fair hike, but in the previous closest images the black holes have been separated by about 10 times that distance.

The observations came out of a census of the cores of galaxies, taken in near-infrared light. The galaxies in question lie about 330 million light-years from Earth on average, and were identified from 10 years’ worth of X-ray data from the Burst Alert Telescope, and 20 years of Hubble observations.

“Seeing the pairs of merging gal-axy nuclei associated with these huge black holes so close together was pretty amazing,” says Michael Koss, lead re-searcher on the team. “In our study, we see two galaxy nuclei right when the images were taken. You can’t argue with it; it’s a very ‘clean’ result, which doesn’t rely on interpretation.”

Galactic mergersFew things happen in slower motion

than galactic mergers, which play out

on the scale of billions of years. Given that dizzying amount of time, we’ve obviously never been able to see the whole show play out, but we can piece things together by observing pairs of galaxies at various stages of this process.

Astronomers have found evidence of these kinds of cosmic collisions all through space and time. Our own Milky Way swallowed up a smaller sausage-shaped galaxy about 10 bil-lion years ago, and in around 4 billion years our home galaxy will smash into the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Further abroad, some galaxies are just beginning to nibble away at the outer edges of their neighbors, while others have been spotted with two supermas-sive black holes locked in a slow dance as the result of an ancient meeting.

It’s these final stages, taking place over the last 10 or 20 million years of the collision, that astronomers are the most interested in, but unfortunately this is also the hardest part to see. That’s because the huge clouds of dust and gas kicked up by the cataclysms blot out the action in the center, as the two supermassive black holes get closer and closer and finally merge into one.

But although that cloud blocks visible light, astronomers can peer through the veil using X-rays and infrared. To do so, the team first consulted a decade’s worth of X-ray data from the Burst Alert Telescope instrument, which highlighted the glow of supermassive black holes as they guzzle the gas sur-rounding them.

(Source: New Atlas)

Hubble snaps clearest ever shots of cataclysmic cosmic collisions

Warming hurting shellfish, aiding predators, ruining habitat, researchers say

Leading researchers call for a ban on widely used insecticidesPublic health experts have found there is sufficient evidence that prenatal exposure to widely used insecticides known as organo-phosphates puts children at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders.

In a scientific review and call to action published in PLOS Med-icine, the researchers call for immediate government intervention to phase out all organophosphates.

“There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, professor of public health sciences, director of the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and researcher with the UC Davis MIND Institute.

“Although a single organophosphate -- chlorpyrifos -- has been in the national spotlight, our review implicates the entire class of these compounds,” Hertz-Picciotto added.

Originally developed as nerve gases and weapons of war, or-ganophosphates today are used to control insects at farms, golf courses, shopping malls and schools. They kill pests by blocking nerve signaling.

People can come into contact with these chemicals through the food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe. As a result, organophosphate pesticides are detected in the vast majority of U.S. residents, according to Hertz-Picciotto.

Based on more than 30 epidemiologic studies and scores of experimental studies in animals and cell cultures, they believe the evidence is clear: Exposure to organophosphates before birth, even at levels currently considered safe, is associated with poorer cognitive, behavioral and social development.

“It should be no surprise that studies confirm that these chemi-cals alter brain development, since they were originally designed to adversely affect the central nervous system,” Hertz-Picciotto said.

(Source: sciencedaily.com)

Mysterious cigar-shaped object ‘Oumuamua’ may have been alien spacecraft: new researchScientists from Harvard University are not ruling out the possibility that ‘Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped interstellar object, was actually an alien spacecraft.

Last fall, ‘Oumuamua (meaning: a messenger from afar) zipped through the inner Solar System. It was first spotted by astronomers at the Panoramic Survey and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) in Hawaii in October. 2017.

‘Oumuamua is the first ever confirmed interstellar object in the Solar System. Scientists are yet to pinpoint where exactly in the universe the passerby has come from and identify the circumstances that led it to travel the cosmos.

However, Avi Loeb and colleagues have proposed an idea: ‘Ou-muamua might actually have been an alien spacecraft. The chair of the astronomy department at Harvard authored a new study that explains their crazy hypothesis that answers why the interstellar object was, in many ways, extraordinary.

“That is a prejudice that we shouldn’t have,” Loeb told Space. “Science should be open-minded.”

Loeb and his colleagues have so many reasons why they would think ‘Oumuamua is an alien spacecraft that visited the solar system. For one, its shape is unique from anything that anyone has seen before. Because it was traveling so fast, scientists had not been able to capture a resolved image of the object before it flew out of the solar system.

In the study that will be published in The Astrophysical Journal later this month, Loeb and team presented two possibilities: ‘Oumua-mua is a light sail that was ejected from an advanced technological equipment created by an intelligent alien race or it is a probe that was meant to check out the solar system.

There is a possibility that ‘Oumuamua is an alien space probe. The study pointed out that the visitor’s discovery alone was an anomaly because it was among the million other interstellar objects ejected by stars in the Milky Way. (Source: Tech Times)

The scientists reported that a positive shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation led to the

degradation of shellfish habitat.Scientists vote on first change to kilogram in a centuryFor the band of specialists in the much-overlooked arena of metrology, it will be the most profound moment in more than a century. Since 1889, one of the pillars of the science, the kilogram, has been defined by a lump of metal held in a triple-locked vault in a lab on the outskirts of Paris. It is the one true kilogram in the world.

But not for much longer. Next week, leading figures in the field are set to make history. At the general conference on weights and measures in Versailles, representatives from 57 nations will vote for change. And so the kilogram, the only metric unit still based on a solitary object, will be reborn. Henceforth, the kilogram will be derived from a fundamental constant, a number that is woven into the fabric of the universe.

The vote is essentially a done deal. The debates have been had, the solutions agreed. But even popular revolutions can be tense affairs. “It will be nerve-racking,” said Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the US National Institute of Standards and Tech-nology, who will be in Versailles for the vote. “I’ve been thinking about this, or working on it, for as long as I have been a scientist.

“It will be nice to know that the whole thing has been evolved,” said Stuart Davidson, the head of mass metrology at the national physical laboratory in Teddington. “We’ll know, at least, that no-one has stood up and said this is rubbish, we’re not going with it.”

The roots of modern measurement can be traced back to the mid-18th century, when it became clear that nations might do well to share common units. With international trade on the up, it made no sense to price rolls of fabric, for example, according to the local duke’s shoe size. In the late 1700s King Louis XVI commissioned scientists to find a more sensible approach.

(Source: The Guardian)

The sounds of a Martian sunrise inspire short musical composition


W O M E N NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Anna Eskamani and Anna Kaplan (Monahemi) were elected to Florida House and New York Senate Tuesday, becoming the first Iranian-Americans to win such seats in the two states.

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar made history Tuesday night. The two are the first Muslim women elected to serve in Congress.

According to IFP News Eskamani ran against Republican Stockton Reeves to replace Rep. Mike Miller in what was described as a hotly-contested race. District 47 includes Orlando and Winter Park.

“Together we’ve made history, in not only challenging the status quo and flipping a competitive state house seat– but in also electing the first Iranian-American to any public office in Florida,” Eskamani wrote in an email announcement after winning the election.

She is a UCF graduate and Orlando native who served as senior director of public affairs and communications at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida for six years before filing to run for a seat in the Florida House.

Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) also defeated state Sen. Elaine Phillips (R-Flower Hill) in a tight race for state Senate District 7, unseating the one-term state Senator to help cede full state government control to Democrats.

With 291 of 292 polling precincts counted, Kaplan earned 58,118 votes to Phillips’ 48,180 – an unusually high turnout – with victory margin of 54.66 to 45.32 percent.

Kaplan, an Iranian-American, was born in Tabriz, Iran.

She immigrated following the 1979 Revolution in Iran.Millions of Americans headed to the polls on Election

Day. Results show that U.S. Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years, a crucial victory that spells trouble for President Donald Trump in the second half of his first term in office.

To win the House, all Democrats needed to do was to flip 23 Republican seats, a task that proved too easy for the opposition party.

While the Senate was a lost cause from the get-go, Dem-ocrats were highly optimistic that they would win back the lower chamber of Congress.

Initial results of the frenzied midterm elections projected Democrats as the next majority party in the House.

Democrats will now have the opportunity to frustrate Trump’s legislative plans and ramp up their “obstructionist” approach, as the president would like to call it.

Rashida Tlaib, who ran unopposed after securing the Democratic nomination in August, won in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, and Omar, who faced Republican Jennifer Zielinki, won in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, CNBC reported on Wednesday.

Following the win, Omar took to Twitter to congratulate Tlaib on her victory and to acknowledge the history they made.

Tlaib, who was born to Palestinian parents, first made history in 2008 when she became the first Muslim woman

to be elected State Representative. From 2009 to 2014 she served in the Michigan House of Representatives, where she helped secure millions of dollars for free health clinics, Meals on Wheels programs for seniors and before and after school education funding, according to her campaign website.

She is a strong critic of President Trump and was once kicked out of a ticketed luncheon in Detroit in 2016 after heckling the then-presidential nominee about his policies and past treatment of women. After securing her primary win in August, she vowed to “fight back against every racist and oppressive structure that needs to be dismantled,” and criticized the president for his harsh treatment of immigrants.

Omar, who also makes history as the first Somali-Ameri-can woman to be elected to Congress, came to the U.S. more than 20 years ago as a refugee. In 2016, she became the first Somali-American, Muslim legislator in the U.S. She was elected to serve in Minnesota’s House of Representatives in District 60B, according to her campaign website.

In 2019, Omar will replace Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who was the first Muslim elected to Congress. Tlaib will replace long time Rep. John Conyers, who stepped down in December amid sexual harassment allegations.

Following Tuesday’s victory, Tlaib took to Twitter to thank her volunteers and supporters for “believing in the possibility of this moment.”

(Source: Agencies)

Two Iranian-Americans win state seats in U.S. elections, two Muslim women elected to Congress

The court has ruled in favor of a hijab-wear-ing police officer, declaring that her right to freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance has been infringed by the denial of the request to wear a hijab and/or the prohibition against wearing a hijab together with her uniform whilst on duty as an officer.

On Friday, Justice Margaret Moham-med, delivered judgment, declared that the police service regulations, 2007 was unconstitutional, invalid, and null and void to the extent that it makes no provision for the wearing of the hijab.

The judge ordered that damages to be assessed, and that the defendant pay the special reserve police officer Sharon

Roop’s legal costs.Roop had brought legal action against

the office of the attorney general, contending that her constitutional right of freedom of con-science, religious belief and observance had been breached since she is not permitted to wear the hijab with her uniform whilst at work.

Sometime in 2015 she wrote to the com-missioner of police requesting permission to wear the hijab with her uniform whilst on duty since it was part of her religious observation as a Muslim woman. In that same memorandum she noted that she was not the only individual who was seeking permission for the ability to observe her faith whilst executing her professional duties. She also enclosed a number of pictorial

depictions of the manner in which the hijab could be worn with her uniform and provid-ed research material on the wearing of the hijab by Muslim women in law enforcement in several non-Muslim countries.

The commissioner of police did not respond to her memorandum. More than two and a half years after not receiving a response to that memorandum, the Claimant sought legal advice.

A pre-action letter dated 9th July 2017 was sent by the Claimant’s attorney at law to the commissioner of police, the minister of national security and the solicitor general, the representative of the attorney general, in whose name proceedings against the state are to be brought. The pre-action correspond-

ence highlighted the particular section of the Police Service Regulations 2007 (“the Regulations”), which prevents the Claimant from wearing the hijab, and called upon the commissioner and/or minister to take the necessary steps to amend the regulations.

On 22nd June 2017, state counsel respond-ed on behalf of the permanent secretary of the Ministry of National Security, indicating that the matter had been “formally redirected to the Trinidad and Tobago police service, who has purview over matters of this nature”.

By way of letter dated 31st July 2017, a Legal Officer of the TTPS, Ag Inspector Kazim Ali, responded to the pre-action letter in the following terms:

(Source: Trinidad & Tobago Express)

Female cops win the right to wear hijab on duty in Trinidad and Tobago

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

W O M E Nd e s k

TEHRAN — Women›s World Summit Founda-

tion (WWSF) granted the 2018 international prize for women›s creativity in rural life to Iran’s Ziba Azizi for her tireless leadership for the education of students in rural areas, especially girls, WWSF website reported.

Azizi, 35, a teacher from Qasr-e Qand city in the southeastern province of Sis-tan-Baluchestan, has also been addressing and raising awareness on issues like child marriage in her community, where it is still widespread, the report added.

According to WWSF, Azizi made attempts for distribution of school supplies in dozens of schools, the fundraising and supervision of the construction of restrooms in deprived rural areas (something especially important for women), preventing 30 cases of child marriage (each case demands many hours of negotiating with the families involved), and finally teaching destitute women one of the traditional weaving handicrafts made by Baluch women, “Souzan-Douzi”.

Azizi has even been able to market the product, combining it with modern art and selling it under the brand name “Noora”, thereby creating employment opportuni-ties for many women heads of household in critical need.

Above all, she has become an outstanding role model for women and girls in a culture where they still have to struggle to find their place.

In 2014, Ziba started collaborating with her nominator for the prize, Imam Ali’s Popular Student Relief Society (IAPSRS).

Azizi started an IAPSRS learning center in one of the most impoverished rural areas

of Sistan-Baluchestan, which has provided education for children who have no school-ing. The center is called Khane-Elm, where a new culture is being born, one giving equal rights to girls as well as boys to be educated.

Rural women from Nepal, Honduras, Co-lombia, India, Switzerland, Guatemala and Mexico are also among the winners of the

Prize for women’s creativity in rural life, 2018. According to WWSF women›s section,

rural women comprise more than one quarter of the total world population. 500 million women live below the poverty line in rural areas. Women produce 60-80 percent of basic foodstuffs in sub-Sahara Africa and the Caribbean. Women perform over 50 percent of the labor involved in intensive rice cultivation in Asia.

«Rural women the world over are an integral and vital force in the development processes that are the key to socio-economic progress. Rural women from the backbone of the agricultural labor force across much of the developing world and produce 35-45% of Gross Domestic Product and well over 50% of the developing world›s food. Yet, half a billion rural women are poor and lack access to resources and markets.»

In 2016, Homeyra Rigi was appointed in Qasr-e Qand as the first Iranian Sunni female governor.

Appointment of a woman as the highest executive authority of the city created a big change in the viewpoint of people toward women. The rule of a female governor has spread self-belief and self-confidence among women, which had no considerable social activity before.

12WWSF awards Iran’s Azizi for women’s creativity in rural life

“ab-“ Meaning: away For example: She was abducted late last night.

Blow down Meaning: if the wind blows something down, or if

something blows down, the wind makes it fall For example: The garden gate has blown down.

Eat like a bird Explanation: to not eat very much For example: Don’t worry about making extra food

for Kim, she eats like a bird.

PREFIX/SUFFIX PHRASAL VERB IDIOM

ENGLISH IN USE

Iranian students come in first in World Mathematics Championships Qualifier Iranian students secured the first place in in World Mathematics Championships Qualifier, Tehran math home director Mustafa Noori told IRNA’s office in London on Saturday. 51 talented Iranian students were elected nationwide to take part in the competition from various age groups, Noori said, adding that the students successfully won 30 gold medals, 38 silver medals and 39 bronze medals, Noori said.He went on to say that 13 students, who excelled best in mathematical skills were also invited to the 2019 WMC Finals being held next summer.

نخبگان ایرانی قهرمان مسابقات جهانی ریاضی شدندــدن ــا در لن ــگار ایرن ــا خبرن ــو ب ــران در گفت وگ ــی ته ــه ریاض ــر خان ــوری مدی ــی ن مصطفگفــت: دانــش آمــوزان نخبــه ایرانــی در مســابقات جهانــی ریاضــی »دبلیــو ام ســی« انگلیــس

موفــق بــه کســب عنــوان قهرمانــی شــدند.نــوری گفــت: 51 دانش آمــوز نخبــه ایرانــی از سراســر کشــور طــی فراینــدی انتخــاب شــدند ــد. دانــش آمــوزان ایرانــی و امســال در مســابقات »دبلیــو ام ســی« انگلیــس شــرکت کردن

توانســتند 30 مــدال طــا، 38 مــدال نقــره و 39 مــدال برنــز را کســب کننــد.وی توضیــح داد: همچنیــن 13 نفــر بــرای شــرکت در اردوی تابســتانی مرحلــه دوم نهایــی

مســابقات انتخــاب شــدند کــه تابســتان ســال آینــده برگــزار خواهــد شــد.

LEARN NEWS TRANSLATION

Spain’s first women’s only hotel to open next yearSom Hotels, a Spanish hotel chain, will be opening their first women’s only hotel in Mallorca, Spain next spring. The Hotel Som Dona Women Only will be located in Porto Cristo on the west coast of the island of Mallorca and will only accept women over 18. Som Hotels president Joan Enric Capella said, “It is not about us in any way for women’s rights or feminism, but to satisfy an increasing demand.”

