[(E) signifies English link]
Diplomacy
- Jahan News discloses news of a “secret Middle East peace meeting” in Oxford.
- (E) Iran urges outsiders to leave the Middle East, saying it is the best choice for them.
- Martyr’s Foundation director Hossein Dehghan travels to Algeria to meet Sharif Abbas, minister of war veterans.
- Jahan News slams “The Prophet Muhammad look alike” competition at the German satirical weekly Titanic, and adds some remarks on German sense of humor in general.
- (E) Prof. Paul Kennedy’s views on U.S. decline featured in Tehran Times.
- (E) Iranian foreign minister Motakki says U.S. hegemony is collapsing.
- (E) Iran calls U.S. presence in Afghanistan counterproductive.
Economy
- The Tehran bazaar reopens after Ahmadinejad’s postpones imposition of the Value Added Tax.
- First Vice President Davoudi will speak to the Tehran bazaar merchants.
- Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari attacks Tehran and Isfahan bazaar strikes:
- “For some days, some bazaaris have answered the call of a small group of identified provocateurs – profiteering super-capitalists and money lenders who don’t have the slightest in common with the large body of merchants, tradesmen and pious and God-worshipping bazaaris – and have shut their stores, sometimes involuntarily and because of fear of those same super-capitalist parasites in protest to Value Added Tax’s introduction.
- This happens as the government has delayed the introduction of the tax for two months, and there seems to be no excuse to continue the closure. But unfortunately, due to the provocations of the same small group, also yesterday some sections of the bazaar continued their strike. Continuation of the closure, especially after the two month’s suspension of law by the government, demonstrates that bazaaris who have always been known for their belief and their Islamic and revolutionary convictions, are the victims of conspiracies of others…
- Alef News Agency’s Seyyed Ehsan Khandouzi posits how Iran’s national budget would look without natural gas and oil exports.
- The first industrial bakery opens in Karaj.
- Petroleum Minister Nowzari guarantees natural gas deliveries this winter.
Media
- Only a week after its inauguration, Khorshid shuts down because of editorial disputes.
- Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture approves appointment of Ali-Asghar Mahaki as Hamshahri editor.
Trade
- Saffron bulb smuggling to Afghanistan.
- Azizollah Ramezani, director of the National Iranian Natural Gas Company, says his company will soon be equivalent to GAZPROM.
Religion, Culture, and Society
- Alef News Agency reports pending release of a Dutch animated film about the Prophet Muhammad’s wives.
- Each year, 80 individuals go through a sex change operation of whom 90 percent are men becoming women.
Politics
- (E) Supreme Leader looks at economic crisis as sign of liberal democracy’s failure.
- Asr-e Iran’s analyst: “Most rulers are of the conviction that God almighty has divided tongues and ears in this order: Tongues for the rulers and ears for the ruled. But the just and sole creator of man has divided tongues and ears equally among the rulers and the ruled…”
Photo of the Day
- Kofi Annan, UN, European dignitaries join Mohammad Khatami at conference in Tehran.
Comments