By Peyman YazdaniINTERVIEW

By Marjan Golpira

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42 1 1 12Iran’s debt to Hermes cleared

Zarif to start third round of Europe trip

Iranian duo win gold medals at Pytlasinski tournament

UAE is leading buyer of Iranian illumination works: Artist

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

Last month, the Saudi-led coalition was put on a blacklist over its role in the deaths of chil-dren in Yemen. The UN report, which annually shames the worst perpetrators, put the blame on the coalition for 60 percent of 1,953 children recorded as killed or maimed in the conflict in 2015.

However, one week after the UN report, Sec-retary-General Ban Ki-Moon decided to de-list Saudi Arabia, calling it “one of the most painful and difficult decisions I have had to make.”

The UN leader attributed his decision to the effects it would have on other UN programs.

“I also had to consider the very real pros-pect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would de-fund many UN programs. Children already at risk in Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and so many other places would fall fur-ther into despair.

Ban accused Saudi Arabia and its military allies of placing “undue pressure” on the inter-national organization for a changed decision as Saudis had threatened to cut their dollars to UN humanitarian agencies.

The decision came under heavy criticism by human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The HRW accused Ban of giving in to “po-

litical manipulation” in the wake of furious pro-tests from Riyadh. It said the UN had executed a “shocking flip-flop.”

Amnesty International decried “blatant pan-dering”, which it said “damages the credibility of the UN as a whole” while Oxfam described the decision to retract its findings “a moral failure.”

There are some, however, defending Ban’s act, hailing it as an act of bravery

Amir Saed Vakil, profession of International Law, is one of supports who believes the sec-retary general’s confession was “too painful yet so constructive.”

In what follows, Mr. Vakil has answered a couple of questions on the story in an interview with the Tehran Times. 9

TEHRAN — Loading opera-tions of the platform for the

South Pars gas field phase 21 with the capac-ity of producing one billion cubic feet (around 25 million cubic meters) of gas per day will be started next week, the Shana news agency re-ported on Sunday.

The huge offshore field, shared with Qa-tar, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s ter-

ritorial waters.The field is estimated to contain a signif-

icant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of con-densate.

South Pars is divided into 24 standard phas-es, of which phases 1-10, 12, 15 and 16 are fully operational. Each standard phase is projected to produce 50 mcm of gas per day. Phases 17 and 18 as well as 19 are operating at half capacity.

Phases 20 and 21 are projected to produce 50 million cubic meters of sweet gas per day for

home consumption and will recover one million tons of Ethane per annum for petrochemical industry consumption. They will also recover 1.050 million tons of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) per year, produce 75,000 barrels of gas condensate and recover 400 tons of sulfur per day for exports.

The managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, Ali Akbar Shabanpour, has said that South Pars produced 130 billion cubic meters of gas in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended in March 2016, around half of Iran’s total gas output.

“Ban’s decision to delist S. Arabia too painful yet so constructive”

Afghanistan plans to add Kulliyat-i Sadi to UNESCO Memory of the World

TEHRAN — Af-ghanistan plans to

submit a version of the Kulliyat-i Sadi to be registered on UNESCO’s Memo-ry of the World Register list.

The version inscribed nine years after the death of the Persian poet is the oldest copy of the collection, which is kept at the National Archives of Afghanistan, Iranian cultural attaché Reza Maleki said in a press release published by the Islamic Culture and

Relations Organization on Saturday.The Kulliyat-i Sadi is composed of

the Bustan (The Orchard) and Gulistan (The Rose Garden).

Another version of the collection, which was calligraphed during the 14th century, just 60 years after Sadi’s death, is preserved at the National Li-brary and Archives of Iran.

This version was added to UNES-CO’s Memory of the World Register list last October. Iran also keeps another version of the Kulliyat-i Sadi at Astan-e Qods Razavi Library in Mashhad.

Maleki has recently held a meeting with National Archives of Afghanistan Director Masuma Nazari to clear up the misunderstanding about a recent deal between Iran and Turkey to sub-mit the Masnavi-ye Manavi, the mas-terpiece of Persian poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi that is preserved in Turk-ish library, on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register list.

Afghanistan and some cultural circles in the country saw the deal as a snub.

Iran has announced that the coun-try’s collaboration with Turkey on the issue was formed based on the simple fact that the version of the Masnavi-ye Manavi, that is, the oldest version of the masterpiece, is kept in Turkey.

Commander: Iranian Navy to unveil new destroyers, submarines this yearFNA — Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari an-nounced plans to unveil new destroy-ers and submarines in the current Ira-nian year (started on March 20).

“We hope to unveil new destroyers and submarines this year,” Sayyari told FNA on Sunday.

Elsewhere, he referred to the pres-ence of Iran’s 41st fleet of warships in international waters, and said, “Special Naval Operation teams have been deployed in the Gulf of Aden, Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea and now security is established in the Gulf of Aden for the ships supported by us.”

“Establishment of security in the Gulf of Aden is a big job while pres-ence in the international waters is considered as a Navy achievement,” Sayyari said.

In relevant remarks last Tuesday, Sayyari underlined the Iranian experts’ capabilities to design and build dif-ferent vessels, including destroyers, and said, “We can design destroyers from point zero and the designing of Damavand destroyer was fully indige-nized and our Jamaran destroyer has the capability to carry helicopters and torpedoes.”

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and sys-tems, including destroyers. 2

Rouhani says JCPOA has created

atmosphere of progress in Iran

TEHRAN — Iranian President Hassan Rohani has called the Joint Compre-hensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) an agreement that brought about a suita-ble atmosphere for the country’s pro-gress and economic growth.

The president made the remarks on Saturday on TEOn the sidelines of an Iftar reception, hosted by the pres-idential palace for journalists at Teh-ran’s Islamic Summit Conference Hall.

President Rouhani noted that the JCPOA has provided Iranians with op-portunities to increase their business activities in various areas.

Underlining the importance of pub-lic support, President Rouhani noted if the Iranian government wishes to reach humanitarian and Islamic Revolution’s goals, the country should turn into an example for the entire freedom seeker Muslims in the world, and for that to happen it needs support of the public.

“If the public opinion of our own people does not show support for us, how on earth we can expect to have the backing of other countries’ public opinion.” 2

Iran says has finalized the

deal to buy 100 Boeing airliners

Iran has reached a deal to buy 100 planes from U.S. planemaker Boeing, and the two sides are awaiting ap-proval by U.S. Treasury authorities, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organiza-tion said in remarks published by state media on Sunday.

So far, Boeing has only been grant-ed permission to present its products to IranAir and a handful of other airlines as it tries to catch up with Europe’s Airbus, which won a provisional deal earlier this year for 118 jets worth $27 billion.

“Of the 250 (passenger) planes in Iran, 230 have to be replaced,” Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told the state-run daily newspaper Iran, adding that a written agreement had been signed with Boeing to buy 100 aircraft.

Abedzadeh said that no precise timeline could be given for the imple-mentation of the deal before an au-thorization is issued by the U.S. Treas-ury Department.

He said Boeing had submitted an official request to the U.S. Treasury for a final permit for the plane sales and “the final contract is to be signed be-tween the two sides after the license has been obtained.”

In January, IranAir agreed in to buy 118 jets worth $27 billion at list prices from Airbus. The deal was conditional on U.S. export licenses because of the quantity of U.S.-built parts.

In comments about the Airbus pur-chases, Abedzadeh told the Iran news-paper “The final obstacle in this area are only the permits from the U.S. Treasury Department.” (Source: Reuters)

TEHRAN — Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah

Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that uni-versities and students should always be “revo-

lutionary.” During a meeting with a group of universi-

ty professors and highly talented academicians and researchers, the Leader said “revolutionary”

nature of universities and students is one of the requirements of turning the Islamic establish-ment into a “scientific power” and “role model of democracy with Islam and democracy”. 2

Leader urges university students to be ‘revolutionary’

Iran’s para-archer

Abbaspour wins

gold medal at

Czech Target

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Loading South Pars phase 21 platform to begin next week

12 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.12580 Monday JUNE 20, 2016 Khordad 31, 1395 Ramadan 14, 1437

Persian literature aficionados visit the tomb of Sadi in Shiraz during Sadi National Day on April 20, 2015. (Mehr/Amin Berenjkar)

POLITICALd e s k

TEHRAN — Foreign Minis-

try of Iran announced on Sunday new appointments, replacing For-eign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari with Bahram Qasemi.

Bahram Qasemi served previ-ously as Iran’s ambassador to Ire-land, Italy, and Spain. He has also

been deputy for international re-search at the Center for Strategic Research, an affiliate of the Expe-diency Council.

Also, Foreign Minister Moham-mad Javad Zarif named the out-going Jaberi Ansari to lead deputy foreign minister for Arab and Afri-can Affairs, previously run by Hos-

sein Amir-abdollahian. Amir-abdollahian will be taking

assisting Zarif in his capacity as ad-visor, Zarif ordered.

Jaberi Ansari was Tehran’s am-bassador to Libya as well as dep-uty foreign minister for the Mid-dle East and North Africa region (MENA).

Zarif orders appointments, names Bahram Qasemi new spokesman

S P O R T Sd e s k

TEHRAN —Kaveh Rezaei

joined Esteghlal football team from Zob Ahan on a one-year contract on Sunday. The details of the deal have not been revealed.

The 24-year-old forward was

reportedly on the verge of join-ing an Austrian football club but penned a contract with the Iranian popular football team.

Rezaei, who started his career at Foolad in the 2010-11 season, has also played in Saipa and Zob Ahan.

The international striker made his Iran debut against India during the 2018 World Cup Qualification campaign on 8 September 2015.

Rezaei had been also linked with a move to Esteghlal arch-rival Persepolis over the past few days.

Kaveh Rezaei joins Esteghlal football team

Iran commemorates the 35th martyrdom anniversary of Mostafa Chamran, the Iranian war hero who also served as defense minister in the pro-visional government in 1979, today.

Chamran was commander

of several military operations in the warzones of Kordestan and Khuzestan regions dur-ing the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

He was martyred in a mortar attack in the Dehlavieh region near Ahvaz in 1981.

mocmicians tionary”

ment into a “scientific power” af d h l d dry” of democracy with Islam and dem

Iran commemorating war hero

Mostafa Chamran

1 “Speeding up the scientific growth of

universities and scientific centers; creat-ing and consolidating a sense of prideful Iranian-Islamic identity among the youth; maintaining a revolutionary spirit at uni-versities and among students; and the efficient roles that must be played by soft war commanders and soldiers; thus, a distinguished scientific power will emerge as an example of democracy coupled with Islam and spirituality among the world,” Khamenei.ir quoted the Leader as saying.

Ayatollah Khamenei touched on re-ports by credible documenting databas-es and journals from around the world in regards to Iran’s scientific achievements, adding: “These reports indicate the scien-tific achievements of Iran by saying Iran’s achievements are astonishing. Iran is an emerging scientific power; Iran seeks to transform from a resource-based econ-omy into a knowledge-based economy; and Iran’s achievements in stem cells, nuclear science, aerospace, energy ex-change and Information Technology are remarkable; this data should be available to the new generation so that aside from

feeling a sense of identity, they take pride in being Iranian.”

Students should be proud of being “Iranian”, “Muslim” and “revolutionary”, he said.

He attached great importance to uni-versities’ officials and status of professors in presenting the country’s prospect to students who will run the country in fu-ture.

He also said that there should be “sci-entific progress”, “moral discipline”, “reli-gious self-restraint” and “political insight” in the university’s atmosphere.

The Leader added that there can be various political orientations in universi-ties; however, those political inclinations which are against the revolution should not be supported.

He called on the senior officials of the higher education to be careful and not let the universities be turned into place of “divergence from the revolution’s values”.

Elsewhere, the Leader highlighted the importance of the resistant economy, say-ing that implementation of the resistant economy will fulfill the country’s needs and protect “national dignity” if it is implement-ed if in the real sense of the word.

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MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

U.S. policies helped create Daesh: ex- U.S. official

TEHRAN — The U.S. government’s intervention-ist policies toward the Middle East helped the rise and expansion of the Daesh terrorist group in the region, a former U.S. Department of State’s official said.

“I don’t think America or any other country “created ISIS” but I do think, in Iraq, America created the conditions that birthed ISIS. I do not think it was purposeful or policy, just an-other unintended consequence of that terrible, wasteful and unnecessary war. But once that was done, I think America took advantage of the formation of ISIS as an excuse to return to Iraq, and invade Syria, militarily,” Peter Van Bu-ren told Habilian news website recently.

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TEHRAN — Iranian lawmakers have pledged “un-forgettable” response to any violation of a nuclear agreement after Leader of the Islamic Revolution said Tehran would “set fire” to the deal if the US reneged on it.

In a letter issued on Sunday, as many as 237 MPs announced their “firm” support for Ayatol-lah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s recent remarks in an apparent refrain to US presidential candidates’ threat to tear up the deal, Press TV reported.

“In case the opposite side breaks its promise, we will teach the violators an unforgettable lesson, and make the arrogance regret its breach of promise,” the letter said.

Elsewhere in their statement, the Iranian parlia-mentarians noted that the country’s strategic nuclear industry should be preserved and developed.

Iran MPs pledge ‘unforgettable’ response to nuclear deal breach

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Nazanin Zaghari’s case security-related: Iran

TEHRAN — Nazanin Zaghari’s arrest follows some security-related charges against her, Iranian Judici-ary spokesman Qolamhossein Mohseni Ejei says.

“Excuse me for being unable to provide any further detail,” he told reporters on Sunday, Mehr reported.

In another part of the press conference, Ejei said the Judiciary is seeking to find if any officials failed to act properly in the course of an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on January 2.

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IRGC has no account on social media

TEHRAN — The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has refuted to have any relation with pretending accounts on social media.

The IRGC has no channel on social media, Sepah News quoted the IRGC’s Public Relations as having announced on Sunday.

DM

Chamran epitome of practicality in various fields: DM

TEHRAN — The Iranian defense minister has praised Mostafa Chamran as the epitome of being the man of practice in a variety of fields.

The martyred commander had reached such a degree of spirituality that Imam Khomeini called him the glorified general of Islam, Hossein Dehqan told a conference on Sunday, Defense Ministry’s Promotion Department reported.

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Majlis presiding board formation complete

TEHRAN — The presiding board of the Majlis found its final shape on Sunday as the entire 13 heads of committees were selected.

Nine principlists and two reformists found their way to the board, Fars reported.

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Iran, Pakistan are boosting friendly relations: Rouhani

TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that Iran and Pakistan are boosting “friendly” and “brotherly” relations.

