Iranian teachers took to the streets once again in about 100 cities to call for higher salaries, pension reform and the payment of outstanding wages.
The protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations by public sector employees over the devastating impact of high inflation, largely due to mismanagement and crippling sanctions.
Reformist newspaper Etemad said teachers staged their protests on Saturday outside Tehran's parliament and in front of the education ministry's offices in provincial capitals such as Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.
For several years, teachers have been asking the government to hasten the enactment of reforms linking salary increases to performance and experience.
Iran's parliament said last week that the new system, which has taken about a decade to pass, will be put in place at the start of the country's new year, which begins on March 21.
The teachers also demanded that their pensions be aligned with those of other public sector employees.
They called for the release of colleagues detained in earlier protests, including activist leaders, and chanted “The jailed teachers should be freed” and “From Tehran to Khorasan, teachers are in prison”.
Protesters said 15 teachers were arrested during clashes with security forces across the country, according to Etemad.
Spurred by devastating economic sanctions imposed since 2018 by the US, Iran's inflation has risen steeply to more than 40 per cent, raising the standard of living for public sector employees and others on fixed incomes.
Civil servants in one of Iran's most powerful sectors, the judiciary, held rare demonstrations in January as they called for their pay to be increased.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
