The first village outside Tehran was connected to the Internet last week. Shahkouh, a village in northeastern Golestan province, was chosen because of its proximity to a university research center, the Abrar-e-Eqtesad paper said, citing university officials.
Until just a year ago, access to the net was generally restricted to university officials and members of the Iranian elite, but since numerous cyber-cafes have opened in Tehran and the Telecom Ministry announced in April that there were no restrictions on who could access the Internet.
The works of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic republic after the 1979 revolution, are available on the Internet and Iran's foreign ministry has launched its own web site in recent months. ― (AFP, Tehran)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