“Iranian and Pakistani nations have common in-terests in the region and this friendship and broth-erhood is being boosted constantly,” he said in a phone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

1 “If this Halva were any sweet, they would’ve had it

themselves.” Pointing to the media people, he said they are sup-

posed to help the public understand the government’s goals and plans.

Praising the role of the media, he added that coun-tries employ their press and media for accomplishing their goals, and to do so, the media apparatus should convey the message of people to the government and vice versa.

Calling “hope” and “trust” as the two most important factors in any economic growth, the Iranian president said one of the greatest accomplishments of his govern-ment has been creating a sense of stability in the coun-try’s economy.

He referred to one of his meetings with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on economic issues and said, “During this meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that one of the big achievements of the 11th government is the creation of tranquility in economy and society.”

He also called for stronger relations between the me-dia and the government.

Rouhani’s remarks come amid critiques of the gov-ernment economic performance by some media.

While the government has come in for a lot of flak for its economic performance, it has managed to reduce inflation from a high of 44 percent under the Ahmadine-jad administration to a low of almost 10 percent, promis-ing single-rate inflation in two months.

Curbing inflation was one of the major promises by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his presidential campaign.

There is high hope for better economic performance now that Iran is emerging from crippling sanctions af-ter it thrashed out a deal with the West over its nuclear program.

On the other hand, the country is taking initial steps to implement Resistance Economy, a term used to de-scribe an endogenous economy which prioritizes do-mestic production and minimum import.

While on paper, things look pretty good, it is not clear how Rouhani is going to materialize the goals of its economic agenda.

A major challenge is globally low oil prices which is seen by many experts as a main drag on the acting gov-ernment.

Also, Iran has temporarily lost its regional markets because of numerous conflicts I the regions, notably Syria and Iraq.

TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Mo-hammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to start

his third round of Europe trip, visiting France on Tuesday.During the two-day visit, Zarif plans to meet French

President François Hollande.He will also visit the Netherlands and meet the coun-

try’s senior officials.Zarif arrived in Norway last Monday and attended

the Oslo Forum on Tuesday.

He met Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, former Norwegian prime ministers Kjell Magne Bonde-vik and Kåre Willoch.

On the sidelines of the Oslo Forum, the Iranian for-eign minister also met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The foreign minister also visited Germany and held a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on June 15.

Zarif was accompanied by Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi and also Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari in his second round of Europe trip.

Earlier in June, he started a five-day tour to Finland, Sweden, Poland and Latvia.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also paid a visit to France in January, during which economic deals were signed during the trip.

1 Iran’s first home-made destroyer, Jama-

ran, was launched in late February 2010. The Mowdge Class vessel has a displacement of around 14,000 tons and is equipped with modern radars and electronic warfare capabilities and is armed with a varie-ty of anti-ship, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.

‘Damavand’ destroyer joined the country’s fleet of warships in the Caspian Sea in March 2015.

The second-generation and high-ly-equipped Iranian destroyer joined the

country’s Northern fleet in a ceremony participated by Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein De-

hqan, Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani, Rear Admiral Sayyari and Head of the Self-Sufficiency Jihad Depart-ment of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Ali Qolamzadeh.

In an interview with FNA at the time, Qolamzadeh elaborated on the features and specifications of Damavand, and said, “The 7-story destroyer is 90 meters in length and armed with advanced anti-sur-

face and anti-subsurface weapons and air defense systems to defend itself.”

Noting that the home-made ‘Asr’ phased array radar sys-tem, capable of detecting and identifying targets with a ra-dar cross section of 4 meters in a 200km distance, has been mounted on the destroyer, he said, “Base-controlled radars, a highly advanced propulsion and command-and-control sys-tems which enjoy high power and capability are only a few of the systems mounted on Damavand destroyer.”

Qolamzadeh said in addition to combat operations, Damavand could also be used for training and naval missions, adding that it has been equipped with systems to be used for electronic warfare.

“The operational radius of Damavand is so vast that it can sufficiently be used for all naval missions in the Caspian Sea,” he underlined.

TEHRAN (FNA) — Iran called on the international community to help the Afghan refugees sheltering in Iran to return to their homeland, stressing Tehran’s readiness to assist Kabul with the establishment of peace and sta-bility.

“Iran has seriously and sincerely made efforts in different fields to establish peace and stability in Afghanistan and has made every effort to reconstruct and develop the country,” Iranian Deputy Interior Min-ister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaqari said, addressing a ceremony on the occasion of the Refugees Day in Tehran on Sunday.

He referred to the presence of a large number of Afghan refugees in Iran, and said, “Logically and rationally, we expect the international community to recog-nize the Islamic republic of Iran’s hosting of this remarkable population during this long time.”

Zolfaqari called on the international community to help pave the ground for the repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland.

Iran is one of the countries which hosts a large number of refugees from the neighboring countries, specially Af-ghanistan.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli in a recent meeting with Afghan Refugees and Repatriation Min-ister Hossein Alami Balkhi in Geneva said that necessary measures have to be tak-en to pave the way for the voluntary re-turn of illegal Afghan immigrants living in Iran.

“Afghan government has to make fur-ther efforts to prevent its nationals from illegally entering into Iran,” Rahmani Fazli said on the sidelines of the 66th session of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the UNHCR.

“The value of Iran’s work in host-

ing millions of Afghan refugee’s now is revealed that receiving a few thou-sands of refugees from war-stricken countries has created a lot of prob-lems for European countries and even in some cases they have treated the refugees in inhumane ways,” Rahmani Fazli added.

Meanwhile, the Afghan minister ap-preciated Iran’s hosting of his countries nationals for four decades and said that Afghan officials are making every effort to prepare the ground for the return of Afghan immigrants to their home country.

Rouhani says JCPOA has created atmosphere of progress in Iran

Zarif to start third round of Europe trip

Commander: Iranian Navy to unveil new destroyers, submarines this year

Iran urges Int’l community’s help to repatriate Afghan refugees

Leader says “revolutionary” nature of universities and students is one of the requirements of turning the Islamic

establishment into a “scientific power” and “role model of democracy with Islam and democracy.”

POLITICALd e s k

Leader urges university studentsto be ‘revolutionary’

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China foreign minister urges U.S. not to interfere with Tibet in call to KerryThe United States should not interfere in China’s internal affairs on matters related to Tibet, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call.

According to an account of the call posted on the Chinese foreign ministry website, Kerry reaffirmed that there was no change in the U.S. policy that Tibet is a part of China and that the U.S. does not support Tibetan independence.

The phone call follows on from President Barack Obama’s meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, last week at the White House despite China warning it would damage diplomatic relations.

China views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. The meeting came at a time of already heightened tensions between the U.S. and China over Beijing’s pursuit of territorial claims in East Asia.

On the call, Wang and Kerry also discussed the success of the recently concluded bilateral Strategic and Economic Di-alogue in Beijing, according to the foreign ministry posting, which did not give specifics.

(Source: Reuters)

Russia says agrees with U.S. to improve military coordination in SyriaRussia said Sunday it had reached an agreement with the United States to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides of a civil war and launching airstrikes.

Russia’s defense ministry said it was pushing Washington to help produce a shared map of the positions of fighting forces to avoid incidents, a day after Washington accused Moscow of attacking U.S.-backed insurgents there.

Moscow’s intervention on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, alongside Western backing for rebel groups op-posing him, has raised fears of a wider international confron-tation in the war.

Russia’s defense ministry said military officials from both countries had agreed on the need to improve coordination during a video conference. There was no immediate confir-mation from Washington.

“The exchange of views about the incident was carried out in a constructive way with the both sides aiming to im-prove the coordination on fighting the terrorist organizations in Syria and in order to avert any incidents during military operations in this country,” Russian Defense Ministry spokes-man Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The Pentagon said Saturday it had questioned Moscow over Russian airstrikes conducted against U.S.-backed Syrian opposition forces last week, accusing Moscow of failing to heed U.S. warnings.

Konashenkov dismissed the allegation, saying the Russian strikes hit about 300 km (190 miles) away from territory where the United States had said opposition forces were operating.

He said Russia had notified the U.S.-led coalition about the targets it was planning to strike.

“The Russian defence ministry for the past few months has been proposing to its American colleagues to draw a unified map, which would containing information about the location of the forces which were active in Syria. However, no material progress has been made on this issue,” the spokes-man said.

Russia, which has been bombing opposition-held areas, is blamed by the opposition and rights activists for causing hundreds of civilian deaths and targeting hospitals, schools and infrastructure in what they say are indiscriminate attacks.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the allegations. (Source: Reuters)

U.S. plans to keep special forces in YemenThe U.S. reportedly plans to extend its military presence in Yemen by keeping a force of special operations advisers in the war-torn country.

The force deployed at the request of the Emirati govern-ment around the port city of Mukalla back in April would remain in Yemen for the foreseeable future, The Washington Post reported.

The force, which consists of about a dozen personnel, would help troops from the UAE fight militants from al-Qa-eda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the paper cited un-named U.S. officials as saying.

In March, forces loyal to former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Emirati troops overran the city of Mukalla after AQAP militants left the seaport in southeast Yemen.

Early in May, the U.S. military deployed more than 200 U.S. Marines in the port city, which is located in the central province of Hadramout.

Yemen’s southern coast is now under the control of U.S. troops, who are deployed to the region under the pretext of battling AQAP.

The deployment of U.S. troops comes more than a year after the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen.

In March 2015, the U.S. evacuated its remaining forces out of al-Anad airbase “due to the deteriorating security situation” a day after al-Qaeda captured the nearby city of al-Houta.

Al-Qaeda has become stronger in Yemen taking advan-tage of the chaos created by the Saudi military campaign against Houthis more than a year ago.

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JUNE 20, 2016JUNE 20, 2016 INTERNATIONALh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l 3I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have rallied on the Japanese island of Okinawa, protesting against the heavy U.S. military presence and vi-olent crimes by American personnel there.

Gathered on Sunday afternoon, protesters expressed their frustra-tions with the U.S. after a former Marine employed as a civilian base worker allegedly raped and mur-dered a 20-year-old local woman in April.

The case has intensified long-stand-ing opposition to the military bases, a key part of the U.S.-Japan security al-liance, on the island popular with tour-ists.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Okinawa, said the U.S. has been acting in a sensitive manner to the cur-rent mood on the island.

“Washington quickly announced a one-month period of mourning on all their bases following the killing of the young woman,” he said.

“The U.S. insists this death should not drive a wedge between them and the people of Okinawa. But many here believe there will always be tensions while U.S. forces re-main.”

The rally also called for the scrap-ping of plans by Washington and Tokyo to move a major U.S. Marine facility in the centre of the island to pristine waters off the northern coast.

Okinawa’s governor, Takeshi Onaga, who was expected to attend the rally, opposes the plan and instead wants

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which sits in the middle of a crowded city, to be moved off the island alto-gether.

He has revoked approval for work on the facility, in a setback to the plan, despite the fact that Washington and Tokyo vow to push forward.

The roots of the presence goes back to the end of World War II when Okina-wa was the site of a battle between Ja-pan and the U.S., followed by a 27-year U.S. occupation.

High-profile crimes have sparked large-scale protest rallies before on Okinawa, now considered a strategic linchpin supporting the U.S.-Japan alli-ance, but where pacifist sentiment runs high.

In 1995, tens of thousands rallied following the rape by three American personnel of a 12-year-old girl. The protests prompted Washington to pledge to reduce the U.S. footprint on the fortified island.

Nearly 100,000 people joined a protest in 2010 against the con-struction of the new base off the northern coast.

U.S. officials have grown increasing-ly concerned that the behavior of its troops on the island could jeopardize support among Japanese for the secu-rity relationship.

Washington have imposed restric-tions including on off-base alcohol consumption after an intoxicated sail-or injured two locals while driving this month.

(Source: Al Jazeera)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has met Syrian President Bashar al-As-sad in Damascus to discuss “military cooperation” in Syria’s conflict, a bone of contention between Moscow and Washington.

Shoigu was sent by President Vladimir Putin for the unannounced meeting with Moscow’s long-time ally Assad , the Syrian state news agency SANA said.

“The talks focused on military coop-eration between the two countries and joint action to fight against terrorist or-ganizations on Syrian soil,” it said.

In Moscow, the defense ministry said in a statement that the discussions centered on “current questions of military and techni-cal cooperation... as well as certain aspects of the cooperation in the fight against ter-rorist groups operating in Syria”.

The visit came as a U.S. defense department spokesman said Penta-gon officials in a video conference with Russian counterparts had voiced “strong concerns” over Moscow’s al-leged bombing of U.S.-backed forces in southern Syria.

U.S. military officials “expressed strong concerns about the attack on the coali-tion-supported counter-ISIL [Islamic State in Iraq and Levant] terrorist grup forces at the al-Tanaf garrison, which included forces that are participants in the ces-sation of hostilities in Syria”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The Pentagon “emphasized that those concerns would be addressed through ongoing diplomatic discussions on the cessation of hostilities”, he said.

U.S. defense officials have said Rus-

sian warplanes carried out raids in al-Tanaf targeting a meeting of combat-ants supported by the U.S.-led coalition that was held to coordinate the fight against ISIL fighters in Syria and Iraq.

The Syrians belonged to the New Syrian Army, trained by the British and the Americans in a coalition camp in Jordan, while the Iraqis were tribal fight-ers, officials said.

Russia, however, said it had not car-ried out any strikes targeting opposition forces included in a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow that excludes ISIL, without mentioning al-Tanaf.

Earlier this month, Shoigu also visit-ed Iran’s capital Tehran to take part in talks with his Syrian and Iranian coun-terparts. Before the meeting, which took place on Iran’s initiative, the Rus-sian defense ministry said the officials would be discussing “reinforcing coop-eration in the fight with ISIL and al-Nus-ra terrorist groups”.

The Syrian conflict has drawn in world powers, with the U.S., along with regional powers, largely back-ing the moderate rebels while Rus-sia began a military offensive in support of the Assad government in September.

A Moscow and Washington-backed ceasefire has been in place since Feb-ruary 27, but a fresh bout of fighting broke out in April that stalled the UN peace talks in Geneva.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since the start of Syria’s war in 2011, and millions have been dis-placed, the UN estimates.

(Source: Al Jazeera)

Assad discusses ‘military cooperation’ with Russian MoD

Thousands demand U.S. military exit from Japan’s Okinawa

Members of the GOP Convention Rules committee are planning to consider an amendment to allow delegates a way out of voting for Trump on the first ballot—an effort that in an extreme could be used to deny him the nomination.

Under the proposal, delegates could be granted con-scientious objector status, thereby freeing them from their pledge to vote as they are bound as the result of primaries and caucuses. The measure, first put forward by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh, would undo the strict ‘faithless-delegate’ rule enacted at the GOP con-vention in 2012 and allow a “vote of conscience, whether personal or religious” by delegates.

