Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 14, 2003

Yesterday in France and Austria, there was a large and unprecedented strike in protest of the economic reforms in pensions, and everything was shut down.  Governments say that because people are living longer, pension payments are outstripping savings and they want to increase working hours.  On the other hand, the appreciation of the euro against the dollar has also caused problems in the exports of European countries;  During a year and a half of the euro's life, the euro has become more expensive by about 30%.  At the beginning of the work, each euro was 1.17 dollars and today one dollar is 0.85 euros.
Mr. [Mohammad Taqi] Amanpour from the Ministry of Oil came and gave a report on the program for the internal construction of oil industry equipment. Mr. [Shamsuddin] Nouri, the former imam of the Salman (Persian) Mosque came.  He brought some poems of Ayatollah [Hossein] Vahid Khorasani.
Mr. Ali Jannati, [Iran's former ambassador to Kuwait] came. He gave a report on the situation of the Moderation and Development Party and expressed concern about factional differences and the effects of America's presence in the region.  In the evening, Mr. Taha Hashemi, [Director] and [Mustafa] Faqihi, editor of El-Ekhtar newspaper, came. They said that they plan to establish a party as the third way and publish Akhbar Amroz newspaper.  They asked me to support them considering that the third way is inspired by my thoughts.
The good reception of the Lebanese Shiites to Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Khatami, [the President] is of interest to the world circles and the issues of Iraq are still at the forefront. 
Every day, a number of casualties occur in the area of ​​cluster bomb explosions and mass graves are discovered;  Among them, 15,000 bodies have been discovered around Babol [province] in the south of Baghdad, which are mainly related to the martyrs of the 1991 intifada, which was carried out with the green light of America.  There were several explosions in Baghdad today.
In Chechnya, a huge explosion killed more than 30 and injured 100, and it was aimed at the ruler of Chechnya.  In Palestine, the aggression and killing of Israelis continues;  Sometimes the revenge of the Palestinians. 
It is stated in the special report of the [Islamic Republic (IRNA)] news agency that when Mr. [Syed Mahmoud] Hashemi Shahroudi, [Head of the Judiciary] visited the press festival, some people shouted slogans against him;  Including "Iraqi Hashemi, resign, resign" or "Shahrudi, leave the press", but two currents did not see fit to fuel this issue in the media. 
In tonight's meeting of the UN Security Council, the issue of the limits of the intervention of the UN and the occupying forces is one of the most important issues of the resolution proposed by the United States and England.