Iranian actor Reza Karam-Rezaei dies at 73

Veteran actor of Iranian cinema, stage and television Reza Karam-Rezaei has passed away at the age of 73 at a Tehran hospital.

Karam-Rezaei, who was hospitalized for lung infection about a month ago, died of a cardiac arrest at Tehran's Mehr hospital on Saturday.

The award-winning actor studied at a theater and film college in Germany and started his cinematic career in 1954 in Tehran.

He had parts in over 20 television series and films such as The Suitor, Narges, The Big Jungle and the Beehive for which he received the Best Supporting Actor award from the Tehran International Film Festival — an international event held before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122366§ionid=351020105.

Iran's Shams ensemble to perform in Turkey

Iran's Shams ensemble is preparing to hold a traditional Persian music concert in the historical city of Istanbul, Turkey.

Led by renowned Tanbour player Keikhosrow Pournazeri, the group will perform traditional and Sufi music pieces at Istanbul's Cemal Resit Rey (CRR) Concert Hall.

Sahar Afshar (Setar), Shahab Paranj (Tonbak), Kaveh Graiely (Setar, Tanbour), Neda Khaki (Tanbour), Hamid-Reza Taqavi (Santour) and Tahmoures Pornazeri (lute) will be the other members of the Shams ensemble who will accompany vocalist Sohrab Pournazeri.

The concert, to be held on April 4, 2010, will also include pieces composed based on poems by the Persian Sufi poet Mowlavi.

Founded in 1977 by Keikhosrow Pournazeri, the Shams ensemble is one of the first groups to perform mystic dervish music featuring Tanbour.

The Music of Shams has accompanied the voices of many renowned Iranian vocalists such as Shahram Nazeri and Bijan Kamkar.

The ensemble has performed in countries such as France, Spain, India, the US, Canada, China, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122362§ionid=351020105.

Iran plans to build new nuclear facilities

Amid stepped up efforts by the US and its allies to rally international support for imposing tougher sanctions against Iran, a top official in Tehran declares plans to construct new nuclear facilities.

"We have presented plans to build new nuclear facilities to President [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]. We will begin the construction process within the next six months, should the president agree," head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on Saturday.

"The organization will finalize the construction of one or two nuclear facilities," he added.

"The facilities are located in different locations across the country but will be constructed in places recommended by President Ahmadinejad," the top Iranian nuclear official was quoted by ILNA as saying.

Iran says its nuclear program is directed at the civilian applications of the technology. The West, however, accuses the country of using its activities, which are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as a cover for pursuing military objectives.

Based on the allegation, Washington has been pushing to impose a fourth round of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Iran.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran says it will not yield to international pressure to abandon its right to enrich uranium for civilian use. The sanctions, which Iran says are illegal, have failed to force Tehran into stopping its enrichment work.

The White House campaign, however, has been opposed by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, which says dialogue is the only solution to the issue. Russia, another veto-wielding member, says sanctions are not "optimal" in dealing with Iran over its nuclear program.

Salehi highlighted plans by the Iranian government to develop an indigenous nuclear energy program and said, "Plans for construction of more nuclear facilities will be announced in the near future."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122361§ionid=351020104.

In Iraq, Sadrists conclude two-day referendum

The followers of senior Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr have remarkably attended a referendum on who qualifies as Iraq's future prime minister.

The two-day vote, seen as an attempt to relieve post-election unease in Iraq, concluded on Saturday evening.

"The referendum has concluded and the participation rate was very high," said Saleh al-Obeidi, the Najaf-based spokesman for the movement, AFP reported. "The counting process has already started in the provinces, and in the next few days we will release the results."

The referendum came after disputed results of the March 7 parliamentary polls pointed to a narrow victory by the coalition led by former Premier Iyad Allawi over his main rival and incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Neither party has won enough seats to form a coalition government.

Sadr has withdrawn support for both contenders and asked his followers to vote in the plebiscite for their prime minister of choice.

Sadr's bloc has denied the vote was a re-run of the elections and the referendum has reportedly no official role in deciding the ultimate winner.

Prior to last month's elections, Sadr urged the Iraqi electorate to help end the US-led occupation of the country by going to polling stations.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122356§ionid=351020201.

Yemen court upholds Israel spy's death sentence

A death sentence for a Yemeni man, Bassam Abdullah al-Haidari, convicted of spying for Israel has been upheld by an appeals court.

In March 2009, a state security court sentenced the 27-year-old to death after convicting him of establishing contacts with the office of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Prosecutors have told the court that al-Haidari had sent e-mails to the Israeli premier, offering to work for Mossad.

They said the defendant received a positive response from Israeli officials, who allegedly welcomed the offer.

A three-year prison term for another convict in the case, Emad Ali al-Raimi, 24, was also confirmed by the appeals court. The court also lowered the sentence for a third convict Ali Abdullah al-Mahfal, 25, from five to three years.

