Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated an Iranian-funded hospital and two milk-processing plants on Tuesday in a goodwill visit in which his leftist host defended Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear aspirations.
Ahmadinejad and Bolivian President Evo Morales also signed an agreement in which Iran committed itself to help Bolivia investigate industrializing lithium, the lightweight metal used in electric car and other batteries. This poor Andean country possesses half the world’s known lithium reserves.
Morales and a military honor guard received Ahmadinejad at the airport, and a small band of Bolivian Muslims hailed the two as they arrived together at the presidential palace.
PHOTO : REUTERS
The Iranian president’s strained relations with Washington are shared by Bolivia’s first indigenous president, who expelled the US ambassador last year. Ahmadinejad called Morales “a friend and brother” on Tuesday and praised the two countries’ cooperation “despite the opposition of imperialism,” a reference to the US.
He previously visited in September 2007 as part of his effort to expand commercial and diplomatic ties in South America.
Iran then offered a US$1 billion mixture of aid and credit, much of which Morales hopes to use to expand Bolivia’s natural gas production, the country’s main revenue source.
One agreement they signed on Tuesday added Iran to a list of countries including France, South Korea and Japan that are vying for a role in helping Bolivia commercialize its lithium, which is concentrated in a remote southern salt flat.
Another commits Iran to build two dialysis centers.
Morales and Ahmadinejad also penned a joint declaration “recognizing the legitimate right of all countries to use and develop nuclear energy for peaceful ends, within the framework of international rights.”
After having lunch with Morales, Ahmadinejad inaugurated a hospital and two milk-processing plants in other parts of the country by video conference from the capital La Paz.
Tehran donated funding for the seven-story Red Crescent hospital and pasteurizing equipment for the plants.
Iran has also given equipment for a state-run TV station, sold Bolivia 700 tractors made in Venezuela and provided financing for a state-run cement plant.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
RSS