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Hugo Chavez has welcomed Iran’s president onto Venezuelan soil and called for his country to leave a World Bank-affiliated body. Meanwhile, Washington has expelled Venezuela’s consul general in Miami.
British diplomatic staff in Iran have been withdrawn following an attack on its embassy in Tehran yesterday – during which protesters shouting “Death to England” smashed windows, burned British flags and set a car alight.
More deaths in Syria; a man appears in court in Ronan Kerr murder probe; an NFL star is stabbed; possible trouble ahead in Iran; and what do David Beckham and the Crown Prince of Bahrain have in common? The Daily Fix reveals all…
IRAN HAS UNVEILED the country’s first domestically-made long-range unmanned bomber aircraft.
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, described the drone as an “ambassador of death” to Iran’s enemies but adds that the craft “has a main message of peace and friendship”.
Ahmadinejad has said that the main purpose of the drone is “to keep the enemy paralysed in its bases”.
A drone aircraft is one that aircraft that flies without a human crew on board, and is controlled by a ground crew. Concerns about the precision of strikes carried out by drones have led to many condemning the military technology.
The unveiling of the aircraft, nicknamed the “Karrar” which means “striker” in Farsi, comes just one day after the country began loading nuclear fuel into its first ever reactor, which as sent jitters throughout the international community.
Iranian semi-state run news agency Fars has quoted Hamed Saeedi, who is the Managing Director of Farnas Aerospace Company in charge of the project, who commented:
We plan to manufacture UAVs, including unmanned choppers and drones, at this site…
And added
Drones will be of the tactical type, with a short range of 400 to 500 meters flying altitude which cannot be detected by radio waves as they will be stealth aircraft.
Fars also writes: “Iranian officials have always stressed that the country’s military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country”.
See this report from Iranian state news channel Press TV:
IRANIAN OFFICIALS have denied that the county’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was attacked by a grenade while on a visit to the western city of Hasmadan.
Newswires had reported the attack earlier this morning, but a spokesperson for Ahmadinejad said the explosion was from a “firecracker.”
“It was a firecracker, and a statement will be released soon,” the source told AFP.
Reports on a conservative website claimed that a hand grenade had exploded next to a vehicle carrying reporters accompanying the president in the western city of Hamedan.
President Ahmadinejad later delivered a live televised speech to locals gathered in a stadium, but he made no reference to the incident.
Returers have said Ahmadinejad – a populist hardliner – has accumulated enemies in conservative and reformist circles in the Islamic Republic as well as abroad.
During a speech in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad said he believed he was the target of an assassination plot by Israel. “The stupid Zionists have hired mercenaries to assassinate me,” he said.
The oil market reacted calmly to the alleged attach with an analyst saying, “people are just waiting to see what this is about”.
MORE THAN THREE-quarters of people would support the government looking into the prospect of a four-day work week, according to a new survey.
This means doing the same job for the same salary, but over four days rather than five.
There have been calls for this idea to be explored already and the Four Day Week Ireland campaign today released details on its public attitude survey conducted last month.
Two out of three respondents said a four-day work week is “realistic and achievable” in the medium term.
67% of employers said they support the idea and 46% said it would be “feasible” to trial in their workplace.
“The four-day week, with no loss of pay, offers the potential of a genuinely better future for workers and employers alike,” said Joe O’Connor, director of campaigning with Fórsa trade union.
What may once have seemed like a radical concept is now, for many, a reasonable and rational ambition. The Covid-19 pandemic has further disrupted societal and workplace norms, while illustrating the potential for very different models of work.
So today we’re asking: Would you support a four-day work week?
Partial sunshine
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Sunshine and patchy clouds
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