The concept was developed after the hotel chain conducted a survey in which women expressed interest in a women’s only hotel. The idea was matched by a “growing business trend focused on a female audience.” Som Dona Hotel will feature 39 elegant rooms with a pink-and-white décor. The hotel will also offer a pool, free Wi-Fi, health-conscious cuisine made with «zero-kilometer» products, a spa, live music, and a rooftop bar. Some Hotels will also hire a mostly female staff.

“We want the most employees possible to be women, of course respecting Spain’s parity laws,” Capella said. “One of our objectives is also to give a certain visibility to women doing traditionally masculine jobs.”

In 2007, the Spanish government enacted equality legislation that required political parties to run female candidates in at least 40% of the seats they contest and ordered larger companies to negotiate “equality plans” to promote women. The law also granted 15 days of paternity leave to new fathers. The current Spanish government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón has 11 women and 6 men in its cabinet.

(Source: thetravel.com)

Apple and pomegranate crisp“This is a crisp using apples and pomegranate seeds for a festive fall dessert.”

Ingredients:4 medium apples - peeled, cored and sliced1/2 pomegranate, skin and light-colored membrane re-moved1/2 cup brown sugar1 tablespoon ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/2 cup rolled oats1/2 cup all-purpose flour1/2 cup white sugar1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:Preheat the oven to 375 de-grees F (190 degrees C). Butter

a 9x13-inch baking dish.In a large bowl, toss together the apples, pomegranate

seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. In the same bowl, stir together the oats, flour and sugar. Rub in the butter between your fin-gers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the fruit.

Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the apples are soft. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

L E A R N E N G L I S HTalking To Your Roommate A: Charlie, do you have a second?B: Yeah what’s up?A: Well, I went and paid the bills today and you still haven’t given me your half.B: Yeah I wanted to talk to you about that. I agreed we would go halves on all the bills, but frankly I think it’s unfair.A: Unfair! Why?B: Well, you have long hair and use the hairdryer every morning. I don’t. You leave your computer on all night downloading torrents. I don’t. You see what I’m getting at here?A: You leave the air conditioner on day and night! You also take 30 minute showers which means you are using way more gas and water than me!B: Well, while we are at it, stop bringing your friends over for drinks every weekend. You always leave a mess and keep me up all night!A: Maybe you should just move out and find another place.B: Maybe you should move out!

Key vocabularybill: a document that shows how much you must pay go halves: divide equallywhat I am getting at: what I am trying to sayway more: much more, a lot moremess: if there is a mess somewhere or a place is a mess, things there are dirty or not neatly arrangedmove out: to vacate a residence, cause to leave

Supplementary vocabularylandlord: one that owns and rents land, buildings, or dwelling unitslease: a contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period in exchange for a specified rentutility: a commodity or service, such as electricity, water, or public transportation, that is provided by a public utilitydower: the rights of a widow in the property of her husband at his deathbreach of contract: a legal violation of an established contract between two parties

(Source: irlanguage.com)

Ilhan Omar Anna Kaplan Anna Eskamani Rashida Tlaib

WORLD IN FOCUS 13I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Palestinian resistance groups fired at least 80 rockets into southern Israel Monday afternoon.

There were confirmed hits in Sderot and Netivot. At least three people were injured. Code Red sirens were heard throughout south-ern Israel including Be’er Sheva; the Iron Dome missile defense system was activated to intercept rockets.

Israel assassinates Hamas commanders in sting operation

Israeli special forces infiltrate the Gaza Strip, assassinating a top Hamas command-er, while subsequent Israeli airstrikes kill five others, including another commander with the Palestinian resistance movement.

On Sunday, the group said in a statement that the forces had made their way into the coastal sliver using a civilian vehicle.

The Israeli occupants assassinated Nour Baraka, a senior commander with Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, in a drive-by shooting near the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, it added.

The group defined the exact place where the targeted killing took place as “the area of ??the Shahid Ismail Abu Shanab mosque, three kilometers (1.8 miles) east of Khan Yunis.”

Ensuing firefightA firefight erupted afterwards, with Israeli

aircraft firing from above “to cover the retreat of this force, and in the process some of our people were killed.” Local witnesses said the aircraft fired over 20 missiles during the strikes.

“The incident continues and our forces continue to respond to this dangerous Zionist aggression,” said the statement.

Five more people were killed during the airstrikes, including Mohammad al-Qarra,

another Hamas commander, Palestinian med-ical officials were quoted by AFP as saying.

Various reports said an Israeli trooper had been seized during the exchange, but the Israeli military denied any such incident had taken place.

“No IDF (Israeli military) soldiers were abducted during the IDF’s operational ac-tivity in the Gaza Strip,” a spokesperson said, quoted by Israeli media network Arutz Sheva’s website.

This is not the first time Hamas officials come under Israeli attack. The regime has assassinated many figures with the Pales-tinian group.

Last March, Tel Aviv assassinated Mazen Fuqaha, one of the group’s senior figures, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip. The victim was shot with four bullets to his head.

In 2010, Israel had itself been embroiled

in an international scandal when its oper-atives used false European and Australian passports to assassinate senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the United Arab Emirates.

The killing and the circumstances sur-rounding it also raised suspicions of com-plicity by Emirati intelligence and other services in the assassination.

Netanyahu cuts Paris trip shortIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net-

anyahu, meanwhile, cut short an underway trip to Paris, where he was attending World War I commemorations, flying back to Israel to address the situation.

He had claimed at a press conference in the French capital earlier in the day that the situation in the enclave had “no diplomatic solution.”

Tel Aviv blockaded the already-impover-

ished sliver of land more than a decade ago after Hamas decisively won the Palestinian parliamentary elections. The embargo has rendered living conditions for Gaza’s two-million-strong population insufferable. The United Nations has warned that the overall pressure could render Gaza uninhabitable by 2020.

The regime regularly conducts air raids targeting Gaza, and has launched three large-scale wars against the territory, killing thou-sandsduring each.

Netanyahu, however, said, “I am doing everything I can to avoid an unnecessary war.”

Israel sentences Palestinian to 17 years in prison

An Israeli court has sentenced a young Palestinian man to 17 years in prison on alleged charges of carrying out a stabbing attack in the Israeli-occupied territories.

The Israeli court’s verdict comes at a time that tensions continue in the occupied Pal-estinian territories in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and relocation of the US embassy to the occu-pied city.

The lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club Khaled Mahajna said the court in the city of Lod, situated 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, passed the ruling on 20-year-old Malik al-Sa’ada on Monday.

Mahajna added that the court also ordered the Palestinian youth, who is a resident of the southern West Bank city of Halhul, to pay 35,000 Israeli shekels (approximately $9,530) in fine.

Israeli forces arrested Sa’ada in al-Khalil (Hebron) on March 28, 2017, under the pre-text of carrying out a stabbing in Lod.

(Source: agencies)

Top Obama-era officials urge immediate end to U.S. involvement in Yemen war

1 “We did not intend U.S. support to the coalition to become a blank check. But today, as civilian casualties have continued to rise and there is no end to the conflict in sight, it is clear that is precisely what happened,” the former officials wrote.

“However, rather than learning from that failure, the Trump administration has doubled down on support for the Saudi lead-ership’s prosecution of the war, while removing restrictions we had put in place,” they said. “It is past time for America’s role in this disastrous war in Yemen to end.”

The letter comes two days after the Pentagon said it would end one of the principal elements of U.S. support for the coalition: aerial refueling of flights over Yemen.

Coalition airstrikes have repeatedly struck civilian targets, while Saudi Arabia and its allies are also blamed for contributing to a massive humanitarian crisis by making it more difficult for goods to enter the country.

The United States provides intelligence support to the coali-tion, which includes the United Arab Emirates and other nations.

The decision to end refueling, which the Saudi government said resulted from improvements in its own refueling capacity, appeared to be an attempt to get ahead of expected moves by Congress to force the Trump administration out of the conflict.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed mounting frus-tration with Saudi Arabia over its conduct of the war and, more recently, its role in the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Pressure to curtail U.S. involvement in the war is expected to increase in the wake of last week’s mid-term elections, which handed control of the House to Democrats critical of President Trump’s Yemen policy.

(Source: Washington post)

Separatist leaders re-elected as Moscow cements hold on east UkraineResidents of Russian-backed areas of eastern Ukraine have re-elected separatist leaders, results showed Monday, cement-ing Moscow’s hold on the disputed regions.

Kiev and its Western allies denounced the weekend elections as a sham but Russia insisted they were a step forward in the regions’ drive for independence.

