Although Iran's constitution makes Persian the only official language, it also makes allowance for other languages to be taught and published as a political right. Until the 21st century however, there was a total ban on Kurdish in schools until the Ministry of Education gave approval to Kurdish language teaching in middle schools. In 2015, the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology gave its approval to a Bachelor of Arts academic degree programme at Sanandaj's University of Kurdistan.
There are Kurdish language magazine and newspapers, and there are local television programmes and radio programmes in some Kurdish dialects.
Many Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan follow the religion of Yarsanism. About 37 percent of the two million people in Kermanshah Province follow Yarsanism. There may be one million followers of Yarsanism altogether. Around Kermanshah, some Kurds belong to Shia Islam. There are Faili Kurds who belong to Shia Islam in both Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan. Starting in the 1960s, about 150,000 Faili Kurds were sent out of Iraq into Iran. These Faili Kurds could not prove they had citizenship in Iraq because Faili Kurds in the past had not wanted citizenship in the Ottoman Empire.
Before the 1950s, there were many Jewish people in Kurdistan. There were 19 Jewish communities in Iranian Kurdistan in 1948. Most Jewish people left Kurdistan after that time, but there is still a population of Jews in Iranian Kurdistan. Iranian Jewish Kurds were more integrated with local people than Jews in the rest of Iran were. In the 1950s, there were 3,000–4,000 Jewish Kurds in Iran. Most of the Jews in Iranian Kurdistan lived in the cities of Sanandaj, Kermanshah and Urmia. Many of them were physicians or merchants. After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, many Jews left Iranian Kurdistan.
There used to be many Christian people living in the plain around Urmia who belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. They were in a lower position in society than the Kurds, the Turks, and the Persians. The plain of Urmia is one of the only places in Kurdistan where there is a large Christian population.
Most Kurds in Khorasan are Shia Muslims.
John Terry
John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is a former English professional football player. Terry played as a defender and captained Chelsea in the English Premier League and the England national team.
Terry is known as one of the best defenders in the world. He was voted best defender in the UEFA Champions League in 2005. He was also the only English player to be named in the group of best players for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He wears the number 26 shirt for Chelsea and the number 6 shirt for England. Terry missed the penalty which could have won the Champions League 2008. He slipped when he was taking the penalty, giving Manchester United the title.
Terry was a Chelsea Youth player. Before he became a defender he was a midfielder in 1992. To help Terry get some first team experience he was loaned out to Nottingham Forest in 2000 until 2002, when he came back to Chelsea.
Terry is married to his childhood sweetheart Toni Poole, who supported him financially when he was a Chelsea F.C trainee. They married on 15 June 2007, in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. They have twins, Georgie and Summer, born in 2006.
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Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna and features American rapper Jay-Z. It is the lead single from Rihanna's third studio album "Good Girl Gone Bad". It was written by Jay-Z, Terius Nash and Christopher Stewart. It was released on March 29, 2007 as a single and digital download. It was very successful worldwide reaching number one in numerous countries. The song is 4 minutes and 35 seconds long.
The songwriters of "Umbrella" offered the song to a number of labels before Rihanna finally accepted and recorded it. The song was first offered by Britney Spears but she turned it down. Although it was released officially on March 29, 2007, it was released in some parts of the United States on March 28. In the United Kingdom, the single was released as a digital download on May 14 and as a physical single on May 28.
The music video for "Umbrella" was directed by Chris Applebaum on April 13, 2007. It premiered on April 26 at the thisisrihanna.com website. The video was released on May 11, and reached the number one spot for eight weeks.
The video features Jay-Z rapping in the beginning while in a rain of sparks. Rihanna is then shown singing in a steamy place. In the first chorus, Rihanna walks around en pointe while in the rain. In the second verse, she is seen dancing with an umbrella in a different place. Later, she is painted silver and posing in several positions while nude. At the end of the video, Rihanna is again dancing with an umbrella while in a shower of sparks falling like rain.
A number of remixes were made for the song. Lil' Mama is featured in one remix. Chris Brown performed an answer song with different lyrics, called "Cinderella."
"Umbrella" reached the number one spot in a number of countries. It topped the charts in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland at the same time. It peaked at the top spot in the United Kingdom for ten weeks in a row from May 20 to July 29, 2007. It was the longest running number one song since "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet in 1994 (that song spent 15 weeks). It was knocked off the number one spot in the UK by Timbaland's "The Way I Are".
The song's reign at number one in the UK happened when the country was hit by extreme rainfall and flooding, which led some people to jokingly suggest the two events were related, calling it the "Rihanna Curse". Interestingly in Greece (the single's worst performing market) "Umbrella" was released at a time when people were suffering through a summer of several heatwaves topping 45C/113F and the worst forest fires of modern history, killing 60. The song only reached number fourteen in the Greek singles chart.
"Umbrella" was at number one in the American Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and in the Australian ARIA Charts for six weeks.
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born April 24, 1934) is an American movie and theatre actress. She is famous for her acting as well as her strong belief in reincarnation. She is the writer of a many autobiographical works, some about her New Age beliefs, as well as her Hollywood career. She is the older sister of Warren Beatty. She won the Academy Award for "Best Actress" in 1983, and has also received many other awards, including the Emmy, Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards.
Crown dependencies
A British crown dependency is a special type of state. The head of state is the British monarch, who is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. Each dependency has a parliament, government and prime minister to make all laws, except laws about defence and foreign affairs. Defence and foreign affairs are looked after by the British Government.
But the British government in London has no power in the dependencies, unless the government of the dependency agrees.
Some colonies also have a government, but they were created by the British government and can be ended by the British government.
The crown dependencies are
Lieutenancies Act 1997
The Lieutenancies Act 1997 (1997 c. 23) is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom.
A Lord Lieutenant is the Queen's representative in a county or other area.
The Lieutenancies Act sets out the areas in which Lords-Lieutenant work in Great Britain. It came into force on 1 July 1997.