The Iranian Times

Thursday July 8 1999 / Tir 17, 1378, No. 764


Sehaty Foreign Exchange


    Rumi


Media

Better times
The Tehran media fair

By Siamak Namazi
July 8, 1999
The Iranian

The following report describes the media atmosphere in Iran just a couple of months ago. Several moderate publications attracted big crowds, a sign of a more open society. But the roller coaster seems to be heading down again. Parliament is considering a new bill that would put new limits on freedom of the press. Also the moderate daily Salam has been shut down by the revolutionary court. -- Editor

Iran is a country of nuances.Untrained senses miss a lot of the finer rapport among people. But at this year's media fair in Tehran, particularly dull senses would have been required to not notice what was being said. Some 400 publications had set up booths at the International Trade Center. This while most rightist papers, such as Jomhuriy-e Eslami, Resalat, Kayhan, etc., boycotted the event that coincided with the impeachment hearings of Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani. Entekhab, which represents the voice of the new conservatives, did take part, however ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Barak looks for detente with Iran

By Aluf Benn
Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent
July 7, 1999

Prime Minister Ehud Barak intends to try a new approach toward Iran, long regarded as Israel's enemy number one: a detente.

Iran's military power and ballistic advances, together with her steadily rising favor with the U.S., have convinced Barak that it may be time to stop branding Iran an evil, terrorist nation and start falling in line by recognizing it as an unchangeable factor that can be dealt with. ... FULL TEXT


    Anyway

Who the hell ... ?

The Iranian Families Institute collects genealogical and genetic information on Iranian families. The Institute administers some collections of family manuscripts and photographs dating back to Ghajar times. It's setting up a database of Iranian Iconography ... DIG UP YOUR ROOTS


More Letters

* Most important Iranian

Massy Alamdari writes: Shamlu is one of the most important people in Iran and The Iranian Times never talked about him until few days ago ["Shamlu"]. Shamlu dose not need it, but we need to talk about him for the sake of Iran's young generation...

At least five generations of Iranians were influenced by his poetry. We all remember "Jom e haa" by Farhad. And of course we should mention his great book "Ketab e kucheh". Let's dicover Shamlu again ... FULL TEXT

* Horrors for posterity

Korosh Khalili writes: In reference to "Palm trees survive", for a moving tribute to the defense of Khorramshahr, I recommend reading the poem "Benevees, Benevees, Benevees" (Record, record, record) by Simin Behbahani, in her collection of poems titled "khattee zeh soraat va az aatash".

This should also be in the translation of Mrs. Behbahani's work "Selected Poems" published by Syracuse University Press (Ms F. Milani and Mr. K.Safah, translators).

The scars of war, along with those who suffered its terrors, will fade; but Simin Behbahani's several poems on the war have recorded the horrors for posterity.


* Art: Show in DC

Evolving Perceptions 1999 is pleased to present the works of 23 contemporary Iranian and Iranian-American artists living in the US and Iran. (July 10-30, Washington DC). This annual exhibition aims to provide support and an opportunity for talented artists from Iran and America to come together to share their visions as a community ... DETAILS HERE


Book of the Week

During the Reign of the Queen of Persian

By Joan Chase

    The novel that is sweeping the country. A beautiful story of 20th-century womanhood, of Gram, the Queen of Persia herself, who rules a house where five daughters and four granddaughters spin out the tragedies and triumphs of rural life in the 1950's in the American midwest ... GO TO BOOK

Recent featured books

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Video of the Week

Taste of Cherry
(Ta'm-e gilaas)

Winner of the top prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, "Taste of Cherry" is an existential fable of weight and clarity from director Abbas Kiarostami. An Iranian man, Mr. Badi, is determined to commit suicide at nightfall, but seeks a living assistant to check his hand-dug grave the following morning. If Badi is dead, the person will fill the grave with dirt; if not, he will help Badi out of the hole. Farsi with English subtitles.

