2 4
Leader, president
messages on Norouz
Number 5598 Monday April 3, 2017 Farvardin 14, 1396 Rajab 5, 1438 Price 5,000 Rials 12 Pages www.irandailyonline.ir
Venezuela seeks to cool 3 rels per day (mbd) in the month from February
outrage over court power grab
62m tourists visit Irans 6 Irans oil exports stood around 1 mbd during the
cultural, historical sites
Athletes from 50 countries 11
to run in Tehran Intl Marathon
China, Germany
urge US to respect
intl trade rules
REUTERS
China and Germany reacted to two new orders by
the US President Donald Trump on trade deficits
and import duty evasion, calling on the United
States to respect international trade rules.
Beijing called on Washington to respect in-
ternational trade rules and improve cooperation
and dialogue in reaction to Trumps orders call-
ing for an investigation into trade abuses, Reu-
ters ported.
Any US trade enforcement measures should
comply with generally accepted international trade
rules and differences between the two countries
should be handled properly, an unidentified spokes-
person for Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in a
speech on Saturday. China is willing to cooperate
with the United States on a basis of equality and
mutual benefit, the spokesperson said in the speech
released on the ministrys website.
Trump instructed his administration on Fri-
day to study the causes of US trade deficits and
clamp down on countries that abuse trade rules
in two executive orders he said would open a
new chapter for US workers and businesses.
He will host Chinese President Xi Jinping
this Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago re-
treat in Florida, where trade is expected to be a
central talking point as well as North Korea and
Chinas ambitions in the South China Sea.
Trump, who has taken a harsh stance on Chi-
nas trade practices, last week tweeted that the
meeting will be a very difficult one, citing
massive trade deficits and American job losses.
China maintains that the China-US trade im-
balance is mostly the result of differences be-
tween the economic structures and development
stages of the two countries.
Also on Saturday, German Economy Minister
Brigitte Zypries said US presidents executive
orders on trade deficits and import duty evasion
are a sign that Washington plans to move away
from free trade and international agreements.
Zypries said that while the executive orders
were initially only reviews, they show, how-
ever, that the US obviously wants to move away
from free trade and trade agreements.
Zanganeh: Oil exports near record 3 mbd
Iranians celebrate Sizdah Bedar
by spending time in nature
Iranians spend time outdoors on the 13th day of the Farvardin to celebrate Sizdah Bedar, the traditional Persian Festival of Nature, on April 2, 2017.
Colombia mudslides, flooding kill more than 250
Flooding and mudslides in the Colombian
city of Mocoa sent torrents of water and de-
bris crashing onto houses in the early hours of
Saturday morning, killing 254 people, injuring
hundreds and sending terri-
fied residents, scrambling to
evacuate.
Heavy rains caused sev-
eral rivers to overflow, push-
ing sediment and rocks onto
buildings and roads in the
capital of southwestern Putu-
mayo Province and immobi-
lizing cars in several feet of
mud, Reuters reported.
Colombian President Juan
Manuel Santos flew to Mo-
coa, population 345,000, to
oversee rescue efforts on the
city outskirts and speak with
affected families.
We will do everything
possible to help them, San-
tos said after confirming the death toll. It
breaks my heart.
The army said in a statement that 254 people
were killed, 400 people had been injured and
Pentagon claims 229 civilian deaths
by airstrikes; reports show more
Pentagon announced that US-led coalition air-
strikes against Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syr-
ia have killed 229 civilians since the attacks
began in 2014 while reports show a higher
death toll.
The tally, however, does not include civil-
ian fatalities inflicted in March which may
potentially include large numbers of civilians
killed in aerial attacks over several days in
Mosuls al-Jadida area.
This is while a UK-based non-profit moni-
toring group, Airwars, has announced that
the coalition airstrikes have killed more than
2,800 civilians, Reuters reported.
The monitoring group said that the US-led
coalition airstrikes may have killed 1,484 ci-
vilians in Iraq and Syria just in March.
Pointing to the rising number of civilian
casualties in Iraq and Syria since US President
Donald Trump came to office in January, Air-
wars further estimated that 455 civilian deaths
occurred in February as the result of US-led
200 were missing. More than 1,100 soldiers
and police officers were called in to help dig
people out in 17 affected neighborhoods.
Santos gave a lower death toll of 193 via
Twitter.
Even in a country where heavy rains, a
mountainous landscape and informal construc-
tion of homes combine to make mud and land-
airstrikes, while the figure stood at 613 in Jan-
uary, Press TV reported.
Almost 1,000 civilian non-combatant
deaths have already been alleged from coali-
tion actions across Iraq and Syria in March a
record claim, Airwars said.
The US military said on Saturday four civil-
ians were killed in February by US-led coa-
lition forces in Iraq and Syria as it updated a
tally of accidental deaths in the fight against
the Daesh terrorist group.
At least 229 civilians have been uninten-
tionally killed by airstrikes since the US-led
operation against the terrorists began almost
three years ago, the Pentagon said in a state-
ment.
As many as 200 people were buried by rub-
ble after a coalition air strike in Mosul in mid-
March, witnesses said.
The Pentagon has said it is investigating that
incident and several dozen more reported cas-
es of civilian deaths in the last two years.
See Page 6
MEHRAN RIAZI/MEHR NEWS AGENCY
slides a common occurrence, the scale of the
Mocoa disaster was daunting compared to re-
cent tragedies, like a 2015 landslide that killed
nearly 80 people in Salgar, Antioquia. Colom-
bias deadliest landslide, the
1985 Armero disaster, left
more than 20,000 dead.
Its a big area, Mocoa
Mayor Jose Antonio Castro,
who lost his house, told Cara-
col radio on Saturday. A big
portion of the many houses
were just taken by the ava-
lanche.
He said that people were
warned ahead of time and
many were able to get out,
but several neighborhoods
and two bridges had been de-
stroyed.
Photos posted on Twit-
ter by the air force showed
GETTY IMAGES neighborhood streets filled
with mud and damaged houses, while videos
on social media showed residents searching for
survivors in the debris and struggling to move
through waist-high water during the night.
We regret the unintentional loss of civilian
lives ... and express our deepest sympathies
to the families and others affected by these
strikes, the Pentagon statement said.
Included in Saturdays tally of 229 deaths
were four civilians killed in a September 2015
strike near Mosul, the military said, as well as
Total developing own
Iran banking channels
I
rans total exports of crude oil and gas conden-
sate by Iran neared a record three million bar-
19 to March 20, said Oil Minister Bijan Namdar
Zanganeh.
Iran has been ramping up crude oil produc-
tion to win back its market share since sanctions
were lifted on the country in January 2016 under
a nuclear accord with six world powers, Shana
reported.
The pace of growth in Irans crude oil produc-
tion and exports has amazed international observ-
ers who did not think Iran could raise its production
by one million barrels per day within three to four
months following the removal of sanctions, Zan-
ganeh said.
years of intense Western sanctions on the Islamic
Republic over its nuclear program.
Irans total exports of crude oil and condensate
averaged 2.8 mbd in the months leading to March
21, Zanganeh said.
We have managed to establish this rate as a right
of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and
bring Irans (market) share to the pre-sanctions lev-
els, he noted.
Continued on Page 4
Ministry: US allies
sponsoring terror,
not Iran
Irans Foreign Ministry called on the United States
to pressure its regional allies into abandoning their
support for terrorism and not to level malicious
allegations against the Islamic Republic.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi
made the remarks on Saturday, reacting to earlier
comments by US Defense Secretary James Mattis that
Iran continued to sponsor terror, Press TV reported.
We urge the American official to instead of
making unwarranted and malicious accusations
against Iran oblige some of the countries in the
region that are friendly and close to the US and
whose unwavering and widespread support for ter-
rorist groups is clearly evident to halt their finan-
cial, ideological, and military support for these
terrorist-Takfiri outfits, he said.
Washingtons allies in the region, most notably
Saudi Arabia, are accused of sponsoring terrorism
both materially and ideologically.
Takfirism, which is a characteristic of many ter-
rorist groups operating in the region, is largely
influenced by Wahhabism, the radical ideology
dominating Saudi Arabia and freely preached by
government-sanctioned Saudi clerics.
Riyadh has also been a supporter of the terrorists
operating in the conflict-ridden countries of Syria
and Iraq.
During a press conference in London on Friday,
Mattis had said that North Korea was the number-
one threat to the US.
Continued on Page 2
GETTY IMAGES
one civilian killed in January of this year in a
strike on a Daesh weapons facility near Mosul.
Also on Saturday, Iraqi state TV said Ayad
al-Jumaili, believed to be the deputy of Daesh
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed
in an air strike, citing Iraqi military intelli-
gence.
2
April 3, 2017
National
P E R S P E C T I V E
Leader, president
messages on Norouz
No alternative for US
but to do U-turn on Syria
L
Since the onset of the ongoing conflict in Syria in 2011, the fate eader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed
of President Bashar al-Assad has remained a serious sticking Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, in
point. separate televised messages on March 20, con-
The United States and its Western and regional allies have gratulated the nation on Norouz, the Persian New Year.
been exploring ways to remove the Syrian president from power. Ayatollah Khamenei designated the New Year as the
The administration of former US president Barack Obama Year of the Economy
made any resolution of the crisis in the war-ravaged country con- of Resistance: Pro-
ditional on President Assads ouster. duction and Employ-
However, Iran, along with Russia, have always stressed that ment, while President
the matter must be decided by the people of Syria. Nonetheless, Rouhani said the New
since Donald Trump took the helm of the Oval Office in Janu- Year is a time to create
ary, his administration decided to change many of the Obama-era new jobs for the youth,
policies. pointing to the coun-
Last week, Washington made an apparent U-turn on its long- trys achievements in
held policy regarding Syria with U-S Secretary of State Rex Till- curbing inflation and
erson saying the fate of Assad is up to the Syrians. creating jobs.
Tillersons remarks were later echoed by US Ambassador to Following is the full
the United Nations Nikki Haley, who said the White House is no text of the Leaders
longer focused on ousting the Syrian president. She also said the message:
US will instead focus efforts on resolving the Syria crisis. In the Name of Al-
During his presidential campaign, Trump had hinted that he lah, the Beneficent, the
would reverse his predecessors policies on Syria. Merciful
A few weeks ago, the Republican billionaire said his admin- O Conqueror of
istrations first goal in the Middle East including Syria would be hearts and sight
the eradication of the Daesh terrorist group. The comments made O Planner of night
by Trump and his senior officials have raised questions about and day
Washingtons U-turn with regard to the Syria crisis. Trumps O Transformer of
statements about fighting against Daesh do not hold water. power and circum-
This is because the White House is still supporting certain re- stances
gional states that are the main sponsors of terrorist groups in the Change our condi-
region. Likewise, Washington and its allies accuse Iran of desta- tion to the best of con-
bilizing the region. This is while the Islamic Republic has played ditions!
a major role in fighting against terror groups in Syria and Iraq. O Allah, send Your
Besides, Washingtons U-turn is not linked to the transition greetings to Fatima, to
of power in the United States. In fact, the victories of the Syrian her father, her husband
Army and its allies against terrorist groups have pushed the US and her children.
to change its policies. The liberation of Aleppo was a crushing I would like to congratulate all you dear compatriots
defeat for foreign-backed terrorists and their supporters. The Syr- on the auspicious birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatima
ian Army still continues to strike fresh blows to Daesh and Nusra Zahra Siddiqat al-Kobra (Gods greetings be upon
Front terrorists in other fronts. her) and on the Eid of Norouz. I wish a happy Eid for
Washington has realized that the days of its henchmen in the you dear compatriots, for the great people of Iran, for
Middle East are numbered and that they can no longer serve the the dear youth, and for people from various social back-
interests of their masters grounds. In particular, I would like to congratulate the
dear families of the martyrs, the disabled war veterans
and also all those nations which are familiar with the
Ministry: US allies sponsoring... Eid of Norouz and celebrate it.
I thank Allah the Exalted for giving me the opportuni-
From Page 1 his apparent shift of opinion. ty to once more congratulate you dear people of Iran on
He was then asked about his Qassemi, nevertheless, de- the Eid of Norouz. I hope that a very good, auspicious
comments back in 2012, when scribed Mattis claim against and blessed year accompanied by security and welfare
he enumerated the three primary Iran as baseless. will be waiting for the people of Iran and that by Al-
threats the US faced as being He said Iran believed that one lahs favor, the year 1396 will be a happy year for all the
Iran, Iran, Iran. main reason for the failure of the people of Iran and for Muslims throughout the world.
At the time when I spoke international efforts to combat I hope that during the year that has just begun, all Ira-
about Iran I was a commander of terrorism was giving the false nian families and all dear Iranians will benefit from di-
US Central Command and that address when speaking about vine kindness, mercy and blessings.
(Iran) was the primary exporter the financial and ideological If we want to evaluate the year that has passed the
of terrorism; frankly, it was the sources of terrorism. year 1395 it included happy and sad events, bitter and
primary state sponsor of terror- The spokesman said Iran had sweet events, just like all other years. What I mean is
ism and it continues that kind of itself been a victim of terrorism bitter and sweet events
behavior today, he said in the and had been involved in non- as they relate to the
Friday remarks, trying to explain stop efforts to fight the scourge. people, not personal
matters.
We had sweet events
in the previous year.
We experienced sweet
events related to na-
tional dignity, national
Mohammad Ali Rajabi security, youthful de-
termination among
the people of Iran and
all-inclusive religious
moves all over the
Iran country. We also ex-
perienced bitter events
sponsors which were mainly re-
lated to economic and
terrorism! social matters. I will
elaborate on this later
on.
The dignity of Iran
and our dear people
was visible throughout
the year 1395. It was
visible from the be-
ginning to the end of
the year. Our enemies
across the world ac-
knowledged the pow-
er and greatness of the people of Iran. The identity of
the people of Iran showed itself during all the various
events that took place during this year.
With one disrespectful act committed by the Ameri-
can president against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the
people responded on the 22nd of Bahman in an enthu-
siastic, passionate and courageous manner. On Quds
Day too, in the auspicious month of Ramadan, the great
gathering of the people showed the identity and the
goals of this country to all the people around the world.
The security of the country in this turbulent regional
and international environment was a very important and
great factor for the people of Iran. Today, our neighbor-
ing countries countries located to the east, southeast
and northwest of our country are suffering from inse-
curity. The region is suffering from insecurity, but the
people of Iran thankfully experienced enduring security
Registration of candidates
Head of Elections Headquarters in the Interior Ministry Ali Asghar
Ahmadi said that registration of presidential candidates will begin on
April 11 and will end on April 16.
throughout the year. my opinion, the cure lies in dividing this system into im-
My reference to youthful determination originates portant sectors and then specifying a timetable for each
from witnessing and being aware of the activities of key and important sector. We should ask officials, prom-
thousands of youth groups throughout the country. inent personalities and the masses of the people to focus
These youths are busy attending to their enthusiastic all their efforts on those key sectors.
In my opinion, the
cure lies in identifying
this key sector correct-
ly this year. I believe
that this key sector is
production domes-
tic production and
employment, mainly
of our youth. These
are the main and key
sectors. If we manage
to focus on these two
sectors and plan and
categorize our affairs
on this basis, I believe
that the task will move
forward to a great ex-
tent and impressive and
tangible achievements
will be made.
By Allahs favor,
I will explain in the
speech the characteris-
tics that are related to
these two key and fun-
damental sectors. That
is why, the name that I
choose for this year is,
Economy of Resist-
IRNA
ance: Production and
activities in the fields of science, culture, sports and pro- Employment.
duction. They are presenting new achievements and in- The economy of resistance is a general term which is
novations and they are providing for the future of the accompanied by production and employment. These are
country. the sectors that everyone should focus on. I and the peo-
And when I referred to religious moves, I meant ple demand that the dear and honorable officials focus
the enthusiastic, warm and attractive religious meet- on these two sectors, carry out tasks with planning, and
ings that existed throughout the year. These meetings report the results to the people at the end of the year,
were attended on the subject of the Imams (greetings God willing.
be upon them), important religious matters, itikaf, vari- I hope that all will enjoy and experience a happy and
ous prayers, the month of Ramadan, the Arbaeen rally, joyful year one that will be accompanied by security
important occasions related to Ashura and the ten-day and welfare in the shade of the blessings of the Imam
Muharram events. These were the positive and happy of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and
points for our country and our people. with the prayers of the pure souls of our martyrs and our
And the bitter and difficult events were mostly related magnanimous Imam (RA).
to the peoples economic and livelihood problems. The
middle and lower classes of society were suffering from Presidents address
these problems and they continue to do so at the pre-
sent time. Because I am aware of the peoples condition, President Rouhani in his message said the new Ira-
I feel bitterness with all my heart. I feel the bitterness nian year is a time to create new jobs for the countrys
that the people particularly lower and underprivileged youths, adding that what the country achieved in the
classes experience. And this bitterness is related to past year in terms of curbing inflation and creating jobs
economic matters and problems such as high prices, has been unprecedented in the past 25 years.
unemployment and social detriments for example, The new year will be the year of progress and de-
discrimination and inequality - which mainly originate velopment for our dear nation. The new year will be the
year of more employ-
ment [opportunities]
for our youths, Rou-
hani said.
We need to make
greater efforts to com-
pensate for the short-
comings, he added.
What we achieved
in the last year in terms
of curbing inflation,
economic growth and
job creation, has had
no precedent in the past
25 years, the Iranian
president said.
During the preced-
ing year, the country
achieved an economic
growth rate of eight
percent for the first
time after 11 years, he
noted.
Rouhani also com-
mended efforts by the
countrys oil and gas
industry in doubling
the production of crude
IRNA oil and condensate last
year.
from economic matters. Through oil diplomacy and because of efforts made
Well, all of us are responsible. We will have to answer by engineers and workers we managed to reclaim our
both to Allah the Exalted and to the people. In the year past position in the production of oil and gas and con-
of Action and Implementation the year 1395 I asked densate, the Iranian chief executive said.
the honorable officials to establish a command center He also referred to the unveiling of a charter of
for action and implementation and they did so. Good citizenship rights, saying, The charter of citizenship
tasks were fortunately carried out which was reported to rights was unveiled last year as promised. Today, we
us. However, there is a large gap between what has been will implement that charter with the help of you the
carried out and what we and the people expect. people.
I will explain in my speech [annual speech in Mash- The Iranian president warned that everybody must
had] that some of the standards and statistics presented know that if they violate the citizenship rights, they will
by officials are positive figures and some which are pay a very high price.
presented by officials themselves are negative. All He noted that Iranians must take part in two impor-
these things should be seen together. tant elections this year, noting that ensuring peoples
The economy of resistance is a system. If this system maximum turnout in those elections as well as hold-
receives attention only under the name of the economy ing healthy competitions and constitutional elections
of resistance, it might prove to be not very efficient. In must be everybodys goal.
 3
April 3, 2017 Landslide buries dozens
Rescuers have searched for more than two dozen people missing after
a rain-triggered landslide struck a village on Indonesias main island of
Java.

