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

No job discrimination

for Iranian Jews: Jewish lawmaker

Exclusive – The Jewish community representative in Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) has rejected claims that Jews face job discrimination in Iran, citing that more than 25 Jews are teaching at Iranian universities.

“Two years ago, a medical thesis by an Iranian Jew was selected as best thesis of the year,” Siamak Moreh Sedgh, also director of the Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center, told the Tehran Times.

Situated on Mostafa Khomeini Street, named for the son of the Islamic Republic’s founder, the Sapir hospital sits across from the Imam Reza Seminary school, one of the oldest Shiite seminaries in Tehran.

In what follows, a transcript of the second part of the interview has been given.

How is the hospital funded? A: The previous year (which ended on March 20,

2107), some $200,000 had been appropriated in the national budget for the hospital. It’s only part of a larger donation that we receive. We receive much of our budget from the Health Ministry. In addition to national budgets, we received some $800,000 last year from different governmental resources.

And for this hospital to continue to work, we must get some help from the government, of course. Keeping the hospital running is of great importance for us because it is the oldest charity center in this part of Tehran. Also, because it is one way to indi-cate to the world that Iranian Jews and other Iranian people are living in peaceful coexistence. We’re very proud of working in this hospital. Before starting to work here I was professor at Kurdistan University, western Iran. 2

By Ali Kushki

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

By M.A Saki

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Food imports to war-torn Yemen at all-time low: NGOYemen’s commercial food imports are at a record low, driving up the cost of staples in what is now the world’s largest food security crisis, the Norwegian Refugee Council said Wednesday.

International concern for the lives of tens of millions of Yemenis is rising amid fears of a military at-tack on Hodeida, a vital Red Sea port that is the main entry point for aid and imports.

The Norwegian Refugee Coun-cil (NRC), a non-governmental or-ganization, said commercial food imports were at an “all-time low, driving the price of basic com-modities to rise on average by a third”.

“This makes Yemen the largest food security crisis in the world,” said NRC secretary general Jan Egeland at a press conference in the capital Sanaa.

“Nowhere on earth are as many lives at risk,” he said.

“This is a gigantic failure of interna-tional diplomacy.”

The NRC chief appealed to “men with guns and power ” in Yemen and around the world to broker a ceasefire and return to the negoti-ating table to find a solution to the war.

A Saudi-led military coalition for two years has attack Yemen control this country.

More than 7,700 people have since been killed and around three million displaced, according to the United Na-tions.

Rights groups fear the Saudi-led coalition is planning to attack Hodei-da, which would likely destroy the port and cut supplies to millions of hungry civilians.

A spokesman for the coalition has denied the alliance plans to launch an offensive on Hodeida.

The United Nations warns 17 mil-lion Yemenis -- 62 percent of the population -- are unable to access food.

A third of the country’s provinces are on the brink of famine.

(Source: AFP)

Coal mine blast leaves two dead,

dozens trapped

TEHRAN — An explosion in a coal

mine in the northeastern province of Golestan has left at least two dead and 25 injured, while officials fear up to 50 remain trapped underground.

The incident happened at 12:45 p.m. local time at the Zemestanyurt mine in Azadshahr at a time when workers were changing shifts, ac-cording to local media. The mine em-ployed more than 500 people, Fars news agency reported.

“Forty workers are trapped in one part of the mine and another 30 to 40 are trapped in another part,” ISNA news agency quoted the head of the emergency services organization, Pir Hossein Koulivand, as saying.

Meanwhile, Hamidreza Montazeri, deputy head of the provincial emer-gency services department, said 25 people involved in the rescue had been taken for treatment after inhal-ing gas.

The head of the provincial Red Crescent Society said rescue forces were able to reach 800 meters deep into the ground while the mine work-ers had been trapped at a depth of about 1,800 meters underground. “Unfortunately, the tunnels were filled with gas, making rescue work difficult.”

Agricultural exports fetch Iran

$5.7 billion TEHRAN — Iran exported 5.81 mil-lion tons of agricultural products worth

$5.686 billion in the past Iranian calendar year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017, Deputy Agriculture Minister Abdolmahdi Bakhshandeh said on Wednesday.

The exports showed a 21.77 percent increase in terms of weight and a 3.61 percent growth in terms of value year on year, IRNA quoted Bakhshandeh as saying.

The agriculture sector held a 4.48 percent and a 12.97 percent share of the country’s total non-oil ex-ports in terms of weight and value, respectively, he ex-plained. Pistachio, tomato paste, and saffron were the main items exported last year, he noted.

Meanwhile, imports of agricultural products in the said time span dropped by 5.78 percent in terms of weight and by 1.15 percent in terms of value in compar-ison with year 1394, the official noted.

Iran’s non-oil trade reached $87.646 billion in the past Iranian calendar year, an increase of 4.34 percent compared to its preceding year.

Non-oil exports stood at $43.93 billion, showing 3.54 percent rise year on year, while the imports hit $43.684 billion, registering 5.16 percent growth com-pared to the previous year.

16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.12820 Thursday MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017 Ordibehesht 14, 1396 Sha’aban 7, 1438

Iran’s April Oil output up 10,000 bpd from March

Iran, Indonesia have potential to expand ties: Larijani

Spanish company to put extra sparkle to Iranian heritage sites

Italian official Antimo Cesaro, Iranian culture minister meet 1642 10

TEHRAN — “At the time when demand is growing and limited resources are increasing-ly stressed by over extraction, pollution and climate change, we simply cannot neglect the opportunities from improved wastewa-ter management; we cannot afford to waste wastewater,” said UNESCO representative to Iran on Tuesday.

Esther Kuisch Laroche made the remarks over the opening ceremony of the first tech-nical session and training workshops on wa-ter security in human settlements held in Teh-ran on Tuesday.

“Urbanization has come at great cost to our water resources and we heavily degrade

it to enable development, supply drinking water, and facilitate transport in industry and a large proportion of wastewater is released into the environment without being either collected or treated and that is particularly true of low income countries where on av-erage only 8 percent of domestic and indus-trial waste water is treated compared to 70 percent in high income countries,” Laroche regretted.

She went on to say that “as a result in many regions of the world water contami-nated by bacteria, nitrates, and phosphates is discharged into rivers and lakes ending up in the oceans with negative consequences for the environment and public health.”

“Poor water quality not only negatively affects human health and ecosystem in mul-tiple ways but also makes water unfits for different purposes and hence reduces the water resources availability and consequently water pollution is one of the greatest threats to availability and reduction of fresh water, “she noted.

“Pollution reduces the availability of freshwa-ter supplies which are already in distress least of all because of climate change; nevertheless, governments and decision makers have been primarily concerned by the challenges of water supply notably when it’s scarce while overlook-ing the need to manage water after it has been used,” she added. 1 2

A senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official says the international community must mount pressure on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) uncondition-ally and put its nuclear activities under the surveillance of the International Atomic Ener-gy Agency (IAEA).

Gholam-Hossein Dehqani, the direc-tor-general for political and international se-curity affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, made the remarks while addressing the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Trea-ty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weap-ons in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on Wednesday.

The Iranian official expressed concern about Israel’s nuclear arsenal, saying the Tel Aviv regime’s nuclear weapons posed a threat to peace and security in the region and the world.

Israel, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is esti-mated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. The regime has refused to allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.

Dehqani also criticized nuclear countries for their failure to comply with their commit-ments to dismantle their nukes.

He described those countries’ refusal to “fulfill their nuclear disarmament commit-

ments over the past 47 years” as “the main challenge to the implementation of the NPT.”

He underlined the need for countries to meet their obligations under the Article VI of the NPT, saying the fulfillment of commit-ments were neither arbitrary nor conditional.

Under Article VI of the NPT, all parties to the treaty undertake to pursue good-faith negotiations on effective measures relating to nuclear disarmament and the cessation of the nuclear arms race.

The preparatory committee, which opened in Austria on May 2 and will conclude on May 12, is responsible for addressing substantive and procedural issues related to the NPT.

(Source: Press TV)

Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, Moham-med bin Salman, on Tuesday claimed that Iran is following an “extremist ideology” and seeking to take over the Muslim world.

He also claimed that Iran is seeking to take over Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia. He indi-rectly threatened Iran, saying, “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran.”

The inconsiderate, dangerous words show that the crown prince is either too naïve or adventurous. We hope the remarks were made when the prince was out of his mind.

One is perplexed how to analyze such outrageous remarks. International bodies such as the UN Security Council must hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the statement that “…we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran”.

Is Iran really seeking to take over the con-trol of the holy sites in Saudi Arabia? Based

on what facts is he making such delusional and unsubstantiated comments?

Saudi Arabia is being caught in the Yem-en quagmire and these remarks won’t heal its wounds.

Contrary to the prince’s claims on an ideological Iran, the officials in Tehran have been pursuing a pragmatic approach both at home and abroad.

Before the nuclear deal, certain countries were also claiming that Iran was building nuclear arms. Finally Iran proved that such accusations were wrong by concluding an international agreement over its nuclear pro-gram with six world powers.

Iran is working hard to bring econom-ic prosperity to its 80-million population through interaction with the outside world, including Saudi Arabia as a Middle East country. This goal happens only in a calm and secure environment.

Also the Saudi official, before accusing

Iran of promoting an “extremis ideology”, is better to see which country is the hotbed of Wahhabism which germinates extremism and terrorism. Were it Iranians who made most aggressive death-dealing terrorist attacks in human history in the United States on Sep-tember 11, 2001, or 15 Saudi nationals out of 19 hijackers?

He is better to bear in mind that the Sau-di kingdom is globally infamous for inspiring extremism and terrible human rights condi-tions. In the 21st century, women are not al-lowed to drive cars in the kingdom and even can’t travel without a relative male, just to name a few.

So, it’s Saudi Arabia, not Iran, who is pro-moting an ideology of radicalism and ex-tremism. It is Saudi Arabia which has destabi-lized the region extending from recognizing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to funding mosques and religious schools (madrassas) across the world.

We cannot afford to waste wastewater: UNESCO representative to Iran

Iran calls on international community to force Israel to join NPT

Is Saudi crown prince in his own senses?

S O C I E T Yd e s k

E C O N O M Yd e s k

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) meets Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on May 3, 2017.

Pakistan, Iran to revive hotline

between border forces See page 2

MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017

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

P O L I T I C S

Pakistan, Iran to revive hotline between border forces

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Jahangiri’s stay an unexpected event: MP

TEHRAN — A member of the Hope parliamentary bloc has said

Es’haq Jahangiri’s decision to stay in the course of the presidential race was an “unexpected event.”

“We cannot tell him to go. He became candidate on his own and will step down if he wishes,” Soheila Jelodarzadeh told Fars on Wednesday.

She added that in a recent meeting, the parliamentary group unanimously stressed their support for Hassan Rouhani as presidential candidate.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Stability Front endorses Raisi as presidential candidate

TEHRAN — Stability of Islamic Revolution Front has announced its

support for presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi, Nasim news agency reported.

In an announcement published on Wednesday, the political group introduced Raisi as the “fittest candidate.”

In their announcement, the group said the decision was made after they witnessed the incumbent government’s failure to fulfill its promises, especially to meet economic concerns, tackle unemployment, and eradicate “an unprecedented economic downturn.”

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Mirsalim says will retaliate if candidates break debate rules

TEHRAN — Presidential candidate Mostafa Mirsalim said on Wednesday

that he will retaliate if rivals break the rules of debate.“There are rules to a debate. If the candidates have

accepted them, they should abide by them. If they do not accept them, they should not attend the debates,” Mirsalim said ISNA reported.

He specifically protested attempts by candidates to undermine their rivals and said they should instead explain their plans to cure the ills of society.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

Jahangiri launches Twitter account

TEHRAN — Presidential contender Es’haq Jahangiri has launched a Twitter

account, the candidate wrote in a post on Instagram on Wednesday.

He told his fans they would be able to follow him at @eshaq_jahangiri and announced that other accounts are not affiliated with him.

On the same day, ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi accused “rivals” of adopting double standards in relation to social media.

“The ones who used to ban social media have now mass-purchased Telegram channels for their campaign,” the minister said.

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

10,000 disqualified from council candidacy

TEHRAN — Some 10,000 applicants have been disqualified from running

for a council seat, according to the head of council election headquarters.

Speaking on TV Channel 2 on Tuesday evening, Mohammad Mahmoudi Shahneshin said this number constituted a very small number of the total applicants, which counted 283,000.

He added that the number of disqualifications this year increased 1 percent compared to that of four years ago.

The council election will be held on May 19.

TEHRAN — Pakistan and Iran reached an

agreement Wednesday to strengthen secu-rity along their shared border after terrorists killed nine Iranian border guards last week.

According to a statement issued by the Pakistani Interior Ministry, both sides agreed to bolster border security through “better coordination, greater intelligence sharing and frequent interactions” among political and security officials. They also agreed in principle to revive a hotline be-tween their border forces to coordinate activities, it said.

The agreement followed a visit by Ira-nian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday to Islamabad for talks with Pakistani leadership.

In meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Min-ister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the for-eign minister insisted it is necessary to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attack to book.

The soldiers were killed on April 27 with long-range guns shot from inside Pakistan. The ambush happened at the Pakistani border’s zero-point, near the Iranian town of Mirjaveh in the border province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Sharif expressed condolences over the killing of Iranian guards. His office said Sharif and Zarif also discussed issues of peace and stability in the region.

Zarif also held talks with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed

Bajwa. Both sides agreed on improving border coordination to deny any space to the terrorists.

‘Iran-Pakistan ties rooted in com-mon faith, history’

During the meeting, the interior minis-ter said Pakistan-Iran relations are rooted in common faith, history, and geography, Geo News reported.

Calling Iran a fraternal country, Nisar assured Zarif that no hurdle will be al-lowed to come in the way of better rela-tions between the two countries.

Zarif said his country attaches great importance to its relations with Pakistan. The foreign minister said that Iran be-lieves in the unity of Muslim countries and stressed the importance of both Pakistan

and Iran working together for resolution of problems faced by the Islamic world.

Zarif noted that the two countries also need to move forward with consensus on matters of international importance.

The foreign minister was accompanied by a high-level delegation including mili-tary and security offcials. He also held talks with Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

ELECTION COUNTDOWN

TEHRAN — Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that Iran

and Indonesia have many capacities to expand ties, especially in economic area.

During a meeting with Aziz Syamsuddin, the head of the Indonesian parliament’s budget committee, Larijani

said it is essential for the two countries to expand political, economic and parliamentary relations.

He also said that conflicts in certain Muslim countries should be settled politically without “war and blood shedding”.

Syamsuddin said that there are various Islamic sects

in Indonesia who live peacefully together.He also said that Indonesia is ready to expand

relations with Iran in various spheres of economy, politics and science.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Iran in December 2016.

Iran, Indonesia have capacities to potentioal expand ties: Larijani

P O L I T I C Sd e s k

‘Qalibaf, Raisi to stay in race’

TEHRAN — Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Ebrahim Raisi will stay in the

presidential race according to the latest decisions, Qalibaf’s campaign chief said on Wednesday, Fars reported.

Speaking in an electoral congregation at the University of Tehran, Mohammad Dehqan said, “Each of these candidates has his own voting base and we need them both. For now the decision is that they both stay in the race.”

Dehqan did not, however, dismiss the possibility of a policy change later.

1 Nearly 12 years ago, managers of the hospital told me they needed my help, so I stopped the teaching profession just to start working at the hospital with a salary about one third of what I was paid as university professor.

I think as part of the Iranian people, we must do our best for our country. Of course, Iranian Jews pray in Hebrew, but think in Persian. I love Hafez and Sa’adi. I love Iranian traditions. For example, I can’t tolerate my wife wearing bikinis on the beach, according to Iranian traditions. So, when my ex-wife decided to go to another country, I told her you can choose your future, but you can’t push me to change my opinion.

Interjection: And that’s why you stayed in Iran?

A: Yes. I stayed here and she went to another country. Immigration is a personal decision. Anyone can have his personal decision. No one can push others to change their opinions. Of course, every time I face the nationality question, I’d choose my Iranian nationality. During the war between Iran and Iraq, I was a young medical student and I did my best to serve as a medical aid in the frontline. Today I’m too old to fight and can’t be in the frontline, but I’m sure if someone is crazy enough to wage a war against Iran, I’d be one of the first surgeons to go to the hospitals near the frontline to help Iranian soldiers.

Of course, every time there’s a danger for our mother, Iran, all of Iranian Jews would go to defend our country. Our past, our today, and our future are all the same. Only our religions are different. I think before and after the (1979) revolution there was a particular legal change in the status of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. According to constitutional law, during the Shah era, Iranian Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians were referred as the Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians who lived in Iran; but after the revolution it was changed to Iranian Jews, Iranian Christians and Iranian Zoroastrians. Legally they’re two different categories. Of course, we have problems but I’m sure that all of these problems can be solved. We don’t need help from foreigners. And we don’t let foreigners to abuse the Jewish minority against national interests of Iranian people.

Some of foreign support groups claim Iranian Jews face employment limitations. Is that the case?

A: For some cases you can say that.

Jewish people can’t be employed in the Iranian army as well as security posts.

Interjection: Have you, as a parliamentarian, raised the issue in Majlis?

A: Yes. We are doing our best to address the challenges and many of them are solved today. For instance, today Iranian Jews can continue their studies to the highest degree. We have more than 25 Jews who are teaching in Iranian universities.

Jews are also involved in numerous projects inside the country. For instance, the entire interior decoration of Milad Tower, the top high-rise building built in the post-revolution Iran, was done by a Jew. Two years ago, a medical thesis by an Iranian Jew was selected as best thesis of the year. So, we have no problems and face no specific discrimination. But army and security posts are for Muslims only. Of course, there aren’t too many Jews who are interested in these jobs.

Interjection: So you mean your limitations are just for army and security posts?

A: Yes. Only for these two and of course in a Muslim country, religion is an employment criterion. I think this can be changed and it has to be changed. Because every time we do our best to change the condition in favor of the Jewish minority; we have a great success. I hope that all of them can be changed gradually by the help of our supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. I thanked him for helping the Iranian Jewish minority. He has said numerous times that the Iranian government doesn’t have a specific plan to make the Iranian Jewish minority to convert to Islam. And the main aim of the country is to provide good conditions for all.

When I was a child, about 5-6 years old, my grandfather was the religious leader of Iranian Jews in Shiraz. And he had an interesting talk with Ayatollah Dastgheib, one of the prominent religious leaders of the revolution. He took me to Ayatollah Dastgheib’s house with him where I was welcome very warmly. I had a delicious candy there. Every time that my grandfather went out, I asked him to

bring me some candies with him if he was going to Ayatollah Dastgheib’s house, the most delicious ones I’ve ever had.

During the 9th period of Iranian parliament, one of Ayatollah Dastgheib’s relatives was the representative of Shiraz and I joked with him about how part of my obesity is because of your relative’s delicious candies and you must pay me for that.

The Sapir hospital is a charity center. Let’s focus on social and health services you offer here.

A: Yeah, we offer different services depending on our patients. We have a social welfare system here, which actively works to identify families that need specific support and health.

Today more than 5,000 families are under the special support of our social welfare department. They have discount on OPD and admission between 25% to 100%. It means some people receive free-of-charge treatment. More than 4,800 of these families are Muslim. If you know someone with no insurance we’d be more than happy to help them. Also, we cooperate with certain NGOs to identify poor families who can’t afford health services.

And what about your cultural activities?

A: We have many cultural activities here. This evening (some days ago) we have a program in the Tehran Jewish student organization. A Jewish man who wrote a book about birds. Another meeting about the condition of Iranian Jews after the revolution. There are more than five Jewish schools in Tehran. Kids can choose whether they want to attend those schools or public schools. For kids who attend the public schools, there are some religious classes held on Fridays. As I said before, Iran is one of the best countries for religious minorities.

We are free to follow our religious teachings. Even for issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, courts vote according the Jewish laws “halakha”. They always ask a rabbi to comment on the case, as the constitutional law states that family affairs of religious minorities must be handled according to their religious rules.

Any other messages?A: My message to the whole world

is that coexistence between different religions in Iran is a good paradigm for all. Everyone has equal rights. I wish all wars end, especially those in the Middle East.

No job discrimination for Iranian Jews: Jewish lawmaker

My message to the whole world is that coexistence between different religions in

Iran is a good paradigm for all. Everyone has equal rights. I wish all wars end, especially

those in the Middle East.

Currently, more than 25 Jews are teaching in Iranian universities. Jews are also involved in

numerous projects inside the country.

Tehran, Islamabad agree to boost border security after terror attack

Tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Don-ald Trump appeared to be easing as the two leaders expressed desire for a ceasefire in Syria.

The two leaders discussed the on-going crisis in Syria on Tuesday during a phone call, their first known con-versation since Trump ordered missile strikes on a Syrian air base last month, a move that outraged Moscow.

Putin and Trump signaled improv-ing prospects for cooperation in the war-torn country in what the White House called a “very good” phone dis-cussion.

A White House statement said the conversation included a focus on set-ting up safe zones in Syria.

“President Trump and President Pu-tin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence,” the White House said.

“The conversation was a very good one, and included the discus-sion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons.”

The Kremlin characterized the call as “business-like” and “constructive.” It

made no mention of safe zones.Tuesday’s phone call came just

hours before the start of a new round talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, aimed at finding a solution to Syria’s war.

According to Russian-state media, plans for at least four “de-escalation zones” were being considered in As-tana. Russia has not officially released a proposal regarding the zones, but Russian media said the areas would be patrolled by forces from Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Since taking office, Trump has raised the prospect of safe zones in Syria with world leaders.

The zones would be aimed at pro-tecting civilians and dissuading Syrian refugees from trying to come to the United States, one of Trump’s goals. But military leaders have warned that significant resources would be re-quired to safeguard the regions.

The Kremlin said the leaders also agreed to try to set up their first in-per-son meeting in July, on the sidelines of an international summit in Germany.

The two leaders also discussed ways to reduce tensions with North Korea.

