Iran congratulates Lebanese presidential victor

Prospects of effective deal on Aleppo are dim: ex-CIA official

TEHRAN — A former CIA official believes that the prospects of an effective ceasefire in the Syrian city of Aleppo are dim be-cause any agreement between Russia and the U.S. on Syria cannot survive without the involvement of other power players.

“The history of broken-down cease-fires does not hold out much promise for new agreements that are negotiated only by Russia and the United States,” Pillar, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown Univer-sity, tells the Tehran Times.

Following is the text of the interview with Paul Pillar:

Do you think that the U.S. and Rus-sia will reach an agreement on Aleppo?

A: The Syrian regime in particular, but also its Russian ally, probably believe they will be able to eliminate the remain-ing opposition presence in the eastern part of Aleppo before any new cease-fire takes hold there. 1 3

Hazfi Cup: Esteghlal qualifies to the Round of 16

Esteghlal football team has defeated

Mes Kerman 1-0 in the Round of 32 of Iran’s Hazfi Cup in Tehran’s Azadi Sta-dium on Monday.

The match finished in a goalless draw in regular time but Esteghlal’s Mohsen Karimi scored the winner in the 113th minute to take the blues through to the next round. Esteghlal will take on the winner of Saba Qom vs. Shardari Garros Bijar in the Round of 16.

Elsewhere, Tractor Sazi edge past Malavan 1-0 thanks to the 21st minute goal by Mohammad Iranpourian.

Giant-killers Qashqai Shiraz who de-feated Persepolis in the previous round on penalties, eliminated in the Round of 32 after a 1-0 defeat against New Bargh Fars.

Machine Sazi beat F.C. Khooneh Be Khooneh 2-1, Naft Omidiyeh suffered a 2-1 home defeat against Shahrdari Mahshahr and Saipa claimed a 2-1 vic-tory over Baderan Tehran.

TEHRAN — Actor Reza Kianian presented the “I’m Lake Urmia” petition, signed by around 1.7 mil-lion Iranians, to the UN resident coordinator in Iran Gary Lewis, here on Monday.

“I’m Lake Urmia” hashtag is a campaign initiated in late August by Mohammad Khazaei, an environ-mentalist, and later taken up and supported by Kianian. It is aimed to push the United Nations to take serious measures to restore the lake.

Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran was once the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-larg-est saltwater lake on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 square kilometers. The lake has shrunk to 10 percent of its for-mer size mostly due to damming

of the rivers that flow into it and pumping of groundwater from the area.

Periods of drought, a lack of awareness among the public, a lack of coordination among the countries in the region, and flawed policies have all contributed to the Lake Urmia dryness, Kianian wrote in his letter attached to the peti-tion to UN Chief Ban Ki-moon.

Constructing numerous dams, unsustainable agriculture and indus-tries, and water transferring projects have also intensified the pressure on the lake, Kianian added.

At the end of the letter Kianian urged the UN to help Iran save the lake with technical, scientific, and financial supports.

Lewis, for his part, explained how impressed he was by the

Iranian public personalities and representatives of the media as it is very important to drive public attention to Iran’s environmental crises.

“In addition to what Mr. Kianian said [about Iran’s environmental status] there are more reasons to

worry,” Lewis said, adding, “dra-matic population growth in Iran over the last 30 years has in-creased the pressure on the re-sources more specifically water resources in the country and has made it difficult for us to have sus-tainable water policies.” 1 3

52 10 16Asia’s Sept imports of Iranian oil rise 73% from year ago

Iran: Full JCPOA economic gains hinge on resolving remaining challenges

Tabriz historic bazaar complex:

A melting pot of tradition,

trade, and culture

Tehran center to hold Taha Behbahani retrospective

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 Zahra Nemati reveals difficulties she faced in Rio

16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.12686 Tuesday NOVEMBER 1, 2016 Aban 11, 1395 Safar 1, 1438

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

By Javad HeiranniaINTERVIEWECONOMY

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Iran’s 6-month mineral

exports up 41% yr/yr

TEHRAN — The worth of mineral ex-

ports from Iran witnessed 41 percent rise during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), compared to the same period of time in the previous year, IRNA reported on Monday citing Iranian Ministry of Indus-try, Mine, and Trade.

According to the released data, the country’s mineral exports stood at $576 million in the mentioned time, while the figure was $409 million in the first six months of the past year.

In terms of weight, the country’s mineral exports reached 12.8 million tons in the first half, 50 percent rise from 8.55 million tons in the same time span in the previous year.

Mehdi Karbasian, the head of Irani-an Mines and Industries Development and Renovation Organizations (IMID-RO), announced in July that 34 mining and mineral industries projects will be-come operational in the country by his organization by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2017).

He put the worth of investment to com-plete the mentioned projects at $7.2 billion.

In early May, the IMIDRO head said that Iran offers $40 billion investment opportunities to the foreign entities for development of its mining sector.

22nd Press Exhibition to

open in Tehran on Friday

TEHRAN — The 22nd Press Exhi-

bition, Iran’s most significant media showcase, will open at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla on Friday, Deputy Culture Minister for Press Affairs Hos-sein Entezami announced in a press conference on Monday.

Over 900 media, including newspa-pers, magazines, news agencies and press organizations, will participate in the exhibit, he said.

Various programs, including meetings, seminars and professional workshops will be organized during the exhibition.

The organizers have invited some foreign professional journalists to share their experiences with Iranian journalists at the exhibition. However, no further details were published con-cerning the invitees.

Three photo exhibitions have also been arranged. “Iran in the Past Year” will feature Iran’s major events in vari-ous fields over the past year. “The En-vironment” will focus on Iran’s major environmental challenges and “Iran and South Korea” will display photos on cultural and diplomatic relations between Iran and South Korea.

In addition, “International Commu-nications Law”, a book authored by Ka-zem Motamednejad (1934-2013), who is considered as the father of Iran’s communication sciences, will be un-veiled during the exhibit. 1 6

Iran’s 1st intl. halal meat expo due in early Nov.

TEHRAN — Tehran is going to host Iran

International Meat Exhibition (Meatex 2016) as the first international exhi-bition of the country in the field of halal protein products and related in-dustries from November 5 to 8, Iran’s

Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) reported.

The event aims to attract foreign investment, bring modern technology and technical knowledge to the coun-try, update existing establishments and also help expanding the export mar-kets for Iranian protein products.

Some 53 domestic companies along with 14 foreign exhibitors from 9 countries including China, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Finland, Azerbaijan, Germany, Lebanon and Australia will showcase their products and services in the exhibition at the Tehran Perma-nent International Fairgrounds.

A variety of protein and organic products, natural and chemical food additives and preservatives, machin-ery and equipment for processing the protein products and etc. are going to be displayed in this event.

As one of the fastest growing con-sumer segments around the world, the global halal industry is estimated to be worth around $2.3 trillion.

15

‘I’m Lake Urmia’ petition signed by 1.7m Iranians presented to UN

TEHRAN — The female Iranian businesswom-an, Soheila Pirmoradian, symbolizes the com-petence of Iranian women who inherit a rich heritage and ancient civilization.

Soheila is amongst selectees who will be honored with (European Business Compe-tence* License) EBC*L Women Entrepreneur Awards, during a ceremony scheduled to be held in Paris on November 3.

Iran should be judged from the ancient times, when, according to inscriptions found at Perse-polis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), pregnant working women used to paid more, the entrepreneur said.

This is an inalienable right of women, how-

ever, many European countries are still dealing with it.

Soheila, having 15 years of working experi-ence as a tour guide, officially started her work as a tour operator four years ago by establish-ing a travel agency in Tehran.

“I tried to change the viewpoint of foreign tourists about Iranian women and they came to know that Iranian women, inheriting a rich historical background, are different from Arab women,” she said.

During the early years of her work as a tour guide, Soheila faced tourists who could not be-lieve that a female tour guide is working in Iran.

Foreign tourists got surprised facing a female Iranian tour guide, Soheila told the Tehran Times.

“I praise the culture, civilization, beauty and integrity of Iran with all my heart,” said the nominee for EBC*L Prize.

There is no difference between a man and a woman expect for their willpower, said Soheila who has always been supported by her mother and her sister. 1 2

By Naghmeh MizanianINTERVIEW

Soheila, nominee for EBC*L award, proof of Iranian women’s capability

TEHRAN — The Iranian For-eign Ministry congratulated on

Monday election of Michael Aoun as president of Lebanon, expressing hopes for increasing relations between Tehran and Beirut.

“With the election of General Michel Aoun as pres-ident of Lebanon, political parties confirmed that Leba-non remains as the cradle of different sects and religions, and that it is an obvious instance of peaceful coexistence of the followers of different religions,” said Bahram Qassemi, the ministry spokesman.

Aoun, the former Lebanese army chief, was elected president of Lebanon on Monday, ending more than two years of standstill surrounding the vacancy.

Aoun, 81, secured the presidency by winning the support of 83 MPs, higher than the absolute majority of 65 needed to win, Lebanese media outlets reported.

Qassemi further hoped for stronger relations between Tehran and Beirut during Aoun’s presidency.

“Congratulating the Lebanese people, different political groups, and Mr. Michel Aoun (on the election), the Islamic Republic of Iran hopes for the growth and flour-ishing of Lebanon during His Excellency’s tenure as well as expansion of relations between the two countries,” the spokesman added. See page 2

A R Td e s k

Iran to advance Fajr music festival for religious reasonTEHRAN — Iran plans to hold the Fajr Internation-

al Music Festival a month earlier to avoid a scheduling conflict with the ten-day mourn-ing for the martyrdom anniversary of Hazrat Fatima (SA), the daughter of Prophet Mu-hammad (S).

The 32nd edition of the festival is scheduled to be held from January 11 to 20, 2017, the director of the festival, Hamidreza Nurbakhsh, told the Persian service of the FNA on Monday.

The festival’s schedule will be ready in two weeks, he added.

The organizers plan to find sponsors from the private sector in order to improve their per-formance for this year.

“However, the Iran Music Association will su-pervise all the arrangements,” Nurbakhsh stated.

“We asked for a 30-percent increase in the budget for this edition of the festival,” he said, adding that he is not hopeful his request for an increased budget would be granted.

Iran organizes Fajr festivals in music, film and other fields of art every year during Febru-ary to celebrate the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s National Orchestra performs under the baton of Loris Tjeknavorian in a file photo during the 31st Fajr International Music Festival at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on February 13, 2016. (Borna/Mohsen Vanai)

I L YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

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TEHRAN — Expe-diency Council sec-

retary Mohsen Rezaei said on Monday that Saudi Arabia intervenes in the internal affairs of the Iraqi Kurdistan, IRNA reported.

In a meeting with the visiting dele-gation of the Patriotic Union of Kurd-istan (PUK) in Tehran, Rezaee accused Saudi Arabia of meddling in Kurdish affairs and provoking democrats with the aim of undermining the Iranian se-curity.

Rezaee highlighted Iran’s respect for all Kurdish people in different countries in the region.

“This is while certain countries in the region are fighting against Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq,” he said in an in-direct reference to the Turkish govern-ment which is fighting Kurds in Syria, Iraq and also Turkey.

The former IRGC chief further said the PUK has great potential due to its great figures.

“The union’s ties with Iran have re-mained unshakable over the past five decades,” Rezaei pointed out.

He also underlined the Islamic Re-public’s willingness to expand ties with

the Iraqi Kurdistan.Elsewhere in his remarks, Rezaei

said the first Iraqi president was chosen from among one of the PUK figures, which implies the union’s successful political history.

The secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council called on the PUK members to maintain their unity in order to ward off threats.

Rezaei praised the PUK for its role in fighting against Saddam, saying histo-ry will remember their bravery against Saddam and Daesh.

According to independent sources Kurdish Peshmarga have proven the most competent forces against Daesh militants.

During the meeting, Mola Bakhtiyar, a top PUK figure, voiced satisfaction with the visit to Iran, saying his party is ready to expand collaboration with Iran in order to defeat Daesh.

“Over the past thirty years, Iran and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have cooperated in fighting common ene-mies like Ba’ath Party and Daesh.”

He also said that the PUK will main-tain its ties with the Islamic Republic even after Daesh is defeated.

Saudi Arabia intervenes in Kurdish internal affairs: Rezaei

TEHRAN — Irani-an Majlis speaker Ali

Larijani said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic’s main policy in the region is to preserve territorial integrity of re-gional countries and hamper foreign countries’ interference.

In a meeting with Cypriot Parliament speaker Demetris Syllouris on Sunday evening, Larijani censured some for-eign countries for meddling in the fate of the nations in the Middle East region.

Larijani also said that during earlier talks with his Cypriot counterpart, the two sides discussed the ongoing crises in the region and exchanged views on ways to fight terrorist groups.

The Majlis speaker said Iran and Cyprus share a history of cooperation which has developed in the recent years.

“The expansion of parliamentary relations between the two countries would further contribute to closer col-laborations,” he added.

Larijani pointed to the agreements signed between Iran and Cyprus, say-ing the parliaments of the two coun-tries should take the necessary steps to accelerate the implementation of bilat-eral agreements.

Larijani expressed hope that the Cypriot official's visit to Tehran would lead to desirable outcomes.

For his part, Syllouris expressed sup-port for expansion of ties between Iran and Cyprus in various fields, including economy and politics.

He also said it is necessary to estab-lish peace and security in the Middle East.

The senior Cypriot official went on to say that such objective would not be accomplished through military inter-vention and meddling in other coun-tries’ internal affairs.

Cyprus is one of the European countries which have been flooded with refugees fleeing from the wars in Syria and Iraq.

Iran says ‘will not tolerate’ intervention in region

TEHRAN — In sep-arate meetings on

Monday, the new ambassadors of Britain, Sweden, Moldova, Sierra Le-one, Albania and Colombia submitted their credentials to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

During the meetings with the ambas-sadors, Rouhani said Tehran is willing to expand relations with their respective countries.

During the meeting with British Ambas-sador Nicholas Hopton, Rouhani said the nuclear deal, officially called the JCPOA, has provided a situation to make up for the lost opportunities to promote economic, political, scientific and cultural ties and also establish full banking relations.

For his part, Hopton said many ad-vances have been made in relations. He also said British banks are willing to co-operate with the Iranian corporations.

Britain was one of the six countries that Iran struck the nuclear deal with in July 2015. The agreement took effect in January 2016.

‘No restriction in ties with Moldova’In his meeting with Gheorghe Leuca,

the ambassador of Moldova, Rouhani said there is no restriction for Iran and Moldova to expand relations. Leuca also called for expansion of relations with Iran.

‘Ties with S. Leon growing’Rouhani also told Sierra Leonean

Ambassador Almamy Camara that the relations between the two countries are “friendly and growing”.

Camara also said that Sierra Leone is determined to expand ties with Iran in var-ious areas especially in fighting terrorism.

‘Cooperation in tourism industry’

In the meeting with Genti Gazheli, Al-banian ambassador, Rouhani said Iran is interested in expanding relations with Al-bania in areas of economy, culture, tour-ism and science.

‘Voice of peace cause happiness’The Iranian president also told Co-

lombian Ambassador Juan Alfredo Pinto Saavedra that “the voice of peace and friendship, no matter which country it comes from, will cause happiness be-cause conflict, war and clash lead only to extermination of human beings and communities.”

‘Nuclear deal has opened oppor-tunities for Iran, Sweden’

The nuclear deal has created many op-portunities for Iran and Sweden to expand their ties, Rouhani told Helena Sangeland, the female Swedish ambassador.

Sweden can also play a constructive role in boosting cooperation between Iran and the European Union, Rouhani suggested.

For her part, Sangeland said the Swed-ish government seeks to deepen ties with Iran. She added the Swedish banks and corporations are also interested in doing business with Iran.

On Monday, Iran’s new ambassadors to eight countries also met with Rouhani.

Rouhani called on the ambassadors to clarify on Iran’s new investment opportu-nities in the country of their mission.

Vahid Karimi, Mohammad Ali Sob-hani, Mohammad Hassan Habib Zadeh, Hossein Karimi, Morteza Mortazavi, Nos-ratollah Maaleki, Hossein Molla Abdol-lahi and Hamidreza Nateq Nouri, have respectively been named as Iran’s new ambassadors to Namibia, Qatar, Norway, Macedonia, Uganda, Ghana, Serbia and Bulgaria.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 20162I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

N A T I O N

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

TEHRAN — Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said on Monday

that Iran has not sought and will not seek to be in war with any country, however will counter any aggression “firmly” and “powerfully”.

During his speech at a joint forum of the Iranian mil-itary attaches to foreign states as well as defense and police officials, Dehghan also described “defense diplo-macy” as an “effective instrument” to advance the Islamic

Republic’s foreign policy goals.“Establishing and expanding security and defense co-

operation with the other countries are important strat-egies and priorities of the Defense Ministry. The military attaches of the Islamic Republic of Iran… should make efforts to apply these strategies without any passivity based on glory and wisdom,” he stated.

He also said since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the U.S. has put Islamophobia and Iranophobia on its

agenda to develop a hegemonic system and proxy wars in the Middle East are in line with such a policy.

However, he added, the resistance movement has become a big challenge for the hegemonic powers.

He also said that the U.S. and the Zionist regime of Israel are making every efforts to undermine regional security through forming coalitions, urging the regional countries to counter such moves that seek to undermine stability and security

1 Prior to the election, Lebanon had been bogged down in a protracted political crisis since par-liament failed to elect a new president in 2104, after the Michel Suleiman presidency came to its conclusion in May 2014.

Other Iranian officials also congratulated the election.

President Rouhani called the election of Aoun as president a “victory of democracy”, congratulating him on a phone talk on Monday.

The two emphasized boosting bilateral ties. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif congratu-

lated Aoun and said, “When the Lebanese people de-cide their own future, Lebanon’s stability and progress is insured.”

Tehran doesn’t seek war with any country: defense minister

Iran congratulates Lebanese presidential victor

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TEHRAN — Moscow’s ambas-sador to Tehran has said Russian

experts have visited Iran to contribute to the pro-cess for redesigning the Arak nuclear reactor.

Preparatory steps to redesign the reactor are being taken, Levan Dzhagaryan announced on Monday, according to IRNA news agency.

Dzhagaryan also said Moscow is determined to honor its commitments regarding the JCPOA, adding efforts are also being made by Russia to build two new nuclear power plants as agreed previously.

Russian experts in Iran to help redesign Arak reactor

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

TEHRAN — The IAEA direc-tor general has highlighted the

agency’s ongoing efforts since 2003 to ensure that Iran is committed to fulfill its obligations as an NPT signatory.

Iran’s movement started in 2013, Amano said when visiting Qatar on Monday, according to the IAEA website.

“This was concluded by the P5+1 Nuclear Agree-ment (Deal) with Iran. This Agreement assures the peaceful nature of Iran Nuclear Program. Last year the IAEA signed a roadmap with Iran to draw the Iranian nuclear dimensions.”

Amano: Iran’s nuclear activities safe

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

No dual-national official: Iran’s intelligence minister

TEHRAN — Iran’s minister of in-telligence has said currently there

are no dual-national officials.“After the only dual-national official resigned two

weeks ago, we have no dual-national official at the high levels,” Mahmoud Alavi said on Monday, ILNA reported.

“A member of the incumbent government pre-ferred the honor of being an Iranian to having American citizenship,” he underlined.

He said based on the law, a person with du-al-national cannot become minister, deputy minis-ter, MP, or director general in Iran.

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Assyrian MP thanks mobilization forces for helping to liberate Mosul

TEHRAN — The Assyrian repre-sentative in the Majlis in a mes-

sage on Monday thanked the popular mobilization forces in Iraq for their help to free Mosul from the grip of Daesh, Mehr reported.

The Iraqi Assyrians have been bearing the brunt of genocide for a long time, he wrote.

Underlining that Iraq has been the original habi-tat of Assyrians, Yonatan Betkelia said the liberation will come as a “turning point in the history of the democratic governance of Iraq”.

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Iran says can mediate between Iraq, Turkey

TEHRAN – Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Asia and Pacific af-

fairs has said Tehran is ready to mediate between Baghdad and Ankara after the Iraqi prime minister condemned Turkey’s insistence on participation in retaking the Daesh-held city of Mosul.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, Ebrahim Rahimpour said, “If they ask us (to inter-mediate), we have no problem.”

“Naturally, Turkey and Iraq must be interested in our mediation,” the diplomat added, according to Tasnim.

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Nation to observe 13 Aban

TEHRAN — The nation is going to observe the national day of 13

Aban (November 3) as enthusiastically as ever, an announcement by the Islamic Dissemination Or-ganization said on Monday.

The day will symbolize the resistance of the Ira-nian nation against world powers’ excess, the state-ment read.

Stressing the importance of the day as a turn-ing point in the Islamic Revolution’s history, it in-vited Iranians from all walks of life to gather on the day to voice their commitment to ideals of the revolution.

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Rouhani receives credentials of six ambassadors

The expansion of parliamentary relations between Iran and Cyprus would further

contribute to closer collaborations, Larijani says.

TEHRAN — While great progress has been made since the nuclear deal was

signed between Iran and world powers, Tehran gripes it it's not reaping economic benefits from the pact slowed by challenges such as the U.S. negligence.

“Since the implementation of the Barjam (JCPOA) on January 16, numerous economic and financial achieve-ments have been made. Having said that, certain obsta-cles and technical problems related to the financial and banking sectors as well as some hesitations and negli-gence on the part of the Western sides, particularly the

U.S., have caused lower-than-expected outcomes,” read part of quarterly report on the JCPOA to the Iranian par-liament by the Foreign Ministry.

A major concern, inter alia, of Iran in post-sanctions era has been hesitance shown by international banks to enter partnership with Iranian banks, fearing falling foul of the U.S. sanctions.

On the other hand, Washington has emphasized it has kept its side of the bargain.

The U.S. negligence is not the only obstacle getting in the way.

The document cites six more disturbing factors of other remaining sanctions such as those related to the country’s missile program, Financial Action Task Force restrictions, Iran’s risk factor as delineated by the Organ-ization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), opportunistic economic partners, and Irano-phobia.

The document blames Saudi Arabia for lobbying against Iran in international organizations and exercising mounting pressure on banks and institutions which seek resuming economic cooperation with Iran.

Iran: Full JCPOA economic gains hinge on resolving remaining challenges

Albanian Ambassador Genti Gazheli

British Ambassador Nicholas HoptonColumbian Ambassador Pinto SaavedraSierra Leonean Ambassador Elimam Amara kamara

Moldavian Ambassador Gheorghe Leuca Swedish Ambassador Helena Sångeland

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has accepted the resignations of her top presidential aides, according to her office, amid a political crisis involving an old friend.

The friend, Choi Soon-sil, is the 60-year-old daughter of a South Kore-an religious leader and one-time men-tor of Park.

Choi, who has close ties to Park but holds no official position and no security clearance, has been accused of abusing her personal connections for influence and interfering in state affairs.

Park carried out a partial reshuffle of her key aides on Sunday after ordering her secretariat to hand in their resigna-tions earlier this week.

She accepted the resignations sub-mitted by her chief of staff and four senior presidential secretaries, Jung Youn-Kuk, presidential spokesman, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Choi has returned to South Korea to face revelations that Park discussed and sought advice on government policy from Choi.

Choi, who had been staying in Ger-many since early September, flew into Seoul on Sunday morning on a flight from London, according to her lawyer Lee Kyung-jae.

As well as a public uproar over her relationship with, and apparent control over Park, she faces charges of using her links with Park to compel major companies such as Samsung into do-nating large sums to two non-profit foundations she set up.

Rasputin-like figureThe past week has seen a daily diet

of increasingly sensational media re-ports regarding Choi.

Invoking a back-story of religious cults, shamanist rituals and corruption, the reports have portrayed Choi as a Rasputin-like figure whose influence ex-tended to vetting presidential speeches and advising on key appointments and policy issues.

A public apology by Park, in which she acknowledged seeking limited ad-vice from Choi, has done nothing to as-suage public outrage over her behavior or halt a plunge in her approval ratings to record lows.

Analysts say the scandal could para-lyze Park's administration, underling her lame-duck status in advance of presidential elections in December next year.

Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-min, who married six times, had multiple pseudonyms and set up his own religious group known as the Church of Eternal Life.

Choi Tae-min befriended a trauma-tized Park after the 1974 assassination of her mother, who he said had ap-peared to him in a dream, asking him to help her daughter.

He became a long-time mentor to Park, who subsequently formed a close bond with Choi Soon-sil that endured after Choi Tae-min's death in 1994.

Choi Soon-sil's ex-husband served as a top aide to Park until her presiden-tial election victory in 2012.

(Source: agencies)

Pakistani police have launched a nation-wide crackdown, arresting up to 1,800 supporters of cricketer-turned-poli-tician Imran Khan in the run-up to an opposition rally planned later this week in Islamabad, according to officials.

The arrests on Monday followed sporadic clashes since the weekend between Khan's supporters and riot po-lice in the Pakistani capital that saw po-lice using tear gas and batons to fight stone-throwing activists.

Police have conducted raids based on tip-offs and information about planned violence, according to Zaeem Qadri, a government spokesman.

Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the me-dia, said the number of those arrested overnight ranges between 1,500 and 1,800.

The violence erupted again on Sun-day near Khan's suburban home and at several places on Islamabad's outskirts.

On Monday, a Pakistani court barred Khan's followers from demonstrating on Islamabad streets, restricting the rally to within the limits of a city park, accord-ing to Saddique Awan, a government prosecutor.

As of last week, the government had already enforced a two-month ban on street rallies in Islamabad.

Babar Awan, Khan's attorney, said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party would appeal.

The PTI has called for massive street demonstrations for Wednesday, threat-ening to lock down Islamabad in a bid

to force Nawaz Sharif, the prime minis-ter, to resign.

Those who pledge not to take part in violent actions are released, while those considered a threat remain in custody pending charges, he said.

Police have placed shipping con-tainers on key highways leading to Is-lamabad to stop Khan's party convoys from across Pakistan from reaching the city.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the interior minister, said earlier that Khan's follow-ers had violent plans, which include the storming of government offices.

Sharif has been under pressure af-ter his family members were named as holders of offshore bank accounts in leaked financial documents from Pana-manian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Pakistan's Information Minister Per-vaiz Rashid was removed from office on Sunday over a newspaper leak that sparked a rift between the army and government earlier this month.

“Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the information minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry,” a statement by the prime minister's office said on Saturday.

Sources from the Information Minis-try said Rashid stepped down until the inquiry confirms whether he was the source for an explosive story detailing a top-level meeting at which security ser-vices were accused of assisting armed groups in Pakistan.

(Source: Al Jazeera)

Pakistani politician Imran Khan's supporters arrested

South Korea's Park in trouble over Choi Soon-sil links

NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 2016 INTERNATIONAL 3I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Lebanon finally has a new president. Lawmakers have thrown their support behind Michel Aoun, a strong Hezbollah ally, to fill the country’s long-vacant pres-idency, ending more than two years of deadlock surrounding the vacancy.

The parliament convened at noon (1000 GMT) on Monday for the voting session in its 46th attempt to elect a head of state.

Aoun, 81, the former Lebanese army chief, secured the presidency by winning the support of 83 Members of Parlia-ment, well above the absolute majority of 65 needed to win, according to a tally of votes read out in a televised broad-cast from parliament on Monday. He was elected after four rounds of voting dur-ing the session.

Fireworks echoed across Lebanese capital, Beirut as the tally showed Aoun the winner.

Aoun, an MP, was shown smiling in his seat. The Lebanese presidency is re-served for a Maronite Christian in the country’s sectarian power-sharing sys-tem.

Under Lebanon’s power-sharing sys-tem, the president must be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim.

Lebanon had been without a head of state for 29 months after Michel Sulei-man stepped down as president at the end of his term in May 2014.

Since then, 45 sessions to elect a new leader have failed due to political infight-ing that led to of a lack of quorum.

Around noon on Monday, more than 100 of the 128-member legislature ar-rived at the parliament building guaran-teeing the needed quorum for the ses-sion to start.

The situation turned in Aoun’s favor earlier this month when Saad Hariri, the

former prime minister who heads the largest bloc in parliament, said he would support Aoun for president.

Hariri’s decision to endorse Aoun marked a major political concession, which was seen by some analysts as re-flection of a diminished role of the House of Saud regime in Lebanon, and decisive influence wielded by the Tehran-backed

Hezbollah.Hezbollah has accused the House of

Saud regime of thwarting political initia-tives and blocking the election of a pres-ident in Lebanon.

The House of Saud regime had backed Hariri and his allies through years of polit-ical struggle with Hezbollah and its allies.

Late last year, Hariri launched an initi-

ative to nominate Suleiman Tony Frang-ieh, the leader of the Marada Movement.

His proposal, however, failed amid reservations on the part of Lebanon’s main Christian parties as well as Hezbol-lah.

Hariri’s own financial misfortunes are said to have played a big part in bringing about the breakthrough. His political net-work in Lebanon was hit by a cash crunch caused by financial troubles at his Sau-di-based construction firm, Saudi Oger.

Analysts say the position of prime minister, which he previously held from 2009 to 2011, should help him shore up his support ahead of parliamentary elec-tions that are due to be held next year.

Aoun is due to meet MPs later this week on their preferences for prime min-ister. He is obliged to designate the can-didate with the greatest support among MPs, expected to be Hariri.

Security tightenedMeantime, Lebanese forces tightened

security in downtown Beirut in the lead-up to the parliament vote. Army heli-copters flew over the city and cars were banned from entering most of central Beirut.

Metal detectors were set up in the streets around the parliament building.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, thousands of Aoun’s party supporters gathered in ma-jor squares and streets of Christian areas for celebrations.

Aoun will be Lebanon’s 13th president since the country gained independence from France in 1943.

He will return to the presidential pal-ace in the southeastern Beirut suburb of Baabda, exactly 26 years after he was forced out of it as army commander and interim premier by Syrian forces and Leb-anese troops loyal to a rival commander. (Source: agencies)

Michel Aoun elected president of Lebanon

FBI obtains warrant for more emails in Clinton probeThe United States FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) obtained a warrant to search emails related to the probe of the U.S. Demo-crat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private server that were discovered on ex-congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop, law en-forcement officials confirmed on Sunday.

The warrant came two days after FBI Director James Comey revealed the existence of the emails, which law enforcement sources said were linked to Weiner's estranged wife, top Clin-ton aide Huma Abedin. The sources said Abedin used the same laptop to send thousands of emails to Clinton.

The FBI already had a warrant to search Weiner's laptop, but that only applied to evidence of his allegedly illicit com-munications with an underage girl.

Agents will now compare the latest batch of messages with those that have already been investigated to determine whether any classified information was sent from Clinton's server.

Comey's disclosure included few details about what the emails contained. In a letter to Congress, he said the FBI learned “of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent” to the Clinton probe, but he added that the agency “cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant.”

The revelation ignited fierce criticism. Citing the longstanding practice of avoiding even the appearance of acting in a man-ner that could tip the political scales, former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said that “most people, when they hear that the FBI is involved, automatically assume the negative.”

(Source: NBC News)

Iraq opens new frontlines in Mosul operationsFirst Mass in Iraqi Christian town since ISIL expungedIraqi forces have launched an offensive to advance toward the eastern borders of the city of Mosul from three new axes.

The Joint Operations Command coordinating Iraq’s war on the ISIL (Daesh) terrorist group said the elite Counter-Ter-rorism Service (CTS) and army troops launched a campaign “to advance toward the left bank of the city of Mosul from three axes.”

The Tigris River flows through Mosul; thus, Iraqis refer to the city’s eastern half as the “left bank” and its western part as the “right bank.”

A senior officer with the CTS said outside the recently-re-captured town of Bartalla that only two villages separate the Iraqi forces from Mosul.

“The target is to retake Bazwaya and Gogjali, the last two villages before Mosul,” he said, adding, “If we manage that, we’ll only be a few hundred meters from Mosul.”

The operations to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second larg-est city and Daesh’s self-proclaimed headquarters in the Arab country, have entered their third week.

According to al-Sumaria news website, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces liberated the village of Dlawya al-Sharqiya, west of Mosul, from Daesh on Monday.

A security source in Nineveh Province also said security forces took control of five villages in the northern front to-ward the town of Tal Kif.

A massive explosion targeted a meeting of Daesh com-manders in the al-Sarjkhana area in the center of Mosul, a local source said, adding that a number of senior command-ers were killed.

Iraq’s War Media Cell said Iraqi forces also managed to retake the villages of Najmom and Tal al-Yabes in northern Nineveh from Daesh.

Iraqi security forces also regained control of the villages of Tobruk and Tahrawa on the southeastern front of Mosul.

The CTS forces purged Bazwaya of the Takfiri militants and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.

Three villages to the southwest of Mosul were also liberat-ed, including Mashyrfa.

The Iraqi forces also seized back the village of Tall Sikhan, west of Mosul.

The CTS said that the Iraqi forces are advancing toward the first area in the city of Mosul from the eastern side.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi said the CTS forces are advancing toward the village of Kokjeli.

First Mass in Iraqi Christian town Meanwhile, a Mass has been held for the first time in

over two years in Iraq’s main Christian town which was recently liberated by government forces.

Qaraqosh was captured from Daesh terrorists as part of a major offensive to liberate Mosul, the Takfiri terrorists’ last stronghold in Iraq.

“Today Qaraqosh is free of Daesh,” said Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Butrus Moshe.

Church bells could be heard throughout the town for the first time since Daesh seized Mosul and issued an ultimatum to Christians -- pay a tax, convert to Islam, or be executed.

“Our role today is to remove all the remnants of Daesh,” said the archbishop. “This includes erasing sedition, separa-tion and conflicts, which victimized us,” added Moshe, who was born in Qaraqosh. (Source: agencies)

Members of Venezuela's opposition have met the gov-ernment for talks as President Nicolas Maduro seeks to fend off calls for his removal.

Maduro launched the talks on Sunday night at a mu-seum in western Caracas, held in the presence of medi-ators from the Vatican and former presidents of Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Some of Maduro's rivals fear they could be a stalling tactic designed to ease pressure on the unpopular socialist leader, who many Venezuelans blame for triple-digit infla-tion and widespread food and medicine shortages.

Fifteen parties belonging to the Democratic Unity opposition alliance boycotted the talks, saying they were not prepared to sit across from the government until it released several jailed opposition activists and reversed its decision to cancel a constitutionally allowed recall ref-erendum against Maduro.

“For an eventual dialogue to take place it has to be very clear from the outset that the aim is agreeing on the terms of a democratic transition in the remainder of 2016,” the parties said in a statement.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the Vatican's envoy to the talks, praised the dialogue as something “very positive”.

He urged both sides to make concessions in or-

der for the talks not to falter like the previous at-tempts.

“At the start of this journey, I ask you in the name of Pope Francis that each side agrees to some concrete gestures to give credibility to this process,” said Celli, who is president of the pope's council for social communications.

“The country is waiting for authentic signals to com-prehend that dialogue is a reality.”

Last week the opposition alliance rallied tens of thousands of supporters across the country and an-other protest has been called for Thursday for which the opposition is pledging to march to the presiden-tial palace.

Government's critics have not been allowed to get close to the palace since the 2002 coup that briefly top-pled President Hugo Chavez, the late leader who in-stalled the socialist administration. (Source: agencies)

Nicolas Maduro holds Vatican-backed talks in Venezuela

Aoun, 81, the former Lebanese army chief, secured the presidency by winning the support of 83

Members of Parliament, well above the absolute majority of 65 needed to win, according to a tally

of votes read out in a televised broadcast from parliament on Monday. He was elected after four

rounds of voting during the session.

4I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

E C O N O M Y NOVEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 1, 20162016

Gold prices held steady on Monday amid a firm dollar, with markets anxiously awaiting the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting for insight on the timing of a potential U.S. interest rate hike.

Several of the world’s top central banks’ meetings are due this week, including the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which will be closely monitored for directions on a much anticipated interest rate hike.

“Basically investors are staying on the sidelines before all these key announcements and gold prices should naturally turn higher,” said OCBC Bank analyst Barnabas Gan.

Gold still remains to be a safe haven asset owing to a sense of uncertainty and risk aversion in the markets right now, he said.

Three senior group executives at Tata Sons have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as man-agement woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion con-glomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.

The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on invest-ment.

Those who quit are group human resources chief N.S. Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.Reuters could not reach any of the three for com-ment.

DBS Group plans to buy Australia and New Zea-land Banking Group’s wealth and retail businesses in five Asian markets - part of a big private banking push for the Singapore lender and the first significant retreat from Asia for ANZ.

The businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Tai-wan and Indonesia, will be sold for around S$110 mil-lion ($80 million), in a deal that underscores how smaller players in private banking are being squeezed out due to lack of scale.

Where ANZ said it would have needed to invest fur-ther in branches and digital capacity to build up those businesses, Singapore’s biggest lender noted it already had the advantage of existing infrastructure in those markets and would not have to deploy much capital.

PICTURE OF THE DAY Mehr/Mohammad Mohsenifar

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IN B

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Gold little changed; market eyes U.S. Fed meeting

Three Tata executives quit, adding to uncertainty at Indian group

Singapore’s DBS pounces on ANZ assets to extend Asia private banking push

TEHRAN — Repre-sentatives from seven

Belgian transportation companies dis-cussed future cooperation with their Iranian entrepreneurs active in trans-port sector in Tehran on Monday, the portal of the Tehran Chamber of Com-merce, Industries, Mines and Agricul-ture (TCCIMA) reported.

The forum was held by Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) in Teh-ran’s Parsian Azadi International Hotel.

As reported, the Secretary General of TCCIMA Bahman Eshqi was among the meeting’s lecturers. Underlining the vitality of renovating transportation sys-tem in Iran, Eshqi called for Belgian at-tendees to help the country with reach-ing this target via providing hardware and software technologies.

TPO signed a memorandum of un-derstanding (MOU) with three econom-

ic zones of Belgium on cooperation in scientific, technological and infrastruc-

tural projects, IRNA reported on Sun-day.

A Belgian trade delegation includ-ing 200 representatives from 140 com-panies arrived in Tehran on Sunday to explore avenues of enhancing mutual economic cooperation with their Ira-nian counterparts during their two-day stay in Iran.

The delegates are active in various fields such as oil and gas equipment and services, commercial vehicles and auto parts, construction, interior deco-ration and architecture, flooring and textiles, forwarding and transport, new energies, food industry, information technology and etc.

Iran-Belgium current annual trade of near $200 million is anticipated to dou-ble by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2017), TPO Head Mojtaba Khosrotaj announced on the sidelines of the MOU signing cer-emony in Tehran.

Iran-Belgium joint transportation forum held in Tehran

ECONOMYd e s k

ECONOMYd e s k

Euro set for biggest drop since May as policies seen divergingThe euro headed for its biggest monthly decline against the dollar since May amid speculation the European Central Bank will extend its asset-purchase program as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates.

