President [Seyyed Mohammad Khatami] met the central committee of the Majlis's 2nd Khordad faction today. A member of the central committee of the 2nd Khordad faction [Hojjat ol-Eslam Aliasghar Rahmani-Khalili], offers his assessment of the meeting ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Karroubi describes Bush's anti-Iran rhetoric "impolite" [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
IRNA

Tehran, Feb 2, IRNA -- Islamic Consultative Assembly Speaker Mehdi Karroubi here Saturday denounced as "impolite" U.S. President George W. Bush's recent accusation that Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, formed an "axis of evil" ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Russia will tolerate no outside pressure in its dealings with Iran - official [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
BBC Monitoring Service

Tokyo, 2 February: Russia will tolerate no pressure from the outside in matters of cooperation with Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov said in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS today. Replying to a question whether the USA was putting pressure on Moscow to cut down its contacts with Iran, the high-ranking diplomat said: "I think the Americans are intelligent enough people not to put the question in this way since it doesn't concern them." [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Spanish Senate president winds up Iran visit [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
IRNA

Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA -- Spanish Senate President Esperanza Aguirre Gil de Biedma left here for Madrid seen off by Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Iraq to allow visits by Iranian Shiites [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
The Chicago Tribune

TEHRAN -- Iraq said Monday it would allow Shiite Muslim pilgrims from Iran to fly to visit holy shrines in Iraq, another step toward normalizing relations between two former enemies. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] India spurns U.S. view on Iran [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
Reuters

India's foreign ministry yesterday rejected statements by the U.S. President George W. Bush branding Iran as part of an "axis of evil". "That is not the way that we look at it," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told a news briefing when asked about the U.S. president's comments on Iran on Tuesday. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Feuds Simmer Beneath a Warlord's Gaze [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
The Los Angeles Times

HERAT, Afghanistan -- With their gold and silver turbans glistening in the afternoon sunlight, the men from Kandahar laid down their weapons and sat at the feet of the warlord of Herat. Ismail Khan, the self-proclaimed emir of five western provinces, stared down at them, serene and impassive. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Herat feels Iran's brooding presence [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
The Financial Times

Tehran's Shia rulers have a long history of exercising influence over Afghanistan's northern warlords, writes Guy Dinmore Imamuddin Sedeqi makes his living by serving tea in a shack on the road north from the Afghan city of Herat. His customers pass by on horses, donkeys or by trucks plying the trade route to central Asia. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Al-Jazeera says bin Laden interview conducted under duress [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
The Boston Globe

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) An influential Arab television station said Saturday that it never aired an October interview with Osama bin Laden because the interview was conducted under duress and the questions were dictated to its correspondent. The statement from Al-Jazeera was the latest round in a rift between the satellite outfit and CNN over the bin Laden interview. Al-Jazeera objected when CNN began airing the video Thursday, and a CNN official fired back, saying the cable network had done nothing illegal and Al-Jazeera should explain why it hadn't made the tape public in the first place. That explanation came Saturday in a statement faxed from the Qatar-based station to The Associated Press. CNN spokeswoman Megan Mahoney declined to comment on the Al-Jazeera statement. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Pressure Mounts on Arafat as PFLP Quits [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Pressure mounted on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Saturday after a radical group announced it was temporarily suspending itself from the PLO leadership in protest at the arrest of its leader. The move by the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) politburo further squeezes Arafat, who faces demands from radicals to resist international calls to clamp down on militants. The PFLP is second in size only to Arafat's Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PFLP's military wing blasted the Palestinian Authority's arrest of PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat last month. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Warlord set to mount another attack; U.S. refusal to intervene dismays Afghans [an error occurred while processing this directive] February 2, 2002
Canadian Press

KABUL (AP) - A warlord rearmed his men Saturday to mount another assault on a provincial capital where residents don't want him as governor and are dismayed that U.S. forces operating in the area won't come to their rescue. The power struggle for Gardez, capital of Paktia province, triggered the worst fighting in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban and dealt a setback to Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, who returned early Saturday from a six-day trip to the United States and Britain. Warriors of the Gardez local council forced fighters loyal to Karzai's newly appointed governor for Paktia, warlord Bacha Khan, to retreat into the surrounding mountains Friday. Khan's brother, Wazir Khan, told The Associated Press that 10 truckloads of weapons and ammunition had been sent to the warlord's men and that fighting would resume Sunday. "They killed 11 of our people, we buried them, and tomorrow we will begin fighting again," Wazir Khan said by telephone. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]