News
Nov 9-13, 1998 / Aban 18-22, 1377
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Today
* Quake kills four in southern Iran, official says
* Iran says strikes target Iraqi people, not Saddam
* Bulgaria, Iran seek to revive economic ties, trade
Previous
* British energy industry delegation due in Iran
* Smuggling blamed for currency freefall
* Women bring Iranian cinema to the U.S.
* Women take off their hijab? In a theater?
* University basij units get broader powers
* Iranian offers vineyard for Rushdie's death-paper
* Internship: Christine Mirzayan Memorial Fund
* Cash-starved Iran asks West for $3 bln loan
* Iran official wants black
forex market stopped
* U.S. relaxes rules on petrochemical deals with Iran
* "American spy" arrested in Iran: daily
* Taleban ask Iran to stop returning Afghan refugees
* Islamic militants to be allowed greater say in Iran universities
* Iran urges UN to seek diplomatic solution on Iraq
* Lack of exercise threatens Iranian girls' health
* Turkey starts building gas pipeline
* Majlis discusses plummeting carpet exports
* Russia's Tupolev seeking to build planes in Iran
* Iran marks slaying of Islamic Jihad leader
* Iran asks Turkey to withdraw troops from N. Iraq
* Iran puts out one forest fire, contains second
* Rial falls to historic low on infaltion
* MP calls for $10 barrel oil price in budget
* U.S. firms lay groundwork for Iran oil investment
* Group threatens to strike if ex-hostages visit
* Iran forest fires rage for fourth day - TV
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Friday
Nov 13, 1998
* Quake kills four in southern Iran, official says
TEHRAN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked southern Iran
on Friday, killing at least four people and injuring up to 40 others, an
Iranian official said. The interior ministry official told Reuters the
earthquake, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, hit an area near the town
of Khonj in Fars province in the afternoon.... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran says strikes target Iraqi people, not Saddam
TEHRAN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric on Friday condemned
possible U.S. strikes against Iraq, saying they targeted the Iraqi people
and not President Saddam Hussein. ``What sin have the Iraqi people committed,
they who even lack daily food..., to deserve to be threatened by rapidly
arriving new naval forces and military aircraft?'' Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati
said in a prayer sermon carried on Tehran radio... FULL
TEXT
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* Bulgaria, Iran seek to revive economic ties, trade
SOFIA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Bulgaria and Iran on Friday signed agreements
to encourage bilateral trade and investment in a step towards reviving
their once active economic links. Bulgaria's Transport Minister Wilhelm
Kraus and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati signed a bilateral memorandum
of understanding at the end of a joint session of an economic commission
that committed the two countries to boosting exports and cooperation in
agriculture and other areas... FULL
TEXT
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Thursday
Nov 12, 1998
* British energy industry delegation due in Iran
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A delegation from the British energy industry
arrives in Tehran on Friday for a series of talks on potential oil and
gas projects, a British official said on Thursday. Several days of talks
were scheduled with representatives of Iran's state energy complex and
the private sector, the official said ... FULL
TEXT
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* Smuggling blamed for currency freefall
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (AFP) - An Iranian finance ministry official on Thursday
blamed illegal imports of goods for the dramatic fall in the value of the
national currency, the rial. Deputy Finance Minister Morteza Qarah-Baqian
said up to 1.6 billion dollars of goods were being smuggled into the country
each year. "This helps create a currency black market and contributes
to the instability in the exchange market," he said, quoted by newspapers.
He called on the government to eliminate the underground economy, which
he estimated represented between 15 percent to 30 percent of the total
economy... FULL
TEXT
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* Women bring Iranian cinema to the U.S.
WASHINGTON, DC (Search for Common Ground) - Six of Iran's foremost women
film-makers will visit the U.S. in November as part of a continuing effort
to foster greater American-Iranian understanding. The visit is being organized
by Search for Common Ground (SCG), a Washington-based conflict resolution
organization, and Khaneh Cinema, a professional association for film-makers
in Iran, in close cooperation with the Film Center at the School of the
Art Institute in Chicago and the Film Society at Lincoln Center in New
York... FULL
TEXT
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* Women take off their hijab? In a theater?
