ENTEKHAB Mohammad-Ali Talebi, deputy chief of Social Affairs of the Social Security Organization, said that by the end of this year 40,000 families will be organized to take care of orphans, as quoted by IRNA. He said that the government alone is not able to take care of too many orphaned children.

He further said that "Related policies no longer work effectively. The current approach to solving the problem constitutes a turn around but is a unique one toward the issue."

He said that disabled persons should be viewed not as a disability but as a health problem in order to reduce costs and encourage them to become efficient members of society.

8,000 Fire Fighters Currently Needed

HAYAT-E NO Ali Nozari, general manager of the Office for Planning and Development in the Ministry of Interior said that at present the number of fire fighters all over the country is about 8,000 and needs to be doubled. He said that world standards require 3 minutes to reach the scene of a fire accident but that in Iran fire fighters take 5 minutes to reach any such scene.

He also said that for each 50,000 population or 5 kilometers one fire station is needed but that currently there are only 533 active fire stations in Iran. He further said that there is no village at the moment that has a fire station, but that a fund has just been allocated to construct 12 stations in villages which in itself is not sufficient considering the number of villages in the country.

25 Percent of Children in Australia Beaten by Their Mothers or Stepmothers

HAMSHAHRI Results of a social research conducted on children's problems in Australia indicate that 25 percent of Australian kids are beaten up by their mothers in their homes. The "Sydney Morning Herald" wrote that the same percentage of women are also beaten up or injured by their husbands with knives or weapons in their homes.

David Indermoor, the Australian researcher, took a survey of 500 youths between the ages of 12 to 20 years old. He found that these youths usually receive the same type of violence in their social lives.