Gun-toting, camouflage-clad guards were deployed to ensure order during Sunday’s vote in the Donetsk and Lugansk “Peo-ple’s Republics,” which have been controlled by separatists since breaking away from Ukraine’s pro-Western government in 2014.

Authorities pulled out all the stops to encourage a high turnout, setting up food stalls near polling stations and offering lottery tickets to those who voted.

Denis Pushilin, the 37-year-old acting Donetsk leader and a former negotiator with Kiev, was elected with 61 percent of the vote with almost all ballots counted, the local electoral com-mission said.

He had been in charge of the region following the killing of the rebel Donetsk “president” in a bomb attack in August.

Leonid Pasechnik, 48, the acting Lugansk leader and previ-ously the regional head of the Ukrainian security service, took 68 percent of the vote.

(Source: AFP)

ساعت: امضاء سردبیر: ساعت: امضاء ادیتور: ساعت: امضاء مسئول صفحه: ساعت: 19:40 امضاء صفحه آرا:

Rockets fired at Israel, Code Red throughout southern occupied lands

A U.S. think tank said on Monday it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases inside North Korea, underscoring the challenge for American negotiators hoping to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

In reports released by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and Interna-tional Studies, researcher Joseph Bermudez said maintenance and minor infrastructure improvements have been observed at some of the sites, despite the ongoing negotiations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to work

toward denuclearization at their landmark June summit in Singapore, but the agreement was short on specifics and negotiations have made little headway.

Shortly after that summit, Trump tweeted that “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”

North Korea declared its nuclear force “complete” and halted missile and nuclear bomb testing earlier this year, but U.S. and South Korean negotiators have yet to elicit from Pyongyang a concrete declaration of the size or scope of the weapons programs, or a promise to stop deploying its existing arsenal.

North Korea has said it has closed its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site and the So-hae missile engine test facility. It also raised the possibility of shuttering more sites and allowing international inspections if Wash-ington took “corresponding measures,” of which there has so far been no sign.

Last week, North Korea called off a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York, and state media said on Monday the resumption of some small-scale military drills by South Korea and the United States violated a recent agreement aimed at lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The sites identified in the CSIS report are scattered in remote, mountainous areas across North Korea, and could be used to house ballistic missiles of various ranges, with the largest believed to be capable of striking anywhere in the United States.

“Missile operating bases are not launch facilities,” Bermudez wrote. “While mis-siles could be launched from within them in an emergency, Korean People’s Army (KPA) operational procedures call for mis-sile launchers to disperse from the bases to pre-surveyed or semi-prepared launch sites for operations.”

(Source: Reuters)

Fifty-one states, including all EU members, have pledged their support for a new international agreement to set standards on cyber-weapons and the use of the internet, the French government said Monday.

The states have signed up to a so-called “Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace”, an attempt to kickstart stalled global negotiations.

China, Russia and the United States did not sign the

pledge, reflecting their resistance to setting standards for cyber-weapons which are at the cutting edge of modern warfare.

“We need norms to avoid a war in cyberspace which would be catastrophic,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday.

Campaigners have called for a “Digital Geneva Con-vention”, a reference to the Geneva conventions that set

standards for the conduct of wars.They want states to commit to not attacking infrastruc-

ture which is depended upon by civilians during wartime, for example.

A new international norm would also help define a state-backed cyber-attack and when a state could be justified in retaliating.

(Source: AFP)

As wildfires raged at both ends of California, officials re-leased another grim statistic: six more dead in a swath of Northern California wiped out by fire, raising the death toll there to 29. It matched California’s record for deaths in a single fire and brought the statewide total to 31.

Another 228 remain unaccounted for as crews stepped up the search for bodies and missing people. Two people were killed in a wildfire in Southern California.

Ten search teams were working in Paradise - a town of 27,000 that was largely incinerated last week - and in surrounding communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Authorities called in a DNA lab and teams of anthropologists to help identify victims.

Statewide, 150,000 remained displaced as more than 8,000 fire crews battled wildfires that have scorched 400 square miles (1,040 square kilometers), with out-of-state crews continuing to arrive. Whipping winds and tinder-dry conditions threaten more areas through the rest of the week, fire officials warned.

“This is truly a tragedy that all Californians can under-stand and respond to,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a press briefing. “It’s a time to pull together and work through these tragedies.”

Brown, who has declared a state emergency, said California is requesting aid from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has blamed “poor” forest management for the fires. Brown said federal and state governments must do more forest management but that climate change is the greater source of the problem.

“And those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” he said.

Drought and warmer weather attributed to climate change, and the building of homes deeper into forests have led to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons in California. While California officially emerged from a five-year drought last year, much of the northern two-thirds of the state is abnormally dry.

Firefighters battling fire with shovels and bulldozers, flame retardant and hoses expected wind gusts up to 40 mph (64 kph) overnight Sunday.

In Southern California, firefighters beat back a new round of winds Sunday and the fire’s growth and destruction are

believed to have been largely stopped. Malibu celebrities and mobile-home dwellers in nearby mountains were slowly learning whether their homes had been spared or reduced to ash. Two people were killed and the fire had destroyed nearly 180 structures.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby stressed there were numerous hotspots and plenty of fuel that had not yet burned, but at sunset he said there had been huge successes despite “a very challenging day.”

Celebrities whose coastal homes were damaged or de-stroyed in a Southern California wildfire or were forced to flee from the flames expressed sympathy and solidarity with less-famous people hurt worse by the state’s deadly blazes, and gave their gratitude to firefighters who kept them safe. Actor Gerard Butler said on Instagram that his Malibu home was “half-gone,” adding he was “inspired as ever by the courage, spirit and sacrifice of firefighters.”

Flames also besieged Thousand Oaks, the Southern Cal-ifornia city in mourning over the massacre of 12 people in a shooting rampage at a country music bar on Wednesday night.

In Northern California, where more than 6,700 build-ings have been destroyed, the scope of the devastation was beginning to set in even as the blaze raged on.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the county con-sulted teams of anthropologists because, in some cases, investigators have been able to recover only bones and bone fragments.

In some neighborhoods “it’s very difficult to determine whether or not there may be human remains there,” Ho-nea said.

Public safety officials toured the Paradise area to begin discussing the recovery process. Much of what makes the city function is gone.

“Paradise was literally wiped off the map,” said Tim Aboudara, a representative for International Association of Fire Fighters. He said at least 36 firefighters lost their own homes, most in the Paradise area.

“Anytime you’re a firefighter and your town burns down, there’s a lot of feelings and a lot of guilt and a lot of concern about both what happened and what the future looks like,” he said. “Every story that we’ve heard coming through has been that way, like ‘I wish I could have done more, What’s going to happen to our community, Where are my kids

going to go to school?’”Others continued the desperate search for friends or

relatives, calling evacuation centers, hospitals, police and the coroner’s office.

Sol Bechtold drove from shelter to shelter looking for his mother, Joanne Caddy, a 75-year-old widow whose house burned down along with the rest of her neighborhood in Magalia, just north of Paradise. She lived alone and did not drive.

As he drove through the smoke and haze to yet another shelter, he said, “I’m also under a dark emotional cloud. Your mother’s somewhere and you don’t know where she’s at. You don’t know if she’s safe.”

The 29 dead in Northern California matched the deadliest single fire on record, a 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, though a series of wildfires in Northern California wine country last fall killed 44 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes.

Firefighters made progress against the blaze, holding containment at 25 percent on Sunday, but they were bracing for gusty winds predicted into Monday morning that could spark “explosive fire behavior,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Bill Murphy said.

“We are in this for the long haul,” Pimlott said.(Source: AP)

North Korea keeps undeclared missile bases up and running

51 countries pledge support for global cyber-security rules

Grim search for more fire victims; 31 dead across California

Taliban talks: Dialogue and violence can’t go together

1 The talks were scheduled to be held earlier but were postponed after the Afghan government refused to take part, saying the talks should be Afghan-led only.

The U.S. government, which has been holding ‘peace talks’ with the insurgent group separately, is not in favor of Russia leading the initiative. That obviously hurts the ego of Uncle Sam. It is a different matter that the U.S. government has already admitted defeat in the war-ravaged country after 18 years of wasted effort. And it is still a mystery whether the U.S. is fighting the Taliban or fighting alongside the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan.

The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan has not only destroyed the country but led to thousands of civilian casualties and incalculable collateral damage. The men they have been claiming to fight are now sitting across the table with them, while the poor and hapless people of Afghanistan continue to pay the heavy price of the war they didn’t ask for. It’s a dirty war and America’s biggest shame.