(Source: Al Jazeera)

An influential group of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators will file sweeping legislation on Wednesday to address the crisis in Venezuela, including sanctioning individuals responsible for undermining democracy or involved in corruption, Sen-ate aides said.

The bill would provide $10 million in humanitarian aid to the struggling coun-try, require the State Department to coor-dinate a regional effort to ease the crisis, and ask U.S. intelligence to report on the involvement of Venezuelan government officials in corruption and the drug trade, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

It also calls on President Donald Trump to take all necessary steps to prevent Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, from gaining control of any U.S. energy infra-structure.

Rosneft has been gaining ground in Venezuela as the country scrambles for cash. The Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, last year used 49.9 percent of its shares in its U.S. subsidiary, Citgo, as col-lateral for loan financing by Rosneft.

In total, Rosneft has lent PDVSA be-tween $4 billion and $5 billion.

The measure comes as the internation-al community has struggled to respond to deep economic crisis and street protests in the South American OPEC nation.

Some 29 people have been killed, more than 400 injured and hundreds more arrested since demonstrations against

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government began in April amid severe shortages of food and medicine, deep re-cession and hyper-inflation.

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s opposition blocked streets in the capital, Caracas, to denounce Maduro’s decision to create a “constituent assembly,” which critics said was a veiled attempt to cling to power by avoiding elections.

Senate aides said the bill sought to re-act to the crisis by working with countries across the Americas and international or-

ganizations, rather than unilaterally, while targeting some of the root causes of the crisis and supporting human rights.

U.S. officials have long been reluctant to be too vocal about Venezuela, whose leaders accuse Washington of being the true force behind opposition to the coun-try’s leftist government.

Prominent sponsorsThe lead sponsors of the legislation are

Senator Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-tee, and Senator Marco Rubio, the Repub-

lican chairman of the panel’s western hem-isphere subcommittee and a vocal critic of Venezuela’s government.

Boosting its chances of getting through Congress, co-sponsors include Senator John Cornyn, the chamber’s No. 2 Repub-lican, and Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, as well as Republican Senator John McCain, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The bill has 11 sections, seeking to deal with the crisis with a broad brush.

Addressing corruption, it would require the U.S. State Department and intelligence agencies to prepare an unclassified report, with a classified annex, on any involvement of Venezuelan government officials in cor-ruption and the drug trade.

The U.S. Treasury Department has in the past sanctioned Venezuelan officials or former officials, charging them with traf-ficking or corruption, a designation that allows their assets in the United States to be frozen and bars them from conducting financial transactions through the United States.

The officials have denied the charges, and called them a pretext as part of an ef-fort to topple Maduro’s government.

The new legislation seeks to put into law sanctions imposed under former Pres-ident Barack Obama’s executive order targeting individuals found to “undermine democratic governance” or involved in corruption. (Source: Reuters)

Fourth round of Syria peace talks in As-tana suspended after rebels protest new barrage of air strikes on areas they hold in Syria.

Syrian rebel and government dele-gations were discussing a Russian plan for “de-escalation zones” on Wednesday when the opposition walked out, citing the bombardment of rebel-held areas.

“The opposition delegation, that is the military delegation, has announced they are ‘suspending’ their participation in these talks,” Al Jazeera Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from the capital Astana, said.

“They aren’t fully withdrawing participa-tion, they’ve walked out of the meetings but they haven’t left - at least not yet,” he said.

The talks are moderated by Russia and Iran - as allies of the Syrian government - and Turkey, which sides with the opposi-tion. The Iranian and Russian delegations have already started the discussions.

On the sidelines of the event, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, who is heading the Iranian dele-gation, sat down for talks with the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, over the latest developments in Syria.

On the eve of the forum, expert discus-sions took place between representatives of Iran, Russia and Turkey.

At Damascus’ request, Iran has been providing military advisory support to the Syrian military in its counterterrorism op-erations. Russia has been carrying out an aerial campaign in Syria, similarly in coor-

dination with Damascus, since September 2015 to further boost the military’s an-ti-terror performance.

The three mediators helped bring about a nationwide ceasefire in Syria late last year.

There have been three rounds of ne-gotiations in Astana since January. The talks have been hailed as contributory to a United Nations-brokered process in Ge-neva.

The Astana discussions have seen par-

ticipants trying to shore up the ceasefire by agreeing on the establishment of a jointly-run mechanism to monitor the deal, which would report to the UN.

Anuar Jaynakov, a spokesman for the Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry, said the par-ticipants include Mohammed Alloush, the chief negotiator of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, the main oppo-sition group attending the Astana and the Geneva talks.

UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told

reporters on Monday that the envoy would be in Astana as an observer at the invita-tion of Kazakhstan’s government “in view of the urgency and importance of reestab-lishing a de-escalation of the situation in Syria and moving on confidence-building measures.”

Dujarric added that de Mistura would hold talks with the three guarantors and others ahead of the next round of Gene-va talks, which diplomats say are expected later this month.

Preparing a meeting of the Group of 20 economic powers is like “herd-ing cats”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday as her of-ficials try to reach consensus among the group ahead of a leaders’ summit she will host in July.

The G20 was a crucial forum for tackling the global financial crisis that took hold in 2008, but forging consen-sus has proven harder this year as the group must deal with a shift towards more protectionism under U.S. Presi-dent Donald Trump.

“We are 20 different countries, with 20 different political systems, with 20 different development lev-els. Everything must be unanimously approved,” said Merkel, who will host world leaders at the July 7-8 G20 sum-mit in Hamburg.

“This is no simple task,” she told a G20-sponsored meeting of business leaders in Berlin. “The sherpa process, as you could imagine, is quite a chal-lenge. It is like herding cats.”

The Hamburg G20 summit is taking on increased significance as Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to hold their first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the meeting.

Ministerial meetings in the build-up to the summit have proven tricky.

At a meeting in March, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors dropped a pledge to keep global trade free and open, acquiescing to a pro-tectionist United States after a two-day meeting failed to yield a compromise.

Merkel rejected protectionism in her speech on Wednesday, arguing that an increasingly interconnect-ed world meant countries must work more closely together.

“The existence of the G20 means that isolation and protectionism are dead-ends and not ways forward,” she said.

“Anyone who tries to withdraw from international competition, can per-haps deliver short-term advantages. But over the medium- and long-term, their own capacity to innovate will be weakened.”

Trump campaigned for the U.S. presidency on an “America First” plat-form. His protectionist rhetoric and disputes about the benefits of free trade are likely to rank high on the agenda of the G20 summit in Ham-burg.

(Source: Reuters)

Preparing for G20 summit is like ‘herding cats’, says Merkel

Trump, Putin ‘seek Syria ceasefire’ in ‘first conversation’

BY staff & agencies

MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017 INTERNATIONALI N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Syrian opposition walks out of Astana talks

Bomb blast kills 8, injures 25 in Afghan capitalA bomb attack, apparently targeting a NATO vehicle near the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul, has killed at least eight people and injured more than 25 others, including three American soldiers.

The blast occurred during rush-hour morning traffic in Ka-bul’s busy Macroyan area on Wednesday.

It is believed to have been targeted against a convoy of ar-mored personnel carriers used by the NATO-led Resolute Sup-port mission, according to witnesses and security officials.

All those killed were Afghan civilians.Several civilian vehicles were destroyed or badly damaged

in the blast.Images from the scene showed a car on fire and armored

Humvees damaged.The terrorist group of Daesh later claimed responsibility for

the bombing.Afghanistan faces a security crisis some 16 years after a U.S.-

led invasion of the country. A Taliban regime was toppled in that invasion but Taliban militants have been carrying out bombings and other kinds of raids in the country ever since. The group started its so-called spring offensive on Friday.

Daesh (ISIL) has gained a foothold in Afghanistan in the more recent past. (Source: AP)

U.S. senators seek sanctions, other ways to address Venezuela crisis

North Korea confirms detention of U.S. professorNorth Korea has confirmed the arrest of a U.S. citizen who was lecturing in Pyongyang, accusing him of “acts of hostil-ity”.

Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, was arrested at the capital’s airport on April 22 as he tried to leave the coun-try after teaching for several weeks at the Pyongyang Uni-versity of Science and Technology (PUST).

He is the third U.S. citizen being held in the country. In North Korea’s first confirmation of the professor’s de-

tention, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said he had been held for “committing criminal acts of hostili-ty aimed to overturn the DPRK”, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It added that Kim was “under detention by a relevant law enforcement body which is conducting detailed investigation into his crimes”.

Last month, PUST officials said the professor was being held, but did not comment further on his case.

“We cannot comment on anything that Mr. Kim may be alleged to have done that is not related to his teaching work on the PUST campus,” the university, which was founded by evangelical Christians in 2010 and has a number of American faculty members, said in a statement.

According to U.S. media, the state department is aware of Kim’s detention and is working with the Swedish Embassy on his case.

The embassy looks after consular affairs for the U.S. in North Korea because the two countries do not have diplo-matic relations.

The confirmation of Kim’s detention comes as tensions re-main high between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea said on Monday it was prepared to carry out a nuclear test “at any time and at any location” after US officials said the U.S. military’s missile defence system in South Korea reached an initial operating capability to defend against the North’s missiles.

US President Donald Trump also said this week he would be “honoured” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un under the right conditions.

The White House promptly told the press that conditions were not right yet. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Israel trims UN budget again over Jerusalem resolutionBenjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that Israel would cut $1 million from its United Nations funding over a UNESCO resolution he says denies Jews’ historical connection with Jeru-salem.

The resolution, passed Tuesday at the UN organization’s Paris headquarters 22 votes to 10, with 23 abstentions, denounced actions taken by “Israel, the occupying power... to alter the char-acter and status of the holy city of Jerusalem.”

It particularly criticized Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem after occupying it in 1967, a move never recognized by the in-ternational community.

“UNESCO again accepted an absurd resolution yesterday about the status of Jerusalem -- the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years,” Netanyahu said at the opening of a cabinet meeting.

“This systematic harassment has a price,” said Netanyahu, telling ministers he had ordered the foreign ministry to “cut an additional $1 million from the money Israel transfers to the UN.”

Wednesday’s cut was the third time in recent months Isra-el reduced its UN budget over what it perceived as anti-Israel votes, putting the 2017 payments at $3.7 instead of the original $11 million, an Israeli official said.

Netanyahu, however, noted the “silver lining” of Tuesday’s vote, which he said saw more states supporting Israel’s position than in previous similar resolutions.

“This is a consistent trend,” he said, thanking the countries that voted against the resolution, first and foremost “Italy, the first European state that announced its opposition to it.”

“For the first time at UNESCO more countries opposed and abstained than supported, and that is of course important.”

Also Wednesday, the Israeli foreign ministry summoned Swedish ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser and reprimanded him over Stockholm’s support of the UNESCO resolution.

Senior ministry officials expressed their “bitter disappoint-ment” over the vote in their talk with Nesser, noting Sweden’s “systematic voting” pattern against Israel, a statement read.

(Source: AFP)

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 MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017

TEHRAN — Iran’s oil output in April reached 3.78 million barrels per day

(bpd), a 10,000 bpd increase compared to the previous month.

According to a Reuters survey published on May 2, the country’s oil output stood at 3.77 million bpd in March.

Iran’s output has increased by 73,000 bpd in April compared to the baseline for OPEC, non-OPEC deal, which was 3.707 million bpd for Iran.

As the survey indicated, Iran has achieved over 81 percent of its allowed output increase of 90,000 bpd, according to the OPEC, non-OPEC deal in Jan. 2016.

Iran’s April oil output up 10,000 bpd from March

Forouzan oilfield’s 2 platforms to be installed in 4.5 months

CEBEX 2017 expo kicks off in Kish Island

Iranian trade delegation to visit Astana

TEHRAN — National Iranian Oil Com-pany (NIOC) expects two platforms of

Forouzan oilfield to be installed by the end of Iranian cal-endar month of Shahrivar (September 22, 2017), Shana reported.

The loading operation of the jacket of residential plat-form Fyb was started on Wednesday and it is expected for this platform and platform F18 of the field to be installed within 4.5 months.

The 1025-ton jacket of the residential platform which was built in the Naft Sazeh Qeshm Co. yard will be in-stalled in its place by the end of Iranian calendar month of Khordad (June 21, 2017).

Forouzan oilfield, shared with Saudi Arabia, is located in the Persian Gulf, 100 kilometers southwest of the Kharg Island.

It was discovered in 1966 with estimated in-place re-serves of 2.309 billion barrels of crude. The field is known as Marjan in Saudi Arabia.

TEHRAN — The 13th edition of Civil Engineering and Building Exhibition of

Iran (CEBEX 2017) kicked off on Tuesday in Kish Island, south of the country.

According to IRNA, the event is hosting over 90 do-mestic companies and 30 foreign participants from differ-ent countries including Italy, Germany, China, Turkey, UAE, South Korea, the Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, Switzerland, the U.S., Spain, Britain, Saudi Arabia and France.

Basic construction products, architecture, interior dec-oration, outdoor equipment, mechanical installations in buildings as well as electric equipment and facilities, elec-tronics and security, etc. are among products and services that are presented in this exhibition.

TEHRAN — Trade Promotion Organ-ization of Iran (TPO) is to dispatch a

trade, marketing, and investment delegation to Kazakh-stan from June 28 to 30, the official website of TPO an-nounced.

The visit will be paid at the same time as the Kazakh-stan International Exhibition of animal husbandry and poultry breeding «AGRIANIMALS.KZ-2017» and seems a proper chance for Iranian producers to compete with their international rivals in exports of meat, eggs, fisheries, protein and dairy products, as well as the refrigerating machinery, slaughtering equipment, processing and dis-posal of wastes and etc.

E N E R G Yd e s k

E C O N O M Yd e s k

E C O N O M Yd e s k

N E W S I N B R I E F

Assets owned by the Bank of Japan have reached the equivalent of 90% of the country’s gross domestic product, as the central bank continues to buy up huge quantities of Japanese government debt in an effort to reach its inflation target.

The bank’s total assets had reached some 497.74 trillion yen ($4.44 trillion) as of Sunday, surging around 83 trillion yen over the past year, according to a report released Tuesday by the BOJ. Between

April 20 and the last day of the month, its assets grew by 4 trillion yen. The bank discloses account data from the 10th, 20th and final day of each month.

Japanese government securities made up 85% of its total assets, or 424.59 tril-lion yen, the report showed. That figure grew about 65 trillion yen from a year earlier. In April 2013, when the BOJ kicked off qualitative and quantitative easing, it had 134 trillion yen in Japanese govern-

ment securities on its balance sheet.Last September, the central bank shift-

ed its focus from quantitative easing to the yield curve. While the pace of pur-chases has since slowed from the roughly 80 trillion yen annual rate, buying Japa-nese government bonds will remain high on the BOJ’s agenda until it reaches the 2% inflation target.

But these enormous asset holdings will pose a danger to the bank’s finances

when it transitions out of monetary eas-ing. As long-term interest rates rise, the value of the JGBs it holds will drop. At the same time, the bank’s interest payments on deposits owned by financial institu-tions will surge.

“The BOJ should explain the types of problems that arise as the balance sheet expands to certain levels,” says Masaaki Kanno, a chief economist at Sony Finan-cial Holdings. (Source: Nikkei)

China is in a strong position to ward off systemic risks to maintain financial security, and must do so now.

Financial security is part and parcel of national secu-rity, and concerns the wealth of ordinary people. This is why President Xi Jinping last week called for increased efforts to safeguard financial security.

A complicated and tricky economic and financial sit-uation has made the task crucial and urgent.

Internationally, a number of major economies are adjusting their monetary and fiscal policies, creating spillover effects that could create shocks for China’s fi-nancial system and endanger financial stability.

Domestically, the ongoing economic transformation has reached a critical point where the financial sector, which is tasked with propping up the upgrading of the real economy, may suffer temporary pains.

In the Chinese financial sector, non-performing debt, which is rising at a slower pace, may continue increasing, the shadow banking sector is too big and regulatory arbitrage is rising.

High leverage ratios, excessive impulses to make profit and insufficient regulation are all daunting chal-lenges.

However, China’s financial risks are generally under control and the economy is equipped with a solid tool kit to neutralize such threats.

First of all, the Chinese economy is stabilizing and growing at a relatively fast pace, which has created room for regulators to intervene.

The country’s financial system is also backed up by the world’s largest banking sector with assets of 232 trillion yuan ($33.68 trillion), a massive stock market valued of 52 trillion yuan, a huge fund industry worth 18 trillion yuan, and a strong insurance sector with as-

sets of 16 trillion yuan.China’s convincing performance during previous

regional and global financial crises testifies to the resil-ience of its financial sector, with the country acquiring experience in fighting risk.

The key lies in financial institutions taking care of their own balance sheets and keeping self-disciplined amid stricter regulation.

Chinese regulators are already in action.The central bank has adopted a macro-prudential

assessment: a formal evaluation that assigns a score to each bank based on parameters such as asset quality, capital adequacy, proportion of liquid assets and fund-ing stability, in its battle to curb risk.

In recent months, the banking regulator issued 10 documents in seven days to rein in bank risk. The secu-rities regulator harshly punished a number of listed firms for illegal acts, and the insurance regulator has taken 39 measures to keep risk in the sector under control.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 inter-national financial crisis remained a warning that we cannot afford to stand by and take financial risk lightly.

(Source: ChinaDaily)

BOJ assets swell to 90% of Japan’s GDP

China in strong position to ward off financial risk

E N E R G Yd e s k

It will take an extra £15b of spending cuts or tax rises to eliminate the budget deficit by the time of the 2022 election, a leading think-tank has said as it laid bare the dam-aging legacy of the financial crisis on UK living standards and public finances.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that despite “two parliaments of pain”, the Conservative-led austerity drive had made little difference to public spending when measured as a share of national in-come and compared with pre-downturn levels.

Publishing its analysis as political parties prepare to set out their manifestos for the snap election on 8 June, the IFS said the deficit had fallen considerably since its peak in 2009–10. But the gap between public spending and income was still one of the biggest among advanced economies, it added.

The think-tank found that while tax rev-enues had improved and were forecast to continue growing, there had also been a rise in public spending against the back-drop of a long and sluggish economic re-covery.

“The deficit is now roughly back to the level it was prior to the financial crisis, al-

though is still above its long-run average. On the tax side, the impact on the public finances of substantial tax cuts has been more than outweighed by tax raising meas-ures,” said Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the IFS and author of the report.

“On the spending side, seven years of austerity has seen significant cuts to areas such as working-age benefits and public order and safety. But despite this, overall public spending remains slightly above its pre-crisis share of the economy.

“This is due to persistently poor eco-nomic growth and an increase in the share of national income devoted to health, pensioner benefits and overseas aid.”

The financial crisis that began with a credit crunch in 2007 and escalated to the bailout of banks and a recession had led to a sharp reduction in national income for the UK, Emmerson’s analysis showed. “Even more striking is the weakness of the subsequent recovery,” he said, noting GDP per adult only returned to its pre-cri-sis level around the end of 2015.

Alluding to more than a decade of lost growth, Emmerson found that by 2022 GDP per adult would be 18% lower than it would have been had the economy

grown by 2% a year since 2008 – broadly the expected rate of growth at that time.

“This downgrade in expected income has adversely affected the finances of households and of the government,” said Emmerson.

His analysis found that in addition to plans already set out, the next govern-ment would have to find more savings and more revenues if it wanted to elim-inate the deficit before a May 2022 gen-eral election.

The Conservatives have repeatedly vowed to cut the deficit, which is the gap between what the government receives in tax and other revenues and what it spends on public services, benefits and other areas. In a small boost for the chan-cellor, Philip Hammond, figures for the last tax year showed the deficit had shrunk by 28% on the previous year to the lowest gap since 2007-08.

But some economists have questioned the merits of focusing on eliminating the deficit, arguing that an austerity drive since the crisis has been counter-pro-ductive because it dented already lack-lustre growth, raised welfare costs and squeezed incomes.

“There is nothing special in eradicat-ing the deficit – it is a completely arbitrary goal,” said Simon Wren-Lewis, economics professor at Oxford University.

He added that how quickly a govern-ment chooses to cut the deficit and bring down the stock of national debt was a po-litical choice.

“The only clear message from eco-nomics is that adjustment in the debt to GDP ratio should be fairly slow to avoid sharp decreases in spending or large in-creases in taxes,” Wren-Lewis said.

The IFS said the UK still had the fifth largest deficit out of 35 advanced econ-omies in 2016 as a share of GDP, behind Spain, the US, Japan and France. The UK’s national debt was the sixth highest.

“The latest forecasts suggest the deficit will fall over the next five years. But even had the next parliament run from May 2020 to May 2025 eliminating the deficit would have been far from straightfor-ward” said Emmerson.

“Eliminating the deficit before a May 2022 general election would be even harder: a combination of tax rises and spending cuts worth £15bn on top of cur-rent plans.” (Source: The Guardian)

UK needs £15b in cuts or tax rises to clear deficit by 2022, says IFS

German unemployment extended its four-year decline last month, suggesting com-panies are confident that momentum in Europe’s largest economy remains strong.

The number of people out of work slid by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 2.543 million in April, data from the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg showed on Wednesday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast an 11,000 decline. The jobless rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent.

Demand is being supported by both domestic spending and gradually strengthening global trade, brightening the outlook for companies. Business confi-dence rose to the strongest level in almost six years in April, and a report due next week is set to show that economic growth

accelerated in the first quarter.“With the continued spring revival, the

number of unemployed people declined significantly again in April,” labor agency head Detlef Scheele said in a statement. “The good development on the labor market thus continues.”

The number of employed people in Germany, which is reported with a one-month lag, rose in March and was about 1.5 percent higher than a year ago, the la-bor agency said. Joblessness fell by about 8,000 each in the western and eastern part of the country.

The Federal Statistics Office will publish gross-domestic-product data for the Jan-uary-March period on May 12.

(Source: Bloomberg)

German unemployment falls further as business outlook brightensTurkey consumer inflation climbs more than expected on foodTurkish inflation accelerated more than expected in April, reflect-ing the impact of a weaker lira as food costs surged.