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani has denied
an accusation by a member of the Majlis that 30 women took off their scarves
in a movie theater in Tehran ... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* University basij units get broader powers
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Hardline students have gotten new powers from
the Majlis in dealing with moderate forces in universities ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Iranian offers vineyard for Rushdie's death-paper
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - An Iranian grape grower has offered a vineyard
as a new bounty on the head of British author Salman Rushdie, a newspaper
reported on Thursday. Ebrahim Qassemi told the hardline daily Kayhan he
was making the offer because it was his ``ardent desire that a proud and
noble Moslem would one day end Salman Rushdie's life.'' ... FULL
TEXT
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Wednesday
Nov 11, 1998
* Internship: Christine Mirzayan Memorial Fund
The National Academy of Sciences has established the Christine Mirzayan
Memorial Fund to celebrate Christine's love of life, enthusiasm for science,
intelligence and high aspirations for contributing to human welfare. Mirzayan,
a highly regarded 28-year-old biologist was raped and murdered in a Washington
DC's Georgetown last August 1... FULL
TEXT
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* Cash-starved Iran asks West for $3 bln loan
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Iranian government, beset by doggedly
low oil prices and mounting debt, is negotiating with creditors in Japan,
Germany and Italy for $3 billion in bridge loans to stave off a default
on debt payments. ``They need to get that $3 billion as soon as possible,''
said an analyst close to the debt talks. ``If these three countries cannot
help them, then they may have to declare bankruptcy.'' ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran official wants black forex market stopped
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official
called on Wednesday for a clampdown on Iran's black money market to stop
a plunge in the value of the rial which has fallen to record lows this
week, state media reported. ``To prevent all instability in foreign exchange
rates, the contraband exchange market must be eliminated from the country's
economy,'' said Deputy Economy and Finance Minister Morteza Qarabaqian,
quoted by Iranian television... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. relaxes rules on petrochemical deals with Iran
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday relaxed
the reporting requirements for foreign affiliates of U.S. But a U.S. State
Department official on Tuesday emphasised that this is not an attempt by
the Clinton administration to improve relations with Iran: ``This is not
intended as a signal to Iran.''... FULL
TEXT
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* "American spy" arrested in Iran: daily
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (AFP) -Iranian secret services have arrested an "American
spy" in the southern port of Mahshahr, a major petrochemical base
on the Persian Gulf, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The suspect, whose
identity was not revealed, was picked up in Mahshahr, Khuzestan province,
Jomhouri Islami newspaper said without giving the date of his arrest ...
FULL TEXT
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* Taleban ask Iran to stop returning Afghan refugees
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Taleban militia asked Iran on Wednesday
to stop sending Afghan refugees back and urged the United Nations to provide
food and shelter for those who had arrived in Afghanistan, an Afghan news
service reported. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Taleban
spokesman Wakil Ahmed as saying that thousands of Afghan refugees in neighbouring
Iran were being sent back... FULL
TEXT
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* Islamic militants to be allowed greater say in Iran universities
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (AFP) -Iran's conservative-dominated parliament approved
a controversial law on Wednesday allowing Islamic militia and militant
activists to play a more active role in universities. The law in principle
allows the militia, a voluntary force of Islamic loyalists, to "reinforce
their presence" in universities and regulate cultural activities...
