THE FRONT LINE: Peacock heir is wooing his nation The son of the King of Kings, the late Shah of Iran, is emerging from the shadows of exile, his propects of claiming back the throne remain murky, writes Rose George. Presidents and pariahs have been crowding the world stage recently. But there has also been space for a tale of two kings. One is the 87-year-old former monarch of Afghanistan, unwillingly thrust into the spotlight and doing his best to escape it. The second king's progress into the headlines has been slower, but he is as glad to be there as Zahir Shah is reluctant. Reza Pahlavi, 42 years old, son of the late Shah of Iran, officially King of Kings and Emperor of the Peacock Throne, has emerged from the shadows of exile. ... more

Reza Pahlavi hopes that during the turbulent days following Sept. 11, the West took notice of photos of Iranian men, women and children holding candlelit vigils to honor American lives lost on Sept. 11. Those images, he tells Weekend All Things Considered host Lisa Simeone, reflect the true sentiment of modern Iranians -- not past scenes of hostages or angry students burning the American flag. ... more

Afghanistan's neighbour Iran has been crucial in the war against terrorism, it did condemn the September the 11th attacks and now the interim government of Afghanistan is said to be looking to Iran for continued support. Iran is currently ruled by President Mohamed Khatami but he's finding it hard to deliver reform in the face of opposition from the senior supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeni who still wields that greater power. In 1979 the Islamic Revolution overthrew the ruling Shah and just as some in Afghanistan have been calling for the return of their former monarch, there have been moves to support the son of the late Shah of Iran and ask him to return from exile. I'm joined in the studio now by, by him, by Reza Pahlavi the son of the late Shah, welcome. ... more

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell made a renewed demand on Sunday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat explain an arms shipment intercepted by Israel in the Red Sea on Jan. 3, and said a U.S. envoy would go back to the Middle East ``when conditions permit.'' Powell told ABC's This Week program from Tokyo that the shipment, which Israel says was meant for the Palestinians in Gaza, particularly complicated the Middle East situation. ``We have said to Mr. Arafat we need concrete explanations of what this is all about and what responsibility the Palestinian Authority had for it and what action is going to be taken with respect to this. I hope Mr. Arafat takes us very seriously and comes forward with some answers that will help defuse this situation again,'' he said. ... more

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is moving from place to place in Afghanistan and is being hunted by tribal forces, Kandahar governor Gul Agha said on Sunday. Agha, who controls Afghanistan's second city and much of southwest Afghanistan, said his security forces were pursuing and hoped to arrest the reclusive former ruler of the austere movement that governed Afghanistan for six years. ... more

The charter of the Central Intelligence Agency expressly denies the spies any domestic police powers. President Harry S. Truman was vigilant in wanting no secret police. Nor did he want J. Edgar Hoover's F.B.I. cloaked in the cover that espionage demands. The spies and the G-men had two distinct roles, two distinct sets of rules. So the boundaries were drawn at the dawn of the cold war. The C.I.A. would find out what was going on outside the United States - and so prevent a second Pearl Harbor. The F.B.I. would work inside the United States to catch criminals and foreign agents. ... more

... His third area of interest is in Iran, where BP was born in 1909 as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. "The Middle East used to be our home but we lost almost all of it [to nationalisation] except for Abu Dhabi," says Lord Browne. "We would like to be back in Iran - the issue is negotiating the right deal." But what about US sanctions on American companies doing business in Iran? Until recently this made BP hold back, because its acquisitions of the US companies - Amoco and Arco - made it feel quasi-American. ... more

... The Bush administration has made no serious move to heal years of hostility with non-Arab Iran under its reformist, but politically hamstrung president, Mohammad Khatami. No surprise there for Iranian political analyst Ali Amini, who said Washington had no real incentive to improve ties with Iran as long it was ruled by a ``corrupt'' establishment weakened by popular discontent that was allowed no political outlet. ... more