Turkey’s annual consumer-inflation rate rose to 11.9 per-cent from 11.3 percent in March, compared with the median estimate of 11.7 percent in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Prices were up 1.3 percent from the previous month, Turkey’s statistics institute said on Wednesday.

The central bank said last month it expects inflation to accel-erate in the short-term before slowing in the second half of the year. The bank raised the cost of funding to commercial lenders to the highest in more than five years after the lira fell to a re-cord in January, and Governor Murat Cetinkaya has pledged to keep liquidity tight until there is an improvement in the outlook for inflation, which remains well above the official target of 5 percent. (Source: Bloomberg)

Euro traders are less gloomy on French vote than at first: chartInvestors in the currency options market are less worried about the outcome of the French election run-off than they were before the first round and the U.K.’s referendum on the European Union.

The cost of owning put options on euro-dollar relative to calls is about 1.25 percentage points cheaper than it was in the run-up to the first round. Front-runner Emmanuel Macron is due to square off with anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen in a television debate later Wednesday. (Source: Bloomberg)

MAY 4, MAY 4, 20172017 5I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

E N E R G Y

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries deepened production cuts in April with laggards improving compliance with its historic deal to limit output.

Overall, output fell by 40,000 barrels a day from a month earlier to 31.895 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil compa-nies and ship-tracking data. Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the group, and Venezuela came closer to their targets.

OPEC began production cuts on Jan. 1 in a bid to reduce swollen global inventories and bolster the price of oil, which is still stuck at half its 2014 level. Total output -- including Libya and Nigeria -- re-mains 135,000 barrels a day above target, putting the group about 90 percent of the way toward its goal.

Among the 10 members bound by the caps, com-pliance strengthened to 102 percent from 89 percent in March, the survey showed. Iraq produced 4.41 million barrels a day, a drop of 20,000 barrels, bring-ing it closer to its target of 4.35 million barrels a day. Venezuela saw a 20,000 barrel-a-day drop in output to 1.98 million. Saudi Arabia’s crude production was steady at 9.95 million barrels a day.

Production in Libya fell by 70,000 barrels a day af-ter the shutdown of the country’s major field. Nige-ria saw a rebound of 50,000 barrels a day following the end of the maintenance at a field that generally pumps 225,000 barrels a day. Both countries are ex-

empt from OPEC’s November deal.OPEC will meet again in Vienna on May 25 to de-

cide whether to extend the cuts in the second half of the year. There seems to be a general consensus to do so, Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi minister of energy

and industry and the de-facto OPEC leader, said last week. The United Arab Emirates insisted Tuesday that all participants -- which include some non-OPEC na-tions such as Russia -- need to commit to the effort.

(Source: Bloomberg)

India plans to order about a quarter less Iranian crude oil than it bought last year, people familiar with the matter said, as state refiners cut term purchase deals over a row between New Delhi and Tehran on development of a natural gas field.

The drop in volumes follows India’s threat to order state refiners - Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, and In-dian Oil Corp - to reduce purchases from Iran if an Indian consortium is not awarded the rights to develop Iran’s huge Farzad B natural gas field.

The volume cuts would put India’s im-ports of Iranian crude for this fiscal year

at 370,000 barrels per day (bpd), accord-ing to the sources with knowledge of the planned deals.

India is Iran’s top oil client after China, and last year imported about 510,000 bpd of crude from the country, according to shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The reduced 2017/2018 imports in-clude 199,000 bpd by state refiners, a de-cline of about a third from last year, the sources said. Private refiners Essar and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) have re-newed last year’s term contracts to buy 120,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd, respectively, they said.

Most of the state refiners did not re-

spond to queries on the matter, while Essar Oil, MRPL and HMEL declined comment.

India’s oil ministry also said it had no immediate comment.

Analysts said apart from the gas-field row, India is also taking advantage of a narrow price spread between Europe-an oil benchmark Brent and Middle East price-setter Dubai crude, which makes it attractive to bring more oil from Europe into Asia.

“Brent-related crudes are cheaper and sweeter than medium to heavy grades from Middle East,” said Ehsan ul Haq of KBC Energy Economics.

Also, Russia’s Rosneft may start bring-

ing more non-Iranian crude, likely from Venezuela, to India after buying Essar Oil’s Vadinar refinery.

Not all of India’s refiners plan to scale back orders from Iran, though. Private refiner Reliance Industries signed its first Iranian deal in seven years to buy 30,000 bpd of heavy Forouzan crude oil, one of the sources said.

India’s overall crude demand is around 4.6 million bpd, third highest in the world behind the United States and China. It was one of the few countries that continued to deal with Iran despite international sanc-tions that were in place until 2016.

(Source: Reuters)

A little over a year ago, China’s fast-growing private fuel makers were the newly minted stars of the global oil market, importing crude from the world’s biggest producers and seeking to sell their products abroad in a threat to rivals across Asia.

Now, as the government cracks down on pollution and a glut of fuel at home, some traders who the refiners lured with an ambition to establish a global footprint are finding they have nothing to do.

The processors, known as teapots, have been denied export licenses by the government, meaning they’ll have to remain home to compete with state-owned refining giants. That’s a relief for the wider Asian fuel market already overwhelmed by cheap supplies of Chi-nese gasoline and diesel, according to BMI Research.

It’s the latest setback for the private refiners since they burst into the global oil market in 2015 armed with approvals to import crude. After being wooed by OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as trading giants including Tra-figura Group and Glencore Plc, teapots have seen their appeal fade over the past year. Apart from the lack of pipe-line and storage infrastructure, many face increased government scrutiny on taxes, and there’s mounting concerns about their environmental records.

To make matters worse, China’s powerful state-owned enterprises hav-en’t welcomed the competition.

“The government’s reluctance to grant the teapots export quotas is like-ly driven by the ongoing debate about their contribution to pollution,” said

Michal Meidan, a London-based ana-lyst at industry consultant Energy As-pects Ltd. “The state-owned enterprises have probably sought to lay much of the fault with the teapots on this point.”

China, the world’s biggest emitter, is strengthening its commitment to fight the air pollution that’s prompted health concerns due to the heavy smog cloak-ing its cities. The nation’s output of car-bon dioxide from the energy industry fell 1 percent in China in 2016, helping emissions flatline for a third year in a row, according to data from the Inter-national Energy Agency.

The government controls fuel-ex-port volumes by granting oil refiners shipment quotas through the year, which they must fulfill or risk a cut or review of those allowances. Private pro-cessors didn’t use up the export allo-

cations they received for last year, pro-viding the government with a reason to deny them quotas for 2017, Meidan said. They also contributed to a domes-tic fuel glut by boosting operations at the end of 2016 to use up crude import quotas.

While the private processors re-ceived approval to buy overseas crude in 2017, the amount they’ve been al-lowed to directly import in the first batch of quotas this year is 62 percent of 2016’s total levels. Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry awarded 12.4 mil-lion tons of fuel export quotas to only state firms in the first batch for 2017. In the second, government-run compa-nies were given approval for a total of 3.34 million tons.

“Lower Chinese fuel exports will prove supportive for refining margins in

Asia, as the region has been grappling with an exodus of Chinese fuels over the past few quarters,” Lee said. “The void created by the easing of Chinese exports could be filled by supplies from the likes of South Korea and Japan that remain keen to win back some market share.”

A refinery processing Dubai crude in Singapore had a margin of about $3.78 a barrel as of Tuesday, down from a re-cent peak of $7.38 in January, accord-ing to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China exported a record 15.4 million tons, or about 314,000 barrels a day, of diesel overseas and an unprecedented 9.69 million tons, or 221,000 barrels a day, of gasoline in 2016, data from the nation’s General Administration of Cus-toms show.

Teapots started getting licenses to import foreign crude in 2015 as part of a government effort to boost private investment in China’s energy industry and reform its sprawling state enter-prises by encouraging competition. The refiners previously had to rely on state-owned oil majors including PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, for supplies of crude.

“Over the years of China’s oil-market reform, the lobbying power has always been dominated by state oil companies led by PetroChina and Sinopec,” said Li Li, an analyst with ICIS China. “Teapots deserve to look outside China especial-ly when their end market domestically is limited by powerful state competi-tors. They need the quota like a trave-ler needs a passport to see what is out there.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Oil prices rebounded from near 2017 lows on Wednesday after preliminary data showed a much higher-than-expected fall in U.S. crude stocks, reviv-ing bullish sentiment about easing oversupply.

Benchmark Brent crude was up 37 cents at $50.83 a barrel at 0815 GMT. On Tuesday the futures had set-tled at their lowest since Nov. 30, when the Organiza-tion of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to cut oil supply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $47.96 a barrel, up 30 cents. WTI had slid 2.4 percent on Tuesday on concerns about falling OPEC compli-ance with its production-curbing deal.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute (API)

assessing closely watched U.S. oil inventories showed late on Tuesday that crude stocks had fallen last week by 4.2 million barrels, nearly double the drop expect-ed by analysts polled by Reuters.

“The API statistics are helping the market recov-er, but the underlying sentiment is still bearish,” said Tamas Varga, analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.

The U.S. government releases official inventory data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday at 1430 GMT.

Oil investors continue to eye producing countries’ compliance with their pledge made in late 2016 to cut production by around 1.8 million barrels per day

(bpd) by the middle of the year.Russia, contributing the largest production cut out-

side OPEC, said on Wednesday that as of May 1, it had curbed output by more than 300,000 bpd since October.

This means Russia has achieved its reduction target a month ahead of schedule, just as the latest Reuters survey of OPEC production showed compliance had fallen slightly.

More oil from Angola and higher UAE output than originally thought meant OPEC compliance with its production-cutting deal slipped to 90 percent from a revised 92 percent in March, the Reuters survey showed. (Source: Reuters)

OPEC deepens oil production cuts as laggards improve compliance

India cuts oil import plans from Iran by a quarter over gas field row

Russia’s April oil output decrease averages 258,600 bpd: Energy Ministry Russian Energy Ministry said that average oil production in April has decreased by 258,600 barrels per day (bpd) in Russia and constituted 300,790 bpd as of May 1.

“The average decline in production in April was 258,600 barrels per day. This level implies a decrease of 58,600 barrels faster than the original plan,” a ministry official told reporters.

She said the output decrease totaled 300,790 bpd against an October threshold.

OPEC countries and 11 oil exporting countries, which are not members of the cartel, pledged to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017 in comparison with October 2016 level. In particular, under the agreement, Russia is to cut production by 2.7 percent to the level of last October or by 300,000 per day.

Russia said it has delivered the target cut by 300,000 barrels a day under the OPEC oil production limiting deal in April, ac-cording to Novak.

(Source: Sputnik)

CNPC loads first crude oil into Myanmar-China pipeline China’s state-owned refiner China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it has loaded the first crude oil through its Myan-mar-to-China pipeline, the latest step towards supplying crude to its new refinery in Yunnan province.

Some 1,150 cubic meters per hour of crude flowed into the 770-kilometre (480 mile) pipeline from Tuesday, CNPC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move comes almost a month after the first tanker car-rying 140,000 tons of crude started discharging into the pipe-line following the official launch.

CNPC’s PetroChina plans to import overseas oil and pump it through the pipeline to supply its new 260,000-barrels-per-day Anning refinery in landlocked Yunnan province.

The pipeline starts at Kyauk Phyu in Myanmar’s west and enters China at the border city Ruili and is a joint investment by CNPC and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.

(Source: Reuters)

Oil rebounds from near 2017 lows on falling U.S. crude stocks

Oil traders idled as China refiners fall foul of smog fight

French Total signs offshore drilling contract with Senegal French Total will lead new deep and ultra-deep offshore drilling initiatives in Senegal, according to new contracts signed by the company with the West African government.

The agreement with state-run Petrosen and the Energy Ministry gives Total a 90-percent stake as an operator of an exploration block.

«These agreements are part of the group›s strategy to carry out exploration activities in new deepwater basins in Africa,» Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement cited by Reu-ters.

Other companies active in Senegal have struck large off-shore reserves in the recent past.

Australian exploration company FAR announced it had dis-covered more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude off the coast of Senegal as a result of a 3D seismic study earlier this year. The figure, FAR said, was 50 percent higher than the estimate from an earlier review of the reserves in the SNE field.

Senegal is attracting much attention from the oil industry: a couple of weeks ago Cairn Energy announced it was prepar-ing for the launch of its third drilling program in the country’s shelf, after making two substantial discoveries in the area three years ago. SNE was one of these, and Cairn’s estimates of the field’s recoverable reserves were between 274 and 900 million barrels.

British Petroleum is also eyeing Senegal’s offshore oil: last month the company said it had struck a deal with Kosmos En-ergy to acquire its 32.49-percent stake in two offshore blocks there. BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley referred to the area, including Mauritania’s shelf, as “an emerging world-class hy-drocarbon basin.”

The SNE field is developed by a joint venture with Cairn as operator with 40 percent, FAR has 15 percent, ConocoPhillips has 35 percent, and Senegal’s state oil company Petrosen has 10 percent. (Source: oilprice.com)

BP held back by Gulf oil-spill costs as rivals emerge from slump Big Oil’s profits are surging again, but shareholders in BP Plc have to wait a little longer for liftoff.

BP’s deep cost cuts helped it almost triple profit last quarter, yet investors aren’t seeing comparable growth in cash flow as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues to gobble up funds. That’s hampering competition with rivals such as Total SA as they emerge from the oil slump, according to Banco Santander SA.

“BP is in effect six to 12 months behind companies like Total in benefiting directly from its focus on delivering growth,” said Jason Kenney, an analyst at Santander in Edinburgh. “This is be-cause of its additional cash commitments associated with U.S. Gulf of Mexico and also paying down debt.”

Total and BP are among the major oil producers beating first-quarter profit estimates after crude prices rallied and cost cuts kicked in. But while BP raised adjusted income to $1.51 bil-lion, net debt climbed to the highest in at least a decade as spill-related payments sapped funds. The company will need oil at as much as $55 this year to cover spending and dividends without borrowing.

Cash flow from operations, including payments for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident, was the lowest in a year in the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BP will cough up as much as $5.5 billion this year in spill liabilities and about $2 billion in 2018. (Source: Bloomberg)

Alarm grows in Washington as Saudi coalition attack on Yemen port appears imminentA bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers urged Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday to reconsider his support for a seemingly imminent assault by a Saudi-led coalition on the crucial Yemeni port city of Hodeida.

“In the face of Yemen’s senseless humanitarian tragedy, where 19 million people need emergency support, we are committed to using our Constitutional authority to assert greater oversight over U.S. involvement in the conflict and promote greater public debate regarding U.S. military par-ticipation in Yemen’s civil war, which has never been author-ized by Congress,” the legislators said in a letter.

The letter comes on the heels of another, signed by 55 legislators, to President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions insisting that any direct U.S. involvement in Yemen be brought before Congress for authorization. In a trip to Saudi Arabia in April, Mattis hinted at direct U.S. military and intelligence support for the Saudi-led coalition, which is seeking to dislodge the Houthis from Sanaa and other areas they control in Yemen.

Saudi fighter jets dropped leaflets over Houthi-controlled Hodeida in recent days warning its hundreds of thousands of residents of an impending offensive, according to the United Nations and aid agencies. Yemen imports 90 percent of its food, and Hodeida’s already-damaged port is the entry point for the vast majority of it. A two-year-long civil war has de-stroyed Yemen’s economy, and more than 7 million people rely on humanitarian aid for survival.

Human rights activists have accused the Saudis of indiscriminate bombing in its campaign, saying it has killed thousands of civilians and reduced much of Yemen’s vital infrastructure to rubble.

Scrapping of Obama-era rulesMattis has asked for the scrapping of Obama-era rules

prohibiting direct support to the coalition. Although the Obama administration sold weapons and refueled aircraft to the coalition, direct U.S. engagement through special teams was ruled out because it was considered ineffective in thwarting the well-armed Houthis and because of humanitarian concerns.

The Saudis allege that weapons are smuggled through Hodeida to the Houthis, providing the rebels a vital lifeline.

On Monday, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein echoed the exhortations of aid organizations, saying, “The UN is concerned about the humanitarian repercussions of such an attack in terms of inflaming the humanitarian crisis even further, let alone our concerns about loss of civilian life were there to be a large-scale attack on port.”

Tuesday’s letter, drafted by Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.), asserts that any direct U.S. support for an offensive on the Houthis must be authorized by Congress. The letter also threatens legislation that would seek to “prohibit U.S. involvement in any such assault” should Mattis fail to brief Congress on the nature of U.S. support for the coalition.

“Last month, in a bipartisan request, 54 of my colleagues and I asked President Trump a simple question: what legal justification is the White House claiming for es-calating U.S. involve-ment in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen — a war that’s never been au-thorized by Congress?” Pocan said in an email. “With a potential green light from President Trump, the Saudis ap-pear to be gearing up to destroy the lifeline to food imports for mil-lions of Yemenis on the verge of starvation.”

Since the Houthis took control of the Hodeida port, the Saudi navy has imposed a de facto blockade, allowing only a trickle of ships to dock. Saudi jets have also damaged many of the port’s cranes, making the unloading process difficult and time-consuming.

Since Hodeida is densely populated, and the port is surrounded by the bustling city, an assault could take weeks, if not months, and lead to a mass exodus of residents as well as the tens of thousands of internally displaced people sheltering there.

“The big question is how do they take the city without destroying it and the port in the process,” said Scott Paul, a senior humanitarian policy adviser at Oxfam International who has worked in Yemen. “With any closure, we’d almost certainly have a famine in just a few months.”

Administration officials have expressed concern about the humanitarian fallout of such an assault but have cautioned that U.S. interests in the region are increasingly at risk unless Washington acts.

The loss of Hodeida could force the Houthis back to the negotiating table, as the coalition hopes, but the bloodshed expected could also deepen the war’s divisions and prolong Yemen’s immense suffering.

(Source: The Washington Post)

By Semih Idiz

MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 20176I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL

Tuesday’s letter, drafted by Mark

Pocan (D-Wis.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.), asserts

that any direct U.S. support for an offensive on

the Houthis must be authorized by

Congress

What has likely secured Macron’s victory is the fear of

the far-right alliance represented by Le Pen

The anti-immigrant right is closer to gaining power than any point since the end of World War II. Marine Le Pen has single-handedly taken the National Front party from the dark caverns of French politics to government con-trol. This accomplishment, however, will not be reward-ed. Virtually all of her major opponents in the 11-per-son race have called for her defeat in the second round runoff on May 7. As a consequence, a virtual unknown centrist and pro-European Union pol who served as the minister of the economy, Emmanuel Macron, will most likely be the next president.

Although Macron is lackluster — even applause lines in his speeches draw a ho-hum response — he, too, is part of a political convulsion that has effectively shattered the French political establishment. On the left, the Socialists, and on the right, the Conservatives, are mired in defeat, pushed aside by anger over the economy and national security. France is in the Eu-ropean doldrums, a nation with limited growth and saddled with regulations.

What has likely secured Macron’s victory is the fear of the far-right alliance represented by Le Pen. In every French town I visited recently, pictures of the 11 can-didates were on display. It is instructive that in almost every instance the word “fascist” was written across the face of Le Pen. The French do not forget, but what they remember are the words of the father, not the daughter.

Le Pen organized her campaign around the repudia-tion of racist and anti-Semitic views, and even repudia-tion of her father. But French voters remain unconvinced. Many in France are ready to break with the European Union and, according to French polls, much of Le Pen’s appeal is based on French sovereignty. However, this sentiment is not enough to overcome the legacy of the National Front. As Socialist party candidate Benoit Ha-

mon noted, “There’s a clear distinction to be made be-tween a political adversary and an enemy of the repub-lic.” Once characterized as an enemy rather than a rival, politics enters the realm of personal destruction.

One might contend that Le Pen performed better today than in 2012, but still not good enough to get elected. My suspicion is that the National Front will at-tempt a populist gamble of the Trump-like variety in the next election with sharp ideological distinctions on eco-nomic protectionism and immigration. Since Macron is unknown and derided as a candidate of the “banks,” he might be vulnerable. However, one election is not yet over and another hasn’t begun. It is too soon to pre-dict and, at the same time, interesting to explore various scenarios. France may not be ready for extremes, but in decimating the established political structure did so, in any case.

A Europe dependent on the EU is in distress. The French vote offered a reprieve; yet this is only temporary. Another Brexit on the continent and the French may bolt the union. Then what? France cannot go it alone unless the economy is given a shot of financial adrenalin. The migrant population is rising and virtually unassimilable. Muslim extremists populate every major city. Anti-Semi-tism is on the rise. The French take their politics very seri-ously, but the parties of the past are no longer a guide to the future and fear has insinuated itself into a people proud and independent. This is not a healthy brew for either France or the continent.

What the French are witnessing is the dismember-ment of political tradition in favor of the unknown. This is in keeping with French history; but a hiccup in national politics often leads to a convulsion in future elections. Macron’s likely victory is a stopgap measure. It merely suggests change is in the air, but the National Front is not the answer. What that answer might be will be found in the future of French parties, jockeying to see who can capture the populist sentiments sweeping across Europe.

(Source: The Washington Times)

France’s stopgap election

Turkish-EU ties appeared set on a collision course before the April 16 referendum that aimed to increase the powers of the Turkish presidency by switching Turkey to a presidential system of government and, by extension, increasing the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Accusations about dictatorial tendencies were leveled at Erdogan; he countered by accusing European leaders of acting like Nazis and supporting terrorists and coup plotters against Turkey.

Now that Erdogan has gotten what he wants from the referendum, regardless of the continuing debate about the fairness of the vote, tensions between Ankara and the EU may be subsiding.

Meeting in the Maltese capital of Valletta last week, EU foreign ministers chose to disregard calls from within their ranks (from Austria) and from the European Parliament for an end to or suspension of talks on Turkey’s EU membership because the country has strayed from the democratic path.

Prior to the meeting in Valletta, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had placed Ankara on its watch list over the deteriorating state of its democracy. This is why the leniency accorded Turkey by EU foreign ministers caught many by surprise.EU ministers went a step further during their informal meeting — known in EU jargon as the “Gymnich” — and threw an olive branch to Ankara.

