Behzad Shirpanjeh, head of the department, said these migrating birds had landed in the national park in recent days and are now living temporarily on the island.
“The spoonbill is an endangered species which makes very short stays in certain ponds and lagoons during its north-south migration, then after resting and eating, leaves to continue on its journey,” he noted, as reported by Mehr and translated by IFP.
Ordushahi Island is one of the 102 islands of Lake Urmia National Park.
On Tuesday, Accredited Ambassador of Togo to Tehran Mohamed Sad Ouro-Sama met with President Rouhani, where the President highlighted the importance of Africa in Iran’s foreign policy scheme. “Iran and Togo have developed a similar position on major international issues, especially on terrorism and extremism; we welcome improved relations with Togo in fields of mutual interest,” Rouhani said at the meeting where Ouro-Sama handed in his credentials.
Ouro-Sama voiced his country and nation’s respect for Iranian government and nation and conveyed gratitude voiced by Togolese president for Iran’s role in bringing peace and stability to the region in fighting terrorism. He urged deeper ties with Iran and exchanges of ideas and positions on important international issues.
Rouhani also received the credentials of the Bangladeshi ambassador Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan in his second meeting, where he emphasized improving ties with Bangladesh as an Islamic country and a friend of Iran. “Iran and Bangladesh have had long and cordial relations. Both countries have also similar positions on international issues. After JCPOA implementation, the grounds for extending ties have become wider, which should be exploited in the interests of both nations,” President Rouhani said.
Rouhani told the new ambassador that preparing the grounds for effective ties between Iran and Bangladesh was an important mission. “Iran welcomes working with Bangladesh in transferring its experience in technology and engineering sectors, trade, and culture to Bangladesh. Science and university exchanges provide other avenues where both countries could work in bringing better situations to bilateral ties in the future,” he added.
Bhuiyan underlined the cordial ties between Iran and Bangladesh, and called for more improved relations in politics, economy, trade, business, and infrastructure.
Moral security is a great stength and advantage of Iran’s Islamic society, and the agencies in charge of social security and order should not allow it to be violated by a number of social deviants or enemy mercenaries, Firouzabadi said in an address, as reported by Sepah News and translated by IFP.
“What the law enforcement is trying to confront is the enemy’s attempts and plans to counter religious values, the Islamic Revolution, and the Islamic Establishment,” he went on to say.
“After its failure in hard and semi-hard conflicts, the enemy has resorted to a soft war, and is targeting society’s values and ethical and cultural principles in its confrontation with Iran,” the Iranian top officer added.
He further described the Hijab, one of the main aspects of the Moral Security Plan, as a phenomenon interwoven with Iranian identity, adding, “The Hijab has been accepted as a value in Iranian society for several centuries, and given its influence on society’s security, health, and peace, enemies of Islam have always tried to spoil it so as to achieve their goals.”
“Moral and psychological security are among the nation’s basic and inalienable rights,” he noted, stressing that the Moral Security Plan intends to provide just such psychological peace and security in order to accelerate the country’s development.
He strongly supported the plan, and described it as a legal move. “Any opposition to the plan will be regarded as resistance to the enforcement of law,” he added.
A jury member of the WCC said that the event will be held in Isfahan on Sep 25, 2016.
Citing the event as a turning point in Iran’s handicraft industry, Omid Shiva said the WCC is seeking to help craftsmen and -women across the world.
Last year, the World Crafts Council announced that the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Tabriz had been registered as world cities of handicrafts and carpets.
The Council’s President, Wang Shan, congratulated the Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Masoud Soltanifar on this success.
In 2015, only six countries were candidates for global registration. The two cities mentioned were successfully registered for their particular features in terms of handicrafts and carpet-weaving.
One of the programs for Iranian traditional arts in the incumbent government is their motto of ‘Each province a global brand, each city a national brand’.
The World Crafts Council is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that was founded in 1964 to promote fellowship, foster economic development through income-generating craft-related activities, organize exchange programs, workshops, conferences, seminars, and exhibitions – and in general, to offer encouragement, help, and advice to the craftspersons of the world.
On May Day, Rouhani visited MAPNA workers while remaining inside his car, moving around the factory, waving for the labourers on their “International Day”.
According to Asr-e Khabar’s report, translated by IFP, it was a very decent move by the country’s president to pay a visit to the hardworking labourers and personally monitor the achievements of a domestic factory.
However, the photographs published after the visit were not so favourable. The hardworking labourers expected to see their president up close, and to have a rare meeting with him, not to see him being driven around the factory floor in a luxurious car.
This move by the President’s handlers was absolutely wrong. If they chose this method due to the large factory and a shortage of time, they could have limited the visit to a small part, walking among the workers in that particular part of the factory. There was no need for a visit to the entire plant.
If, however, the move was due to security reasons, it is still unacceptable, because the factory and the workers are no more of a threat than the cities President Rouhani usually visits. Thus, no security issue would have been allowed to happen.
A government that sees itself as part of the nation should be flexible with its formalities to some extent, and should behave in a friendlier way towards the people who voted for it.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday, Rear Admiral Sayyari talked about the Navy’s plans, saying that holding 20 specialized wargames is on their agenda.
