President Rouhani on Saturday sent a message to Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah and warmly congratulated Negara Brunei Darussalam’s National Day.
The Iranian president also expressed hope that the friendly relations between Tehran and Bandar Seri Begawan would further grow and serve the interests of the two nations in light of their common Islamic, cultural and political bonds.
President Rouhani also wished the Brunei’s sultan and people health, success and prosperity.
The rise in the fatality figure was announced by the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, five of our fellow countrymen have, so far, lost their lives because of infection with this virus,” said Kianoush Jahanpour, the head of the Public Relations Office of the ministry.
He said at least 785 out of thousands of people with flu-like symptoms referring to hospitals and clinics have been placed under special medical care for further examination.
He said ten new cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed since Friday noon, bringing to 28 the number of those definitively diagnosed with the disease in the country so far.
“The infection of these 28 people with the disease is definite and final,” he said.
The official said the majority of the confirmed cases have lived in the central city of Qom, visited the city or had some contacts with it. That includes eight of the 10 new cases, Jahanpour said.
The two others have also been hospitalized in Tehran.
China closely follows the COVID-19 situation in Iran. The spokesman of Foreign Affairs Ministry of China has expressed condolences over the passing of the Iranian patients.
As Ambassador of China to Iran, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the Iranian government and people. In this fight against the virus, China and Iran have been standing firmly together.
Since the outbreak of China, the Iranian government and people have provided precious support and assistance to China at the first time. We remember and cherish this friendship.
The epidemic in Iran has also affected the hearts of the Chinese people, and we have the same feeling with Iranian people. “if you give me peaches and I will return you with fine drinks.” China will maitain close communication and coordination with Iran, strengthen cooperation in epidemic prevention, and strive to overcome the epidemic as soon as possible, to safeguard the health of our two peoples and global public health security.
The incident happened after Iranian border guards learned that some 20 armed terrorists had advanced towards the Iranian border to strike military units stationed there.
Iranian forces confronted with members of the terrorist grouping with heavy gunfire near the city of Jakigur in Sistan and Baluchestan province.
The terrorists suffered casualties and fled back into Pakistan.
However, two Iranian border guards, Sergeant Major Ahmad Rahmanifard, and Private Ahmad Tavakoli, were gunned down in the firefight.
The border guard chief of Police Force has left for the area heading a delegation to look into the incident.
Zarif and Antonio Guterres held the telephone conversation on Friday evening.
The phone call comes against the backdrop of a peace deal likely to be signed at the end of February between the United States and the Afghan Taliban militant group with the aim of ending America’s longest war.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Taliban issued statements on Friday saying they had agreed to sign the deal on February 29 in the Qatari capital, Doha, following the one-week partial truce.
Pompeo said that the deal will be finalized only if a week-long cessation of hostility holds in Afghanistan.
The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.
The pieces were performed on the eve of the fortieth day after the tragedy.
“After the plane crash, everybody showed sympathy in a way,” said Loris Tjeknavorian about his piece to Shahrvand daily.
“The same day, the melody was inspired to me, and then I began writing a memorial for the plane crash to show people around the world that we are peace-loving and it was a tragedy to all of us.”
Tjeknavorian wrote the piece within two days, though it would usually take one to two months for a composer to write such a work.
“I didn’t even rewrite it and wanted it to be written and performed as I was inspired. Of course, I did not have the chance to play it orchestral, so I got help from friends and for now the piece is sampled. I hope to be able to record it with the orchestra in the near future.”
A sonnet from renowned Iranian poet Saadi Shirazi was also sung along with it.
The 176th piece by Behzad Abdi, the final piece of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, was also performed in Vahdat Hall, as another piece dedicated to the flight victims.
It was on the third night of the Fajr Music Festival, where Nasir Heydarian led the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in a ceremony attended by Minister of Culture Seyyed Abbas Salehi. After the performance, Minister Salehi wrote on Twitter that he was really impressed by the piece.
On January 8, the Ukrainian airliner 752 crashed after being targeted mistakenly by an air defence missile fired by the IRGC, and 176 of its passengers were killed.
The laboratory phase of the test has been carried out and the researchers are waiting for the authorisation and funding required to perform it on humans.
Marzieh Ebrahimi, a spokesman for the Royan Institute Cancerous Stem Cells, told IRNA that researchers were able to identify a group of natural killer cells that could eliminate the brain tumor cells in the pre-clinical phase (animal experiments).
“Researchers are trying to cure brain cancers,” she added.
She noted that the plan would likely be approved by the end of current Iranian year in order to give service to Iranian patients.
A brain tumor is a collection, or mass, of abnormal cells in the brain. The skull, which encloses the brain, is very rigid. Any growth inside such a restricted space can cause problems. Brain tumors can be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous.
Natural killer cells (also known as NK cells) are a type of lymphocyte (a white blood cell) and a component of innate immune system. NK cells play a major role in the host-rejection of both tumours and virally infected cells.
He made the comments during his visit to the country’s election headquarters on Friday.
The first vice-president stated that the parliament is one of the most important and influential institutions which has a decisive role in solving the problems of the country and has a constructive and unifying role.
“The turnout showed that the Iranian people had no regard for American hostility. They knew their way well and knew what to do in any situation.”
People on Friday voted for their candidates in the 11th parliamentary elections. They also chose replacements for seven deceased members of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body responsible for appointing the leader and overseeing his performance.
Nearly 58 million people were eligible to vote. A total of 55,000 polling stations were set up throughout the country. More than 7,000 candidates, including 666 women, competed with each other.
Two elderly people who died in the holy city of Qom on Wednesday were the first deaths in the Middle East and the seventh and eighth deaths caused by the virus outside mainland China.
According to a tweet by Iran’s Health Ministry Deputy, Kianush Jahanpur, seven new cases in Qom, four in capital Tehran, and two in northern Guilan province have been confirmed.
Based on this, up two now 18 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across Iran out of which four people have died.
The coronavirus, known as COVID-19, was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December. Since then, it has infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000 – the vast majority of victims in China.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
In an interview on Friday, Mousavi said the stigma of money laundering and financing terrorism cannot be attached to Iran.
Mousavi added that the Islamic Republic of Iran has implemented all the laws and regulations related to fighting money laundering and financing of terrorism for more than two years.
“International mechanisms have advantages and disadvantages. Iran was blacklisted by the FATF despite all the efforts we made in the country and all the laws and regulations we tried to comply with.”
Unfortunately, this is also part of the politicisation of international mechanisms by the United States, Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime. Due to their influence on these mechanisms, they are trying to influence these issues politically, underlined Mousavi.
He went on to say that Saudi Arabia as the central bank of terrorism and the Zionist regime as a government of terrorism are committing the worst crimes, and they are directing such measures against Iran using their influence.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday that Iran would stay on its blacklist, and called on member states to sanction the country.
The Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based monitoring group, had given Iran a February deadline to approve antiterrorism legislation or remain on the blacklist.
Although Iran’s parliament passed the legislation, a top body voted it down.
The blacklisting will complicate Iranian plans to sidestep American sanctions by instead doing business with European countries. France, Britain and Germany had said they would continue to do business with Iran as long as the country got itself off the FATF’s blacklist.
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