Europe’s shared currency weakened versus most of its 16 major peers this month. A global selloff in government bonds has pushed up yields, unlocking about $635 billion of debt avail-able for purchase via the ECB’s quantitative-easing plan.

“The irony is that the euro is falling as core European gov-ernment-bond yields are rising,” said Valentin Marinov, head of Group-of-10 currency strategy at Credit Agricole SA’s corpo-rate and investment-banking unit in London. “This may seem counter-intuitive at first, but any pick-up in bond yields could continue to weigh on the euro as long as it is seen as making ECB’s job of extending QE easier.”

The euro dropped 0.3 percent to $1.0954 at 9:05 a.m. in Lon-don, extending its decline this month to 2.5 percent, its steepest since May. The shared currency was little changed at 114.98 yen.

The euro has weakened since ECB President Mario Draghi said at a policy meeting earlier this month that officials didn’t talk about extending or tapering the institution’s 1.7 trillion-euro QE program. Meanwhile, speculation intensified that the Fed will raise interest rates by December. The probability of a U.S. rate hike by year-end has climbed to 69 percent, fed fund futures indicate, from 59 percent at the end of September.

Hedge funds and other large speculators increased net bear-ish futures bets on the euro to 123,856 contracts in the week ended Oct. 25, the most since January, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. (Source: Bloomberg) Japan’s industrial output stalled in Sep-

tember in a worrying sign that the economy, already struggling to mount a sure-footed recovery, may be losing some momentum due to weak consumer spending and exports.

Separate data showed retail sales fell more than expected in September from a year ago, further evidence that private consumption remains a drag on growth.

Industrial output was unchanged in September from the previous month. That compares with the median estimate in a Reuters poll of a 1.0 percent increase and followed a 1.3 percent increase in August, data by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Monday.

Economists say output may not pick up much in coming months. The cau-tious view and other data showing weak consumption and falling consumer prices could heighten expectations that the Bank of Japan will yet again push back the timing of its price target.

“I don’t expect output to rise sig-

nificantly for the time being,” said Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho Securities.

“Domestic demand simply is not strong enough. The BOJ has sent a mes-sage that monetary policy is on hold for now. We need more effort from the pri-vate sector to increase wages.”

Industrial output was flat in September as declines in semiconductor and per-sonal computer production offset gains in autos and construction equipment.

Manufacturers surveyed by the minis-try expect output to rise 1.1 percent in October and gain 2.1 percent in Novem-ber, but their forecasts are often overly optimistic, economists say.

Overall inventories fell 0.4 percent ver-sus a 0.3 percent increase in the previous month, but there were signs that high inventories in some industries could curb future output, according to Daiju Aoki, economist at UBS Securities.

Inventories of mobile phones and car navigation systems jumped 14.1 percent,

the fastest gain in six months. Inventories of construction equipment also rose 1.2 percent in September.

In the July-September quarter, indus-trial output rose 1.1 percent, faster than a 0.2 percent gain in the previous quarter, but economists say growth could moder-ate slightly in October-December.

Retail sales fell 1.9 percent in Septem-ber from a year earlier, slightly more than a median market forecast for a 1.8 per-cent annual decline due to lower spend-ing on apparel and daily necessities, separate data from the trade ministry showed.

That marked the seventh consecu-tive month of declines in retail sales, highlighting underlying weakness in the economy.

One stand out was domestic auto sales, which rose an annual 2.3 percent in September, faster than a 2.1 year-on-year increase in August, as the BOJ’s negative interest rate policy pushes down rates on car loans.

Having moved to a new policy frame-work that targets interest rates rather than base money only last month, the BOJ is likely to hold off on expanding stimulus at a meeting ending on Nov. 1. Sources have told Reuters the central bank will cut next fiscal year’s inflation forecast slightly, reflecting weak consumption and falling import costs.

The policy review may also extend the timeframe for hitting its ambitious infla-tion target. At present, the BOJ projects inflation to reach 2 percent during the fis-cal year ending in March 2018.

(Source: Reuters)

Japan Sept. industrial output stalls in worrying sign for economy

Dollar shakes off Clinton FBI probe, global stocks stay shakyThe dollar steadied but stock markets remained wobbly on Monday after news the FBI was investigating more emails linked to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

The weakest German retail sales in two years, a dip in oil prices and one of the toughest month in years for bond markets all made for a shaky session in Europe, where the STOXX 600 index dropped 0.4 percent.

Wall Street looked set for a subdued restart too, having been hit by the news of the FBI moves on Friday, though a string of M&A deals including one involving the oil and gas arm of General Electric provided some support.

MSCI’s 47-country ‘All World’ index was also flat and heading for a 1.7 percent drop in October. That would be its first monthly fall since June and its worst month since a global shakedown in January.

The dollar saw a recovery however, rising against the yen, euro and sterling on the day and heading for its best month - up 3.2 percent - against the world’s top currencies in just under a year.

(Source: Reuters)

ICOPMAS 2016 inaugurated in

TehranTEHRAN — The 12th International

Conference on Coasts, Ports and Marine Structures of Iran (ICOPMAS 2016) started operation in Tehran’s Olympic International Hotel on Monday.

As reported, representatives from 37 countries are taking part in the three-day event.

Exchanging the latest scientific innovations and technical executive achievements via gathering engi-neers, scientists and researchers in the field of coasts, ports and ma-rine structures from Iran and other countries is among the targets of the conference.

ICOPMAS is being held by Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) in cooperation with the In-ternational Coastal and Marine Structural Engineering Association (ICOMSEA).

France, China to set up joint investment fund for overseas projectsFrance and China will set up a fund for joint investment in over-seas projects, France’s foreign minister said on Monday, as China’s voracious appetite for overseas acquisitions continues to grow despite some recent stumbles in overseas markets.

“Hinkley Point is a very good example of what we’re go-ing to do together, to win contracts in third markets and in all sectors” Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters at a joint brief-ing with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing. He was referring to a $24-billion (20 billion pound) Franco-Chinese project to build Britain’s first nuclear power plant station in decades.

“It’s a model that we support everywhere, including in Africa and Asia,” he said.

The new joint fund will be set up soon, he said, without giving further details.

The Hinkley Point project finally got the go-ahead after Brit-ain’s new prime minister Theresa May delayed the deal because of national security concerns.

Chinese nuclear company China General Nuclear Power Cor-poration (CGN) will invest 6 billion pounds ($7.31 billion) into the 18 billion pound EDF (EDF.PA) Hinkley Point project.

As part of the agreement, EDF will help CGN gain a license to build its own nuclear reactor, Hualong, in Britain, whose nu-clear regulatory regime is seen as one of the most stringent in the world.

China is keen to establish itself as an exporter of nuclear ex-pertise so successfully building a plant in Britain will open the door to other markets.

China to open market furtherBusiness groups and Western officials have pointed out that

restrictions on foreign companies in Chinese industries, such as financial services, healthcare and logistics, are often far greater than what Chinese firms face abroad.

But Wang told the briefing China welcomes foreign compa-nies’ investment in China and defended his country’s investment environment, noting it is a developing country and its foreign in-vestment regime cannot be held to the same standard as devel-oped countries.

“If you look at the speed and the extent to which China has opened up compared to other developing countries, it’s one of the leaders, and may even be faster than some developed coun-tries,” Wang said.

“Of course, we are aware that China’s investment environment needs to improve. What I want to emphasize is China will become more and more open and our investment environment will be-come better and better.”

(Source: Reuters)

E N E R G YNOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 2016 5I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

TEHRAN — Platform 20 of Iran’s South Pars

gas field (in the Persian Gulf), which was loaded at Khorramshahr industrial yard on October 17, was shipped on Abouzar 110 vessel on Monday to be installed on its des-ignated offshore spot, Shana news agency reported.

Platform 20 is scheduled to go opera-tional by the end of Iranian calendar month of Dey (January 19) adding one billion cubic feet (about 28.3 million cubic meters) of gas per day to the capacity of South Pars.

Platform 21, the first platform of South Pars phases 20 and 21 of development, was installed on July 29 and will start opera-tion by the end of current Iranian calendar month (November 20).

Putting platforms 20 and 21 into opera-tion will add two billion cubic feet (about 57 million cubic meters) of gas per day to the output of South Pars, according to Alireza Ebadi, the operator of South Pars phases 20 and 21.

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar, is estimated to contain a signifi-cant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves,

and approximately 18 billion barrels of con-densate.

The field is divided into 24 standard

phases, of which phases 1-10, 12, 15 and 16 are fully operational. Each standard phase is projected to produce 50 million

cubic meters of gas per day. Phases 17 and 18 as well as 19 are operating at half ca-pacity.

South Pars platform 20 shipped toward installation spot

GECF holds statistics, data exchange workshop in Doha

TEHRAN — The 7th GECF data exchange mechanism and data exchange center

system workshop, and data analysis and statistics meeting kicked off in Doha, Qatar on Monday, Shana reported.

During the 2-day meeting the members of the Gas Ex-porting Countries Forum (GECF) will discuss the sta-tistical data related to gas industry and analyze them.

GECF member states account for 42 percent of world gas production, 67 percent of world gas re-serves, 38 percent of gas transmission pipelines and 85 percent of liquefied natu-ral gas (LNG) trade.

Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Ven-ezuela and the United Arab Emirates are the 12 members of this assembly and the Netherlands, Norway, Iraq, Azer-baijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Peru participate as observers in the forum.

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an inter-national governmental organization which provides the framework for exchanging experience and information among member countries.

ECONOMYd e s k

Oil prices extended declines on Monday after non-OPEC producers made no spe-cific commitment to join OPEC in limiting oil output levels to prop up prices, sug-gesting they wanted the oil producing group to solve its differences first.

Officials and experts from OPEC coun-tries and non-OPEC nations including Azerbaijan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman and Russia met for consultations in Vienna on Saturday and only agreed to meet again in November before a sched-uled regular OPEC meeting on Nov. 30, they said in a statement.

London Brent crude for December de-

livery was down 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $49.42 a barrel by 0229 GMT after set-tling down 76 cents on Friday.

NYMEX crude for December deliv-ery was trading down 23 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $48.47 a barrel, after closing down $1.02 on Friday.

“There was a lot of talk and nobody managed to agree on anything. That has been pushing the market down,” said Jef-frey Halley, senior market analyst at OAN-DA brokerage in Singapore.

The potential tightening of the U.S. presidential race after news of a renewed FBI probe of Democratic candidate Hilary

Clinton was also affecting sentiment and putting investors off riskier assets, Halley said.

OPEC and non-OPEC said in a joint statement that Saturday’s meeting was a “positive development” towards reaching a global output limiting deal on Nov. 30.

Russia expects to increase its oil output by 0.7 percent next year and a further 0.9 percent in 2018, the draft federal budget showed.

Crude production is seen at a record-high 548 million tons in 2017 and 553 million tons in both 2018 and 2019, up from an estimated 544 million tons this

year, the document showed.The cabinet of the United Arab Emir-

ates approved a 48.7 billion dirham ($13.3 billion) federal budget for 2017, almost steady from 2016, suggesting UAE authorities remain cautious about spending as low oil prices pressure state finances.

Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions for the first time in five weeks in the week ended Oct. 25, the U.S. Commodity Fu-tures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.

(Source: Reuters)

Oil falls as non-OPEC yet to pledge concrete output steps

Interest in latest UK oil exploration tender lowest in 14 yearsBritain’s latest tender for offshore exploration permits at-tracted the lowest interest in 14 years, underlining how the mature North Sea is struggling to entice explorers to extract the 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent left untapped.

The 29th round for offshore licenses, which included un-explored areas around the Shetlands, received only 29 applica-tions for 113 blocks, compared with 1,261 blocks on offer, Brit-ain’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said on Monday.

“Long standing investors continue to seek new acreage and we also welcome the arrival of new entrants,” OGA Chief Execu-tive Andy Samuel said in a statement.

A total of 24 companies submitted applications, including multinationals and first-time applicants, the OGA said.

The total of applications received was the lowest since 2002, however, when just 289 blocks were on offer.

Oil companies across the globe have severely cut back spending on exploration as weak prices have squeezed cash flow.

Aware of tighter budgets, the OGA reduced license-related rental fees by up to 90 percent in the latest round, which closed on Oct. 26, and offered more flexibility in terms of when explor-ers can carry out certain work programs.

(Source: Reuters)

Russia’s Jan.-Sept. gas exports climb by 4.9%: officialRussia’s nine-month natural gas exports climbed by 4.9 per-cent to reach 137.9 billion cubic meters this year, the Eco-nomic Development Ministry said Monday.

“According to the Ministry of Energy, January-September 2016 energy exports grew by 4.9 percent in comparison with the respective period in 2015 and amounted to 137.9 billion cubic meters due to continuing growth in exports to non-CIS countries,” the ministry’s monitoring data states. The export share of total gas production in the nine-month period has grown to 30.8 percent this year, the data says.

(Source: Sputnik)

ECONOMYd e s k

More OPEC exemption

requests spur wagers on oil price slump

The growing list of OPEC members seeking exemptions from a planned supply cut has inves-tors seeing future price drops.

Money managers increased bets on lower West Texas Intermediate oil for the first time in five weeks as Iraq joined Iran, Nigeria and Libya in seeking to be excluded from OPEC’s first agree-ment to reduce output in eight years. The deal was reached in Algiers on Sept. 28 and sent fu-tures climbing. But internal disagreements over how to implement the cuts prevented an accord to secure the cooperation of other major suppli-ers this weekend in Vienna.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in the Algerian capital last month to trim production to a range of 32.5 mil-lion to 33 million barrels a day, and is due to final-ize the deal at a Nov. 30 summit in Vienna. The accord helped push oil prices to a 15-month high above $50 a barrel earlier this month, although they have subsequently fallen amid doubts the group will follow through on its pledge. More than 18 hours of talks over two days in the Austri-an capital this weekend yielded little more than a promise that the world’s largest producers would keep on talking.

OPEC signaled last month that Iran, Nigeria and Libya would be spared from any cuts, due to sanctions and security issues that have curtailed their output. Iraq, citing its war with Islamic State militants, wants similar treatment.

Shifting marketIn addition to increasing short positions in WTI

in the week ended Oct. 25, hedge funds reduced their long positions, or wagers that prices will rise, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The resulting net-long position decreased eight percent.

WTI dropped 0.7 percent to $49.96 a barrel in the report week. Prices slipped a second day on Monday, dropping 0.4 percent to $48.52 a barrel as of 12:09 p.m. Singapore time.

OPEC’s 14 members pumped a record 33.75 million barrels a day in September, according to Bloomberg estimates. Iraqi production climbed to a record 4.54 million barrels a day last month while Iranian output rose to 3.63 million, the high-est since June 2011.

Money managers’ short position in WTI climbed 0.4 percent to 56,563 futures and op-tions, the CFTC said. Longs fell 6.6 percent, the most since August.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Asia’s Sept imports of Iranian oil rise 73% from year agoImports of crude oil by Iran’s four major buyers in Asia in Sep-tember jumped more than 70 percent from a year ago as the producer continued to recoup market share lost under sanctions.

Iran’s top four Asian buyers, China, Japan, India and South Korea, imported nearly 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in Sep-tember, government and ship-tracking data showed. That is down from the highest level in at least 5-1/2 years in August.

But oil-purchase arrivals could rise again in October, with Asian buyers loading 1.83 million bpd of crude oil and conden-sate this month and about 1.96 million bpd in September, ac-cording to a source with knowledge of Iran’s tanker schedules.

Economic sanctions targeting the OPEC member’s disputed nuclear program were lifted in January. Tehran has been battling to raise its output and export levels since then back to where they were before toughened sanctions went into force in early 2012.

Japan’s trade ministry on Monday released official data showing its imports rose 80 percent from a year earlier to nearly 313,000 bpd in September.

India’s imports more than doubled from a year earlier to 552,200 bpd, down from 575,900 bpd in August, the highest in at least 15 years.

Imports by South Korea also more than doubled, while Chi-nese imports were up by 18 percent. (Source: Reuters)

On October 18-19 in Tashkent was held 43rd Session of Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

In the Session of Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Tashkent Ira-nian side was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

At the opening ceremony the Acting President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev deliv-ered a keynote speech.

Head of Uzbekistan noted in his address that this session will become an important step along the path of achieving such noble goals as safeguarding the values of sacred Islam, strengthening the solidarity among the Muslim nations, ensuring sustainable pro-gress, as well as rendering assistance to the develop-ment and well-being of the people of Member States of the Organization.

The speaker noted that today we are witness-ing how the world is rapidly changing and new menaces and dangers are emerging that threat-en the stability and development of nations. In these conditions it is ever important to pay a se-rious attention to the spirituality and education, moral upbringing, obtaining knowledge by youth and their harmonious growth.

It is the education and enlightenment that are con-sidered to be major factors of humanity’s well-being. They call on people for kindness. They appeal to be generous and patient. Our sacred religion of Islam teaches us these very virtues.

The Acting President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

emphasize that it is not by chance that the slogan «The education and enlightenment – path to peace and creativity» was chosen as a topic of our forum.

It is because this session is taking place in Uzbeki-stan, where lived and create great thinkers of the Is-lamic world.

The names of such geniuses as Imam Bukhariy, Imam Motrudi, Burkhaniddin Marghinoniy, Isa and Khakim Termiziys, Makhmud Zamakhshariy and Qaffol Shoshiy, Bakhouddin Nakshband and Khoja Akhror Valiy, Muhammad Khorazmiy and Akhmad Farghoniy, Abu Raikhon Beruniy and Abu Ali ibn Sino, Mirzo Ulughbek, and Alisher Navoiy have been inscribed with golden letters in the history of world civilization.

The most authoritative compilation of a hadith of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the well-known and famous work for all Muslims, is a re-sult of selfless research by the son of this land – Imam Bukhariy. This work has been remaining as a second authoritative written source about our sacred religion after Holy Koran.

For the period of chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to create at the Imam Bukhariy Memorial Complex in Samarkand interna-tional scientific research center with an aim to study the multifaceted religious and spiritual heritage of Muslim Ulema, who made a unique contribution not only to the Islamic culture, but also the world civilization.

Another initiative of Uzbekistan is establishment of the special chair of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the structure of the Tash-kent Islamic University.

The main area of activity of the new chair could be teaching the education, science and culture in the Muslim world.

Following the results of the Session of Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC proposals of the leader of Uzbekistan was unanimously approved by the mem-bers of the Organization. The Summit also adopted the Tashkent Declaration of the 43rd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation «Education and Enlightenment - Path to Peace and Creativity».

In Uzbekistan will be created the Islamic Center for the study of

religious and spiritual heritage

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By Linda Tirado

NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 20166I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL

By Simon Heffer

Tony Blair brilliantly shoots the Remain cause in the foot with his ill-timed intervention

There is, I am reliably informed, as much chance of the prime minister joining Labour as of her agreeing to another refer-endum on our membership of the EU. For Tony Blair to call

for one on Friday was unfortunate for him and his cause.Although I have always rather liked him, I know I am in a big

minority. For the most hated political figure in Britain to advo-cate this is like giving the idea the proverbial kiss of death.

The hypocrisy is also stunning. Had the result been re-versed, would Mr. Blair and his chums be demanding another vote, just to check we were really happy to stay in?

Following the Remainers’ initial grief and hysteria at the public’s disobedience, most have come to accept that the world hasn’t ended, and we must respect democracy.