International

Venezuela seeks to cool outrage May: Britain will never cede

Gibraltar without its consent

over court power grab British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday insisted that
she would never allow Gibraltar to slip from British control
against the wishes of Gibraltarians as the issue took center-

V
enezuelas pro-government Su-
preme Court revoked its takeover
of the opposition-led Congress
after it drew international condemnation
and protests against President Nicolas
Maduro.
This controversy is over, Maduro
said just after midnight at a specially con-
vened state security committee, Reuters
reported.
The committee ordered the top court
to reconsider Wednesdays court ruling,
which effectively nullified the legislature
and brought accusations the ruling Social-
ist Party was creating a dictatorship.
The tribunal duly erased two controver-
sial judgments and its president, Maikel
Moreno, met with both foreign envoys
and journalists to explain the decision,
insisting there had never been any inten-
tion to strip the National Assembly of its
powers.
Maduro, 54, who had faced dissent
even within government ranks over the
Supreme Courts move, sought to cast
developments as the achievement of a
statesman resolving a power conflict be-
neath him.
But foes said it was a hypocritical row-
back by an unpopular government that
overplayed its hand in a power grab.
You cant pretend to just normalize the
nation after carrying out a coup, said
Julio Borges, leader of the legislature.
Borges publicly tore up the court rul-
ings this week and refused to attend the
overnight security committee, whose
members include the heads of major insti-
tutions.
He led an open-air meeting of the Na-
tional Assembly in a Caracas square on
Saturday.
Having already shot down most con-
gressional measures since the opposition
won control in 2015, the Supreme Court
went further with its Wednesday decision.
It said it was taking over the legislatures
role because it was in contempt of the
law.
Although scores of dissidents have
been detained during Maduros four-year
rule and the National Assembly stripped
of power anyway in practice, the courts
move was arguably the most explicitly
REUTERS
anti-democratic measure.
It galvanized Venezuelas demoral-
ized and divided opposition coalition and
sparked international condemnation and
concern from the United Nations and Eu-
ropean Union, as well as the United States
and many neighboring countries.
stage in early Brexit wranglings.
May told Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo that
we will never enter into arrangements under which the peo-
ple of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another
state against their freely and democratically expressed wish-
es, AFP reported.
Her comments came as Spain pledged it would not close its
border post-Brexit with the 6.7-square-kilometer (2.6-square-
REUTERS
mile) British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain.
On matters of trade, the European Union has said that Spain
would have to agree to extend any deal between the bloc and
Britain to also cover Gibraltar.
This means that Madrid could potentially block Gibraltars
access to any trade deal, and politicians in the Rock fear that
Madrid will use the veto to seek sovereignty over the penin-
sula.
May told Picardo that she would never enter into a process
of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not con-
tent, according to a readout of the phone call released by her
Downing Street office.
The UK remains steadfastly committed to our support for
Gibraltar, its people and its economy, it added.
We remain absolutely dedicated to working with Gibraltar
for the best possible outcome on Brexit, and will continue to
involve them fully in the process.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson earlier Sunday
stressed that the territory will not be bargained away.
Gibraltar is not for sale. Gibraltar cannot be traded. Gibral-
tar will not be bargained away, Johnson wrote in the Sunday

Police: 20 people murdered Jews march in Beit-ul-Moqaddas

Telegraph.
Johnson wrote that the policy of the government re-
mains fixed and firm. The sovereignty of Gibraltar cannot be

at Pakistan shrine against Israeli occupation

The custodian of a Pakistani religious shrine and two accomplices have been
arrested for intoxicating and murdering 20 devotees with batons and knives
early Sunday, police said.
Four women were among those killed in the attack at a Sufi Shrine in Pun-
jab Province, according to police, who said they had arrested three suspects
including the custodian, AFP reported.
The motive for the slaughter was unclear but some officials said the chief
suspect had mental health problems and had used violence on followers be-
fore.
The 50-year-old shrine custodian, Abdul Waheed, has confessed that he
killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him, region-
al police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told AFP.
The suspect appears to be paranoid and psychotic, or it could be related
to rivalry for the control of shrine, he said, adding that the investigation into
the killings near the city of Sargodha was continuing.
Local police station Chief Shamshir Joya said the victims, whose clothes
were torn and bloodstained, appeared to have been given intoxicants.
We suspect that the victims had been given some intoxicants before they
were murdered, but we will wait for a forensics report to confirm this suspi-
cion, he added.
Joya said the shrine was built in the area some two and a half years ago.
Waheed a one-time employee of the national election commission took it
over after completion.
Local rescue service official Mazhar Shah said Waheed used to meet devo-
tees once or twice a month and used violence to heal them.
Local people say that Waheed used to beat the visitors who came to him
for treatment of various physical or spiritual ailments, Shah told reporters in
televised comments.
AFP
Sometimes he would remove the clothes of his visitors and burn them.
Television footage showed scattered shoes, clothes, sheets and cots in the
yard of the white-painted domed shrine as police vehicles and police com-
mandos surrounded the premises, sited amid green farmland.
Visiting shrines and offering alms for the poor and cash to the custodians
remains a very popular custom in Pakistan. Many believe this will help get
their prayers answered.
Punjab Minister for Religious Affairs Zaeem Qadri said intelligence agen-
cies along with police and the local government were investigating all aspects
of the case.
Qadri said that his department managed some 552 shrines in the province,
but this one was not registered with it.
AFP
Thousands of mostly Jewish protesters have rallied in Beit-ul-Moqaddas to denounce 50
years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Organizers said around 2,000 demonstrators marched to Jaffa Gate in Beit-ul-Mo-
qaddas Old City during Saturdays event which was organized by the Standing To-
gether movement, Press TV reported.
The rally was the first in a series of events organized by the group, an umbrella
movement consisting of pro-peace organizations and left-wing parties, marking 50
years since the Six-Day War.
The rally is meant to protest against the continued Israeli control over the territo-
ries and especially East Jerusalem (East Beit-ul-Moqaddas), and in favor of a peaceful
solution and justice for both peoples, Haaretz quoted the movement as saying in a
statement.
The march began at Gan Hasus in the citys center and concluded in the Old City
with a rally near Jaffa Gate.
Mohammed Abu Hummus, the head of the popular committee of Isawiyah in East
Beit-ul-Moqaddas, urged anyone who believes in the Palestinian people to stand
against the racist [Israeli] regime.
According to Press TV, on Wednesday, the Arab League called for Israels withdraw-
al from the occupied lands and the formation of an independent Palestinian state based
on the borders before 1967 Six-Day War that led to the occupation of the West Bank,
and other territories. Since then, Israel has built over 230 settlements in the Palestinian
lands.
Israel on Thursday gave the go-ahead for the construction of the first new West Bank
settlement in 20 years. The move sparked widespread condemnations from the UN to
European countries.
Emboldened by the new US administrations support, the Tel Aviv regime has given
the go-ahead to the construction of many settler units in the occupied Palestinian lands.
Israels settlement expansion defies the United Nations Security Council Resolution
2334 adopted in December 2016 that condemned the settlements as a flagrant viola-
tion of international law. It further called on Israel to immediately and completely
cease all settlement activities on the occupied territories.
The international community views the Israeli settlements as illegal under the Ge-
neva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied territory.
changed without the express consent of the UK and the people
of Gibraltar.
The status of Gibraltar has been unchanged since 1713. It
made no difference when the UK joined the Common Market
in 1973 and when Spain was not yet a member. It should make
no difference today.
The peninsula is home to about 33,000 people, with a key
electronic gambling industry and offshore finance sector that
deals with the whole of Europe.
Spain said Sunday it had no post-Brexit plans to close its
border with the territory, which depends on the crossing for
much of its supplies and visitor flow.
Yemen appeals to EU
to help end Saudi aggression
Yemen wrote to the European Union, calling on the bloc to
pressure Saudi Arabia into ending its deadly military interven-
tion and inhumane blockade of the impoverished nation.
Hisham Sharaf, the foreign minister of Yemens National
Salvation Government, made the call on Saturday in letters
sent to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Mal-
tese Foreign Minister George Vella, whose country holds the
rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union,
Press TV reported.
The letters urged the bloc to condemn rights violations
committed in Yemen by Riyadh and its allies.
They also called for the formation of an independent com-
mittee to investigate Saudi crimes in Yemen, the reopening
of Sanaa International Airport, and making former president
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi pay the salaries of public sector
employees.
Sharaf said the United Nations Security Council should
issue resolutions that support a peaceful political process in
Yemen and oblige Riyadh to end its war and lift blockade on
the impoverished state.
He further underlined the need for sending humanitarian aid
to Yemen through the port city of Hudaydah that is controlled
by the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
More than 70 percent of all food, medicine, oil products and
humanitarian aid are sent into northern Yemen via Hudaydah,
he added.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have threatened to attack the
port city and retake it from the Houthis. The UN has said that
it was extremely concerned about the fallout from a poten-
tial attack of the port.
Elsewhere in his letters, Sharaf stressed that Yemen re-
served the right to defend itself, calling for efforts to remove
obstacles on the way of intra-Yemeni and Yemeni-Saudi talks.
Saudi Arabia has been leading a brutal military campaign
against Yemen since March 2015. The kingdom has also im-
posed an aerial and naval blockade on its southern neighbor.
Turning a blind eye to the plight of Yemeni civilians, Brit-
ain and the US have provided huge amounts of arms and mili-
tary training to the Saudi forces.
The war by Saudi Arabia, which seeks to reinstate former
president Hadi, has killed over 12,000 Yemenis, according to
recent tallies.
 4
April 3, 2017 Halkbank transactions
Turkish Halkbanks transactions with Iran were allowed under UN Security
Council permissions, said Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek.

Domestic Economy

SPECIAL NEWS
Domestic Economy Desk
Russia, Iran in deal over
12 Sukhoi planes
Russias energy minister said there is a concrete agreement with
Iran for the purchase of 12 Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger planes.
Alexander Novak told Sputnik news agency that the two coun-
tries have been in talks on the purchase of 100 Sukhoi Superjets
for the past 18 months.
TASS
However, Novak added, they were only able to reach a deal
regarding 12 aircraft at the moment. In the short term, we are
considering 30 aircraft. This is just the beginning, because over-
all, the Iranians are interested in purchasing 100 Sukhoi Superjet
aircraft.
Russias media reported last December that the countrys
aviation giant Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company has signed a basic
agreement with Iran to sell Superjet 100 planes.
Interfax news agency announced in a report that the agreement
which it said had been signed with an unnamed Iranian com-
pany enabled both sides to study the projected sales.
Iran, Russia cooperation
Iran and Russia signed 14 documents for the expansion of co-
operation in various political, economic, judicial, legal, scientific
and cultural fields on March 28.
The documents were signed in Moscow by senior Iranian
and Russian officials in a ceremony attended by visiting Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin
following their talks.
Meanwhile, Iranian and Russian economic entrepreneurs and
businesspeople held several rounds of talks and signed agree-
ments to boost cooperation between the two countries private
sectors.
Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, the Ira-
nian president arrived in Moscow last Monday evening for a two-
day official visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart.
In a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev,
Rouhani said mutual relations were growing and stressed that
relations would play an effective role in promoting regional and
international stability and security.
In a meeting with Putin on Tuesday, Rouhani said the Islamic
Republic and Russia have been working closely together to fight
terrorism and promote stability in the region.
Relations between Iran and Russia are aimed at promoting
regional stability and the two countries main objective is to pro-
mote regional peace and tranquility, Rouhani said.
He added that Tehran-Moscow ties would never be against the
interests of any third country.
Rouhani said Iran attached importance to strengthening rela-
tions with Russia, adding that the two countries had taken steps
to bring about positive developments in mutual ties over the past
Total developing
own Iran banking channels
F
rench energy giant Total is trying
to develop its own mechanism
to carry out Iran-related banking
transactions without falling afoul of US
primary sanctions that still restrict do-
ing financial activities with the Islamic
Republic.
Total CEO Patrick Pouyann told The
New York Times that his company was
trying to find European lenders willing
to be a day-to-day banker in Iran in
a sign that shows the companys deter-
mination to press ahead with its invest-
ment plans in Iran.
Pouyann added that his company
had been sending small amounts of eu-
ros from banks in Europe to Tehran to
learn how difficult it was to make trans-
actions in Iran.
Wary of running into trouble with the
American authorities, larger banks are
for now staying away, wrote The New
York Times.
We have identified some, I would
say, medium-sized banks who are ready
to work with Iran, Pouyann said.
He added that Total had put several
token transactions through the banking
system as test, hoping to identify diffi- AP
culties in getting money into and out of of the countrys giant South Pars Gas Nvertheless, it would still need ary that his companys final investment
Iran. There are some constraints, but Field. The French major would lead Washingtons green-light before seal- decision on Phase 11 would depend on
we can do it, he said. a consortium that comprises Chinas ing a final deal with Tehran over the whether US President Donald Trump
Total signed a preliminary agreement CNPC and Irans Petropars over the project. waives executive orders against invest-
with Iran last year to develop Phase 11 project. Pouyann told reporters in Febru- ments in the Iranian energy sector.
Germanys SMS signs deal Asian imports
to boost Iran steel output of Iranian oil rise 58%
German steel plant maker SMS Group signed a $400-million contract to expand pro- Imports of Iranian crude by its four main buyers in Asia rose about 58 percent in Febru-
duction at Irans Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC), an SMS executive said. ary against the figure from a year ago when Western sanctions on Tehran had only just
Iran, which produces about 16 million tons of steel a year, is seeking to boost pro- been lifted.
duction with the assistance of foreign partners following a 2015 deal to modify Irans
nuclear program in return for an easing of international sanctions, Reuters reported.
Steel exports from Iran to Europe have reached one million tons a year, putting it
third behind China and India. European producers have struggled against the competi-
tion.
MSC produced 5.8 million tons of steel products in the financial year 2014-15, the
latest report available on its website said. The firms exports reached 1.5 million tons.
SMS Group, a private firm that builds steel, aluminum and copper plants, signed the
$400-million contract in February to build facilities that would add additional capacity
of 3.5 million tons a year, with potential to rise to 5 million tons, SMS managing board
member Dieter Rosenthal told Reuters.
REUTERS

three and a half years.
The Iranian chief executive underlined that mutual relations
had entered a new phase, adding, In this new phase, we can
speak about sustainable and long-term ties.
Rouhani hoped that the two sides would manage to take more
steps to further deepen ties.
The Russian president said Iran was a good neighbor and a sta-
ble and reliable partner for his country.
Putin added that Moscow and Tehran worked very effectively
together in all areas, including on global issues and the resolution
of major and very grave international problems.
Annual non-oil exports
exceed $44b
Irans non-oil exports exceeded $44 billion in the Iranian
year which ended on March 20, announced a senior trade
official.
IRNA
Irans non-oil exports increased 3.5-percent last year as
compared with the figure for the preceding year, Deputy
Trade Minister Mojtaba Khosrotaj was quoted as saying by
Fars News Agency.
The main exported commodity was gas condensates
worth $6.571 billion which accounted for 17 percent of
overall non-oil export.
During the period, China was the largest buyer of Iranian
products by purchasing goods worth $7.298 billion. The
UAE, Iraq, Turkey and South Korea ranked after China in
the value of goods imported from Iran.
Rosenthal said he expected MSCs higher production to target the domestic market
rather than exports. Germany is a major trading partner with Iran, reporting bilateral
trade of 2.9 billion in 2016 up from 2.4 billion in 2015.
Indian investors interested in
managing Chabahar terminals
India is inching closer to establishing its pres-
ence near the Persian Gulf with billionaires Gau-
tam Adani and the Essar groups Ruia brothers
flagging interest in managing terminals at Irans
Chabahar Port, which India first agreed to develop
14 years ago.
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd.
operator of Indias largest port and Essar Ports
Ltd. are among companies that have expressed an
interest in managing and operating two terminals
at Chabahar, Bloomberg reported.
Chabahar, outside the Strait of Hormuz, has
both economic and geo-political significance for
India as it will provide new sea-trading routes and
connectivity to Afghanistan while also countering
Chinas growing presence in the region.
The South Asian nation has been criticized
for falling behind on developing the port even as
China marches ahead with the so-called China Pa-
kistan Economic Corridor that winds down to the
port of Gwadar, across Irans border with Pakistan.
Apart from Adani and Essar, the J.M. Baxi
group, known in India for its chartering, broking
According to government and ship-tracking data, Irans top four Asian buyers
China, India, South Korea and Japan imported 2.01 million barrels per day (mbd)
in February, the highest volumes since at least 2010, International Energy Agency data
showed, Reuters reported.
Iran was exempted from an OPEC deal to reduce output by 1.2 mbd starting January
1, a victory for Tehran which has argued it needs to regain the market share it lost under
Western sanctions over its nuclear program. Japans Trade Ministry on Friday released
official data showing its Iranian imports came to 230,297 bpd last month.
Japan likely skipped Iran crude loading this month as buyers waited for the govern-
ment to extend sovereign ship insurance in the new fiscal year that starts in April.
ISNA
In November 2016, Frances Total became the first oil major to sign a big deal with
Tehran since the lifting of sanctions and agreed to help it develop the worlds largest
gas field, South Pars. Shell signed a provisional deal in December to develop Iranian
oil and gas fields South Azadegan, Yadavaran and Kish in December 2016.
Zanganeh: Oil exports
near record 3 mbd
and other shipping services, has also shown inter- From Page 1
est.
We keep looking at growth opportunities in the Developing South Pars
businesses that we are in, Essar spokesman Man-
ish Kedia said in an emailed response to questions. Zanganeh further said a series of South Pars development projects, im-
A spokesman at J.M. Baxi confirmed the com- plemented at a cost of $20 billion, will become operational in the Iranian
panys interest in the port, while Roy Paul, a year to March 2018.
spokesman for Adani, didnt respond to phone South Pars in the Persian Gulf contains some 14 trillion cubic meters
calls or an email seeking comment. of gas, which makes up eight percent of the worlds proven reserves. The
Indian Ports Global will announce names of Iranian side of the field is divided into 24 phases for development.
companies or consortia eligible to bid for the pro- According to the minister, Phases 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 as well as South
ject by the end of April, following which final bids Pars oil layer are among the projects scheduled to go on stream.
will be invited, according to the document inviting The South Pars oil layer is shared with Qatar, where it is known as Al
interest from firms. Shaheen. As a joint field, it is among those prioritized for investment and
Once a strategic partner is selected, a special has been named as a likely candidate for development under an Iran Petro-
purpose vehicle will be established at Chabahar leum Contract.
to manage day-to-day operations, according to Frances Total is seeking a 50.1-percent stake in the $4 billion South
the document. Pars Phase 11 development project. The company inked a preliminary
Construction of the terminals is nearing com- agreement with Iran last year, but it is looking to Washington for authori-
pletion and the process to procure equipment is zation to finalize it.
underway. The selected partner will manage, op- International firms have been cautious in their dealings with Iran de-
erate and maintain the terminals for 10 years, ac- spite the lifting of sanctions early last year out of fears of being blacklisted
cording to the document. by the US.
 5
April 3, 2017 Ghana domestic bonds
Ghana came out of the market with 4.87 billion Ghana cedis ($1.12 bil-
lion) in two concurrent domestic market bonds.

Global Economy

Eurozone inflation plunge South Koreans overseas spending

hits record high in 2016

may vindicate cautious Draghi South Koreans spent a record high overseas last year as more people
opted to go on overseas trips, data from the central bank showed on
Sunday.
According to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BoK),
South Koreans spent 28.93 trillion won ($25.9 billion) overseas last
year, up 8.3 percent, or 2.23 trillion won, from the previous year,
Yonhap reported.
The 2016 tally marks the highest since the central bank began to
compile related data in 1970.
South Koreans overseas spending has been on a sharp rise, reach-
ing 26.7 trillion won in 2015, 23.1 trillion won in 2014, 22.76 trillion
won in 2013 and 21.89 trillion won in 2012, the data showed.
The data also showed that South Koreans per-person overseas
spending is estimated at some 567,000 won last year.
The sharp rise in overseas spending is attributable to a whopping
increase in overseas trips.
A total of 22.38 million South Koreans flew overseas last year, up
15.9 percent from 2015, according to industry sources.
Meanwhile, non-residents spent a total of 16.5 trillion won in
South Korea last year, up 16 percent from a year earlier.

