Parliament Okays Salehi as Iran’s New Foreign Minister
FNA- Iranian parliament on Sunday approved Ali Akbar Salehi as the country’s new foreign minister
243 members were present in the Sunday morning session of parliament.
The parliamentarians cast 146 votes in Salehi’s favor while 60 rejected him and 35 abstained.
Salehi is currently the Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and also Iran’s vice president.
In a letter to parliament on January 23, President Ahmadinejad nominated caretaker Foreign Minister Salehi as Iran’s foreign minister.
In mid-December, the Iranian chief executive dismissed former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and appointed Salehi, who at the time was head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as the acting foreign minister.
IAN BIRRELL: The flowering of democracy, or the birth of another Iran?
Mail Online--For the fifth day in a row, Egypt was consumed with rage, fear and hope yesterday. The streets of ancient cities like Cairo and Alexandria were filled again with the burning anger of brave citizens, desperate to pull down a regime that has repressed and impoverished them for so long.
With smoke rising from the burned out headquarters of the ruling party, bodies piled up at the morgues and protesters defying tanks by clambering on to them and urging soldiers to join the uprising, no-one should be in the slightest doubt over the significance of these events.
Whatever happens over the next few days in Egypt, we are at one of those turning points in history. It is a moment when old certainties collapse and the future is that much harder to predict. The outcome could affect us all.
For the fifth day in a row, Egypt was consumed with rage, fear and hope yesterday. The streets of ancient cities like Cairo and Alexandria were filled again with the burning anger of brave citizens, desperate to pull down a regime that has repressed and impoverished them for so long.
With smoke rising from the burned out headquarters of the ruling party, bodies piled up at the morgues and protesters defying tanks by clambering on to them and urging soldiers to join the uprising, no-one should be in the slightest doubt over the significance of these events.
Whatever happens over the next few days in Egypt, we are at one of those turning points in history. It is a moment when old certainties collapse and the future is that much harder to predict. The outcome could affect us all.
Egypt is not just the home of the Pyramids. It is the most populous Arab country, the pivotal nation at the heart of the Middle East powder keg that dared make peace with Israel. Its history gives it influence over the Islamic world, while its geography gives it influence over Africa and the Mediterranean. This is why shares fell on Friday and the price of gold rose. Continued
Iran, Armenia agree on pipeline building
Press TV--Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi says Tehran and Yerevan have agreed to construct a pipeline to transfer Iranian oil products to Armenia.Mirkazemi made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with visiting Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan on Saturday, Iran oil ministry’s official website Shana reported.
The Iranian minister said the pipeline will begin from the northwestern city of Tabriz and stretch toward the Armenian border, noting that it can help Armenia meet parts of its needs for oil products from the Islamic Republic.
Mirkazemi did not elaborate on the details of the agreement, saying the volume and the value of the exports of oil products will be finalized during a meeting in the near future.
Earlier in the day, Movsisyan met with Iran’s caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and discussed the construction of a railroad linking the neighboring countries.
Iran and Armenia do not have any political problems and this provides good grounds for expanding ties in different fields," Movsisyan said, calling for boosting ties between the private sectors of the two states.