THE IRANIAN
TIMES
Monday, April 6, 1998
Farvardin 17, 1377
No. 450
Abu Saeed
Headlines
* Politics: Mayor arrest signals harder clash
* Iran-U.S.: Iran wrestlers try to pin down detente
* Wrestling: Russia wins World Cup, Iran third
* The South: Jonoobi
* Satire: Clinton: Persona non grata
* The Web: More chatrooms
* Music: Pooran's "Molla Mamad Khan"
* Are you an architecht?
Index
| * Iran-U.S.:
Nateq-Nuri * Features: Mayor arrested * News: Noruz in Irvine * Human Rights: Montazeri * Economy: Russia/Iran/OPEC * Dollar: Up slightly * Sports: Wrestling * Arts: SF film festival * The Web: Chatrooms * Academic: CIRA |
THE WEB
* Chatrooms: As if there weren't enough of them already, here are more rooms to chat with Iranians around the world... http://people.unt.edu/~em0004/chat.html
Any interesting web sites you would like to suggest?
Email us at Times@iranian.com
IRAN-U.S.
* Iran wrestlers try to pin down detente, (Los Angeles Times) -They came. They saw. They pinned. In an event as important to diplomacy as to sports, Iran's premier wrestlers and their noisy, adoring fans overwhelmed the 1998 World Cup championship this weekend, silencing the Japanese, overpowering the Germans, humbling the Russians and stunning the Cubans. And that was off the mat. The Iranian wrestlers didn't do badly in the competition either. The boisterous visit, a sequel to the groundbreaking trip by U.S. wrestlers to Tehran in February, was the latest in a series of cultural and academic exchanges propelling the United States and the Islamic Republic toward rapprochement after two decades of hostility... full text
* Albright says Iranian wrestlers faced old rules, (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday blamed old regulations for the suspicious reception which U.S. immigration officers gave to Iranian wrestlers arriving in Chicago last week. The rules might have to change if they undercut attempts to promote contacts between U.S. and Iranian citizens, Albright told reporters during a visit to Trinidad in the Caribbean... full text
* Nateq-Nuri urges closer Europe ties, cautious on U.S., (Reuters) - Iran's parliament speaker called on Sunday for closer contacts with European countries but said relations with the United States could not improve until Washington ended its ``policy of domination.'' ``Iran's relations with Europe can provide a basis for respect for each other as against the United States whose self-centred policy provides for plundering the wealth of others,'' Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri said in an interview with the English-language daily Tehran Times... full text
FEATURES
* Tehran mayor arrest signals harder factional clash, (Reuters) - The detention of Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi on graft charges has brought into the open a struggle between moderates and conservatives brewing in Iran since the election of President Mohammad Khatami. Iranian analysts as well as some of the media said on Monday Karbaschi's detention on Saturday went beyond the legal issues and highlighted a national row among the contentious factions... full text
* Cabinet supports Tehran mayor, (Reuters) - Iran's cabinet on Sunday criticised a court decision to detain Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi on embezzlement charges. ``There was consensus among all cabinet members in expressing regret over the detention of the successful and distinguished mayor,'' Iran's official spokesman and cabinet minister Ataollah Mohajerani said in comments broadcast on state-run television... full text
* Mayor plans to run Tehran from jail , (AP) - In an escalating showdown between Iran's moderate and hard-line clerics, President Mohammad Khatami's government declared Monday that Tehran's jailed mayor would help run the capital of 8 million from behind bars. The statement was a challenge to the judiciary, which ordered Saturday's arrest of Mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi. A leading reformer, the 44-year-old mayor was taken to Tehran's Evin prison after he showed up for a court session in a corruption probe... full text
NEWS
* Cloud of discontent mars Iranian festival, (Los Angeles Times) - The blue skies, mild breezes and warm temperatures brightened William R. Mason Regional Park on Sunday, but the mood held a definite element of gloom for some of the thousands who came here to celebrate the Iranian New Year. Many had to park more than a mile away and then walk to the event. Others had shorter treks but only after forking over as much as $15 for parking. And for many, the event resembled a swap meet more than a family picnic, with about 100 booth operators peddling rugs, sunglasses and long-distance telephone service. It was not surprising, said Mariam Khosravani, a leader of the local Iranian American community, that only about 11,000 people showed up, compared with about 30,000 last year. "The people who run this park have made a clear statement that they don't want Iranians here," Khosravani said. "We're upset that we're not getting fair treatment." ... full text
* Iran, Iraq exchange more POWs, (Reuters) - More than 1,500 Iraqi and 89 Iranian prisoners from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war were released in the third such exchange since last Thursday, Iranian radio said on Sunday. The exchange took place at the Khosravi border checkpoint in western Iran on Saturday, Iranian radio said
HUMAN RIGHTS
* Shopkeepers protest over Montazeri's treatment (Reuters) - Shopkeepers shut down the bazaar in a central Iranian city to protest against restrictions imposed by authorities on prominent dissident Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The bazaar in Najafabad, where Montazeri hails from, was closed for all of Saturday, Farda newspaper said. Montazeri has been put under virtual house arrest in the holy city of Qom since he questioned the authority of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech in November. Montazeri's speech, a rare public challenge to Khamenei's paramount power, prompted violent demonstrations by hardliners in which Montazeri's offices in Qom were attacked.