“Allowable personal reasons shall include the public disclosure of one or more grievous acts of personal con-duct by a nominee candidate, including but not limited to, criminally actionable acts, acts of moral turpitude or extreme prejudice, and/or notorious public statements of support for positions that clearly oppose or contra-dict the policies embodied in the Republican Party’s platform as established at the national convention,” the amendment says.

Nearly all convention delegates are bound under the current rules—at least on the first ballot—by the results of primaries and caucuses in their states and territories. At minimum the proposed amendment would free frus-

trated delegates from having to vote for Trump, and in the extreme could deny Trump the 1,237 delegates re-quired to win the nomination—even on the first ballot.

On Friday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus announced the selection of the chair and co-chair of the Conven-tion Rules Committee, Utah National Committeewoman Enid Mickelson and Massachusetts National Commit-teeman Ron Kaufman. Both have spoken negatively about Trump in the past, but are viewed as party in-stitutionalists. On Friday afternoon, the RNC Counsel’s Office distributed copies of the party’s current rules and proposed changes recommended by the RNC’s stand-ing committee on rules to all members of the conven-tion rules committee. In the week before the Cleveland convention, the convention rules committee and the full convention will have to approve the new rules, as well as any proposed amendments.

The circulating draft is one of several proposed amendments designed to undermine Trump or alleviate the concerns of delegates at the convention. A more radical proposal would unbind all delegates for any rea-son, while more limited measures would provide dele-gates with other outlets to voice their frustration with Trump at the convention.

In an interview with TIME last week, Trump said he had “no comment” about whether delegates who don’t

support him should be removed from the convention, but said that those seeking to undermine him already “had their chance.”

“All I’ve heard is I’ve got more votes than anybody in the history,” Trump said. “So I think it’s a little hard for somebody to do that. More votes than anybody in his-tory. They had their chance. I do know they represented other people who were defeated. And they had their chance. They could have won but they didn’t.”

The convention rules committee is made up of one man and one woman from each of the 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. Dominated by party insiders and loyalists to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz—who aggressively worked state conventions to secure slots on the committee—it remains to be seen what the com-mittee’s appetite would be for such a dramatic break from the existing rules. It is complicated further by the Republican National Committee’s embrace of Trump early last month, even as some party leaders are revers-ing their earlier decisions to support Trump.

In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd this week, Ryan gave members of his conference the leeway to avoid backing Trump. “The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their con-science,” he said.

(Source: Time)

Iraq’s foreign minister has denounced Saudi ambassador’s remarks about Iran’s role in the Arab country, including its ad-visory assistance to fight Takfiri militants.

FM Ibrahim al-Ja’afari told Iran’s IRNA news agency Saturday that Saudi Am-bassador Thamer al-Sabhan’s comments represent “flagrant meddling in Iraq’s do-mestic affairs,” and run counter to stand-ard diplomatic duties.

In a Twitter post, Sabhan wrote that Iranian military advisers were in Fallujah to incite sectarian violence and change the demographic composi-tion of the city.

The Saudi ambassador made the remarks after Iraqi troops retook Fallu-jah from Daesh militants on Friday and trained their sights on Mosul, the last Takfiri bastion in the country.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned Sabhan “to inform him of its official pro-test regarding his divisive statements.” The ministry said Baghdad would not allow anyone to stoke divisions in the country through making sectarian com-ments.

Baghdad also said it would not allow Riyadh to draw Iraq into the kingdom’s conflict with Tehran.

Iraqi officials have at times stated that Iranian military advisers are in the Arab

country at the request of Baghdad.Ja’afari further pointed to Baghdad’s

policy of détente vis-à-vis world coun-tries, adding his country does not seek to cut diplomatic ties with any state.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Al-lawi, a regular critic of the government, also condemned Sabhan’s comments as “meddlesome, alarming and unaccept-

able.”Allawi said in an interview with al-Su-

maria satellite television network late on Saturday that the battle in Fallujah was against Daesh terrorists, and not sectar-ian in nature.

He said he would have demanded a replacement for Sabhan if he had been in charge.

Several Iraqi officials have accused Saudi Arabia of supporting Takfiris and remnants of the former dictator Saddam Hussein.

This is not the first time that the Saudi envoy to Baghdad makes such remarks about Baghdad’s campaign against ter-rorists.

Back in January, Sabhan claimed that sectarianism and tribalism were the driv-ing force behind the Iraqi government’s arming of volunteer forces, known as Hashd al-Shaabi. He had also alleged that the Iraqi volunteer forces were not popular among Iraqi people.

The comments drew angry reactions among senior officials, who called for the Saudi envoy to be expelled.

Baghdad summoned Sabhan at the time and denounced his remarks as “a break of diplomatic protocols and based on inaccurate information.”

Riyadh is widely believed to be a ma-jor supporter of Takfiri terrorists in the Middle East, who are inspired by Wah-habism, the radical ideology dominating Saudi Arabia.

It fuels the ideological engine of terror organizations like the Daesh (ISIL) terror-ist group and al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

(Source: al Alam)

Republicans consider ‘conscientious objector’ rule for convention delegates

Iraq FM slams Saudi envoy for ‘interference’ in Baghdad affairs

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E C O N O M Y h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / e c o n o m yJUNE 20, JUNE 20, 20162016

Greece could lift capital controls by yearend: bank association head

Yuan deposits fall for 4th consecutive monthChinese yuan-denominated depos-its held by Taiwan-based banks were down for the fourth consecutive month in May after banks cut their time deposit rates on the Chinese cur-rency, according to the central bank.

Caution over the yuan's future di-rection also prompted investors to move their funds out of the yuan at a time when economic growth in China, the second largest economy in the world, has showed signs of moderat-ing, the central bank said.

Yuan deposits, including nego-tiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), held by banks in Taiwan as of the end of May totaled 308.34 billion yuan (US$46.72 billion), down 2.483 billion yuan, or 0.8 percent, from a month earlier, according to central bank fig-ures.

The end-of-May figure was the lowest since December 2014, when Taiwanese banks had yuan depos-its of 302.27 billion yuan, the figures showed.

Yuan deposits (including NCDs) held by the domestic banking units

(DBUs) of Taiwanese banks totaled 270.23 billion yuan at the end of May, down 1.53 billion from a month earlier.

Yuan deposits (including NCDs) held by the Taiwanese banks' offshore banking units (OBUs) fell 953 million yuan from a month earlier to 38.11 billion yuan, central bank statistics showed.

Financial regulators first allowed local banks' DBUs to handle yuan-denominated transactions, including yuan deposits, in February 2013, be-cause of growing economic exchang-es across the Taiwan Strait.

Before then, only offshore banking units (OBUs) of Taiwanese banks had been allowed to take yuan deposits and conduct other yuan transactions.

The regulatory opening helped yuan deposits in Taiwan hit a peak of 338.22 billion yuan in June 2015, but they then fell back because of lower demand caused by the slower pace of China's economic growth and increasing downside risks for the yuan.

(Source: The China Post)

Greece could lift most or all capital controls imposed at the height of the euro zone crisis by the end of the year, the head of the country's banking as-sociation said on Saturday.

The controls, which restricted the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks to €420 a week, were im-posed last June to halt a flight of de-posits that threatened to wreck the banking system as Greece was em-broiled in acrimonious bailout talks with its international lenders.

More than €50 billion left banks from November 2014 to July last year on fears that the country could crash out of the euro, forcing them to resort to emergency borrowing from the Eu-ropean Central Bank and the Bank of Greece.

"Personally, I believe that the big-gest part of the restrictions, if not all of them, can be lifted this autumn and toward the end of the year," Louka Katseli, who also chairs National Bank , Greece's second biggest lender, told Greek state TV.

Katseli said one of the conditions for

this to happen had already been met after Greece successfully concluded a first review of its bailout reforms this month, helping to restore investor con-fidence in the country.

The next immediate step would be for the ECB to give Greek banks access to cheap funding by accepting Greek bonds as collateral, she said.

While Greece is rated "junk" by credit agencies, the ECB is almost certain to waive its investment-grade credit rating requirement at its June 22 Governing Council meeting, allow-ing Greek banks to start coming off an emergency liquidity lifeline and tap into the ECB's regular and cheaper funding.

Katseli said that two remaining con-ditions for fully removing capital con-trols - an effective management of a loan of non-performing loans and a re-turn of deposits to Greek banks - were not easy to achieve.

"A return in deposits is the most dif-ficult part, meaning it will take time, because people are still wary," Katseli said.

(Source: Reuters)

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F HSBC Holdings Plc will pay $35 million (24.38 million pounds) to end private U.S. antitrust litiga-tion claiming that it harmed investors by conspir-ing with other banks to manipulate the yen Libor and Euroyen Tibor benchmark interest rates.

Papers outlining the preliminary settlement were filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Court approval is required.

The accord came 4-1/2 months after Citigroup Inc reached a similar $23 million settlement, in what lawyers for the plaintiff investors called an “ice breaker” that might spur some of the roughly 20 other bank defendants to settle.

An HSBC spokesman did not immediately re-spond to requests for comment.

Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba’s fi-nancial services affiliate, is seeking to buy a 20 percent stake in Ascend Money, an online pay-ment provider based in Thailand, according to a notice on the website of China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Alipay (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, part of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Ant Financial Ser-vices Group, is also seeking an option to increase its stake in Ascend to 30 percent at a later date.

Ascend’s subsidiaries include True Money, an online payment service provider, and Ascend Nano, a licensed financial services provider.

Volkswagen will stop producing more than 40 car models in the coming years as part of a new strategy by Europe’s biggest automaker, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Saturday.

Volkswagen (VW) said on Thursday it would invest billions of euros in electric cars, ride-hailing and au-tomated driving to become a world leader in green transport by 2025 as it reshapes its business following a diesel emissions scandal.

Citing company sources, Handelsblatt said the overhaul would also involve ceasing production of more than 40 models. Volkswagen currently makes about 340 car models across its portfolio, which in-cludes brands such as Audi, Skoda and Seat.

PICTURE OF THE DAY SHANA/Nazila Haghighati

Iran’s debt to Hermes cleared

On Saturday June 18, Platform 19A of Iran’s South Pars gas field (in the Persian Gulf) was loaded at Khorramshahr Yard for delivery and installation over Phase 19 of the gas field within two weeks. Phase 19 is set to produce 57 million cubic meters per day of sweet gas, 75,000 barrels per day of gas condensate, 400 tons a day of sulfur, 1.05 million tons a year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and one million tons a year of ethane.

TEHRAN — Iran paid its debt to the Ger-

man Euler Hermes credit institution, Is-lamic Republic’s ambassador to Berlin said, IRIB news reported on Sunday.

“There are no more barriers on the way of German banks and companies’ cooperation with Iranians,” Ali Majedi said, “and the company will offer insur-ance to Iran as of Tuesday.”

As reported, Iran owes Germany about €500 million ($578.90 million) under so-called Hermes covers.

Hermes cover is a common way of referring to an export credit guaran-tee (ECG) by the German government. These guarantees are an important part of German foreign trade policy and protect German companies in

the event of non-payment by foreign debtors. The export credit guarantees of the Federal Republic of Germany offer an array of insurance options which are mainly targeted at exports to developing countries and emerging markets.

Iranian banks and companies faced difficulties for transferring money dur-ing the sanctions’ era and foreign credit insurance agencies had to cover Iranian banks’ and companies’ due payments and now the government has to settle all the outstanding debts to foreign firms.

Debts to foreign insurers like Sace and Coface and Hermes had stopped them from opening new credit lines for Iran.

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HSBC to pay $35 million to resolve yen Libor litigation in U.S

Ant Financial looks to buy stake in Thai payments company

Volkswagen group to phase out more than 40 car models: report

Iran’s crude oil price rises to over $47 in a week

TEHRAN — Iran sold light crude oil at $47.58 per barrel in the week ended on

June 10, a $1.93 rise from its previous week, according to the Shana news agency.

The country’s light oil price stood at $35.54 on average since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2016).

Also, Iran sold heavy crude oil at $45.54 in the mentioned week, with $1.95 increase from its preceding week.

The country’s heavy oil price stood at $33.12 on average since the start of this calendar year.

Meanwhile, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (OPEC)’s basket price was $47.11 per barrel on average in the week ended on June 10, with $1.77 increase from its preceding week.

In the 169th (ordinary) OPEC meeting in Vienna on June 2, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that the Islamic Republic plans to increase oil production to 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 5 years and return its pre-sanctions share of 14.5 percent in OPEC.

Paolo Scaroni, the former chief executive officer of Italian energy company Eni SpA, told Bloomberg in a TV interview on June 17 that Iran’s oil production will reach five million bpd in three years from now.

He said, “Certainly they [Iranian oil companies] can do it from hydrocarbon point of view.”

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Over $15b worth of deals signed at SPIEF 2016: organizing committeeWithin the framework of the St. Petersburg International Eco-nomic Forum (SPIEF 2016) 332 formal agreement for around 1 trillion rubles ($15.44 billion) were signed, Adviser to the Russian President, Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Com-mittee, Executive Secretary Anton Kobyakov said on Friday at a press conference of the results of the forum.

"The total number of formal agreements that have been signed on June 16-18, 332 formal agreements, that we can count and that are not commercial classified information, for around 1 trillion rubles ($15.44 billion). This includes only of-ficially registered agreements," Kobyakov said.

More than 12,000 people from 130 countries participated in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2016. 1,300 companies, including 880 represented by executives, participated in the forum.

According to Kobyakov, the most important result of the SPIEF 2016 is that "it reaffirmed its status as a large-scale, reputable and globally popular platform for open and direct discussions with representatives of the official authorities, business, academic and expert circles of different countries on timely issues of the world economy and finance." "The growing number of the forum’s participants from year to year means that Russia always was and remains the most impor-tant center for attracting business contacts, business com-munity from all over the world," he added.

The XXth St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2016) was held on June 16-18 at the new venue in Shushary. The key topics of discussion are the new economic reality and the search for new sources of growth. Every year more than 10,000 participants come to SPIEF from more than 70 countries. 205 open agreements were signed at SPIEF 2015 for a total amount of 293.4 billion rubles ($4.52 billion).

(Source: TASS)

Qatar predicts at least three years of budget deficitsQatar's government expects to run a budget deficit for at least three years as low natural gas and oil prices weigh on its revenues, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics said on Saturday.

In a long-term report on the Qatari economy, the min-istry forecast a fiscal deficit of 7.8 percent of gross do-mestic product (GDP) this year, which would be the first deficit in 15 years and bigger than the deficit of 4.8 percent predicted for 2016 in the ministry's last report published in December.

