Iran: first

The former speaker for parliament Mehdi Karoubi announced his candidacy for the presidentially elections of 2009.
He said that the Ahmadinejad administration has failed in its handling of foreign policy and economic issues.
Karoubi is the first major political figure to declare himself a candidate for the Iranian presidency.

The gold- carpet- and textile unions have called off the strike in the bazars after the government decided to suspend the VAT measure with two months.
Merchants in Isfahan and Tabriz recommenced work from Saturday and Tehran joined the resumption today.
Carpet- and textilemerchants also opened shops this morning after the unions agreement with the Ministry of Commerce.
The bazaar, the backbone of Iran's traditional economy, demands the Iranian government to permanently suspend the new tax system, claiming that VAT would contribute to the rising inflation.



Three films by Iranian directors will be shown at the 22nd international Cinekid filmfestival for children that will be held in Amsterdam from October 19 to 26.
Handlebar Moustache by Javad Ardakani and Token by Fereydoun Hasanpour will participate in the competition section of the festival.
The debut film by director, Jafar Panahi, and winner of Prix de la Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, The White Balloon will be screened at Cinekidklappers.
The festival will host over 200 events and be attended by over 35,000 children.


This year more then 1,800,000 tons of tangerine will be harvested from about 100 thousand hectares of the under cultivation area in Mazandaran province.
55% of oranges and 65% of tangerines are produced in this province.
Mazandaran province produces 38 percent of Iran’s composites and has the country’s first grade in production amount.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl