Social and Political

Al-Monitor -The administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has undergone significant changes during his second tenure in office, which began in August 2017, particularly in recent months. The developments have laid bare the need for a new generation of qualified officials to helm ministries and other high-level state-run entities that will do more than preserve the status quo.

Yahoo.com – In 2013, hundreds of CIA officers — many working nonstop for weeks — scrambled to contain a disaster of global proportions: a compromise of the agency’s internet-based covert communications system used to interact with its informants in dark corners around the world. Teams of CIA experts worked feverishly to take down and reconfigure the websites secretly used for these communications; …

Radiofarda – Western news agencies have been expressing doubts over the effectiveness of the second round of U.S. sanctions against Iran three days before they go into effect on November 5.

Radiofarda – In an unprecedented move, hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, the superintendent of the holy shrine in Mashad, in Northeastern Iran, has set up a special force to protect the shrine and its pilgrims, Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday November 1.

Radiofarda – India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd said on Friday the United States might allow the country to keep buying oil from sanctions-hit Iran as removing Iranian supplies from the market would impact global crude prices.

Radiofarda – An Israeli official on Friday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul “despicable” but said that cementing ties with Gulf states in the struggle against Iran was Israel’s overriding concern.

Radiofarda – Iranian authorities are sending thousands of buses to the border with Iraq to help stranded pilgrims get back to their hometowns in Iran.

Radiofarda – An Iranian Parliamentary official says financial corruption is widespread “in all of the ministries of the Iranian government.”

Radiofarda – With over 3 million Afghan refugees, Iran has one of the world’s largest refugee populations. They often lead a precarious existence without access to basic health and social services, and inclusion of Afghan refugee children in the Iranian education system is a particular struggle, especially for those who are undocumented.

Al-Arabia – Iran is bracing for the restoration of US sanctions on its vital oil industry next week, as it grapples with an economic crisis that has sparked sporadic protests over rising prices, corruption and unemployment.