While the U.S. and Russia hold ‘peace talks’ with the Talib-an, the insurgent group continues to launch attacks on civilian population across the country. In the last few weeks, the group has again chosen the soft target – Hazara Shias – in multiple provinces. There has been a spate of attacks on Hazara Shias in Urzugan and Ghazni provinces, resulting in casualties and displacement of people.

In Ghazni, the twin districts of Jaghori and Malistan came under attack last week, and local inhabitants had to come out themselves to repel the attack in the absence of Afghan security forces. Afghan government has come under blistering criticism for failing to send reinforcements in time to thwart the Taliban offensive. Rohullah Yakobi, a researcher with Human Security Centre, who belongs to Jaghori, said hours after the multi-pronged attack on Jaghori, people were “resisting on their own” against a “well-armed terrorist group” and there was “no sign of support” from the Kabul government.

Till Sunday, all roads leading to Jaghori remained closed as the fighting raged on. People, according to a source, have taken shelter in mosques and makeshift tents far away from Hotqol – where around a dozen security personnel were killed couple of days ago. Reports said that insurgents have ransacked and burned private properties in the area.

So, under these circumstances, it makes no sense why ‘peace talks’ with the Taliban should continue while they commit hor-rendous war crimes in Afghanistan? Why not call for a ceasefire before resuming talks? Why allow the insurgent group to negotiate from a position of strength? Do Afghan lives matter?

It appears, for the U.S. government, Afghan lives don’t matter. As per latest reports, a notorious Taliban leader has been released by Pakistan on the request of the U.S. apparently to give push to ‘peace efforts’, thereby putting Afghan lives at more risk.

It is just another political maneuver on part of the U.S. to keep the pot boiling and to strengthen the invasion. That is precisely why these ‘peace talks’ are an exercise in futility and why they would produce no desirable results. Peaceful Afghanistan, it goes without saying, is not in America’s interest.

Formula One: Hamilton wins in Brazil but angry Verstappen gets physical


W O R L D S P O R T S NOVEMBER 13, 201814

Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix as Mercedes sealed the F1 constructors’ championship for a fifth straight year. Max Verstappen led before a bizarre crash with Esteban Ocon and the pair clashed after the race. Lewis Hamilton won the Brazil-ian Grand Prix to help his Mercedes team take the constructors’ title for a fifth season in a row but Max Verstappen will again hog the headlines. Hamilton, who had already wrapped up his fifth F1 drivers’ title, benefited from Red Bull’s Verstappen being involved in a prang with backmarker Esteban Ocon.

The Dutchman had been in the lead at the time and primed for victory. Ocon was given a 10-second penalty by stewards for not giving Verstappen enough room. After the race the pair exchanged words and Ocon said Verstappen had pushed him.

“I was really surprised by the behaviour of Max, afterwards, with the FIA having to intervene. He pushed me and wanted to punch me and that is not professional,” Ocon said.

“I’m used to the fights with Max. He’s always been the same. It goes back a few years.”

Verstappen told a press conference: “I think we had a great car, the strategy did really well, and we did our race until I got taken out on Turn Two. He [Ocon] got a penalty and that tells you the stewards know who was in the wrong.

“The penalty for me is that I lost the vic-tory today. Hopefully in 15 years time we can laugh about it.”

Hamilton, who had started on pole, fin-

ished less than two seconds ahead of the 21-year-old Verstappen, who had to settle for second having earlier passed the Briton with flying speed.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium at Interlagos with team-mate

Sebastian Vettel only finishing sixth in an-other forgettable race for the German in the second half of the season.

Hamilton’s 10th victory this year means he has won half of all the races ahead of the climax in Abu Dhabi in two weeks’ time.

“We were a sitting duck at one stage,” Hamilton said. “We were having problems with the engine. I just want to thank every-one. The team give me the tools and I do the best I can.”

(Source: Deutsche Welle)

Samir Nasri to have medical at Premier League clubSamir Nasri is to undergo a medical at West Ham ahead of a proposed move to the club.

Nasri is allowed to start training again this month after com-pleting an 18-month doping ban.

It is understood the former Arsenal and Manchester City mid-fielder will join the Hammers for an initial six month period, with the option to extend. The 31-year-old will be able to play from 1 January. Nasri most recently played for Turkish club Antalyaspor, but his contract terminated on 31 January this year.

A month later he was banned, initially for six months, for using an intravenous drip treatment that contravened World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules, leading to a Spanish An-ti-Doping investigation.

It was alleged that in 2016, while on loan from City to Sevilla, he received 500 millilitres of hydration in the form of sterile water containing micronutrient components, which exceeds the permissible limit.

In February 2017, a request by Sevilla for a retroactive thera-peutic use exemption (TUE) for Nasri was refused by Uefa, and its decision was later upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The France midfielder has made 215 appearances in the Premier League, featuring for Arsenal from 2008 to 2011 before moving to Manchester City for £25m, where he stayed until August 2017. He won the Premier League twice during his time at the Etihad.

(Source: BBC)

Real Madrid have filed papers to appoint Santiago Solari as per-manent first-team coach, the Spanish FA (RFEF) has told ESPN.

The club are now expected to confirm the 42-year-old, who has won all four of his games in caretaker charge, as first-team boss until at least the end of the season.

Solari, who had been coaching the club’s Castilla youth side, stepped up when Julen Lopetegui was sacked after the 5-1 Clasico defeat at Barcelona in October. However, league rules state that an interim coach can do a job for only two weeks -- a period that ends on Monday -- meaning he has to be registered or drop back to his Castilla role.

The former Madrid midfielder immediately oversaw a dramatic upturn in his side’s form after they had taken only one point from their previous five La Liga games.

Bernabeu president Florentino Perez had been considering options that included ex-Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez and former Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim.

But victories over Melilla, Valladolid and Viktoria Plzen were followed by Sunday’s 4-2 win at Celta Vigo -- the best start of any new manager in Madrid’s history.

Madrid are now sixth in La Liga, four points behind leaders Barcelona, who lost 4-3 to Real Betis at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

The Champions League holders are at the top of Group G with Roma, whom they visit on Nov. 27.

(Source: Soccernet)

Former Basel manager Thorsten Fink has told ESPN FC that Xherdan Shaqiri possesses world-class natural footballing ability like Lionel Messi does and believes he can go on to become the “best player for Liverpool.”

Shaqiri has continued to impress in a Liverpool shirt after the Merseyside club triggered a £13.5 million release clause in his Stoke City contract in July.

The ex-Basel attacker scored his second goal for Liverpool against Fulham on Sunday and has been directly involved in five goals in his last six appearances.

“Cristiano Ronaldo, he worked for what he achieved,” Fink, who managed the Swiss international between 2009-2011, said. “But Messi, he had it. “He didn’t have to work for this talent. Ronaldo must work for this -- work with this body, work with everything. For me, Messi has this talent. That’s also for Shaqiri.

“He has this talent to play. If he works very professionally, he can be the best player for Liverpool -- not only a player. Every time the aim must to be better and make the next step. If you play for Liverpool not every week, it cannot be enough for him. His aim must be to play every week.”

Fink, who is now manager of Swiss side Grasshoppers, man-aged Shaqiri when he was teenager, having broken through from the Basel academy. The German initially used him as a left-back before moving him further up the pitch, where he could have a greater impact.

(Source: ESPN)

Former France international Franck Ribery allegedly slapped French television pundit Patrick Guillou after Bayern Munich’s 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, Bild newspaper reported on Sunday. Saturday’s loss at the Signal Iduna Park left the German champions struggling in fifth place in the table, seven points behind unbeaten Dortmund who sit at the top of the Bundesliga.

Bild quoted witnesses saying the row took place between Ribery and Guillou, who works for the BeIN Sport channel, on Bayern’s team bus following the match.

The accounts say 35-year-old Ribery hit Guillou three times in the face before pushing him in his chest.

The paper said Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic confirmed the incident. “Franck Ribery informed us of an alter-cation with his countryman Patrick Guillou, whom he has known for many years. We have agreed to meet in person to discuss how to put this affair to bed,” he said.

The tabloid said Ribery, who is yet to score in 15 games this season, was angered by Guillou’s negative comments during the match. Ribery’s wife Wahiba had sent the winger a message on Instagram saying Guillou was “very tiring and useless”.

(Source: AFP)

Real Madrid to hire Solari as permanent coach

Shaqiri ‘like Messi,’ can be Reds’ best - ex-boss

Ribery slaps TV pundit after Bayern defeat

A referee is recovering in hospital from a broken jaw and other serious injuries after an “appalling” attack by players following a match.

Daniel Sweeney was assaulted after an amateur game in the Republic of Ireland’s Combined Counties League.

Police are investigating the incident - allegedly involving three Mullingar Town players and a fan - which followed the club’s match at Horseleap.

League chairman Sean Montgomery told the BBC he would push for life bans.

“I haven’t come across anything like this before and the league is taking it very seri-ously. Daniel is a very good referee,” he said.

“I’m told it was a good game of football and Mullingar won 3-1, which is the strange thing about it all.”

Mullingar Town have declined to com-ment.

It is understood the incident happened in a car park by the ground at Horseleap, County Offaly.

The league is affiliated to the Leinster Senior League, which is one level below the top-tier League of Ireland’s two divisions.

Montgomery said it was only the second time during his three years in charge - after a minor previous incident - that a referee in

the league had been targeted.But the Irish Soccer Referees Society

(ISRS) said the safety of officials across the country was a growing area of concern.

“We are shocked and appalled in equal measure with the vicious assault on one of our members after this game on Sunday,”

said ISRS president Paul O’Brien.“He’s had his jaw broken on both sides,

another break higher up and has a bro-ken bone below the eye, plus stitches in his nose.

“We wholeheartedly condemn any vi-olence in our beautiful game. We believe

there is no place for violence, intimidation or abuse of any official.”

’Referees should be given pro-tection’

O’Brien said “assaults and abuse are on the increase” and called for action to tackle the problem.

“There is a chronic shortage of referees in the country. Anyone interested in refereeing would be turned off completely on viewing the image of our assaulted member,” he added.

“Without referees there is no game. We, as referees, should be viewed as a resource and in turn we should be given the protection and respect we deserve.”

Police officers from the Gardai’s Tullamore station were called to Horseleap’s ground shortly before 13:00 GMT on Sunday.

“It’s understood a match referee, a male in his 50s, was physically injured when a disturbance broke out,” said a spokesperson.

“The injured man was taken to Tullamore Hospital by ambulance for treatment. His injures are not thought to be life threaten-ing. No arrests have been made to date and enquiries are ongoing.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Tullamore Garda Station on 000 353 57 932 7600.

(Source: BBC)

Referee’s jaw broken after attack in Irish amateur league

AC Milan forward Gonzalo Higuain has apologized for getting dismissed against Juventus, the club that sent him to San Siro on loan this season, during a 2-0 de-feat on Sunday in which he also missed a first-half penalty.

Enraged after being penalized following a collision with Juventus defender Medhi Benatia, the former Real Madrid and Napoli forward was booked for dissent, then given another yellow immediately afterwards for continuing to protest.

“First of all, I want to apologize to the team, the coach, the support-ers and the referee for my reaction,” Higuain said.

“I take responsibility for what happened. Obviously, I hope that it doesn’t happen again. It was one of those moments — we were losing, I missed a penalty and we aren’t robots but people. But I don’t want to try and justify my actions.”

Juventus loaned Higuain to Milan for one year — with an option to buy — in August

after signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, and the Argentine reiterated that it was not his decision to leave.

“It was taken by others, not by me. I have always given everything in Turin,” said Higuain, who scored 55 goals in 105 appearances for Juventus, including 40 in 73 outings in Serie A.

“Now I’m at Milan and I’m fine here. I am a very emotional person and player, so sometimes it is difficult to contain myself. You can see me in the face if I’m feeling good or bad,” he added.

“We are an example for children and I know my action was not the right one.”

He also thanked his former Juventus team mates who tried to restrain him.

“I had a great rapport with them, it was pleasing that they came and tried to hold me back. They know that players have emotions and this game went wrong, above all for me, and I can only apologize.”

(Source: Reuters)

Boca Juniors and River Plate played out a thrilling 2-2 draw on Sunday in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores final that took place a day later than scheduled due to heavy rain in Argentina.

The first Libertadores final between Argentina’s two biggest clubs was an end-to-end affair worthy of the occasion.

Boca went ahead after 34 minutes when Ramon Abila followed up his own blocked drive with a ferocious shot that keeper Franco Armani got a hand to but could not stop. Their lead lasted less than two minutes as Lucas Pratto controlled a through ball before firing in an angled drive past Agustin Rossi from 12 meters out.

The goals sparked the game into life and although River looked the more dan-gerous, it was Boca who again went ahead seconds before halftime. Dario Benedetto, who had come on to replace the injured Cristian Pavon, headed home a freekick lofted hopefully into the box.

The second half started at the same pace

and River drew level in the 61st minute thanks to an own goal by Carlos Izquierdoz.

The visitors punted another long free kick into the box and Izquierdoz, under pressure from Pratto, glanced the ball past his own keeper.

Benedetto had a superb chance to win the game in the final minute but his point-blank shot was well saved by Armani.

The second leg of the final, South Amer-ica’s equivalent of the Champions League, will take place at River’s Monumental sta-dium on Nov. 24.

“It was the game that everyone expected, tough with lots of fight,” said River Plate defender Javier Pinola. “Small details could have led to a win but we fought hard and a draw was the fair result.”

With away fans banned from derby games in Argentina because of violence, Boca, who won the last of their six titles in 2007, played the match in front of their own fans in a sold out Bombonera stadium.

(Source: Eurosport)

Higuain apologizes for sending off in Juve defeat

Boca draw 2-2 with River in first leg of Libertadores final

S P O R T S 15I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

S P O R T Sd e s k

Pep Guardiola said his Manchester City players felt the pressure of the derby in their 3-1 win over United on Sunday, but that incidents such as Raheem Sterling’s stepovers are avoidable.

The winger kept the ball in the corner during the final minutes of the encoun-ter, upsetting Juan Mata and leading to Guardiola speaking to him after the final whistle on the pitch.

Guardiola said that it was good of his players to control the game but there was no need for Sterling’s showboating.

“I like a lot when he played. The best way to defend the result is to keep the ball. It’s the best way,” he said. “And they did it, with Leroy and Phil, [Foden] they did it.

“That situation, with two or three min-utes left, they control absolutely. It’s not just the best way defending back, because everything can happen.

“But he made some movements with the legs, we can avoid it, but he’s young and he’s going to improve.”

Guardiola was pleased with City’s per-formance as a whole after being able to restore their two-goal lead late on.

Goals from David Silva and Sergio Ague-ro put the hosts 2-0 up before Anthony Martial’s penalty brought United back into the game, but Ilkay Gundogan scored late on to secure the points.

“The first half was not so good,” Guar-diola said. “We played like ‘I don’t want to lose the ball’ but not the intention to attack, or to do something.

“We felt the pressure. Always it’s in-evitable to think about last season what happened again in that situation. But we didn’t concede one other chance, we de-fended so well, the free kicks they are so strong, more than us.

(Source: Soccernet)

Guardiola: Raheem Sterling’s stepover incident was avoidable

Monaco have backed coach Thierry Henry after his difficult start continued with a 4-0 defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

Vice-president Vadim Vasilyev told Canal+ that Henry, who has taken only one point from his first four Ligue 1 games, was a “long-term” solution for the club.

The Arsenal legend was appointed to his first senior coaching role last month when he succeeded Leonardo Jardim with Monaco struggling in the relegation zone.

And speaking after PSG had inflicted a second successive 4-0 home loss on Henry’s team, days after a Champions League thrash-ing by Brugge, Vasilyev backed the coach.

“Thierry came here for the long term, not the short term,” he said. “He’s not a firefighter. Otherwise, we should have gone for another profile as coach.”

Henry’s tough start has raised questions about his readiness for the role, but Vasilyev

said the number of players sidelined -- injuries to Nacer Chadli and Jordi Mboula against PSG took the total to 17 -- was a significant factor.

“We’ve never had as many injured play-ers,” he said. “We’re lacking confidence, we’re lacking luck.”

Vasilyev defended Monaco’s economic model, which has seen players such as Ber-nardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy and Kylian Mbappe, who helped Monaco to the 2016-17 title, sold for vast profits to keep the club within financial fair play (FFP) limits.

Last week, Monaco denied accusations they had tried to bypass FFP rules through a fake multi-million euro contract with a marketing agency.

Football Leaks reports said Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev had attempted to hide illegal funding behind a contract involving an offshore structure of companies in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong.

(Source: ESPN)

Henry backed by Monaco as struggles continue with PSG thrashing

TEHRAN — Iran beach soccer coach Marco Octavio is “very satisfied” for being

able to win the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup with crop of young talents.

Iran defeated Russia 4-2 to win the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup for the second time.

The Iranian team are preparing for the 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship which will be held in Pattaya, Thai-land in March.

“I am very happy not only for winning the title but also for what the other teams say about our strength. I’m very proud of my team and we want to leave a legacy behind,” Octavio said.

“We started our preparation with many young players in Portugal ahead of the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup. Our boys played their hearts out in Dubai,” the Brazilian coach added.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement and those who helped us work with the young players. The Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup is the most important beach soccer event after the World Cup. I am proud of my team, specially my young players for winning the prestigious competition,” Octavio stated.

“After three weeks, we will start our training camp for the 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship because we want to win the title,” Octavio concluded.

Marco Octavio very satisfied with young playersS P O R T Sd e s k

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Kashima Antlers claimed their first ever AFC Champions League title at a sold out Azadi Stadium on Saturday, drawing 0-0 with Persepolis to seal a 2-0 aggregate win.

Coming into the game with a two-goal advantage ena-bled Kashima to play a waiting game in the second leg, and they pressed and harried for 90 minutes to see themselves crowned as kings of the continent.

Persepolis pressed backPersepolis made more passes (459 to 285) and had more

possession (61.7 percent) here, but they struggled to make much headway in the final third.

A total 77.6 percent of the game was played in their defensive or the middle thirds of the pitch, as they found Kashima’s defense too hard to break down.

The host’s top three passing combinations best exem-plify the flow of the game, with them coming between the team’s two central midfielders Kamal Kamyabinia and Bashar Resan (12), from centre-back Jalal Hosseini to right-back Shojae Khalilzadeh (12), and back to Hosseini from Khalilzadeh (10).

Suzuki selfless in attackWith 100,000 fans roaring Persepolis on, Kashima knew

they couldn’t allow the hosts to build up a head of steam

here, and they pressed doggedly from the outset.The visitors didn’t manage to land any shots on target

all night, but they were industrious in the final third nev-ertheless, with Yuma Suzuki as ever leading from the front.

The 22-year-old covered every blade of grass in the Persepolis half and contested 23 duels over the 90 minutes, winning eight of them to ensure the defenders didn’t have a moment’s peace.

Leo Silva shines in centerLeo Silva scored the opener in the first leg of the final

in Kashima and played a vital role in the return fixture as well, dovetailing superbly with Kento Misao and excelling both defensively and offensively.

The Brazilian snapped into challenges in the center of the park as Kashima looked to prevent Persepolis finding their rhythm, recovering possession 12 times.

He was also composed and effective on the ball, achiev-ing a 75.8 percent accuracy with his passing – rising to 79.2 percent in the Persepolis half – as well as creating one chance for a teammate.

(Source: the-afc)

Analysis: Kashima pressure delivers the title S P O R T Sd e s k

Iranian female fans expressed appreciation to AFCFemale football fans have expressed their appreciation to the Asian Football Confederation for making it possible for them to attend the second leg of the 2018 AFC Champions League final between Persepolis and Kashima Antlers at Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Saturday.

The presence of the female fans for the first time in 40 years in an official match at the Azadi Stadium was due to the efforts of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, together with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran.

More than 1,000 female football fans joined a capacity crowd for the Continental showpiece which saw Kashima Antlers emerge champions for the first time.

The female fans shared their excitement and joy at being in the Azadi Stadium on social media.

(Source: the-afc)

Camila Haase named Americas ‘Athlete of the Month’Camila Haase has been chosen as Americas ‘Athlete of the Month’ for October after receiving 44 per cent of the public vote.

The Costa Rican swimmer won four gold medals in the women’s 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 200m medley S9 at the Barranquilla National Open in Colombia.

Haase was among 30 ath-letes and coaches identified and trained by the Agitos Foundation in Bogota, Colombia, in early 2016, as part of the ‘Road to Sao Paulo 2017 Youth Parapan American Games’ programme.

That same year she be-came Costa Rica´s first female Paralympian at Rio 2016, fin-ishing eighth in the women´s 100m breaststroke SB8.

Chilean field athlete Francis-ca Mardones ended second with 37 per cent. She was followed by the Mexican men’s wheelchair basketball team, Peruvian swimmer Dunia Felices and US track athlete Daniel Romanchuk.

The nominations were compiled from submissions by Nation-al Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from across the continent.

(Source: Paralympic.org)

Joint camp of nat’l team of fencing with Germany, Russia, US

IRNA — Iran’s national Fencing team will launch a joint camp with German, Russian and US national teams to participate in the Algerian World Cup in Algiers.

Four representatives from Iran are taking part in Algerian World Cup, holding from Friday, November 16 for three days in Sober in the team and individual.

According to Fencing Federation, Farzad Baher, Ali Pakda-man, Mohammad Rahbari and Nima Zahedi are members of the Iranian national team in this important sporting event.

The World Cup is held in Algeria from November 16-18 in the presence of various countries of the world.

Iran body building team wins world champs

IRNA — Iranian national body building team with eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals ranked first in International Federation of Body Building and Fitness (IFBB) World Men Championships which was held in Benidorm, Spain.

The IFBB World Championships was held on November 9-11.In body classic field, Iranian athletes received 2 gold and 1

silver medals.In physique category, Iran earned 1 gold and 1 bronze medal.South Korea and Iraq ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively.The International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness

(IFBB) is a not-for-profit international amateur sport govern-ing body, founded in 1946. Brothers Ben and Joe Weider were the founding fathers of the IFBB in Montreal, with the former becoming the first President of the organization.

Iranian weightlifter Barari suffers after being slapped by coach

TEHRAN — Iranian weightlifter Mohammadreza Barari suffered a ruptured eardrum after being

slapped by his coach in the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships.

Mohammadhossein Barkhah, Iran weightlifting coach, has reportedly slapped him in the face before an 109kg attempt in the competition.

Barari finished in sixth place in the 109kg weight category in the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Barari is getting treatment on his ruptured ear in the Sports Medicine Federation of Iran.

Gholamreza Mohammadi named Iran’s freestyle wrestling coach

TEHRAN — Gholamreza Mohammadi has been

named as new head coach of Iran’s freestyle wrestling coach on Monday.

Mohammadi replaced Rasoul Khadem, who has recently stepped down as Team Melli coach.

Mohammadi, 48, was coach of Iran youth team. He also coached Iran’s freestyle team in the 2010 Asian Games.

Mohammadi won two silver medals in 1993 and 1995 World Wrestling Championships in Torento and Atlanta respectively and two bronzes in 1994 and 1998 in Istanbul and Tehran.

“Many people think I have not made the best decision due to current condition of Iran’s wrestling but I’m just thinking about serving the sport. Doesn’t matter what may come my way,” Mohammadi said after taking charge of the team.

“I’m not thinking to myself and want to make sure that we can return to our good days. I hope the Iran’s wrestling family support me and I would also like to thank the wrestling federation for trusting me,” he stated.

“We have three events ahead namely, Iran wrestling championship, Takhti Cup and World Cup. We will monitor the com-petitions to select our best wrestlers for the future,” Mohammadi concluded.

TEHRAN – Polish musician Martyna Kosecka

is scheduled to conduct Iran’s Nilper Orchestra during a concert, which will be performed at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Saturday to mark the centenary of Poland’s independence.

Speaking in fluent Persian during a press conference on Sunday in Tehran, Kosecka said, “I’m really happy that I’m the first foreign female guest conductor, who is to accompany the Nilper Orchestra in a concert, and I hope this would prepare the ground for other foreign women conductors to work in Iran.”

Kosecka, 29, said that she has seen performances by several Iranian orchestras, including the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra, and noted, “In my opinion, Nilper is Iran’s best orchestra.”

Polish Chargé d’affaires Wojciech Unolt, who also attended the press conference, said, “By this concert, we intend to share this year’s celebration for Poland’s independence with Iran.”

Pieces by Polish composer Frédéric François Chopin and Iranian musician Ahmad Pejman will be performed at the concert, said Navid Gohari, who has conducted Nilper since 2003 when the private orchestra was established.

“I have conducted the orchestra till now, but hereafter, we plan to collaborate with foreign conductors, the first of whom is from Poland,” he stated.

No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, IranP.o. Box: 14155-4843

Zip Code: 1599814713

Prayer Times Noon:11:49 Evening: 17:18 Dawn: 5:12 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 6:39 (tomorrow) NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Managing Director: Ali Asgari Editor-in-Chief: Mohammad Ghaderi

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Iran, Tunisia news media officials meet

“Grinch” sees green with $66 million, “Overlord” beats “Spider’s Web”

Fatemeh Behbudi receives nomination at Vilnius photojournalism festival

Lost Naguib Mahfouz stories discovered in Nobel laureate’s papers

TEHRAN – Iranian photographer Fate-

meh Behbudi has been nominated for an award at the 12th International Festival of Photojournalism – Vilnius Photo Circle in Lithuania, the organizers have announced.

