The lovely Yasmine

Shahnameh, a best seller epic book in US

TEHRAN, Dec.6 (ISNA)-The translation of the great mythological literature book of Iran "Shahnameh" by Hakim Aboulghasem Ferdowsi was elected as the fifth 2006 best seller book by Washington Post.

Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (Viking). A new translation, by Dick Davis, of the great epic of ancient Persia, opening with the creation of the universe and closing with the Arab Muslim conquest. A violent and beautiful work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001839.html

Iranian painter, sculptor Iraj Karim-Khan Zand dies at 54

TEHRAN, Dec. 14 (Mehr News Agency) -- Painter and sculptor Iraj Karim-Khan Zand died of cancer at Tehran's Pars Hospital on Thursday. Born in 1952, Zand was a student of Mohsen Vaziri-Moqaddam, one of the pioneers of modern art in Iran. He had also been a university student in Paris.

"He could have had a bright future and could have created great works," Vaziri-Moqaddam told ISNA on Friday.

He displayed great skill in his metal sculptures, such that his works in this medium were called the "lovely singing of iron".

Several members of the Iranian Sculptors Society went to the Pars Hospital after his death to prepare a mold of his face for a sculpture.

Tehran's Khak Gallery opened a week-long exhibition of his works on December 6 while he was in the hospital.

His funeral procession is to begin in front of the Iranian Artists Forum tomorrow

Shirin Dehghan, CEO of UK telecommunications firm Arieso, has taken top honours at the Blackberry Women & Technology Awards 2006

Impresses Judges with Technology Expertise, Global Client List, and Dedication to Helping Employees Balance Work and Home Life

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shirin Dehghan, CEO of UK telecommunications firm Arieso, has taken top honours at the Blackberry Women & Technology Awards in London. Dehghan who runs Arieso, a Newbury UK company that helps mobile operators around the world keep their networks running optimally and their customers connected, was named ‘Outstanding Woman in Technology 2006 by the awards’ nine judges. In winning the top award, Dehghan beat dozens of nominees, including technology leaders from Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and IBM.

The judges also named Dehghan ‘Best Woman in Technology at an SME’ in recognition of her achievements in bringing the Newbury, UK based start-up to the attention and aid of some of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies. Today customers of Arieso’s unique network optimisation software include Cingular, O2, Nortel, Qualcomm, Telefonica and Vodafone amongst others.

Dehghan’s nomination for the awards was supported by senior telecommunications industry figures including Mike Short of 02 and former Motorola VP, Paul Strzelecki and by Maisy Ng, co-founder of venture capital firm Add Partners, Arieso’s lead investor.

“Being a woman in the almost exclusively male field of telecommunications engineering has never been a factor for me. I love what I do and am proud to do it well enough to be recognised for what I, and all of us at Arieso, have so far achieved,” says Dehghan. “I think the judges saw that work we do is incredibly important in rescuing the profit margins of mobile operators and bringing a better quality of service to the mobiles we all depend on so heavily today.

“I applaud Blackberry, too, for their part in raising the profile of women in all kinds of technology fields and the great work being accomplished. I hope the awards can be an inspiration to more young women to look at the diversity of jobs available in technology and take up more of the opportunities.”

Started in 2005, The Blackberry Women & Technology awards recognise the achievements of women working in the hi-tech sector. This year the panel of nine award judges included, among others, Dr Glenda Stone, founder and CEO of Aurora; Kate Bulkley, independent business writer for the Financial Times, Silicon.com and The Guardian; and professor Wendy Hall, CBE, Head of School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

Arieso (www.arieso.com) is a world-leading developer of unique, automatic mobile network planning and optimization products and services, which deliver significant cost-savings to operators and a vastly improved mobile user experience. Founded by an expert team of technologists, Arieso uses a unique simulator-based approach that delivers optimal radio networks for 2G, 2.5G, 3G and HSDPA technology. Arieso, whose customers include Cingular, O2, Vodafone, Nortel, Qualcomm and Eurotel Praha, is based in the UK with US offices in Atlanta.

Nefrat

Jim Delshad vice Mayor of Beverly Hills and George Lucas

Iranian Models around the world

A photo by sister of our very own Friend Masood Mokhtari's (a winner at Tehran Exhibition 2006) is going to be published on the cover of Canadian Camera Magazine, winter issue. Congratulations!

The following is the winner's description of this particular photo, misconceptions.

Misconception

My goal here is to present what I consider to be awareness of gender relations in an oppressive social system. This image represents those who are living under the umbrella of repressive cultural traditions that deny freedom of the female population at large, especially Iranian women. Freedom where women are liberated but legally inferior, where woman should be educated but subservient, where woman should have careers but stick to traditional gender roles, and where woman can be protected by men under the umbrella of old traditions and cultural believes only.

This image is dedicated to the women of the world, more specifically to the women of Iran . It is also my hope that this picture adds an interesting and powerful literary voice to the cause for women?s? rights with the hope that the future will witness a woman as an individual and not as a commodity.

Thanks very much

Batool Mokhtary

There are as well two other Iranians among the winners of the CAPA Digital Competition: www.CAPAcanada.ca