ECONOMY
* Iran, Russia discuss plans for Moscow to renew cooperation with OPEC, (Wall Street Journal) - Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh talked oil prices with top Russian officials in Moscow, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said Sunday.The news agency added that representatives of other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are on their way to Moscow "to revise cooperation between OPEC and Russia on issues relating to the world oil markets." Mr. Zangeneh met Saturday with Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and several officials of the Russian oil and gas industries -- including the heads of Gazprom, Lukoil, Norsi-Oil and Zarubehneft oil companies... full text
DOLLAR RATE
Up slightly
* To send money to Iran, the rate is 510-520 tomans per dollar, depending on how much you wish to send.
* To send money out of Iran, the rate is 525 tomans per dollar.
Source: Sehaty Foreign Exchange, call in U.S.: 602-595-0777 or 500-288-8881. Preferntial rates for readers of The Iranian Times. Mention this code: BAJ 07
ARTS
* The 41st San Francisco International Film Festival is scheduled from April 23 to May 7. There are two Iranian films; "Leila" by Dariush Mehrjui and "Season Five" a coproduction of Iran & France directed by Rafi Pitts. The full film guides is on line at: www.sfiff.org/fest98... For festival information, call 415-931-film.
* Iranian films in Washington DC: A festival of some recent Iranian films is planned in Washington, DC, during March/April 1998. The films are shown at the 300-seat Meyer Auditorium of the Freer Gallery. Tickets are free and can be obtained (up to two per person) on a first-come-first-served basis one hour prior to the program. Films being shown: March 8/13: Leila (Dariush Mehrjui), March 20/22: Det Means Girl (Abolfazl Jalili), March 27/29: Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf), April 3: Beyond Fire (Kianoush Ayyari), April 5: A True Story (Jalili), April 17: The Abadanis (Kiarostami), April 26: Taste of Cherries (Kiarostami).
* "Taste of Cherry" U.S. screen schedules from the official Zeitgeist Film site... click here...Thanks to Payman Arabshahi <payman@fermi.jpl.nasa.gov>
THE IRANIAN
Jonoobi
With Jonoob: The South of Iran from Bushehr to Jask (Tehran, 1997), Nasrollah Kasraian has once again brought together photographs of people and places most Iranians know little about... go to feature
THE IRANIAN Cover Stories
NOSTALGIA
SPORTS
* Wrestling: Russia wins World Cup, Iran third (Wrestling News) - With the outcome not determined until the final match of the tournament, Russia edged the United States in the last dual meet, 16-15, to claim the team title at the 1998 Freestyle World Cup, held at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., April 5.... full text
"Dream Team" IRAN -- World Cup tickets now available!
Sportestan Publishing
(USA)
ish@sportestan.com
Tel: 650-473-9792
SATIRE
Persona non grata
* President Clinton is stopped at the Iranian border... click here
Got something to make us smile?
Send it to Times@iranian.com
POETRY
* Fereydoun Moshiri on CD
Fereydoun Moshiri's poetry reading last October in Berkeley, California, is now available on CD. For more information and orders, contact Radio Havaye Tazeh at: 415-673-4726.
Listen to Moshiri's reading of "Kucheh"... here's the poem's text
* Contest
Omar Khayyam Poetry Society invites you to enter our poetry contest. Prizes: First place $100, Second $75, Third $50. Winners will be announced and printed in THE IRANIAN in June 1998.
Subject: Longing places, memories, love
Format: Poems must be in English and emailed to <matteof@msn.com>. Include your name, address and phone number.
