diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE
index a0f4f14736..1ec699f7ac 100644
--- a/ANNOUNCE
+++ b/ANNOUNCE
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ We encourage users to try this release candidate and report
 any feedback or problems to lyx-devel at lists.lyx.org.
 
 The difference to the last beta release is due to bug fixes only,
-no new features are allowed at this stage of development.
+no new features are allowed at this stage of development. The only
+exception to this rule is the addition of Farsi as a supported language
+since the available patch was not integrated in the previous release.
 
 Compared with the latest stable release, this is the culmination of
 one year of hard work, and we sincerely hope you will enjoy the
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3198ef4b8d..8cfb8af52c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+What's new in version 1.5.0  (release candidate 1)
+----------------------------
+
+We encourage users to try this release candidate and report
+any feedback or problems to lyx-devel at lists.lyx.org.
+
+The difference to the last beta release is due to bug fixes only,
+no new features are allowed at this stage of development. The only
+exception to this rule is the addition of Farsi as a supported language
+since the available patch was not integrated in the previous release.
+
 What's new in version 1.5.0 (beta 3)?
 ----------------------------