rferl.org

E
urozone inflation plunged this month, likely vin-
dicating European Central Bank President Mario
Draghis cautious policy stance and proving that
the bloc may still be years away from a sustained rise in
consumer prices.
Inflation in the 19-member currency union fell to 1.5
percent in March from a four-year high of two percent
in February, well below expectations for 1.8 percent as
energy, food and services prices rose slower than last
month, Eurostat said.
Underlying inflation, a measure closely watched by
the ECB, meanwhile fell to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent,
all but erasing pressure on Draghi to tighten the ECBs
money taps soon, many months before its currency guid-
ance, according to Reuters.
When overall inflation hit the ECBs target last month,
conservative countries like Germany piled pressure on
Draghi, calling for an end to the banks 2.3 trillion asset
buying scheme.
But the ECB repeatedly rejected those calls, arguing
that inflation has already peaked this year and will not
return back towards its two percent target perhaps until
2019, as unemployment remains high, wage growth is
anemic and the economy is still operating with signifi-
cant slack.
Policymakers have also warned that small changes
in the banks message earlier this month may have been
over interpreted as they pointed to reduced risks and not
to the first step to the exit.
Measures of underlying inflation in the euro area
remain subdued and our projected path of inflation still
remains highly conditional on our policy stance, ECB
Executive Board member Benoit Coeure, a key Draghi
ally, said.
This clearly suggests that current expectations on the
intended horizon of our purchases and on the sequenc-
ing of policy instruments, remain valid today, Coeure
said, referring to the banks expectation to keep rates at
current or lower levels until well after the asset buys con-
clude.
But markets shrugged off the data with the euro and
bonds yields trading broadly unchanged as investors
have already priced in a cautious stance from the bank.
This fall was much steeper than most analysts had
forecast and should dampen speculation about an immi- telegraph.co.uk
nent exit of the ECB from its ultra-expansionary monetary
policy, Commerzbank economist Christoph Weil said. Last year, a total of 17.24 million foreigners visited the country, up
We will only see a sustained increase in the inflation 30.3 percent on-year, the sources said.
rate when wages rise more strongly again. However, we
do not expect this to happen before 2018, he added.
The ECB next meets on April 27 and no policy change Russian economy stabilizes
is expected, especially with the French election just
weeks away. Russias economy expanded for the first time in two years in the
The ECB now expects to buy 60 billion worth of as- fourth quarter of 2016, data from the state statistics service showed,
sets until the end of the year and will decide in the sec- as it slowly recovers from a crippling crisis.
ond half of the year whether to continue or wind down The country recorded 0.3 percent growth in gross domestic prod-
the scheme next year. uct year-on-year, Rosstat said, as Moscow pulls itself out of a two-
year economic crisis triggered by tumbling oil prices and Western
sanctions over Ukraine, according to AFP.
Russias GDP last experienced growth in the fourth quarter of

China March factory activity expands but at slower pace
Activity at Chinas factories expanded for
a ninth straight month in March but at a
softer pace as new export orders slowed,
a private survey showed, raising ques-
tions about whether a recent pickup in
global demand is losing steam.
The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Pur-
chasing Managers index (PMI) fell to
51.2 in March, missing economist fore-
casts of 51.6 and down from Februarys
51.7, Reuters wrote.
While the index was still well above
the 50.0 mark which separates expansion
from contraction on a monthly basis, the
rates of growth in output, total new or-
ders, input and output prices all slipped in
March from the previous month.
Growth in export orders slowed sharp-
ly, falling to a three-month low of 51.9
from 53.8 in February.
The findings contrast with those of
Chinas official factory survey, which
showed activity grew the fastest in nearly
five years in March. It also showed orders
improved from home and abroad.
But the Caixin/Markit survey tends to
focus more on small and mid-sized manu-
facturers, which may be benefiting less
from a months-long construction boom
than big industrials such as steel mills.
A sub-index of the official survey had
showed small companies were still strug-
gling, though conditions were slowly im-
proving.
The private survey is also believed
to be more reflective of export-oriented
firms.
Cloudy export outlook
While China and other North Asian
exporters have seen a strong rebound in
shipments in recent months both in value
and volume terms, the outlook is being
clouded by fears of growing US trade pro-
tectionism under President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration slammed
China again on a range of trade issues
from its chronic industrial overcapacity
to forced technology transfers and long-
but signs of a weakening have started
reutersmedia.net
standing bans on US beef and electronic
payment services.
Chinas manufacturing sector has
been enjoying its best profits in years as
a booming housing market and govern-
ment infrastructure spending boosted
construction.
But economists worry that fresh curbs
on the heated property market and tighter
credit conditions, coupled wit uncertain-
ties about global trade, may intensify
pressure on the worlds second-economy
later in the year.
Overall, the Chinese manufactur-
ing economy continued to improve,
to emerge ahead of the second quarter.
Downward pressure may further in-
crease, said Zhengsheng Zhong, direc-
tor of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM
Group.
The survey showed manufacturers
continued to shed staff, and at a slightly
quicker pace than the previous month, but
the employment outlook remained rela-
tively positive as it was the second-weak-
est seen in just over two years.
On the brighter side, the pace of inven-
tory reduction quickened in March with
stocks of purchases and stocks of finished
goods both falling into contractionary ter-
ritory.
An industry survey showed that Chinas
steel inventory by March 31 was almost 30
percent higher than the same time last year,
igniting worries that steelmakers would
soon face large destocking pressures.
2014, when it expanded by 0.2 percent.
Rosstat said that Russias GDP had contracted 0.2 percent overall
last year, after having shrank 2.8 percent in 2015.
The Russian government expects 0.6 percent growth this year,
while Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin has said that growth
could even reach two percent.
William Jackson, senior emerging markets economist at Capital
Economics, said that the return to positive growth had been driven
by stronger inventory investment and a shallower fall in consumer
spending.
Jackson forecast that Russias GDP growth would reach 1.5 per-
cent this year and 2.3 percent in 2018, figures higher than most ana-
lysts expect.
Slow stabilization
Last week, Russias central bank cut its key rate for the first time
in six months amid falling inflation and said it was considering fur-
ther cuts.
A number of key indicators have improved recently, especially
inflation, which is now approaching the central banks four-percent
target for this year.
The bank said that low inflation and a return to GDP growth had
seen real wages increase.
It also noted that investments in the first quarter of 2017 have
grown one-to-three percent year-on-year in light of the expected
recovery of demand and a decrease in macroeconomic uncertain-
ty, among other factors.
Standard and Poors agency this month raised its outlook for Rus-
sias credit rating to positive from stable, citing improving growth
prospects and a lower risk of large capital outflows
Major Currencies
Currency To USD Currency To USD

Indias economy expected to grow 7.2% in 2017 Turkish Lira

Euro
0.2750

1.0662
Chinese Yuan

UAE Dirham
0.1451

0.2722
The Indian economy was expected to grow 7.2 per- Russia and India in New York, where the foundations of British Pound 1.2546 Kuwaiti Dinar 3.2789
cent in 2017, Indias Finance Minister Arun Jaitley BRICS were laid. The BRICS has grown and evolved
said. in many ways since then and the NDB is a feather in its Australian Dollar 0.7629 Iraqi Dinar 0.0008
As per IMFs assessment in January 2017, Indias cap, Jaitley said.
growth in 2016 would be 6.6 percent and is projected to The minister said India needs $646 billion over the Japanese 100 Yen 0.0898 Saudi Riyal 0.2666
grow at 7.2 percent and 7.7 percent in 2017 and 2018, next few years to finance infrastructure development.
Jaitley said while addressing the opening ceremony of India has a huge unmet need for investment in in-
the second annual meeting of the New Development frastructure, estimated to the tune of about $646 billion
Bank (NDB) in New Delhi, Xinhua reported.
The NDB was previously referred to as BRICS De-
over the next five years. Seventy percent of this will be
required in the power, roads and urban infrastructure
Major Commodities
velopment Bank. It is a multilateral development bank sectors, Jaitley said.
established by the BRICS countries. Jaitley said they have successfully implemented sev- Crude Oil $50.85 Silver $18.27
Jaitley described NDB as a feather in the cap of eral measures to reinforce the Indian economy, includ- livemint.com
BRICS. ing merger of railway budget with the general budget The Indian government will roll out the new sales tax Gold $1251.60 Platinum $953.00
It is now more than a decade since the September and the passage of the landmark Goods and Service Tax from July 1, which will subsume excise, service tax, Wheat
Copper $2.65 $427.00
2006 meeting of foreign ministers of Brazil, China, bill. VAT and other local levies.
 6
April 3, 2017 Tourist train
The fifth international tourist train named Golden Eagle carrying 47
tourists from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan arrived in
Iran and will cross Mashhad, Kerman, Yazd, Isfahan, Shiraz and Tehran.

Cultural Heritage & Environment

Iranians celebrate Sizdah Bedar

Guardians of beauty
By Hafez

by spending time in nature

Cultural Heritage Desk that marks the end of the Norouz holidays.
The first 12 days of the year are very im-

We are the guardians of His beauty
We are the protectors of the Sun.
There is only one reason
We have followed God into this world:
To encourage laughter, freedom, and love.
Let a noble cry inside of you
Speak to me saying,
Hafez, dont just sit there
On the moon tonight doing nothing
Help unfurl my heart into the friends mind,
Help, old man, to heal my wounded wings!
We are the companions of His beauty
We are the guardians of truth.
Every man, plant and creature
In existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our beloved
P
eople across Iran celebrated Sizdah
Bedar, the traditional Persian festival
of nature, on Sunday, by spending
time outdoors.
Sizdah Bedar, an ancient Iranian nature
festival, is held on the 13th of Farvardin
(first month in Iranian calendar) and marks
the end of the Norouz (Iranian New Year)
celebrations, IRNA wrote.
The occasion has rooted deeply in Iranian
history. The festivities include picnicking
outdoors in the parks or the countryside.
Although picnicking outdoors is the main
event, there are other purposes for the cel-
ebrations which include appreciating nature
and cleaning the mind from evil thoughts.
Sizdah Bedar gives Iranians a chance to
play outdoor games, have special food and
enjoy the freshness of spring.
Iranians traditionally spend the day out-
doors on the 13th day of the Iranian month
of Farvardin, which normally falls on April
1or 2.
Sizdah means thirteen while bedar
means to get rid of, i.e getting rid of thir-
teen. From ancient times, Iranians have
cherished this day, although it is also the day
portant since they symbolize order in the
world and in the lives of people. The 13th
day marks the beginning of the return to nor-
mal daily life.
On this day, it is customary for families to
pack a picnic and go to a park or the coun-
tryside. It is believed that joy and laughter
clean the mind of all evil thoughts, and a
picnic is usually a festive, happy event.
Sizdah Bedar is also believed to be a
special day to yearn for rain. It is also a day
for competitive games.
A ritual performed at the end of the picnic
day is to throw sabzeh (sprouts) into a riv-
er. The sabzeh is supposed to have collect-
ed all the sickness, pain and ill fate which
were in hiding for the family throughout the
coming year! Touching someone else sa-
bzeh on this 13th day or bringing it home is,
therefore, considered a bad omen, and may
invite other peoples pains and hardships to
oneself.
Another tradition on the 13th day is the
knotting of blades of grass by unmarried
girls in the hope of finding a companion.
The knotting of the grass represents love and
the bond between a man and a woman. BORNA QASEMI/ISNA

A harbinger of joy,
The harbinger of light.
62m tourists visit Irans cultural, historical sites
Slave of love Cultural Heritage Desk He pointed out that good planning Norouz ritual in Iran has been regis-
was made for rendering services to No- tered as UNESCOs global heritage as
I speak frankly and that makes me happy: Over 62 million tourists visited cul- rouz visitors before the start of holidays. ancient cultural and spiritual rituals of
I am the slave of love, I am free of both tural, historical and tourist sties of Iran Continuous supervision was made Iran.
worlds. during the Norouz (New Iranian Year) for improving the welfare of holiday Norouz is a divine celebration. Cul-
holidays, said the deputy head of Iran makers, he added. ture-rich Iran has celebrated the oc-
I am a bird from heavens garden. Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Rahmani-Movahhed continued that casion for thousands of years and this
How do I describe that separation, Tourism Organization. Norouzgah rituals were held across celebration of humaneness serves as a
My fall into this snare of accidents? Morteza Rahmani-Movahhed further 31 provinces to familiarize the visitors reminder of monotheism, love, justice,
said that with the implementation of with local traditions. beauty and truth to human beings.
I was an angel and highest paradise was my Norouz Plan, visitors spent 46.6 mil- In addition, handicraft market plac- In Iran and many other countries,
place. lion person/nights across the country es were set up on the sidelines of the people welcome the spring with the an-
www.mehrnews.com
Adam brought me to this monastery in the during March 15-30. event, he added. cient Norouz celebrations.
Sightseers visit Taq-e Bostan rock reliefs in the western province of Kermanshah.
city of ruin.

The hours caress, the pool and shaded trees

of paradise
Were forgotten in the breeze from your
alleyway.
There is nothing on the tablet of my heart
But my loves first alphabet.
What can I do? My master taught me no
other.
No astrologer knew the constellations of my
fate.
O Lord, when I was born of mother Earth,
which stars were rising?
Ever since I became a slave at the door of
loves tavern
Sorrows come to me each moment with
congratulations.
Razaloud Castle in heart of Sistan-Baluchestan Province
Cultural Heritage Desk
Razaloud Castle is located in Bampour in the southeastern
province of Sistan-Baluchestan. It dates back to the Sassanid
era.
Somayyeh Dorakzadeh, a local archeologist, said that Bam-
pour served as a link between the east and west. Commercial
transactions used to be conducted between Shusha and Ilam
in the west and Sindh in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India via
Bampour, she pointed out.
Bampour was once the seat of the government in
Baluchestan, she recalled.
Dorakzadeh added that the castle belongs to the Islamic,
Sassanid and Arsacide eras. It was built upon a hillock.
The castle also served military purposes, she said.
Today, it has been abandoned and many sections have been
damaged. Giant cracks caused by the rainfall can be seen on
the hillock.
The castle is not protected against wind and rain.
In September 2016, some 60 million rials ($2,000) was al-
located for urgent renovation of the castle. The castles stairs
were renovated.
aftabir.com

The pupil of my eye drains the blood from

my heart.
I deserve it. Why did I give my heart to the
darling of others?
Wipe the tears from Hafezs face with soft
curls
Or else this endless torrent will uproot me.
Love came
By Abu Saeed Abolkhayr
Love came, flowed like blood
Beneath skin, through veins
Emptied me of my self.
Filled me with the beloved
Till every limb every organ was seized.
And occupied till only my name remains.
The rest is It.
More Chinese travelers are coming
to Australia and seeking unique,
personalized experiences, accord-
ing to an authority with Tourism
Australia.
Chinese travelers are more confi-
dent, more adventurous, and more ex-
periential, and they are making more
local Australian friends as they travel.
To me, this is the true spirit of friend-
ship between two countries, mani-
fested through rapid development in
tourism exchange, China Country
Manager of Tourism Australia Andy
Jiang told Xinhua.
In a recent trip to South Australia,
he met two young Chinese couples
traveling through Port Lincoln, a
beautiful spot on Eyre Peninsula.
They were young, full of passion
for travel, and were telling me great
experiences that they just had tast-
ing fresh oysters from the ocean at
Coffin Bay, swimming with sea lions
at Baird Bay, gazing at beautiful stars
at night in the Flinders Ranges, he
said.
What we are seeing are more and
Chinese travelers seek adventure in Australia
more Chinese travelers are now going
beyond the gateway cities of Sydney,
Melbourne and the Gold Coast, and
they are traveling through some of the
best regional locations in Australia
and are having a fantastic time, he
added.
China is by far Australias fast-
est growing and highest spending
international market, he said. It is
also Australias fourth-biggest mar-
ket for international business events
ecns.cn
spending and third-biggest in terms of
international business events arrivals,
Jiang said.
In 2016, almost 1.2 million Chi-
nese visited Australia and spent over
nine billion USD, up 18 percent year
on year. The China market has the po-
tential to be worth 13 billion USD by
2020.
Many of those driving the growth
are affluent and independently-
minded travelers who are young,
inquisitive and have a sense of adven-
ture. They are interested in the stun-
ning natural resources, art and culture
programs in Australia, he noted, add-
ing that these have also become the
focus of Australias marketing cam-
paigns in China.
To attract the countrys young tour-
ists, Tourism Australia has taken tar-
geted measures such as using Virtual
Reality (VR) and 360 degree videos
to provide an immersive experience
showing off Australias aquatic and
coastal attractions.
The year 2017 marks the China-
Australia Year of Tourism and the
45th anniversary of diplomatic re-
lations between the two countries,
which Jiang believes will be a boost
for promoting Australia as an attrac-
tive destination.
He pointed out that tourism is an
important industry for both countries,
bringing jobs and business opportuni-
ties to cities and rural communities
alike.
As part of initiatives to mark the
China-Australia Year of Tourism,
Tourism Australia is working to im-
plement a pilot 10-year visa for Chi-
nese travelers, enabling them to apply
online in the Chinese language. The
milestone policy to open air space
has significantly increased flights be-
tween China and Australia.
Many tourist attractions in Aus-
tralia have increased their investment
in the outbound Chinese market. For
example, the Bridge Climb, a ma-
jor attraction in Sydney, will launch
tailored Mandarin guide services in
April this year.
Following Premier Li Keqiangs
official visit to Australia recently, the
two countries agreed to build on the
China-Australia Year of Tourism to
organize promotional activities and
encourage people-to-people exchang-
es.
The more Chinese people visit our
nation and the more Australians come
here to China, the better we under-
stand each other and the more oppor-
tunities we have for further engage-
ment and cooperation at every level,
he said.
 7
April 3, 2017 Effects of climate change
A leading group of US psychologists has issued a report that said warming
trends and related extreme weather events could wreak havoc on mental
health.

Health

Lung probe to help cut

communication skills.
They might repeat certain behav-
iors and might not want change in
their daily activities.
Many people with ASD also have
different ways of learning, paying at-
tention, or reacting to things. Symp-
toms can be less severe with early
detection and treatment.
To see how family structure influ-
ences when the disorder is caught, re-
searchers examined survey data from
477 parents of children with autism
and from 106 close friends and fam-
ily members.
Children without siblings were
diagnosed with autism about six to
eight months earlier on average than
kids with brothers or sisters living in
the household at the time of their di-
agnosis, the study found.
Birth order also matters. Kids with
older siblings get diagnosed about
nine to 10 months sooner than chil-
dren who only have younger brothers
verywell.com and sisters.
When parents said another adult
unnecessary antibiotics use
A lung probe that diagnoses bacterial infections could prevent unnec-
essary use of antibiotics in intensive care units, researchers believe.
The fiber-optic tube can show within 60 seconds whether a patient
needs to be treated with the drugs, according to BBC.
It is hoped the Pro-
teus technology could
tackle the emergence
of bacteria that are re-
sistant to antibiotics.
The project has
been developed by
scientists at the uni-
versities of Edin-
burgh, Heriot-Watt
BBC
and Bath. Researchers hope Proteus could help prevent
Proteus has re- bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.
ceived 2 million of
funding from the Wellcome Trust.
It will also be boosted by nearly 1 million from the CARB-X an-
tibiotic resistance project co-funded by the US government and Well-
come. Proteus uses chemicals that light up when they attach to specific
types of bacterial infection.
This fluorescence is detected using fiber-optic tubes that are small
enough to be threaded deep inside patients lungs.
Potential side effects
The research team hope it could revolutionize the way critically-ill

Can grandma help

close to the child first identified the
possibility of autism, that person was
a maternal grandmother 27 percent of
the time and a teacher in 24 percent
of cases.
Taken together, grandparents on
patients and others with long-term lung conditions are assessed and
treated.
Doctors currently rely on X-rays and blood tests for diagnosis, but
these can be slow and imprecise.
Patients are often treated with antibiotics as a precaution, which ex-
poses them to potential side effects.

spot autism earlier?

both sides of the family tree noticed
the potential for autism before par-
ents did about 59 percent of the time.
The study isnt a controlled ex-
periment designed to prove how fam-
ily structures and relationships with
grandparents or teachers directly im-
Dr. Kev Dhaliwal, who is leading the project at the University of
Edinburgh, said: We need to understand disease in patients better so
that we can make better decisions at the bedside.
The Proteus project and clinical partners brings together scientists and
clinicians from many disciplines from all corners of the United Kingdom
to develop technology that can help us spot disease in real time at the bed-
side and help us to give the right treatments at the right time.

K
ids with autism who spend a
lot of time with their grand-
mothers may get diagnosed
with the disorder at a younger age, a
small study suggested.
Senior study author Joseph
Buxbaum of the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai in New
York said, This finding is incredibly
important, as these individuals have
the potential to lower the age of diag-
nosis.
Early diagnosis means early inter-
vention, which is critical for improv-
ing treatment outcomes.
Even though autism spectrum dis-
order (ASD) may be identified start-
ing when kids are around two years
old, many children are not formally
diagnosed until they are closer to
four, the researchers noted in the jour-
nal Autism, reuters.com reported.
The earlier autism is caught and
treated, the better, because younger
kids have more adaptable brains that
may respond more to therapy than
older children.
In the current study, an online sur-
vey of parents of children with autism
as well as some friends and family
members, parents reported about 25
percent of the time that another per-
son close to the child noticed signs of
autism first.
Kids in the study were diagnosed
with autism when they were about
40 months old on average. When
they regularly spent time with their
grandmothers, however, they typical-
ly were diagnosed about five months
sooner.
Lead study author Nachum Sicher-
man of Columbia University in New
York said, Around 50 percent of
friends and family noticed something
was wrong with the child before they
were aware that the parents them-
selves suspected something.
About one in 68 children have
autism spectrum disorder, which in-
cludes autism as well as Asperger
syndrome and other pervasive devel-
opmental disorders, according to the
US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
People with ASD often have prob-
lems with social, emotional and
pact when autism gets diagnosed.
Close friends and family members
may play a pivotal role in catching au-
tism early, said Norah Johnson, a pedi-
atric nurse practitioner at Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
who wasnt involved in the study.
Delayed diagnosis tends to be
from a lack of ability on the part of
parents to make clinicians aware
of the childs social signs of ASD,
Johnson said.
Dr. Thomas Frazier, director of the
Center for Autism at Cleveland Clinic
Childrens in Ohio, said, Its not
unusual for grandparents who spend a
lot of time with kids or provide child-
care to detect difficulties that might
lead to an autism diagnosis.
The rise of antimicrobial resistance is the biggest challenge in
modern medicine and the support from CARB-X will accelerate de-
velopment of Proteus technology to be ready for clinical use faster and
more widely than previously possible.
Tim Jinks, of the Wellcome Trust, added: Drug-resistant infection is
already a huge global health challenge and it is going to get worse.
We need global powers to work together on a number of fronts
from the beginning to the end of the drug and diagnostic development
pipeline.
Engineered on-off switch brings
HIV vaccine one step closer
Researchers at the University of Nebraska created an on/off switch in
a weakened form of HIV to increase its safety for use in a potential
vaccine.
There are currently no vaccines for HIV, a virus that has claimed the
lives of approximately 35 million people during the past 35 years, UPI
reported.
When vaccines
are made, scientists
prefer to use a weak-

Insomnia may increase heart attack, stroke risks
A new study has found a link
between insomnia and an in-
creased risk of a person having
a heart attack or stroke.
Qiao He, a researcher at
China Medical University, said,
Sleep is important for biologi-
cal recovery and takes around
a third of our lifetime, but in
modern society more and more
people complain of insomnia.
For example, it is reported
that approximately one-third
of the general population in
Germany has suffered from in-
somnia symptoms. Research-
ers have found associations
between insomnia and poor
health outcomes. But the links
between insomnia and heart
disease or stroke has been in-
consistent.
Researchers analyzed 15
cohort studies of 160,867
people who were followed
for an average of three to 29.6
years, examining the relation-
ship between insomnia and
incidence of or death from car-
diovascular disease, UPI wrote.
Cardiovascular disease was
defined as acute myocardial
infarction, coronary heart dis-
ease, heart failure, stroke or a
combination of events, and in-
somnia was defined as difficul-
ty falling asleep, staying asleep,
early-morning awakening and
non-restorative sleep.
The study found significant
associations between difficulty
falling asleep, difficulty stay-
ing asleep and non-restorative
sleep and an increased risk for
heart disease and stroke.
He said, We found that
difficulty initiating sleep, dif-
ficulty maintaining sleep, or
non-restorative sleep were as-
sociated with 27 percent, 11
percent and 18 percent higher
risks of cardiovascular and
stroke events, respectively.
The underlying mechanisms
for these links are not com-
pletely understood.
which are risk factors for cardi-
ovascular disease and stroke.
The study showed women
with insomnia symptoms were
at a slightly higher risk than
men for developing cardiovas-
cular disease or stroke. He said,
however, that the difference
was not statistically significant.
He added, We cannot con-
clude that insomnia is more
dangerous for women, given
the limitations of meta-analysis
and the lack of a statistically
significant difference between
UPI
sexes.
Previous studies have However, we do know that
shown that insomnia may women are more prone to in-
change metabolism and endo- somnia because of differences
crine function, increase sym- in genetics, sex hormones,
pathetic activation, raise blood stress, and reaction to stress.
pressure, and elevate levels of It may therefore be prudent to
proinflammatory and inflam- pay more attention to womens
matory cytokines all of sleep health.
ened form of a virus
instead of a deacti-
vated form because
weakened forms are
stronger and provide
longer lasting immu-
nity.
However, weak-
ened viruses are still UPI
able to replicate and
can become full-blown pathogens.
In 2014, the team from the University of Nebraska genetically engi-
neered a version of HIV that requires a synthetic amino acid not found
in the body to replicate.
The team replaced a three-nucleotide sequence, or sense codon, in
HIVs genetic code.
Each codon instructs transfer-RNA to add its corresponding amino
acid to a chain that becomes a protein and allows for viral replication.
Researchers swapped out one of these sense codons for a nonsense
edition that signals a stop in the amino-acid production, halting pro-
duction of the proteins needed for replication.
The team then engineered a unique tRNA and an accompanying en-
zyme that can interpret a sense codon.
When tRNA and enzyme were supplied with the synthetic amino
acid, the production of proteins continued replicating the virus and
when the supply of amino acids was stopped, so did replication.
This technique allowed researchers to have control over the replica-
tion of HIV. Researchers then embedded their genetic switch inside the
HIV genome, so each copy of the virus contained the switch and by
delivering a supply of amino acids allowed multiple cycles of replica-

Swedish prostate cancer test

to be introduced in Europe
A new test to improve prostate cancer reducing the number of unnecessary
diagnosis is to be tried out in clinics biopsies by 50 percent compared to the
in Germany, the Netherlands, and Bel- current clinical practice. It was intro-
gium, according to a press release from duced to the Swedish health care sys-
Swedens Karolinska Institutet. tem in December 2016, news.xinhua-
Stockholm3 is a blood test that is net.com wrote.
thought by researchers to be more ef- The Stockholm3 test is based on
fective in detecting aggressive pros- research conducted at Karolinska In-
tate cancer, while at the same time stitutet. In a clinical study, researchers
tion needed for an effective vaccine.
Wei Niu, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engi-
neering at the University of Nebraska, said, Safety is always our big-
gest concern. In this case, [it means] were one step closer to generat-
ing a vaccine.
Earlier studies have been able to generate HIV immunity in organ-
tested 60,000 men between the ages of isms by deleting HIV genes to limit replication, with one vaccine pro-
50 and 70 years old. The results have tecting 95 percent of rhesus monkeys from the virus.
been published in numerous scientific However, the virus was able to overcome this process and replicate
journals. unchecked.
EIT Health, supported by the EU The combination of nonsense codon, genetic switch and synthetic
body European Innovation and Tech- amino acid represents an especially stringent set of safeguards to pro-
nology (EIT), is providing the financ- tect against unchecked replication, which could expand its use against
ing for the clinical validation of the several viruses and not just HIV, the researchers said.
Stockholm3 test. kevinmd.com
 8
April 3, 2017 Slow breaths helpful
Researchers at Stanford University uncover the mechanism behind why
taking deep, slow breaths can elicit a sense of calm in a person.