Deadline: May 10, 1998
Entry fee: $5 for up to three poems. You may send cash or check payable to R. Macroberts. Send to 1045 Walnut Grove, Rochester Hills, MI 48306, USA.
ARE YOU AN ARCHITECHT?
The Darvag Arts Foundation in Berkeley, California, is looking for an architect to draw up plans to bring the existing Darvag Theater up to city codes. Up to now through a combination of community support, hard work, luck, and the generosity of our landlord we have managed to maintain "our home". We are now faced with the the precarious reality of losing this Iranian-American community center which is located at 3280 Adeline Street in Berkeley.
To prevent the realization of this disaster we have taken a number of initiatives. Firstly, we have invited the Shotgun Players, an East Bay based theater group, to share the space with us. They in turn, have agreed to undertake the cost of putting in the basic improvements in order to bring the space up to code. For our part, we have commited ourselves to providing the architectural drawings for the conversion of the existing theater space into a 49 seat up-to-code theater. We therefore need the donated services of an architect to provide us with the neccessary plans.
Darvag is a registered non-profit theater group that is made up of people with normal, mundane and partly exciting lives. One of it's main missions is to develop the public voice of Iranian Americans and to represent our emerging culture in a way that has relevance both to ourselves and in some cases to all Americans.
If you can be any help please contact;
Bella Ramazan-Nia, Tel. (510) 527-3611, email: ramazannia@earthlink.net
LETTERS
* From a Qashqaie
Since I've got no one left, and have no connection with any Qashqaies, I have almost forgotten how to speak in Qashqaie. When I found your article on the internet ["At home with my tribe, the Qashqaies"], I couldn't stop crying for an hour. My father's name was Ebrahim Farssemadan. All of the Qashqaies (Nasser Khan, Khossroo Khan, Homa Beebee,....) knew him. Coorosh Aryaii <Coorosh.Aryaii@gte.net>
* Thank you on Eblis
Thank you for your comprehensive treatment of this fascinating subject ["Eblis: Refusing to bow to Adam"]. in the Christian tradition this type of discussion would fall within the purview of theodicy -- the explanation of the existence of evil in the world. A good treatment of that subject is Russell's book on satan in Western traditions. <bqqiu@aol.com>
BOOKSTORE
Book of the week
Barnameh-ye enerji-ye atomi-ye iran, talash-ha va tanesh-haa
Foundation for Iranian Studies, 1997. Available from Iranbooks.
A history of Iran's Atomic Energy Program as told by Akbar Etemad, the
first head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, edited by Gholam Reza
Afkhami.
See feature in THE IRANIAN. Click
here
THE IRANIAN Bookstore
ACADEMIC
* Iran and the Region: Past, Present and Future Relations with Its Neighbors April 24-25, 1998 Portland, Oregon, USA The Center for Iranian Research and Analysis (CIRA) will hold its 16th annual conference in association with Portland State UniversityÕs Middle East Center. In addition to proposals related to the conference theme, paper abstracts and panel proposals on all social, political, historical, economic, literary and artistic issues related to Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia are welcome. Please submit an abstract (300-400 words), paper title, name and complete address (including e-mail address, if available) no later than January 12, 1998. Send abstracts and requests for additional information to: Dr. Nader Entessar, CIRA Executive Director, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL 36608, USA; phone (1-334)380-3051; fax (1-334)460-2184; e-mail <entessar@azalea.shc.edu>; website <http://www-adm.pdx.edu/user/mesc/cira/>.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Warming up
* Soccer stars Mansourian and Esteeli warm up... full image
Got any interesting photos?
Send them to Times@iranian.com
MUSIC
* Pooran, "Molla Mamad Khan"
(Get RealAudio)
Greatest pop CDs ON SALE!
QUOTE UNQUOTE
Park with Jesus: $15
In previous years, the event [sizdah bedar in Irvine, California] was organized by the Network of Iranian Professionals of Orange County, but county parks officials recently took control. When that happened, the event turned from the traditional family picnic to a mini-fair. County officials charged booth operators $225 for a spot in the park. Parking fees for the day were hiked to $10 from the usual $4. The University United Methodist Church, across the street from the park, offered its parking spaces for $15 each.
Davan Maharaj
Los Angeles Times correspondent
"Cloud
of discontent mars Iranian festival"
April 6, 1998
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