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More news

Salam daily banned as conservatives move to curb press

TEHRAN, July 7 (AFP) - Iran's state-run news agency announced the banning of one of the country's leading reformist newspapers Wednesday just hours after the country's conservative-dominated parliament approved fresh curbs on the press. The Persian daily Salam, which is close to the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami, was banned on a "verbal verdict of judicial authorities," the IRNA news agency quoted a "reliable source" as saying ... FULL TEXT

Iranian Jew held for spying is well, mother says

TEHRAN, July 7 (Reuters) - The mother of an Iranian Jew accused of spying for Israel said the authorities were treating her son well and he was receiving kosher food in detention, Tehran newspapers reported on Wednesday. The report carried the first details released in Iran on the arrest of 13 Iranian Jews earlier this year on spying charges ... FULL TEXT

Iran wants UAE talks, not mediation, on island row

TEHRAN, July 7 (Reuters) - Iran on Wednesday rejected mediation by Gulf Arab states in a dispute with the United Arab Emirates over three Gulf islands, saying it wanted direct talks with the UAE. ``There is no need for third country mediation over this issue and we believe that it can be resolved in good faith,'' Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told a news conference ... FULL TEXT

Saudi defence minister in UAE after Iran row

ABU DHABI, July 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian Defence Minister Prince Sultan met United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan on Wednesday during the first visit by a top Saudi official since the two Gulf Arab states ended a row over ties with Iran. The meeting went a long way to ``deepen the bonds'' between the two allies, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zaid al-Nahayan told reporters ... FULL TEXT

Canada nuclear fusion reactor might go to Iran

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's fledgling nuclear fusion reactor program might be sold lock, stock and barrel to Iran, which U.S. officials have often accused of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. The director of the program, physicist Real Decoste, said Wednesday that negotiations were advanced with Iran on the sale of the experimental reactor and its technology, since the federal government cut off funding in 1997 ... FULL TEXT

Iran private ``bank'' says thriving

TEHRAN, July 7 (Reuters) - Iran's first private credit institution aims to improve banking services and help lift the country's huge property market from stagnation, its vice-president said. ``We are after a banking system without bureaucratic red tape,'' Shahram Salmasi of the Credit Institution for Construction Development told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday ... FULL TEXT

U.N. warns of new population boom in Iran

TEHRAN, July 7 (Reuters) - Iran, successful in cutting birthrates in recent years, is facing a renewed threat as a generation of post-revolution babyboomers is reaching reproductive age, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. ``The population growth rate is certainly alarming. The rate is expected to rise from 1.4 percent in 1996 to 1.7 percent in 2001,'' Mohammad Mosleh-Uddin, the United Nations Population Fund's representative in Iran, told a news conferences ... FULL TEXT

Iran lends painting to London exhibit

Tehran, (Iran daily) - One of Kamalolmolk's best works -- a portrait of Nasseredin Shah -- has been lent by Iran for an exhibition of Qajar paintings in London ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Zarrinkub's health improves dramatically

Tehran, (Iran daily) - Historian Abdol-Hossein Zarrinkub's health has made remarkable progress after two weeks of intensive care at a hospital in Maryland ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Archive for short film screenplay

Tehran, (Iran daily) - The Society of Iranian Young Filmmakers has set up an archive to store screenplays of short Iranian films. The aim is to improve cooperation between writers and filmmakers ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Khakpur signs with New York's MetroStars

July 7, 1999 (New York Times) - The MetroStars have acquired two of the three foreign players due them from Major League Soccer. Sasa Curcic of Yugoslavia, a playmaking midfielder who is familiar with Coach Bora Milutinovic, and Mohammad Khakpour, a defender who played for Iran in the 1998 World Cup, were signed by the league Tuesday and allocated to the MetroStars ... FULL TEXT

Sunday: Persepilis v. Esteqlal

Tehran, (Iran daily) - The most exciting soccer final of recent years is only three days away. Who are the main players whom the head coaches of Esteqlal and Persepolis are counting on? ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Iran wins early gold

Tehran, (Iran daily) - Mehdi Alijani has won an early gold medal for Iran in the Asian youth Greco-Roman wrestling championships ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service


$ Rate

Updated July 6

The dollar now offered at 870-905 tomans in the U.S. and 915 tomans in Iran

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

Business news


The Web

Iran

Iran photos

Kaveh Niazi's pictures of (mainly) historical / archaeological sites.

Beyond Iran

Brain Pop

This appropriately titled site is a terrific educational resource for kids, offering animated movies that explain matters of health, science,

and technology.

More web sites


Quote Unquote

Invasion? Plot?

The press is a gateway for cultural invasion, so let us take measures... Some people, under the pretext of press freedom, are plotting against the system.

-- Majlis Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri
AFP
July 7, 1999


Photo of the Day

Jews protest in Paris


Music

Musician of the Week

Shajarian

With Shamlu's narration of Khayyam

Music artists index