The deficit is expected to total 7.9 percent of GDP next year before shrinking to 4.2 percent in 2018, the ministry said.

Qatar, the world's biggest liquefied natural gas export-er, is one of the richest of the Persian Gulf states but like its neighbors, it has been pushed into austerity measures this year in an effort to stabilize its finances. More austerity will be needed to achieve the ministry's projections, the report said.

"This estimate assumes that the government pares re-current spending and caps growth of capital spending be-low previously programmed levels; that there are effective cost reductions in the hydrocarbon sector, which support transfers to the budget; and additional non-oil and gas revenues accrue to the budget."

Some of the projected improvement in the fiscal bal-ance depends on a hoped-for rise in energy prices; the ministry assumed the average crude oil price would climb to $48.91 a barrel in 2018 from $45.49 in 2017 and $37.88 this year.

The ministry predicted Qatar's economy would grow 3.9 percent this year, down from a previous 4.3 percent forecast. It expects growth of 3.8 percent next year and 3.2 percent in 2018.

Liquidity in the Qatari banking system has tightened and money market rates have risen because of reduced inflows of gas and oil money. The ministry said the cen-tral bank might take several steps to reduce pressure on liquidity. (Source: Reuters)

Central banks ready to intervene in case of

Brexit: ECB’s ViscoCentral banks are ready to intervene if Britain votes to leave the European Union (EU) at a referendum this week, ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Visco was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The prospect of the closely-contest-ed vote, which will help determine Brit-ain’s future in trade and world affairs and also shape the EU, has rattled mar-kets around the world.

“A British vote in favor of leaving the European Union is the risk that worries us the most at the moment,” Ignazio Vis-co said in an interview with newspapers including Italian daily La Repubblica.

“We are keeping an eye on this risk day by day and all central banks, not just the European Central Bank, are ready to intervene with the conventional instru-ments they have: interest rates, repos, swaps,” said Visco, who is also Bank of Italy governor.

Officials told Reuters last week the ECB would pledge to backstop markets in tandem with the Bank of England if Britons vote to leave.

Visco said the long negotiation process after an eventual “Brexit” vote would certainly have financial conse-quences but it was difficult to predict how serious they would be.

(Source: Reuters)

Things you should never do in a museumArt, science, puppetry, medical oddities there s a museum for every interest. And while each may showcase a different pas-sion, all are united by some basic rules of conduct.

Here s what not to do if you want to win at visiting any kind of museum. You can reward yourself with a trip to the gift shop.

Bring your travel bagThere are plenty of reasons a traveler would be bound to

their baggage for an afternoon (or longer). Maybe you ve already checked out of your lodging, maybe those airport lockers you were depending on no longer exist but there s no reason you should head to a museum with a hefty suitcase in tow. At best, it s rude and at worst, it will be the reason a museum guard won t let you through the doors.

The museum might provide lockers equipped to handle a shoulder bag or even a backpack, but the staff can and should turn you away if you try to take a huge travel bag in.

Climb on or touch anythingMuseums are not playgrounds, and despite my hope that

everyone above the age of seven already knows this, it s clear that some people don t. Multi-million dollar artworks have been climbed on and ruined by selfie-hungry tourists like the student who smashed an ancient Greek sculpture at a Milan institution in a quest for a picture atop it, or the British parents who saw no problem with their child climbing onto a $10 mil-lion Tate Modern installation.

Skip the wall textEven the stuffiest museums are full of incredible stories

and powerful statements that can wow you if you let them. The best way to understand an exhibit is to read the informa-tion that the curators provide.

Use flashThere s been a contested debate about the effects of flash

bulbs on paintings and artifacts for years now, but the gen-eral rule is that museum photography must be done with-out a flash. Although there s no hard science to prove that repeated flashes make pigment fade any faster than indoor lighting does, most museum staff will object to the use of it, and other patrons will probably be irked by the distraction.

Lean on anythingSometimes travel makes you tired and you might find your-

self taking up vertical real estate leaning on a wall, a pillar, any-thing to get a moments rest. We ve all been there. But in muse-ums that might mean getting too close to the artifacts, and that can trigger overhead sensors that will beep or yell at you to back away. Aside from upsetting the staff and distracting others, this can be pretty embarrassing. Look for a designated bench if your feet need a rest, or head to the cafe for a reviving coffee.

(Source: Smarter Traveler)

Nothing beats the thrill of finding a bargain, especially when it s becomes as tricky as a treasure hunt. Flea markets are a paradise for those who seek the unusual and the Fri-day market of Tehran is bound to bring out the adventurous side of you. Almost eight floors of a parking lot are there to explore. Anything from stamp collections, pre-revo-lutionary memoirs, Persian carpets, clothes and jewelry are to be found. Whether you re collector of antiques, seek nostal-gia, love a bit of design, or simply look for something quirky, here s the place to find it.

But what s in it for you as a traveler? People watching!

Flea markets always make one of the top attractions of every destination. It s where local life takes place. They are not specific to a group of people or a certain economic level. Everybody loves a flea market and people from all walks of life happen to find it a great option to spend their weekend.

Shop the dress-codeNow ladies, if you ve read all about the

dress-code and searched high and low in your city to find the suitable clothing but you still think you re not there yet, then you just need to head over here. I d suggest arranging a visit to the Fri-day market right at the beginning of your trip. I know you ll be able to find scarves and mantos almost everywhere in Tehran, but what makes the Friday market so special? Well, first of all it s

cheap. Keep in mind that the clothing sold here is all new and actually beautifully designed.

Some of them might be the ordinary stuff you find everywhere, but I ve seen some really good designs for very reason-able prices. The variety of scarves is also out of this world. It might be a bit tricky since you don t have fitting rooms, but everyone finds a way for it and I m sure you will to.

Support local businessesIran is flooded with Chinese products just

like anywhere else in the world. Even when it comes to buying stuff likes scarves and

mantos. Although the market is not free of anything Chinese, it hasn t been completely invaded yet. Here s where you can buy stuff genuinely Iranian. I personally adore the car-pet section and the jewelries. There are arrays of hand-made items made by young stu-dents who could use the extra cash. Since the variety is huge, people actually put an effort into presenting something that s different with competitive prices, so it s a great chance for you to find the best deal while helping a local.

History is not always kept in books and museums

After all the museums, palaces and mosques, we could all use a break and who doesn t love a bit of shopping? Who says shopping has to be either out of necessity or amusement. When done at the right place, it could be as educative as a history lesson itself. Wandering around Tehran s fri-day market is like going down history lane and travelling all across the country.

Handmade items and souvenirs from al-most every region of Iran are on display and rows of antiques, collection of coins, music, stamps, photos and utensils gives you an idea of what Iranians cherished in the old days.

How to get there?The best way would be to take the

metro to Sa di station and walk to the market from there.

Some tips The market is open from around 8-9

to 3 in the afternoon, but get there early or it s going to be flooded with people.

Be cautious with your belongings. I haven t had anything happen to me or my friends but this place is busy and full of people from all backgrounds. It s easy to get robbed if you re not being careful.

Don t waste too much time on the first floors and miss out on the last. Many of the good stuff our actually on the upper floors and they are usually less crowded.

(Source: travestyle.com)

Spain is coaxing Indian moviemakers to use its colorful fiestas and historic monuments as settings for their films, in a move to grab a bigger share of India s fast-growing overseas tourism market.

As part of its bid to lure visitors from the world s second most populous country, Madrid will host next weekend the annual International Indian Film Academy awards, dubbed the  Bollywood Oscars .

In global tourism, Spain ranks as the third most visited country, but it now wants to diversify its tourism base beyond the traditional northern European sun-seekers that account for the bulk of its visitors.

Balochistan Assembly agrees to develop Ziarat, pro-mote tourism

Among the Bollywood stars who will attend the

awards ceremony in Spain will be hunky Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, the green-eyed star of the 2011 coming-of-age movie  Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara , which was produced in close collaboration with the Spanish tourism promotion agency, Turespana.

The film about three friends on a pre-marriage road trip across Spain includes scenes at  La Tomatina  fes-tival in the town of Bunol, where half-naked revellers hurl mushy tomatoes at each other, as well as at Pamplona s San Fermin bull running festival.

With scenes also set in Barcelona, Seville and the beaches of the Costa Brava, the movie was the first major Indian pro-duction to shoot extensively in various locations in Spain.

It was also the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2011.

 There was an immediate impact in the number of people requesting entry visas to travel to Spain,  the director of the London office of Turespana, Enrique Ruiz de Lera, who led the agency s talks with the producers of the movie, told AFP.

The year after its release, 60,444 Indians visited Spain, nearly double the 2011 figure, according to the industry and tourism ministry. Last year 85,000 Indians visited Spain.

Lonely Planet in 2013 launched a guide to Spain aimed specifically at the Indian market and travel agencies still adver-tise tours to the locations featured in the  Zindagi  movie.

India s ambassador to Spain, Vikram Misri, said the film  was singlehandedly responsible for making Spain a household name in India and increasing tourism from India.

(Source: AFP)

HISTORY & HERITAGEh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m JUNE 20, 2016JUNE 20, 2016 5I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Spain joins forces with Bollywood to boost tourism

A C L O S E R L O O KOffbeat Tehran: Shop till you drop at Tehran’s Friday market

By Muhammad Abdul Bari

JUNE 20, JUNE 20, 201620166 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

INTERNATIONAL h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m

Brexit and the specter of Europe’s ugly nationalismThe debate over the European Union

referendum on June 23 was at last nar-rowed down to two main issues: Huge

economic concerns by the Remain group and immigration fears by the Leave group.

The economic case by the Remain group gained center ground in recent weeks with sus-tained support from authoritative global and national institutions: The IMF suggested that Britain leaving the EU was a significant risk, and the Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that Brexit is the biggest risk to Britain’s financial stability.

The Leave group, with a predominantly right-wing political formation have dismissed the opponent’s economic arguments.

It has instead focused on the claim that re-maining in the EU would lead to uncontrolled immigration to an already full island and have a negative impact on public services.

With net migration to the UK rising to 330,000 - over half of which was from the EU countries in 2015 - this gave huge ammunition to the Leave campaign.

Prime Minister David Cameron, facing vot-ers during his first public test in the EU referen-dum campaign, strongly defended his position to remain in the reformed EU saying that he was “genuinely worried about leaving the sin-gle market”.

The opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, ac-knowledged that immigration could dramati-cally change communities causing discomfort for many. But he urged people to “embrace the ben-efits of European protection for both workers’ rights, consumers and a cleaner environment”.

This is a powerful argument to remain in the EU for people who care about social justice and equality.

Remaining in EULondon Mayor Sadiq Khan put on a show

of strength by joining forces with Cameron to drum up support for Britain remaining in the EU; his is a powerful voice in London.

However, I have been able to make up my mind to vote for Remain. The reason is not the better economic arguments for Remain over the fear of immigration for Leave.

But, it is about my genuine fear over the dam-aging consequences to peace and stability in Eu-

rope and the world should Britain leaves the EU.This fear is already there in many quarters

and Brexit will deal a hammer blow to the EU it-self, resulting in further rise of ultra-nationalism and xenophobia across the continent.

Brexit will definitely weaken Britain and un-dermine the Europe project. As Field Marshal Edwin Bramall has said it would be catastrophic for Britain to be faced with a “broken and de-moralized Europe just across the Channel”.

Given Europe’s erratic history, we cannot simply ignore the possibility of this nightmare scenario and we should not consciously lose our collective memory.

Europe is indispensable for our modernity, but riddled with a history of extreme violence over centuries.

Post-Renaissance Europe ushered a new era of rationality, free-thinking and advancement of science and technology.

But brimming with new-found energy, it colonized lands across the globe, ethnically cleansed American Indians and Australian Ab-origines from their lands and enslaved Africans and shipped them to America.

On the other hand, its moral majority often

stood up with Britain leading the way. Europe abolished slavery and introduced democracy and the rule of law for its own people.

But the ugly nationalism, imperial hubris and economic autarky plunged the continent into darkness in the first half of the 20th century.

Two world wars which were essentially Euro-pean wars brought an unprecedented carnage and catastrophe to humanity with the deaths of tens of millions of human beings and the exter-mination of six million Jews and other minori-ties in the Holocaust. Europe has almost lived two parallel realities.

The lesson that European leaders learned after the World War II was how to come to-gether to avoid future bloodbaths.

European integrationEuropean integration was seen as an an-

tidote to any future peril. From the European Economic Community in 1957 to the European Union, the continent has made united efforts to rebuild not only its economy and social sta-bility but also ways of keeping the peace.

The unforgivable lapse in Bosnia and Her-zegovina that ended up in genocide against one of its indigenous people, the Bosniak Mus-lims, in early 1990s was another wake-up call for the continent never to be complacent.

The EU definitely needs to fix its problems and Britain has the ability to help if it is inside the EU. A fractured Europe has always been a danger, to itself and the world. 9

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A Brexit supporter holds a Union Flag at a Vote Leave rally in London, Britain on June 4. (file photo)

C O M M E N T

INTERNATIONALh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l JUNE 20, JUNE 20, 20162016 7I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

The memorandum represents an attempt to push the next U.S. president in the direction of military intervention

against Assad, but also shows that many are expecting former secretary of state Hillary

Clinton to occupy the White House in January.

U.S. State Department diplomats calling for military action in Syria are hoping and gambling that the next president of the United States will be Hillary Clinton because she is likely to usher in a more muscular foreign policy, experts told Sputnik.

Last Friday, U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby told Sput-nik that an internal memorandum was under review urging the United States to take military action against the Syr-ian government. A draft of the memo, signed by 51 diplomats, was obtained by The New York Times from a State De-partment official last Thursday.

University of Oklahoma Center for Middle East Studies Director Josh-ua Landis told Sputnik last Friday that the memorandum represents an at-tempt to push the next U.S. president in the direction of military intervention against Assad, but also shows that many are expecting former secretary of state Hillary Clinton to occupy the White House in January.

“It also indicates that many diplo-mats believe that they will not be pun-ished for speaking out as we [the United States] will be getting a new Command-er-in-Chief soon who is well disposed to a more muscular foreign policy,” Lan-dis said. “Diplomats may feel coming forward may actually advance their ca-reers with Hillary.”

The memorandum, Landis noted, also illustrates the divisions within the U.S. for-eign policy establishment vis-a-vis Syria at a time when the American public has grown weary of military adventurism.

“The United States is downsizing its universal ‘policeman of the World’ role,” he explained. “This makes many foreign policy types nervous and upset.”

The rise of billionaire Donald Trump, Landis added, is a sign that most Amer-icans agree that U.S. Middle East inter-ventions have resulted in “bad deals”.

“The United States has spent trillions of dollars and has little to show for it but perpetual wars, failing infrastructure and bad schools,” the scholar suggested.

It is unclear, Landis said, whether the objective of more U.S. military action in Syria is for regime change, to im-prove U.S. negotiating power to en-force the ceasefire or to partition Syria between Kurds, Sunni Arab rebels, and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“If the United States and Russia were

able to agree on a soft partition of the country [Syria] between the three large groups, that could bring the war to an end soonest,” Landis claimed.

Authors of highly-acclaimed books on U.S .foreign policy Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald told Sputnik that the memorandum sounded like something crafted by a military junta, not diplo-mats, and that it obviously was designed to lay the groundwork for a Clinton presidency.

“What do we [the United States] real-ly need a State Department for anyway when it should be renamed the Depart-ment of War?” Gould and Fitzgerald posited rhetorically.

Kirby told reporters in a briefing last Friday that the Obama adminis-tration was still committed to pursuing a political solution in Syria despite the memorandum, which came through the department's “dissident channel.”

Russia recognizes Assad as the legit-imate authority in Syria, and has repeat-edly stated the Syrian people should be free to choose their leadership with-out outside intervention. The United States and some of its allies have been supporting elements of the opposition, including ISIL with ties to al-Qaeda, and have urged Assad to resign.

(Source: Sputnik)

U.S. diplomats urging military action in Syria hope Clinton wins presidency

By Dr Aayesha J Soni

UN has lost sight of its purpose

If we look back at the origins of the United Nations, we will see that the beginnings of international law rose from the ashes of the Second World War and the Nuremberg trials

in 1945. An organization that defines itself as having a select few main purposes including maintaining worldwide peace and security, developing relations among nations as well as fostering cooperation between nations in order to solve eco-nomic, social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems most certainly has set high goals for itself in terms of moni-toring global politics. If it did indeed operate by its eloquently worded Charter, I very much doubt we would find ourselves in the turmoil that engulfs so many countries today.

Unfortunately, it has been an undeniable trend that the UN is often used as a tool by Western powers, instead of an impartial monitoring body. The West gladly used the force of the UN and the Security Council when it re-quires moral legitimacy to go to war, yet it is prepared to ignore or circumvent the in-ternational body when votes don’t go its way.

Leaders often like to take the moral high ground when talking about human rights and how the wishes of the international community must be adhered to when the UN makes a decision; however, it has become increasingly appar-ent that these decisions only apply to certain countries, whilst others are exempt from them. Israel is proof of this as is the UN’s latest decision to elect Israel to chair its legal committee.

Israel has broken more UN resolutions than any other country in UN history. This is evident in the list of 80 United Nations Security Council resolutions directly critical of Israel for violations of UNSC resolutions, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, violations of international law and international terrorism. The fact that Danny Danon will now represent Israel as head of the committee that monitors international law is almost too ironic to digest. Getting the country that categor-ically abuses international law to head the global committee monitoring international law is like getting a man who regularly beats up his wife to head an anti-domestic violence committee – the logic behind such a choice is non-existent.

9

Danny Danon, permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations

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

8I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

N E W S I N B R I E F

M E D & S C I h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o mJUNE 20, JUNE 20, 20162016

Risk of Zika infection likely highest during first trimesterA Zika virus infection may be most risky for pregnant women dur-ing the first trimester, according to a top health official.“It looks like the period of greatest risk is first trimester,” says Dr. Denise Jamieson,

chief of the U.S. Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention’s Women’s Health and Fertility Branch. The “pattern of infection and outcomes is really consistent across different places.”As mos-quito season approaches in the United States, disease experts are trying to get a clearer pic-ture of the Zika virus’ toll. On Thursday, American health ex-perts reported that three babies in the U.S. have been born with Zika-related birth defects and more cases are possible as the summer continues. But health

authorities at the CDC say they are making strides in understand-ing when during pregnancy women are most at risk.On Tuesday, Jamieson and other health experts from the CDC and in Colombia reported that around 12,000 pregnant women in Colombia are in-fected with Zika, but that women who were infected with the virus in the third trimester have had healthy babies so far.

(Source: Time)

Three International Space Station astronauts land in KazakhstanAn International Space Station crew including an Ameri-can, a Briton and a Russian landed safely Saturday in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA's Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the Euro-pean Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos' Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 03:15 P.M. local time (0915 GMT) about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.All descent maneuvers were per-formed without any hitches and the crew reported feeling fine as their ship slid off the orbit and headed down to Earth. Heli-copters carrying recovery teams were circling the area as the capsule was descending slowly under a massive orange-and-white parachute.Support crew helped the trio get out of the capsule, charred by a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and placed them in reclining chairs for a quick check-up.

(Source: phys.org)

A team of scientists at Michoacan Uni-versity in Mexico have created a type of cement that glows in the dark. Roads made with this material would be able to light up highways and bike paths without the use of electricity purely by absorb-ing energy from the sun’s rays. Similarly, buildings and other structures construct-ed with this concrete coating would be illuminated as well.

To create cement with this property, scientists modified its microstructure so it wouldn’t form crystals. In that way, the new concrete is more like glass, allowing light to penetrate the material, as op-posed to more typical, opaque concrete. Scientists achieved these optical proper-ties by mixing standard raw materials with other additives; in the end, it became phosphorescent in the dark.

Phosphorescent materials absorb en-ergy from radiation such as the ultraviolet light emitted by the sun — or by lamps, if indoors — energy they later emit as light, which can be seen after dark. As it loads up energetically with ultraviolet rays, even on cloudy days the cement will be

able to absorb enough energy to glow during dark periods for up to 12 hours.

Balance of materialsThe team still needs to optimize the

balance of materials in order to regu-late its luminescent intensity and color. A phosphorescent concrete that’s too bright would pose a hazard to late-

night drivers.This newly-developed concrete isn’t

ready for the marketplace yet and it will need to be further studied to understand the material’s new properties. For exam-ple, its inorganic nature may pose new questions about the stability of its com-pounds and how to perform repairs.

These self-lit roads, could be par-ticularly beneficial in areas with limited access to electricity, Carmen Andrade, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council Institute of Build-ing Sciences in Madrid, told Scientific American.

The announcement of luminous concrete comes on the heels of the recently published atlas on light pol-lution, which reveals that a third of humanity can no longer see the Milky Way. It’s possible that these roads could one day replace street lights, potential-ly reducing this light pollution. But, de-pending on their luminance, they could alternately add to the mass of artificial light that obscures the stars.

(Source: NOVA Next)

Quake-resistant shelters are made to resist weight from above if a house collapses or furniture falls on them, protecting the people inside. The two main types are the bed type, which is designed to keep people safe when they are asleep, and one that transforms an entire room into a shelter.

Reinforcing the structure of your home can cost from about ¥1.5 million to ¥2 million for a two-story wood-en home, but quake-resistant shelters come as low as about ¥300,000.

Most shelters on the market come as assembly kits that can be set up right away. Other types may require one to two weeks to build.

According to a manufacturer of quake-resistant shel-ters, shelters are usually chosen by elderly people living alone in an old building, or their families, who cannot af-ford construction to reinforce the structure of their homes. “They want to at least protect their lives if a quake should

strike,” a representative of the manufacturer said. The bed type is easy to set up. The Wood Luck single

(¥450,000 plus tax) sold by Shinko Sangyo Co., based in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, is designed to resist up to around 65 tons, according to the company. Pieces of Japanese cypress timber measuring 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters and harvested during thinning are

used as pillars and beams and fixed together with fit-tings made from steel sheets.

Additional protectionThe shelter comes with not just a ceiling to protect peo-

ple from objects falling from above, but also with addi-tional protection for the head and feet.

When you place a futon on the slatted floorboard, it looks like a canopy bed. The shelter is also available as a semi-double, and in a size large enough to fit a nursing support bed. A storage box can also be added underneath the floorboards or handrails.

It has been tested and verified to withstand a three-ton sandbag falling on top of it, as well as pressure from the sides. To make it easier to get out in times of disaster, the shelter can be opened on all four sides. It can be assem-bled and set up in a day.

(Source: The Japan News)

Preparing for quakes with in-house shelters

Glowing roads could light streets without electricity

This newly-developed concrete isn’t ready for the marketplace yet and it will need to be further

studied to understand the material’s new properties.

Astronomers have discovered signs of oxygen in one of the uni-verse's first galaxies, which was born shortly after the cosmic "Dark Ages" that existed before the universe had stars, a new study finds.

The discovery — which centers on the truly ancient gal-axy SXDF-NB1006-2, located about 13.1 billion light-years from Earth — could help solve the mystery of how much the first stars helped to clear the murky fog that once filled the universe, the researchers said.Previous research suggested that, after the universe was born in the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago, the universe was so hot that all of the atoms that existed were split into positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons. This soup of electri-cally charged ions scattered light, preventing it from traveling freely.

Big BangPrior work suggested that, about 380,000 years after the Big

Bang, the universe cooled down enough for these particles to re-combine into atoms, finally allowing the first light in the cosmos — that from the Big Bang — to shine. However, after this era of recombination came the cosmic "Dark Ages"; during this epoch, there was no other light, as stars had not formed yet.

Previous research also suggested that, starting about 150 million years after the Big Bang, the universe began to emerge from the cosmic Dark Ages during a time known as reionization. During this epoch, which lasted more than a half billion years, clumps of gas collapsed enough to form the first stars and galaxies, whose intense ultraviolet light ionized and

destroyed most of the neutrally charged hydrogen, splitting it to form protons and electrons.

Details about the epoch of reionization are extremely difficult to glean because they happened so long ago. To see light from such ancient times, researchers look for objects that are as far away as possible — the more distant they are, the more time their light took to get to Earth. Such distant objects are only viewable with the best telescopes available today.

Much remains unknown about the epoch of reionization, such as what the first stars were like, how the earliest galaxies formed and what sources of light caused reionization.

(Source: The CSM)

A new research has revealed the first of its kind success in treat-ing early Alzheimer's disease (AD) or its precursors. Exceptional progress has been noted in the outcomes of quantitative MRI and neuropsychological testing. The tests were performed after the ten participating patients underwent a treatment involving a programmatic and personalized therapy.

The new technique was named metabolic enhancement for neuro-degeneration. The outcomes of this technique are accessible online in the journal Aging. The research was conducted by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the UCLA Easton Laboratories for Neurodegen-erative Disease Research in cooperation with each other.

It is the first research that has independently suggested that Alzheimer’s patients’ memory can be reinstated and the progress

can be ensured to be sustainable through the use of a complex, 36-point therapeutic personalized program. The therapy involves extensive alterations in diet, brain stimulation and workout, along with modifications made for sleep optimization as well as specific pharmaceuticals and vitamins. The program also consists of several additional steps, which impact the chemistry of brain.

Mild cognitive impairment"All of these patients had either well-defined mild cognitive im-

pairment (MCI), subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) or had been diagnosed with AD before beginning the program", said author Dale Bredesen, MD, a professor at the Buck Institute and profes-sor at the Easton Laboratories for Neurodegenerative Disease Re-search at UCLA. He stated that follow up analysis of patients re-vealed some of them getting restored to the normal condition as compared to their earlier abnormal state.

Dale noticed that patients who had to stop working due to their condition were able to rejoin their work and those who were experiencing troubles on professional front showed per-formance improvements.

The systems-based therapy of Bredesen for restoring the memory of AD patients comes as monotherapies designed to treat the condition fail terribly, while combination therapies proving successful in the treatment of other diseases like cardio-vascular disease, cancer and HIV.

(Source: PerfScience)

Oldest oxygen in the universe could solve mystery of star formation

Research reveals possibility of memory restoration in Alzheimer’s patients

WORLD IN FOCUSh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / i n t e r n a t i o n a l 9I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

N E W S

“Ban’s decision to delist S. Arabia too painful yet so constructive”

A visit to the US by Saudi Arabia’s young deputy crown prince has raised specula-tion that his superiors are seriously ill and are being pushed out of the kingdom’s political scene.

Bruce Riedel, an ex-national intelli-gence officer and a member of US Pres-ident Barack Obama’s transition team, told NBC News on Friday that Moham-med bin Salman, the third in line to the throne, is visiting the US as his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef suf-fer from ill health.

“We’ve put a lot of markers down on Mohammed bin Nayef. It’s the smart move to do the same with bin Salman. It’s an opportunity to get to know him,” Riedel said.

Bin Salman, who also serves as the Saudi defense minister, is currently on a visit to the US aimed at restoring ties with Washington and promoting plans to overhaul the country’s oil-dependent economy.

He has met with US President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during the lengthy visit that start-ed on June 13. He is also expected to hold a meeting with UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon next week.

Meanwhile, Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

also told AFP that bin Salman is “notion-ally number three in the hierarchy, but effectively he’s number one because the old king prefers his son to take over the monarchy.

An informed Saudi source also told Middle East Eye on Saturday that Sal-man’s trip to the US was “designed to make him US’s number one Saudi ally

and to push [bin Nayef ] out of the scene.”Bin Nayef, bin Salman’s cousin, is a

US ally who has increasingly kept a low profile.

Furthermore, an unidentified Bahraini source said that bin Salman’s trip to the US was likely part of a long-term plan to bolster the young prince’s international reputation.

Bin Salman has been granted increas-ing power since he was named the third in line to the throne last April. He is head-ing up the country’s economic reforms, policy towards Syria and deadly aggres-sion against Yemen.

However, the young prince’s meteoric rise seems to have sparked tensions with-in the Saudi royal family.

On Saturday, Ahmed Tuwaijari, a for-mer member of the kingdom’s consul-tative assembly and a confidant of King Salman, was recorded as saying that the position of deputy crown prince, which was created by former Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2014, violates the Saudi law.

There are two ways to create a ruling body in the country, a real way which is “managed well and results in the real expression of society” and a fake way “which does not represent reality and tries to justify everything for the ruler and whoever is with him,” Tuwaijari said.

With much of its wealth dependent on oil revenues, Saudi Arabia has been hardly hit by plunging oil prices, from $114 in June 2014 to currently some $49 a barrel of benchmark Brent crude.

Oil prices have fallen around 70 per-cent since mid-2014 due to oversupply, low demand and slowing economies.

(Source: agencies)

U.S. plans to keep special forces in Yemen

3 Lately, Riyadh and its allies have announced an of-fensive against al-Qaeda in a decision seen by analysts as an attempt to ward off international criticism of the Saudi intervention in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Hadi — who is a staunch ally of Riyadh — back to power and defeat the Ansarullah movement.

More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression.

The Saudi strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the coun-try’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. (Source: Press TV)

Saudi king, prince seriously ill: Report

The U.S. anti-missile defense systems being installed near Russia’s borders can be “inconspicuously” trans-formed into offensive weapons, Vladimir Putin has said, adding that he knows “year by year” how Washington will develop its missile program.

Talking about NATO’s ballistic missile defense systems in Eastern Europe, Russia’s president said that the Amer-icans are now deploying their missiles at these military complexes.

“The missiles are put into a capsule used for launches of sea-based Tomahawk missiles. Now they are placing their antimissiles there, which are capable of engaging a target at a distance of up to 500 kilo-meters [310 miles]. But technologies are developing, and we know around what year the Americans will get a new missile, which will have a range not of 500 kilometers, but 1,000, and then even more – and from that moment they will start threatening our nuclear capability,” Putin said at a meeting with the heads of international news agencies at the St. Petersburg In-ternational Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“We know year by year what will happen, and they know that we know,” he said, adding that Western offi-cials “pull the wool over [their news outlets] eyes,” who in turn misinform their audiences.

The main problem, according to the Russian presi-dent, is that people do not understand how potential-ly dangerous the situation really is.“The world is being pulled into a completely new dimension, while [Wash-ington] pretends that nothing’s happening,” Putin said, adding that he has been trying to reach out to his coun-terparts, but in vain.

“They say [the missile systems] are part of their de-

fense capability, and are not offensive, that these sys-tems are aimed at protecting them from aggression. It’s not true,” Putin told the journalists, adding that “strategic ballistic missile defense is part of an offensive strategic capability, [and] functions in conjunction with an aggres-sive missile strike system.”

The “great danger” is that the same launchers that are used for defense missiles can be used to fire Toma-hawks that can be installed “in a matter of hours,” Putin noted. “How do we know what’s inside those launchers? All one needs to do is reprogram [the system], which is an absolutely inconspicuous task,” he said, adding that the governments of the nations on whose territories these NATO complexes are based would have no way of knowing if this had happened.

Washington engaged in deception from the very start when it claimed that it was moving its ballis-

tic missile defense east to counter “Iran’s nuclear threat,” Putin said, pointing out that Tehran’s alleged offensive nuclear capability now doesn’t exist – large-ly thanks to President Obama’s involvement. “So why have they now built a missile defense system in Ro-mania?” he asked.

While pointing out that NATO keeps rejecting “con-crete” proposals from Russia on cooperation, Putin said that U.S. policy is now jeopardizing “the so-called strategic balance... thanks to which the world has been safe from large-scale wars and military conflicts.”

By unilaterally withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Bal-listic Missile Treaty, Washington “struck the first colos-sal blow at international stability,” the president said. To maintain the balance, Moscow has had to develop its own missile program in turn, to which the U.S. agreed in the beginning of the 2000s, when Russia was in a difficult financial situation.

“I guess they hoped that the armament from the So-viet times would initially become degraded,” he said.

“Today Russia has reached significant achievements in this field. We have modernized our missile systems and successfully developed new generations. Not to mention missile defense systems,” Putin told the inter-national news agencies, stressing that these moves are counter-measures and not “aggression,” as Moscow is so often accused of.

“We must provide security not only for ourselves. It’s important to provide strategic balance in the world, which guarantees peace on the planet... It’s the mutual threat that has provided [mankind] with global security for decades,” Putin concluded.

(Source: RT)

Putin: ‘We know when U.S. will get new missile threatening Russia’s nuclear capability’

Brexit and the specter of Europe’s ugly nationalism

6 The recent rise of far-right parties in some Europe-an countries is indeed alarming. Language often used against immigrants and Muslims in the same breath is worrying - not only for Muslims but for other minority groups as well.

Much of Europe’s eco-nomic and social malaise seems to be blamed on such groups as an easy scapegoat.

Europe cannot run away from its global role and turn more inward and selfish. It is vital it remains united and deal with the multiple crises the world is facing today with a powerful voice and political leadership.

As the politics in the world’s only superpower across the Atlantic becomes dangerously fractious and the world is nervously watch-ing the outcome of its presi-dential election in November, a stronger Europe can play a moderating role to better

handle unknown global challenges of our time.The latest polls on EU referendum suggest that the result

could go either way. Maximum voter participation on June 23 is thus vital to ensure a better future for Britain in the EU, to ensure a better Europe and the world. (Source: Al Jazeera)

JUNE 20, 2016

From the European Economic Community in 1957 to the European Union, the continent has made united efforts to rebuild not only its economy and social stability but also ways of keeping the peace.

Syrian army repels major Al-Nusra offensive on Syrian-Turkish border as rebel forces ‘besiege’ ISIL The Syrian Army has thwarted an offensive launched by Al-Nusra Front in Aleppo province, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Meanwhile, U.S.-backed rebels made gains against Is-

lamic State in Manbij, where Kurds say they have “paralyzed” a terrorist enclave.

“In the northern part of the Aleppo province, near the Syrian-Turkish border, the units of the Syrian Armed Forces have stopped a large-scale offensive of military formations of Jabhat al-Nusra,” the report from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria reads.

The army also fended off an attack by Jabhat al-Nusra in the southwestern part of the province, where militants were seeking to seize the Halasah area.

The center noted that Al-Nusra is continuing to shell various residential areas in Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo provinces, as well as the Sheikh Maqsood and Salah al-Din neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo and the town of al-Zagra northwest of the city. The village of Marj al-Sul-tan, located within 15 kilometers of Damascus, and the army’s positions in Damascus province near Haush Hara-bu also came under Al-Nusra shelling. Jaysh al-Islam, an armed group which has been a party to the UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks as a member of the Saudi-endorsed High Negotiation Committee, shelled Syrian government positions in Damascus province with mortars, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters taking on ISIL, are poised to recapture the town of Manbij, a strategic point on the supply route to Raqqa, ISIL’s unofficial capital. The SDF has taken territory around the town since launching an offen-sive on May 31 supported by “scores” of U.S. special forces on the ground, according to Reuters.

The French Defense ministry confirmed earlier that it had deployed a small contingent of its own special forces in the area to provide “advisory” support to the rebels.

The militias are now just two kilometers from the city’s gates, a source in the SDF told Reuters on Saturday. Another source told the agency that the rebels have been battling ISIL fighters for the western entrance to the city.

(Source: SANA)

1 International organiza-tions have levelled heavy criticism at the United Nation as it decided to del-ist Saudi Arabia from its black list, cit-ing Saudis’ threat to cut its aids to the body. How can the reconsideration be coupled with the UN mission to back international peace?

Saudi Arabia was wiped out from the UN Secretary-General report which specifies the situation of children rights in armed conflicts annually. The report in-dicates that Saudi Arabia should be con-sidered as responsible for bombardment of schools and hospitals and remained around 1000 children victims, while Saudi envoy in the United Nations refused the mentioned facts and figures in the report.

Although the temporary removal of Saudi Arabia from the annexed list of the report was labeled as one of the most painful taken decisions by Ban Ki-Moon, in my opinion the function of naming and shaming as the main pur-pose of such the reports was ideally re-alized against Saudi Arabia. Undoubt-edly, this initiative should be considered as one of the most significant services which the Secretary-General provided to the international community. Al-though he confessed on vulnerability of the United Nations system because of undue forces by states, the released statements adequately degraded Sau-di Arabia. Ki-Moon moved in the line of his promise in 2006 when he an-nounced that one pillar of his program would be making more close as well as more transparent relationship between Member States and Secretariat.

It has been always been the case the UN that those who pay more eat more, exercising more influence over decision-making in the organization. Is it a matter of legal considerations or structural loopholes?

The first point that should be learnt here is that how far states are concerned on their dignity and reputation about the degree of their commitment to interna-tional norms of human rights. Some of Member States employ their financial power to influence the United Nations for directing policies and measures. For example, the US Congress dictated the Administration to decrease the Unit-ed States’ membership fee for the UN budget in 2007 in case the UN did not accept most of proposed directives which were offered by that country. Likewise, Japan, as the second largest contributor on the UN budget, severally has been claimed to be appointed as one perma-nent member of the UN Security Council among others.

Clearly, functional autonomy of an organization depends on financial inde-pendence. Article 17 of the United Na-tions Charter implies that membership fee of states should be deemed as a duty before the organization. Therefore, any threat to non-payment of the designated quota or paying the quota provided to other expectations will be considered as a grave breach of the constituent instru-ment and should not be effective legally. On the one hand, nature of Charter, as the constitution of the international com-munity, requires that the organization should keep independent from unilater-al movements; on the other hand, the United Nations to fulfill the purpose of maintenance of international peace and security has to be equipped to all the necessary self-sufficient tools of adjudica-tion to determine threats to peace. That is why the Ban Ki-Moon’s statement is contrary to Article 100(2) of the Charter which sets out that: “Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General

and the staff and not to seek influence them in the discharge of their responsi-bilities.”

Regarding the current trend which shows the real features of superficiality of equality of sovereignties, number of dan-gers may entrap the UN as follows: First, some of countries may impute the UN measures for selective decisions which suggest a kind of crisis of legitimacy. Sec-ond, whether it is fair or not, Member States will not care the UN decisions and they may find excuses to impinge the UN system leadership in international rela-tions. Third, bright perspective towards realization of the UN goals and purpos-es could be envisaged hardly. Anyway, it seems impossible to deny the very bitter fact that states sometimes rely on finan-cial tools to drive the UN headed for their desires, while states’ failures to pay their membership fees may simply impede the UN to accomplish its main responsibili-ties.

Although embodied sanctions for failures of financial contribution in Ar-ticle 19 of the Charter, which deprives defaulter from right to vote in General Assembly, have been applied against poor countries in practice, to save UN survival some solutions may be sug-gested to avoid undue application of financial power by Member States: As a fundamental solution, to discover new sources of income will help the United Nations to afford relevant expenses ex-cept mandatory financial contributions through membership fees. Of course, equal payment of membership fees for Member States in the UN system is neither reasonable nor applicable. Ob-viously, very different economic situa-tions of Member States as well as dis-similar degree of enjoyment from the organization’s programs cannot justify equal amount of payments. Howev-

er, endeavors for preventing excessive expenditures and designing smaller budget will assist the UN to decrease its reliance on specific influential countries. In addition, some scholars have raised theory of equitable restoration which indicates that the more contribution in the UN budget, the more income from the organization’s activities. Moreover, the institution of ombudsman can play a beneficial role if it could be employed distinct from voting right of powerful states.

Had not Saudi been delisted, how would have they been liable for it?

International monitoring may grow public awareness for human rights in-fringements. Subsequently, it will play a sort of efficient role to encourage states respecting human rights obligations domestically and internationally. In this line, Security Council, in 2009, in virtue of resolution No. 1269 introduces due management of information in armed conflicts as a core of mobilization of public opinion. Ten years earlier, Secu-rity Council affirmed that blue helmets should embrace media personnel. In Fact, It enables them to inform cases of breach of international human rights law and humanitarian law. Annual Sec-retary-General report on children and armed conflicts performs the same mis-sion. Such the reports which seek sham-ing policy against violators may gradu-ally trigger more systematic critics by Thematic as well as country reporters in the UN Human Rights Council. Cer-tainly, non-governmental organizations will fuel the fire persistently.

To me, all this scandal should be ob-served as blossoms of a perfect spring in the UN system which brings positive developments in the structure as well as function of the United Nations. Truly, thanks to Secretary-General.

By Farnaz HeidariM.Sc. of Environmental Science Engineering

Barack Obama speaks about the National Park Service at Yosemite national park in California. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Obama says climate change ‘no longer a threat, it’s a reality’

IRAN’S WILDLIFE

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

E N V I R O N M E N T h t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / s o c i e t yJUNE 20, 2016JUNE 20, 201610

IN FOCUS IRNA

TEHRAN — A trained dog in the

city of Khalkhal, northwestern Iran, cleans streets by collecting trash bags left along the streets.The dog does that after midnight when the streets are almost vacant and flees as soon as it sees some-one, IRNA news agency reported.It grabs the trash bags with its teeth and takes them to trash bins or landfills. It is said that the dog is trained by one of the municipality workers.

Obama at Yosemite attacks ‘lip service’ to natural beauty amid climate inactionBarack Obama warned on Saturday that climate change could ravage many of America’s vaunted national parks, criticizing political opponents who “pay lip service” to areas of natural beauty while opposing ef-forts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

During a visit to Yosemite national park, Obama said climate change was “no longer a threat, it’s a reality”. The first sitting presi-dent to visit Yosemite since John F Kennedy in 1962 said the famed glacial valley was already experiencing changes due to rising temperatures.

“Here in Yosemite, meadows are drying up, bird ranges are shifting farther north-ward, mammals are being forced further upslope,” Obama said. “Yosemite’s famous glacier, once a mile wide, is almost gone. We are also facing longer, more expensive wildfire seasons.

“Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers in Glacier national park, no more Joshua trees in Joshua Tree national park. Rising seas can destroy vital ecosys-tems in the Everglades and at some point could even threaten icons like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That’s not the Amer-ica I want to pass on to the next generation.”

According to the National Parks Service, which marks its centenary in August, many fragile ecosystems are “in danger of disappear-ing forever”. The service said glaciers could be completely gone from Glacier national park by 2020, park facilities in Alaska are sinking due to thawing permafrost and archaeological sites are under threat from sea level rise.

Obama said America’s protected land-scapes are “the envy of the world”. But the president also hit out at the climate change position of presumptive Republican nomi-nee Donald Trump, who has said he is in favor of clean air but has vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord and has disparaged mainstream climate science as a “hoax invented by the Chinese”.

Obama said: “We can’t treat it like it’s someone else’s problem, it shouldn’t lead to careless suggestions that we don’t get serious about carbon emissions or that we scrap an international treaty that we spent years putting together to deal with this.

“This park belongs to all of us, this planet

belongs to all of us. It’s the only one we’ve got. We can’t pay lip service to that notion and then oppose the things required to protect it. We’ve got to do a lot more. There is such a thing as being too late.”

Obama’s visit to Yosemite via helicopter caused major congestion in a park already

heaving with summer visitors. Yosemite advised people to enter the park either before 8am or after 6pm to avoid the worst of the disruption. All parking, trails and climbing routes in the Lower Yosemite Falls area were shut down to allow Oba-ma, wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia to do some hiking.

The trip was greeted mostly with ex-citement by visitors, however, several holding up signs welcoming the Obamas and one person even pinning an invite on a bulletin board to the first family to enjoy s’mores by the campfire.

French tourist Pauline Richard said: “It’s quite a good surprise. We are pretty excit-ed. He’s quite popular [in France]. I would say he’s more popular than our president.”

Yosemite has reported visitor numbers that are 20% up on last year’s record total, amid an effort by the federal government to get more people into national parks. Fourth-graders are now given free passes but Obama said more needed to be done to connect Americans to the natural world.

