Iranian official warns of 'destructive' consequences of importing Barbies

I am speechless.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHERAN, Iran

A top Iranian judiciary official has warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys.

Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger" that needed to be stopped.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of huge increase in oil revenues.

In Monday's letter, Najafabadi called for a crackdown on the smuggling of these toys which threatened Iranian culture.

"The Iranian Threat"

I have seen less and less articles published about Iran's nuclear energy program lately, and I don't know why. I guess people are tired of the same stories, because I truly am. I've been reading similar statements and accusations since 2002 and nothing surprises me anymore. I

I read the Jerusalem Post on a regular basis. They honor the Iranian nation and the Iranian people by putting up this stupid header on their homepage where all articles about Iran (no matter what it is about) are gathered up.



Anyway, I found an interesting article today.

This one is about some sacked advisor to president Ahmadinejad, who openly criticized Ahmadinejad for his policies this far following his three years in office. The interesting thing here is that more and more officials and politicians/clergies criticized Ahmadinejad's work, and some of these people are from Ahmadinejad's own branch, some kind of Iranian neo-con branch. This is something unique and completely different for me. I thought these kind of statements and comments meant execution but obviously I was wrong.

More sunny (and inspiring) Tuesdays please

This has been a long but inspiring day. I had the great luck to see the sun today as well.

It began with studies, a lecture, followed by another lecture and more studying. The day was rounded off with a long meeting. It's been fair.

The second lecture today was actually more of a talkshow kind of thing where one of Sweden's most successful businessmen was present and where two students openly asked him questions about himself and his work. It was very inspiring to hear about his life and his business, an how he had made himself a fortune.

The same guy is also the chairman of the Swedish football club Hammarby IF from Stockholm. We were allowed to ask questions during the lecture, and I had to ask about the current situation with the goalies in Hammarby. They bought one of Sweden's best goalkeepers (Rami Shaaban) before this season, but after three games of something they benched him and threw their reserve goalie (Kristoffer Björklund) out on the pitch. The reserve goalie proved to be better than we all had expected, and excelled his rival. For example, he managed to deny Henrik Larsson several goals in the game between Hammarby and Helsingborg last week, and on top of that he saved a penalty kick from Larsson in the same game.

Anyway, the chairman said himself that they had bought one of northern Europe's best goalkeepers and that they regarded him as their number one, no matter what. But they had to be consequent and fair now that the reserve goalie was performing this well.

As I said earlier, this was a very interesting and inspiring person, and I told him that I practically am the neighbor of one their players. And of course, I also told him that I am a die hard supporter of one of their greatest (if not the greatest of all time) antagonists. Despite all the trouble AIK is having right now.

Reflections on a beautiful day

It's a beautiful day and I am sitting here working with some stuff that need my attention. I am planning to go out later but most of my friends are out of town. The gym will be my destination.
Pretty soon I'll find out if I need surgery for my injured shoulder/arm or if I am to deal with the condition I am in. The rehab has done wonders for me but it still doesn't feel right inside. It still starts to hurt when I hold the phone to my ear for more than 30 seconds. Something is wrong.

Totti is said to be missing for six months. That's a pretty heavy blow for Roma, although his replacement Mirko Vucinic has been playing well. At the same time, this is good news for any Interista. We've missed key players the whole season but we still managed to do well this far (the exceptions are the games against Napoli and Liverpool.).

I really hope to see a victory tonight against Torino. If we win, we're six points ahead, and the Scudetto race will probably be over for this season.

Roma - Livorno 1 - 1

Diamanti scored a late equalizer in the 83rd minute. If Inter beats Torino tomorrow we're six points ahead with four games left of the season. May could be a very nice month...

Images from last night

Mattias Thylander (to the left) was once again back at Råsunda stadium, now playing in Trellebrog. I remember meeting him six years ago, when he was one of the most hated players in the AIK squad.
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Celebrations after Iván's goal.
The goalscorer.


A hero returns to Stockholm, but unfortunately only for a short visit.
Derek Boateng of Beitar Jerusalem heading for the north stand.

When Derek said "This is my home", the fans went wild.
Derek is greeted by the fans.

Lee Baxter and Niclas Bergh

The starting lineup
Rikard Norling smiling again
A hero warms up.