The Iranian Times

Wednesday December 8, 1999 / Azar 17, 1378, No. 863


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Flower delivery in Iran

Iranian books


    Abu Saeed


Culture

Yalda
Significance of winter solstice in Persian culture

By Massoume Price
December 8, 1999
The Iranian

Yalda, a Syric word imported into the Persian language by Syric Christians means birth (tavalod and meelaad are from the same origin). It is a relatively recent arrival and refereed to the "Shab e Cheleh" festival, a celebration of Winter solstice on December 21st. Yalda, forty days before the next major Persian festival "Jashn e Sadeh", has been celebrated in countless cultures for thousands of years. The ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia (God of Agriculture, Saturn) and Sol Invicta (Sun God) are amongst the best known in the Western world ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Iran's reformists seek economic revolution
Tax breaks are on offer in three free trade zones,

By Guy Dinmore
The Financial Times
December 7, 1999

Tax breaks, the world's cheapest energy supplies, and even outstanding beaches - these are all being used by reformists within the Iranian government to spearhead economic change.

The attractions have been highlighted as part of a renewed drive to draw foreign investors to three free trade zones unfettered by the tough restrictions on the mainland ... FULL TEXT


    Anyway

Death date

Apparently I'm supposed to say adios at the age of 68. Want to know when you will, umm, die? ... CLICK HERE

Thanks to Bruce Bahmani


More Letters

* Fuggedaboudit

Nariman Neyshapouri writes: I strongly disagree with the assertion that Iranians need and should become involved in the US political process and that this will somehow improve the state of things in Iran ["Iranians in the U.S.: political power" - "Cyrus meets Lincoln"]. One of the biggest reasons why Iranians have been so successful in this country is because we haven't wasted our time with lobbying, politics, and pressure groups ...

Secondly no so-called Iranian lobby group will be able to reverse the passionate anti-Iran sentiment and bigotry that exists in Congress. Fuggedaboudit. Not only would you have to go up against the Mujahedeen, but against AIPAC and all the other Israeli lobby groups. These people will do anything in their power (and they have a lot of it) to prevent better relations with Iran and an end to sanctions ... FULL TEXT

* Kiss ass

In response to "More thankful than Americans"

The fact that our homeland, along with countless other Third World countries, remain in a state that forces its people to go into exile is LARGELY due to the foreign policies of the land of milk and honey [USA} over the course of last fifty years.

To count yourself as lucky and remain thankful for being given the quasi-freedom to consume (without a care in the world) is not by any stretch of imagination a valid justification to preach that all of us will have to kiss the bloody hand of the true incarcerater of freedom and democracy.

"B" and persons of his ilk will do well to remember that any country in the history of the world that became something achieved their status not through deserters-com-cheerleaders (A Bud in one hand clutching a baseball cap in the other and eager to kiss ass) but by men and women of substance who weren't self-centered and audaciously selfish.

Much as I hate cliches, but one has got to ask these people: ask not what your country has done for you! Ask what have you done for your country! (and please leave your uncles, fathers, and mothers out of your excuses- Just YOU).

NOT-so-thankful,

J. Shahri (Mr.)


* Art: Images of old Iran, Washington DC

The Sackler Gallery in Washington DC is featuring the Iran photographs of Antoin Sevruguin until May 28, 2000. The Sevruguin exhibition includes fifty images of rulers, courtiers, and commoners, and scenes of daily life in Iran from the late 1870s to the 1930s ... DETAILS HERE

SELL TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE


Books of the Week

* Saaniyeh-yeh aakhar (1999)
Y2K issues in Iran
By Dr. Ali Parandeh

* Barandeh-haa ham baazandeh-and (1999)
A memoir by a former mayor of Tehran, with photos
By Ahmad Nafisi

* Jazireh sargardaani (2nd edition, 1998)
Novel
By Simin Daneshvar

* Mumia va assal (1996)
Novel
By Shahriar Mandanipour

* Mehr-e giaah (1998)
Novel
ByAmir Hassan Cheheltan

See more Iranian books for sale

THE IRANIAN
Bookstore


Video of the Week

Divorce Iranian Style

A new documentary that goes where Western camera s have never before gone: into an Iranian divorce court. The film is directed by award- winning independent filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian anthropologist and writer, based in London, whose specialty is women's rights and family law in the Mid-East.

THE IRANIAN
Video Store



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More news

Pro-reform newspaper (Salam) which triggered riots back under new title

TEHRAN, Dec 8 (AFP) - Staff members of the leading pro-reform Salam daily, whose closure in July sparked six days of unprecedented student riots in Tehran, brought a new reformist newspaper to the newsstands Wednesday ... FULL TEXT

Nuri to appeal jail sentence "in order to be parliamentary candidate"

TEHRAN, Dec 8 (AFP) - Jailed reformist Abdollah Nuri will appeal against his five-year sentence for spreading "anti-Islamic propaganda," to give him a chance of running in the February elections, his lawyer said Wednesday ... FULL TEXT

General Musharraf of Pakistan arrives in Iran

Dec 8, 1999 (BBC) -- Pakistan's military ruler General Parvez Musharraf is expected to hold talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during a two-day official visit. The talks come against a backdrop of differences over several issues including Afghanistan, killings of Iranians in Pakistan and drug smuggling ... FULL TEXT

Iran to start using sniffer dogs in war against drugs

TEHRAN, Dec 8 (AFP) - Iran will begin using sniffer dogs, considered "impure" animals in Islamic tradition, in its high profile war against drugs, the government-run Iran paper reported Wednesday ... FULL TEXT

Iran: Sanctions hamper Y2K efforts

TEHRAN, Iran ­­ The U.S. trade sanctions against Iran are hampering the country's efforts to prepare for the millennium computer bug, Iran's top Y2K official said Tuesday, but he added that he did not foresee any major disruptions ... FULL TEXT

Iran says stops nuclear cooperation with China

TEHRAN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday it was no longer working on nuclear projects with China, a change long sought by the United States which fears that Tehran may be trying to acquire nuclear weapons ... FULL TEXT

Iran official says WTO membership indispensable

TEHRAN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iran could risk economic isolation if it fails to secure itself a place in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Iran's Central Bank Governor Mohsen Nourbakhsh was quoted on Wednesday as saying ... FULL TEXT

Gloves off

Tehran (Iran daily) - Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani has invited his most outspoken critic, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, to a debate ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

For kids

Tehran (Iran daily) - New book: "Gol almaas" includes 24 Persian tales and 19 stories for children from around the world ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

World Cup qualifying draw results

December 8, 1999, (Hamid Taghavi) -- The 2002 World Cup qualifying draw results are in. In Asia, 40 teams will compete in 10 groups of four. Iran was the seeded team in group 2 ... FULL TEXT

Tabatabaie: A-OK

Tehran (Iran daily) - National soccer team goalie Hadi Tabatabaie says everything is cool and he doesn't know why people want to drag him into non-existant controversies ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service

For the latest news, interviews and features on Iranian current affairs ... LISTEN HERE


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