Blair’s reputationIn the interests of his reputation, Mr. Blair would be well ad-

vised to join them.It must dismay the government that even many of its supporters think the new runway at Heathrow will never be built – including those who will happily vote for it.

The economic case for one, somewhere, is unanswer-able, and wherever it is built someone will be aggrieved. We should be uneasy about the abandonment of collective re-sponsibility for the Cabinet on any important issue.

Boris Johnson and Justine Greening, whose constituencies will be affected, have been allowed to criticize the policy.

This is one of the toxic legacies of the coalition, when one or two Liberal Democrat ministers – notably the preposterous Vince Cable – were allowed to say what they liked about policy to try to hang on to their seats (a tactic that failed for Sir Vince).

Collective responsibility exists because it makes for coher-ent, comprehensible and effective government.

Confidence ebbs awayWithout it, running the country becomes a shambles and

whatever confidence people have in their rulers ebbs away. No one is forced to serve in a Cabinet: if they choose to

do so, they should accept the rules. The Heathrow dispensa-tion suggests individual ministers are bigger than the collec-tive. They aren’t, and it shouldn’t happen again.

Next Wednesday the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious is being towed to a Turkish shipyard for scrap. I hear that a group of busi-nessmen have offered £3 million for it – £1 million more than scrap value – with an additional £12 million investment to turn it into a museum. I hope the government accepts their offer.

Until such time as we get round to rebuilding our Armed Forces – which, with Putin’s saber-rattling, had better not be long delayed – it would be good to have a reminder about how we once took security seriously, and of the brave men and women who defended us. (Source: The Guardian)

Nobody thinks Donald Trump will win the election, but we do tend to gloss over the fact that we still expect something like 50 million people to

vote for him. Some of them are my neighbors. I live in Meigs County, Ohio, which will probably vote for Trump if history is any indication. Its population, of 23,500 or so, has a per capita income of around $18,000, and 20% of my neighbors live below the poverty line. It’s one of those places where the coal dried up a few decades ago. And, however depressing it sounds, it’s better than it was.

The house my children will grow up in was built in 1900 by their paternal great-great-grandfather. It’s belonged to the family ever since, each generation building on as needed from its original single room. There are a few houses like that in the family, and we moved into this one mostly because we wanted our kids to grow up as he had, running barefoot through the woods and catching tadpoles in the stream behind the house.

Meigs is still an old, old place like that. It’s not uncommon for friends our age to live in houses recently made available by a family death. We buy groceries from a general store, but it’s miles to the nearest gas station or supermarket.

Washington elitesSome people here would vote for a Disney villain if

they ran on the Republican ticket – party affiliation is an inherited trait in many families – some just like Trump. He “says what he’s thinking”, his supporters say, which baffles many observers, given what the man says, but makes perfect sense if you realize that most of my neighbors don’t pay nearly as much attention to politics as I, who’s writing this and you, who are reading it. Many people are uncomfortable with a lot of the stuff they’ve heard about him but accept it as a necessary evil: the main thing is to tell Washington elites that they’re not safe in their sinecures any more, that the common man is about to have his day. It’s all gone too far off the rails.

Pomeroy, the county seat, lies just over the river from Mason, West Virginia. Walmart tried to come to Pomeroy but the council voted against it because they didn’t want to lose the small businesses lining the main street. The company went to Mason instead and pointedly positioned its store at the end of the bridge; Pomeroy’s intentionally quaint riverfront downtown now features a rundown laundromat, some bars, a liquor store, empty storefronts and a few improbably expensive shops. All the tax revenue from the Walmart goes to Mason.

People talk about economic insecurity and usually they’re imagining some angry white man upset that someone somewhere (probably a minority, and a woman to boot) is getting more help than him. But I picture that Walmart, where it didn’t really matter what the people wanted. They made their stand; they got run over anyway. That’s a fair description of life in a place like this one.

People who admire Trump for his business acumen are simply pointing out that no matter the ambiguity about his balance sheets this is a man who flies around on a gold-plated jet, which to someone making a few hundred dollars a week seems like unimaginable wealth. Our society values a human based on their material worth; why then are we surprised when many people define “winning” and “valuable” and “admirable” accordingly?

Trump is a Rorschach test of America’s fears. To the

aging population here, his slogan about making America great again brings memories of last century, when the downtown bustled and anyone could make a solid living, assuming they weren’t too lazy to present themselves at the mine. It wasn’t ever an easy life, but it wasn’t ever this hard either.

Political systems riggedIt’s difficult to remember, given everything that has

happened since, but Trump exploded on to the stage with the first primary debate by telling us that the political system really is as rigged as we’d feared: that politics is about who you can buy and sell, whose influence you can tap. We have all known it; Trump said it. And that’s where he built his base. It’s been three years since I wrote a post online about America’s poverty trap that went viral and led to a book deal. I now have the luxury of paying attention to the world around me. 13

People who admire Trump for his business acumen are simply pointing out that no matter the ambiguity about his balance

sheets this is a man who flies around on a gold-plated jet, which to someone making a few hundred dollars a week

seems like unimaginable wealth.

This is the hollowed-out heart of America: pain, rage and Donald Trump

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At a time when world’s doors are open to Iran following the mile-stone nuclear deal (Joint Com-

prehensive Plan of Action), a suitable opportunity has been created for en-hancement of consolidation of relations between Iran and other countries.

Consolidation of relations between Iran and Asian states, especially regional economic powers, would mark a new chapter in Iran’s economic cooperation with the outside world.

As long as the world is moving to-wards multi-polarity in the political, economic and cultural arenas, the Southeast Asia countries, in particular, as a cradle of emerging economies are moving towards sustainable economic development.

In an indication of fostering Iranian ties with the regional countries, Asian in particular, President Hassan Rouhani launched his three-nation East Asian tour early October aimed at enhancing relations with the southeastern Asian states.

President Rouhani’s Southeast Asia Tour

President Rouhani’s visits to Viet-nam, Malaysia and Thailand started on October 5 with his arrival in Hanoi. As the government of President Rou-hani has so far been playing a pivotal role in promoting mutual relations be-tween Tehran and other countries of the world, the visit would pave the ground for more cooperation between Iran and the southeastern Asian states and strengthen strategic cooperation with the region.

In light of the plan to proceed with national sustainable economic devel-opment, the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that it should foster closer economic ties with the Asian emerging economies including Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Iran’s Acclaimed Position in Middle East

The Southeast Asian countries are also well aware that Iran can play a piv-otal role in the competition between world powers and emerging powers.

Southeast Asian nations are fully aware of Iran’s strategic location and this is evident from the invitations ex-

tended to President Rouhani by Ma-laysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang.

Addressing a top level gathering for Iranian delegation, the Malaysian prime minister stressed immediate action to boost mutual banking cooperation, urging for the two countries’ central banks immediate action to find mech-anisms for shortening the time needed for banking transactions.

Referring to dimming bilateral eco-nomic cooperation between Tehran and Kuala Lumpur in the time Iran was under sanctions, Razak said that the country’s minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries will visit Iran in the near future to explore ways of developing mutual

cooperation.He added Malaysia is interested in

Iran’s oil and gas sector, auto industry and road construction while it seeks to cooperate with the Islamic Republic in field of tourism.

The Malaysian minister also called for further cooperation among the Is-lamic countries for establishment of peace and stability in the Islamic World.

Also, Vietnam president voiced the county’s supports from President Rou-hani’s WAVE initiative for elimination of extremism and violence at the interna-tional level, he added Iran and Vietnam support promotion of peace both at re-gional and international levels.

Dai Quang also hoped that Tehran and Hanoi would cooperate for estab-lishment of peace and peaceful settle-

ment of differences in the region and for restoring peace which is a requisite for economic development.

Meanwhile, Chan-o-cha under-scored that the Thai government is de-termined to amend cordial tie with Iran, adding Thai companies are fully ready to cooperate with the Iranian firms.

Chan-o-cha also called for imple-mentation of all agreements inked be-tween the two countries, expressing hope that cooperation on science and culture would develop in parallel with economic cooperation.

Thailand prime minister also under-lined Iran’s role in the east of Asia and presence of Thai economic sector in the Middle East region, adding, and “Iran can connect Thailand to central and west Asia and Europe, while Thailand

can become a gateway for linking Iran to the east of Asia.”

Indisputably, such statements by top Southeast Asian officials indicate Iran’s acclaimed position in the Middle East that connects East to West.

Iran a Gateway to 400-Mil-lion-Strong Market

As long as the Islamic Republic of Iran is considered as a gateway to the region’s market of 400 million people, the country has lured the Southeastern Asian states thanks to its rich oil and gas reserves, various geographical poten-tials and huge investment opportunities in road construction, petrochemical in-dustries, tourism sector and hotel con-struction.

During his address to the second Summit of the Asia Cooperation Di-

alogue (ACD) in Bangkok, the Iranian President stressed that Asia’s power is dependent on self-confidence and a shared will for convergence.

‘We must open our markets, engage in greater economic interaction, start domestic structural reform, move to-wards greater transparency and engage in extensive coordination on setting pol-icy; and by doing so, take long strides to improve the quality of life for our citi-zens and elevate the standing of Asia on the world stage,’ President Rouhani said.

He reiterated that today, all acknowl-edge that no global issues could be addressed without close cooperation of Asian powers.

‘Asia plays a pivotal role in global ef-forts aimed at resolving such major is-sues as climate change, environmental crisis, social problems, including refu-gees, illiteracy and poverty; and the role of Asian states in promoting collective security is indispensable,’ Rouhani has said.

Citing the long and rich history of Asian civilizations as a priceless her-itage, President Rouhani said greater contact and cohesion between nations translates into greater cultural growth, which is vital for the long term security and stability of the continent.

Iran is an integral part of Asia and a gateway that connects East to West, President Rouhani said, adding: “We have our roots in Asia and our history, culture and arts have been shaped by this ancient continent. We are commit-ted to remain with Asia and continue to define our identity as Asians.”

In recent years, the Southeast Asia countries as the emerging economies are on course towards the sustainable economic development and are seeking to create new opportunities and capac-ities for economic cooperation, so that the Western nations are trying to secure their foothold in the markets of the re-gion.

Given the fact that attention to the East is among the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s strategic policies, Iran should take initiatives to advance the strategy by developing economic cooperation with member states of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASESAN).

By Maryam Azish

In light of the plan to proceed with national sustainable economic development, Iran

believes that it should foster closer economic ties with the Asian emerging economies.

Asia plays a pivotal role in global efforts aimed at resolving such major issues as climate change, environmental crisis, social problems, including refugees,

illiteracy and poverty.

Iran expanding cooperation with emerging economies

NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 20168I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

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Digestive woes: How to know when it’s IBS

Is it IBS?

Almost everyone has stomach issues some of the time. Our plumbing can be a very sensitive

system — a bad meal, a little stress, that time of the month. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for it to go a little wonky.

So, when would you know if your symptoms are normal or if you have IBS?

Please note: There are many disorders that share some of the same symptoms as IBS. If you are experiencing any of the following signs or any unusual symptoms at all, it is extremely important that you bring your symptoms to the attention of your doctor for proper diagnosis.

You have more than your share of stomach pain and cramping

An occasional episode of abdominal pain or cramping does not mean you have IBS. It is the persistent nature of symptoms that indicates that something serious might be going on.

If you have any concerns about the fre-quency, location, or type of pain, you are experiencing, be sure to discuss your con-cerns and your symptoms with your doctor.

You have stomach pain related to your bowel movements

The official diagnostic criteria for IBS require that abdominal pain is relieved by having a bowel movement. In the real world, people who have IBS find that their pain may persist even after they have had a bowel movement. The point here is that you have a sense that your pain would lessen or disappear if you were to have a normal bowel movement.

Your number of daily bowel movements is not normal

Although the range of what is consid-ered normal when it comes to how often to have a bowel movement is pretty wide, you are pretty convinced that what you are experiencing can’t be right.

Here is a general rule of thumb: Three or more bowel movements a day is con-sidered to be diarrhea and therefore a

possible sign of IBS-D. Three or fewer bowel movements a week is classified as constipation and therefore a possible sign of IBS-C.

IBS may also be diagnosed if you find that you frequently go from being consti-pated to experiencing bouts of diarrhea or vice versa. This is a condition known as IBS-A (alternating type.)

Your stools don’t look normalAgain, normal is a relative term when

it comes to stool appearance. Stools can come in all sorts of colors and shapes, as they can be affected by things like what you have eaten and how much water you have been drinking.

An IBS diagnosis might be made if you have experienced a significant and per-sistent change to the appearance of your

stools:•Loose, watery stools (diarrhea)•Hard, dry stools (constipation)

There is mucus on your stoolMucus on the stool is a common symp-

tom of IBS. It can look quite alarming, but it is really considered to be benign — that is, that it’s seen as harmless. Mucus on the stool can also be an indication of other more serious health problems, so be sure to bring it to the attention of your doctor.

Your bowel movements are not a relaxing experience

My husband takes the notion of a re-laxed bowel movement to the extreme - more like an event! He gathers up some interesting reading material and is happy to disappear for a while.

With IBS there is none of that luxury.

Bowel movements can come with a feel-ing of urgency, causing you to worry that you won’t make it to the bathroom on time. Alternately, bowel movements can become very frustrating endeavors as you strain and struggle only to find that you have passed a small nugget.

Occasional bouts of diarrhea or consti-pation do not indicate the presence of IBS. It is when it happens frequently, along with abdominal pain and/or cramping, that IBS may be considered as a possible diagnosis.

You don’t feel as if you have com-pletely finished

A common symptom of IBS is a feel-ing of incomplete evacuation. This is the sensation that you haven’t fully emptied your rectum. A person who has IBS-C may sense that the rectum is not emp-tied because insufficient stool matter has been passed. A person who has IBS-D may experience the need for repeated bowel movements even after the rectum has been emptied of stool.

You feel gassy and bloated much of the time

Intestinal gas is a normal and health-enhancing part of digestion. But if you find that you are passing a lot of gas, your stomach is rumbling a lot of the time, you feel bloated, and your belly is distended, something is not as it should be. The presence of a lot of gas indicates that your intestinal bacteria may be out of whack, causing excessive fermentation of any carbohydrates you may be eating, a common scenario for IBS.

Your doctor tells you soYour doctor will give you a diagnosis

of IBS if they have ruled out the pres-ence of other digestive disorders and your symptoms fit the diagnostic crite-ria for IBS. However, many people who have IBS continue to worry that their doctors have missed the real diagnosis. You can rest assured, that in the ab-sence of any “red-flag” symptoms, your IBS diagnosis is most likely the correct diagnosis.

(Source: verywell.com)

Age-related pains and how to ease themGot aches? You’re in good company. Around 100 million Americans have some sort of chronic pain, meaning the long-term kind that sticks around after an injury or illness. And millions more have from short-term (acute) pain.

Some types are more common during certain times of your life. Here are some types of pain you need to know about and tips to manage them.

Lower back painIt’s the most common type of chronic pain in America.“If you’re under 50 and haven’t had a back injury, your

back pain is likely the result of sitting for long stretches. That puts too much pressure on the discs in your back,” says Rob-ert Fay, PT, owner of Armonk Physical Therapy and Sports Training in New York.

Older adults, on the other hand, are more likely to have back pain from conditions like arthritis, Fay says.

It's most likely to strike: During your 30s and 40s, but it can happen at any age.

Ease the acheStrength-training and cardio exercise are both helpful.

“They increase blood flow, and help you build your core mus-cles, which support your spine. And that reduces pressure,” Fay says. Start slow and see a pro if you’re not sure what exercises to do.

Physical therapy is another option. Your therapist can show you exercises that may help you move better and relieve pain. Over-the-counter medicines like aceta-minophen and ibuprofen may also help, though you shouldn’t use them for more than a few days without your doctor's OK.

Some people find using a heating pad eases pain, too.Call your doctor if you have severe back pain or if you’ve

been hurting for more than a week. Headaches

Regular ones and migraines -- a type of headache that may cause other symptoms, like nausea -- are the second most common type of chronic pain.

Experts aren’t sure exactly what causes them, but “they can be triggered by things like muscle tension, dehydration, your period, stress, weather changes, and certain foods, like chocolate,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, author of Pain Free 1-2-3.

Most likely to strike: Between your 20s and 50s.Ease the ache: If your headache is just in your fore-

head and temple area, it could be a tension headache. It might help to massage the area that hurts or apply men-thol cream on your forehead or the base of your neck, Teitelbaum says.

Pain meds like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or a medicine especially for migraines that contains caffeine, acetami-nophen, or aspirin, can offer relief --but don’t take it for more than 3 days without talking to your doctor. Your doctor might also recommend prescription migraine medicine.

(Source: webmd.com)

HEALTH & MEDICINENOVEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 1, 20162016 9I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

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TEHRAN TIMESIran’s Leading International Daily

Advertising Dept

021 - 430 51 450Tel:times1979@gmail.com

By Barbara Bolen

A N T I Q U I T Y

N O T A B L E S

IN FOCUS

T O U R I S Md e s k

10I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

HERITAGE & TOURISM NOVEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 1, 20162016

Music had a vital social and religious function in ancient Plaque with a harpist on display at Louvre Museum In Mesopotamia, stone and metal were rare and costly ma-terials. Clay, however, was abundant and easily available for all to use. It served to make all sorts of utensils, as well as human and animal figurines. Toward the end of the third mil-lennium BC, small reliefs of stamped clay began to appear, proof of the development of a fresh, lively artistic tradition. The plaque with a harpist is one of the most refined examples of this popular art form. The artwork is being on display at

Department of Near Eastern An-tiquities of the Louvre Muse-um in Paris,

The artwork excavated in an Egyptian mass graveyard in the early 19th century has been on display at the Near Eastern section of the muse-um as soon as it was digitally scanned in August 1979.

Visitors to the section unani-mously believe that the relic

A popular art formThe invention of the sin-

gle-valve or open mold to-wards the end of the third millennium BC meant that large numbers of small re-liefs of stamped clay could be produced. These have

been found in great quanti-ties in archaeological sites throughout Mesopotamia.

They were probably made in temple workshops that pro-duced the small plaques very cheaply, much like today's de-votional images. Visitors to the temple would buy them as offerings to leave in the shrine, or to take them home for their own household altar. They were also placed in sepulchers to accompany the deceased in the afterlife.

These charmingly fresh, sometimes naive, plaques feature a range of subjects, including gods, worshippers making of-ferings, nude female forms, and embracing couples - prob-ably used in fertility rites - as well as animals, acrobats, and, as in this case, musicians. They reflect a popular religion that was closer to the everyday lives of its believers than the offi-cial religions.

The importance of musicIn Mesopotamia, music had a vital social and religious func-

tion. It was an important part of every official ceremony, religious or otherwise. It was played at banquets. It was a vital part of the sacred chants that accompanied the daily religious devotions and the recitation of hymns and lamentations. Every palace and temple had its own professional musicians.

Some cuneiform tablets giving precise details on musical techniques have been discovered, but only a tiny number of original musical instruments have survived. This means that figurative representations such as this plaque are particularly important as a source of information.

The harpist and his harpThe musician, wearing a long, draped garment, is playing

a bow-shaped harp, holding the boat-shaped resonator (or sound box) under his left arm. In his right hand he holds a plec-trum which he uses to pluck all the strings together, holding down the ones he does not want to sound with his left hand.

In the early years of the third millennium, many different types of harp were invented. Alongside the bow-shaped harps, which are based directly on musical bows - one of the earliest known instruments - there appeared the first an-gular harps, whose resonator is perpendicular to the strut the strings are attached to. These harps can be held either horizontally or vertically. This new type of harp spread to As-syria and Iran, and was still in use in a more elaborate form in seventeenth-century Turkey. (Source: louvre.fr)

Miankaleh Peninsula in northern IranOne of the richest ecological havens in West Asia and perhaps in the region, Miankaleh Peninsula is home to many unique bird and reptile species.Situated in the extreme southeastern part of the Caspian Sea in the north of Iran, the wetland is also an internationally-recognized refuge for migratory birds.

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Ibn al-Nafis: First in describing pulmonary circulation of bloodIbn an-Nafīs, in full ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Abū al-ʿAlāʾ ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Ḥaram al-Qurayshī ad-Dimashqī ibn an-Nafīs (died 1288) was Arab physician who first described the pulmonary circu-lation of the blood.

In finding that the wall be-tween the right and left ven-tricles of the heart is solid and without pores, he disputed Galen’s view that the blood passes directly from the right to the left side of the heart.

Ibn an-Nafīs correctly stated that the blood must pass from the right ventricle to the left ventricle by way of the lungs. But the significance of his statement remained unheeded, and, in fact, was probably unknown by physi-cians in western countries.

It was only in the 20th cen-tury that his work was brought to light. Ibn an-Nafīs studied in Damascus under the phy-sician ad-Dakhwār and went to Egypt to take charge of the Nāṣirī Hospital in Cairo.

He wrote treatises on eye diseases and diet and com-mentaries on medical writings of Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq. (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica)

The opening page of one of Ibn al-Nafis’s medical works. This is probably a copy made in India during the 17th or 18th century.

TEHRAN — Tabriz his-toric bazaar complex, a

labyrinth of interconnected covered pas-sages that adds up to about 5 kms, has been a melting pot of cultural exchange since antiquity and once a hot spot on the ancient Silk Road.

The bazaar, which has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, em-braces countless shops, over 20 cara-vanserais and inns, some 20 vast domed halls, bathhouses, and mosques, as well as other brick structures and enclosed spaces for different functions.

Tabriz is the capital of northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.

The history of the Tabriz bazaar dates back to over a millennium ago, however ma-jority of fine brick vaults that capture most visitor ’s eyes date from the 15th century.

Most mazes and passages offer cer-tain commodities such as carpets, metal-work, toys, clothing, jewelry, and kitchen appliances, traditional spices, herbal rem-edies and natural perfumes.

One can also bump into colorful gro-cery stores, bookbinders, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths, tobacconists, tailors, flag sellers, broadcloth sellers, car-penters, shoemakers, and knife-makers.

There are several divided carpet sec-tions across the bazaar that enable visi-tors to watch or buy hand-woven Persian carpets and rugs with different knot den-sity and other features.

The bazaar was also well-known and prosperous during the 13th century when Tabriz became the capital of the Safavid Dynasty (1501–1736).

The city lost its status as capital in the 16th century, but remained important as a commercial hub until the end of the 18th century, with the expansion of Ottoman power. It is one of the most complete ex-amples of the traditional commercial and cultural system of Iran.

By the way, the city distanced its hey-day as the capital was transferred east-ward to Qazvin in the 16th century, but the bazaar remained vital as a commer-cial hub more or less.

Here is a select of comments that vis-itors to the ancient bazaar have posted to TripAdvisor, one of the most popular travel websites in the world:

“The most authentic bazaar I’ve been to”

Tabriz bazaar is not only huge and in-teresting from the point of view of archi-tecture but it’s the most authentic bazaar I've ever seen. Shops are meant for locals, not tourists and there are very few which sell souvenir. (Egoissimo from Cluj-Na-poca, Romania; visited September 2016)

“Nice bazaar if you get there on time!”Loved the brick work. Shops were your

typical shops. We wanted to come for carpets but almost all of them were closed by the time we arrived. I would certain-ly go back - at a more appropriate time of course. (AbleDanger from Annapolis, Maryland; visited November 2015)

“Get lost in the miles-long alleys of the Tabriz Bazaar and rest in one of the remaining caravanserais”

Bazaar of Tabriz is unique in that un-like Isfahan, it operates primarily as a local "shopping mall" for local people, tourists being minority there.

You can spend hours there enjoying cultural observations, if you are inter-ested in them, or simply walk down the alleys only to realize that you actually don't know whether you have been here already or not... (DariusSk from Lublin, Poland; visited August 2016)

“Beautiful bazaar with lots of good stuff to buy”

The impressive bazaar is probably the best reason to visit Tabriz. It's beau-tiful, and you can buy anything here. As a tourist it's fascinating to experience the great selection of nuts, dried fruits, mountains of tea, spices in abundance - you feel like buying it all. (Mogeltoft from Copenhagen, Denmark; visited July 2016)

“Beautiful bazar, worth a visit”Beautiful bazar, with a lot of vendors,

from shoes to carpets to dried fruits and nuts you will find everything.

(Yasmin A. from Zurich, Switzerland; visited July 2015)

Tabriz historic bazaar complex: A melting pot of tradition, trade, and culture

An undated photo shows one of the elaborately-roofed passageways within the Tabriz historic bazaar complex.

Metropolitan Museum of Art home to over 7,000 Near Eastern artworksThe Metropolitan Museum of Art collection of ancient Near Eastern art includes more than 7,000 works rang-ing in date from the eighth millennium BC through the centuries just beyond the time of the Arab conquests of the seventh century CE.

Objects come from a vast region centered in Mes-opotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and extending north to the Caucasus and the Eurasian steppes and south to the Arabian peninsula. To the west the region includes Anatolia, Syria, and the Levant, bordered by the Mediterranean; to the east, it extends through Iran and western Central Asia, with connections as far as the Indus River Valley.

What’s on viewThe galleries for Ancient Near Eastern Art present ob-

jects in contexts that illuminate their significance as well as their connections to the art of neighboring cultures.

The art of the ancient Near East exhibits a great vari-ety of forms and styles, reflecting the many peoples, cit-ies, kingdoms, and empires that flourished in the region over thousands of years. Yet, in the midst of this diversity, there was also consistency and continuity.

One of the constant and primary aims of ancient Near Eastern art was to capture the relationship between the

terrestrial and divine realms—a link expressed in some of the most distinctive works in the collection.

A progression of galleries leads visitors chronologi-cally through an overview of Near Eastern culture be-ginning in the Neolithic period, when the first perma-nent settlements were built, through the development

of writing, cities, and organized religion, the rise of ter-ritorial empires, and the development of international trade and diplomacy—demonstrating that, long before the Silk Road, much of the world was intensely engaged with the ancient Near East.

History of the departmentThe first ancient Near Eastern objects to enter The Met

collection—Assyrian stone reliefs, cuneiform tablets, and stamp and cylinder seals—were acquired in the late 1800s.

These were overseen by the Department of Decora-tive Arts until 1932, when a separate Department of Near Eastern Art, comprising both the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras, was formed. With the influx of works of art, such as the ivories from Nimrud, and advancing scholarship, the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art was formally established in 1956.

The department’s collection has been acquired by gift, by purchase, and through participation in archaeological excavations in the Near East. Sites where work has been supported by the Museum include Ctesiphon, Nimrud, and Nippur in Iraq, Hasanlu and Qasr-i Abu Nasr in Iran, and Tell ed-Duweir (ancient Lachish), Tell Brak, Tell Mozan and Umm el-Marra in the Levant and Syria.

(Source: metmuseum.org)

Human-headed Winged Bull and Winged Lion dating from the 9th century BC on display at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The new marine protected area, expected to come into force in December 2017, will set out to protect some 1.55 million square kilometers (~600,000 square miles) of the Ross Sea around Antarctica — an area more than the size of France, Germany and Spain combined.

The new marine protected area, expected to come into force in December 2017, will set out to protect some 1.55 mil-lion square kilometers of the Ross Sea around Antarctica.

According to the agreement, 72 percent of the ma-rine area will be set aside as a “no-take” zone, in which all forms of fishing will be banned. The protections will end in 35 years.

The creation of the Ross Sea MPA is an extraordinary step forward for marine protection.

The Ross SeaMap prepared by WWF shows the Ross Sea marine

protected area. Map prepared by WWF shows the Ross Sea marine protected area.

Antarctica’s Ross Sea, located south of New Zealand, is believed to be one of the most pristine marine regions in the world.

A 2011 study published in Biological Conservation called it the “anthropogenically least-affected stretch of ocean remaining on Earth”, relatively free from widespread pollution, invasive species, mining and overfishing.

The Ross Sea harbors a huge diversity of marine life. It is home to nearly half of the world’s “Ross sea killer whales”, about 45 percent of the world’s Weddell seals, around 38 percent of the world’s Adélie penguins, more than a quarter of the world’s Emperor penguins, and one third of all Antarctic petrels, according to the Pew Char-itable Trusts.

To protect this relatively untouched marine area, New Zealand and the U.S put forward a proposal for the creation of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area in 2011. The proposal argued that the Ross Sea is one of the most productive areas of the Southern Ocean, and one of the few regions in the world where most of the marine top-level predator populations remain intact. It added that the Ross Sea continental shelf is also one of the best scientifically studied regions in the Southern Hemisphere.

Scientific understandingThe “existing high level of scientific understanding

and information about the Ross Sea Region make it a uniquely desirable candidate for protection,” the propos-al concluded.

Conservationists have welcomed the unanimous de-cision, but have also expressed concern over the MPA’s 35-year expiration time frame.

“While this is undoubtedly good news, the agreement on the Ross Sea will expire in 35 years,” Chris Johnson, WWF-Australia Ocean Science Manager who attended the CCAMLR meeting in Hobart, said in a statement.

“According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) guidelines, marine protected areas must be permanent. WWF has concerns that the Ross Sea agreement does not meet this standard. In coming years, WWF will con-tinue to push for the Ross Sea to become an MPA, pro-tected in perpetuity.”

(Source: mongabay.com)

Iceland is about to tap into water as hot as lava. Several kilometers below ground, a drilling rig named Thor will soon pene-trate the area around a magma chamber, where molten rock from the inner Earth heats up water that has seeped through the seafloor. This water – up to 1,000°C and saturated with corrosive chemicals – will eventually be piped up to the surface and its heat turned into usable energy.

It is a huge engineering challenge, and one which may usher in a new age of ge-othermal power production. Existing ge-othermal projects around the world need waters heated to less than 300°C, so why go to this extra effort and expense?

The answer is simple: water at the most extreme temperatures exists in a state described as “supercritical”, where it behaves as neither a true liquid, nor a true gas, and is capable of retaining a phenomenal amount of energy. Su-percritical water can generate up to ten times more power than conventional ge-othermal sources.

Iceland is a nation built on about 130 volcanoes resting above a divergent plate boundary which brings a continu-ous supply of hot, fresh magma up from the mantle just a few kilometers below. Icelanders have capitalized on this, and now generate more than a quarter of

their electricity through geothermal, ac-cessing boiling temperature water within 2km of the surface.

Geothermal riches

The embarrassment of geothermal riches on offer in Iceland is unusual, but by no means unique. Indeed, while the country has one of the highest geother-

mal electricity productions in terms of to-tal energy share, it is neither the highest, nor is it in the top five countries for total geothermal capacity. In fact, the countries in the top five may come as a surprise.

The absolute biggest geothermal electricity producer in the world is the U.S., with around 3,450 MW of capacity in 2015, largely centered in California (a typical nuclear power station produces around 1,000 MW). Next up are the Phil-ippines and Indonesia, at 1,870 and 1,340 MW respectively. Mexico and New Zea-land trail at a little over 1,000 MW each, and Iceland (665 MW) comes in seventh behind Italy (916 MW).

Volcanoes are the common factor in the geothermal resources of all these countries. The U.S. has also utilized the enormous San Andreas fault zone and its ability to con-duct heat and fluids through the crust.

For geothermal energy to succeed there must be heat, it must be accessible, and you must be able to move water around it.

Across most of the planet the hot ma-terial is simply too deep down to be eco-nomically within reach. The temperature of the Earth’s crust generally increases by 25°C for every 1km depth; for geother-mal to be economical that value must be nearer 50 or even 150°C/km.

(Source: ibtimes.co.uk)

Volcanoes are the common factor in the geothermal resources of all these countries. The U.S. has also utilized the enormous San Andreas fault zone and its ability to conduct

heat and fluids through the crust.

SpaceX to launch again this year following September’s rocket explosionSpaceX suffered a serious setback at the start of September when one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded on a Cape Canav-eral launchpad. But the company said Friday it’s getting close to understanding what went wrong, and wants to launch again this year.

Getting its operation up and running again in less than four months would be a major boost for SpaceX. Following the loss of a Fal-con 9 booster in 2015 just minutes after launch, mis-sions were put on hold for a full six months, while this latest incident had some speculating its space project could be grounded for up to a year.

As for the cause of Sep-tember’s explosion, SpaceX had said it suspected a breach in the rocket’s helium system of the second stage liq-uid oxygen (LOX) tank.

In an update posted on its website, the California-based company said that while the root cause of the breach has yet to be confirmed, “attention has continued to narrow to one of the three composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) inside the LOX tank.”

It added that following extensive testing, it’s been able to “re-create a COPV failure entirely through helium loading conditions. These conditions are mainly affected by the tem-perature and pressure of the helium being loaded.”

SpaceX said that at the moment its two main objectives are to pinpoint “the exact root cause” of the incident and to develop “improved helium loading conditions that allow SpaceX to reliably load Falcon 9.”

SpaceX’s latest report aims to reassure partners consider-ing whether to use the company for launching its payloads, after all, none will want to see their satellite suffer the same fate as Spacecom’s Amos-6 satellite at the start of September.

(Source: Digital Trends)

Are synthetic fleece and other types of clothing harming our water?One day last summer, the sailboat American Promise set off from a dock near the Brooklyn Bridge in search of unusual prey in the Hudson River: tiny pieces of plastic, much thinner than a strand of hair.

These microfibers are shed by every garment that is made with synthetic materials and has been put through a washing machine. When the water is expelled from the machine, it goes into wastewater systems and eventually into rivers and oceans, where it has become a major source of concern to environmentalists and marine-life researchers.

“I surveyed thousands and thousands of kilometers of ocean. We found microfibers in nearly 90 percent of the samples, and in every sample we found fibers, they were the majority of particles we identified,” said Amy Lusher, a British-based microplastics researcher and a co-author of a 2014 study of microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.

Microfibers are part of the larger problem of microplastic pollution, which has gained attention in recent years as tiny pieces of plastic — usually defined as smaller than five milli-meters, or about the size of a single piece of short-grain rice — accumulate in surface waters around the globe.

Microplastics generally refer to small fragments of plastic that result from the microbeads used in such items as cos-metics and toothpaste — the latter burnish teeth to make them whiter — and from the breakdown of bags, bottles and other plastics that make their way into our waterways.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant, soupy collection of marine debris, is the most famous manifestation of the problem, but tiny plastics are turning up just about every-where scientists look, including the Great Lakes and Antarc-tica.

(Source: The Washington Post)

Tailor-made neodymium magnets built by a 3-D printer3-D printers can print body parts, super-strong ceramics – there was even a machine on the space station. Now, re-searchers in Austria and Germany have found a way to cus-tom-print strong magnets with weird magnetic fields quickly and cheaply.

The technique, by Christian Huber from Vienna University of Technology and colleagues, can be used in applications that need complex magnetic fields, such as magnetic sen-sors. It was unveiled in Applied Physics Letters.

Conventional magnets, such as the simple bar magnet with a north pole at one end and a south at the other, are usually produced by sintering.

Metal powder pressed into a mold is heated to fuse it into a solid lump. It’s then popped between the poles of a pow-erful electromagnet which aligns the magnetic atoms in the material to produce a strong, permanent magnet.

Creating a single magnet with a customized particular magnetic field pattern could, for instance, provide smoother transitions between strong and weak fields for magnetic sen-sors, such as those that detect how fast your car wheels turn.

(Source: Cosmos Magazine)

S C I E N C ENOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 2016 11I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

The power of magma: How superheated molten rock could provide renewable energy

Astronomers using observations from NASA’s Kepler and Swift missions have discovered a batch of rapidly spinning stars that produce X-rays at more than 100 times the peak levels ever seen from the sun.

The stars, which spin so fast they’ve been squashed into pumpkin-like shapes, are thought to be the result of close bi-nary systems where two sun-like stars merge.

“These 18 stars rotate in just a few days on average, while the sun takes nearly a month,” said Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Califor-nia, and leader of the team. The “rapid rotation amplifies the same kind of activ-ity we see on the sun, such as sunspots and solar flares, and essentially sends it into overdrive.”

The most extreme member of the

group, a K-type orange giant dubbed KSw 71, is more than 10 times larger than the sun, rotates in just 5.5 days, and pro-duces X-ray emission 4,000 times greater than the sun does at solar maximum.

These rare stars were found as part of an X-ray survey of the original Kepler field of view, a patch of the sky compris-ing parts of the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.

Brightness of starsFrom May 2009 to May 2013, Kepler

measured the brightness of more than 150,000 stars in this region to detect the regular dimming from planets passing in front of their host stars. The mission was immensely successful, netting more than 2,300 confirmed exoplanets and nearly 5,000 candidates to date.

An ongoing extended mission, called K2, continues this work in areas of the sky located along the ecliptic, the plane of

Earth’s orbit around the sun.A “side benefit of the Kepler mission

is that its initial field of view is now one of the best-studied parts of the sky,” said team member Padi Boyd, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who designed the Swift survey.

For example, the entire area was ob-served in infrared light by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer observed many

parts of it in the ultraviolet. “Our group was looking for variable X-ray sources with optical counterparts seen by Kepler, especially active galaxies, where a central black hole drives the emissions,” she ex-plained.

Using the X-ray and ultraviolet/optical telescopes aboard Swift, the researchers conducted the Kepler–Swift Active Galaxies and Stars Survey (KSwAGS), imaging about six square degrees, or 12 times the appar-ent size of a full moon, in the Kepler field.

“With KSwAGS we found 93 new X-ray sources, about evenly split between ac-tive galaxies and various types of X-ray stars,” said team member Krista Lynne Smith, a graduate student at the Univer-sity of Maryland, College Park who led the analysis of Swift data. “Many of these sources have never been observed be-fore in X-rays or ultraviolet light.”

(Source: spacecoastdaily.com)

Chief Executive of Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) Hamed Soltaninejad elaborated on the details of financing projects in economic downturn condition and development of international ties in post-sanc-tions era.

More than 10,000 billion rials parallel forwards have been published for financing since last year up to the present time, he said, adding: “IME has adopted nec-

essary plans for helping suppliers in order to sell their products and finance plans as well.”

Deposit certificate and commodity fund can help those who were not active previously in petrochemical field in order to be reactivated in this field, IME chief reiterated.

Turning to the acceptance of petrochemical ware-houses in Europe, he said: “The issue of banking trans-

actions has been raised in this field. Once it is settled, suitable way will be paved for supplying these products in Europe.”

In the end, Chief Executive of Iran Mercantile Ex-change (IME) Hamed Soltaninejad said: “Presently, negotiations are underway for restoration of banking relations in order to accept petrochemical warehouses in Europe.”

NASA’s Kepler, Swift missions harvest a passel of ‘pumpkin’ stars

World’s largest marine protected area created in Antarctica

IME CEO Expounds on Details of Financing in Economic Downturn in Post-Sanctions Era

A grand seminar was held to investigate six-month performance of SINA Bank in the presence of senior managers and directors of the bank.

