Mohammad Reza Ghaderi, a physical education teacher in an elementary school in Hamadan and a cycling champion in Iran and Asia, has recently been diagnosed with cancer. To express sympathy with their teacher, the school students shaved their heads bald.
The following are the photos Mehr News Agency released online on January 14 of the teacher and his compassionate students. Take a look:
Iranian national football team’s coach, Carlos Queiroz, said that the match against Qatar in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup is difficult for his team.
Three-time champion Iran, who have started the competition with a 2-0 victory over Bahrain, will face Qatar on Thursday at the Australia Stadium.
“We expect a difficult match against Qatar. They are highly motivated after winning the title in the Persian Gulf Cup,” Queiroz said in a pre-match press conference.
“Qatar is a good team and I think the match will be a big challenge for us. They have played 14 friendly matches so far. Anyway, we want to enjoy the match. My players can even fly or swim to reach their goals,” the Portuguese added.
“We are ready to show a good performance against Qatar. we have to try to be very well disciplined against them,” Queiroz noted.
A top Iranian energy official says the country will see its capacity of renewable energy doubled by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2015).
Homayoun Haeri, who serves as the director of Iran’s Power Generation and Transmission Company (TAVANIR), said Wednesday that the government plans to double the capacity of Iran’s wind and solar power generation across the country.
The official also noted that Iran is currently among major countries in the region in terms of the electricity generation capacity, although it still has a lot to do to optimize energy consumption.
Iranian officials announced in October that they have comprehensive plans for the production of 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity using renewable energy sources until 2018. Iran currently produces 10,000 MW of electricity from hydropower plants.
Due to its geographical position, Iran enjoys enormous potential for the production of different kinds of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power.
The country seeks to gradually shift its energy consumption toward renewable resources in a bid to derive the remarkable economic benefits of the sector and tackle its growing environmental issues.
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani on Wednesday deplored the double-standard attitude adopted by Western countries toward the issues of human rights and terrorism.
Western countries view some terrorist crimes as “good” and some of them as “bad”, while terrorism is a bad and criminal phenomenon in any form, Amoli Larijani said.
“Terrorism should be dealt with honestly.”
The judiciary chief said the West’s double-standard attitude toward terrorism and their support for Israel’s state-sponsored terrorism against the innocent Palestinians were the key reasons behind the spread of terrorism in the world.
Amoli Larijani then referred to the terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam as a plot to spread “Islamophobia” in the world, and blamed the plot on Western countries and the Zionist regime of Israel.
“Such measures (terrorist attacks) are the beginning of a coordinated move to spread Islamophobia,” he said, adding that after recent attacks in France the violence against Muslims and Islamic centers and mosques has been intensified.
Iranian officials have on many occasions warned Western countries against the repercussions of backing Takfiri militants and predicted that more terrorist attacks would target the West.
The remarks by the Iranian judiciary chief came after a string of terrorist incidents in France that took the lives 17 victims in three days of violence that began with an attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly on Wednesday and ended with Friday’s dual hostage-taking at a print works outside Paris and kosher supermarket in the city.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is set to hold a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Paris.
Zarif, who has finished three rounds of nuclear talks with his American counterpart, John Kerry, in Geneva, will meet Fabius on Friday.
A surprise third round was added to the pre-planned two rounds.
US State Department officials said earlier that Kerry and Zarif held “substantive” talks in the Swiss city.
The Iranian foreign minister will also visit Berlin on Thursday to meet with his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier.
A meeting is then slated to be held with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, the EU’s de facto capital.
Nuclear negotiators from Iran and P5+1– Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear issue in Geneva on December 17, 2014.
The Geneva discussions were held almost three weeks after Tehran and the six countries failed to reach a final agreement by a November 24 deadline despite making some progress.
The two sides agreed to extend their discussions for seven more months until July 1, 2015.
They also agreed that the interim deal they had signed in Geneva in November 2013 should remain in place during the negotiations.
Talks in Geneva between the Iranian and US top diplomats which also saw them take a walk on the streets of the Swiss city dominated the front pages of the Iranian dailies on Thursday. Muslim condemnation of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s reprint of images insulting the Prophet Muhammad made front-page headlines too. And reformist dailies also covered on their front pages the comments of Ayatollah Rafsanjani about the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections.
Afkar: Eighteen members of a terrorist group have been arrested in the border province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Afkar: Air pollution in Tehran is at an alarming level.
Aftab-e Yazd: Ayatollah Rafsanjani has criticized those who are stoking division ahead of Assembly of Experts elections.
Arman-e Emrooz: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has held a 100-minute meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva. A nuclear deal is within reach.
Arman-e Emrooz: The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs is to launch an official matchmaking website.
Arman-e Emrooz: Carols Queiroz’s team [Iran’s national soccer squad] will take on Qatar in the AFC Asian Cup in Australia on Thursday.
Asr-e Rasaneh: Iranian airliners cannot buy or rent jets which have rolled off the production line more than 15 years ago.
Asr-e Rasaneh: Following a drop in petrochemical prices, Iran has denied allegations that it is selling its petrochemicals cheap.
Ebtekar: Iranian crude oil is now cheaper than bottled water.
