The Iranian Times

Tuesday June 22, 1999 / Tir 1, 1378, No. 753


Sehaty Foreign Exchange


    Rumi


Fiction

Death observed
That pounding never goes away

By Shadi Ziaei
June 22, 1999
The Iranian

Khanum-jun decided to die a week before my birthday. It didn't change much, though. I just had my party a week later. All I remember of Khanum-jun is her silver braided hair and the sight of two white pills on her warm, red tongue even after they had tried to force them down with two glasses of water.

Everyone was sad, especially my grandfather, Khanum-jun's son. I didn't know what to tell him. He was an only child like me. He visited Khanum-jun every single Monday. I knew that I had to be sad too but it wasn't any worse than when I'd leave your house at two in the morning not knowing if I would ever see you again ... GO TO FEATURE

    Poetry

    The luminous horizon
    Ahmad Shamlu's Ofogh-e Roshan (for Kamyar Shapur)

Translated by Laleh Khalili
June 22, 1999
The Iranian

one day we will find our doves again
and kindness will hold beauty's hand.

****

one day when the slightest hymn
is a kiss ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Iran
Testing the Waters of Reform

By Fen Montaigne
National Geographic
July 1999

On a sparkling afternoon in April, three young couples climbed the steep hiking trail that follows the Darakeh River in northern Tehran. The river rushes out of the Elburz Mountains, whose snow-covered peaks form a majestic backdrop to the nondescript sprawl of the capital. At nearly 5,000 feet [1,500 meters] the area along the Darakeh is one of the few refuges from the dirty air and clamor of Tehran, and on this Friday, an Islamic day of rest, the couples were chatting easily as they strolled under willows and plane trees loaded with brilliant green buds ... FULL TEXT

Thanks to Mehran Azhar


    Anyway

    Coming soon!

They can't be serious ... CLICK HERE (and hold your nose)

Always funteresting: Harper's Index


More Letters

* No excuse

Shahram Mostarshed writes: Enjoyed reading "I must be a Jew" in The Iranian. I agree with the assessment that anti-Semitism is alive and well in the U.S., although not as overt as say anti-Iranian, anti-Arab or anti-Black sentiments.

This of course does not excuse those of us in the Iranian community who express their hatred towards Jews. This is simply wrong and if enough people stood up and complained it would go away, at least in the way that it is currently being expressed.

I do however reserve my dislike for Zionism, because it is an ethnocentric and racist movement which a lot of Israelis and some American Jews subscribe to.

* Thank you

Farhad Ghassemi writes: Thank you for reminding us about our poets and literary figures - this time Shamlu. I hope we appreciate their contribution to our heritage.


* Shahnameh: Readings by Karimi Hakak

The artsEdge, an annual festival at the Seattle Center, Washington State, is staging a reading/performance of various epic works from around the world. On Saturday June 26 Dr. Karimi Hakak will read and talk about the Shahnameh from 2 PM to 4 PM. He plans to speak about Iranian mythology and history, about Ferdowsi's life and times, and read selected passages from the Shahnameh, both in Persian and in English. For more information please contact Mr. Kent Chadwick, the event organizer at kentchadwick@wolfenet.com or at this Bainbridge Island telephone number: (206) 842-2119 or Dr. Hakak at karimi@u.washington.edu.


Book of the Week

Iranian Nationality and the Persian Language

By Shahrokh Meskoo
Foreword by Ali Banuazizi
Translated by Michael Hillmann

    In this insightful study of Iranian cultural history and national identity, Shahrokh Meskoob, one of Iran's leading intellectuals, reviews the roles of three social classes in the development and refinement of the Persian language during the past one thousand years and gives the reader a fresh perspective on Iranian cultural heritage and the struggle to forge a distinct national identity ... GO TO BOOK

Recent featured books

THE IRANIAN
Bookstore



Copyright © Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. May not be duplicated or distributed in any form

 MIS Internet Services

Web Site Design by
Multimedia Internet Services, Inc

 GPG Internet server

Internet server by
Global Publishing Group.