He added that the military drills, which include electronic warfare, missile tests, intelligence operations, deployment of submarines, and relief and rescue operations, will start in a few weeks.
The commander further pointed to the US government’s opposition to Iran’s plans for wargames in the Persian Gulf, saying that although they are against an Iranian military presence in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, “We will continue our powerful presence in the two areas … and will stage our wargames.”
In relevant remarks, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei had earlier hammered the US for its schemes against Iran’s military presence in the Persian Gulf and made it clear that the Islamic Republic will continue to demonstrate its power in its home waters.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended a ceremony held on Monday night in Tehran’s iconic Milad Tower to mark the beginning of “Iran-Korea Cultural Week”.
During the ceremony, which was also attended by Iran’s Culture Minister Ali Jannati and Vice-President for Women’s Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, Iranian and South Korean national orchestras had a joint performance.
A huge crowd of Iranian and Korean nationals participated in the ceremony, filling the large conference hall of Milad Tower.
Live demonstrations of Iran’s Zurkhaneh sports and South Korea’s Taekwondo were also performed as part of the ceremony.
The Iranian team at the talks was led by Hamid Tehranfar, Monitoring Deputy of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), while the Swiss delegation was headed by Rene Weber, director of financial markets of the Finance Ministry.
Announcing Switzerland’s support for the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Weber announced his country’s readiness for cooperation in financial and banking fields as well as campaigning against money laundering and terrorism financing.
Meanwhile, Tehranfar called for taking advantage of the experience of Switzerland in monitoring and banking regulations and said continuation of the talks will lead to the promotion of financial and banking cooperation at bilateral and international levels.
He said the next round of the talks will be held in Tehran before the end of the year.
This is the first round of financial talks between Iran and Switzerland in line with the roadmap of bilateral relations, which was agreed upon by the presidents of the two countries in the course of the visit to Iran of the Swiss President Johann Schneider last year.
President Rouhani held separate meetings with the incoming ambassadors of Ukraine and Montenegro on Tuesday and received their credentials.
In the meeting with Ukrainian Ambassador Sergei Buldiliak, the Iranian president said the post-sanctions era has opened up an opportunity for Tehran and Kiev to promote bilateral cooperation.
He voiced Iran’s enthusiasm for expanding political, economic and cultural relations with Ukraine.
The European envoy, for his part, said he sees good prospects for cooperation between the two nations.
In the meeting with Montenegro’s Accredited Ambassador to Tehran Branko Milic, President Rouhani said the Islamic Republic of Iran’s administration is ready to expand relations with Montenegro in the economic, energy, industrial and tourism fields.
Milic, too, emphasized that a good atmosphere exists for the promotion of cooperation between Podgorica and Tehran.
The implementation earlier this year of the JCPOA, the comprehensive nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), has prompted the international community to pursue closer ties with Iran.
“We have entered a new stage, and whether we want it or not, the post-JCPOA world is totally different from the world before the JCPOA,” Rouhani said in an address to the opening ceremony of the Tehran International Book Fair.
“Our nation achieved great successes in a historic and important event, after complicated negotiations, in talks with world powers.”
The nuclear deal was to the benefit of both sides, Rouhani said, stressing that the JCPOA was in the interests of Iran, the other parties, the region, and the world.
“Of course, there are certain factions in our region who feel the deal is detrimental for them. In a world where 188 countries gain such huge benefit from the deal, a couple of countries might be disadvantaged; this is normal,” Rouhani said.
“They [the regional sides] are very angry and seek to stonewall every day, but I am sure the great nation of Iran, having gained such a success, will continue its work as strongly as before,” the Iranian president asserted.
Gov’t Supervision over Book Industry Should Be Restricted to Policy-Making
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani stressed that the government should not interfere in all affairs. “The government is responsible for planning and policy-making,” he pointed out.
The administration must maintain [indirect] supervision, but it should be carried out by the people themselves, he went on to say.
“We should help authors to write books using their own minds, ideas, and experiences,” Rouhani said, adding that authors should not be afraid of censorship when they intend to write.
He also thanked the foreign participants, particularly the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for sending representatives to Tehran’s Book Fair.
Rouhani further highlighted Tehran municipality’s efforts in building the “huge, beautiful” fairground, Shahr-e Aftab (Sun City), south of the capital, near Imam Khomeini’s Shrine.
The 29th edition of Tehran International Book Fair will receive visitors from May 4 to 14 in the newly-built fairground located next to the Persian Gulf Highway.
The fairground halls have been built with a total area of 120,000 square metres, and comprise three types of salon. The main hall has a floorplan of 25,000sq.m, four middle-sized halls are as large as 15,000sq.m, as well as there being four small halls of around 8,000sq.m each.
These halls form the main venues of the fairground. Each hall is a large, integrated space with a huge, beautiful roof, creating a unique atmosphere.
The Hall of Nations is constructed over two storeys with an area of 8,000sq.m, and a height of 24m.
To see photos of the newly-opened, purpose-built exhibition site, click here.
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