In her statement after the meeting, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said they “respected the result of the referendum” even though the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had flagged voting irregularities.

Constitutional amendmentsMogherini added that the

implementation of the constitutional amendments decided on by the referendum should be in line with Council of Europe and OSCE recommendations. The crucial point for Erdogan, however, is that the EU is not formally rejecting to the changes that will make him Turkey’s sole ruler. Mogherini also said Turkey’s EU membership bid would continue. “It is not suspended, nor ended, but as you might know, we are currently not working on opening any new negotiation chapter.”

Mogherini’s remarks pleased Ankara, even though it is obvious that its membership bid can’t proceed under these circumstances. Erdogan had threatened to hold a referendum on whether Turkey should end this bid unilaterally, but that was clearly contingent on the EU’s position regarding the referendum results.

It is unlikely that Turkey will opt to end this bid unilaterally now. Foreign Minister

Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was also invited to Valletta — where judging by press reports he had very chummy meetings with key European colleagues — was clearly happy.

“I saw the positive atmosphere [at Valletta]. I also saw that they have understood their mistake if indeed they are honest,” he told the Turkish media after the meeting. The continuing defiance of Europe reflected by Cavusoglu’s remark was clearly aimed at a domestic audience. But he also said nothing to indicate that Ankara would heed calls for strengthening Turkey’s democracy.

While the results of such Gymnich talks are not binding, they nevertheless provide an indication about the official line the EU will take. The democratic opposition in Turkey clearly expected stronger language from the EU regarding the results of the referendum. It has, however, become apparent that Turkey’s strategic importance for the West has yet again trumped European desires to put Erdogan on notice.

This also vindicates Erdogan and strengthens his hand as he prepares to meet European leaders at the NATO summit at the end of this month.

“Because of our strategic value [and capacity to do damage], they prefer to keep us where we are rather than cut off negotiations [for EU membership]. It’s almost as if they are saying, ‘Do what you want, as long as you don’t harm our interests,’” retired Ambassador Oguz Demiralp said, adding that this also suits Ankara.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said prior to the start of the Valletta Gymnich that his government was “strictly against breaking off the accession talks” with Turkey, indicating that this would be a “completely wrong reaction.”

“In NATO, we did not exclude Turkey even during the times of military dictatorship [in Turkey]. Why should we now have an interest in pushing it in the direction of Russia?” he said to reporters.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault seconded Gabriel. “How can we ignore Turkey? Nobody wants a breakup with Turkey,” Ayrault said, pointing to the fight against terrorism and dealing with Syrian refugees among the key areas where cooperation with Ankara is vital.

Candidate countryMogherini added, “I think I am on

the record in the last couple of years as

saying that Turkey is not only a candidate country, [but also] that Turkey is ... a strategic partner for the European Union on many different things.”

In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also underlined Turkey’s strategic importance for the West, especially regarding relations with Russia. “Without doubt, NATO would suffer from weakness without Turkey,” he said, adding, “Turkey is a key country for the security of Europe.”

An EU official briefing the press after the Valletta talks indicated that “nobody wanted any rash decisions, like formally suspending the accession negotiations at this time, except for the usual suspects — the Austrians.”

Retired Ambassador Unal Cevikoz argued that the EU is not admitting to mistakes toward Turkey, as Cavusoglu claims, and said there is no fundamental change in the EU’s position on Turkey. “It is applying the most reasonable, diplomatic and polite manner to show Turkey the path it must follow so that it draws lessons and does its homework,” Cevikoz wrote in his column for the daily Hurriyet.

Demiralp is not optimistic about that happening. “We all know how weak the possibility of Turkey’s returning to the reform agenda is,” he said, indicating that Ankara’s ties with the EU will continue to weaken because of this.

Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and avid supporter of Turkey’s EU membership, believes this bid has reached a “dead end.”“Turkey and the EU will have to create a new framework for their relationship one way or the other,” Ulgen said in an article for The Financial Times.

Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who heads the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, also believes that Turkish accession to the EU is not realistic anymore. He says a new association agreement has to be worked out for Ankara. Giving prevailing circumstances in Turkey and Europe, that is a path that Erdogan could also choose to follow, although this remains debatable.

For the moment, the pro-government camp in Turkey is happy about the course of ties with the EU post-referendum. “They say Europe doesn’t like us. That’s true, but we have to put aside that slogan now,” Mustafa Karaalioglu, a columnist for the pro-government but moderately critical daily Karar, wrote recently.

“Europe likes us to the extent that we like Europe. That is the case today, as it was 500 years ago. The question is how much do they respect us? The rest is irrelevant,” Karaalioglu wrote.

Judging by Mogherini’s statement after the Valletta meeting, Erdogan has gotten respect for now at least. How Turkish-EU ties shape up after this, however, is anyone’s guess.

(Source: Al Monitor)

Post-referendum, what’s next for Turkey’s EU bid?

The crucial point for Erdogan, however, is that the EU is not formally rejecting to the changes that will make him Turkey’s

sole ruler.

Sunday’s outcome may only delay the populist wave

ANALYSISMAY 4, MAY 4, 20172017 7I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

The American government often claims that its incursions into countries in the Middle East and elsewhere are carried out in order to protect the lives of Americans. Apparently people believe it; I have not heard anyone attempt to confute it.

But consider this scenario: A person in a public place in Erie, Pa. starts shooting at people randomly. A police officer kills him before anyone else is injured. That officer can be said to have protected the lives of the other people in the area, but he cannot be said to have protected the lives of people in San Francisco. Likewise, a soldier in Iraq who kills an enemy combatant can be said to have protected the lives of his comrades but cannot be said to have protected the lives of Americans living thousands of miles away. It’s simply not possible.

But the claim that the soldier is protect-ing the lives of Americans in general can be made. People in general are not real how-ever. Making sense of that claim is difficult. But suppose that this claim makes sense and consider some of the groups of Americans whose lives would be protected by those incursions.

Consider the undernourished children who go to bed hungry every night. Con-sider the elderly who can’t afford both food and medicine. Consider the homeless, those

who lack access to medical care, the unem-ployed whose benefits have expired. These are America’s neglected. They die prema-turely. So if their lives are being protected by the soldier in Iraq, he’s protecting those the government is neglecting. The govern-ment, by not providing their basic needs, is

slowly killing them, and they are the Amer-ican government’s own people. The claim that America’s incursions in other countries protects Americans amounts to claiming that the lives of those being killed by neglect are being protected by the killing of enemy combatants in far off nations. That claim is

patently absurd.But killing people by neglect is not the

same as killing people with saran gas. Well perhaps, but the difference is not great.

USA Today recently reported that Lon-don’s toxic air pollution is killing thousands every year. Is Great Britain gassing its own people to death? Isn’t polluted air a poison-ous gas? Isn’t it just like saran? And isn’t Great Britain, by neglecting to provide its people with clean air, deliberately killing them? Isn’t governmental neglect a deliberate act?

Numerous ways of killing people exist. Are some more acceptable than others? Imagine asking a person killed by a bullet rather than gas if he is grateful to his killer for having done that. Do you suppose that he would thank his killer for having been hu-mane? Would he say, “Thanks for killing me with a gun rather than with gas?” Get seri-ous people! To the dead, no way of killing is more abhorrent than another.

I doubt that any society has ever existed that didn’t kill its own people in some way or other. None will ever exist as long as pe ople are viewed as means to some non-human end. War has never been fought to protect anyone’s life. When considered as fodder–factory, farm, or cannon–people’s lives will continue to be “harvester” for God, country, profit, or even pleasure. Such is the nature of mankind as we have known it.

Every day the news about Venezuela seems to get worse.

On March 29th the Supreme Court dis-solved the National Assembly. The partial re-versal of this decision days later did not pre-vent the outbreak of a new wave of deadly protests in the beginning of April. The death toll now stands at thirty, and is rising by the day. Both opposition and government sup-porters have been killed. Government of-fices have been looted and set aflame, and government officials murdered. No end is in sight.

The Organization of American States (OAS) is set to hold yet another emergen-cy meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela’s crisis. Venezuela has declared it will leave the OAS, possibly to preempt be-ing suspended from the organization. In the eyes of many this action will make Venezuela even more of a pariah nation than it already is.

Venezuela’s deep economic and social crisis shows no signs of abating, and will like-ly get worse amidst the chaos and violence wracking the country. The opposition has shown its willingness to sacrifice possibilities for economic recovery to achieve its goal of removing President Nicolás Maduro from office, with the Associated Press reporting that opposition-led National Assembly head Julio Borges recently contacted over a dozen leading international banks, urging them not to do business with Venezuela. The govern-ment, in turn, faces increasing criticism for its seemingly complete inability to solve, or even admit the full severity of, the nation’s socioeconomic crisis, and what many see as its slide into authoritarianism.

How should we make sense of all of this?There are two contrasting narratives cur-

rently circulating about Venezuela’s crisis. The first, prominent in mainstream western media, portrays the government as a dicta-torial regime engaged in ruthless repression of a heroic opposition peacefully seeking a return to democratic rule. The second, put forward by the government and a small (and likely dwindling) group of international solidarity activists, portrays a democratically elected government besieged by a violent, unhinged opposition that (a) represents a small minority of wealthy elites; (b) enjoys full support from the U.S. empire; and (c) will stop at nothing to achieve regime change, regardless of the legality or morality of its actions.

Both narratives contain elements of truth, but neither does justice to Venezuela’s crisis.

The idea that Venezuela is authoritarian has been repeated ad nauseam for nearly the entire eighteen-year period of Chavista rule, which began when Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1998. Until recently, it has been relatively easy to refute this claim, which ignores the fact that Venezuela’s rul-ing party has been repeatedly affirmed at the polls, winning 12 of 15 major elections between 1998 and 2015, and conceding on the three occasions when it lost (Decem-ber 2007, September 2010, and December 2015). On the five occasions Chávez stood for office between 1998-2012 he won by substantial margins (his lowest margin was

55-44 percent in 2012, and his highest was 63-37 percent in 2006). Venezuela’s current president, Nicolás Maduro, was also demo-cratically elected. Regularly repeated charg-es of electoral fraud are baseless, as fraud is all but impossible in Venezuela’s electoral system, which Jimmy Carter has called “the best in the world.”

Yet, while previous claims of Venezuela’s authoritarianism have had little merit, this is no longer the case. A series of government actions since early 2016 has made it increas-ingly difficult to challenge claims that Vene-zuela is moving in an authoritarian direction.

First, throughout 2016 the Supreme Court, which is clearly and even openly sub-ordinate to the executive branch, blocked the opposition-controlled National Assem-bly, which won the legislative majority in December 2015, from passing any major legislation. In some cases, the legislature was attempting to act beyond its authority, for example, in seeking to grant amnesty to prisoners like Leopoldo López. Yet the Su-preme Court’s systematic blockage of the National Assembly effectively rendered the opposition’s newly-captured legislative ma-jority—and thus the December 2015 elec-tion results—null.

Second, after months of dragging it feet, the government cancelled a constitutionally allowed recall referendum process in Octo-ber 2016. Third, the government indefinitely postponed municipal and regional elections that should have occurred in 2016, according to the constitution (although Maduro recently moved to set a date for the elections). Fourth, as noted, the Supreme Court issued a ruling dissolving the National Assembly in March, before partially reversing itself days later, after Maduro asked the Supreme Court to review its decision. Maduro was spurred to action when his own attorney general, Luisa Ortega, took the unprecedented step of publicly con-demning the Supreme Court decision as “a rupture in the constitutional order.”

Fifth, in April 2017 Henrique Capriles,

a leading opposition figure and two-time former presidential candidate (in 2012 and 2013), was banned from participating in politics for fifteen years, on highly dubious grounds.

By cancelling the recall referendum, sus-pending elections, and inhibiting opposition politicians from standing for office, the Ven-ezuelan government is systematically block-ing the ability of the Venezuelan people to express themselves through electoral means. It is hard to see what to call this other than creeping authoritarianism. But it is also hard to agree with characterizations of Venezuela as a full-scale authoritarian regime, given the opposition’s significant access to traditional and social media and substantial ability to engage in anti-government protest, not-withstanding certain restrictions (some if not all of which appear justified; such as limiting protesters’ access to parts of Caracas appear reasonable in light of repeated episodes of destruction of government property).

The government deserves strong criticism for its authoritarian actions, and its continuing failure to take meaningful action to resolve the country’s socioeconomic crisis. Yet, the opposition is far from the blameless victim mainstream media reports so often make it out to be. A particularly egregious example of the mainstream media’s whitewashing of the opposition’s past and present embrace of violence appears in an April 19 New York Times article, which miraculously transforms the violent 2002 military coup that overthrew Hugo Chávez into a seemingly peaceful “pro-test movement”: “While past protest move-ments by the opposition have often sought to topple the leftist government — one in 2002 even briefly deposed Hugo Chávez, the pres-ident at the time…”.

There is ample evidence the opposition’s willingness to use violent and unconstitution-al means against the government is not con-fined to the 2002 coup, but continues into the present, as I discuss elsewhere. In April 2013 the opposition refused to recognize

Maduro’s victory, despite zero evidence of fraud, and engaged in violent protests that led to at least seven civilian deaths. 41 died in another wave of opposition-led violence between February and April 2014. It is widely agreed that these deaths were a result of the actions of both opposition activists as well as state security forces, with some reports in-dicating that each side was responsible for approximately half the deaths, although it is challenging to collect fully reliable informa-tion on this contested issue.

The opposition has engaged in numer-ous acts of violence during the current round of protests. In an on-the-ground report from Venezuela on April 23, Rachel Boothroyd Rojas, wrote:

“A catalogue of the violence over the last 18 days is shocking – schools have been ran-sacked, a Supreme Court building has been torched, an air force base attacked, while public transport, health and veterinary facili-ties have been destroyed. At least 23 people have been left dead, with many more injured. In one of the most shocking cases of right-wing violence, at around 10 PM on April 20th, women, children and over 50 newborn babies had to be evacuated by the government from a public maternity hospital which came under attack from opposition gangs.”

One of the more tragic recent deaths oc-curred Sunday April 23 when Almelina Caril-lo, a “47-year-old nurse was on her way to her afternoon shift when she crossed paths with [a] Chavista march [in downtown Ca-racas] and was critically injured by [a frozen bottle] presumably thrown [from a high-rise apartment] by an opposition sympathizer.”

It is not clear when, or how, Venezuela’s downward spiral will end. In the face of this, the task for anyone who cares about Vene-zuela, and particularly left-of-center activists, scholars, and journalists who have applaud-ed and documented the many important achievements of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” is threefold.

First, to tell the truth. This means, of course, documenting and publicizing the opposition’s brutal and deadly use of violence against gov-ernment officials, grassroots Chavistas, and innocent bystanders. This issue deserves far more attention than it receives in mainstream news accounts of Venezuela. Yet, the Left can-not turn a blind eye to the government’s slide into authoritarianism, nor its inept policies. This is not out of an unwarranted blind faith in liberal, representative democracy, but be-cause authoritarian rule is incompatible with the beautiful-albeit-contradictory-and-flawed project of building “participatory and protag-onistic democracy,” which Chavismo helped advance.

Second, to reject any and all calls for im-perialist interventions aimed at “saving” Ven-ezuela. Attempts to do so will not only fail, but are likely to transform a difficult situation into a tragic one, as the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan show all too well.

Third, to stand in solidarity with the ma-jority of Venezuelans who are suffering at the hands of a vengeful, reckless opposition, and an incompetent, unaccountable gov-ernment. If any slogan captures the current mood of the popular classes living in Vene-zuela’s barrios and villages it is likely this: Que se vayan todos. Throw them all out.

Venezuela’s deep economic and social crisis shows no signs of abating, and will likely get worse amidst the chaos and violence

wracking the country.

By John Kozy

Why is Venezuela spiraling out of control?

By Gabriel Hetland

Days of Illusion: Donald Trump’s First 100 Days. US Political System in Crisis

The human capacity, notably in cultures where meas-urements are valued, places much stock in numbering deeds. In the case of the US presidency, power is sup-posedly meant to translate into something within the first hundred days, a ring fight between the president and other arms of government, a race to the policy making podium.

The US political system, in its republican realisa-tion, has heavily qualified such vast, plenary powers a president would otherwise have. In its stead is the illusion of effectiveness. It was precisely that illusion on show at President Donald Trump’s rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday, a gathering suggesting that, when things are going poorly, pretend you are still in electioneering mode.

The blustering speech was flecked with contingen-cies and what had yet to come. America had yet to be made great again, but would become so in a blaze of inevitability. Much had to be done, but many a box had been ticked in terms of executive orders and di-rectives. (However effective, it is always important to look busy.) His administration had been “keeping one promise after another ”; it had been “very exciting and very productive”.

The Harrisburg address was also combative and specifically divisive, taking traditional aim at such tar-gets as Mexican illegal immigrants and the media es-tablishment. It was, in the words of veteran advisor and analyst David Gergen,

“the most divisive speech I’ve ever heard from an American president.”

On immigrants, Trump recited, with staged evan-gelism and polemical peculiarity, Al Wilson and Oscar Brown Jr.’s The Snake, something he has done on var-ious occasions. Initially, it might have been taken as a statement on the immutable nature of instinct: the snake, even wounded, cannot deny its stinging nature, even against a kindly woman who takes it in. But that image was soon replaced by that of the easily de-ceived humanitarian, the idea that offering sanctuary to certain immigrants was dangerous.

While Trump was keeping his supporters happy in Harrisburg, Washington’s media personalities were gathering for the annual White House Correspond-ents’ dinner. Not since 1981 has a US president decid-ed to avoid such an event. And Trump seemed happy to.

“I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from the Washington swamp, spending my evening with all of you and a much, much larger crowd and much better people.”

This beastly swamp has become the repository of Trump’s darkest targets: establishment media with their spun narratives couched in false objectivity; pur-veyors of fake news.

Again, for all the usual Trumpisms, the president was still casting morsels to various political positions on the left and right of politics. He took an expected torch to the North American Free Trade Agreement, suggesting that it would be renegotiated with Canada and Mexico, or abolished altogether.

He also puzzled supporters in the Harrisburg ad-dress with an accommodating tone towards Chi-na’s President Xi Jinping.

“I don’t think right now is the best time to call China a currency manipulator.”

The reason? North Korean provocations needed Chinese dampening and restraint, and now was no time to be getting irate.

Taken as a whole, the Trump resume is certainly not impressive so far. There has been much fury in pursu-ing an agenda made more from air than the tangible. The anti-establishment maverick has had to work with aspects of the establishment not much to his liking.

Central to the first century of days was the vain ef-fort to restrain immigrants and those travelling from several hot spot countries. Many courts in the US thought otherwise about the wisdom of his executive order. Nor has the megalomanic wall materialised.

There were also appointments that went awry, no-tably that of former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn. There have been resignations and investiga-tions about connections with foreign powers, notably that of Russia. But, reassured Trump, the appointment of Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch was successful!

There have been a few spectacular displays of school boy insolence: the cruise missile attack on Syr-ia, much for the sake of display, showed that he could still pull some strings and court the misguided human-itarian lobby, the same one he otherwise despises.

Key areas of reform, if one dare use that feeble term, have been left standing in winds of chaotic an-ticipation. Having come to office thinking that the Af-fordable Care Act was a demon to out, rout and abol-ish, the opposite is true. There has been no nationwide implosion (or explosion, as Trump preferred to term it), and much of the kernel of the system remains some-thing the GOP wants to retain in some form.

The road blocks have yet to be overcome. But none of these things matter. The terrain is being redone, re-patched, and the language of failure is being redrawn as the language of success. Whether news is fake or not is irrelevant: what matters is that there is news, something which Trump always gives.

He might have resignations, investigations, and a hostile Congress to deal with. But he remains US CEO of the largest imperial military corporation the world has seen, an imperial project that, while stuttering, continues its relentless drive. In time, the snake tak-en in by the US voter may be none other than an all stinging Trump.

By Binoy Kampmark

I doubt that any society has ever existed that didn’t kill its own people in some way or other.

Killing your own people

MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 20178I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL

After the British writer G. K. Chesterton visited the United States for the first time, he remarked that America was a “nation with the soul of a church.”

Mr. Chesterton wasn’t referring to the nation’s relig-iosity but to its formation around a set of core politi-cal beliefs enshrined in founding “sacred texts,” like the Declaration of Independence. He noted that the United States, unlike European countries, did not rely on eth-nic kinship, cultural character or a “national type” for a shared identity.

The profoundness of the American experiment, he ar-gued, was that it aspired to create a “home out of vaga-bonds and a nation out of exiles” united by voluntary assent to commonly held political beliefs.

But recent survey data provides troubling evidence that a shared sense of national identity is unraveling, with two mutually exclusive narratives emerging along party lines. At the heart of this divide are opposing reactions to chang-ing demographics and culture. The shock waves from these transformations — harnessed effectively by Donald Trump’s campaign — are reorienting the political parties from the more familiar liberal-versus-conservative alignment to new poles of cultural pluralism and monism.

An Associated Press-NORC poll found nearly mirror-opposite partisan reactions to the question of what kind of culture is important for American identity. Sixty-six percent of Democrats, compared with only 35 percent of Republi-cans, said the mixing of cultures and values from around the world was extremely or very important to American iden-tity. Similarly, 64 percent of Republicans, compared with 32 percent of Democrats, saw a culture grounded in Christian religious beliefs as extremely or very important.

These divergent orientations can also be seen in a recent poll by P.R.R.I. that explored partisan perceptions of which groups are facing discrimination in the coun-

try. Like Americans overall, large majorities of Demo-crats believe minority groups such as African-Americans, immigrants, Muslims face a lot of discrimination in the country. Only about one in five Democrats say that ma-jority groups such as Christians or whites face a lot of discrimination.

Republicans, on the other hand, are much less likely than Democrats to believe any minority group faces a lot of discrimination, and they believe Christians and whites face roughly as much discrimination as immigrants, Muslims and gay and transgender people. Moreover, only 27 percent of Republicans say blacks experience a lot of discrimination, while 43 percent say whites do and 48 percent say the same of Christians.

