Iran expands air navigation co-op with Iraq, UAE at regional aviation summit

TEHRAN – Iranian civil aviation authorities held separate meetings with counterparts from Iraq and the United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of the Middle East (West Asia) Safety and Air Navigation Conference to bolster cooperation in air traffic management and aviation safety.

Iranian, Iraqi officials discuss fostering educational ties

TEHRAN –Iran’s deputy minister of education, Hamid-Reza Sheikholeslam, and Iraqi minister of education, Ibrahim Namis Yassin, have discussed avenues for expanding educational cooperation between the two countries.

Special budget allocated to rare, hard-to-treat diseases

TEHRAN – The administration has approved 120 billion rials (some 144,000 dollars) for treating rare and hard-to-treat diseases in the current Iranian year, which started on March 21.

Iran sees Turkmenistan partnership as gateway to regional gas trade

TEHRAN – Iran's National Gas Company is ramping up efforts to attract foreign investment and expand energy ties with neighboring countries, with a senior official saying closer cooperation with Turkmenistan could pave the way for broader regional gas trade.

By Shahrokh Saei 

China-Russia strategic partnership: Xi and Putin unite against unilateralism in Moscow parade

BEIJING- Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a grand parade at the Red Square in Moscow on Friday marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany.

By Ge Lin

China and Russia's joint institutional innovation contributes to a dynamic world economy

At a time when global governance seems ensnared in the narrative of the so-called "Thucydides Trap"—the idea that a rising China will inevitably challenge, and potentially disrupt, the US-led global order—China and Russia are focusing on supplementing, rather than confronting, the Western-led post-Cold War global economic architecture through institutional co-creation.

Iran, China sign deal on coal-to-gas technology cooperation

TEHRAN – Iran’s Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) and a major Chinese firm called Keyon have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on coal-to-natural gas conversion technologies, officials said on Thursday.

New pope named

Robert Francis Prevost – who has chosen the papal name Leo XIV – may not be the Latin American Jesuit wildcard that his predecessor, Pope Francis, was, but his election is similarly historic, the Guardian reported.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Imperatives of pragmatism: A new era for German-Israeli ties during the 1980s–1990s

The Israeli-German relationship during the 1980s and 1990s was one of the most sensitive and dynamically evolving friendships in post-war international relations. Based on the trauma of the Holocaust, the German-Israeli relationship has changed over the years from moral responsibility to pragmatic cooperation, depending on internal political reasons but also changing international circumstances.