Islamic leader calls for sharing religious donations for quake reliefNovember 14, 2017 - 18:22 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani expressed his condolences over the deadly earthquake in Iran, calling his followers to allocate parts of religious donations regularly paid to help victims of the Sunday, November 12 night earthquake in western Iran, IRNA reports. Shia Muslims regularly pay Khums, a type of tax in the Islamic tradition which is collected by religious authorities. The Office of Ayatollah Sistani in a statement announced that he sympathizes with the bereaved families and victims affected by the quake in western Iran and pray for the injured to recover soon. The followers of Ayatollah Sistani can allocate part of the required religious obligation to earthquake relief aid, the statement said. More than 530 people have been killed and thousands more injured following the 7.3 magnitude earthquake which jolted western Iran on Sunday evening. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |