The Iranian parliament, dominated by pro-Khatami reformists, pushed back judicial extremists one step by ratifying a law to define and prohibit torture against prisoners. According to the law, using any psychological or physical pressure to extract confessions or information from prisoners is banned. ... more

Following a Majlis deputy's reaction to the secret correspondence with him by the British embassy in Tehran - whose revelatory content was published in Keyhan on Wednesday ... more

The head of the Expediency Council stressed: Iran's Islamic revolution transformed the society's economic, cultural and social relations and put an end to the rule of the king and his several thousand extended family members. Naturally, America will not agree with any of the achievements ... more

Tehran, March 7, IRNA -- Thursday's edition of the English-language `Iran News' gave a littany of what rumors are being circulated these days: "George W.Bush and entourage will attack Iraq in April" ... more

Amman: Jordan and Iran will soon hold "quiet" talks to address what Foreign Minister Marwan Mu'ashir on Sunday [3 March] described as a "misunderstanding" resulting from comments attributed by the press to the Jordan ambassador to Tehran. ... more

IRAN has unveiled its latest weapon with which to defend the Islamic Republic against the invasion of brash American pop culture. It stands a foot tall and is made of plastic. ... more

A United Nations ban imposed last June on caviar trade by Russia and three other Caspian Sea states has been lifted after all five Caspian range states agreed for the first time to a joint plan to monitor and conserve threatened sturgeon stocks. ... more

WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Luxembourg, the smallest state in both the NATO alliance and the 15-nation European Union, strongly backed President Bush's war on terrorism and against Iraq Wednesday in sharp contrast to recent criticism from larger European states like France and Germany. ... more

TEHRAN: Three liberal dissidents, members of the outlawed Iran Freedom Movement (IFM), were freed on Wednesday on bail, their families said Thursday. Former interior minister Hashem Sabaqian, Abulfazl Bazargan, the son of former prime minister and IFM founder Mehdi Bazargan, and a leading member of the group, Khosro Mansourian, were freed on bail of two billion rials (250,000 dollars). ... more

An informed source at the Foreign Ministry has denied that Qusay Saddam will visit Iran. The source said that such a visit is not on Iran's agenda. ... more

JEDDAH/LONDON, 7 March — Close on the heels of Syria, Iran yesterday announced its support for the proposals made by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, to bring peace to the Middle East. ... more

Several Majlis deputies have called for a unified approach towards foreign policy in the face of foreign threats but said it would be wrong to declare an emergency situation. The following is the text of report by Iranian newspaper Hambastegi on 27 February: ... more

Iran may not, after all, be rid of David Reddaway. The British diplomat was recently refused accreditation as HMG's ambassador to Tehran, bringing to an abrupt halt the British government's efforts to rebuild diplomatic bridges with Iran after the events of September 11. ... more

The Islamic Republic of Iran has dismissed the recent accord signed between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea on the grounds that it contravenes the existing regulations regarding the legal regime of that sea. ... more

Saudi oil fields could be a target of Islamic fundamentalists aligned with Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden. Such an attack could paralyze the only major source of Saudi funds, the analysts said. ... more

The combination of a war-mobilized Hizbullah and a frustrated Israeli Army struggling to cope with the full-scale guerrilla war of the Palestinian intifada provide the elements for an "explosion of violence" along the Lebanon-Israel border, security sources warn. ... more

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Human rights watchdog Amnesty International Thursday urged Australia to release children from remote detention camps where hunger-striking asylum seekers have sewn their lips shut. Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan said she used a meeting with Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to press Australia to find alternatives to its policy of keeping children with adults in the controversial camps. ... more

THE countdown to war against Iraq began yesterday when America presented satellite evidence to the United Nations showing that Saddam Hussein had misused humanitarian aid to bolster his army. Although the immediate aim was to persuade the UN Security Council to block the import of lorries, the move marked the start of a process the Bush administration believes will end in Saddam's overthrow. ... more

Beirut, 7 March: Head of Iran's Islamic Human Right Commission Ayatollah Mohammad Musavi-Bojnurdi here on Wednesday [6 March] met and conferred with the secretary-general of Lebanese Hezbollah Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah. ... more

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department has recruited the help of intelligence agencies to track help by Middle Eastern and Persian Gulf states to Al Qaida. ... more

TORONTO, March 6 (UPI) -- In a scary scenario, terrorists bent on sneaking a small nuclear bomb into North America approach a motorcycle gang, whose members and associates are in control of stevedores and checkers in a Canadian port. ... more

SAN FRANCISCO - International researchers have compiled what they say is the world's most complete database of lost, stolen, and misplaced nuclear material, depicting a world awash in weapons-grade uranium and plutonium that nobody can account for. ... more

LOGAR, Afghanistan, March 7 (UPI) -- An Afghan governor has told United Press International that U.S. forces are building an airstrip in his province for fighting al Qaida and Taliban militants hiding in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. ... more

Mr. Prime Minister,
The other day you were quoted lamenting the failure of your colleague Ariel Sharon's tactics. It isn't every day that a French statesman insinuates that he basically shares Israel's - not to mention Sharon's - strategic goals. If anything, a generation of French statesmen, politicians and intellectuals tirelessly told us Israelis that we were pursuing the wrong aims, and advised us we could win our place under the Middle East's sun - if only: if only Israel would realize that the Palestinians will make do with a two-state solution, and if only we'd believe that the Palestine Liberation Organization is dedicated to freedom, democracy, human rights and secularism. ... more

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia's most vulnerable target is its oil fields, analysts said. The analysts said Saudi oil fields could be a target of Islamic fundamentalists aligned with Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden. They said such an attack could paralyze the only major source of Saudi funds. An Islamic attack on Saudi oil fields could be sparked by increasing resentment against the U.S. presence in the kingdom. The United States has nearly 5,000 soldiers in Saudi Arabia. ... more