She has received the nomination for her series “Waiting Mothers” in the Circle of Life category. The series focuses on those Iranian women who have lost their children during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Other nominees are Fabio Bucciarelli, Leonardo Carrato, Cristina Cosmano, Sandra Hoyn, Evgeny

Makarov, Olivier Papegnies, Camillo Pasquarelli, Maurizio Di Pietro and Alain Schroeder.

Works by the photographers are scheduled to be showcased in an exhibit titled “Photographers’ Weekend” from November 30 to December 2.

The Lithuanian Press Photographers Club has organized the festival in collaboration with Fujifilm. Photographers from across the world also competing in a section on the theme of “Homework”. Winners will be announced during the exhibition.

Works by the finalists will also be shown at Gallery 555 on November 30.

LONDON (Guardian) — A lost collection of short stories by the celebrated Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz has been discovered in a box of the late Nobel laureate’s papers.

The 50 handwritten stories were found by the Egyptian journalist Mohamed Shoair at the home of Mahfouz’s daughter Umm Kulthum. While some of the stories were published in magazines while Mahfouz was alive – the Arab world’s most beloved novelist died aged 94 in 2006 – 18 of them have never been published. Set in Cairo, they are filled with “fable-like scenarios and reappearing characters”, according to UK publisher Saqi Books, which will release the stories in English next autumn.

Shoair found the papers when Kulthum gave him a box of Mahfouz’s papers while he was working on a book about the Nobel laureate’s manuscripts. He said he felt, “that I’m in front of a treasure”.

The author of 34 novels and more than 350 short stories, Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988. The Nobel jury described him as an author “who, through works rich in nuance … has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind”.

Saqi Books said: “We are excited beyond measure to be bringing these stories to readers in English … With Mahfouz’s often ironic, always insightful observation of the human character, this priceless discovery is wonderful news for fans of one of the world’s best-loved novelists.”

The collection will be published in Arabic on December 11, 2018, Mahfouz’s birthday, by Dar al Saqi, and in an English by Roger Allen next autumn.

The handwritten stories were accompanied by a note: “for publishing 1994”. Saqi said 1994 had been “very difficult” for the Mahfouz, then 82, who was given police protection after death threats, yet was stabbed in the neck outside his Cairo home by an extremist that year.

“He survived, but the nerves in his right arm were permanently damaged, and he could no longer write for more than a few minutes a day. As a result, he dictated most of his stories,” the publisher explained. “For the last decade of his life, most of his work were short narratives, such as “Echo of an Autobiography” and “Dreams”.” It is not yet known if the newly discovered stories were written before or after the attack.

TEHRAN – Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP)

director Lotfi Arfaoui has met Iranian Deputy Culture Minister for Press Affairs Mohammad Soltanifar in Tehran.

Arfaoui was in Tehran at the invitation of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), and the two officials met at IRNA office on Sunday.

Ways to enhance bilateral media collaboration were discussed at the meeting, IRNA announced on Monday.

Soltanifar said that Iran and Tunisia enjoy good political and economic relations, and these good ties need to develop in media affairs.

He also gave an account of the number of foreign media active in the country, and proposed if any news agency or radio and television of Tunisia would like to have an office in Iran the culture ministry would fully support the act.

“Today in Iran, 6,000 print media, and 3,000 online media hold an activity license, while 170 international media have offices in Iran,” he explained.

Arfaoui also for his part expressed his hope that IRNA and TAP can engage in bilateral cooperation through holding workshops and exchanging media delegations.

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) — “The Grinch” proved it’s never too early for some holiday cheer as the animated family flick stole the weekend box office with $66 million from 4,141 locations.

Illumination and Universal’s adaptation of the Dr. Seuss holiday tale now ranks as the best start for a Christmas film. Fellow new offerings “Overlord” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” weren’t as gleeful, with mediocre debuts of $10 million and $8 million, respectively.

Benedict Cumberbatch voiced the animated green grouch in “The Grinch,” which cost the studio $75 million to make. While it trails the start of Illumination’s latest Dr. Seuss story “The Lorax” ($70 million), “The Grinch” should benefit from the holiday corridor.

Though critics gave “Grinch” a mediocre 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — with many noting the second big-screen adaptation didn’t add much to the original 1966 TV special — audiences, for the most part, embraced the movie and gave it an A- CinemaScore. Opening weekend crowds were 53% female and 29% under the age of 12.

Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr gave a nod to the film’s witty and snarky advertising campaign that played on the Grinch’s cynical humor for buoying opening numbers.

“Our marketing was eye-catching and unique,” Orr said. “It took full advantage of the character. It was purposeful

because we knew we had a big property.” Newcomers “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” and “Overlord” weren’t able to best “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Fox’s Queen biopic showed staying power with a solid $30.9 million in its sophomore frame, representing a drop of just 41 percent. That brings its 10-day domestic total just shy of $100 million.

Paramount’s “Overlord”, produced by J.J. Abrams, was able to nab third place, opening with opened with $10 million from 2,859 theaters.

It hasn’t been all Yuletide joy at the box office. In fourth, Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” slipped over 50 percent in its second weekend with $9.6 million to bring its domestic total to a disappointing $35 million. The studio is banking on its overseas run to justify the family film’s pricey $125 million budget. Globally, “Nutcracker” has made $96.7 million, including $61.4 million from international.

Martyna Kosecka to conduct Poland’s independence concert in Tehran

A photo from Iranian photographer Fatemeh Behbudi’s series “Waiting Mothers”.

Naguib Mahfouz, pictured in 1989. (Sipa Press/Rex/Shutterstock)

Polish conductor Martyna Kosecka is seen with Iran’s Nilper Orchestra after doing a rehearsal at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.

Film scores by Alex North to be reviewed in Tehran

TEHRAN – The Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran will be holding a session on Thurs-

day to review film scores composed by renowned American composer Alex North.

Musician Nasrollah Davudi is scheduled to attend the ses-sion, during which the audience will listen to soundtracks by North.

North composed soundtracks for numerous acclaimed movies, including “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Viva Zapata!”, “Spartacus”, “Cleopatra” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.

He shunned publicity and Hollywood careerism. But he nevertheless accumulated 15 Oscar nominations and a Life-time Achievement Oscar for his work in the film industry.

He is the first and, thus far, only composer to have received this honor for his music.

Alex North in an undated photo.

French artist Huot-Marchand to hold exhibit in memory of Morteza Momayyez

TEHRAN – French graphic designer Thomas Huot-Marchand plans to showcase his works in

Tehran in memory of prominent Iranian graphic artist Morteza Momayyez.

The exhibition will open at the Shahnaz Hall of the Iranian Artists Forum on November 23, the organizers announced on Monday.

The exhibit is part of the program arranged to commemorate the death anniversary of Momayyez, who is considered to be the father of modern graphic art in Iran. He died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 70.

Huot-Marchand is also scheduled to deliver a speech during the opening ceremony of the weeklong exhibition.

He lives and works in Besançon. He is the director of the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique, a post-graduate research course based in Nancy.

He is the designer of Minuscule (2007), a typeface for extremely small sizes, awarded as one of the ten typefaces of the decade.

French graphic designer Thomas Huot-Marchand.

A scene from “Grinch”

Michael Jackson’s “Bad” tour jacket sold at auctionNEW YORK (Reuters) — Michael Jackson’s iconic black “Bad” jacket, which he wore on his first solo tour, sold for $298,000 late Saturday, about three times its original asking price, at a New York auction which featured items from music legends Prince, Madonna, John Lennon and others, officials announced.

Julien’s Auctions had an original asking price of $100,000 for the jacket that Jackson signed on the back with a silver permanent marker and was worn throughout the singer’s “Bad” world concert tour from 1987-89.

It is one of the late singer’s most iconic costume pieces alongside his red and black leather “Thriller” music video jacket that sold for $1.8 million at auction in 2011.

Jackson has become one of the most collectible celebrities since his sudden death in 2009 in Los Angeles at age 50 from an accidental overdose of an anesthetic he was using as a sleep aid.

The “Bad” jacket was sold by Texas businessman and philan-thropist Milton Verret along with almost 100 other items from his large rock ‘n roll memorabilia collection.

The Icons & Idols: Rock-N-Roll auction, which announced the results of the two-day auction late Saturday, also featured electric guitars played by Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and U2 band members The Edge and Bono.

A guitar Prince used in his final stage performance in 2016 sold for $156,250 and his motorcycle jacket he wore in the 1984 movie Purple Rain sold for $37,500, official said.

Part of the auction proceeds will go to the MusicCares charity arm of Grammy Award organizers the Recording Academy that provides health and other services to musicians.