ژان خاكزاد (پاريس)، براساس گزارش خبرگراري فرانسه
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceWednesday, July 31, 2002 - Midnight business curfew in Tehran - US reaction to Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation - Park lake boating accident aftermath - Children of Afghan-Iranian marriages - Defense minister answers Majles questions about IRGC threat - Women demand more high-level positions - Housing ministry opposes national population density quota - Qom ban on music trade - Reactions to Siamak Pourzand's confessions - Privatization organization's failure - Photographer wins gold in Austria Midnight Business Curfew Darkens Tehran's Summer Nights * Police ordered all Tehran shops, restaurants, street peddlers and operators of parks and recreational clubs to close their businesses at 12 midnight, reports Agence France Press from Tehran. A fast food restaurant owner where young people gather tells AFP that the midnight curfew is only a few days old and costs him 30 percent of his daily income. Another restaurant owner says because of the summer heat and air pollution, people go out after 10 PM to eat out or hang out. A pedestrian rushing home after midnight tells AFP that the curfew has political reasons. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) US Reaction to Iran-Russia Nuclear Cooperation * US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who handles arms control issues, cancelled their Moscow press conference today after meeting with Russian nuclear energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev. Washington is unhappy with the recent Russian announcement about expansion of Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. Russia's incentive is clearly financial, according to observers in Moscow, and the US ruled out targeting Iran's Russian-built nuclear power plant. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that he hopes Iran's regime would fall as a result of action by Iranian people. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the troops to get ready to defend the regime against a possible US offensive, but a Khatami cabinet spokesperson said Iran is in no danger of being attacked. (Siavash Ardalan) Aftermath of the Park Lake Drowning of Six Schoolgirls * Five of the families of the six schoolgirls who drowned last April in the Tehran central park boating accident waved their right to seek punishment for the culprits after receiving 100 million rials each in damages. The judge ruled that the city and school officials' negligence were the cause of the accident that also killed the boatman. Tehran-based lawyer Fariba Tavakoli tells RFE/RL that the pardon of the victims' families is enough for the judge to free the defendants, according to Islamic law. She says the victims' families needed money and were given 25 million rials more than the legal blood money for female victims, which is half of that of the men. (Mahmonir Rahimi) Iran Refuses to Register Afghan Men's Marriage with Iranian Women * The Iranian government's refusal to register marriages of Afghan men with Iranian women makes it impossible for their children to receive proper documents needed for education and travel, says Tehran-based lawyer Mohammad-Hussein Aghasi. Legal resident aliens become eligible for Iranian citizenship after some years, but Iran does not grant citizenship to Afghan nationals and citizens of 15 other countries. According to the interior ministry, half of the 2 million Afghans living in Iran are born and raised in Iran. More than 150,000 women have Afghan husbands, 15,000 of them in Tehran. (Shireen Famili) Defense Minister Defends Guards' Statement Threatening Reformists * Defense minister Ali Shahmkhani told a closed-door Majles session today that he cannot take responsibility for last week's statement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatening reformists and advocates of US relations with military action, according to MP Reza Yusefian who was at the meeting. The defense minister told reporters that this was 351st statement issued by the IRGC, which considers commenting on political issues one of its duties. He pointed out that the statement does not address any person or organization by name. The Majles reformists consider the statement an illegal interference by a branch of the armed forces in political matters. Tehran MP Mohsen Armin, a board member of the leftist Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), a key player in the pro-Khatami reform camp, told the Majles that the IRGC statement was part of a conservatives' plan to provoke the US to attack Iran. (Siavash Ardalan) Activists Demand More High Level Managerial Positions for Women * Even though the Participation Front (Jebheh-ye Mosharekat), the largest pro-Khatami block in the Majles, defended in its platform statement the need for greater participation of women in high-level, decision making positions, the Khatami government has not been different from its predecessors when it comes to employing women managers. Mashhad MP Fatemeh Khatami (no relation to the president) told the official news agency IRNA that men enjoy more support from the party and political groups than women. (Mehdi Khalaji) Housing Ministry Opposed Majles Congestion Quota Proposal A bill proposed by Majles to set a per capita population density quota for the whole nation was criticized by the housing ministry as unrealistic. * Tehran-based housing expert Mohandes Kavoosi tells RFE/RL that a national per capita limit for population density would not work in major cities where land is in short supply. He says the Tehran municipality should resume selling air rights to developers but at prices much higher than it did before, but not in every neighborhood of the city. At least 15 areas of Tehran are over congested already, he adds. (Jamshid Zand) Qom Closes Music Classes and Bans Trade of Music Instruments * Police in Qom closed nine music schools and announced that selling and repairing musical instruments is illegal. Qom musicians have moved to other cities, according to the official news agency IRNA. Akbar Karami, a Qom-based activist tells RFE/RL that the ban on music schools is believable and regrettable. Shortage of parks and recreational facilities contribute to higher incidence of depression, particularly among young girls. He adds that the age of addiction to hard drugs has dropped in the city and children as young as 16 can be seen shooting heroine. Open trade of all kinds of opiates goes on everywhere in the city, and prostitution is on the rise. (Mehdi Khalaji) Reactions to Siamak Pourzand's TV Confession * Cabinet spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh said the intelligence ministry had nothing to do with the TV confessions of the jailed veteran journalist Siamak Pourzand. Many officials of Khatami government told the press that they found the confessions unconvincing. (Siavash Ardalan) Failure of the Privatization Organization * The head of the privatization organization charged with raising 12000 billion rials from the sale of state businesses to public said today that he cannot accomplish anything since factory chiefs and government officials do not even return his phone calls. Of the budgeted sum, the privatization organization has managed to raise only three percent halfway into the fiscal year. The failure of the privatization organization has been blamed on lack of cooperation of government officials and factory chiefs who do not want to lose their jobs, but the real reason is the country's economic condition that is not favorable to private investment. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) Iranian Photographer Wins Gold Medal in Austria Competition * Romin Mohtashem, a photographer living in Iran, tells RFE/RL that one of the six photographs he submitted to the international competition of photography held annually in Austria won the gold medal. (Mahmonir Rahimi) WORLD * Foreign ministers from the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 13 outside countries participating in ASEAN meeting in Brunei vowed to block money transfers to terrorist organizations. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Eight die in the Beirut shooting spree. A Lebanese journalist tells RFE/RL that a teacher angry at his loan application's rejection by the teachers' fund sprayed his colleagues with bullets. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo) * Jordan's king to meet President Bush. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo) * The administration should consult the Congress before attacking Iraq, Senators Biden and Lugar write in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. (Jamshid Zand) * Iraq's Tariq Aziz comments about a possible US attack in an interview with a Swiss Magazine. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * Russia-Georgia relations sour over Chechen rebels. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow) * Congo signs a peace treaty with Rwanda. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) * UN calls Australia's detention of illegal immigrants. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Human Rights Watch protests Egypt's jailing of Cairo University professor and human rights activist Saadeddin Ebrahim, a US citizen. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo) * Nardaran village near Baku prepares for confrontation with Azerbaijan government over living conditions. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) ARTS AND IDEAS Civil Society and Human Rights * Veteran lawyer and human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar comments on recent court verdicts suspending, jailing and flogging lawyers. Weekly Science Magazine Lasers in Gene therapy * German scientists at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena have developed a way to use ultra-short wave laser beams to transfer genes into cells, enabling them to repair genetic damage. The efficient transfer of genes into human cells has been a major obstacle in gene therapy. Bacteria as Power Generators * Researchers led by Dr. Leonard Tender at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. have produced electricity by using microbes found at the bottom of the ocean. This technology could one day become a new way to produce energy. Brain Reaction to Food in Men and Women * National Institute of Health scientists have shown that the brains of men and women respond differently to food. This finding could provide a physiological explanation for the relationship between obesity and gender. Scientific Ethics * Increasing competition among scientists has resulted in a decline in ethical standards within the scientific community. A report by the British Committee on scientific ethics indicates that forging scientific data is widespread. In medical sciences such misconduct can cost human lives. Youth, Society and Education * Paris-based sociologist comments on problems of public education in Iran. (Shireen Famili)
نيروي انتظامي جمهوري اسلامي رستوران ها و كافي شاپ ها، پارك هاي تفريحي، فروش تنقلات كنار خيابان و ساير سرگرمي هاي شبانه را بعد از نيمه شب ممنوع اعلام كرد. خبرگزاري فرانسه در گزارش خود از تهران مي نويسد بنا به دستور جديد پليس، زندگي شبانه در ساعت 12 نيمه شب پايان مي گيرد. بنابراين گزارش، مغازه ها و رستوران ها بايد راس ساعت 12 شب درهاي خود ببندند. مسئول يك رستوران غذاي فوري به خبرنگار خبرگزاري فرانسه مي گويد دستور آن مسائل امنيتي است. مدير يك رستوران مي گويد شب ها كه هوا خنك مي شود مردم بيرون مي روند و به خصوص پنجشنبه ها و جمعه ها مردم علاقه دارند تاساعت ديروقت در رستوران ها باقي بمانند. يك فروشگاه ديگر غذاي فوري در خيابان ولي عصر مي گويد در تهران زندگي شبانه از ساعت 11 شروع مي شود كه هوا خنك تر است و آلودگي آن كمتر. بستن رستوران ها در ساعت 12 معني ديگري جز خراب كردن شب ساكنان شهر ندارد. صاحبان رستوران ها شكايت مي كنند كه بيش از 30 درصد از درآمد روزانه خود را به اين ترتيب از دست مي دهند. يك عابر آن را به حكومت نظامي تشبيه مي كند و مي گويد يك دستور سياسي است.
Summary of Today's BroadcastRFE/RL Persian ServiceWednesday, July 31, 2002 - Midnight business curfew in Tehran - US reaction to Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation - Park lake boating accident aftermath - Children of Afghan-Iranian marriages - Defense minister answers Majles questions about IRGC threat - Women demand more high-level positions - Housing ministry opposes national population density quota - Qom ban on music trade - Reactions to Siamak Pourzand's confessions - Privatization organization's failure - Photographer wins gold in Austria Midnight Business Curfew Darkens Tehran's Summer Nights * Police ordered all Tehran shops, restaurants, street peddlers and operators of parks and recreational clubs to close their businesses at 12 midnight, reports Agence France Press from Tehran. A fast food restaurant owner where young people gather tells AFP that the midnight curfew is only a few days old and costs him 30 percent of his daily income. Another restaurant owner says because of the summer heat and air pollution, people go out after 10 PM to eat out or hang out. A pedestrian rushing home after midnight tells AFP that the curfew has political reasons. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) US Reaction to Iran-Russia Nuclear Cooperation * US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who handles arms control issues, cancelled their Moscow press conference today after meeting with Russian nuclear energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev. Washington is unhappy with the recent Russian announcement about expansion of Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. Russia's incentive is clearly financial, according to observers in Moscow, and the US ruled out targeting Iran's Russian-built nuclear power plant. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that he hopes Iran's regime would fall as a result of action by Iranian people. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the troops to get ready to defend the regime against a possible US offensive, but a Khatami cabinet spokesperson said Iran is in no danger of being attacked. (Siavash Ardalan) Aftermath of the Park Lake Drowning of Six Schoolgirls * Five of the families of the six schoolgirls who drowned last April in the Tehran central park boating accident waved their right to seek punishment for the culprits after receiving 100 million rials each in damages. The judge ruled that the city and school officials' negligence were the cause of the accident that also killed the boatman. Tehran-based lawyer Fariba Tavakoli tells RFE/RL that the pardon of the victims' families is enough for the judge to free the defendants, according to Islamic law. She says the victims' families needed money and were given 25 million rials more than the legal blood money for female victims, which is half of that of the men. (Mahmonir Rahimi) Iran Refuses to Register Afghan Men's Marriage with Iranian Women * The Iranian government's refusal to register marriages of Afghan men with Iranian women makes it impossible for their children to receive proper documents needed for education and travel, says Tehran-based lawyer Mohammad-Hussein Aghasi. Legal resident aliens become eligible for Iranian citizenship after some years, but Iran does not grant citizenship to Afghan nationals and citizens of 15 other countries. According to the interior ministry, half of the 2 million Afghans living in Iran are born and raised in Iran. More than 150,000 women have Afghan husbands, 15,000 of them in Tehran. (Shireen Famili) Defense Minister Defends Guards' Statement Threatening Reformists * Defense minister Ali Shahmkhani told a closed-door Majles session today that he cannot take responsibility for last week's statement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatening reformists and advocates of US relations with military action, according to MP Reza Yusefian who was at the meeting. The defense minister told reporters that this was 351st statement issued by the IRGC, which considers commenting on political issues one of its duties. He pointed out that the statement does not address any person or organization by name. The Majles reformists consider the statement an illegal interference by a branch of the armed forces in political matters. Tehran MP Mohsen Armin, a board member of the leftist Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), a key player in the pro-Khatami reform camp, told the Majles that the IRGC statement was part of a conservatives' plan to provoke the US to attack Iran. (Siavash Ardalan) Activists Demand More High Level Managerial Positions for Women * Even though the Participation Front (Jebheh-ye Mosharekat), the largest pro-Khatami block in the Majles, defended in its platform statement the need for greater participation of women in high-level, decision making positions, the Khatami government has not been different from its predecessors when it comes to employing women managers. Mashhad MP Fatemeh Khatami (no relation to the president) told the official news agency IRNA that men enjoy more support from the party and political groups than women. (Mehdi Khalaji) Housing Ministry Opposed Majles Congestion Quota Proposal A bill proposed by Majles to set a per capita population density quota for the whole nation was criticized by the housing ministry as unrealistic. * Tehran-based housing expert Mohandes Kavoosi tells RFE/RL that a national per capita limit for population density would not work in major cities where land is in short supply. He says the Tehran municipality should resume selling air rights to developers but at prices much higher than it did before, but not in every neighborhood of the city. At least 15 areas of Tehran are over congested already, he adds. (Jamshid Zand) Qom Closes Music Classes and Bans Trade of Music Instruments * Police in Qom closed nine music schools and announced that selling and repairing musical instruments is illegal. Qom musicians have moved to other cities, according to the official news agency IRNA. Akbar Karami, a Qom-based activist tells RFE/RL that the ban on music schools is believable and regrettable. Shortage of parks and recreational facilities contribute to higher incidence of depression, particularly among young girls. He adds that the age of addiction to hard drugs has dropped in the city and children as young as 16 can be seen shooting heroine. Open trade of all kinds of opiates goes on everywhere in the city, and prostitution is on the rise. (Mehdi Khalaji) Reactions to Siamak Pourzand's TV Confession * Cabinet spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh said the intelligence ministry had nothing to do with the TV confessions of the jailed veteran journalist Siamak Pourzand. Many officials of Khatami government told the press that they found the confessions unconvincing. (Siavash Ardalan) Failure of the Privatization Organization * The head of the privatization organization charged with raising 12000 billion rials from the sale of state businesses to public said today that he cannot accomplish anything since factory chiefs and government officials do not even return his phone calls. Of the budgeted sum, the privatization organization has managed to raise only three percent halfway into the fiscal year. The failure of the privatization organization has been blamed on lack of cooperation of government officials and factory chiefs who do not want to lose their jobs, but the real reason is the country's economic condition that is not favorable to private investment. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) Iranian Photographer Wins Gold Medal in Austria Competition * Romin Mohtashem, a photographer living in Iran, tells RFE/RL that one of the six photographs he submitted to the international competition of photography held annually in Austria won the gold medal. (Mahmonir Rahimi) WORLD * Foreign ministers from the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 13 outside countries participating in ASEAN meeting in Brunei vowed to block money transfers to terrorist organizations. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Eight die in the Beirut shooting spree. A Lebanese journalist tells RFE/RL that a teacher angry at his loan application's rejection by the teachers' fund sprayed his colleagues with bullets. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo) * Jordan's king to meet President Bush. (Jamshid Chalangi, Cairo) * The administration should consult the Congress before attacking Iraq, Senators Biden and Lugar write in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. (Jamshid Zand) * Iraq's Tariq Aziz comments about a possible US attack in an interview with a Swiss Magazine. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) * Russia-Georgia relations sour over Chechen rebels. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow) * Congo signs a peace treaty with Rwanda. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) * UN calls Australia's detention of illegal immigrants. (Jean Khakzad, Paris) * Human Rights Watch protests Egypt's jailing of Cairo University professor and human rights activist Saadeddin Ebrahim, a US citizen. (Farideh Rahbar, Cairo) * Nardaran village near Baku prepares for confrontation with Azerbaijan government over living conditions. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) ARTS AND IDEAS Civil Society and Human Rights * Veteran lawyer and human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar comments on recent court verdicts suspending, jailing and flogging lawyers. Weekly Science Magazine Lasers in Gene therapy * German scientists at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena have developed a way to use ultra-short wave laser beams to transfer genes into cells, enabling them to repair genetic damage. The efficient transfer of genes into human cells has been a major obstacle in gene therapy. Bacteria as Power Generators * Researchers led by Dr. Leonard Tender at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. have produced electricity by using microbes found at the bottom of the ocean. This technology could one day become a new way to produce energy. Brain Reaction to Food in Men and Women * National Institute of Health scientists have shown that the brains of men and women respond differently to food. This finding could provide a physiological explanation for the relationship between obesity and gender. Scientific Ethics * Increasing competition among scientists has resulted in a decline in ethical standards within the scientific community. A report by the British Committee on scientific ethics indicates that forging scientific data is widespread. In medical sciences such misconduct can cost human lives. Youth, Society and Education * Paris-based sociologist comments on problems of public education in Iran. (Shireen Famili)
نيروي انتظامي جمهوري اسلامي رستوران ها و كافي شاپ ها، پارك هاي تفريحي، فروش تنقلات كنار خيابان و ساير سرگرمي هاي شبانه را بعد از نيمه شب ممنوع اعلام كرد. خبرگزاري فرانسه در گزارش خود از تهران مي نويسد بنا به دستور جديد پليس، زندگي شبانه در ساعت 12 نيمه شب پايان مي گيرد. بنابراين گزارش، مغازه ها و رستوران ها بايد راس ساعت 12 شب درهاي خود ببندند. مسئول يك رستوران غذاي فوري به خبرنگار خبرگزاري فرانسه مي گويد دستور آن مسائل امنيتي است. مدير يك رستوران مي گويد شب ها كه هوا خنك مي شود مردم بيرون مي روند و به خصوص پنجشنبه ها و جمعه ها مردم علاقه دارند تاساعت ديروقت در رستوران ها باقي بمانند. يك فروشگاه ديگر غذاي فوري در خيابان ولي عصر مي گويد در تهران زندگي شبانه از ساعت 11 شروع مي شود كه هوا خنك تر است و آلودگي آن كمتر. بستن رستوران ها در ساعت 12 معني ديگري جز خراب كردن شب ساكنان شهر ندارد. صاحبان رستوران ها شكايت مي كنند كه بيش از 30 درصد از درآمد روزانه خود را به اين ترتيب از دست مي دهند. يك عابر آن را به حكومت نظامي تشبيه مي كند و مي گويد يك دستور سياسي است.