Changing demographics and cultureTaken as a whole, these partisan portraits highlight con-

trasting responses to the country’s changing demographics and culture, especially over the past decade as the country has ceased to be a majority white Christian nation — from 54 percent in 2008 to 43 percent today. Democrats — only 29 percent of whom are white and Christian — are embrac-ing these changes as central to their vision of an evolving American identity that is strengthened and renewed by di-versity. By contrast, Republicans — nearly three-quarters of whom identify as white and Christian — see these changes eroding a core white Christian American identity and per-ceive themselves to be under siege as the country changes around them.

Americans of both political parties sense the unrave-ling of a broadly shared consensus of American identity, although they cite different reasons for feeling that way. About seven in 10 Republicans and Democrats fear that the United States is losing its national identity, the A.P.-NORC survey found. The two political parties may not share much, but each is increasingly aware that the other has embraced a radically different vision of America’s identity and future.

These responses are shifting the political magnetic field that defines the parties. Republican leaders are find-ing strong support among their base for the Trump ad-ministration’s executive order barring travel to the United States from particular Muslim-majority countries. But their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was dramatically derailed by factions within their own party.

Democrats, on the other hand, are enjoying energetic backing from their base for pro-immigration and pro-L.G.B.T. stances, but they are experiencing increasing op-position to their support for free trade.

There have been other times in our history when the fabric of American identity was stretched in similar ways — the Civil War, heightened levels of immigration at the turn of the 20th century and the cultural upheavals of the 1960s.

Cultural identityBut during these eras, white Christians were still

secure as a demographic and cultural majority in the nation. The question at stake was whether they were going to make room for new groups at a table they still owned. Typically, a group would gain its seat in exchange for assimilation to the majority culture. But as white Christians have slipped from the majority over the past decade, this familiar strategy is no longer vi-able.

White Christians are today struggling to face a new real-ity: the inevitable surrender of table ownership in exchange for an equal seat. And it’s this new higher-stakes challenge that is fueling the great partisan reorientation we are wit-nessing today.

The temptation for the Republican Party, especially with Donald Trump in the White House, is to double down on a form of white Christian nationalism, which treats racial and religious identity as tribal markers and defends a shrink-ing demographic with increasingly autocratic assertions of power.

For its part, the Democratic Party is contending with the difficulties of organizing its more diverse coalition while fac-ing its own tribal temptations to embrace an identity politics that has room to celebrate every group except whites who strongly identify as Christian. If this realignment continues, left out of this opposition will be a significant number of whites who are both wary of white Christian nationalism and weary of feeling discounted in the context of identity politics.

This end is not inevitable, but if we are to contin-ue to make one out of many, leaders of both parties will have to step back from the reactivity of the pre-sent and take up the more arduous task of weaving a new national narrative in which all Americans can see themselves.

(Source: The New York Times)

The collapse of American identityBy Robert P. Jones

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Often dry eye is a side effect of medication, everything from allergy meds (including antihistamine eye drops) to painkillers to

blood pressure drugs.

H E A L T HMAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017 9I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

By Amanda Gardner

How to treat dry eyeMillions of Americans suffer from

stinging, burning, blurry, and gritty-feeling eyes due to dry eye syndrome. While everyone can have dry eyes once in a while, those folks have a chronic problem due to inadequate tear production. Some people are at higher risk of dry eye than others. (Here are some of the most common dry eye risk factors).

The good news is that there are several ways to treat dry eye, including natural remedies you can try at home, over-the-counter drops, and even prescription products and procedures that get at the root of the problem. What is important is to not ignore your symptoms. Because tears contain antibodies, lubricants, and nutrients that protect the eye, leaving these eye symptoms untreated for too long can damage your eyes.

Consider your medicationsOften dry eye is a side effect of

medication, everything from allergy meds (including antihistamine eye drops) to painkillers to blood pressure drugs. When you seek treatment for your eye symptoms, tell your doctor about any other meds you are taking. She can tell you if one of these (here are 14 dry eye-causing medications) could be triggering your dry eye. You might be able to switch to a different medication that doesn’t cause dry eye. If that’s not possible, read on.

Try OTC eye dropsThe first line of treatment for dry eye is

often eye drops known as artificial tears, which are available over-the-counter. These can be especially helpful if you have mild dry eye or if the symptoms only appear once in a while. Don’t confuse them with allergy or red-eye drops, which contain medications that can actually

make dry eye worse. And the trick is to find the right products, and use them correctly. There are many types available over-the-counter, and a doctor can help you pick the right kind to address your problem.

“They’re actually really effective but you have to be consistent,” says Janet Cushing, OD, a clinical optometrist with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health in Madison. “Some people say they tried it once but it didn’t really work. Consistent use really works.”

If you find you need the drops more than six times a day, consider using a product with no preservatives, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, or talk to your doctor about other treatments.

Wash your eyelidsEasy home remedies can be effective

treatments for dry eye. Washing your eyelids regularly and using a warm washcloth as a compress can help keep inflammation under control and restore the flow of oil to the eye. Oil (meiburm) is a necessary component of tears, and is produced by meibomian glands found on the rim of eyes, near your lash line.

“With your eyes closed, wash along the lash line,” instructs Cushing. “You can use commercially available lid cleansers or baby shampoo. It really helps.”

Some doctors may advise doing this every day, even if symptoms have subsided.

If the at-home version of this remedy doesn’t work, ask your doctor about

unblocking your oil glands in his or her office with a procedure called LipiFlow. This device provides pressure and warmth to the eye to clear blocked meibomian glands.

Plug your tear ductsTear ducts or puncta are located at the

inner corners of your upper and lower eyelid. Their function is to drain tears away from the eye into the nose, which can be a problem if they’re working overtime. Plugging the ducts with sterile lacrimal plugs or punctal plugs can take care of the problem.

“Basically you’re just closing the duct that drains tears out of your eyes,” explains Cushing. “Usually it’s reversible with a silicone plug but you can actually cauterize and close the punctum permanently.”

Wear therapeutic contact lensesAlthough regular contact lenses can

actually cause dry eye if worn over the long-term, special contact lenses called scleral lenses or bandage lenses can fix the problem by protecting the surface of the eye and keeping moisture from seeping away.

Eat more omega-3sAdding more omega-3 fatty acids to

your diet may also help relieve dry eye. Dietary sources include salmon, sardines, tuna, walnuts, and flaxseed.

Ask about prescription medsIn addition to over-the-counter

preparations, there are prescription remedies available. There are eye drops that contain the anti-inflammatory compound cyclosporine (Restasis) and in 2016, the FDA approved a new type of dry eye treatment called lifitegrast ophthalmic solution (Xiidra). Corticosteroids, which also control inflammation, are also available in eye drop form, although these are generally not recommended for long-term use.

(Source: health.com)

7 treatments and lifestyle changes that can help dry eyes

Are your eyes killing you? If you have symptoms of dry eye, these natural remedies, over-the-counter drops, or prescription treatments might help

People with slender face likely to be left-handed, more susceptible to tuberculosisPeople who have slender lower face have higher odds of being left-handed. The same physical trait of having slender jaws has also been linked to susceptibility to tuberculosis.

In the new study published in the journal Laterality: Asym-metries of Body, Brain and Cognition, Philippe Hujoel, from University of Washington School of Dentistry, used data from three national health surveys in the United States that involve more than 13,500 people.

He found that those with convex profile marked by narrow face and a slender jaw have 25 percent higher chances of be-ing left-handed. About one in five adolescents in the United States have slender jaw. Surveys have measured how com-mon this condition is by looking at how a person’s upper and lower teeth come together. Individuals with slender jaws tend to have a lower jaw that bites a bit backward, which gives a person the convex facial profile commonly called an overbite.

Facial featuresHujoel said that the findings raise the idea that the ge-

netics behind facial features and tuberculosis susceptibility increase odds for left-handedness.

“Bilateral retrognathism-a marker for a lower face phe-notype characterized by a convex facial profile and slender jaws-was associated with a 25% increased odds for non-right-handedness,” the researcher wrote in this study.

“This association between non-right-handedness and a con-vex facial profile may unexpectedly find its origin in the genetic polymorphisms which determine tuberculosis susceptibility.”

Certain populations appear to support this hypothesis. The United Kingdom, for instance, was described as Western Europe’s tuberculosis capital. Left-handedness is prevalent here and the people are characterized by slender faces.

In the 19th century, the Eskimos, who are marked by ro-bust facial features and typically depicted in art as having dominantly right-handed when handling tools and instru-ments, were described as tuberculosis-resistant.

Body weightLow body weight associated with slender physique is also

recognized by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention as an indicator for TB susceptibility. As early as two millennia ago, a physician in Greece has also identified the link between slender jaw and TB susceptibility.

Besides susceptibility to tuberculosis, earlier research has also linked left-handedness to psychotic disorders. In a study conducted by Yale researchers, they found that 40 percent of people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder are left-handed, a considerably high rate given that only 10 percent of the population is left-handed.

(Source: Tech Times)

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Sweden ends ID checks on Denmark travelers imposed as migration peaked

Rwanda brings rhinos back to boost tourismA decade after poachers wiped out its native population of rhinos, Rwan-da has reintroduced the animals to its national parks after flying up a group of 10 from South Africa on Tuesday.

The group will live at Rwanda’s Akagera National Park, protected by rangers trained in anti-poaching and an electric fence, authorities said.

Rhino horn, used as daggers and in traditional Asian medicine, is more expensive than gold or cocaine. It can sell for more than $50,000 per kilo.

“The (original) rhinos disappeared because there were cases of poach-ing,” Belise Kariza, the chief tourism officer at Rwanda’s development board, told Reuters.

“With rhinos reintroduced in Akagera National Park we now ac-tually have a Big Five definition. Definitely, that’s going to attract the attention of tourists,” she said, re-ferring to Africa’s famous Big Five animals - lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard.

Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner in East Africa. Rwanda, which is still heavily dependent on foreign aid after the 1994 genocide tore the nation apart, has been seeking to boost the sector.

Tourism generated $404 million from 1.3 visitors in 2016, and reve-nues are expected to climb 14 per-cent to 460 million in 2017.

(Source: Finance Time)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) — Swe-den is to lift identity checks on people entering the country from Denmark imposed at the height of the migration crisis, it said on Tuesday.

Sweden introduced border con-trols after more than 160,000 peo-ple sought asylum in 2015. That required an exemption from the EU’s free-movement rules which is due to expire on May 11.

Lifting the ID checks will end delays suffered by thousands of cross-border commuters, but the government says it will not lead to a return to the huge influx of asylum seekers whose number dropped to less than 30,000 in 2016.

“We will not return to the levels we had then (2015),” Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman told re-porters.

“We want to have the maximum possible control over those who come to Sweden.”

While ID checks on trains, bus-es and some ferries from Denmark will end, there will be tougher checks on arrival at the Swedish border, including increased cam-era surveillance, vehicle x-rays and number plate checks, the govern-ment said.

People arriving in Sweden will have to show they have the right to enter the country, not just present ID.

Jelling mounds and runic stones

The Jelling burial mounds and one of the runic stones are striking examples of pagan Nordic culture, while the other runic stone and the church illustrate the Christian-ization of the Danish people towards the middle of the 10th century.

Located in central Jutland, Denmark, Jelling was a royal monument during the reigns of Gorm, and his son Harald Bluetooth. It consists of two flat-topped mounds, 70 meters in diameter and up to 11 meters high, which are almost identical in shape and size and construction, being built of turf, carefully stacked in even layers, with the grass side facing downwards.

After introducing Christianity into Denmark, and inte-grating Norway with the country, Harald Bluetooth pro-claimed his achievements by erecting a stone between the two mounds and building the first wooden church at Jelling.

The large runic stone is located exactly midway be-tween the two mounds. Its incised inscription, beneath an inscribed interlaced Nordic dragon, reads “King Harald bade this monument be made in memory of Gorm his father and Thyra his mother, that Harald who won for himself all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christians”.

Marking the beginning of the conversion of the Scan-dinavian people to Christianity, the Jelling Mounds, runic stones and church are outstanding manifestations of an event of exceptional importance. The complex is excep-tional in Scandinavia, and the rest of Europe.

(Source: UNESCO)

ROUND THE GLOBE

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

HERITAGE & TOURISM MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017

TEHRAN — Iran’s Re-vitalization and Utiliza-

tion Fund for Historical Places has inked a memorandum of understanding with the Spanish hospitality company Paradores in a bid to refurbish some historical struc-tures across Iran and repurpose them into lodging facilities.

Signed by Iranian fund’s director Mo-hammadreza Pouyandeh and the Span-ish company’s president Angela Alarco Canosa, copies of the agreement were exchanged in Tehran on Monday, with Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Lopez Busquets and Juan Carlos Sanchez Gálvez, an official with Paradores in at-tendance, Saabta reported.

Based on the MOU, the sides agreed to encourage Iranian and Spanish tour-ists to travel to each other ’s country. Or-ganizing workshops, conducting inspec-tions, and consulting over restoration projects were other issues the two sides agreed upon.The Spanish firm runs a chain of luxury hotel accommodation in castles, palac-es, convents, monasteries, fortresses and other historic buildings.

Other European investors have re-cently expressed their readiness to fund the restoration and repurposing of his-torical houses in the cities of Kerman, Kashan, and Isfahan.

To help restore ancient buildings and make them profitable, an initiative by the fund provides opportunity for the private sector to cede historical buildings as long as they are repurposed into hotels, res-

taurants or lodging places.Iran is home to a large number of old

mansions and buildings, which can con-tribute to its budding tourism industry

if managed appropriately and restored carefully.

Spanish company to put extra sparkle to Iranian heritage sites

By Shivani Voraapril

How to pick a travel agent

Iran, Colombia move to deepen tourism, handicrafts ties

Finding the right travel agent is like find-ing the right doctor, according to David Kolner, who oversees the travel agent membership program for Virtuoso, a network of more than 15,000 agents globally. “This may sound extreme — af-ter all, they’re only booking your travel — but your leisure time is one of your most valuable assets, so why would you trust just anyone with it?” he said.

Here, he shares his tips on how to find the perfect agent:

Do your homework Finding the right agent requires re-

search. Start by asking friends and rel-atives for recommendations — if people you trust are happy with their travels, Mr. Kolner said, chances are you will be, too. You can also ask for recommendations on Facebook.

In addition, Virtuoso has a catalog on its site of 4,000 advisers; you can search by geographic location, areas of spe-cialization and languages spoken. Other travel networks with agents include the American Society of Travel Agents, the Signature Travel Network and American

Express Travel. You can also check out reviews of agents through a Google or Bing search or sites like Yelp.

Figuring out your needs Do you want someone who is a spe-

cialist in a particular destination to as-sist with planning one specific trip, such as a gorilla trekking adventure in Rwan-da? Or are you looking for someone who can help plan your travel for years to come, effectively someone who be-comes a specialist in you?

These can be the same person, Mr. Kolner said, but knowing what you want from the outset may lead you to a dif-ferent adviser.

How involved do you want to be? Some advisers like to plan every as-

pect of a trip, from booking airfare to making dinner reservations, while some are happy to offer a second opinion about your own research.

Some prefer phone interaction, while others are comfortable conversing via

email or text. It’s important, Mr. Kol-ner said, to work with an adviser who matches your travel planning personali-ty. You can find out if advisers are happy to hold your hand or leave you alone by asking them directly. “You’ll find that most are forthcoming about their com-munication style and travel planning process,” he said.

Don’t be scared off by fees It’s not uncommon for advisers to

charge a fee for their services, which could range from $50 to several hun-dred dollars, depending on the com-plexity of the trip.

Mr. Kolner said charging fees was a growing practice because advisers spent several hours planning their cli-ents’ trips and would have difficulty making a sustainable living without be-ing compensated for their time. “You are paying for an adviser ’s knowledge and for the perks they’re able to score for you,” he said.

The extras advisers can get their cli-ents at no cost could include room up-grades, early check-ins and late check-outs at hotels and airport transfers.

(Source: The New York Times)

Jelling stones in their glass casing

H E R I T A G Ed e s k

TEHRAN – Iran’s tourism chief and Colombia’s accredited ambassador

to Tehran have welcomed further cooperation in the arenas of tourism, cultural heritage, and handi-crafts, IRNA reported.

Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Or-ganization Director Zahra Ahmadipour hailed ac-tive presence of Colombian travelers, experts, and investors in Iran during a meeting with Juan Alfre-do Pinto Saavedra at the CHTHO headquarters on Tuesday.

She touched upon Iran’s rich history and civiliza-tion as well as unique tourist attractions, saying that very good relations between Iran and Colombia can help broaden ties between the two countries in

tourism and hospitality industries.Saavedra, for his part, described relations of the

two courtiers as constructive and developing, add-ing that Colombian officials are willing to broaden all-out cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Prospects of Iran’s relations with the world are very promising and Iran is against the unreal image depicted by some Western media,” IRNA quoted Saavedra as saying.

The official added that Colombia has suffered a lot from such unfounded allegations.

The Iranian government has put in a great deal of effort to revive tourism industry since the incum-bent President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in August 2013.

Iranian tourism official Mohammadreza Pouyandeh (L) shakes hands with Spanish Paradores official Juan Carlos Sanchez Gavez in Tehran on May 1, 2017. Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Lopez Busquets is seen in the picture as well.

Exemplary Iranian craftspeople honored

Nomadic carpets, textile in limelight at Tehran exhibit

Indonesia’s March foreign tourist arrivals rise 12.78 pct y/y

TEHRAN — A number of exemplary Iranian craftspeople were honored in

a ceremony, which was hosted by the Cultural Herit-age, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization in Tehran on Tuesday.

Amongst the honorees were traditional jewelry maker Mostafa Yahuei form Khorasan Razavi province, wood-carver Hesam Heydari form Kordestan province, leather craftsman Esmail Mirfakhrai from Isfahan province, and potter Mohammad Hossein Afshari from Alborz prov-ince, Mehr news agency reported.

The ceremony was attended by CHTHO Deputy Di-rector Bahman Namvar-Motlaq, several other cultural officials and tens of countrywide artisans.

Over the past couple of years, dozens of Iranian handicrafts have been honored with the UNESCO Seal of Excellence. In 2010, a total of 65 crafts on various themes including enamel, tile, metalwork, leatherwork, wood carving received the privilege.

TEHRAN — A vast variety of handwoven rugs, carpets, and textile designs by Ira-

nian nomads have been put on show at Imam Khomeini Mosalla in Tehran.

It also turns the spotlight on Gabbeh rugs which com-bine thick, heavy pile with bold colors and shapes in unu-sual and exciting combinations.

Products of 30 provinces including Fars, Sistan-Baluch-estan, Gilan, Isfahan, Golestan, and North Khorasan have been brought together for the exhibit that comes to an end on May 5.

Indonesia attracted 909,173 foreign tourists in the month of March, up 12.78 percent from a year earlier, the statis-tics bureau said on Tuesday.

Foreign tourist arrivals had risen 9.19 percent in Feb-ruary.

The total number of visitors in March, including those passing through Indonesia’s borders from neighboring countries and foreign workers with permits for less than one year, was 1.02 million, up 11.64 percent from a year earlier. (Source: Reuters)

N E W S I N B R I E F

H E R I T A G Ed e s k

H E R I T A G Ed e s k

T O U R I S Md e s k

CHTHO Director Zahra Ahmadipour presents a gift to Juan Alfredo Pinto Saavedra, Colombia’s accredited ambassador to Tehran, on May 2, 2017.

Humans will need to colonize another planet within one hundred years to ensure our survival, according to Pro-fessor Stephen Hawking.

The astrophysicist has made a new documentary, Ex-pedition New Earth, as part of the BBC’s new science season Tomorrow’s World. In it he will claim that time is running out for Earth and if humanity is to survive climate change, asteroid strikes, epidemics and over-population we will need to leave our planet and venture further afield.

In the landmark series, Prof Hawking and his former student Christophe Galfard will travel the world to find out how humans could live in outer space.

It is 14 years since the BBC cancelled its future-gazing series Tomorrow’s World after 38 years on air, but the corporation and the scientists involved promise the new season will be even better.

Tomorrow’s worldProfessor Brian Cox, the astrophysicist and TV pre-

senter who has been helping curate the series, said: The “original Tomorrow’s World inspired a generation – it certainly inspired me back in the 1970s, but that was a single TV program.

The “21st century Tomorrow’s World represents so

much more – it represents the institutions of Britain com-ing together to inspire current and future generations, to convince them to embrace the opportunities that sci-ence brings, to foster a spirit of curiosity and tolerance, and to embrace the unknown not in fear but in wonder.”

The BBC has joined forces with the Royal Society, Open University, London’s Science Museum and the Wellcome Trust, to “connect audiences with the brightest minds and institutions in science and technology”.

“We’ve come together behind a simple, and very bold ambition - to equip all of us with the knowledge and un-derstanding we need to make sense of our lives and the future,” said Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC.

“Whether it’s the rise of robotics or the demise of an-tibiotics, travelling to Mars or the arrival of 3D printed food, science is changing the world at an extraordinary pace.”

Dr. Hannah Fry, of UCL, will present 10 Things You Need To Know About The Future on BBC Two, while a brand new medical series Operation will follow the pio-neering work taking place in the operating theaters of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, where surgeons are pushing the boundaries of medical science.

A separate program, Toughest Job In The Universe, will follow 12 men and women as they undergo the rig-ors of astronaut selection. Former astronaut and Inter-national Space Station commander Chris Hadfield will lead the selection process based on space agencies’ application criteria.

In two controversial episodes, BBC Horizon will also explore the science of changing gender and whether it is possible to cure a psychopath.

(Source: The Telegraph)

Here’s a riddle: Taken together, a bat and a ball cost $1.10, but the bat costs $1 more than the ball. What’s the price of the bat?

An immediate answer probably jumps into your mind: $1. But that’s wrong. The correct answer is that the bat costs $1.05, and the ball $0.05. This query is part of what psychologists call the cognitive reflection test, which measures one’s ability to suppress a seemingly in-tuitive but incorrect answer. More generally, it’s a good gauge for one’s ability to reflect on their own mental processes, and to avoid making mental errors.

A study to be published in the journal Psychologi-cal Science found that after being given a single dose of testosterone, men were more likely to get this and similar questions wrong, and showed a lower score on measures of cognitive reflection compared to those who took a placebo. The study is significant for several rea-sons. For one, it’s the “only study (suggesting) that a sin-

gle administration of testosterone affects cognition,” says study first author Gideon Nave, a marketing assistant professor at The Wharton School, University of Penn-sylvania. The study also included 243 male participants, the largest sample size of any such study of testosterone.

Past research has shown that in animals, testosterone is heightened when males fight over mates. (Work in humans also shows testosterone levels rise in competitive situa-tions.) In these instances, it might be favorable to act more quickly, rather than taking the time to deliberate, says Nave, who completed the study while at CalTech, along with his then-advisor Colin Camerer, and Amos Nadler at Western University. The result fits with some past work linking higher levels of testosterone with more impulsive behavior.

However, the hormone’s exact effects are quite com-plicated, and the data in the study don’t “tell a clear story,” says Shane Frederick, a research at Yale who developed the cognitive reflection test. For example, people who

score higher on the cognitive reflection test tend to have a higher appetite for risk. However, higher levels of tes-tosterone also have been linked to more risk-taking. But this paper suggests higher testosterone lowers scores on the test, which should be linked with less risk-taking; the correlations aren’t in agreement. Frederick says further study is needed to unravel exactly what’s going on.

Pranjal Mehta, an assistant professor in the depart-ment of psychology at the University of Oregon, who also wasn’t involved in the paper, says he and colleagues just finished conducting a very similar study (which isn’t yet published), and found that testosterone had no ef-fect on cognitive reflection. The primary difference be-tween the two studies is that Nave’s group paid the par-ticipants, whereas Mehta’s group didn’t, he says (and his sample size was also slightly smaller). But neither he nor Frederick can say why payment would change the result.

(Source: Newsweek)

The rift in the Larsen C ice shelf in Ant-arctica now has a second branch, which is moving in the direction of the ice front, Swansea University researchers revealed after studying the latest satellite data.

The main rift in Larsen C, which is likely to lead to one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, is currently 180 km long. The new branch of the rift is 15 km long.

Last year, researchers from the UK’s Project Midas, led by Swansea University, reported that the rift was growing fast. Now, just 20km of ice is keeping the 5,000 sq km piece from floating away.

Professor Adrian Luckman of Swansea

University College of Science, head of Project Midas, described the latest find-ings.

While the previous rift tip has not advanced, a new branch of the rift has been initiated. This is approximately 10km behind the previous tip, heading towards the ice-front.

Significant changeThis is the first significant change to the

rift since February of this year. Although the rift length has been static for several months, it has been steadily widening, at rates in excess of a meter per day.

It is currently winter in Antarctica,

therefore direct visual observations are rare and low resolution. Our observations of the rift are based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry from ESA’s Sentinel-1 satellites. Satellite radar inter-ferometry allows a very precise monitor-ing of the rift development.

Researchers say the loss of a piece a quarter of the size of Wales will leave the whole shelf vulnerable to future break-up. Larsen C is approximately 350m thick and floats on the seas at the edge of West Antarctica, holding back the flow of gla-ciers that feed into it.

When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf

will lose more than 10% of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded; this event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.

We have previously shown that the new configuration will be less stable than it was prior to the rift, and that Larsen C may even-tually follow the example of its neighbor Lars-en B, which disintegrated in 2002 following a similar rift-induced calving event.

The MIDAS Project will continue to monitor the development of the rift and assess its ongoing impact on the ice shelf.

(Source: phys.org)

While recent media reports have con-demned a commonly used agricultural pesticide as detrimental to honey bee health, scientists with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture have found that the overall health of honey bee hives actually improves in the pres-ence of agricultural production.

The study, “Agricultural Landscape and Pesticide Effects on Honey Bee Bi-ological Traits” which was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology, evaluated the impacts of row-crop agriculture, including the tra-ditional use of pesticides, on honey bee health. Results indicated that hive health was positively correlated to the presence of agriculture.

“We’re not saying that pesticides are not a factor in honeybee health. There were a few events during the season where insecticide applications caused the death of some foraging bees,” says Mohamed Alburaki, lead author and post-doctoral fellow with the University of Tennessee Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology (EPP). “However, our study suggests that the benefits of better nutrition sources and nectar yields found in agricultural areas outweigh the risks of exposure to agricultural pesticides.”

Experimental apiariesAlburaki and fellow researchers estab-

lished experimental apiaries in multiple locations in western Tennessee ranging

from non-agricultural to intense agricul-tural production.

Over the course of a year, colo-nies were monitored for performance and productivity by measuring colony weight, brood production and colony thermoregulation. Colony thermoregu-lation, or the ability to maintain an op-timal temperature within a hive, is an

important factor in brood development and the health of the resulting adult bees.

According to the study, hives located in areas with high to moderate agricul-tural vegetation grew faster and larger than those in low or non-agricultural areas. Researchers suggest the greater population sizes enabled better colony

thermoregulation in these hives, as well.Meanwhile, bees located in a non-ag-

ricultural environment were challenged to find food. Although fewer pesticide contaminants were reported in these are-as, the landscape did not provide sustain-able forage. In fact, during the observa-tions, two colonies in the non-agricultural areas collapsed due to starvation.

Brood rearingDisruptions and fluctuations in brood

rearing were also more notable in a non-agricultural environment. Interest-ingly, brood production was highest in the location that exhibited a more evenly distributed mix of agricultural production, forests and urban activity.

“One possible explanation for this finding could be the elevated urban activity in this location,” says Alburaki. “Ornamental plantings around homes or businesses, or backyard gardens are examples of urban activity that increase the diversity of pollen in an area. Great-er pollen diversity has been credited with enhancing colony development.”

Researchers also evaluated trapped pollen from each colony for pesticide res-idues. Low concentrations of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides were iden-tified, but at levels well below the lethal dose for honey bees. Imidacloprid was the only neonicotinoid detected, also at sub-lethal levels.

(Source: EurekAlert)

NASA video will teach you more about clouds From the perspective of us here on Earth, clouds are usually pretty boring. Sure, sometimes we spot one that looks cool or see a unique formation that we take a photo of for Instagram and then move on with our lives. But for astronauts and satel-lite cameras looking down on the planet from above, clouds have a ton of personality.

Recently, NASA Earth Observatory created a fantastic vid-eo compilation of some of the most stunning cloud photo-graphs the agency has captured over the years, along with handy bits of info about how clouds form and why they act the way they do.

From Canada and Morocco to Madagascar and Peru, each cloud formation is completely different from the ones before it, and each has a unique set of circumstances that allowed it to take shape.

One of the coolest of the bunch, and the only one in the slideshow that shows signs of direct influence form humans, is this photo of what NASA terms “hole-punch clouds.”

The thin sheet of cloud cover over Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas in this image shows how human air traf-fic can change the way clouds look and move. The holes and jagged scars in the clouds are actually created by jet liners making their way through.

“If you were to look from below, it would appear as if part of the cloud was falling out of the sky,” NASA explains. “As it turns out, that’s actually what’s happening. The clouds are initially composed of liquid drops at a super-cooled tempera-ture below 0° Celsius. As an airplane passes through a cloud, particles in its exhaust can create a disturbance that triggers freezing. Ice particles then quickly grow at the expense of water droplets.”

(Source: BGR News)

Total solar eclipse in August 2017The first observed solar eclipse happened in 2134 B.C. although they’ve been occurring as long as Earth has had a moon.

This year the United States will see a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. This is the first total solar eclipse the country has seen since July 7, 1972. While there are three types of solar eclipse events, a total solar eclipse is perhaps the most stunning.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the Earth and the sun, appearing to cover the entire area of the sun in the sky. The moon is about 237,674 miles from Earth, so be-cause it’s fairly small it ap-pears to be about the same size as the sun. When there is a total solar eclipse, the moon fully comes between the Earth and the sun and blocks the sun’s light from hitting Earth. It also casts a shadow directly on a specific part of the Earth at the time.

In that spot on the Earth it gets so dark, it almost appears to be night, NASA notes.

The two other types of solar events are partial solar eclips-es and the second is an annular eclipse. A partial eclipse oc-curs in the penumbra, or the partially shaded outer edge of a shadow or eclipse.

How frequently do solar eclipses happen?Solar eclipses vary in frequency depending on where you

are on Earth. Some areas see total solar eclipses far more frequently than most areas. So in some areas, a total eclipse may only happen every 100 years or so while other areas may see two within a decade, NASA says. Total eclipses can happen two to four times annually.

The first thing to keep in mind when trying to see a solar eclipse is that you should under no circumstances look di-rectly at the sun.

(Source: IBT)

Robot can drill through your skull in 2 minutes A drill-wielding robot that bores into your skull for a quick spot of impromptu brain surgery sounds like a scene from a future sci-fi dystopia, in which AI treats Earth’s surviving humans like lab rats.

In fact, it’s a new research project from the good folks at the University of Utah, who have developed a computer-driv-en automated drill for cranial surgery. That means safely cut-ting an opening — called a bone flap — in the skull so that the brain can be accessed underneath. While it would take an experienced surgeon 2 hours to carry out this task using hand-drilling, the University of Utah’s robot is able to achieve the same thing in just 2.5 minutes. That’s 50x faster than was previously possible — which for some reason makes us all kinds of nervous!

While that may be the case, though, there are actually excellent reasons for doing this kind of surgery very rapidly.

In other words, it’s not the brain surgery equivalent of Bishop the android’s ultra-fast knife trick from Aliens, that’s just there to show how good robots have gotten.

Carrying out cranial surgery quickly means less time for a wound to be open and a patient to be anesthetized, thereby offering a reduced risk of infection.

Using the technology, a patient is first imaged using a CT scan, allowing for the gathering of bone data and informa-tion about sensitive structures like nerves and major veins. The surgeons then program the drill’s optimal route using 3D modeling tech, which Alagar Krishnan Balaji, Associate Pro-fessor in Mechanical Engineering, describes as being a bit “like Google Maps” — only on a much, much smaller scale.

(Source: Digital Trends)

S C I E N C EMAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017 11I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Startling warning from Stephen Hawking – we must leave Earth

Testosterone supplements may impair decision-making

New branch revealed in latest data from Antarctic ice shelf

Essential Science Indicators (ESI) released the latest re-sults of ranking top scientists, universities and research centers in March 2017.

Given the above issue, 39 scientists in the field of medical sciences of the country were listed among one percent of weighty scientists of the world.

Of total top scholars and scientists grouped in ESI, 22 of whom were selected from Tehran Uni-versity of Medical Sciences, three from Tabriz,

Mashhad and Baqiyatallah universities of Medical Sciences and two from Shahid Beheshti, Isfahan and Shiraz universities of medical sciences and also one from each of Iran and Zanjan universities of medical sciences.

According to the Science Survey Department of Research and Technology Deputy Office of the Health Ministry, list of one percent weighty scientists in top medical sciences universities of the country was classi-

fied according to the number of citations in “All Fields” of sciences.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Farzadfar, Pres-ident of Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center at Metabolism and Endocrinology Research Center, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, is listed among one percent of world’s distinguished scientists for the fourth consecutive year.

Presence of Distinguished Iranian Scientists in World Scientific Ranking, a Source of Pride

Scientists say agriculture is good for honey bees

According to the study, hives located in areas with high to moderate agricultural vegetation grew faster and larger than those in low or non-agricultural areas.

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

S O C I E T Y MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 201712

Every year, May 3 is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991. This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.

It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined,

suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.

It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favor of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.

May 3 acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General Message

Journalists go to the most dangerous places to give voice to the voiceless.

Media workers suffer character assassination, sexual assault, detention, injuries and even death.

We need leaders to defend a free media. This is crucial to counter prevailing misinformation.

And we need everyone to stand for our right to truth.

On World Press Freedom Day, I call for an end to all crackdowns against journalists – because a free press advances peace and justice for all.

When we protect journalists, their words and pictures can change our world.

(Source: un.org & Unesco.org)

World Press Freedom Day 2017

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink

Explanation: You can offer somebody an opportu-nity to do something but you can’t force them to do it

For example: We’ve gotten all the college cata-logs but he still hasn’t applied-you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

Choose up Meaning: Form groups or teams

For example: let’s choose up and play ball

Bee in one’s bonnet Explanation: Someone who has a bee in their

bonnet has an idea which constantly occupies their thoughts.

For example: She’s got a bee in her bonnet about moving to New York.

ENGLISH PROVERB PHRASAL VERB ENGLISH IDIOM

ENGLISH IN USE

Tehrani citizens waste 200 hours per year in traffic: councilor Tehrani citizens waste an overall 200 hours per year of their life in traffic congestion, the head of environment committee of the City Council of Tehran has said.Considering the city’s 9 million population with over 18 million vehicle trips per day, they waste 6 million hours each day in traffic congestion, ISNA quoted Mohammad Haqqani as saying. “And if you regard the working days in each year, over 200 hours of their life is wasted in traffic congestion.”The increase of traffic congestion will lead to more air pollution and endanger Tehran environment as well, he regretted.

سالى 200 ساعت «عمر» تهرانى ها در ترافيك تلف مى شود

ــا ايســنا، ــى در گفت وگــو ب رئيــس كميتــه محيــط زيســت شــوراى شــهر تهــران محمــد حقانبــا بيــان اينكــه جمعيــت ثابــت شــهر تهــران حــدود 9 ميليــون نفــر و تعــداد ســفرهاى روزانــه ــه ازاى هــر ــا احتســاب 20 دقيقــه معطلــى ب ــر 18 ميليــون ســفر اســت، گفــت: ب ــغ ب نيــز بال

ــود. ــف مى ش ــك تل ــا در ترافي ــت تهرانى ه ــاعت وق ــون س ــه 6 ميلي ــك، روزان ــفر در ترافي ســهر ــت ش ــون جمعي ــر 9 ميلي ــت را ب ــالف وق ــون ات ــن 6 ميلي ــر اي ــه اگ ــان اينك ــا بي وى بتهــران تقســيم كنيــم ســهم هــر تهرانــى در شــبانه روز 40 دقيقــه مى شــود ادامــه ــل 300 روز ــام تعطي ــه و اي ــاى جمع ــاب روزه ــدون احتس ــال را ب ــام كارى س ــر اي داد: اگــت ــاعت وق ــى 200 س ــه عبارت ــه و ب ــزار دقيق ــال 12 ه ــر س ــم، در ه ــر بگيري كارى در نظ

شــهروندان در ترافيــك تلــف مى شــود.

LEARN NEWS TRANSLATIONLEARN NEWS TRANSLATION

Going to the Beach A: Oh, George, what a beautiful day it is today! The sun is hot and there are just a few clouds scattered here and there! What a perfect day to be at the beach! The kids are going to have so much fun! And we’ll be able to relax in the sun while they’re playing.B: It does seem like the perfect day! I’m glad we chose to get out of the city and enjoy the nice weather! This looks like the perfect spot! Ok kids, put on your sunscreen while your mom and I set up camp. Here, Mary, help me lay down these beach towels.A: There we go. Can you help me with the umbrella? Perfect.B: Ok kids, here’s a beach ball and a Frisbee, a pail and a shovel. I want to see an impressive sandcastle by the time we leave. Don’t stray too far. Wait! Leave your sandals here or put on your wet shoes.A: And stay in the shallow area. I don’t want to see you go any farther than that sandbar! It’s too deep out there and we didn’t bring your floaties.B: You’re back already? The water was too cold, huh? I’ll tell you a secret. Do you see that small pool of water over there? It’ll be warmer in there. Go see if you can find some seashells or catch some minnows.A: What is that? A jellyfish? Jeremy, put that down right now! It could sting you!B: Ah! Not on me! Ow!

Key Vocabularyscattered: something that is spread all over an area here and therespot: a particular space or areaset up: preparelay down: assume a reclining positionFrisbee: a light, plastic disk for playingshovel: a hand tool for lifting loose materialsandcastle: a small model of a castle that is made of sandstray: go in a direction that is away from a groupshallow: having little depthsandbar: a raised area of sand with a top floaty: lifesaving appliance in the oceanminnow: a very small fish that lives in rivers and lakes

Supplementary Vocabularysun glasses: glasses which protect the eyes from the sunsun tan: a darkening of the skin from long exposure to the sunbeach bum: a person who spends everyday at the beachsunburn: a skin irritation caused by overexposure to the sunstar fish: star shaped fish found in the ocean

L E A R N E N G L I S H

S O C I E T Yd e s k

Deputy FM follows up on Lake Urmia restoration

TEHRAN — Deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Abbas

Araqchi traveled on Wednesday to West Azarbaijan province to follow up on Lake Urmia restoration programs, IRIB reported.

Lake Urmia, northwestern Iran, and once the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake

on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 square kilometers is facing a dramatic decline for some years now.

The lake which was a major tourist attraction and a home to migratory birds has shrunk substantially. Old and inefficient irrigation methods, depleting ground water resources within the lake watershed, long periods of drought, damming rivers which were supposed to

flow into the lake and on top of that mismanagement and inappropriate measures intensified the lake’s status over time.

Currently, the government is taking measures and trying to facilitate international cooperation to restore the lake to its former glory.

Accordingly, in his trip Araqchi is following up on the recent improvements of the lake restoration programs with the sole purpose of securing international cooperation to bring back life to the lake once again.

“In a collaborative effort the foreign ministry and Lake Urmia restoration headquarters are conducting joint restoration programs with Japan, Australia, and Italy,” Araqchi said, noting, “Hence, it is of primary importance for the Iranian diplomats to familiarize themselves with the lake’s ecological features and characteristics.”

He further explained that the restoration programs with Japan, Australia, and Italy are yet to be implemented. “Currently, we are undertaking research works,” Araqchi stated.

Dispatcher heard snoring on 911 call is suspended for 6 daysCLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland police dispatcher heard snoring on a recorded 911 call has been suspended for six days for sleeping on the job.

WJW-TV reports Jasmin Thomas pleaded no contest to internal charges from the department’s investigation.

The local police union president, Steve Loomis, says Thomas is a single mother who was working full-time and attending college. Loomis says those aren’t excuses but the reality of Thomas’ situation, and the concerns about her sleeping on duty have led her to change her lifestyle.

On one recorded call, Thomas answers but no caller speaks, and then Thomas is heard snoring. In another call about a burning stove, Thomas takes 10 seconds to answer and 40 seconds more to transfer to firefighters.

The police chief declined an interview to discuss the matter.

1 “The collection, the treatment and safe use of wastewater are at the very foundation of the circular economy which result in economic development with the sustainable use of resources,” the UNESCO official stated.

“Reclaimed water are largely under-exploited resources which can be used many times,” Laroche, reiterating, “Water treatment technologies do not need to be out of reach for developing countries because low cost treatment solutions already allow for the extraction of energy and nutrients, they may not yet allow for the direct recovery of potable water but they can produce viable and safe water for other uses such as irrigation and materials derived from waste water can also provide additional revenue to help cover the investment and additional costs of wastewater treatment.”

“And I’m therefore very pleased that water quality, water reuse, and wastewater recycling feature prominently on the agenda of this conference. Iran has made lots of efforts in the area of wastewater treatment and I hope that you’ll share these local experiences that can also benefit other countries in the region,” she highlighted.

Water shortage to affect one in four people by 2050

By 2050 at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurrent shortages of fresh water if we don’t take urgent action, she warned, “it is therefore not surprising that access to water and sanitation as well as environmental protection and sustainable urban development are issues at the heart of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.”

She further noted that “in September 2015 world leaders adopted a set of 17 sustainable development goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all and goal number 6 deals specifically with water; it calls upon conscience to ensure access water and sanitation for all, but sustainable water management is not just important for goal number 6, it is really vital in achieving all of the sustainable development goals.”

“In a world of 7 billion people with limited natural resources it is clear that individuals and societies will have to learn to live together in harmony and to

take responsible actions based on the understanding that our actions today and here will have implications for the lives and livelihoods of people on other sides of the world as well as for future generations,” she said.

“And sustainability requires substantial changes in the ways we produce and consume. Fundamentally it requires new ways of seeing the world. New ways of thinking about our responsibilities to each other and to the planet and new ways of acting and behaving as global citizens. And this is why today, perhaps more than ever before, we make joint efforts to move forward,” she suggested.

Global water use outpaces population growth

Addressing the conference Laroche continued “the planet’s fresh water resources if managed sustainably and effectively can meet demands of the world growing population with good water policies. But we will have to make decisive urgent action because global water use is growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century and for many countries water scarcity is already the most pressing challenge to social, economic, and human development at large.”

Today more than half of humanity, 3.9 billion people, live in cities and this global urban population will continue

to grow at an unprecedented rate with two out of three people expected to live in cities by the year 2050, she pointed, saying, “So finding solution for sustainable urban water management is indeed a very pressing issue and the development for national capacities in urban water management is a pre-condition for understanding a developing solution to address water scarcity around the world.”

Poor water quality not only negatively affects human health and ecosystem in multiple ways but also makes water unfits for different purposes and hence reduces the water resources availability and consequently water pollution is one of the greatest threats to availability and reduction of fresh water.

“Our planet today is facing unprecedented challenges ranging from increasing social disparity and inequity, population growth, climate change, arising number of natural disasters, environmental degradation, shrinking biodiversity, to the unsustainable use of fresh water resources,” Laroche lamented, adding, “Our planet is under pressure, and we are reaching the limits of its boundaries. Across the world water scarcity is increasing exacerbated by the effects of climate change and this is why it gets to become of the most important human security challenges for the near future.”

“Let me just once more underscore

the importance of this conference and your presence today,” she underlined, “We really count on your expertise and your active participation over the coming days to compile the outcome this event into UNESCO publication on advances of water management in arid and semi-arid areas. The purpose is to share your experiences and your recommendations and your lessons learnt with countries around the world.”

Low precipitation’s impact on highly populated areas

Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi, for his part, commented on the negative effects of urbanization particularly in areas with lower precipitation levels.