More news

Iran appoints Shi'ite cleric as new top judge

TEHRAN, June 22 (Reuters) - Iran has appointed a founder of an Iraqi opposition group as head of its judiciary, current judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said on Tuesday. Yazdi, quoted by the evening daily Kayhan, said he would hand over the post in two months to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi, who in the early 1980s helped found the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the main Shi'ite Moslem group fighting the government of President Saddam Hussein ... FULL TEXT

UK Business Mission to Make Landmark Iran Visit

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - The biggest British business delegation to visit Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution sets off on Thursday hoping to cash in on the political thaw between Tehran and London. Britain and Iran finally exchanged ambassadors last month, ending a decade of estrangement over the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's death edict against British author Salman Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam in the novel "The Satanic Verses" ... FULL TEXT

Iran: Chief suspect's suicide will not affect investigation

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Foreigners trying to tarnish Iran's image aided in a string of murders late last year of dissident intellectuals, the military prosecutor said Tuesday. The case, which shocked the nation because of acknowledged involvement by Iranian intelligence agents, made headlines again when the top suspect reportedly killed himself Saturday in prison ... FULL TEXT

Jews detained in Iran referred to revolutionary court

TEHRAN, June 22 (AFP) - The case of 13 Iranian Jews, whose arrest on spy charges has provoked an outcry around the world, has been referred to a revolutionary court in the southern city of Shiraz, a judicial official told Kayhan newspaper Tuesday. "The case of Israel's spies is being examined by a revolutionary court in Shiraz," the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohamamd Karimi, said ... FULL TEXT

Retrial delayed for German sentenced to death in Iran

TEHRAN, June 22 (AFP) - The retrial of German businessman Helmut Hofer, sentenced to death in Iran, was postponed after the official interpreter failed to show up Tuesday in a new hiccup in a case that has dogged Tehran-Bonn ties for the past two years... FULL TEXT

Top US official discusses Iran with Persian Gulf states

ABU DHABI, June 22 (AFP) - The United States came out Tuesday in favour of the position of the United Arab Emirates over its island dispute with Iran, said a top ranking Emirati foreign ministry official, quoted by the official WAM news agency ... FULL TEXT

MKO denies top general's killers arrested

NICOSIA, June 22 (AFP) - The main armed Iranian opposition group Tuesday denied that any of its agents had been arrested in Iran in connection of the April killing of top general Brigadier Ali Sayad Shirazi. "This claim is a sheer lie. The operational units that punished General Shirazi ... are all safe and sound and unharmed," the People's Mujahedeen said in a statement quoting "a spokesman for the Mujahedeen Command HQ inside Iran." ... FULL TEXT

Iran welcomes US cooperation on Caspian related economic projects

TEHRAN, June 22 (AFP) - Iran said Tuesday it was prepared to accept US participation in economic projects related to the exploitation of the Caspian Sea, while voicing strong opposition to any Israeli role in the region.... FULL TEXT

Films will face censorship board AFTER completion

Tehran, (Neshat) - Currently Iranian filmmakers have to present their screenplay to the Culture Ministry for approval in order to go ahead and make a film. But the law may be changed to ban or approve films after completion ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Musavi going to Germany, too

Tehran, (Neshat) - National team and Esteqlal club's striker Ali Musavi will join a second-division German team. Musavi had recently gotten a year ban from domestic and international games after striking a referee ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Soccer briefs

Tehran, (Iran daily) - Alireza Mansourian has not yet decided whether he will leave his Greek team ... Kurosh Barmak, Azadegan league's best goal scorer last year, will join Persepolis ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service


$ Rate

Updated June 21

The dollar now offered at 850-882 tomans in the U.S. and 890 tomans in Iran

Source: Sehaty Exchange (U.S.) Tel: 602-595-0777

Business news


The Web

Iran

Iranmania

Iranian search engine & more. Bookmark!

Beyond Iran

Gooey

"Groundbreaking Internet tool enabling people simultaneously browsing the same Web site to communicate with each other.

More web sites


Quote Unquote

Not any worse

Khanum-jun decided to die a week before my birthday... I knew that I had to be sad too but it wasn't any worse than when I'd leave your house at two in the morning not knowing if I would ever see you again.

Shadi Ziaei
"Death observed"
The Iranian
June 22, 1999


Photo of the Day

Iran's favorite Egyptian


Music

Musician of the Week

Vigen

* Dokhtaraan
* Gisooy-e kootaah
* Saari golin
* Jaay-e to khaali
* Yaass-e par par

Music artists index