Chief Executive of SINA Bank Eng. Pishro was the first speaker who re-vealed the inauguration of branches in Oman and Germany and said: “Receiv-ing license and opening branch over-seas require preparing initials, standards and several prerequisites from KPMG

companies.”In this line, a contract was concluded

with a reliable international company in the field of auditing. It is hoped that we will witness initiation of activity of these branches, he maintained.

He evaluated performance of bank branches in attraction of foreign re-sources as “satisfactory and favorable” and said: “Although effective steps have been taken in this regard, more effort is

needed in the today’s competitive en-vironment, so that using capacity and capability of Mostaz’afan and Janbazan Foundation can be an important factor in acceleration of activities.”

With the implementation and utiliza-tion of these projects, it is hoped that activities of the bank will be done ac-cording to the international standards, he maintained.

Of salient activities of the bank, he

pointed to the removing depravity from underprivileged areas, adding: “Given the above issue, a school was put into operation in Qaleh Ganj of Kerman in cooperation with staff and personnel of the bank.”

In the end, Chief Executive of SINA Bank Eng. Pishro said: “With the coordi-nation made in this regard, the bank will take giant strides in current year in order to materialize most of its objectives.”

Ramsar Hosts Nationwide Seminar on Directors of SINA BANK

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

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

W O M E N NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 201612

“I don’t believe in love at first sight because my mother started loving me before seeing me.” Luffina Lourduraj

U.S. judge convicts two women of support for al-ShababA federal judge in the U.S. state of Virginia has convicted two women of providing financial support for the Somalia-based al-Shabab Takfiri militant group.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Vir-ginia, Muna Osman Jama, 36, and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 46, were found guilty on Tuesday of leading an online group in raising money to support the al-Qaeda-linked

militant group.The so-called “Group of

Fifteen” was comprised of members from eight coun-tries that helped finance mil-itary operations conducted by al-Shabab in Somalia and neighboring Kenya.

“These women funneled money to a terrorist organ-ization, which was conduct-ing a violent insurgency campaign in Somalia,” U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said in a written statement.

“National security is the top priority in this office and we will continue to work

closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who provide material support to ter-rorists,” he added.

Prosecutors said Jama and Dhirane, arrested in July 2014, sent the money they had raised through a chat room to fi-nanciers of the militant group in Somalia and Kenya.

The online group reportedly included women from So-malia, Kenya, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as the US city of Minneapolis.

Convicted of conspiracy and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the two will each face a maximum of 15 years in prison when they are sentenced in January next year.

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, which has been carrying out a series of deadly bombings throughout Somalia, is fighting to topple the government in Mogadishu.

The Kenyan government sent over 3,000 soldiers to So-malia in late 2011 after al-Shabab carried out a series of raids inside the country.

Al-Shabab has also vowed to continue fatal cross-bor-der raids until the government in Nairobi pulls its troops out of Somalia.

Somalia has been the scene of fighting between al-Shabab and government forces since 2006. In 2011, the mil-itants were driven out of Mogadishu and other major cities.

(Source: Press TV)

Tangerine orange cake“This is the same as an Orange Cake with Orange Topping but made with tangerine-orange juice. It’s so good, I have to ask my husband to hide it so I won’t pig-out on it. Can be made as a Bundt cake or muffins!”

Ingredients:1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 (3 ounce) package in-stant lemon pudding mix

3/4 cup tangerine juice 1/2 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 teaspoon lemon extract 1/3 cup tangerine juice 2/3 cup white sugar 1/4 cup butter

Directions:Preheat oven to 325 de-

grees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan or line a muffin pan with pa-per cups.

In a medium bowl, stir to-gether the cake mix and instant pudding. Add the tangerine juice, oil, eggs and lemon extract, mix until well blended. Pour into the prepared pan or pans.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake springs back to the touch. For cupcakes, bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before remov-ing from pan to cool completely.

In a small saucepan, combine the remaining tangerine juice, sugar and butter over medium heat. Stir frequently until the mixture is smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake or cupcakes.

1 Women’s success depends on their own capabilities and not giving up in face of difficulties during their lifetime, she stressed.

“Being a woman didn’t restrict me to find my way in the whole life. I tolerated great hardships when I left my little son here to study in Italy.

“During six years of living in Italy I cried every night missing my only son,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I believe that blasphemy lies in hopelessness.”

“When I left my son, I believed that I am trying to make a better future for him and fortunately it happened,” she explained.

“I never wanted to give my son the feeling of sin by sacrificing myself for the sake of him,” Soheila added. “I decided to tolerate the pain of loneliness but to get a good result.” “I have never waited for any men [to help me] in my entire life,” Soheila said.

Citing an example, she said when she wanted to decorate her pavilion in a tourism exhibition, the decorator was late and she herself did the job.

Every women should try to empower herself, asserted the entrepreneur who is the holder of fine arts and midwifery degrees.

Holding a university degree or having a simple job should not satisfy a woman, she added. Empowerment is not merely translated as economic growth because sometimes social progress satisfies a woman, Soheila stressed.

Earning money does not give people satisfaction when the earner doesn’t feel that she/he has made something valuable for herself/himself or for others, the businesswoman stated.

The effort to make something valuable

pleases a human more than the amount of money that she/he earns, Soheila remarked.

“I believe that winning this prize (EBC*L) is the result of good jobs that I have done not for the sake of money but only for the sake of God,” she said.

For every foreign tourist who visits the country, 11 direct jobs and more than one hundred indirect jobs are created and this is something more than merely making money, she pointed out. Soheila sees no difference between men and women working in tourism industry, however she believes women are more concerned about their job.

In 1993 Soheila returned to her homeland and began studying Italian language professionally.

She has translated some works of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution, into Italian. She has also translated letters of some Italian people to Imam Khomeini at the time of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Thanks to her proficiency in Italian language, Soheila worked in a travel agency for marketing and tour operation for three years, then she started her career as a tour guide, which was her favorite job.

She worked as a tour guide for 15 years. However she participated in many Italian tourism exhibitions as a freelance tour guide and tour marketer.

Ten years ago she received her own travel agency license but she still wanted to work as a tour guide. She believed that her small laptop can be as useful as a large office of a travel agency. Since the begin-ning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2016), around 2,000 tourists have traveled to Iran through her travel agency,

mainly from Italy and France.Although her travel agency is newly

established, the reason that she has been selected for the EBC*L prize is that she has showed a colorful presence in differ-ent tourism exhibitions.

Soheila participated in a tourism exhibition in Naples, Italy, in March 2016, where she was greatly welcomed in her own pavilion by Luigi De Magistris, the mayor of Naples.

She believes that the nuclear deal signed last year between Iran and the West has created a good trust for both sides: Iranian tourism companies and European tourists.

Soheila led a group of specialists interested in studying the situation of religious minorities in Muslim countries in the Middle East about 8 years ago.

The group visited many churches in different parts of Iran. They also visited live ancient synagogues in downtown Isfahan.

“Entrepreneurship helps to reduce unemployment predicament in the society, and I believe that good performance in each

career creates more jobs,” remarked Soheila, who runs a travel agency with 9 female and one male employees.

Azim Fazlipour, the EBC*L CEO for Persian language countries, said in August that following the removal of anti-Iran sanctions, the EBC*L management has decided to present the prestigious prize to several female Iranian entrepreneurs.

The EBC*L considers several indicators for presenting prizes to different companies including entrepreneurship, innovation, branding, development of domestic industries, development of crafts, customer satisfaction, compliance with environmental and human values and social responsibility.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, the rate of entrepreneurship in Iran among women between the ages 18 to 64 fluctuated from 4 to 6 percent between 2008 and 2012.

Based on the Fifth Socio-Economic Development Plan of Iran (2010-2015), the rate of female entrepreneurs has increased from 7.1 percent in 2010 to 8.4 percent in 2015.

Soheila, nominee for EBC*L award, proof of Iranian women’s capability

TEHRAN — Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has said violence in the Middle East has greatly weakened women’s involvement in humanitarian missions.

Golamali Khoshroo made the remarks in open debate on women, peace and security at the UN Security Council on October 26.

Khoshroo highlighted the necessity of addressing the situation of women in the Middle East as the plights of war and homelessness have reduced women’s valuable contribution to society.

Following is the text of the ambassador’s speech:

Allow me to begin by thanking you as well as the Russian Presidency for convening this open debate. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Secretary-General and UN women for their valuable inputs to the debate on women, peace and security.

Women are a key resource for promoting peace and stability. Research highlighted that women’s participation and inclusion makes humanitarian assistance more effective, strengthens the protection of civilians, con-

tributes to the political settlement of disputes and helps maintain sustainable peace and accelerates economic recovery.

The adoption of the agenda for sustaina-ble development, the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action all remind us that there is strong direct rela-tion between sustainable peace and security and sustainable development, and the fact that women and girls must be at the fore-

front of programs designed to attain sustain-able development, peace and security.

Security Council Resolution 1325 on “women, peace and security” is also focus-ing on the specific impact of armed conflict on women, the positive role they can play in conflict prevention and resolution, peace-keeping and peace building as well as the important roles women can play to keep and strengthen peace and security in local,

regional and international levels.Mr. President,Current crisis and situations, especially in

the Middle East, have taken new and abhor-rent forms and dimensions, and constitute unprecedented challenges to the stability in our region. Women are among the main victims of these situations, grappling with the scourge of violent extremism and terrorism. The spread of violent extremism and Takfi-ri ideology, that has no respect for women, threatens in an unprecedented way the life and rights of women and girls in our region. Women and girls have suffered the most and been targeted for systematic sexual exploita-tion and slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence against by extremists and ter-rorists groups. The international community should make clear at every step that there would never be any leniency for those who subject women and girls to the most inhu-mane acts of corporal and mental violence.

Iran strongly condemns the barbaric acts of the terrorist and violent extremists groups as well as indiscriminate attacks against ci-vilians, including women and children. In this regard, we support Secretary-General’s decision to include women’s participation, leadership, and empowerment, as keys drivers, in his “Plan of Action to Prevent Vi-olent Extremism”.

The systematic violations of the legiti-mate human rights of the Palestinian peo-ple, including Palestinian women, under brutal occupation of the Israeli regime and the atrocious illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip constitutes massive deprivation of the Palestinian civilians and women of their right certainly is the most blatant form of terrorism against a whole nation , imposed by this regime.

It is also very unfortunate that women and girls are also fallen disproportionately victims to airstrikes in Yemen. As confirmed reports indicate, the unjustified invasion of Yemen by Saudi-led coalition has led to the death of almost 10.000 people and the inju-ry of more than 17000 civilians, including at least 1677 women and 2260 children.

Mr. President,In closing, let me, Mr. President, stress that

my Delegation believes that organizing such a debate in this Council should not under-mine the work of the most relevant bodies for consideration of women related issues in the United Nations system namely CSW, ECOSOC as well as the General Assembly.

Violence in Mideast has greatly reduced involvement of women in humanitarian efforts: Iran’s UN envoy

IN FOCUS TASNIM/ Mostafa Gholamnejag

The picture shows a woman from Khuzestan Province is harvesting dates.

Al-Shabab militants in an un-disclosed location in Somalia

1 “According to government fig-ures in recent years across 70 under-ground water catchment areas the level of groundwater has dropped by two me-ters,” the UN official regretted, explaining “There is a phenomenon called compet-itive deepening which means that as the water drops you keep drilling more and more to get access to the water.”

‘Iran close to hit water scarcity’“In 1956 we had about 7,000 cubic

meters of water available per person in Iran (per annum),” he said, “10 years ago that amount had dropped to 1,900 cubic meters per person per year, and we are right now having about 1,200 cubic me-ters per person per year.”

He went on to warn that “when we hit 1,000 we will hit water scarcity and we are very very close to that level now.”

The average per capita use of water in Iran is 70 percent higher than the global average, Lewis noted, “which means that even though we are living in a semi-arid region we are not consuming water ef-ficiently, [and] we are wasting water un-sustainably.”

Climate change adds insult to the injury

“Everything I just described is how we are using and managing water, I haven’t even started to talk on the impacts of the climate change which will make the availability of water in this country scarcer because it’s getting hotter and drier,” he pointed out.

The average temperature in Iran has

already risen by 1.7 degrees compared to the historical average, he added.

Lake Urmia is seriously in trouble He further gave an account of his trip

to Lake Urmia were he saw the gravity of the issue and explained how the remain-ing salt in the lake can be detrimental to both the environment and five million people living in the lake basin.

He further explained that in order to get the water to the agricultural fields that are at the side of the lake the farmers have to drill the wells deeper and deeper and the deeper they go they reach salt water and therefore they irrigate their

farmland with salt water and make the land salinized.

What needs to be done and what is being done

Iran’s government, the UN, the Japa-nese, and the provincial government of West and East Azarbaijan are all trying [to solve the problem], he highlighted.

The UN has two agency that are work-ing on Lake Urmia; one is United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that has been there for 10 years and the other one is Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion of the United Nations (FAO) which has just started to work, Lewis noted.

UNDP in particular is working with communities at the lake basin to develop sustainable agricultural crop manage-ment, he said, “we are working with 75 villages covering about 50,000 hectares of agricultural lands which only repre-sents 10 percent of the lands in the lake basin and what we have been able to demonstrate in the past two years is that the techniques we have applied can save one third of the water.”

The government itself has also been en-gaged in doing engineering works in the basin that allows more water to flow into the lake as well, the UN coordinator said.

Recently the water level of the lake has increased, he mentioned, stating “I honestly don’t know but maybe the com-bination of those two things may have contributed to that and we will only be able to know that in 5 to 6 years if the water continues to rise gradually.”

“The problem is that what we are do-ing is still small,” he lamented, saying, but the UN’s role is not to replace the work of the government but it is to show them a pilot technique and then it’s up to the communities, the provincial government, and the national government to upscale those techniques so that not just 10 per-cent but 100 percent of the basin can benefit from these [water-efficient] agri-cultural techniques.

What the UN is doing is to give tech-nical support as well as giving visibility to all of these problems through social me-dia, in particular.

Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Islam politician, has gone on trial on hate speech charges in a case that will test the boundaries of free speech in the Netherlands, in the run-up to parliamentary polls next year.

Wilders was not present in the dock when proceed-ings opened at 08:30 GMT at a high-security courthouse near Schiphol airport.

He has refused to cooperate in what he calls “a po-litical trial” and, as is his right under Dutch law, is leaving his defense to his lawyers.

A three-judge bench will hear the case against Wilders, 53, on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.

Due to run until November 25, the trial particularly focuses on a comment made at a March 2014 local gov-ernment election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?”

When the crowd shouted back “Fewer! Fewer!”, Wilders answered: “We’re going to organize that.”

It is the second such trial for Wilders, who was acquit-ted on similar charges in 2011.

His 2014 statements were met with outrage including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.

The remarks were also condemned in the Dutch parliament with parties shunning any cooperation with Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV/Partij voor de Vri-jheid) despite its rising popularity, particularly among conservative Dutch voters.

Wilders and his defense lawyers have argued the case is a “political trial”. He has labelled the trial a “trav-esty” aimed at silencing him before elections in which the PVV is running neck-and-neck in the polls with the Liberals of Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister.

“It is my right and my duty as a politician to speak about the problems in our country,” Wilders said in a statement on Friday, adding that he would be repre-sented in court instead by his lawyer, Geert-Jan Knoops.

Throughout preliminary hearings, Wilders has main-tained that he was merely repeating his party’s political program in the run-up to the March 15 elections - and “what millions of Dutch citizens think”.

“I have no regrets,” he said.

“If speaking about this is punishable, then the Netherlands is no longer a free democracy but a dictatorship,” he said.

Asked what he would do as the trial opens, he said that he would go to work “in the place where the politi-cal debate belongs: in our parliament”.

Judges ruled earlier this month that the trial should go ahead, saying politicians “are granted broad free-doms of expression because of their official position”.

“Precisely, therefore, politicians have an important role to avoid feeding intolerance by making these kind of public statements,” they said.

If found guilty, Wilders could face a two-year jail term or a fine of more than 20,000 euros ($22,000), but ex-perts said such a severe punishment was unlikely, as he would be regarded as a first-offender and could face a lesser fine or community service.

Monday’s hearing started with prosecutors putting their case, followed by a number of expert witnesses, called by the court, who were expected to support Wilders’ argument.

They include Paul Cliteur, Leiden-based law professor and philosopher, who has compared Wilders’ prosecution to similar cases against French former film star Brigitte Bar-dot and writer Michel Houellebecq - both of whom faced hate-speech charges over comments about Islam.

“European nation states are busy prosecuting peo-ple who criticize religion and have a fear of foreigners,” Cliteur told the NRC daily last week.

“It would be good to reflect upon whether this should be really happening.”

(Source: agencies)

WORLD IN FOCUS 13I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Geert Wilders on trial for ‘fewer Moroccans’ comment

This is the hollowed-out heart of America: pain, rage and Donald Trump

6 But when I look at my hands I see the scars from knives and slicers and hot grease, and I remember the rage that I could not name after a decade and a half of low wages and no hope, because we all say that we live in a meritocracy and we all know it’s bullshit, but it keeps people sinking regardless.

An unfortunate fact of capitalism, or at least the kind we prac-tice in the western world, is that we below are turned against each other. There is political value in racial strife. As long as we can teach white people to hate nonwhite people, then we don’t have to worry about poor people realizing they outnumber the rich ones.

Racists came to love Trump because he speaks openly of the racial strife that politicians have been exploiting and stok-ing for decades to great electoral effect. That’s what people mean when they complain about political correctness, after all. You’re supposed to hate and fear a bunch of people but not talk about it, which is nonsensical except in the lens of politics, where perception matters far more than substance.

Trump can behave as badly as he wants. It’s no worse than people expect from the power elite. America, as seen from Meigs County, is a place where bankers can unfairly foreclose on your house and then get paid by Washington for doing it – and then Washington will demand you sign the bill. His business she-nanigans don’t register as shocking because it’s assumed that to get even close to that level you’ve already sold your soul; that’s just how it works. None of the bankers went to jail, and now the banks pay Hillary Clinton the equivalent of 37 years of the medi-an wage in this county per speech to lecture for them.

Revenue systemThe year 2016 will be political shorthand, in the way you

can say “2008” and people think of Lehman and Bear and bailouts. There will be Before, and After. This year is forcing us to grapple with a lot of realities we’d been conscientiously avoiding. Trump will still walk away from this thing a winner by his lights if Clinton wins – not leader of anything, with a reputation left in pitiful dirty tatters, but as head demagogue. He’ll have millions of adoring fans and a revenue stream. He will avoid responsibility for what is to come.

Pain and rage and fear and hate are all closely connected; unleashing them all in an unexamined pulsating mass of con-spiracy-laden megalomania was ill-advised at best. We have already seen violence, and we will see more.

It was bound to happen eventually that a candidate running on fear and division would take us this far into the realms of the unacceptable. We can’t stop it now. The only thing we can do – the thing we must do, if we are to save ourselves – is begin to understand that if the system is broken, it’s broken for enough of us that we can together insist on changes that suit the populace, instead of merely those candidates and donors who can afford to buy all the rivals they see on a primary stage.

Few people think Trump will fix anything but a lot are will-ing to vote for him. Because whatever you think of him, he’s not a vote for the status quo. (Source: The Guardian)

Putin signs law halting plutonium disposal deal with U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law suspending an agreement with the United States on dispos-ing of weapons-grade plutonium amid a rise in tensions with the West.