“We’ve got kids all across the country who never see a park,” he said. “There are kids who live miles from here who never see this. We’ve got to change that.

“I remember being an 11-year-old kid, I remember the first time I saw a moose in a lake. The first time I saw a bear and her cub. That changes you, you’re not the same after that.”

Obama also mentioned that his admin-istration has protected 265m acres of land – more than any other presidency. The uni-lateral declaration of national monuments has generally proved popular among the public but is controversial with some Re-publicans, who claim that more land needs to be opened up for mining and agricul-ture, rather than economic development through outdoor pursuits.

(Source: The Guardian)

A mother pulled her five-year-old son from the jaws of a mountain lion after he was attacked by the animal.

The boy had been playing with his brother outside his home in the Colorado Mountains on Friday evening when the cat pounced.

His mother is thought to have heard screams and rushed into the backyard of the family home in north-west Aspen, where she found the creature on top of her son, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said.

“She was able to pry the cat’s jaws open,” Deputy Mi-chael Buglione told local media. “She’s a hero.”

The child was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital and then transferred to Children’s Hospital in Denver, but is said to be in “fair condition”.

Police officers located the lion and shot it dead, along with a second lion that was in the vicinity and had been spotted in a front garden.

Meanwhile, his mother was treated for minor injuries in Aspen Valley Hospital and then released.

Some expressed concern for the well-being of wild an-imals, suggesting that many attacks are a result of their habitat being destroyed.

“I feel that humans have taken over so much territo-ry, we built our homes on animals’ natural habitats and destroyed their homes,” said Alejandra Hernandez on Facebook.

“Of course these animals are wandering around every-where, they’re hungry they need to survive.”

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife website offers ad-vice on what residents should do if they encounter a mountain lion.

The main tips are to “not approach”, “stay calm” and “do all you can to appear larger”.

It proceeds to advise people to “throw stones” if the lion behaves aggressively and “fight back” if a lion attacks.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said there have been two, possibly three, fa-talities related to mountain lion attacks in the state since 1991, while some 16 people have been injured by cou-gars since 1970.

The last known attack in the state occurred in July 2015 when a young lion attacked a man as he fished in a remote area in northwest Colorado, the wildlife department said.

But the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website states that “lion attacks on people are rare”, with fewer than a dozen fatalities in North America in more than 100 years.

The incident comes days after a two-year-old boy was attacked and killed by an alligator in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The boy’s father had unsuccessfully tried to wrestle his son from the alligator’s grasp, and the child’s body was later recovered in the lake by police divers.

(Source: Independent)

Mother rescues son from jaws of mountain lion in Colorado

The American Southwest isn’t the only place feeling the heat.

This past May was the warmest May in a 137-year period, breaking global temper-ature records, according to a report pub-lished Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new data shows that May was the 30th consecutive month to have soaring global temperatures across land and sea surfaces. This is the longest and hottest streak since temperature record-keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA.

Right now, 2016 is on pace to be the hottest year on record.

Warmer conditions are being felt across

areas like Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Central America, northern South America, north-ern Europe, Africa, Oceania, and parts of southern and eastern Asia, according to the Land & Ocean Temperature Percentiles map by NOAA.

Why is it getting hotter?As the atmospheric concentration of

carbon dioxide rises, so does the temper-ature. Carbon dioxide levels in our atmos-phere surpassed 400 parts per million in May at the South Pole --- the last place on the planet to hit the milestone, NOAA said.

But surpassing this milestone is not something to celebrate. Increased carbon dioxide comes partly from burning fos-

sil fuels, which is driving global warming, NASA has previously reported.

The ongoing heat has hit areas like the Arctic pretty hard, prompting an early on-set melting of critical sea ice. The same is happening for Greenland’s ice sheet and the increased temperatures are bringing less snow cover for the Northern Hemi-sphere too.

This past May, Arctic sea ice coverage dwindled to the lowest level ever seen for the month of May, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Sea ice stretching to about the size of Texas has vanished. This ice coverage is carefully monitored by scientists because it gives in-

sight into the Earth’s climate. The decline of this key component is an indicator of global warming, according to NASA.

“The state of the climate so far this year gives us much cause for alarm,” David Carlson, director of the World Climate Re-search Program, told World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Na-tions, in a statement.

“Exceptionally high temperatures. Ice melt rates in March and May that we don’t normally see until July. Once-in-a-gener-ation rainfall events. The super El Niño is only partly to blame. Abnormal is the new normal,” Carlson added.

(Source: CNN)

2016 on pace to be the hottest year on record

Focus on Caucasian pit viper

TEHRAN — Vipers are the most efficient poisonous snakes of all. Their long fangs can inject venom deep into a victim. The venom acts mainly on the blood and muscles of the prey.

Vipers usually have short, thick bodies and triangular heads covered with small, ridged scales. There are two main groups of vipers. Pit vipers have large pits on the face and other vipers do not.

Some especial vipers such as Green bush viper (Atheris squamigera), Puff adder (Bitis adder), Sumatran pit viper (Tri-meresurus sumatranus) and Rattlesnakes from (Crotalus) are known more but here in our country we have an especial pit viper whose name is Caucasian pit viper (Gloydius ha-lys caucasicus). This magnificent snake in Iran known as Afee hofredar-e Qafqazi.

General descriptionCaucasian pit viper is a specific subspecies of Viperidae

Family which recognized by Nikolsky in 1916. Evolution has perfected the viper family’s highly efficient and rapid method of envenomation. The unusually sophisticated bone structure of the head and long, hollow, recurved fangs of vipers have a great role on their successful hunt.

Caucasian pit viper has narrow snout and extended upward at the tip; large, dis-tinct scales on dorsal surface of head; pupils vertical; tail short with vibratory move-ments similar to Rattle Snakes. Body yellow-grey, red or light brown; dorsally ocelli or dark transverse bars, laterally one

or two series of dark spots; dark snout; posteriorly, head with two diagonal dark stripes, temporal region with pale-edged dark spot, venter dark or with grey or brown spots.

Caucasian pit viper favorite places are scrublands, moun-tains, hills, forests and even under rocks. Maximum length of Caucasian pit viper is 67 cm and tail is about 6 cm. Diet of this snake is quite typical: Amphibians (frogs), small rodents and lizards Amphibians (frogs), small rodents and lizards are the best choices.

Distribution mainly in IranThe species main range is from the Northeast coasts of

the Caspian Sea towards the steppes of Kazakhstan, North Turkmenistan, North Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, North Tajikistan, and Northewest China, most of Mongolia, Northwest Man-churia, and South Siberia.

Isolated subranges in South Caspian Sea, Northeast Iran, South Turkmenistan and Northwest and Northeast Af-ghanistan, Gansu, Southeast Mongolia, North Shanxi and Hebei provinces in China. Chorotype is Turanian plus East-ern Palearctic. G.h.caucasicus is reported from Southeast Azerbaijan, North Iran, South Turkmenistan and Northwest Afghanistan.

Caucasian pit viper is widespread in Iran. This subspe-cies recorded in Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, North Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi Provinces. It is also common in Lar Damavand, Afjheh, Firooz Mountain, Khan Ahmad, Kandavan, Taleqan, Borqan, Rood-bar, Chehel Dokhtar, Gonbad Kavoos, Gorgan and Kalardasht.

AffinitiesNo comprehensive molecular phylogenetics have been

provided so far for Gloydius. The genus Gloydius was for longtime included in Agkistrodon (now considered exclusive of North and Central America). Researchers by morpholog-ical character analysis (1981) and molecular tests confirmed Caucasian pit viper as a Gloydius halys caucasicus. So any other names aren’t scientific.

Conservation situationPopulation of Caucasian pit viper in Iran, estimated aver-

age but it hasn’t scientific basis. International Union for Con-servation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) not listed this subspecies till now. This subspecies also is not listed on Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Comprehensive and detailed studies about this subspecies is really important in Iran be-cause raises some novel issues at the intersection of scientific research, conservation efforts and so on.

Some interesting points Caucasian pit viper is venomous and the only member of

Crotalinae sub-family in Iran. But there are many differences between Caucasian pit viper and their relatives: Rattlesnakes.

Rattlesnakes are best known for, and most easily recog-nized by, their rattle. The rattlesnake babies are born with what is called a pre-button. The baby snake loses this piece when it sheds its skin for the first time. With the shedding a new button appears. But Caucasian pit viper doesn’t have this piece although it makes noises by different mechanism.

Aside from this pair of simple eyes, Caucasian pit viper just like rattlesnakes are able to detect thermal radiation emitted by warm-blooded organisms in their environment.

Functioning optically like a pinhole camera eye, thermal ra-diation, in the form of infrared wavelength light, enters, passes through the opening of the pit and strikes the pit membrane located in the back wall, warming this part of the organ.

Due to the extremely high density of these heat-sensitive receptors innervating this membrane, the rattlesnake can de-tect temperature changes of 0.003 °C or less in its immediate surroundings.

Infrared cues from these receptors are transmitted to the brain by the trigeminal nerve, where they are used to create thermal maps of the snake’s surroundings. Due to the small sizes of the pit openings, typically these thermals images are low in resolution and contrast. Nevertheless, rattlesnakes su-perimpose visual images created from information from the eyes with these thermal images from the pit organs to more accurately visualize their surroundings in low levels of light. This mechanism helps them not just for seeing but also for hiding better.

Caucasian pit viper, photo by Parham Beyhaqi

Environment friendly dog

Obama said America’s protected landscapes are “the envy of the world”. But the president also hit out at the climate change position of

presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has said he is in favor of clean air but has vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate

accord and has disparaged mainstream climate science as a “hoax invented by the Chinese”.

ENVIRONMENTd e s k

S P O R T Sh t t p : / / w w w . t e h r a n t i m e s . c o m / s p o r t s JUNE 20, 2016JUNE 20, 2016 11I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y

Cristiano Ronaldo: Portugal must believe things will get betterCristiano Ronaldo admitted he was sad he could not break Luis Figo’s appearance record for Portugal with a victory but called on their fans to keep believing following a second draw in as many games at Euro 2016.

Ronaldo missed a penalty and had another goal ruled out for offside as Portugal dominated but couldn’t find a break-through in the 0-0 draw with Austria in Paris.

Portugal must now beat Group F leaders Hungary on Wednesday but Ronaldo believes they are capable of putting their disappointment behind them to get the result they need.

He said on UEFA’s official website: “[Breaking Luis Figo’s Portugal appearance record] is a reason to be proud. It was a goal to be the most-capped international player and to be the national team’s top scorer. But I’m a bit sad because this wasn’t the way I wanted to break this record. We wanted to win. This was not how I envisaged it.

“We had a lot of chances and we did well, but we weren’t able to finish. I also missed some chances -- a penalty and some others. But that’s part of football.

“We need to continue to believe, and once again thank the Portuguese fans who were here and also the ones who were supporting us from elsewhere. I’m sure Portugal will give their best in the next match, and if you try you’ll always make it.

“We, the players, need to think that it’s still possible; if we win, we qualify. And also the Portuguese people, the fans who love Portugal, they also have to believe. The bad won’t last forever, so we need to believe that things will get better.”

Ronaldo made his 127th Portugal appearance during the game against Austria, putting him one ahead of Figo.

(Source: ESPN)

Roy Hodgson: England manager’s contract depends on Euro 2016 successRoy Hodgson’s contract as England boss will be renewed if the team “do well” and “play well” at Euro 2016, says Football Asso-ciation chief Greg Dyke.

England face Slovakia at 20:00 BST on Monday knowing vic-tory will secure them a place in the last 16 in France.

Hodgson’s deal expires at the end of the tournament, and the 68-year-old has indicated he would like to remain in charge for the World Cup in 2018.

“Clearly if you get to semi-finals, that’s success,” Dyke told Sportsweek.

“If we’ve played well and unfortunately lost against a good team or on penalties [in the quarter-finals] then that’s a dis-cussion that will go on.”

The 69-year-old said the FA had been clear with Hodgson that a decision would not be made until the end of the tournament.

Dyke, who will leave his post this month, reiterated his belief England should aim to win the 2022 World Cup.

“2022 is a realistic objective - we have a very young side now - if we can hold the younger players together and bring in some others,” he added.

Dyke is concerned the increasingly “international” nature of the Premier League has led to a lack of home-grown play-ers and managers.

He cited 18-year-old striker Marcus Rashford’s rise from Manchester United academy prospect to the England senior squad as an example.

“Rashford came from nowhere,” he said. “I suspect there are other Rashfords out there who never get a chance to play in the Premier League.”

Of the 20 top-flight clubs, only five have an English manager, and Dyke said Hodgson’s successor may be foreign.

“You will want someone who has managed in England and understands English football,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they have to be English.”

Russia World Cup ‘will go ahead’The Football Union of Russia was fined 150,000 euros

(£119,000) following violent scenes at the Euro 2016 game against England in Marseille.

Uefa has warned both countries that any further trou-ble involving their supporters at matches will result in expulsion.

Groups of Russian fans have been deported from France follow-ing violent clashes police blamed on 150 “well-trained” hooligans.

Russia is due to host the World Cup in two years’ time, and Dyke is confident the tournament will go ahead.

“You can’t hold Russia to account because a bunch of or-ganised thugs got together and caused mayhem in a particular place,” he said. (Source: BBC)

S P O R T Sd e s k

S P O R T Sd e s k

S P O R T Sd e s k

Iran defeats Argentina at FIVB Iran defeats Argentina at FIVB World LeagueWorld League

Arsene Wenger has admitted Jamie Vardy is set to snub a move to Arsenal in favour of staying at Leicester City.The Premier League-winning striker’s future has been subject to much speculation after Arsenal met his £20 million release clause.And now Wenger has dampened any speculation by admitting that, to his knowledge, Vardy will remain a Leicester City player after opting against a summer exit.

“Jamie Vardy is, at the moment at Leices-ter,” the Arsenal boss told Tencent Sports.

“And, on what I know, he will stay at Leicester.” (Source: Goal)

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon missed training on Sunday morning because of a fever, the Italian football federation (FIGC) said.

Winger Antonio Candreva trained separately, meanwhile, as he tried to re-cover from a hamstring injury he suffered in the 1-0 win over Sweden on Friday.

With Italy having already assured top place in Group E and qualified for the last 16, Buffon, 38, was expected to be rested in any case for Wednesday’s match against Ireland in Lille.

(Source: Reuters)

Buffon misses Italy training with fever

Wenger confirms Vardy snubbed Arsenal move

In a match marred by a high number of unforced errors Iran managed to beat Argentina 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 13-25 and 15-11) to earn its first victory of this year’s FIVB World League.

