IranMap

Christ’s birth took place halfway through the period of Parthian rule in Iran (250 BC – 224 AD), a dynasty which allowed more freedom of religion than some of the later Persian rulers. At the time of the Sassanian dynasty (224 AD – 652 AD), although Christianity spread in western regions of the country, there were still periods of followers being persecuted, usually at times of conflict and war with Rome.

This had not been the case prior to the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.

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Later, the advent of Islam slowed any Christian expansion, but it was recognised as a protected minority. The Mongol conquest allowed a relative freedom of religious expression, and when some Mongol queens converted to Christianity, the possibility of a Christian revival arose.

In the nineteenth century, with the struggle over the Caucasus between the Qajar dynasty of Iran and the Russian Tsars, the Persian government sought to win the hearts of local Armenian and Georgian Christians, who otherwise might have been expected to favour their fellow Christians in Russia. Russia eventually prevailed and there was a mass migration of Armenian Christians from Azerbaijan towards present day Armenia.

The beautiful monastery and church of St. Thaddeus in Iranian Azerbaijan, described in this multimedia report and also known as the Black Church, has been restored several times over the centuries. Together with a few other remaining vestiges of Armenian Christian culture in the area, the church has now been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and given the title of the Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran.

This is not deep-sea fishing with trawlers working far from the coast: this is old-style in-shore fishing with curtain nets and tiny boats. The fish come to the fishermen, not the fishermen to the fish. But the equipment is expensive, and seasonal workers come from Afghanistan: this is serious business.

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The Caspian Sea (Persian: دریای مازندران یا دریای خزر) is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 sq mi) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 cu mi). It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) and is bounded by northern Iran, southern Russia, western Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and eastern Azerbaijan. It has a maximum depth of about 1,025 metres (3,363 ft). More information

HTC, a global designer of smartphones, introduced an enhanced HTC Sense experience at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that will be available on two new smartphones, the HTC Legend and HTC Desire.

The new HTC Sense experience also introduces broad improvements to applications including the browser, email client and others. In addition, the new version of HTC Sense includes a new newsreader application and widget, as well as a new seven-screen ‘Leap’ thumbnail view for quick and easy access to specific screens.

HTC Legend
HTC Legend boasts a unique design with a smooth, continuous surface, machined from a single aluminum block into a seamless compact frame. To complement its looks, the HTC Legend includes a stunning 3.2 inch, AMOLED HVGA display. The traditional trackball has also been replaced with an optical joystick, surrounded by a narrow button to improve usability without interrupting its unique design.

HTC Desire
HTC Desire is designed with a large 3.7 inch AMOLED WVGA display to enhance and maximise content, whether it is pictures and videos, browsing the Web or checking on friends’ status updates. HTC Desire is powered by a one gigahertz Snapdragon processor and is Adobe Flash 10.1 ready. As with the HTC Legend, the HTC Desire also includes an optical joystick.


Availability
The new HTC Legend will be available in Europe through Vodafone and in the direct channel beginning in April. It will roll out to other parts of the world including Asia in early Q2. HTC Desire will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets in early Q2. The HTC Desire will be exclusively available in Australia through Telstra. The enhanced HTC Sense experience will also be offered as a free upgrade on the HTC Hero in Europe and Asia.