The law, published on Monday in the government’s online database, comes weeks after Putin had ordered the deal -- signed in 2000 to allow both nuclear powers to dispose of plutonium from their defense programs -- be halted.

The Russian parliament had previously approved the leg-islation.

The move comes as Russia is locked in its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, the conflict in Ukraine and stalled efforts to end the war in Syria.

In addition to tearing up the cooperation deal, Russia said earlier this month that it was suspending joint research on nuclear projects with the United States.

The law sets a series of unprecedented conditions for the deal to be reinstated, including the cancellation of Western sanctions against Moscow and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from eastern European NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organi-zation) members. (Source: AFP)

Prospects of effective deal on Aleppo are dim: ex-CIA official

1 The prospects for any new and effective U.S.-Rus-sian agreement on Aleppo thus are dim. The history of bro-ken-down cease-fires does not hold out much promise for new agreements that are negotiated only by Russia and the United States. Any agreements on Syria with a chance of taking hold will also have to include the other outside players.

The European Union is insisting that the Syrian gov-ernment has committed war crimes in Aleppo. Do you think the EU will put pressure on Russia to agree on adoption of a resolution in this regard at the UN Security Council and then send it to the International Criminal Court?

A: Russia has, of course, veto power in the Security Coun-cil, and can use it to prevent any such referral. Officials of the European Union realize this and are unlikely to press for this sort of action in the Security Council.

What will be the effect of the Syria Crisis on the region?A: The war in Syria has already gone on long enough that the

main regional effects are already apparent. Three in particular stand out. One is the expansion of ISIS, which exploited the civil war in Syria to gain strength and expand out of Iraq. A second is the displacement of refugees, who have been a burden on near-by countries such as Jordan as well as being part of a flow that has extended into Europe. A third is tension and disagreement among states that otherwise would be mostly friendly, over the best way to handle matters in Syria. Tension between Turkey and other powers over the role of Kurdish militias in northern Syria is an obvious but not the only example.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

Yemen’s army and volunteer Popular Committees have fired rockets at the po-sitions of Saudi-backed mercenaries near the capital, Sana’a, destroying a weapons warehouse used by them.

Yemen’s al-Masirah website reported that the Yemeni forces’ rocket attack de-stroyed the weapons warehouse in the Fardhat Nihm district, northeast of Sa-na’a, at dawn on Monday.

A military source said the attack on the

arms depot caused heavy explosions and a massive fire.

A vehicle of the militants was also de-stroyed in the area as the Yemeni troops targeted it with a missile.

On Sunday night, the Yemeni forces had destroyed a military vehicle of the Saudi-backed mercenaries in the same area. A military source told al-Masirah that Yemeni forces fired a rocket at the military vehicle in Fardhat Nihm, also kill-

ing those on board.Also on Sunday, Yemeni forces

launched rocket attacks at the positions of the mercenaries in the central province of Ma’rib.

A military source said the Yemeni forces fired Katyusha rockets at the militants’ po-sitions and vehicles behind the Salb Moun-tain in Ma’rib on Sunday night, inflicting heavy causalities and losses on them.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s War Media on

Sunday published footage showing the House of Saud regime-backed merce-naries retreating from the al-Buqa border crossing in Saudi Arabia’s Najran region.

According to the report, the Yemeni forc-es thwarted an attempt by the mercenaries to advance toward the crossing.

The footage shows the bodies of the mercenaries who were killed left behind as their comrades fled the area.

(Source: Press TV)

The Syrian military says at least 84 people have been killed and another 280 people sustained injuries in three days of intensive and relentless assaults by militants on the government-held parts of the embattled city of Aleppo.

Syria’s army and the Armed Forces High Com-mand said in a statement on Monday that terrorist groups, including Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant), formerly known as al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nu?ra), have killed doz-ens of women and children in their bombardment of schools and residential areas in western Aleppo since Friday.

The statement, which was carried by Syria’s official news agency, SANA, said that militants used chemical weapons and rocket fire in the attacks on civilians. It accused the militants of misusing a previous lull in the fighting, which was holding until earlier this month for humanitarian purposes, saying they used that period to obtain reinforcements and prepare such relentless at-tacks on civilians.

Syria has been battling an array of groups in Aleppo as it struggles to regain control over the eastern parts of the city. Western governments intensified their rhetoric

against Syria’s campaign in Aleppo when it began late in September, saying the government and its allies, includ-ing Russia which carries out targeted airstrikes against militants, have committed war crimes in the attacks on eastern Aleppo.

Terrorists launch chemical attack in Syria’s AleppoElsewhere, at least three dozen people have re-

portedly been affected after foreign-sponsored terror-ists launched a barrage of shells loaded with poisonous gas against two residential neighborhoods in Syria’s em-battled northwestern city of Aleppo.

Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that 35 people were suffering from suffocation after the shells rained down on the government-held Dahiyet al-Assad and Hamdaniyeh neighborhoods in Aleppo, which is some 355 kilometers north of the capital Damascus.

The victims were quickly transported to Aleppo Uni-versity Hospital and al-Razi Hospital to receive treat-ment for sickness, shortness of breath, mydriasis, muscle spasms and numbness.

The head of Aleppo University Hospital, Ibrahim Ha-did, later told state television that “36 people, including civilians and fighters, were wounded after inhaling toxic chlorine gas released by terrorists.”

On September 16, at least eight people, includ-ing five civilians, suffered breathing difficulties after the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorists fired mortar shells containing toxic gases at Harbal and Um Hosh towns north of Aleppo.

At least five people were also killed and a number of others affected on August 2, when artillery shells con-taining poisonous gases slammed into the Old City of Aleppo.

The Syrian government turned over its entire chemi-cal stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States back in 2013. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has overseen operations to remove the chemical arsenal from Syria.

The deal came after hundreds of people were killed in an August 2013 chemical attack in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus.

According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin.

While the Syrian government denied involvement in the deadly attack, it agreed to have its chemical stock-piles dismantled to eliminate any pretext for a possible United States invasion.

(Source: SANA)

Yemeni forces launch rocket attack at Saudi mercenaries’ positions

At least 84 killed in militant attacks on Aleppo’s west: Syria

‘I’m Lake Urmia’ petition signed by 1.7m Iranians presented to UN

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

W O R L D S P O R T NOVEMBER 1, 2016NOVEMBER 1, 201614

The Best FIFA Football Awards to crown The Best of 2016Who is The Best? The world will find out in Zurich on 9 January. The Best FIFA Football Awards™, the inaugural edition of the FIFA awards for football excellence, will be the definitive accolade to celebrate the greatest performers of 2016.

The Best FIFA Football Awards will not only be the game’s highest honour for coaches and footballers, but also a celebra-tion in which football fans will play a vital and active part.

“This event will be about football and its most passionate participants – players, coaches and fans,” said FIFA President Gi-anni Infantino. “It is a new event with new approaches to cele-brating the game we all love.”

The Best of 2016 will feature an improved voting system that will enable fans to support the player and coach of the year in both men’s and women’s football. The winners will be chosen via a process in which 50% of the result is based on the choices of captains and head coaches of all of the world’s national teams. The other 50% will be split between the result of an online public ballot and the submissions from a selected group of more than 200 media representatives from around the world.

The Best FIFA Football Awards will also be a celebration of those who love the sport, with the unveiling of the new FIFA Fan Award. A panel of football experts will shortlist remarkable mo-ments throughout the year involving exemplary and passion-ate football supporters. It will then be up to the fans themselves to vote for their favourite moment on FIFA’s digital platforms.

A total of eight trophies will be presented at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony:

The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016 The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016 The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016 The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016 The FIFA Puskás Award 2016 The FIFA Fair Play Award 2016 The FIFA Fan Award 2016 FIFA FIFPro World11

Professional footballers from around the world will se-lect their dream line-up of 2016 by voting for the FIFA FIF-Pro World11. Fans will choose the winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for goal of the year through an online public ballot, while a group of football experts will decide the recipient of the FIFA Fair Play Award.

A select group of lucky football fans will enjoy The Best FIFA Football Awards in a special way. During the weeks leading up to the event, a social media contest on FIFA’s official platforms will award 11 tickets plus travel and accommodation for sup-porters from around the world to travel to Zurich and follow the award show from the inside.

The first activity related to The Best of 2016 will get underway this week with the unveiling of the shortlists for four awards:

Tuesday, 1 November: ten candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016

Wednesday, 2 November: ten candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016

Thursday, 3 November: ten candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016

Friday, 4 November: 23 candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016

The voting process for The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 in the four categories above will be launched on 4 November and will close on 22 November. The final list with the three nominees for each of these awards will be unveiled on 2 December.

(Source:FIFA)

Henrikh Mkhitaryan ‘doesn’t know what Mourinho’s thinking’ - AFF chiefManchester United’s attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan “does not know what Jose Mourinho is thinking,” according to the Armenian football federation’s president.

Mkhitaryan suffered a thigh injury while on international duty with Armenia but was rushed back into United’s team for the derby match against Manchester City on Sept. 10.

The Armenian was substituted at half-time of the 2-1 defeat, with Mourinho later publicly complaining that some players had not given him what he wanted -- and the 27-year-old has not played again since then.

Ruben Hayrapetyan, president of the Football Federation of Armenia, was quoted by Armenpress as saying: “I cannot know what the Manchester United manager is thinking about. I have talked with Mkhitaryan, he also doesn’t know what Jose Mourinho is thinking. Mkhitaryan trains and is in good shape, but no one knows the reason [for his continued absence from games].”

Mourinho had said in his news conference on Friday that the player was training and needed time to “become the top player we know he can be”.

The midfielder, signed from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, was again left out of the United matchday squad against Burnley on Saturday, though, and watched from the stands.

(Source: ESPN)

Manchester City must play “perfectly” to beat Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, according to manager Pep Guardiola whose side suffered a 4-0 thrashing in the Nou Camp this month.

City won for the first time in seven games in all competitions on Saturday, crushing West Bromwich Albion 4-0 in the Premier League, but Guardiola knows his former club represent a far greater challenge.

“I have never thought that we can’t win a football match and I never will. Even when we lost 4-0,” Guardiola told a news conference on Monday.

“It’s difficult and we know we need to play almost perfectly to win - and if not, we will congratulate them and move on.

“Winning the last game helped a lot but the Champions League is much different. Tomorrow we have another chance against the best.”

While Barcelona can secure progress to the knockout phase at the Etihad on Tuesday, City are in a battle with Borussia Moenchengladbach for second spot in Group C.

Another loss to the Catalans would

leave their progress in real jeopardy.“For them it’s not a final, for us it is

like a final,” Guardiola, who is yet to taste defeat at home since taking over at Man City, said.

“There is just three games left. We dropped points in Glasgow (Celtic) and we have to recover those points.”

City’s cause is not helped by injuries with the right back area particularly worrying.

Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta are both unavailable, meaning Guardiola has to choose between Fernando, who played there for the first time against West Brom, and 19-year-old Pablo Maffeo.

“We have to think we’ve not got right backs,” Guardiola said. “We have one who recently played there and one who is 19.”

Striker Sergio Aguero will start, how-ever, after being surprisingly left out of the away clash.

The Argentine scored twice against West Brom and looked close to being back to his best.

“When he is happy of course all the team is happy,” Guardiola said.

(Source: Reuters)

Moving to Real Madrid has made Gareth Bale a better person and lived up to all his expectations, the Welsh winger said on Monday.

The 27-year-old was speaking for the first time since he extended his contract with the Spanish La Liga club until June 2022.

“Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world,” Bale told a news conference.

“I definitely made the right decision. Real matches all my ambitions. It’s been three great seasons. I hope there are six more years like this. I feel very happy and loved here.”

Bale joined Real for a then world-re-cord fee of 100 million euros (£90 million) in 2013 from Tottenham Hotspur and has since won the Champions League twice and the King’s Cup once.

“When I first arrived, I wanted to win trophies and succeed,” Bale said. “I want-ed to improve my football and my game. It has changed me as a person.

“I’ve experienced great moments. Winning the Champions League for this club is the pinnacle.”

After his first season in Madrid, Bale was reported to be unsettled at the club

and he was linked with a return to the Premier League.

“It has been a difficult journey,” Bale said. “It’s difficult for British players to play in European clubs.

“It has been a learning curve but I’ve enjoyed every experience.

“It takes more character to stay, to fight and find a way to make things work than to leave.”

Bale has made 135 appearances in all competitions for Real, scoring 62 goals.

He netted 19 goals and set up 10 more in 30 appearances last season before helping Wales reach the Euro 2016 semi-finals and he is among 30 players in the running to be named FIFA’s player of the year.

“It’s never been a personal goal to win it,” Bale said.

“I’m not striving for it. But if you play well for your club and country and win trophies, things will happen naturally,” he added. “Last season was my best. It’s all about giv-ing 100 per cent and each year you have to improve and work hard. As long as you do that you cannot have any regrets.”

(Source: Reuters)

Real Madrid the perfect club for me, says Bale

Man City need perfection to beat Barca, says Guardiola

Bastian Schweinsteiger trained with Manchester United on Monday morning for the first time since José Mourinho ex-cluded him from first-team sessions at the start of the season.

The former Germany captain was seen wearing club-branded headgear as he worked under Mourinho’s supervision and in one image appears to receive a warm embrace from the club captain Wayne Rooney.

The move indicates the manager is considering giving the German a shock recall for Sunday’s trip to Swansea City as Schweinsteiger was named in the 25-man Premier League squad by Mourinho, despite not deeming him part of his plans.

Ander Herrera is suspended for the game after be-ing shown two yellow cards in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Burnley at Old Trafford. United sit eighth in the Premier

League after 10 matches.Mourinho’s midfield options remain Paul Pogba,

Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneiderlin

and even Rooney, so it would be a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Schweinsteiger should to be recalled.

The 32-year-old is not in United’s Europa League squad so he is unavailable for Thursday’s group game at Fenerbahçe.

Schweinsteiger last featured for United as a 70th-minute substitute at Manchester City in a 1-0 win on 20 March. He made 13 Premier League starts for United last season, with five more as a substitute, scoring one goal.

In August Schweinsteiger tweeted: “MUFC will be my last club in Europe. I respect other clubs but Manchester United was the only one which could make me leave Bayern Munich. I will be ready, if the team needs me. This is all I can say about my current situation. I want to thank the fans for their amazing support over the recent weeks.”

(Source: Guardian)

Schweinsteiger back in first-team training with Manchester United

Lewis Hamilton ensured he would take his defence of the Formula One world championship into the final two rounds with a dominant victory at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday but, while the three-times world champion admitted that to an extent the final result would be out of his hands, he said he would do everything to battle on against his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg.

Behind Hamilton’s almost incident-free run to the flag, however, a war of words erupted between Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after the pair engaged in a close-fought battle for third in the final laps.

Hamilton’s win at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez cuts Rosberg’s lead in the Championship to 19 points but the German can still take the title with a win at the next round in Brazil – a track at which Hamilton has yet to record a victory in his career – or a second and third place against wins for the British driver there and at the final meeting in Abu Dhabi on 27 November.

Having already fought back in the championship after suffering mechanical issues this season, Hamilton was pleased with his run here and following his win at the last round in Austin, in his attempt to make ground on Rosberg. “It’s great to be performing as well as I know I can perform and not having car problems and being able to show that pace that I had today and in the last race,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to be able to do that.”

However, Hamilton also acknowledged that he knew even winning the final four races of the season might not be enough. “I am fighting for something that I don’t know if I will be able to make, so it’s an unusual scenario to be in,” he said. “But I am just going to push all the way to the end. One way it could be painful and one way it could be a great thing.”

Rosberg confirmed that he had simply been unable to match Hamilton in Mexico. “Lewis was a little bit too quick today and the whole weekend,” said the world championship leader. “So he did a great job and I have to live with second place.”

Behind them Vettel, who had been repeatedly swearing over team radio, including a message for the race director, Charlie Whiting, to “fuck off” in his frustration after Verstappen failed to give him back the place he believed he had taken, was unapologetic.

“I was full of adrenaline, you can imagine because I don’t think it was right what Max did,” he said. Verstappen said he would bring the matter up with the Ferrari driver. “I will speak to him because this is how ridiculous he is handling it,” he said. “He is just a very frustrated guy at the moment.”

Verstappen was punished for his actions, which promoted Vettel to third place but he was

himself subsequently punished for moving while under-braking and demoted to fifth. That round of tempestuous musical chairs ultimately resulted in Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, inheriting the final podium place.

(Source: Guardian)

Lewis Hamilton vows to keep fighting after winning Mexican Grand Prix

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S P O R TNOVEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 1, 20162016 15I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Seventh time lucky for JapanJapan claimed their first-ever AFC Asian U-19 Championship title after beating Saudi Arabia 5-3 on penalties following a goalless extra-time draw in the final in Bahrain on Sunday. The two final-ists join Iran and Vietnam in claiming Asia’s four qualifying spots for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 after they all reached the tournament semi-finals last week.

It was the seventh appearance in the continental final for Ja-pan. Ten years ago at India 2006, the Japanese lost to Korea DPR in a penalty shootout.

The Samurai Blue had the meanest defence at Bahrain 2016, as they kept five clean sheets en route to the final. They opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Yemen before drawing 0-0 with Iran and earning another 3-0 result - this time against title holders Qatar. Atsushi Uchiyama’s side cruised to a 4-0 victory over Tajikistan in the quarter-finals before net-ting three unanswered goals against Vietnam in the last four.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, were the highest scoring team of the tournament, with eight goals in the group stage and a further eight goals in the knockout round. Abdulrah-man Al Yami, who scored a hat-trick against Iran in the semi-finals, and captain Sami Al Naji finished as the joint top scorers with four goals, while Rakan Al Anaze scored three goals in the competition.

11-goal thrillerArguably the most thrilling match of the tournament was

played out by Iran and Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals. Saudi captain Al Naji opened the scoring from the spot in the 18th minute before setting up Ayman Al Khulaif to double the lead. The Iranians immediately pulled one back through Reza Jafari, but Al Yami restored his side’s two-goal lead before Aref Aghasi fired home to make it 3-2 to the Saudis at half-time.

Al Naji added his second of the match right after the restart, but Reza Shekari responded with an opportunistic strike as the Iranians clawed their way back into the match. However, there was no stop-ping Al Yami, who completed his hat-trick with two goals midway through the second half, while Iran could only fight back with late goals from Mehdi Mehdikhani and substitute Reza Karmollachaab.

History in the making, surprises aplentyVietnam were the surprise packages of the tournament.

They got off to a flying start with a 2-1 win over Korea DPR before earning a hard-fought 1-1 draw with United Arab Emirates, despite being down to ten men for more than half an hour after their inspirational captain Nguyen Trong Dai was sent off for a second bookable offence. They then went on to hold Iraq to a goalless draw to finish runners-up in Group B. The historical moment for the Southeast Asian na-tion came in the second half of the quarter-final against hosts Bahrain, as forward Tran Thanh secured his country place in their first-ever U-20 World Cup.

In contrast, none of the teams that represented Asia at the pre-vious edition of the U-20 World Cup - Korea DPR, Myanmar, Uz-bekistan and Qatar - managed to qualify for next year’s finals. Even the hosts and 12-time Asian champions Korea Republic failed to progress beyond the group stage, whereas the North Koreans suf-fered three straight defeats in their group. Myanmar failed to make the Asian finals this time around, while defending champions Qatar were dethroned by Japan in their final group match.