With an exorbitant number of unforced errors (28 for Iran and 32 for Argentina) neither team was able to dom-inate the match for longer stretches.

Iran’s Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad was the match’s brightest star having scored 18 points.

Without a victory in their first two matches of the sea-son, Iran and Argentina were looking to break the unlucky streak. The Persian side started more effectively on the side-out and the Argentinians with a better performance in block and serving. The Iranians managed to maintain the advan-tage they had built early on, led by Shahram Mahmoudi and Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad, but in the end it was the nine errors committed by the South Americans which proved crucial in Iran’s first set victory, 25-22.

The second set started with the two teams battling for each point, long rallies and sequences of saves. Iran’s Mi-lad Ebadipour scored an ace to put the Asians ahead by three points (10-7). Right after the second technical time-out Argentina came back and tied the score. The Persian service helped them to get four points ahead (22-18). An error in attack by Bruno Lima ended the second part with Iran winning by 25-20.Argentina needed to win the third set to keep their hopes alive. The South Americans got ahead on the board after Nicolas Bruno’s ace (6-5). Argen-tina extended their advantage to three point by the second technical time-out and opened it up to three points. With a block by Manavinezhad, Iran made things even again at 18-18. In the last part of the set Argentina took control of the game and ended it at 25 points to 21.

The fourth set started with an ace by Seyed Moham-mad Mousavi but the Argentinians were in full throttle

and opened 4-1. Sebastian Solé stopped Adel Gholami to put his team five points ahead (13-8). Two Iranian er-rors in attack gave Argentina a 19-12 lead. With a great performance of its defenders, Team Argentina managed to keep their advantage and win the set 25-13.Argenti-na opened the tiebreak leading 3-1 after two kill blocks

in a row. After a tense argument by the net, the referee showed both teams a red card, and Iran was quicker to recover taking an 8-5 lead. A block-out by Manavinezhad made it 12-9 for Iran. Another service error by Argentina, gave Iran the set 15-11 and the match, 3-2.

(Source: FIVB)

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Persepolis striker Mehdi Taremi has agreed a two-year contract to join an

unknown Greek side according to several reports in the local media.

“We signed the two-year contract with the Greek of-ficial who came to Tehran. Taremi will now wait for the work permit then he will fly to Greece,” Taremi’s agent Abdolsamad Ebrahimi said.

The name of the club is yet to be announced but it’s ru-mored to be PAOK FC or Olympiacos FC while both sides

have grabbed next season’s UEFA Champions League spots.Taremi, who joined Persepolis in the 2014 summer

with a two-year contract, was one of the key members of Branko Ivankovic’s team who nearly missed the title and finished second on the goal difference in the IPL 2015-16 season.

He scored 18 goals in 23 appearances for Persepolis to win the 2015-16 Iran Professional League top scorer award.

Persepolis tried to keep the 24-year old striker but he was eager to continue his career in Europe.

Persepolis striker Taremi to join Greek club

UEFA said it is taking disciplinary action against Hungary, Belgium and Portugal after further crowd trouble at three Euro 2016 football games on Saturday.

The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has charged the Hungarian federation on three counts re-lating to the behaviour of their fans - setting off fireworks, throwing objects and crowd disturbances.

A Reuters witness saw scuffles as police entered the stands of the Stade Velodrome in Marseille prior to Hun-gary’s 1-1 draw with Iceland, and reports said an Iceland player was struck by an object thrown from the crowd as they celebrated Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty opener.

Six fans cheering for Hungary were arrested after they were seen crossing fences inside the stadium and using flares.

Disciplinary proceedings have also been opened against the Belgian FA after fans set off fireworks and threw objects during their 3-0 victory over Ireland in Bordeaux.

Portugal have been charged after at least one fan came onto the pitch following their scoreless draw with Austria, in which captain Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty.

The hearing for the Hungarian FA will be held on June 21, while dates have yet to be set for the other two nations.

(Source: Reuters)

UEFA charges Hungary, Belgium and Portugal over crowd trouble

Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers Ramin Taheri and Mahdi Aliyari claimed two

gold medals at the Pytlasinski Poland Open 2016. In the 80kg weight category, Ramin Taheri defeated

Pavel Paminchuk from Belarus 5-0 in the final match and won a gold medal.

Bronze medal went to Patrick Martinez from the U.S.

and Armenian Eduard Sargsyan.In the 98kg weight category, Iran’s Mahdi Aliyari

took a gold medal after beating Cuban Yasm Daniel Lugo Cabrera.

Belarusian Tsimafei Dzeinchenka and Hungarian Balazs Kiss won bronze medal in the weight class.Iran has participated in the tournament with eight wrestlers.

Iran ian duo win gold medals at Pytlasinski tournament

Iranian para-archer Somayyeh Abbaspour

claimed a gold medal at the Czech Target 2016/Paralympic Qualification Tourna-ment in the Czech Republic.

She defeated Ukraine’s Ksenija Markitantova 140:137 in the women’s in-

dividual compound contests at the Sports Club Nove Mesto nad Metuji in the town of Nove Mesto nad Metuji.

Abbaspour booked a place in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Ja-neiro, Brazil on Wednesday.

The Czech Target 2016/ Paralym-

pic Qualification Tournament started in Nove Mesto nad Metuji on June 11 and runs through June 20.

The tournament has brought together 253 male and female Paralymic archers from 48 countries, including Iran, Singapore, Thai-land, Ukraine and the United States.

Iran’s para-archer Abbaspour wins gold medal at Czech Target

b

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Zip Code: 1599814713

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Or far or near there is no halting-placeUpon Love's road-absent, I see thy face,And in thine car my wind-blown greetings sound,North winds and east waft them where they are bound.

Hafez

Poem of the day

SINCE 1979Prayer Times

TEHRAN — The director of the Iranian Miniature Association,

Mohammad-Baqer Aqamiri, has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the leading customer of Iranian illumination works.

“No other country has as good a collection of illuminations as the UAE, because it spends a goodly sum of money on this form of art,” Aqamiri told the Persian service of ILNA on Sunday.

“UAE (Ministry of Culture) holds an international contest named Al Burda Award Competition every year, in which the best of illumination works from Iran and Turkey go on display, and the first five top works are purchased. Later on the works are shown in other countries with the aim of introducing illumination as an Arabic artwork,” he added.

Aqamiri said that the association cannot do anything, adding, “The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is the custodian of culture in this country and needs to take action to help preserve this art in the country.

“A number of books bearing beautiful illumination works of Iran are being preserved in different museums across the UAE because it spends a lot of money on this art,” he mentioned.

Aqamiri said that there already is a good college on Quranic science and would be good to establish a college for Islamic art as well.

“Different types of art such as calligraphy and

illumination works on copies of the Holy Quran are the finest masterpieces of our country, and we can attract students from all over the world to teach them

Islamic art,” he remarked.He also regretted that there is no museum for

Islamic art where works by veterans can be shown.

CARACAS (Reuters) — With Venezuela’s highest denomination bill now worth less than a stick of gum, one local designer is protesting his country’s economic crisis through currency art.

Jose Leon, 24, has been covering the faces of national heroes on the smallest bills of two bolivars - worth one fifth of a U.S. cent at the black market rate - with the intricately-stenciled faces of Ameri-can superheroes.

“One day, I was paid in two bolivar notes: what a pain! At night, watching the

(U.S. superhero) film ‘Deadpool,’ I decid-ed to draw it on the bills,” said the tatooist and amateur cartoonist.

“People started rejecting the two bo-livar bills. I travel a lot by bus, and they wouldn’t accept them. Not even for a cigarette. Nothing.”

Bills in Venezuela have become a seri-ous nuisance after the currency’s precip-itous fall in value. The largest 100 bolivar note is worth just 10 cents on the black market and people often carry bags full of money for basic purchases.

Leon has been covering the faces of Venezuela’s independence heroes in-cluding Francisco de Miranda with imag-es from Star Wars to Batman.

After exhibiting his work on Instagram, he received hundreds of reactions and a hashtag was born: #VenezuelaDevaluada (#VenezuelaDevalued). (instagram.com/lion_mix/)

“It is a protest against a government that takes away my hopes and dreams,” Leon said from Venezuela’s second city Maracaibo where his murals adorn city

walls.Looting and food protests are occur-

ring daily in Venezuela, hit by triple-digit inflation and a scarcity of basic goods.

While critics blame 17 years of socialist policies, President Nicolas Maduro says the opposition, business leaders and Washington are sabotaging the econo-my.

A pro-government website blasted Leon’s “childish” work, saying he was re-placing homegrown heroes with “Yan-kees.”

TEHRAN — Works by international calligraphers and artists will go on

display in the international section of the 24th Inter-national Holy Quran Exhibition in Tehran on Tuesday.

Calligraphers Selma Mekic from Serbia, Ali Hasan Aljad from Bahrain, Hussein Younes from Lebanon and Muhammad Mehdi Mirzaei from Afghanistan will be among the guests who will be displaying their beautiful calligraphy works of the Holy Quran and Hadith at the exhibit.

Also included are translators of the Holy Quran who will be attending the exhibit from Italy, Russia and Tunisia, the director of the international section of the exhibit said in a press release on Sunday.

He added that Faisal Ahmad Shah, a senior

lecturer at the department of Quran and Hadith from the Academy of Islamic Studies in the University of Malaya, will be among the participating guests.

Copies of a Chinese translation of the Holy Quran by Muhammad Ma Jian (1906 -1978), a Chinese Islamic scholar and translator from Yunnan Province in South-West China, will also be showcased at the exhibit.

Publishers from Syria, Lebanon and Indonesia will also be displaying their Quranic publications, he said.

Other artists and scholars are coming from Germany, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

A wide range of programs and cultural activities have been arranged during the exhibit, which will be running until June 28.

Noon:13:06 Evening: 20:45 Dawn: 4:02 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 5:49 (tomorrow)

PICTURE OF THE DAY Tasnim/Mohammad Hassanzadeh

Managing Director: Ali Asgari Editor-in-Chief: Hassan Lasjerdi Editorial Dept.: Fax: (+98(21) 88808214 editor@tehrantimes.com Switchboard Operator: Tel: (+98 21) 43051000 Advertisements Dept.: Telefax: (+98 21) 43051450 ads@tehrantimes.com Public Relations Office: Tel: (+98 21) 88805807 Subscription & Distribution Dept.: Tel: (+98 21) 43051603 www.eshterak.ir Distributor: Padideh Novin Co. Tel: 88911433 Webmaster: webmaster@tehrantimes.comPrinted at: Kayhan - ISSN: 1017-94

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Lucania filmfest to screen shorts from Iran

Iran Flute Society to hold seminar in Tehran

Culture minister, Azerbaijani ambassador meet in Tehran

Joyce Oates “Patricide” published in Persian

Lydia Davis’s “Can’t and Won’t” appears in Iranian bookstores

TEHRAN – Three Iranian shorts will go on screen in various

sections of the 17th Lucania Film Festival, which will be held in the Italian city from August 10 to 13.

“Hasti” directed by Kamal Parnak and “Unknown” by Salah Salehi will compete with over twenty films from around the globe in the fiction and narrative section.

“Beach Flags” by Sarah Saidan along with other productions from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, U.S., Russia and several other countries will go on screen in the animation section.

TEHRAN – The Iran Flute Society is scheduled to hold its

6th Annual Tehran Flute Seminar at the College of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran from July 12 to 18.

Flute virtuosos Julie Brunet-Jailly from France, Artashes Grigoryan from Armenia and Vienna-based Iranian Flutist Reza Najfar are among the musicians scheduled to give performances on the sidelines of the event.

The organizers have also arranged a number of master classes and workshops.

TEHRAN – Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati

and Azerbaijani Ambassador Bunyad Huseynov met in Tehran on Saturday to explore avenues towards broadening bilateral artistic and cultural ties.

Jannati also pointed to Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar, a contemporary Iranian poet who also composed works in Azerbaijani, and the mausoleum of the 12th-century Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi located in Ganja, and called them cultural symbols that both nations have in common.

Huseynov also emphasized the need for greater mutual cooperation in music, publications and the motion picture industry.

TEHRAN – Prominent American novelist Joyce Carol

Oates’ novella “Patricide” has recently been published in Persian by Nimaj Publications.

Translated by Hesam Jenani and Mitra Zaheri, the story has been selected from the Pulitzer Prize nominated collection “Lovely, Dark, Deep”.

The story is narrated from the perspective of Lou-Lou, the daughter of Nobel prize-winning author Roland Marks.

TEHRAN – A Persian version of American writer Lydia Davis’

“Can’t and Won’t” has recently been published by Ofoq Publications in Tehran.

Translated by Asadollah Amrai, the book is com-posed of 122 very short stories.

Davis has won many prizes for her writing, includ-ing the Man Booker International Prize in 2013. An artist creates an embossing work during the 24th International Holy Quran Exhibition at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla on June 17, 2016.

N E W S I N B R I E F

At E3, game makers introduce more diverse heroes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After introducing the world to several new female heroes at last year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, story-driven game makers at this week’s gathering of the interactive industry are uncharacteristically putting more racially di-verse protagonists front and center in their games.

From an Indian-American space dweller in “Tacoma” to a biracial Vietnam War vet-eran in “Mafia III”, the heroes and anti-he-roes appearing on the massive posters and screens across the Los Angeles Convention Center represent more ethnicities than have been showcased in the past.

“We wanted to tell a very different ‘Ma-fia’ story this time,” said Christoph Hart-mann, president of “Mafia” publisher 2K Games. “That meant getting away from classic ‘Godfather’ fare with a bunch of Italian characters. Once we decided to set the game in New Orleans in 1968, it just made sense for the character to be an Afri-can-American war vet.”

For decades, when players haven’t able to pick their own protagonist’s skin color or background, the interactive medium has mostly focused on telling stories of white leading men and women, relegating char-acters of other ethnicities to villainous or supporting roles. That’s changing.

UAE is leading buyer of Iranian illumination works: Artist

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Mohammad-Baqer Aqamiri,

Works by intl. calligraphers to embellish Tehran Quran exhibit C U L T U R Ed e s k

Venezuelan protests economic crisis through currency art

A calligraphy work by Muhammad Mehdi Mirzaei from Afghanistan

Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Paul Cox dies aged 76BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Directors Guild says award-winning Australian filmmaker Paul Cox has died. He was 76.

The guild did not disclose the cause of death, but Cox said last year that his transplanted liver had cancer.

He wrote and directed the 2015 movie “Force of Destiny”, starring David Wenham, which follows the journey of a man who finds love while waiting for a life-saving liver transplant.

The film was loosely based on Cox’s own cancer battle before a transplant in 2009 pulled him back from the brink.