Iran is situated in an arid and semi-arid area and many provinces such as Isfahan, South Khorasan, Semnan, and Kerman are highly populated while there isn’t enough water to support the dwellers, Mahmoudi said.

Creating balance between the population and the amount of water available comes at a great cost; he explained, “Transferring water, building dams, and recycling are of the expensive methods we need to implement to manage water in these regions.”

“The truth is that the water resources are shrinking due to global warming and increasing evaporation levels and that means we have to come up with more sustainable methods of development,” the deputy minister noted.

“We did a great job in urban wastewater treatment, however we still need to put a great deal of effort into equipping rural areas with proper wastewater treatment plants,” he added.

Arranged by Tehran Regional Water and Wastewater Company and Energy Ministry in association with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Hydrological Program (IHP) the three day event is concentrating on water security particularly in human settlement in urban areas.

The event also includes six various workshops intending to discuss water related issues with lecturers from the U.S., Cyprus, South Korea, China, Australia, France, and South Africa.

We cannot afford to waste wastewater: UNESCO representative to Iran

Esther Kuisch Laroche

China on Wednesday called on all parties in the Korean standoff to stay calm and “stop irritating each other” a day after North Korea said the United States was pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war.

The United States has urged China, reclusive North Korea’s lone major ally, to do more to rein in its neighbor’s nu-clear and missile programs which have prompted an assertive response from the Trump administration, warning that the “era of strategic patience” is over.

The United States has sent a nucle-ar-powered aircraft carrier to Korean wa-ters and a pair of strategic U.S. bombers flew training drills with the South Korean and Japanese air forces in another show of strength this week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, asked about the bomber flights, the drills and North Korea’s re-sponse, stressed that the situation was “highly complex” and sensitive.

“The urgent task is to lower tempera-tures and resume talks,” he told reporters.

“We again urge all relevant parties to remain calm and exercise restraint, stop irritating each other, work hard to create an atmosphere for contact and dialogue between all sides, and seek a return to the correct path of dialogue and negoti-ation as soon as possible.”

The flight of the two bombers came as U.S. President Donald Trump raised eye-brows when he said he would be “hon-ored” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the right circumstances, and as his CIA director landed in South Korea for talks.

North Korea said the bombers con-ducted “a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects” in its territory at a time when Trump and “other U.S. war-mongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike” on the North.

“The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean pen-

insula closer to the brink of nuclear war,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that the North might conduct its sixth nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

In a telephone call with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all sides to ex-ercise restraint and return to the correct path of talks as soon as possible, state radio reported.

China opposes THAADThe U.S. military’s THAAD anti-missile

defense system has reached initial op-erational capacity in South Korea, U.S. officials told Reuters, although they cau-tioned that it would not be fully opera-tional for some months.

China has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the system, whose power-ful radar it fears could reach inside Chi-nese territory, just as Trump has praised

Chinese President Xi Jinping for his ef-forts to rein in North Korea.

It was widely feared North Korea could conduct a nuclear test on or around April 15 to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the North’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, or on April 25, the 85th anniver-sary of the foundation of its Korean Peo-ple’s Army.

The North has conducted such tests or missile launches to mark significant events in the past.

Instead, North Korea held a big mili-tary parade featuring a display of missiles on April 15 and then a large, live-fire artil-lery drill 10 days later.

Trump drew criticism in Washington on Monday when he said he would be “honored” to meet North Korea’s young leader.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg News.

Trump did not say what conditions

would be needed for such a meeting to occur or when it could happen.

Clearly conditions are not there right now,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

Trump warned in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

Trump has stepped up outreach to allies in Asia to secure their cooperation to pressure North Korea, and over the weekend he spoke with the leaders of Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines in separate phone calls.

The U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph R. Donovan, told reporters Indo-nesia was among several countries that the United States was urging take a “fresh look” at their North Korea ties.

He declined to go into details of what action the United States wanted, but said: “We are hoping that countries will look at what they can be doing to bring North Korea around to meaning-ful steps to end its nuclear and missile programs.”

Trump’s calls to the Asian leaders came after North Korea test-launched a missile that appeared to have failed with-in minutes, its fourth successive failed launch since March. It has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile-re-lated activities at an unprecedented pace since the beginning of last year.

The North is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 con-flict ended in a truce, not a treaty, and it regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday meanwhile spoke by tele-phone about Syria and “about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea”, the White House said.

(Source: Reuters)

Syrian city hit by car bombing, 7 killed

Israeli forces shoot, injure 10 Palestinian in West Bank

A car bomb has been set off in a city in Syria’s northern Aleppo Province, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 others.

The bombing occurred near the al-Maytam Mosque in the city of Azaz, which is held by militants, on Wednes-day, according to Lebanon’s al-Ahd news outlet.

It was also not clear who or what group was responsible for the blast.

In a separate incident, in the south-western city of Dara’a, terrorist groups threw several grenades in the al-Qosur and as-Sabil neighborhoods, Syria al-Watan news network reported, but gave no details on possible casualties.

According to the report, clashes also erupted in the vicinity of the town of Heza on the outskirts of the capital, Da-mascus, between rival terrorist groups known as Jaysh-ul-Islam and Feylah al-Rahman, which led to the killing of a child.

Moreover, opposition-linked Smart

Syria news agency reported that all movements had been halted in the city of Zamelka after an intensification of clashes between armed militant groups there, which is near the Damascus Prov-ince.

The developments come as a delegation of Syria’s warring sides are in Kazakhstan’s capital of As-tana for talks organized by Russia, Iran, and Turkey to find a political resolution of the foreign-spon-sored crisis in Syria.

Syria has been fighting foreign-spon-sored militancy since March 2011.

The United Nations (UN)’s Spe-cial Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistu-ra estimated in August last year that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the war until then. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in the war-torn country, citing its inabili-ty to verify the figures it receives from various sources.

(Source: SANA)

Nearly a dozen Palestinians have sus-tained gunshot wounds after Israeli military forces stormed a refugee camp in the southern part of the West Bank amid ongoing tensions between pro-testers and Israeli troops in the occu-pied Palestinian territories.

Informed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Ara-bic-language Safa news agency that Israeli troopers raided Arrub refugee camp, located 15 kilometers south of Bethlehem, on Wednesday, prompt-ing skirmishes with local residents.

The Israeli forces fired live and rub-ber-coated steel bullets and used exces-sive amounts of tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The sources added that three young Palestinian men were struck with live bullets, while seven others were hit with rubber bullets.

The area was then covered with a cloud of smoke and dozens of pro-testers suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Meanwhile, unidentified armed men have fatally shot a municipal night guard in Kafr Qasim city, located about 20 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.

Local sources identified the victim as 27-year-old Hamad Badair.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Je-rusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Pal-estinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

(Source: Press TV)

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

MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017

Myanmar rejects UN probe into crimes against RohingyaMyanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected a decision by the United Nations’ rights council to investi-gate allegations of killings, rape and torture by army forces against Rohingya Muslims in the county’s troubled Rakhine State.

Suu Kyi said in a news conference with the European Un-ion foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels that she did not agree with a relevant resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in March.

The resolution called for sending an international fact-find-ing mission to investigate the allegations in Rakhine and urged the Myanmar government to cooperate.

“We have disassociated ourselves from the resolution be-cause we do not think that the resolution is in keeping with what is actually happening on the ground,” she said on Tues-day.

Suu Kyi said she would only accept recommendations from a separate advisory commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan. Any other input would “divide” communities, she added.

Mogherini, however, supported the international mission, saying the agreed resolution would help clear up uncertainty about allegations of killings, torture and rape against Rohing-ya Muslims.

“The fact-finding mission is focusing on establishing the truth about the past,” Mogherini said. “We believe that this can contribute to establishing the facts.”

Since October 2016, Myanmar’s forces have been carrying out a military crackdown in Rakhine State, where the Rohing-ya community is mainly based, following a raid on a police post that was blamed on Rohingya-linked militants.

According to a report issued by the UN last month, My-anmar’s forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes against members of the community. UN investigators inter-viewed 220 Rohingya among 75,000, who have fled to Bang-ladesh since October 2016.

The report warned that the killings, gang rapes of Rohing-ya Muslims have been occurring in a campaign that “very likely” amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly eth-nic cleansing. Suu Kyi, however, rejected the report.

The Nobel Peace laureate told BBC last month, “I don’t think there is ethnic cleansing going on.”

Hundreds of Rohingya have been killed and tens of thou-sands have been forced from their homes to live in squalid camps in dire conditions in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The government denies full citizenship to the 1.1 mil-lion-strong population, branding them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims are believed to be a community of ancient lineage in Myanmar.

According to the UN, the Rohingya Muslims are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

(Source: agencies)

317 civilians killed in violence, armed conflicts in Iraq in April: UNThe United Nations says terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts took the lives of more than 300 people and left hun-dreds of others wounded in Iraq last month.

According to the latest figures released by the UN As-sistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 317 Iraqis and left 403 others wounded last month.

The UN mission added that the death toll included 309 civilians, while the number of injured civilians stood at 309.

The worst-affected area was the northern province of Nineveh, where violence took the lives of 153 civilians and left 123 others wounded. Fifty-five people also lost their lives in the capital province of Baghdad, and 179 others sustained injuries there.

“Daesh terrorists have detonated car bombs in residential neighborhoods in Mosul and attacked civilians desperately fleeing the fighting as the security forces liberate more terri-tory from the terrorists. But Daesh’s atrocities were not con-fined to the combat zones and spared no one. They have struck in liberated areas, where people are trying to rebuild their lives, using bombers,” said Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief, citing an attack in the city of Tikrit in Salahuddin Province earlier in April and a bombing in the Karradah neighborhood of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad last weekend.

“But Daesh’s savage campaign of terror has failed to weaken the will and the unity of the Iraqi people, who are increasingly seeing victory against the terrorists within reach,” Kubis pointed out.

Daesh put 13 Iraqi civilians to death in western Mosul Meanwhile, members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group

have executed more than a dozen civilians who were fleeing the western part of Mosul.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Baghdadia news agency that the Daesh terrorists leveled charges of “attempts to cross to the land of infidels” against 15 residents of Mosheirfeh region and then executed them.

Three children and a woman were among the slain vic-tims, the source added.

Iraqi army soldiers and pro-government fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, have made sweeping gains against the Takfiri elements since launching the operation to retake Mosul.

The Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

The United Nations says nearly half a million civilians have fled fighting since the offensive to retake Mosul started on October 17, 2016.

(Source: Press TV)

China urges all sides in North Korea standoff to ‘stop irritating’ one another

Amnesty International says tens of thou-sands of activists worldwide have signed an online petition calling for the release of around 120 journalists detained in Tur-key following the abortive July 2016 mil-itary coup.

In a Wednesday report, the UK-based rights group said top journalists, car-toonists and world-renowned artists are among the signatories to the petition, which also wants the Ankara government to stop the “ruthless crackdown on free-dom of expression” in the country.

The #FreeTurkeyMedia campaign has gathered some 250,000 signatures since February, the report said.

“A large swathe of Turkey’s independ-

ent journalists are languishing behind bars, held for months on end without charge or trial, or facing prosecution on the basis of vague anti-terrorism laws,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty.

“Today our thoughts are with all jour-nalists who are imprisoned or facing threats and reprisals, but our particular focus is on Turkey where free expression is being ruthlessly muzzled. We call on Turkey’s authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists jailed simply for doing their job,” he add-ed.

The report comes as protests are planned in different world cities on

Wednesday to mark World Press Free-dom Day.

Since the failed coup last summer, An-kara has closed down at least 156 media outlets, while an estimated 2,500 journal-ists and other media workers have lost their jobs.

Many of the journalists and cartoon-ists behind bars in Turkey stand accused of terrorism offences due to the online posts and cartoons or opinion pieces critical of the government.

As part of a wider post-coup clamp-down, around 47,000 people have been remanded in prison and more than 100,000 public sector employees sum-marily dismissed in Turkey.

The Amnesty report also criticized Turkey’s post-coup state of emergency, which allows lengthy periods of pre-trial detention.

“Charges leveled against media work-ers are often trumped up, sometimes patently absurd or wholly lacking any ev-idence of an actual criminal offence,” the report added.

According to the 2017 World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in April, Turkey has descended into an authoritarian govern-ment under Erdogan and is currently “the world’s biggest prison for media profes-sionals.”

(Source: agencies)

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Rus-sia’s relationship with Turkey had fully recovered after what he called a crisis caused by Ankara’s shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in 2015.

Russia retaliated against Turkey at the time with a slew of economic sanctions and Ankara later took meas-ures which made life difficult for Moscow too.

Speaking after holding talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea Russian resort of Sochi, Putin said relations were finally getting back to normal

and that trade had stopped falling.“Some time ago our bilateral ties, as it well known,

were tested. Now we can say with certainty remark that the recovery process in Russo-Turkish ties is complete,” Putin told a news conference. “We are getting back to a normal cooperative partnership.”

Putin said Russia would launch a joint investment fund with Turkey with funds of up to $1 billion and said Moscow stood ready to help Turkey improve security measures at its tourist resorts.

(Source: Reuters)

250,000 activists sign petition to back jailed Turkish journalists: Amnesty

Putin says Russia’s relations with Turkey have fully recovered

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 MAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 201714

A striker of infamous Portuguese side Canelas has been banned for four years after kneeing a referee in the face.

Footage emerged last month of Marco Goncalves physically assaulting an official in their match against Rio Tinto before being escorted off the field by police.

Canelas are top of the Portuguese fourth tier this season, although the majority of their victories have been by default as opposition sides are afraid to face the club and have chosen to incur a €750 fine rather

than to take the field.Their team includes members of FC

Porto’s “Super Dragons” ultras.In February, Canelas were

branded “thugs” and “butchers” by Manuel Gomes, the president of rival club Grijo.

If Canelas win their league, they will enter a playoff to be promoted to the third division, the lowest level of professional football in Portugal, and be eligible to play in the Portuguese Cup.

(Source: Soccernet)

Canelas’ Marco Goncalves banned for four years after referee assault

Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim have played down reports linking their sporting directors with Arsenal.

Both Dortmund’s Michael Zorc and Hoffenheim’s Alexander Rosen have been mooted as possible targets for Arsenal by reports in the English media.

On Tuesday, the Daily Mirror reported that the duo, along with Marc Overmars of Ajax, were in contention for a move to the Emirates.

Hoffenheim media director Holger Kliem told ESPN FC: “We are aware of the

reports and the speculation. But, as always, we won’t join in with this speculation.”

Rosen, 38, is under contract at Hoffenheim until 2018, and told Bild at the weekend that the league run-in was more important than negotiating a new deal at the club he has been with for eight years.

Zorc, meanwhile, told Bild: “I feel pretty good at Dortmund.”

The 54-year-old has been at Dortmund since 1978, first as a player and then as sporting director. His current deal expires in 2019.

(Soccernet)

Dortmund and Hoffenheim play down Arsenal sporting director speculation

Boston rushes to apologize after racist taunts of athleteFans at Boston’s Fenway Park gave Baltimore Orioles out-fielder Adam Jones a loud ovation on Tuesday and the city, state and Red Sox officials apologized to the player, the day after he said he was subjected to racial taunting during a game there.

Civil rights advocates said the Monday night incident at Boston’s historic ballpark illustrated simmering racism that is pervasive in a city that considers itself one of the most liberal in the United States.

“A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,” Jones, a five-time All-Star, told reporters after the game. “I got called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome.”

Jones, who is African-American, said it was not the first time he had been the target of racial insults but that the ones hurled from the park’s bleachers were the worst he had faced.

He later told reporters he hoped the fans would be barred from attending future games at the 105-year-old park. The Red Sox said two people were ejected.

“This is unacceptable and not who we are as a city,” Bos-ton Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. “These words and actions have no place in Fenway, Boston, or anywhere.”

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker called the incident “unacceptable & shameful” in a Twitter post, while the Red Sox issued an apology.

“Our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few,” Sam Kennedy, the team’s presi-dent. “Any spectator behaving in this manner forfeits his/her right to remain in the ballpark.”

The incident came months after “Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che called Boston “the most racist city I’ve ever been to.” He drew criticism, but Che stood by his comments, fol-lowing with a March Instagram post that read: “My grandma is racist too, but i still love her.”

Experiences like Jones’ are common in Boston, said Tan-isha Sullivan, president of the Boston NAACP civil rights group.

“This incident is certainly a stain on the city of Boston,” Sul-livan said in an interview. “It is certainly emblematic of what so many people of color here in the city of Boston, black folk in the city of Boston, experience day in and day out.”

New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia said black Ma-jor League players frequently encountered racist catcalls in Boston, according to New York Newsday baseball writer Erik Boland.

“We all know. When you go to Boston, expect it,” Boland quoted Sabathia as saying in an interview.

(Source: Reuters)

U.S. officials want study of world records proposalU.S. athletics officials want to study the ramifications of a controversial European proposal that would lead to the re-writing of world records, given it would also affect those that have never failed doping tests.

Under the proposal endorsed by the European Athlet-ics Council earlier this week, any athlete breaking a record would have had to been drug-tested multiple times in the lead-up to the record. A sample taken afterwards also would have to be available for re-testing for 10 years.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body, did not start storing blood and urine samples until 2005, meaning records set before then could potentially be at risk.

“Any action pertaining to records, from ‘retirement’ of records to changing criteria for the record books, has the potential to affect records that are clean as well as those that are tainted,” USA Track & Field (USATF) spokeswoman Jill Geer said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday.

“There is no perfect solution, just as there is no perfect anti-doping system.” The proposal could potentially see Brit-ish marathoner Paula Radcliffe, a vocal critic of drug use in athletics, and triple jumper Jonathan Edwards lose their re-cords since performances not meeting the proposed guide-lines would no longer be officially sanctioned but would re-main on the “all-time list”.

Radcliffe, whose mark was set in 2003, has branded the proposal “cowardly”. “I am hurt and do feel this damages my reputation and dignity,” she said in a statement on Twitter.

Mike Powell’s 1991 long jump mark and ¬Hichman El Guerrouj’s 1500m record from 1998 also would be under threat.

There is no suggestion that any took drugs.The IAAF is expected to discuss the idea at its August

council meeting and Geer said they would also talk about the proposal with their athletes and other athletics bodies.

“USATF will vet the matter with our athletes, fellow feder-ations and the IAAF,” Geer added.

“Ultimately, it is a matter for the IAAF family to examine and determine what is best for the integrity of the past, pres-ent and future of the sport on a global level.”

(Source: Reuters)

Maria Sharapova is still waiting to hear if she can play at the French Open later this month but men’s world number one Andy Murray expects her to be at Wimbledon in July.

Sharapova returned last month from a doping ban to reach the semi-finals at the Stuttgart Open, but did not earn enough points to qualify for Roland Garros and is reliant on a wildcard for the qualifying tournament.

The French Tennis Federation will announce their decision on May 16.

Murray, however, said he expected the five-times grand slam champion would be on the grasscourts of south-west London.

“I think there’s a good chance Wimbledon would give her one (a wild card) to get into qualifying,” Murray told reporters at an event for June’s Aegon Championships tournament at the Queen’s Club in London.

“I think we’ve got to wait and see what happens because there might not even be a decision to be made because she might be in the main draw after Madrid or Rome, so there’s a good chance she can get in by right.”

The Russian can qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon by reaching the semi-final of either the Madrid or Rome tournaments.

The rankings deadline for Wimbledon qualification is May 29.

Murray, who sustained an injury in March, returned to action at the Barcelona

Open last month and said he was feeling good as he looked ahead to Roland Garros.

“I feel much better than I did three or

four weeks ago,” he added.“I feel like physically I am getting back to

where I need to be and I feel like I am able

to put in the work I need to, to be able to play my best tennis.”

(Source: Reuters)

Murray confident that Sharapova will play at Wimbledon

Two players banned for a year for attacking referees in separate incidents in domestic Mexican games have had their suspensions reduced following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

America defender Pablo Aguilar was originally banned for 10 matches and Toluca forward Enrique Triverio for eight before the Mexican federation›s disciplinary committee increased them both to one year.

However, CAS said on Tuesday that it had ruled

that the players should serve the bans originally imposed which were criticized by the Mexican referees› association at the time as being too lenient.

Paraguayan Aguilar struck referee Fernando Hernandez with his forehead and screamed insults at him after America lost 1-0 to Tijuana in a Copa MX match in March.

Argentina Triverio pushed and insulted referee Miguel Flores in Toluca›s defeat by Morelia in the same competition.

The Mexican referees› association said the initial punishments were too lenient and went on strike, forcing a round of league fixtures to be called off.

After the bans were extended to one year, it said the decision had «set a precedent so that it is order and respect that prevails on the field of play».

«The sanctions that had been imposed in the first instance ....were appropriate in light of the misconducts at stake,» CAS said.

(Source: Reuters)

Cristiano Ronaldo said Real Madrid’s progress to the Champions League final is not yet sealed after scoring all of his side’s goals in a 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid in Tuesday night’s semifinal first leg.

The Portugal forward headed Real in front on 10 minutes, then in the second half lashed the ball in from the edge of the Atletico penalty area, before Ronaldo turning in a Lucas Vazquez cut-back on 86 minutes to complete his treble.

“It was a total game from the team, we played phenomenally well,” he said after the game, “We have a good advantage, but it is not over yet. Atletico are very strong, they are not in the semi-finals by chance, and we must keep our concentration next Wednesday.”

Ronaldo became the first player to record three career hat tricks in the Champions League knockout stage, just two weeks after the second time he accomplished the feat against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.

He also went level with Lionel Messi with his seventh treble in the competition as a whole. Five of those came after he turned 30, while no one else has more

than one upon entering their 30s.Of Ronaldo’s 52 career goals in the knockout stage,

13 of them have come in the semifinals, and he is the fourth player with a hat trick in this round -- the first since Robert Lewandowski in 2013.

His third goal also brought him on the cusp of another landmark, as it was his 399th with Real Madrid

-- though the club already credits him with 400 because of one disputed goal in 2010.