Science & Technology

Researchers use machine learning

to help diagnose depression
Most of Mars air
was lost to space

UPI
Brain scans from the top left, the views are coronal, sagittal, 3D render and
axial projections were combined with machine learning algorithms and
used to correctly classify major depressive disorder in the participants of a
study about 75 percent of the time.

A new study from the University of nearly 75 percent accuracy.

Texas suggested machine learning
with a supercomputer may help iden-
tify people susceptible to developing
depression.
Depression is the leading cause of
disability for people between the ages
Machine learning involves creating
algorithms that can learn by building
a model from sample data inputs and
make predictions on new data.
The research team at the University Mars today is cold and dry (L) but it was very different billions of years ago (R). BBC
of Texas used Support Vector Machine

of 15 and 44, and affects more than
15 million American adults each year,
UPI reported.
Researchers have studied mental
illness by identifying the relation-
ship between brain function and
structure using neuroimaging data
for years.
David Schnyer, a cognitive neuro-
scientist at the University of Texas,
said, One difficulty with that work is
that its primarily descriptive.
The brain networks may appear
to differ between two groups, but it
doesnt tell us about what patterns
actually predict which group you will
fall into.
Were looking for diagnostic
measures that are predictive for out-
comes like vulnerability to depression
or dementia.
Schnyer is using the Stampede su-
percomputer at the Texas Advanced
Computing Center, or TACC, to train
a machine learning algorithm that can
identify similarities among hundreds
of patients using magnetic resonance
imaging, or MRI, genomics data and
other factors to predict patients at risk
for depression and anxiety.
Schyner and his colleagues used
machine learning to classify people
with major depressive disorder with
Learning to analyze data from 52
treatment-seeking participants with
depression and 45 healthy partici-
pants.
Participants underwent diffusion
tensor imaging MRI scans, which tag
water molecules to determine the level
to which those molecules are micro-
scopically diffused in the brain over
time.
This diffusion measured in multiple
spatial directions generates vectors
for each voxel, 3D cubes that repre-
sent either structure or neural activity
throughout the brain.
The measurements are then translat-
ed into metrics that indicate the integ-
rity of white matter pathways within
the cerebral cortex.
Researchers compared the two
groups and found statistically signifi-
cant differences.
Schyner added, We feed in whole
brain data or a subset and predict dis-
ease classifications or any potential
behavioral measure such as measures
of negative information bias.
This is the wave of the future.
Were seeing increasing numbers of
articles and presentations at confer-
ence on the application of machine
learning to solve difficult problems in
neuroscience.
I
t is clear now that a big fraction
of the atmosphere of Mars was
stripped away to space early in its
history.
A new analysis, combining meas-
urements by the Maven satellite in or-
bit around the Red Planet and the Cu-
riosity rover on its surface, indicate
there was probably once a shroud of
gases to rival even what we see on
Earth today, according to bbc.com.
The composition would have been
very different, however.
The early Martian air, most likely,
had a significant volume of carbon
dioxide.
That would have been important
for the climate, as the greenhouse gas
might have been able to warm condi-
tions sufficiently to support nascent
lifeforms.
Bruce Jakosky from the University
of Colorado in Boulder, the US, said,
Were in the process of tallying up
what the total amount removed was,
but Im going to guess right now
that the amount of atmosphere that
was present was about as thick as the
Earths atmosphere about one or
two bars of gas.
The bulk of that maybe (80-90)
percent has been lost to space.
Jakosky is the principal investiga-
tor on the US space agencys (NASA)
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution Mission (Maven) satellite.
Since arriving at the Red Planet in
2014, Maven has been studying the
composition and behavior of the up-
per atmosphere.
And for a new paper just published
in Science magazine, the satellite has
looked in detail at the properties of
the noble gas argon.
Atoms of this gas exist only in
small numbers just a few parts per
million.
But argon is very instructive. It is
inert: It will not react with other com-
ponents of the atmosphere or indeed
surface materials such as rocks.
This means the only way it can
be lost from Mars air is by being
dragged away into space by the abra-
sive action of the solar wind the
billowing stream of charged par-
ticles constantly flowing from the
Sun.
Just how much argon has been re-
moved over the course of 4.5 billion
years of Mars history is divined from
the ratio of heavy to light versions, or
isotopes, of the atom.
The light version (argon-36) es-
capes more easily than the heavy
version (argon-38), which leaves the
gas remaining behind enriched in the
more massive isotope.
Jakosky and his team used the
relative abundance of the two argons
measured by Maven in the upper
atmosphere and by NASAs Curiosity
robot at the surface to estimate the
fraction of gas that must have disap-
peared over time.
What weve seen from the argon
measurements is that about two-
thirds of the argon that was ever
in the atmosphere has been lost to
space. That means that most of the
gas in the atmosphere has been lost,
the PI explained on the Science In
Action program of the BBC World
Service.
Argon isnt an important gas for
understanding the climate, but it does
tell us about the carbon dioxide, be-
cause the same processes that can re-
move argon can also remove carbon
dioxide. So, were able to determine
that the bulk of the CO2 in the at-
mosphere has also been lost to space
through time.
The findings are important be-
cause they inform our understanding
of how an ancient Mars was able to
retain liquid water at its surface a
scenario that would have been condu-
cive to life.
Today, the thin air produces a pres-
sure that cannot support any exposed
water; it would rapidly boil away. So
a much thicker shroud of gas in the
past is really essential from the point
of view of habitability.
Climate conundrum
That liquid water once stood on
Mars surface or flowed freely at
times seems obvious. Pictures of the
planet reveal the traces of countless
river beds, flood plains and deltas.
And the Curiosity rover has found de-
finitive evidence of persistent lakes at
its operation site in Gale Crater.
However, climate models, based
on the limited evidence to date of
what the atmosphere was like, have
struggled to simulate a Mars on
which conditions were warm enough
to allow lots of liquid water. Much of
it would have been locked up in ice,
they suggest.
Dr. Matt Balme, a planetary scien-
tist at the UK Open University, com-
mented, Theres always been this
tension between the geologists who
see these rivers and lakes, and the
modelers who say they cant get the
atmospheric conditions to tie in.
The Maven results are great be-
cause whats been stopping the mod-
els being useful is that we dont know
what the CO2 inventory really was.
Knowing now that the atmosphere
had a pressure of one to two bars will
be very helpful in that respect, and
there is sure now to be another round
of climate modeling to see if we cant
better address some of these issues.

Implanted system allows British robot helps results from working with Kas-
par, who sports a blue cap and

quadriplegic man to use arm, hand

plaid shirt for play sessions.

autistic children Deputy principal Alice Lynch,

Break-through technology
gave a man with quadriplegia
the ability to move his right
arm and hand again after not
being able to for nearly a dec-
ade.
Bill Kochevar was paralyzed
below his shoulders in a bicy-
cling accident eight years ago
and had lost the ability to use his
hands, arms and legs but thanks
to break-through technology, he
recently grabbed a mug of wa-
ter, drew it to his lips and drank
through a straw using his right
arm and hand, UPI wrote.
Kochevar is the first person
to have a brain-computer inter-
face with recording electrodes
implanted under his skull and a
functional electrical stimulation,
or FES, system, which activates
his arm and hand essentially re-
connecting his brain to his para-
lyzed muscles.
Kochevar said, For some-
body whos been injured eight
years and couldnt move, being
able to move just that little bit is
awesome to me. Its better than I
thought it would be.
The technology that ena-
bled Kochevar to move was
Bill Kochevar is believed to be the first person with
quadriplegia in the world to have arm and hand movements
restored with the help of two temporarily implanted
technologies.
developed by a team of research-
ers at Case Western Reserve
University, the Cleveland Func-
tional Electrical Stimulation, or
FES, Center at the Louis Stokes
Cleveland VA Medical Center
and University Hospitals Cleve-
land Medical Center.
Bob Kirsch, chair of Case
Western Reserves Department
of Biomedical Engineering and
executive director of the FES
Center, said, Hes really break-
ing ground for the spinal cord
injury community.
This is a major step toward
UPI
restoring some independence.
The technology works by us-
ing the persons own brain sig-
nals to control the stimulation of
limbs.
Bolu Ajiboye, an assistant
professor of biomedical engi-
neering, said, By taking the
brain signals generated when
Bill attempts to move, and using
them to control the stimulation of
his arm and hand, he was able to
perform personal functions that vars hand, arm, wrist, elbow and
were important to him.
The research is part of the on-
going BrainGate2 pilot clinical
trial conducted by a consortium
of academic and US Department
of Veterans Affairs institutions
studying the safety and feasibil-
ity of the implanted brain-com-
puter interface, or BCI system in
people with paralysis.
A team of surgeons implanted
two 96-channel electrode arrays
each the size of a baby aspirin
into Kochevars motor cortex.
The arrays record brain sig-
nals created when he thinks of
moving his arm or hand.
The brain-computer interface
takes information from the brain
on the movements he wants to
make and passes the information
to command the electrical stimu-
lation system.
The BCI decodes the recorded
brain signals into the intended
movement command, which is
then converted by the FES sys-
tem into patterns of electrical
pulses.
These pulses are sent through
the FES electrodes to stimulate
the muscles controlling Koche-
to.
shoulder. A mobile arm support
allows Kochevar to raise his arm
and reach out.
added, We were trying to teach
a little boy how to eat with his
with social skills peers. He usually struggled with
it because of his anxiety issues.
We started doing it with Kas-
par and he really, really enjoyed
feeding Kaspar, making him eat
when he was hungry, things like
that. Now hes started to integrate
into the classroom and eat along-
side his peers. So things like that
is just a massive progression.
Many children with autism find
it hard to decipher basic human
communication and emotion so
Kaspars designers avoided mak-
ing him too lifelike and instead
opted for simplified, easy to pro-
cess features.
Autism support groups have
REUTERS been impressed.
Harrison, five, who is autistic, plays with Kaspar a Carol Povey, director of the
child-sized humanoid robot developed at the University of
Hertfordshire to interact and help improve the lives of children
National Autistic Societys Cent-
with autism in Stevenage, Britain on January 30, 2017. er for Autism, said, Many autis-
tic people are drawn to technolo-
Kerstin Dautenhahn, professor of a two-year clinical trial with the gy, particularly the predictability
artificial intelligence at the Uni- Hertfordshire Community NHS it provides, which means it can be
versity of Hertfordshire, said, Trust, which, if successful, could a very useful means of engaging
Our vision is that every child in see Kaspar working in hospitals children, and adults too.
a school or a home or in a hospital nationwide, reuters.com reported. This robot is one of a number
could get a Kaspar if they wanted TRACKS, an independent of emerging technologies which
charity and specialist early years have the potential to make a huge
Achieving that goal will center for children with autism difference to people on the autism
largely depend on the results of in Stevenage, have seen positive spectrum.
 9
April 3, 2017 Cigarette tax hike
Californias cigarette tax increased by $2 a pack under new tobacco
policies passed by voters during last Novembers general election.

Society

Myanmar trains midwives

to tackle maternal death rate
Depression Myanmar is training up hundreds of midwives in an effort
to reduce the number of women who die in childbirth, one
of many social policy reforms launched by the country as it

becomes
emerges from decades of military rule.
Statistics show childbirth and pregnancy-related complica-
tions are the leading causes of death among women in Myan-
mar, mainly due to delays in reaching emergency care, Reu-
ters reported.

main reason
According to the most recent census, 282 women die per
100,000 births in the country, equivalent to about eight deaths
every day, double the regional average and far above the mor-
tality ratio of 20 deaths per 100,000 in neighboring Thailand
or six per 100,000 in Singapore.
Nay Hnin Lwin, 19, is among 200 midwifery students cur-

for
rently studying at the Central Midwifery School in Yangon.
She said her parents, who live in a rural area, still do not
recognize the importance of midwives, relying instead on tra-
ditional birth attendants.
If there is an emergency situation, they cannot save lives.
Mothers are losing their lives because of them. Im proud to

ill health?
be a midwife to save them from these situations, she said.
At the end of the two-year course, Nay Hnin Lwin and oth-
er trainee midwives will be deployed to remote clinics with
poor infrastructure and bare-bones medical facilities.
The role of midwives is very important because two thirds
of our country is in rural areas. They are not only working on
healthcare, but also documenting and compiling data for the
statnews.com country, said Dashi Hkwan Nu, head teacher at the Central
Midwifery School.

A
ccording to the World Health Organization
(WHO), depression is one of the leading causes
of disability and ill health around the world.
WHO released a staggering figure of over 300 million
people who are suffering from depression globally, in-
dia.com reported.
These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries
to re-think their approaches to mental health and to treat
it with the urgency that it deserves, Xinhua news agen-
cy quoted a WHO news release as saying.
With the number of people with depression increasing
more than 18 percent from 2005 to 2015, WHO is car-
rying out a year-long campaign, Depression: Let`s Talk,
the focus of April 7s World Health Day, with the aim of
encouraging more people with depression to get help.
Lack of support for people with mental disorders, cou-
pled with a fear of stigma, prevent many from accessing
the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives.
Depression is an important risk factor for suicide,
which claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year,
said the report.
One of the first steps is to address issues around preju-
dice and discrimination.
The continuing stigma associated with mental illness
was the reason why we decided to name our campaign De-
pression: Lets talk, said Shekhar Saxena, director of the
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO. Myanmars healthcare particularly in far-flung areas
For someone living with depression, talking to a per- is plagued by ramshackle services, with hospitals lacking ba-
son they trust is often the first step towards treatment and sic equipment because the military junta diverted funds away
recovery. from services benefiting the general population to the army.
Increased investment is also needed. In many coun-
tries, there is no, or very little, support available for peo-
ple with mental health disorders. Even in high-income
countries, nearly 50 percent of people with depression
do not get treatment.
On average, just three percent of government health
budgets is invested in mental health, varying from less
than one percent in low-income countries to five percent
in high-income countries, said the report.