The three men were part of a group of six suspects arrested in October 2009 over alleged links to Mossad. The three remaining suspects were released before trial, due to lack of evidence.

Arrests were made one month after a bombing outside the US embassy in Sana'a, the responsibility for which was later claimed by al-Qaeda.

Officials have said the group sentenced Monday operated under a fake name, the "Islamic Jihad of Yemen," and issued false statements claiming responsibility for the US embassy attack, in which 18 people were killed, including six attackers.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122355§ionid=351020206.

Ahmadinejad warns Israel against second Gaza war

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned against a reported Israeli plan to launch a second military offensive against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli deputy prime minister Silvan Shalom said Friday that a military operation will soon be launched in response to rocket attacks from Gaza, which involve home-made rockets that usually carry little or no explosive warhead.

On Thursday, a single Qassam rocket landed near the Israeli town of Ashkelon on Thursday and caused some minor damages but no casualties.

Although the Palestinian Resistance movement of Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack, Israel nevertheless responded to the incident by carrying out six waves of air raids overnight.

"If this rocket fire against Israel does not stop … it will force us to launch another military operation," Shalom told public radio.

Hamas has emphasized that it is looking to calm the situation. In an April 1 phone conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Mashaal said: "Hamas is not interested in the escalation of tensions and is taking corresponding measures to prevent missile strikes from the Gaza," reported ITAR-Tass News Agency.

President Ahmadinejad, in a formal speech at the inauguration of the Middle East's biggest iron ore pellet factory in the southern city of Sirjan, warned Israel against making plans for a new offensive against Gazans, who are still reeling from the devastating attack by Tel Aviv two years ago.

Ahmadinejad condemned Israel's continued crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, stressing that the Tel Aviv regime is the sole obstacle to the establishment of peace and security in the region.

Referring to Israel's use of foreign passports to assassinate senior Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, Ahmadinejad said Israel has “clearly been given carte blanche by Western powers “to commit whatever crime it pleases and violate whatever law it deems necessary.”

On a different note, Ahmadinejad said the rising tide of terrorism in the Middle East is a direct result of US military presence in the region over the past decade.

“The ever-increasing presence of US coalition forces in region has contributed to the growing rate of terrorism and violence,” he noted.

The Iranian President said he found the US campaign to isolate Tehran in the region and in the world “most amusing” because he seriously believes that Washington, due to decades of hegemony and political missteps, has grown to become one of the most isolated countries to date.

"We think that those are isolated that cannot talk to nations directly, those who are afraid of nations."

President Ahmadinejad said it was the US not Iran which was isolated, reasoning that American officials only paid unannounced visits to the regional countries.

"They want to visit their military base in a country where they have deployed 160,000 military troops and they go there without announcing in advance. Who is isolated?"

He dismissed US accusations regarding an “Iranian intention to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels,” adding such claims are highly ironic coming from countries which possess and continue to develop vast nuclear arsenals that have been tested and even used in military confrontations.

Under international law, Ahmadinejad said, Western countries are obliged to provide Iran — without out preconditions — with the specified amount of fuel it requires for the Tehran research reactor, which plays the vital role of producing medical isotopes.

Due to their refusal, Ahmadinejad continued, Iran reserves the right to domestically-enrich uranium up to 20 percent in order to meet the demands of thousands of Iranian patients, who desperately need post-surgery drug treatment with nuclear medicine.

With regards to US efforts to rally worldwide support for gasoline embargoes against Iran, Ahmadinejad said such a move would fail to bring Washington's desired results because the country will soon reach the refining capacity to produce its own gasoline.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter but, according to US estimates, the country relies on gasoline imports to meet 40 percent of its domestic demand.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122339§ionid=351020101.

Seaborne aid convoy to be sent to Gaza

A new aid convoy is scheduled to be sent to the besieged Gaza strip by sea under the slogan of "Freedom is the Last Port."

The decision was made in meeting held by Turks, Arab and international activists in Istanbul on Friday.

According to the head of the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH) Bulent Yildrim, a convoy consisting of 20 vessels will leave Turkey next month.

Yildrim further pointed out that the vessels will not stop till they reach Gaza.

The main goal of the convoy is to break the Gaza siege by sea after it was broken by land and to shed light on the importance of putting an end to the Israeli and Egyptian-imposed blockade which has devastated the lives and businesses of Gazans, he went on to say.

The beleaguered territory that is home to 1.5 million people has been under siege by Israel and Egypt for more than 1,000 days.

As Israel and Egypt have all but blocked the flow of people and normal goods across their land borders with Gaza, and Israel has additionally imposed air and sea blockades against the residents.

In an effort to tighten the blockade even further, Egypt is to block the seaborne Gaza-bound supplies by stepping up security measures at its maritime border with Gaza.

In a recent interview with Press TV, Andrew Whitley, director of the New York Representative Office of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) said: "[Gazan businesses] have virtually all collapsed, because there is no money in circulation…. today we probably have 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122331§ionid=351020202.