Afterward, he attempted to remain humble, saying: “The whole team deserves to be congratulated, they were tremendous. It just fell to me to score the goals.

“We played very well from the start to finish, and the goals came naturally. We deserved a complete game against them. In La Liga we did well, but [Atletico keeper Jan] Oblak made a lot of saves, and today the ball went in.

“I am very happy for the goals that I have scored, and to reach 400 with Real Madrid.”

Following his performance against Bayern last month, Ronaldo asked the fans at the Bernabeu not to whistle him, and after his third goal on Tuesday he again gestured for supporters to applaud him instead.

He mimed a whistle by putting his fingers to his mouth, then shook his index fingers before clapping.

Asked about his celebration, Ronaldo said: “I just want them not to whistle me. I will always try and give everything for them.”

(Source: Soccernet)

CAS reduces year-long bans on players who attacked refs

Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid’s spot in final not yet sealed despite hat trick

S P O R TMAY 4, 2017MAY 4, 2017 15I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Puyol: U-17 finals will showcase stars of the futureOn 16 May, tickets for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 will go on sale. In the build-up to this special event, a very special guest - namely Carles Puyol - will travel to New Delhi to mark the occasion.

Expectations are high in the host nation, where the tournament, which runs from 6 to 28 October, will be spread across six cities. And if any supporters still had any doubts about purchasing tickets, the former Spain defender and FIFA World Cup™ winner was keen to allay them when he spoke to FIFA.com.

FIFA.com: Carles, will this be the first time you’ve visited India?

Carles Puyol: Yes, and I’m very excited and curious to discover the country and its people. I’m really drawn to the culture of India, its traditional medicine, its food and, of course, the way football is developing there, which is one of the main reasons behind my visit.

What would you say to convince hesitant fans to buy a ticket?

I would tell them that the experience of seeing a match live is completely different from watching it on television. You can feel the intensity and energy when you’re there in person. And at this tournament, you can see the stars of the future. I’m sure that those who attend will remember it and get hooked by the sport.

During your visit, you will have the chance to attend one of the Football Festivals run by the ‘Mission XI Million’, an ambitious project that aims to introduce millions of Indian children to football. How do you rate this initiative?

The values that are passed on through sport accompany you throughout the rest of your life. It’s a wonderful opportunity for children to learn values such as empathy, and how to work really hard as a team towards a common goal. The children will have to deal with things like losing matches and motivating their team-mates, as well as trying to be magnanimous when they win. These are the life lessons that sport gives you.

Curiously, despite your lengthy career, you did not play at any youth World Cups. Did you ever feel envious of team-mates who took part in such competitions at any point?

I took up football pretty late and didn’t even consider the possibility of playing at the U-17 World Cup. In fact, the first international tournament I ever played at was with our U-21 side. I’ve never been envious of others; on the contrary, it motivated me to work harder to be able to enjoy those kinds of experiences as well.

How important is it for a player to compete at these events?

Very important. Besides offering a great opportunity to compete at the highest levels in these age categories, it prepares you for the professional stage of your career. But for those who aren’t fortunate enough to take part, it’s not the be all and end all. I never played at U-17 level or below, but I went on to have a long professional career that I’m very proud of.

(Source: FIFA)

UEFA set to experiment with new ‘ABBA’ penalty shootout systemUEFA is to test a new penalty shootout system at the men’s and women’s European Under-17 Championship tourna-ments which take place this month.

The new system, which is similar to a tennis tiebreak and has been referred to by some as “ABBA,” is designed to re-duce the potential advantage that the team taking a first penalty in a shootout currently may have.

Rather than the current process, which sees teams taking penalties automatically following each other in a sequence of pairs, the new system will see the side taking the first penalty alternate.

Team A will take the first spot kick, with Team B taking the first penalty for the second and third kicks, before Team A then takes the first kick for the fourth effort. The sequence then repeats itself for the final penalty and subsequent kicks that are required if the shootout goes into “sudden death.”

The referee will toss a coin to decide which end of the pitch the shootout will take place, before they then toss again to dictate which team takes the first or second penalty.

A UEFA statement said that the trial has been sanctioned by football’s lawmakers, the International Football Associa-tion Board (IFAB), as part of its “play fair” initiative.

The statement added: “[The] IFAB says that the experiment follows growing evidence that the current penalty shootout system, as laid down in the Laws of the Game to determine the outcome of a match, gives an unfair advantage to the team taking the first penalty in each pair of spot kicks.

“The hypothesis is that the player taking the second kick in the pair is under greater mental pressure, because if the oppo-sition’s first penalty in the pair has been successful, a miss by the second penalty-taker in the pair could mean the immediate loss of a match for his team, especially from the fourth pair of penal-ties onwards -- i.e. the seventh and eighth spot kicks.”

(Source: Soccernet)

Sir Philip Craven, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President,

met with Iranian Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Masoud Soltanifar on Wednesday.

The meeting which took place at the ministry head-quarters in Tehran, was organized by Iran’s National Paralympic Committee.

“First of all, I am happy to travel to Iran. I traveled to Iran with my wife 22 years ago for the first time and I have to say Iran is in my heart. Your country is recognized as a leading country in Paralympics sports,” Craven said.

In his five-day visit to Iran, the IPC president will also meet family of Iranian late para-cyclist Bahman Gol-barnezhad in his hometown Shiraz.

Golbarnezhad became the first Paralympic athlete to die in competition following a horrific crash in the men’s

C4/C5 road race in Rio.“That was truly heart-breaking news and the thoughts

and condolences of the whole Paralympic Movement are with Bahman’s family, friends, and teammates as well as the whole of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Iran. Bahman will always remain in our hearts,” he added.

“The Rio 2016 Paralympics were a triumph. De-spite the challenges we faced before, during and after the Games, they arguably did more for growing the Paralympic Movement than London 2012. In my view, the Rio 2016 was more important than Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympics for the Paralympic Move-ment,” Craven said.

Craven will visit new sports complex for Paralympic athletes in Isfahan as well.

Iranian para-shooter Sareh Javanmardi is determined to collect another gold

medal in the Asian Para Games.Javanmardi won two gold medals in the mixed 50m

pistol SH1 and 10m air pistol SH1 in the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Two years later, she made history in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games by becoming Iran’s first ever female gold medalist in the shooting category of Paralympics.

She won two gold medals in the prestigious event in the mixed 50m pistol SH1 and 10m air pistol SH1.

“Many people think I accidentally won two gold medals in the Paralympics and I want to prove them it’s not true,” Javanmardi told Paralympic.ir.

“We’ve started participation in the training camps for the 2018 Asian Para Game. I know that I have a difficult task ahead of me since my opponents are preparing to win the medals but I will also do my best to repeat my medals.

“I also want to set new records as well as winning gold medal. I believe that Para-shooting is in a good situation in Iran at the moment,” she concluded.

IPC President Craven meets Iran Minister of Sports

Sareh Javanmardi eyes gold medal at Asian Para Games

West Ham are interested in Sunderland forward Jermain Defoe, who is also “an option” for Bournemouth this summer, Sky Sports News HQ understands.

Sources close to the player have told Sky Sports that there is a strong interest in the England international from his former club West Ham, whom he left for Tottenham in January 2004.

Defoe progressed through the Hammers academy in 1999 after moving to the club from Charlton as a 16-year-old.

The striker made his first-team debut for West Ham in September 2000 as a 17-year-old, going on to score 41 goals for the club over four years before departing for Tottenham.

The 34-year-old has scored 14 goals for Sunderland in the league this season, but his exploits were not enough to keep the club in the

top flight, with their relegation confirmed after defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Sky sources also understand that the Cherries have earmarked Defoe as a potential transfer target.

The striker spent the 2000-01 season on loan with the club, where he scored in ten consecutive matches, equalling John Aldridge’s and Clarrie Jordan’s post-war record.

Defoe scored 18 goals in 28 games during his spell with the Cherries as an 18-year-old.

Defoe was recently handed an England recall by manager Gareth Southgate and scored on his return against Lithuania in a World Cup Qualifier, having not featured for the national side since 2013.

(Source: Sky Sports)

Iranian basketball club Sanat Naf t Abadan has reached an agreement with Yanick Pires Moreira.

Moreira is an Angolan professional

basketball player for Raptors 905 of the NBA Development League.

The 2.11m center played two seasons of college basketball for the SMU Mustangs.

Moreira, 25, will replace English center Ryan Earl Richards in the Abadan-based team.

According to local media, the Iranian club is reluctant to cooperate

with Richards.Sanat Naft prepares to meet Azad

University in the Iranian Super League semi-final.

(Source: Tasnim)

Jermain Defoe attracting interest from West Ham and Bournemouth

Iran’s Sanat Naft Abadan reaches agreement with Moreira

Nassau: The Islamic Republic of Iran will fly the flag for Asia in the quarter-finals of this year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas, with Switzerland standing between themselves and a spot in the last four.

Having seen both Japan and the United Arab Emirates fall by the wayside at the end of the Group Stage, Iran will now carry the hopes of a continent when they face their European opponents on Thursday (local time) at the National Beach Soccer Arena in Nassau..

BackgroundHead coach Mohammad Mirshamsi’s side booked

their seventh appearance in the global finals by capturing last month’s AFC Beach Soccer Championship in Malaysia, comfortably accounting for United Arab Emirates with a 7-2 win in the final.

Iran scored an impressive 50 goals at the Kuala Terengganu event, 12 of them coming from tournament MVP Mohammad Mokhtari, and they are now targeting a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semi-final appearance after reaching the last eight in the two previous tournaments.

On both occasions, Iran’s competition came to an end in narrow defeats to teams which went on to reach the final. In 2013, they lost 6-5 to eventual champions Russia, while two years ago in Portugal they were eliminated 5-4 by a Tahiti side which fell only to the host nation. It is a measure of Iran’s progress that they defeated both sides at last November’s Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup.

Their FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 story

Iran 3-2 Mexico: The Iranians defeated Mexico 3-2 in the competition’s opening game. Goalkeeper Peyman Hosseini scored the first goal of the tournament and made a crucial save at the end of the match to give the Asian champions all three points in the Group B opener in Nassau. Iran goalscorers: HOSSEINI 19’07”, AKBARI 28’06”, AHMADZADEH 30’19”

Italy 5-4 Iran: Iran then suffered their first defeat after losing 5-4 to Italy in in a wild, back-and-forth Group B encounter. The Italians took the lead through Gabriele Gori, who guided in a close-range effort with his chest. The Asian champions responded with three unanswered goals, the pick of which was Moslem Mesigar’s spectacular overhead kick that gave the Iranians a 3-1 lead. It was not be however. Iran goalscorers: AKBARI 8’25”, AHMADZADEH 10’13”, MESIGAR 17’04”, MOKHTARI 35’10”

Iran 4-4 Nigeria (aet. Iran win 2-1 on penalties): Iran held their nerve to beat Nigeria 2-1 on penalties and advance to the quarter-finals. With the two sides level at 4-4 following extra-time, it was the Iranians who remained firm to emerge with the one point for a win via penalties and - in the process - seal a place in the last eight as Group B runners-up. With Switzerland awaiting the winner, Ali Nazem and Amir Akbari both converted their penalties before Ogodo rattled the bar with his

spot kick to send the Iranians through. Iran goalscorers: AHMADZADEH 7’53”, 20’05”, MOKHTARI 15’30”, 32’47”

SwitzerlandThe Swiss set up their clash with Iran after they finished

top of Group A. They booked their ticket to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by finishing as runners-up during the European qualifiers. This is the country’s fourth World Cup appearance and they finished second in 2009.

(Source: AFC)

S P O R T Sd e s k

S P O R T Sd e s k

Swiss test looms large for in --form Iran

The Eagles sue Hotel California

Iranian, Serbian culture ministers meet in Tehran

Midler, Groban score Tony nominations, “Sunset Boulevard” snubbed

“Starless Dreams” joins Iranian lineup for Cannes Film Market

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Cate Blanchett, Sally Field and Bette Midler received acting nominations for Broadway’s Tony Awards on Tuesday, while “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” led the pack with 12 nods including the top prize, best musical.

Close behind was the hit revival of “Hello, Dolly!” which took 10 nominations, including one for lead actor David Hyde Pierce. He will compete against Josh Groban making his Broadway debut in “Natasha, Pierre”, a lavish spectacle based on a snippet of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.

“Groundhog Day The Musical,” “Come From Away” and teen-aged angst drama “Dear Evan Hansen”, which won rave reviews and took nine nominations, were other best musical nominees.

Best play nominees were led by “A Doll’s House, Part 2” with eight nominations including ones for stars Laurie Metcalf and Chris Cooper, “Oslo”, about the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Pulitzer Prize winning drama “Sweat” and “Indecent”.

Only three shows were nominated for best musical revival: “Falsettos”, “Miss Saigon” and “Hello, Dolly!”.

In a year crowded with dozens of new plays and musicals, major productions of “Cats”, “Sunset Boulevard” starring Glenn Close, “A Bronx Tale” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” were shut

out.Big names appearing this season

who were not nominated included Diane Lane, Mark Ruffalo and Allison Janney.

The best play revival nominees were “Present Laughter”, “August Wilson’s Jitney”, “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”, which won nominations for actresses Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon.

Nixon, who has been exchanging roles with Linney during the play’s run, said she found out about her featured actress nomination by text message and had not yet heard from Linney. “I’m sure we will be chatting this morning,” she added.

Joining Midler, whose turn in “Hello, Dolly!” has been breaking box office records, as best actress in a musical, are Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole in “War Paint”, newcomer Denée Benton for “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” and Eva Noblezada in “Miss Saigon”.

Blanchett, who made her Broadway debut in “The Present”, is joined by Jennifer Ehle (“Oslo”) in addition to Field (“The Glass Menagerie”), Linney and Metcalf.

Best play actor nominees included Denis Arndt in “Heisenberg”, Kevin Kline in “Present Laughter”, Jefferson Mays in “Oslo” and Corey Hawkins in “Six Degrees of Separation”.

TEHRAN — Acclaimed Iranian

documentary “Starless Dreams” by Mehrdad Oskui has joined the lineup of Iranian films to be offered at the Cannes Film Market – Marché du Film, which will run from May 17 to 26.

The documentary, which shows the lives of seven young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and detention center on the outskirts of Tehran, will go on screen at the film market on May 22.

“Starless Dreams” has been awarded at many international events, including DokuFest,

ZagrebDox, Asia Pacific Screen Awards and BFI London Film Festival.

In addition, five more Iranian films will be offered at the Cannes Film Market.

The films include “Subdued” directed by Hamid Nematollah, “Israfil” by Ida Panahandeh, “Searing Summer” by Ebrahim Irajzad, “Sunset Truck” by Abolfazl Saffari and “Panah” by Ahmad Bahrami.

Over 12,000 professionals, including 3,200 producers, 1,200 sale agents, 1,750 buyers and 800 festival organizers, will come together at this year ’s market.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The Eagles have filed a lawsuit accusing the owners of a Mexico hotel of using the name “Hotel California”, arguably the band’s most famous song, without permission.

In a complaint filed late Monday, the Eagles said owners of the 11-room Todos Santos hotel in Baja California Sur “actively encourage” guests to believe the hotel is associated with the band, in order to sell t-shirts and other merchandise, and make guests feel welcome.

This allegedly included piping “Hotel California” and other Eagles songs through the hotel sound system, and selling t-shirts in that refer to the hotel as “legendary”, resulting in apparent confusion among many guests who posted online reviews.

The Eagles also noted that the defendant Hotel California Baja LLC has applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register the Hotel California name.

“Defendants lead U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the inspiration for the lyrics in ‘Hotel California,’ which is false,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court seeks a variety of damages and a halt to any infringement.

Neither the hotel nor the lawyer who filed its trademark application

immediately responded on Tuesday to requests for comment.

The Todos Santos hotel was named Hotel California when it opened in 1950, but went through a series of name changes before a Canadian couple, John and Debbie Stewart, bought it in 2001, and according to the Eagles began using the original name in marketing. Its website is ((hotelcaliforniabaja.com/)).

“Hotel California” is the title track from the 1976 Eagles album of the same name, and won the 1977 Grammy award for record of the year.

It is known for its long guitar outro featuring Don Felder and Joe Walsh, and complex lyrics sung by Don Henley.

In an interview with CBS News last year, Henley said the song is about “a journey from innocence to experience. It’s not really about California; it’s about America.”

TEHRAN — Iranian Minister of Culture

and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri and the undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism, Antimo Cesaro, met in Tehran on Tuesday.

Cesaro is in Tehran to supervise the programs arranged by Italy as the special guest at the 30th Tehran International Book Fair, which is Iran’s most important event in the

publishing industry.The two officials discussed the

expansion of cultural relations, the Persian service of IRNA reported on Wednesday.

Salehi-Amiri said that Iranian culture ministry is ready for more collaboration with Italy and stressed on inking a cultural memorandum of understanding with Italy.

He also gave some details about the activities of different departments

of his ministry, adding that the Tehran fair is carried out by the cultural department of the ministry.

For his part, Cesaro said that boosting ties between Iran and Italy is necessary due to cultural affinities between the two nations.

He also said that the cinema of Iran is quite well known in Italy and in the world, adding that the choice of Italy as the special guest of the Tehran book fair is a turning point

in the history of cultural cooperation between the two countries.

He also proposed the establishment of an Italian cultural office in Iran, which can help boost ties between the two countries.

The 30th Tehran International Book Fair opened on Tuesday with a message from Sergio Mattarella, the president of Italy. The fair will be running until May 13 at the Shahr-e Aftab Fairground.

TEHRAN — Minister of Culture and

Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri met Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Vladan Vukosavljevic in Tehran on Tuesday evening.

The expansion of bilateral cultural cooperation was discussed during the meeting, which was also attended by a number of Iranian and Serbian cultural officials.

Salehi-Amiri stressed Iran’s readiness to boost relations with Serbia in the areas of music, theater, cinema, media and publishing.

Vukosavljevic, who is in Tehran to visit the 30th Tehran International Book Fair, described Iran’s performance

as strong as a guest of honor at the Belgrade International Book Fair last October.

The 30th Tehran International Book Fair will run until May 13.

TEHRAN — The Canada-based Iranian painter Hadi Farahani is scheduled to display a collection of his works in an exhibition

entitled “Outer Façade, Inner Essence” in Tehran.The exhibition will open on Friday at Golestan Gallery, which organized his

last exhibition 24 years ago before leaving his homeland.“As an Iranian artist and the heir of an ancient culture and history, the topic of

identity and thought and the interaction of an ancient culture with the modern era of today has always been interesting to me,” the artist said in a press release published by the gallery on Wednesday.

Farahani held his exhibit in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in 1988 and two more exhibits in Golestan Gallery in 1992 and 1993.

“The major topic of my first exhibit was a combination of Iranian miniature paintings with the modern world, and the next exhibit centered on the struggle of Zurkhaneh champions with the modern world,” he added.

Zurkhaneh is an Iranian martial art that combines elements of Islam, Gnosticism and ancient Persian beliefs.

“Rumi’s poetry and Qajar-era characters in combination with modern medical symbols are the main topics of this exhibit,” he remarked.

The exhibit will be running until May 10 at the gallery located at 34 Kamasai St. in the Darus neighborhood. A poster for Iranian painter Hadi Farahani’s exhibition “Outer Façade, Inner Essence”

No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, IranP.o. Box: 14155-4843

Zip Code: 1599814713

Prayer Times Noon:13:01 Evening: 20:13 Dawn: 4:34 tomorrow) Sunrise: 6:08 (tomorrow)

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Doc on history of Dezful photo atelier completed

TEHRAN — Iranian filmmaker Shahed Soltani-Azad has completed a

documentary that recounts the history of the Saba Photo Atelier in Dezful, which was considered as a rich archive of historical photos of the southern Iranian town.

The atelier was destroyed in a missile attack during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The documentary titled “Photos Never Fight” will be distributed by the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC).

“I have been making films on religion and the Iran-Iraq war for years as I always have cared about such themes,” Soltani-Azad said in a press release published by the DEFC on Wednesday.

“Many filmmakers have abused the war themes to elevate their status while they do not care about the themes, but I have never done so,” he added.

During his career in filmmaking, he said that he has also met many people who stand at the summit of humanity.

“I have been influenced by such people throughout my life,” he added.

Among his credits are “Forty Witnesses”, “The Messenger of Bosnia” and “The Season of Stone”.

Iranian Culture Minister Reza Salehi-Amiri (L) met Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Vladan Vukosavljevic (R) in Tehran on May 2, 2017.

Tatar tales published in Persian

TEHRAN — An anthology of Tatar tales has recently been published in a book

in Persian in Kazan, the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Republic.

The book “Tatars’ Myths and Legends”, which also carries the original text and its Russian translation, was unveiled during a ceremony at the Tatarstan Culture Ministry on Wednesday, the Persian service of IRNA reported.

The ceremony was attended by Tatarstan Deputy Culture Minister Guzel Sharipova, Iranian Consul-General Ali Beman Eqbali and a number of Iranian diplomats and Tatar cultural officials.

The book has been published in collaboration with the Tatarstan Culture Ministry.

The front cover of “Tatars’ Myths and Legends”

Tourists are seen in front of Hotel California in the town of Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, May 2, 2017.

(Reuters/Fernando Castillo)

Italian official Antimo Cesaro, Iranian culture minister meet

Iranian filmmaker Shahed Soltani-Azad (C) directs a scene from his latest documentary “Photos Never Fight” in the southern Iranian town of Dezful.

Mexican singer Luis Miguel surrenders to U.S. marshalsLOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Mexican singer Luis Miguel surrendered to U.S. marshals and was released on bond on Tuesday after an arrest warrant was issued for him in April in a case where he is suspected of failing to pay more than $1 million to his former manager.

The Grammy Award-winning singer, whose full name is Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri, appeared at federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The arrest warrant had been issued for failure to appear at court hearings in the case, the U.S. Marshals Service in Los Angeles said.

There was no lawyer listed for Miguel in federal court filings.

The singer was ordered by a U.S. judge in New York to pay the money to the former manager, William Brockhaus, and the case was later transferred to federal court in California.