More than half of schools forced to increase class sizes asianscientist.com

The government of Myanmars first de-facto civilian leader

Class sizes are surging in thousands of
schools across the UK as headteach-
ers struggle to cope with the toughest
school spending cuts in decades, new
figures suggested.
Preliminary data from a survey led by
the Association of Teachers and Lectur-
ers found more than half of teachers have
seen a significant rise in class sizes since
this time last year, The Independent wrote.
The figures followed fresh warnings
from the House of Commons Public
Accounts Committee that childrens
futures are being put at risk by falling
standards and soaring class sizes, as
schools face the most extreme spending
squeeze since the 1990s.
In its report into school standards, the
Committee said the Department for Ed-
ucation does not seem to understand the
pressures that schools are already un-
der and is not well-placed to act swiftly
if efficiency measures threaten the qual-
ity of education and its outcomes. Fund-
ing per pupil is reducing in real terms, it
added, with mainstream schools in Eng-
land needing to make efficiency savings
rising from 1.1 billion in 2016-17 to 3
billion by 2019-20 in order to manage
within the available funds.
When asked by the ATL union what
significant changes had taken place
within their school classrooms over the
past 12 months, more than half of school
leaders cited increasing class sizes as
one of their specific concerns.
The survey of over 1,000 respondents
found a growing number of teachers had
been forced to push classroom bounda-
ries to the limit due to lack of resources,
the union told The Independent.
In many cases, there was a teacher to
pupil ratio of 35 pupils or more, with the
difference particularly noticeable within
secondary education.
The surveys full findings, which are
due to be published later this month,
build on a study run by the Association
of School and College Leaders (ASCL),
which also flagged concerns about in-
creasing class sizes, as well as the can-
cellation of school trips and schools
dropping certain subjects as teachers
cope with budget cuts.
There is currently no limit on primary
or secondary school class sizes.
Infant classes are subject to a maxi-
mum of 30 pupils per class, but there
are still a few circumstances in which
additional children can be included as
exceptions. grow.
According to Department for Educa-
tion data, the number and proportion
of infants in large classes fell between
2015 and 2016.
The average primary school class had
27 pupils in it last year, and the average
secondary school class had 20.4.
Industry leaders said there is evidence
to suggest worrying class size increas-
es, however, with secondary schools be-
ing putting under particular pressure as
school-age populations are predicted to
A-level class, with the total number of
Sixth form colleges are also being af-
fected, with a report published by the DfE
last week highlighting stark differences
between AS and A-level classes between
schools and further education colleges.
independent.co.uk
At one end of the spectrum an FE
college was delivering average classes
of 24 students across all of its A level
provision, the report said.
One secondary school teacher told
The Independent she had been forced to
take on many more pupils in her history
students doubling.
I think it happens more than teachers
like to admit, she said, because they
dont want people to think they cant
cope.
in about half a century, Aung San Suu Kyi, has launched a se-
ries of social reforms such as national health and education
plans, and the introduction of a bus transport system in Yan-
gon.
A year after sweeping to power, however, Suu Kyi ac-
knowledged earlier this week public frustration with the slow
pace of reforms and development.
The midwives training program is being supported by the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which says My-
anmar must tackle maternal mortality in order to raise living
standards.
Maternal mortality needs to come down if Myanmar wants
to graduate from the least developed into a middle-income
country, said Hla Hla Aye, assistant representative to the
Fund.
Global warming causing
green plankton bloom in the Arctic
Thinning sea ice due to global warming, may be causing phy-
toplankton bloom under the Arctic sea, which can potentially
disrupt the Arctic food chain, suggested a new study.
The conditions of the Arctic were considered unfavorable
for phytoplankton growth, since the sea ice reflects sunlight
back into space, blocking its penetration into the water, scroll-
today.com wrote.
In 2011, researchers first observed a massive phytoplankton
bloom under the Arctic sea ice, which was surprising, as it was
thought that the waters were too dark for the process of pho-
tosynthesis.
However, researchers now attribute the plankton growth to the
rising temperatures, which cause the sea ice to melt. Over the last
few decades, Arctic ice is getting thinner and darker because of
global warming, allowing sunlight to pass through the water.
Increased formation of large, dark pools of water on the sur-

Dozen overdoses in Vancouver

Vancouver police in Canada have issued a safety warn-
ing after a dozen people overdosed in the Downtown
Eastside.
Police received reports of 12 suspected drug overdos-
es in the area of Columbia Street and Gore Avenue, Staff
Sgt. Randy Fincham said in a media release, calgaryher-
ald.com wrote.
Fortunately, none of those overdoses resulted in a
death, Fincham said.
Coco Culbertson, senior manager of programs with
the PHS Community Services Society, said she arrived
on the 100-block East Hastings Street to find two ambu-
lances parked outside and paramedics responding to a
trio of overdoses in the lane behind Hotel Maple.
Culbertson said her team had arrived to open its over-
dose-prevention site earlier than usual, at 7 a.m., so it
would be running before the Insite supervised-injection
site opened.
There have been 100 overdose deaths in Vancouver
wordpress.com in the first three months of 2017, compared to 215 in all
of 2016, according to a release by the City of Vancou-
ver. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services reported 162
overdose-response calls for the week of March 20, up 56
percent from the previous week, the city said. Most calls
were in the Downtown Eastside.
Culbertson said it was likely someone came down
there and dumped off another batch of tainted drugs.
Usually thats what happens, a batch hits the street
and we see the outcomes right away, she said. It hap-
pened very quickly and then it sort of subsided really
quickly.
Culbertson didnt know what drug the victims used
but said they showed symptoms consistent with fenta-
nyl or carfentanil overdoses. All received the overdose-
reversing drug naloxone and oxygen.
None of the three laneway overdoses was fatal, Cul-
bertson said.
Vancouver police have a policy of not attending over-
dose calls unless there is a safety risk to first responders
or the public.
face of the ice known as melt ponds has reduced the
reflectivity of the ice.
Our big question was, how much sunlight gets transmit-
ted through the sea ice, both as a function of thickness, which
has been decreasing, and the melt pond percentage, which has
been increasing, said study author Chris Horvat from Har-
vard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sci-
ences (SEAS).
Based on mathematical modeling, researchers found that
while the melt ponds contribute to conditions friendly to
blooms, the biggest culprit is ice thickness.
What we found was that we went from a state where there
wasnt any potential for plankton blooms to massive regions of
the Arctic being susceptible to these types of growth, he said.
Twenty years ago, only about three to four percent of Arc-
tic ice was thin enough to allow large colonies of plankton to
bloom underneath. However, today the experts said that near-
ly 30 percent of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean permits sub-ice
blooms in summer months.
All of a sudden, our entire idea about how this ecosystem
works is different. The foundation of the Arctic food web is
now growing at a different time and in places that are less ac-
cessible to animals that need oxygen, added Horvat.
 10
April 3, 2017 Chinese proverb
Plan your year in the spring, your day at dawn.

Entertainment

Spring Quotes The three little butterfly brothers

B
ehold, my friends, the spring has
come; the Earth has gladly received
the embraces of the Sun, and we
shall soon see the results of their love.
Sitting Bull
I believe in process. I believe in four
seasons. I believe that winters tough, but
springs coming. I believe that theres a
growing season. And I think that you real-
ize that in life, you grow. You get better.
Steve Southerland
You can cut all the flowers but you can-
not keep the spring from coming.
Pablo Neruda
The beautiful spring came; and when
nature resumes her loveliness, the human
soul is apt to revive also.
Harriet Ann Jacobs
Spring has returned.
The Earth is like a child that
knows poems.
Rainier Maria Rilke
The day the Lord created hope was
probably the same day He created spring.
Bernard Williams
should smell like dirt.
People ask me what I do in winter
when theres no baseball. Ill tell you
what I do. I stare out the window and
wait for spring.
Roger Hornsby
Spring wont let me stay in this house
any longer! I must get out and breathe the
air deeply again.
Gustav Mahler
Spring is when you feel like whistling
even with There were once three little butterfly brothers, one
a shoe full white, one red, and one yellow. They played in the
of slush. sunshine, and danced among the flowers in the
Doug garden, and they never grew tired because
Larson they were so happy.
One day there came a heavy rain,
In the spring, at and it wet their wings. They flew
the end of the day, you away home, but when they got
there they found the door locked
Margaret Atwood and the key gone. So they had to
stay out of doors in the rain, and
The spring wakes us, nurtures us and revi- they grew wetter and wetter.
talizes us. How often does your spring come? By and by they flew to the red
If you are a prisoner of the calendar, it comes and yellow striped tulip, and said,
once a year. If you are creating authentic pow- Friend tulip, will you open your
er, it comes frequently, or very frequently. flower-cup and let us in till the storm is over?
Gary Zukav The tulip answered, The red and yellow butter-
flies may enter, because they are like me, but the
Every spring is the only spring, a per- white one may not come in.
petual astonishment. But the red and yellow butterflies said, If our
Ellis Peters white brother may not find shelter in your flower-
cup, why, then, well stay outside in the rain with
him.
It rained harder and harder, and the poor little
butterflies grew wetter and wetter, so they flew to
the white lily and said, Good Lily, will you open
your bud a little so we may creep in out of the
rain?
The lily
answered:
The white
butterfly may
come in, be-
cause he is like
me, but the red
and yellow ones must stay outside
in the storm.
Then the little white butterfly said,
If you wont receive my red and yellow
brothers, why, then, Ill stay out in the rain with
them. We would rather be wet than be parted.
So the three little butterflies flew away.
But the Sun, who was behind a cloud, heard
it all, and he knew what good little brothers the
butterflies were, and how they had held together
in spite of the wet. So he pushed his face through
the clouds, and chased away the rain, and shone
brightly on the garden.
He dried the wings of the three little butterflies,
and warmed their bodies. They ceased to sorrow,
and danced among the flowers till evening, then
they flew away home, and found the door wide
open.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

SAM YEH/AFP
A Japanese white-eye sits in a kanzakura tree in Taipei, Taiwan.

Catch-Words DOWN ACROSS

1. Keep your ___ open (7) 1. ___ and lemons (7) Sudoku
2. Wide ___ (5)
3. Baby-___ (6) 4. Game, set and ___ (5) Sudoku was inspired by the table devised by Iranian mathematician
4. The ___ touch (5) 7. Aided and ___ (7) Khwarazmi. Fill 99 grid with digits so that each column, each row
5. ___ and lightning (7) and each of the nine 33 sub-grids that compose the grid, contains all
9. Back to square ___ (3) of the digits from 1 to 9.
6. All ___ on deck! (5)
8. The ___ has landed (5) 10. There are two ___ to every story (5)
12. For and ___ (7) 11. The ___ of justice (6)
14. An optional ___ (5) 13. Given the third ___ (6)
15. With friends like these, who
needs ___? (7) 17. A close ___ (5)
16. Sour ___ (6) 19. ___ the knot (3)
17. The last ___ (5) 20. History ___ itself (7)
18. Trial and ___ (5)
19. Touch, smell, sight, hearing, 21. It's ___ under the bridge (5)
___ (5) 22. Cups and ___ (7)