Ebtekar: [Principlist MP] Ali Motahari has said that he will take part in a rally against himself [scheduled for Friday]!
Eghtesad-e Pooya: “A special police unit is to be launched to clamp down on corruption,” said Police Chief Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam.
Eghtesad-e Pooya: “Some $5 billion will be invested in the steel industry,” said the managing director of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO).
Etemad: In an unprecedented move the top diplomats of Iran and the United States walked the streets of Geneva as they talked about Iran’s nuclear program.
Ettela’at: “To prop up our national interests, we need to let go of our partisan interests,” said the president.
Ettela’at: The Muslim world has condemned the desecration of the Prophet Muhammad by French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Ettela’at: Members of a terrorist cell have confessed that they have been financed by two Arab countries.
Ettela’at: “For nuclear talks to make progress, new proposals should be floated,” said the Iranian foreign minister.
Farhikhtegan: Hardliners are putting pressure on the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in a bid to interfere with its investigation into illegal scholarships [granted under President Ahmadinejad].
Hadaf va Eghtesad: Iran’s exports to Russia have registered a 50 percent hike.
Hemayat: With oil prices continuing to drop, the share of the National Development Fund from oil revenues has decreased.
Iran: Forty Somali pirates who were arrested by the Iranian Navy have served out their sentence at Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Jamejam: Students of a class in a school in Hamadan [western Iran] have shaved their heads as a sign of sympathy with their teacher who is suffering from cancer.
Javan: “New [US] sanctions would spell an end to the nuclear talks,” said the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
Jomhouri Islami: Iran is to build cement plants in Iraq and Libya.
Jomhouri Islami: With President Rouhani in attendance, a project to develop the southern port of Bushehr has got under way.
Kaenat: As much as eight tons of particulates is produced in Tehran on a daily basis.
Kayhan: Oil prices have dropped to six-year lows.
Resalat: The judiciary chief has urged the government of President Rouhani to put a clampdown on corruption on its agenda.
Shahrvand: Bushehr is to turn into an international maritime relief and rescue center.
Sharq: The Supreme Court has upheld some of the convictions of former First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.
Siasat-e Rooz: British Prime Minister has thrown his weight behind the move [by French weekly Charlie Hebdo] to insult the Muslim Prophet.
Tashkooh (Firing Mountain) is a mountain near the Mamatin village, between Ramhormoz and Izeh in Khuzestan province, whose flames never die down.
Also known as Atashkooh, the mountain is always burning due to the sulfur vapors rising from the porous layers of its surface and flames fanned by sublimation and nebulization.
The burning fire is a picturesque scene at night when tourists huddle together around the mountain whose constant emission of gases does not allow the ignition of another fire nearby.
The following are the photos the Young Journalists Club (YJC) has placed online of the amazing mountain:
A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator has described as “serious” nuclear talks between Tehran and P5+1.
“The atmosphere of the negotiations is completely serious and transparent, and the parties [to the talks] are interested in reaching an agreement [on Iran’s nuclear energy program],” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday.
Araghchi made the remarks after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry met in the Swiss city of Geneva to discuss the progress in Iran’s nuclear talks.
The meeting in Geneva comes before a fresh round of nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 – the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany. Both sides are still working on outstanding issues for a final deal over the Iranian nuclear energy program.
Like Iran, he added, the other side is also serious in the negotiations, and it is clear that the two sides are determined to clinch a deal.
“All efforts are underway,” the senior Iranian negotiator said, adding, “It is, however, too early to judge the outcome of the talks.”
“We hope to reach a comprehensive agreement in the end,” the Iranian diplomat further noted.
Iran and the six countries seek to seal an overarching nuclear deal by the July 1 deadline. The scale of Iran’s uranium enrichment and the timetable for the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions are seen as major sticking points.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday highlighted the necessity for respect for sanctities of all religions and cultures after a French magazine republished a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
“We believe that sanctities need to be respected,” Zarif told reporters minutes before a meeting with his US counterpart in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday.
He made the comments when asked about the most recent controversial move by satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo that printed a cartoon on its cover depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
“Unless we learn to respect one another, it will be very difficult in a world of different views and different cultures and civilizations, we won’t be able to engage in a serious dialogue if we start disrespecting each other’s values and sanctities,” Zarif added.
Respecting such “sanctities” makes it easier to have respectful relations, he explained.
The French magazine has repeatedly aroused Muslim ire by publishing cartoons mocking the holy Prophet Muhammad.
Known for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as critical depictions of other religions and French politicians, the magazine regularly stirred controversy.
The Wednesday’s edition of Charlie Hebdo, which sold some three million copies, shows a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad holding a “Je suis Charlie”(“I am Charlie”) sign, a slogan widely used following the January 7 attack on the magazine.
On January 14, Mehr News Agency quoted Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb as telling Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Al-Azhar University is ready to organize a conference between Shiite and Sunni scholars. The meeting is meant to have differences between the two sides discussed and resolved.
“Such disagreements have targeted the Islamic Ummah (community). By fanning the flames of division, some regional and international powers try to serve the enemies of Islam,” the senior al-Azhar official said.
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