Having stunned the rest of the world at New Zealand 2015 by reaching the quarter-finals, the Uzbeks were the only side among the aforementioned quartet to have survived the group stage in Bahrain. But their impressive showing, including a 3-2 win over favourites Australia, came to an abrupt end after a 2-0 defeat to Iran in the last eight.

(Source: FIFA)

Germany coach Loew extends contract to 2020Germany coach Joachim Loew has extended his contract with the world champions by two years until 2020, the German football association (DFB) said on Monday.

The 56-year-old, who will become the second-longest serv-ing Germany manager behind Sepp Herberger, has been in the job since 2006 and led his team to victory in the 2014 World Cup. They have reached at least the semi-finals in the last five major tournaments, winning 94 of his 141 games in charge.

“The aim is the repeat in Russia in 2018 the success of Rio in 2014,” Loew told reporters.

“Beyond that is the European title. That is a special challenge. We did not make it this year. For me it is a big aim,” Loew added.

“We have a vision and things we want to achieve in the future and I think this moment was a good one to extend the contract.” Loew’s previous contract had run to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and he will now lead the team’s Euro 2020 campaign. DFB boss Reinhard Grindel said the early contract extension would help in preparing for the 2018 World Cup with Germany on track to qualify.

“He is the best coach which we could imagine for our team,” Grindel said.

“We have common goals we want to defend our world title in 2018 and we want in 2020, after coming close this year in France, to be European champions.”

An assistant to predecessor Juergen Klinsmann from 2004-2006, Loew has only limited Bundesliga experience, having coached VfB Stuttgart before jobs in Austria and Turkey prior to working with the national team. (Source: Reuters)

S P O R T Sd e s k

Daniele De Rossi has revealed that he was set to quit Italy after UEFA EURO 2016, but that the “astonishing” at-mosphere in the squad persuaded him to reverse his decision and aid their push to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

La Nazionale won a pool Belgium were the favourites to and unexpect-edly eliminated Spain in the Round of 16, before falling to Germany in the quarter-finals. Then-coach Antonio Conte fought back tears, as he com-mented: “What we created in those 45 days together was extraordinary, unique. We created a family.”

De Rossi said: “The experience with Conte was so strong, and seeing his interview brought a tear to my eye. He made me go back to believing I could be a player in a certain way, and even

physically I got proof I could still hack it at a certain level. Conte is a complicated person – loyal, difficult, clear like only few others – and on top of the emotions of that tournament, I have the giant disap-pointment of not being able to play that last game against Germany.

“If we hadn’t created that astonish-ing group dynamic, I probably would’ve left La Nazionale after EURO 2016. The fact that Conte is no longer there didn’t change it for me because I felt it my duty to carry on his work in the squad.”

Italy are second in Group G in Russia 2018 qualifying, behind Spain on goal difference and one point above Albania and FYR Macedonia. De Rossi scored their late equaliser, with a penalty, in the 1-1 draw at home to Spain. Italy, now coached by Giampiero Ventura, play their fi-nal qualifying match of 2016 away to Liechtenstein on 12 November.

De Rossi, 33, made his international debut in 2004. He scored a spot-kick in the shoot-out, as Italy won the Germa-ny 2006 final, and has won 108 caps.

During Roma’s 3-1 win at Sassuo-lo on Wednesday evening, Alessandro Florenzi ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. In an incredi-ble gesture, De Rossi accompanied his team-mate to the hospital and waited there until 4am for the results of the scan.

(Source: AFP)

Andy Murray believes he will probably have to wait until next year to reach the world number one spot at the expense of Novak Djokovic as the two are on a final collision course at the Paris Masters.

The Briton will top the ATP world rankings if he wins the indoor tournament at the Bercy Arena and Serbian Djokovic does not reach the final, or if he makes it to the final and the world number one falters before the semis.

“I can obviously try and win my matches, but even if I win all of my matches this week, I still might not get there,” world number two Murray told a news conference on Monday.

“So it’s in Novak’s hands. He’s ahead obviously just now, so if he wins his matches and gets to the latter stages of the last two tournaments, then he’ll

most likely keep the No. 1 spot.”Murray has been in fine form lately,

winning 15 tour matches in succession since his defeat by Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the U.S. Open quarter-finals.

Murray then won three tourna-ments in a row - the China Open, the Shanghai Masters and the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday.

“I don’t feel any differently now to how I did kind of six, eight weeks ago. My goal wasn’t to finish No. 1 at the end of this year,” he said.

“I wanted to finish this year as strong as possible and I think there is a lot stronger chance of doing it in the early part of next year, which is what I targeted rather than this week.”

World number three Stan Wawrinka, who has a potential semi-final clash against Djokovic in Paris, thinks the Serbian remains a formidable opponent even if he has been in less impressive form after completing his career slam at the French Open in June.

“As a player, I think it’s going to be rather nice to see if they are going to be able to come closer. Novak just lost three matches in three tournaments. People talk,” the Swiss said.

“But for the rest, he always won. We are saying Novak is in a crisis, but he’s still No. 1 and, at worst, still finish No. 2, top 2, so the crisis is okay, no?”

(Source: Reuters)

The Iranian team is searching for its second title at the fifth edition of the

Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup.Team Iran claimed the title in the third edition, de-

feating powerhouse teams Brazil and Russia. Iran has been drawn in Group B alongside defending

champion Russia, USA and Egypt.The Persians will take on USA in their first match on

November 3. Group A consists of the UAE, 2014 champion Brazil,

Tahiti and Poland. The Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup is an in-

ternational beach soccer tournament which is cur-rently being held in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The invitation-only tournament has been held annu-ally starting in 2011. It will continue until at least 2017.

The competition bares many similarities to the FIFA Confederations Cup, however is not so strict on entry requirements.

Iran aims title at Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup

Top ranking may have to wait until next year, says Murray

De Rossi: Astonishing dynamic stopped my Italy retirement

Zahra Nemati reveals Zahra Nemati reveals difficulties she faced in Riodifficulties she faced in Rio

Iranian para-archer Zahra Nemati has spoken of the difficulties she had faced in the recent Olympic

and Paralympic Games in Rio.Expectations in Rio were high for Nemati since she became

the first Iranian woman who wins a gold in either the Olympics or Paralympics at the 2012 London.

Nemati was Iran’s sole representative in the 2016 Olympic Games but it didn’t go well for the country’s flag-bearer.

She had to return to Rio to compete in the Paralympics as well, however, Nemati was not mentally fit.

In September, the wheelchair-bound woman pushed all doubts away and took part in her second Paralympic Games.

Nemati made history for the second time after grabbing a gold medal in the women’s individual recurve open.

She had already took a silver in the recurve open mixed team competition. “Expectations in Rio were high and I was under pressure. As you know, it’s more difficult to repeat the success. Also, I had a tough task ahead of me since I was exhausted after participating at the Olympics,” Nemati said.

“To participate in the warm-up competitions and Olympic experience helped me to show a good performance at the Paralympics,” she stated.

The former taekwondo fighter, whose spinal cord was severed in a car crash when she was 18, was eliminated by Russian archer Inna Stepanova in the first round at the Olympics.

“At the Olympic Games, the media was focusing on me since I was a disabled athlete and it really annoyed me. I was also faced with some problems due to facilities in Rio and all of these worsened the condition and I failed to get the expected results,” Nemati said. “I think the Iranian archery team did a good job in Rio since Gholamreza Rahimi claimed a gold medal in the individual recurve open as well. Also, Ebrahim Ranjbar took a silver medal in the mixed team recurve open as well as a bronze medal in the individual recurve,” the Iranian para-archer concluded.

S P O R T Sd e s k

Iranian representative Sanandaj earned its first victory in the first edition of the Asian Women’s Club League Handball Championship on Sunday.

The Iranian team, who was defeated against Ile, Kaysar and Almaty from Ka-zakhstan in its previous matches, beat Qatar’s Qatar 31-27.Sanandaj will meet Almaty in its last match on Tuesday.

The competition is underway in Kyzy-lorda, Kazakhstan from October 26 to November 1.Iran’s Samenolhojaj had also planned to partake in the competition

but the participation was cancelled.(Source: Tasnim)

Oil & Gaz of Iran lost to Qatar’s Al Jaish in the 19th Asian Men’s Club League Handball on Sunday.

The Iranian team was defeated against Qatari team 37-28.

Oil & Gaz, who drew with Al Jazeera of the UAE in its opening match, will play Al Ahli of Jordan on Tuesday in Group A.

Group B consists of Lakhwiya of Qatar, Al Ahli of Bahrain, Al Noor of Saudi Arabia and Ahli Sidad of Oman.

The competition has started on October 29 in Jordan and will run until

November 5.(Source: Tasnim)

Asian Men’s Club League Handball: Oil & Gaz Beaten by Al jaish

Sanandaj seizes first win at Asian Women’s Club League Handball

b

No. 18, Bimeh Lane, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, IranP.o. Box: 14155-4843

Zip Code: 1599814713

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Yh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / c u l t u r e

Shame on him who has gone and done no work. The drum of departure was beaten but he has not made his load.

Sadi

Poem of the day

SINCE 1979Prayer Times

TEHRAN — A retrospective of

sculptor and painter Taha Behbahani will open at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on Friday.

Sixty sculptures and 30 paintings created by Behbahani over the past 44 years will be showcased at the exhibition, the center announced in a press release on Monday.

“Due to a shortage of space, I was obliged to put aside the oldest paintings and that is why not all the examples will go on display in this exhibit,” the Behbahani said in the press release.

“I have selected several examples of different periods of my works to

show different techniques I have experimented with over the years to the visitors. Those who have followed my works will see the progression of works over the years in this exhibit,” he added.

Pointing to the title of the exhibit “There Is No Beloved Nearer Than Him”, Behbahani said that the title refers to God.

Taha Behbahani, painter, sculptor, set designer, and television and theater director was born in 1948 in Tehran. He finished high school at Kamalolmolk Art School, and later studied at the Faculty of Dramatic Art at the University of Tehran, graduating in set design for

theater, television and cinema. He has held a number of solo and

joint exhibits in Iran and other countries.The exhibit will run for two weeks.

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) — This is how a franchise ends.

“Inferno”, the latest big screen tour through Dan Brown’s historical conspiracy theories, flamed out at the weekend box office, earning a frosty $15 million. That’s a fraction of the $46.2 million that “Angels & Demons”, the previous film version of Brown’s novels, earned when it debuted in 2009, and it pales in relation to “The Da Vinci Code’s” $77.1 million opening way back in 2006.

“This was a serious meltdown,” said Jeff Bock, box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “It shows how fickle audiences can be. When studios release a sequel they don’t want, they just turn their shoulder.”

“Inferno” couldn’t muster a strong enough debut to capture the top spot on the domestic box office chart. Lionsgate’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” nabbed first place for the second consecutive weekend, picking up $16.7 million to bring its stateside total to $52 million. The Tyler Perry comedy’s victory is an upset. Heading into the weekend, “Inferno” was

expected to kick off to north of $20 million -- a figure that easily would have secured it a first place finish.

“Inferno” finds Harvard cryptologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) grappling with amnesia as he tries to piece together clues in order to prevent the release of a global pandemic. Reviewers vivisected the film, saddling it with a 20% “rotten” rating on critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to the brutal reviews, “Inferno” ran smack up against a World Series battle between the Cubs and the Indians, two franchises that have gone decades without capturing a championship. Those games generated a lot of excitement among “Inferno’s” core audience of older men.

Strong foreign grosses could be enough to pull “Inferno” out of the red. The film has earned roughly $150 million overseas. Sony, the studio behind the film, also reined in “Inferno’s” production budget. The picture cost $75 million to make, half the budget of “Angels & Demons”.

Sony executives said they always expected “Inferno” to be more of a foreign play than a domestic bet, noting that previous Langdon adventures pulled in more than 70% of their box office from foreign markets.

“Globally, the movie is in really good shape,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s worldwide distribution chief. “We made this film for much less and we felt strongly that it was a film that would resonate internationally.”

Still, the results are disappointing, particularly for director Ron Howard, who could use a hit. Once a reliable purveyor of popcorn fare with a certain prestige sheen, such as “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind”, Howard’s commercial radar has been faulty of late. His recent efforts, such as “In the Heart of the Sea”, “The Dilemma”, and “Rush”, all lost money. “Angels & Demons” was his last major studio movie to turn a profit.

“Jack Reacher : Never Go Back” snagged third place with roughly $9.6 million. The Tom Cruise thriller has earned $39.7 million in two weeks of release. Fourth place went to Warner

Bros.’ “The Accountant”, which added $8.5 million to its $61.3 million haul. “Ouija: Origin of Evil” rounded out the top five, earning $7.1 million to bring its domestic total to $24.6 million.

In its second weekend, “Moonlight”, a critically acclaimed coming-of-age story, expanded nicely from four to 36 screens, earning $900,826 in the process. The A24 release is expected to be an Oscar contender. It has earned $1.5 million so far.

Final numbers are still being tallied, but it appears that ticket sales will outpace the year-ago period. That’s not much of an accomplishment. Last year, “The Martian” held on to the top spot in its fifth week of release, as newcomers like “Burnt” collapsed.

Overall, fall ticket sales have lagged behind those of 2015. Most analysts don’t expect a true box office turnaround to happen until “Doctor Strange” debuts next weekend.

“We need a box office hero,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “We need a great movie to get us out of the box office doldrums.”

TEHRAN — “Hell of a Wedding”, an Iranian

comedy by Reza Khatibi, has won the special jury prize at the 8th 3D Korea International Film Festival.

This is the first international participation of the comedy in the festival, which ran from October 26 to 29, Persian media reported on Monday.

The film is a co-production of Iran

and France, and has been produced in collaboration with Iran’s Farabi Cinema Foundation.

The comedy tells the story of a group of children at a wedding who quickly discover that the brother of the groom, who is also the organizer of the evening, is a dangerous drug dealer. But neither their parents nor the police believe the children. They then decide

to take matters into their own hands and spend the night trying to get the drug dealer and his rash assistants arrested.

Alireza Khamseh, Mir Taher Mazlumi, Naeimeh Nezamdust and Morteza Zarrabi are the main cast members of the film.

“Hell of a Wedding” film is due to hit silver screens in Iran on December 1.

Noon:11:48 Evening: 17:28 Dawn: 5:02 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 6:27 (tomorrow)

PICTURE OF THE DAY IRNA/Akbar Tavakkoli

Managing Director: Ali Asgari Editor-in-Chief: Hassan Lasjerdi Editorial Dept.: Fax: (+98(21) 88808214 editor@tehrantimes.com Switchboard Operator: Tel: (+98 21) 43051000 Advertisements Dept.: Telefax: (+98 21) 43051450 ads@tehrantimes.com Public Relations Office: Tel: (+98 21) 88805807 Subscription & Distribution Dept.: Tel: (+98 21) 43051603 www.eshterak.ir Distributor: Padideh Novin Co. Tel: 88911433 Webmaster: webmaster@tehrantimes.comPrinted at: Kayhan - ISSN: 1017-94

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Deputy Culture Minister for Press Affairs Hossein Entezami attends a press conference on October 31, 2016 to brief the media about the 22nd Press Exhibition, Iran’s most significant media showcase that will be held at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla from November 4 to 11.

A R Td e s k

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

“Hell of a Wedding” wins special jury prize at Korea’s 3D festival

Accepting award, Murakami warns against

excluding outsidersTOKYO (AP) — Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami warned against excluding outsiders and rewriting history as he accepted the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

Murakami spoke Sunday in Odense, Denmark, the birthplace of the 19th century fairy tale writer. His speech titled “The Meaning of Shadows” cited Andersen’s dark fantasy, “The Shadow,” a story about a scholar who is eventually taken over by his shadow and killed.

Murakami said: “No matter how high a wall we build to keep intruders out, no matter how strictly we exclude outsiders, no matter how much we rewrite history to suit us, we just end up damaging and hurting ourselves.”

His speech was somewhat abstract, but Japanese media have interpreted the wall and intruders as references to refugees arriving in Europe and the protectionist response.

Murakami said it’s not just individuals but every society and nation that has a dark side. “It’s not just individuals who need to face their shadows. The same act is necessary for societies and nations,” he said, according to a full transcript of his speech published by the Asahi newspaper.

A sculpture from Taha Behbahani’s bronze collection

“Life+1 Day” wins NETPAC award at Iranian Film Festival Australia

Delhi festival to screen films from Iran

TEHRAN — Saeid Rustai’s “Life+1 Day” about poverty

and drug abuse has won the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) Award at the 6th Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA).

The festival, which aims to put the spotlight on contemporary life in Iran, kicked off in Brisbane on October 20 and will move on to Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra and Perth, concluding there on November 20.

TEHRAN — Films from Iranian directors will be competing in

various sections of the 5th Delhi International Film Festival, which will be held in the Indian capital from December 3 to 9.

“One Triple Coffee” by Zahra Jafari and “You Just Be My Mother” Roqieh Tavakkoli will be competing in the World Cinema section for short.

“Junk Girl” by Shalale Kheiri and Mohammad Zare’ will be screened in both the short and the animated film sections.

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A R Td e s k

N E W S I N B R I E F Tehran center to hold Taha Behbahani retrospective

Cuba ballet festival reflects diplomatic pas de deux with U.S.HAVANA (Reuters) — A woman in a floaty dress wrestles a minotaur who reflects her inner demons in “Errand into the Maze”, one of the Martha Graham Dance Company works that made its Cuban premiere this weekend to thunderous applause at the Havana ballet festival.

The troupe was performing in the Communist-run island for the first time since 1941 and is one of seven American companies participating in the 10-day event, underscoring greater U.S.-Cuban cultural exchange in the wake of the countries’ detente.

“The standing ovation said it all,” said a beaming Cuban spectator, 64-year-old Maria Antonia Armas. “It was fabulous. I just hope this exchange will continue to flow.”

The Cuban and American ballet worlds have a deeply entwined history and the founding father of Cuban dance, Ramiro Guerra, studied under Graham in New York in the 1940s.

Yet ties suffered during the five decades of ideological hostility following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

“We keep hearing there is a Martha Graham world in Cuba that we have been apart from for decades,” the company’s artistic director, Janet Eilber, said in an interview.

“We know it has evolved in its own way and in New York we have evolved in our own way, so to come together and meet our long lost relatives has been very interesting.”

While there have been some exchanges between Cuban and American dance in the last two decades, the detente announced nearly two years ago is enabling a broader opening, Eilber said.

For one, it has made traveling and securing financing much easier, she said. Regular commercial flights were re-established in August and American companies such as Jetblue are keen to provide sponsorship in order to gain market recognition in Cuba.

Cuban spectators said the modern and contemporary U.S. choreographies performed during the opening weekend of the 25th Havana ballet festival were like a breath of fresh air.

While Cuban ballet has fused the best from the Russians, French, Italians, English and Americans with Latin flair and Afro-Cuban sensuality, its style has also been criticized as outdated.

It is based on the approach of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s 94-year-old founder, Alicia Alonso, a principal dancer in the 1940s with the company now known as American Ballet Theater.

Alonso’s choreographies to classics like Swan Lake, Giselle and Sleeping Beauty feature heavily throughout the biannual festival, which from this year onwards will be named after her.

C U L T U R Ed e s k

22nd Press Exhibition to open in Tehran on Friday 1

In collaboration with the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, the organizers are also scheduled to honor those newspapers, news agencies and provincial papers that observe proper Persian grammar and writing.

Also unveiled at the press conference were five posters for the 22nd Press Exhibition, which will run until November 11.

“Inferno” fizzles with $15 million as “Madea” pulls off victory