Last editions solution

 11
April 3, 2017
Chinese Taipei win sends Iran to
Asian U-19 quarterfinals
Sports Desk
I
ran outpowered Chinese Taipei in
its fourth match in the 2017 Asian
Youth Boys Volleyball Champion-
ship, to advance to the tournaments
playoffs.
Iranian junior volleyball players de-
feated their rival in straight sets (26-24,
25-19, 27-25) on Sunday to finish in the
Irans Molaei wins bronze
at Tbilisi Grand Prix 2017
Iranian judoka Saeid Molaei snatched bronze in the
Tbilisi Grand Prix 2017 held in Georgia on Satur-
day.
The -81kg judoka defeated Englands Owen Livesey
in the third-place playoff match to receive its bronze
medal, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Brazilian judoka Victor Penalber seized the gold
medal in the same weight class, beating Russian Alan
Khubetsov in the final match.
A total of 11 Iranian judokas took part in the tourna-
ment which was held during March 31-April 2.
The Tbilisi Grand Prix 2017 brought 280 judokas
from 38 countries together.
Ter Stegen casts doubt on
Barcelona future
Sports
Farnoosh Moradmand/tasnimnews.com
third place of Pool F and go through to Hossein Toukhteh, Amir Mohammad
the quarterfinals of the 11th edition of Falahat-Khah, Morteza Sharifi, Ehsan
the Asian U-19 tourney, varzesh3.com Daneshdoust, Ali Tabari, Mehdi Jelveh
reported. and Mohammad-Reza Hazrat-Pour.
Iran had defeated Bangladesh (3-0)
and lost to South Korea (0-3) and Chi-
Iran takes on Thailand today to fight
for a place in the semifinal stage.
na (2-3) in its previous fixtures in the The tournament, currently underway
meet. in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, began on
In match against Chinese Taipei, March 28 and will continue until April
Irans primary lineup comprised Amir- 5.
Irans junior hoopsters
pull off third victory
in Hungary
Sports Desk
Iran notched up its third consecutive victory in a friendly
youth basketball tournament held in Hungary defeating
Germanys Turnerschaft Jahn Mnchen 78-62.
The Iranian squad had powered past Hungarys Debre-
cen and Finlands KTP Kotka 81-50 and 76-70, respective-
ly, in its first and second fixtures in the tourney, varzesh3.
com reported.
The Iranian junior basketball players are preparing
themselves to take part in the West Asia Basketball Asso-
ciation [youth] Championship 2017 to be held in Tehran in
mid-April.
tasnimnews.com
iranbasketball.org
Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen cast doubt
on his Barcelona future on Sunday, amid re-
ported interest from Manchester City coach Pep
Guardiola.
Former Barcelona manager Guardiola chased
the 24-year-old German international last year
and Premier League side City is reportedly
primed to go for Ter Stegen again at the end of
this season, AFP wrote.
Asked in an interview with Barcelona-based
daily newspaper La Vanguardia about Citys
interest and if he sees himself staying at Barce-
lona for several more years, the goalkeeper said,
I dont know.
I try to do the best for me and for the team.
Give my best and improve. You never know
what comes after, said Ter Stegen, who is in
talks over a new deal at the Camp Nou.
Ter Stegen, who joined Barca in 2014 from
Borussia Moenchengladbach, is under contract
with the Spanish giants until June 2019.
I live in the moment, that is what is most
important. I am happy here with my colleagues
and friends and I hope to win many more tro-
phies, that is the goal, he added.
PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP
Athletes from 50 countries
to run in Tehran Intl Marathon
Sports Desk
Runners from 50 countries have reg-
istered to take part in the first edition
of the Tehran International Mara-
thon to begin in the Iranian capital
on April 8 hosted by the Islamic Re-
public of Iran Athletics Federation
(IRIAF).
So far, 73, 31, 28 and 20 runners
from Iran, the UK, the US and Ger-
many have submitted their names.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Japan are
among the countries with only one
participant in the event, varzesh3.
com reported.
Currently, the number of the ath-
letes who have registered to take
part in the Iranian marathon stands at
360. However, the figure is expected
to exceed 1,100.
To be held under the motto of I
Run Iran, the tournament will fea-
ture contenders in 10 kilometers,
half marathon and full marathon road
running competitions.
The IRIAF announced that the
sports event will start from Azadi
Sport Complex in western Tehran,
Di Maria sparkles
as PSG retains League Cup
Angel Di Maria scored one goal and
set up two more as Paris Saint-Ger-
main thrashed Monaco 4-1 on Satur-
day to lift the French League Cup for
the fourth successive season.
Julian Draxler fired PSG ahead with
just four minutes played in the final in
Lyon, but Thomas Lemar leveled for
Monaco before the half hour, AFP re-
ported.
Paris Saint-Germain's Thiago Silva (C) holds the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning their French League Cup
final against Monaco on April 1, 2017.
Argentine international Di Maria
restored the lead for Unai Emerys
side a minute before halftime and
Edinson Cavani sealed a record sev-
enth title for PSG with a clinical sec-
ond-half brace.
Weve had some difficult times,
but we havent given up. Weve
proved were a great side. I think its
a deserved win and we can celebrate
a bit, midfielder Marco Verratti told
Canal+.
In four years here weve won ev-
erything. We have a great team and
this is a victory for everyone involved.
The league title is our goal now and
well give it our all until the finish.
After the shock of its Champions
League last 16 collapse against Bar-
celona in the second leg, a third meet-
ing with Ligue 1 leader Monaco this
season presented an opportunity for
redemption for PSG.
Monacos Radamel Falcao failed
to shake off a nagging hip injury that
has sidelined the Colombian since
Coach confession
Guus Hiddink said he turned down the opportunity to manage champion
Leicester City following the dismissal of Claudio Ranieri and instead
recommended Craig Shakespeare.
along Karaj Special Road, past Azadi
and Enghelab squares and backward.
The champion of the 10-kilome-
ter (6.2 miles) run will be awarded
the $1,000 cash prize. The runner-up
will be paid $700, while the third-
finisher will earn $500.
The title winner of the half mara-
thon event will get $1,500, while the
vice champion of the 21.0975-ki-
lometer-long (13.1094-mile-long)
contest will receive $1,000. The third
March 11, but Thiago Motta returned
to the PSG lineup for his first start in
six weeks.
PSG has dominated the competition
in recent seasons Monacos last ma-
jor trophy came when it won the 2003
final and the holder stormed into an
early lead albeit in controversial cir-
cumstances.
Verratti slipped Di Maria in behind
the defense, with the Argentine elect-
ing to unselfishly slide the ball across
for Draxler to tap home.
Replays showed the Germany in-
ternational was marginally offside,
although unlike in Tuesdays inter-
national between France and Spain
where a video assistant referee was
used in the country for the first time
there was no such help available at
Parc OL.
Towering header
Monaco shrugged off that setback
as Lemar replied with a fine equalizer
on 27 minutes.
Bernardo Silvas chipped pass
found Djibril Sidibe inside the area
and the France fullback laid the ball
back for Lemar to expertly sweep
home from the edge of the box.
Cavani thought he had put PSG
back in front as he reacted quickest
to Thiago Silvas towering back-post
header, but the Uruguayans goal-
presstv.com
person on podium will collect $500.
In the marathon race with an of-
ficial distance of 42.195 kilometers
(26.219 miles), the victor will be
awarded $3,000. The second to sixth
finishers will pocket $2,500, $2,000,
$1,500, $1,000 and $500 respective-
ly.
Athletics enthusiasts can register
their names at http://run.maraltours.
com in order to attend the first edition
of Tehran International Marathon.
bound flick was superbly kept out
by Danijel Subasic before the Croat
smothered the rebound.
However there was nothing the
Monaco keeper could do as Di Maria
stabbed low into the corner with half-
time approaching after Draxler dis-
played remarkable balance to feed the
unmarked Argentine.
Joao Moutinho fizzed a shot just
over the crossbar following the inter-
val, but PSG landed the fatal blow on
54 minutes as Cavani hammered past
Subasic after a sublime floated cross
from Verratti.
FRANCK FIFE/AFP
Benjamin Mendy went close to
halving the deficit with a stinging ef-
fort, but Cavani should have netted his
second and sealed the outcome when
he steered wide from Di Marias de-
livery from the left.
Substitute Irvin Cardona flashed
a header just wide of Kevin Trapps
left-hand post, while Subasic dived at
full-stretch to palm away a Di Maria
effort with the outside of the boot.
But the Argentine combined with
Cavani in the final minute to add a
fourth for PSG as the Uruguayan
powered home Di Marias cross from
close range to cap a convincing tri-
umph.
We played a great match, with hu-
mility, consistency and sacrifice, said
Cavani.
Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim
commented, For several of our
young players this was their first final.
Just because we lost doesnt mean we
will play less well in the competitions
still open to us.
 12
April 3, 2017

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.

Art & Culture

Irans Parting takes leave to L icen s e Holder:

Managing Director:
compete in Istanbul festival
Editor-in-Chief:
E d it or i a l D ept. Tel:
E d it or i a l D ept. Fa x:
The 2016 Afghan-Iranian drama film Parting directed by Subs cr ipt ion D ept. Tel:
IC PI P ubl i sher:
Navid Mahmoudi is scheduled to compete in Istanbul Film Advertising Dept. Tel & Email:
Festival. Subs cr ipt ion D ept. Tel:
The film will be taking part in the Human Rights in Cinema Websit e:
Competition of the festivals 36th edition and will be screened E m a i l:
P r i nt i n g Hou s e:
on April 13, 14 and 15, ISNA reported.
Add.: Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #208 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Iran Daily has no responsibility whatsoever for the advertisements and promotional material printed in the newspaper.
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Sadrodin Moosavi
K a mba k h sh K h a l aj i
+98 21 8 875 5761-2
+98 21 8 87618 69
+98 21 42162020
+98 21 8 8 5 4 8 892, 5
+98 21 88500617 - irandaily@iranagahiha.com
+98 21 421620 0 0
ht t p://w w w. i ra nd a i lyon l i ne. i r
i ra nd a i ly@icpi . i r
I ra n C u lt u ra l & P res s I n st it ut e

Gonbad-e Qabus tower

(dating back to the fourth
century Hegira) in Irans
northern city of Gorgan is a
monument which has been
ISNA
on UNESCO World Heritage
Narrating the story of suffering, the flick was introduced as
Site since 2012. It is the
Afghanistans representative to the 89th edition of the Acad-
emy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. worlds tallest baked-brick-
Mahmoudis movie was earlier screened at Busan Interna- built tower. This historical
tional Film Festival in South Korea in October 2016 as well as monument attracted a lot
the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala in India. of tourists during Norouz
Parting tells the story of two young Afghans Nabi and
holidays.
Fereshteh who fell in love. Fereshteh leaves the country with
her parents to seek refuge in Iran while Nabi aims for a bet-
ter life for his love. The story fluctuates between attaining the
goal and separation.
The 36th Istanbul Film Festival will be held from April 5 to
April 15, 2017.

Rosenquist, known for

room-sized works, dies at 83
A leading pioneer of Pop Art James Rosenquist known for his
room-sized works died in New York. He was 83.
The internationally acclaimed artist passed away Friday at
his home following a long illness, according to The New York MEYSAM MOHSENI/IRNA
Times, citing his wife.
Rosenquist transitioned from a commercial sign-painter to
a fine artist who, along with contemporaries Andy Warhol,

Iran underlines expansion of

Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns, helped launch the 1960s
Pop art movement onto the global stage.
A genre that blurred the lines between high and low culture
by channeling advertising and consumer products, Pop art
seemed a natural fit for Rosenquist, who spent years painting

cultural relations with Tunisia

large-scale billboards.
He translated those skills to his art, moving from more Ab-
stract Expressionist-style work to painting mostly representa-
tional, punchy consumerist images.

He often juxtaposed his spliced images such as cars,
home appliances and twisting pasta in the collage style, a
technique often ascribed to the Surrealist movement.
AFP
He rarely took an overt political stance with his work, but
Rosenquists best known 1965 piece protested US milita-
rism in Vietnam. The 86-foot long F-111 depicts the body
of a modern fighter-bomber plane that spans 23 panels, inter-
spersed with fragmented imagery of war references and com-
mercial products.
The artist once described the piece, which was shown at
New Yorks Museum of Modern Art in 2012, as questioning
the collusion between the Vietnam death machine, consum-
erism, the media and advertising.
Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota on November 29, 1933,
his family relocated throughout the Midwest before settling in
Minneapolis in 1944.
While studying studio art at the University of Minnesota
from 1952-1954, he spent summers painting storage tanks,
grain silos and gas station signs to pay the bills.
He moved to New York in 1955 on a one-year art scholar-
ship and began frequenting the citys Greenwich Village, then
a petri dish of artistic innovation and the avant-garde.
In the Village Rosenquist hobnobbed with other now-fa-
mous artists including Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.
In addition to his New York residence Rosenquist also
spent many of his later years in Florida. A 2009 brush fire
there devastated several of his buildings including his
studio, which contained a number of works that were de-
stroyed.
I
rans Culture Minister Reza Salehi-
Amiri called for boosting ties with Tuni-
sia in the fields of art and culture point-
ing to the commonalities between the two
countries in these areas.
In a meeting with his Tunisian coun-
terpart Mohamed Zine El Abidine, he
noted that Iran and Tunisia can define new
grounds for expanding bilateral relations.
He added that Irans Culture Ministry is
ready for joint production of films as well
as cooperation in orchestra and music with
Tunisia and is also prepared to hold train-
ing courses to enhance cultural and artistic
relations. The minister briefed his Tunisian
counterpart on Tehran Museum of Contem-
porary Art and said that it is a well-known
museum of visual arts and the artworks
there are estimated to be worth $2.5 billion. tional Book Fair and noted that 12,000
The official invited his Tunisian coun- publishers are expected to take part in
terpart to attend the 30th Tehran Interna- event and three million visitors are also
Iranian musician
selected for
JUNO Awards jury
Art & Culture Desk
Iranian musician, orchestra conductor, pianist and
composer Maziar Heidari was a member of the panel of
jury at the Canadian music festival 2017 JUNO Awards
which was held from March 27 to April 2, 2017 in Ot-
tawa, Ontario.
The 46th annual JUNO Awards was broadcast on
expected at the exhibition.
Holding cultural week is not enough
to boost cultural cooperation between the
CTV from The Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday, April
2, 2017. The JUNO Awards last visited Ottawa in 2012
and are thrilled to return as one of the major events in
the Capitals celebrations of Canadas 150th anniver-
sary.
The JUNO Awards evolved from an industry awards
event to a weeklong festival that travels city to city
across the country. It encompasses both public-facing
fan events and industry/networking opportunities fea-
turing a diverse array of Canadian artists and emerging
talent.
The JUNO Week events include JUNO Songwriters
Circle, JUNOfest, JUNO Fan Fare, JUNO Cup, and
more. The JUNO Awards were created to celebrate and
promote Canadian music and artists.
In 2002, the JUNO Awards went on the road to take
music to the fans and expanded its scope to include
two states, he said pointing to the need to
increase of consultations in the fields of art
and culture.
He said that Iran and Tunisia can also co-
operate in fields of manuscripts as well as
media and national archives.
We believe that strengthening Tunisia is
strengthening democracy and it can play an
inspiring role for Arab and African states.
Meanwhile, the Tunisian culture minister
referred to the commonalities between the
two countries and noted that relations be-
tween Iran and Arab world resulted in a rich
Islamic civilization which involves both
spirituality and rationality.
The official said, Now, we are holding
Irans cultural and film week in Tunisia and
dolat.ir we will send a delegation to Iran to prepare
the ground for the presence of Tunisian
filmmakers at Fajr International Film Fes-
tival.
MEHR NEWS AGENCY
a series of public and private events outside of the
Awards broadcast.
Each host city has embraced the opportunity to sup-
port the JUNO Awards and build an enduring legacy of
music programs in their market.

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