FULL TEXT
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* Iran urges UN to seek diplomatic solution on Iraq
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Iran urged United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan on Wednesday to seek a diplomatic solution to the deepening
Iraq crisis over arms inspections, Iranian state television reported It
said Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi called Annan and asked him to ``act
towards a peaceful solution of this crisis.'' ... FULL
TEXT
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* Lack of exercise threatens Iranian girls' health
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (AFP) -The health of Iranian schoolgirls is under threat
from a lack of physical exercise, an education ministry official warned
Wenesday. Muhammad Reza Pahlevan, head of the ministry's physical education
department, said the country's approximately 9.5 million schoolgirls are
suffering from an increase in "physical lethargy" because of
a paucity of sporting activities in schools ... FULL
TEXT
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Tuesday
Nov 10, 1998
* Turkey starts building gas pipeline
ERZURUM, Turkey (AP) - Despite U.S. criticism, Turkey began building
part of a pipeline today to carry natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan
to Turkey and the rest of Europe. Turkey is also scheduled to receive Iranian
gas by mid-1999 through another pipeline, 188 miles long, already under
construction between the eastern city of Erzurum and the Iranian border
... FULL
TEXT
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* Majlis discusses plummeting carpet exports
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) - Iran's parliament met in closed session on Tuesday
to examine plummeting carpet exports, the state's second most important
source of revenue, state radio announced ... FULL
TEXT
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* Russia's Tupolev seeking to build planes in Iran
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) -Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev is in Iran
looking for a partner to begin local production of passenger planes, Iranian
radio reported Tuesday ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran marks slaying of Islamic Jihad leader
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday marked the third anniversary
of the assassination of Fathi Shqaqi, former leader of the radical Palestinian
group Islamic Jihad, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported. Mohammad Shariati,
an advisor to President Mohammad Khatami, said at an official ceremony
``that Palestinian martyrs' blood would pave the way of struggle against
the Oslo and Maryland agreements,'' the state-run agency said... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran asks Turkey to withdraw troops from N. Iraq
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran urged Turkey on Tuesday to pull its
troops out of northern Iraq, saying its recent incursion to fight Kurdish
rebels increased regional tension, the Iranian news agency reported. Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi, quoted by Iran's IRNA news agency,
said: ``Such moves, which coincide with a crisis in the region, lead to
increased tension...It is necessary that these forces promptly leave northern
Iraq.''... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran puts out one forest fire, contains second
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iranian firefighters on Tuesday extinguished
a raging forest fire and contained another blaze threatening a nature reserve
in northwest Iran, officials said. Wildfires fanned by winds destroyed
170 hectares (420 acres) of woodland and pasture in 12 hours on Tuesday
near Piranshahr on the border with Iraq before being put out, a local official
told Iran's news agency IRNA... FULL
TEXT
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Monday
November 9, 1998
* Rial falls to historic low on infaltion
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Iranian rial fell to historic lows on
Monday, losing 2.8 percent against the dollar since late October on inflation
fears and concerns that the latest Iraq crisis could lead to open conflict.
Businessmen said the U.S. dollar fetched as much as 7,050 rials on Tehran's
illegal but active black market, compared to about 6,850 rials in late
October ... FULL
TEXT
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* MP calls for $10 barrel oil price in budget
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Iran should base its 1999-2000 state budget
on an oil price of $10 per barrel, $2 less than in the current budget,
an Iranian member of parliament said in remarks published on Monday. ``It
would be realistic to set the price of each barrel (of crude) at about
$10 in the budget bill so that we do not face a budget deficit,'' Reza
Abdollahi, told the daily Abrar... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. firms lay groundwork for Iran oil investment
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Smooth-talking American oil executives, eager to
pounce on lucrative deals in oil and gas giant Iran, are busy handing out
business cards in Tehran. Officials from major U.S. energy companies, who
are barred by their government from dealing with Iran, are using oil conferences
instead of boardrooms to explore future opportunities in the Islamic republic,
which is hungry for foreign investment... FULL
TEXT
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* Group threatens to strike if ex-hostages visit
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - An Iranian group said it would launch suicide
attacks against former American hostages if they visited Iran, a national
newspaper reported Monday. ``A group called Devotees of Islam announced
it would follow the path of suicide martyrs ... if Bruce Laingen, Barry
Rosen and other persons related to the former U.S. den of spies return
to Tehran,'' the conservative daily Qods said... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran forest fires rage for fourth day - TV
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Forest fires raged for a fourth day in northwestern
Iran on Monday, threatening one of the country's main nature reserves,
Iranian television reported. It said firefighters have been unable to control
the blaze which has destroyed dozens of hectares (acres) of the 150,000-hectare
(370,000-acre) Arasbaran forest since Thursday... FULL
TEXT
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