Society's Child
Iranian and Turkish officials in a series of meetings in Istanbul are due to explore avenues for further increase in economic cooperation between the two countries.
An Iranian trade delegation from the Northern Semnan province's Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Mine departed on Wednesday for Istanbul to expand the province's economic cooperation and trade with Turkey.
Members of the team will hold talks with their counterparts and partners to promote economic cooperation and trade during the one week visit to Turkey.
They will visit Polytan company in Istanbul as the largest Polymer company and hold talks with the Board of Directors of Etishkan Company which produces plasters for construction projects.
According to the figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, Iran became Turkey's third biggest business partner with a trade exchange of $17.52bln since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started on March 20, 2012).
Turkey imported $8.94 billion in goods from Iran, and exported $8.58 billion in goods to the Islamic Republic during this period.
Trade between Turkey and Iran has risen sharply over the past decade.
Turkey was Iran's fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, buying around 200,000 barrels per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran's oil exports.
The two countries' officials plan to mutual trade to $30bln by 2015.
The remarks were made by Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi in a meeting with Leader of the Islamic Unity Party of the People of Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq in Tehran.
Referring to the historical, cultural and religious affinities between the two nations, Boroujerdi said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always backed the Afghan nation in all ups and downs in the past three decades and hosted millions of Afghan refuges.
Given the invaluable experience of Iranian parliament over half a century, he said there exists good ground for expansion of broad-based parliamentary relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Mohaqiq, for his part, referred to the longstanding cultural and religious ties between the two countries, and called for benefiting from each others' capabilities to broaden economic cooperation.
Iran is one of the most important donors to Afghanistan which has kept its promises to help with the reconstruction of the war-hit country.
Iran has built some roads, power transmission lines, and border stations, among the other infrastructure projects which would better link the two nations.
Iran has also contributed more than $50 million annually to Afghan anti-narcotics efforts in the last 8 years.

Trooper Aaron Huntsman is accused of stealing money and jewelry from the victim of a fatal motorcycle accident.
Trooper Aaron Huntsman, an 18-year veteran of the department, has been suspended from the department, according to state police.
John Scalesse, 49, of Orange, president of JAS Masonry, died from injuries sustained in the crash.
Police began investigating when the Scalesse's family determined that jewelry, clothing and cash were missing, state police said.
The Connecticut Post is reporting that Huntsman is accused of stealing $3,000 in cash and a gold chain from the victim's body.
After the vote, U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice criticized the vote from her seat in the assembly, saying, "Today's grand pronouncement will soon fade and that the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find little has changed except the chance for a durable peace has receded."
Rice went on to ridicule the Palestinian action as "unilateral," a strange use of the term, considering that the Palestinians took their case to an international governing body, and their bid for statehood received 138 out of a possible 188 votes.
The American entertainer's representatives are set to issue a statement, the news wire said late Wednesday, in which they will claim Wonder believes taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict clashes with his role as a "Messenger of Peace" for the United Nations. He has held that honorific title since 2009.
JTA based its reporting on "a source who has read email exchanges between Wonder's representatives and organizers of the event."
The Los Angeles event raises millions of dollars every year to support Israel's military. Wonder performed at a gala marking Israel's 50th anniversary in 1998.
Three years earlier, however, he was photographed in Jerusalem receiving a traditional Palestinian kafia headdress from an aide to Yasser Arafat, then the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Wonder was in Israel to perform a concert. AFP, the French Press Agency, reported that he said he was happy "to see the Holy Land in spirit."
An online petition at change.org had reached 4,000 signatures by Wednesday evening after going online Tuesday. It called on Wonder to "remember that apartheid is apartheid, whether it comes from White Afrikaaner settlers of South Africa or from Jewish Israelis in Israel."
Comment: Gilad Atzmon writes:
According to reporting from the Daily Caller, fearing he will look as though he's taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, singing/songwriting legend Stevie Wonder, has withdrawn from his starring role in a Dec. 6 Los Angeles benefit for the murderous IDF.
The truth, really, then, is that Wonder is taking sides. He is clearly against Israeli militarism. He sides with Justice i.e. Palestine
If the report proves accurate, it may as well mean that Jewish Power is falling apart.
It is about time...

Marcel Pontbriand, a self-styled guru, has been called a 'charismatic figure' with followers in Arizona.
Marcel Pontbriand, a former businessman from Beloeil, Que, who claims he can heal the sick and perform exorcisms, has been living in Marana, Ariz., with his followers and some children.
He moved to the Marana area after facing a slew of accusations stemming from an illegal investment scheme he masterminded while living in Quebec.
Border services officials intercepted the children in Vancouver on Monday. The children, who were accompanied by two adults, were heading into Canada from the U.S.
It is unclear why the children and the two adults were crossing the border.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Maryse Davreux, the director of the Montérégie youth protection services, confirmed that 10 children between the ages of two and seven were brought to Montreal while two others remained in British Columbia with their father.
"We took care of the 10 children we have right now, we do not currently have contact with the parents, we are waiting for the parents to contact us. We do not know where they are," she said.
Quebec provincial police had issued a warrant to warn U.S. officials of the presence of 14 children they believe resided with Pontbriand.
Located in an industrial area of Zurich, the garage-like boxes will have roofs and walls for privacy and easy access for cars, reports the Daily Mail.
Prostitutes will also have to take out medical insurance, buy a license and pay five Swiss francs into a machine each night.
Prostitution will be outlawed in certain areas of Zurich where it has led to local complaints, and will be confined to the booths and two other zones after they open in August.

Holmes reportedly told fellow inmate Steven Unruh that he had carried out the massacre after being 'programmed' by an 'evil therapist'
James Holmes, 24, has been charged with carrying out the killings - and injuring at least 58 others - on July 20, when he allegedly opened fire at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, that was showing The Dark Knight Rises.
Steven Unruh who claims to have been a fellow inmate at the detention centre where Holmes is being held said he told him that he was 'programmed' to carry out the massacre during psychotherapy he had been receiving.
Thirty eight-year-old Mr Unruh said he was in the booking area of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Detention Facility in Colorado when Holmes was first brought in.
He said he communicated with Holmes from a nearby cell and that he told him that 'he felt like he was in a video game' during the shooting and that 'he wasn't on his meds' and 'nobody would help him,' reports Infowars.com - the website of the Alex Jones radio show.
Comment: Does this sound outlandish to you? Then watch this:
Easy as 1, 2, 3...
He continues to use the weapon on the woman, who had been arrested for drunken behaviour, for what seems like minutes as she runs around the booking area, attempting to get away from the taser.

Pedestrians walk along Lexington Avenue past a steam vent in New York, November 28, 2012.
The rare day occurred on Monday, near the end of a year when the city's murder rate is on target to hit its lowest point since 1960, according to New York Police Department chief spokesman Paul Browne.
Browne said it was "first time in memory" the city's police force had experienced such a peaceful day.
While crime is up 3 percent overall, including a 9 percent surge in grand larceny police attribute to a rash of smart phone thefts, murder is down 23 percent over last year, the NYPD said.
As for a day without violent crime, experts said they could not recall that happening in recent memory. "In a city of 8 million people, this is extremely rare," said Tom Repetto, author of 'American Police, 1949-2012.'
Comment: In speeches after the vote win, UK ambassador acknowledged that it abstained because Abbas refused to give up the right to prosecute Israel for war crimes