Reza Pahlavi, 41, whose father was ousted as Shah of Iran in the Islamic revolution of 1979, is trying to transform his native country -- from the outside. Based in the U.S., he appears on satellite radio and TV shows that are beamed into Iran, during which he calls for nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at toppling the mullahs and putting Iran on a path to secular democracy. ... more

THE former Afghan king, Zahir Shah, will return to Afghanistan on 23 March as an ordinary citizen, it has emerged. "According to our latest information, the king returns on 23 March," Yusuf Nourestani, a spokesman for the interim Afghan government, said. ... more

ROME (AP) - The exiled king of Afghanistan made it clear Sunday that he does not expect any restrictions on his movements when he returns home later this month after nearly 30 years away. ... more

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian reformists gave a cautious welcome Monday to a U.S. senator's unexpected overture for talks, while conservatives condemned the move. Hatred for the "Great Satan" is an article of faith for Iran's conservatives. More pragmatic reformists allied to President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) have sought to edge toward repairing ties with the United States. ... more

TEHRAN, March 18 (AFP) - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated on Monday his opposition to talks with the United States, state television reported, the day after a government spokesman appeared to give them the go-ahead. ... more

Tehran, 17 March. A founding member of Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) Hasan Ansari-Lari said here Saturday [16 March] that recent positions adopted against Iran by the US are based on false, spiteful and incomplete information provided by the Zionists. ... more

The paint is still fresh in the new office of Hamid Reza Jalaiipour, 44, who has just opened Bonyan, his seventh Tehran newspaper in five years. Iran's courts, controlled by conservative clerics, shut down the other six for renegade views. ... more

SAVAK SUPPOSEDLY ACTIVE IN IRANIAN MEDIA. During a 6 March speech to judicial trainees, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi warned that people linked to SAVAK (the previous regime's intelligence and security organization) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ... ... more

Iran's hardliners are set to strengthen their control over the powerful Expediency Council after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, rejected calls by reformists for a more representative membership when announcing the line-up for the organisation's next five-year term. ... more

When Tom Daschle questioned the scope of the war on terrorism last week, Trent Lott sandbagged him. But if Lott really means to badger politicians who dissent from President Bush's "axis of evil" line, he should swing by the office of his fellow Republican senator, Chuck Hagel. ... more

SEOUL, South Korea - Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. said Monday it has won a $1.2 billion contract to build a natural gas processing plant in Iran. The contract calls for Hyundai to build the plant in a coastal area 740 miles south of Tehran for Agip Iran B.V., a consortium led by Italian oil company Agip SpA, the company said in a statement. ... more

Tehran, 17 March: Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mohsen Nurbakhsh said here Sunday [17 March] that facilities envisioned in the single exchange rate will not cause consumer prices to rise, adding that such concerns are uncalled for. ... more

TEHRAN -(Dow Jones)- The governor of the Central Bank of Iran , Mohsen Nourbakhsh, said Sunday that the total of Iran 's short- and long-term foreign debts stands at around $20 billion, reported the state-run Tehran radio. ... more

London- Over the next five years, Iran is expected to attract only 0.04 per cent of global foreign direct investment (FDI), according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It estimated Iran's annual inflows of FDI would average Dlrs 340 million between 2002 and 2006 ... ... more

Dushanbe, 18 March: Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov and Iranian President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami have discussed ways of stepping up bilateral relations between Tajikistan and Iran. The meeting took place on Sunday [17 March] as part of Talbak Nazarov's visit to Iran. Asia-Plus was told by the spokesman for the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan, Ali Tusi, that Talbak Nazarov had given Mohammad Khatami a message from Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov and praised Iran's role in stabilizing the situation in Tajikistan, as well as in the region. ... more

TEHRAN - Pilot error was to blame for last month's crash of an Iranian airliner in which all 119 people on board were killed, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said Sunday. Investigators who studied the data of the two black boxes on the Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154 ... ... more

Dubai, Mar 18 (PTI) Cheered by a large expatriate crowd, India produced their best performance in the tournament so far outplaying defending champions Ukraine in four games to move in to the final of the seventh Rashid International Volleyball tournament here. Ukraine paid heavily for their over confidence as India came from behind to register a 23-25 25-23 25-20 25-21 win. India's victory, last night, set up a final showdown with Iran which overcame last year's runners up Tunisia in the other semi-final also in four games. ... more

Afghanistan's defense ministry accused Pakistan on Sunday of harboring wanted Taliban leaders and al-Qaida fighters in its border regions where government control is weak and tribal traditions hold sway. ... more

SHAH-I-KOT, AFGHANISTAN – Key Al Qaeda officials, possibly including Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 to Osama bin Laden, were present in the fortified Shah-i-Kot caves of this region just before the recent US attacks. Local villagers, who spoke on the condition that their village not be identified, provided details on how they were recruited to blast a new network of caves for these fighters – who were formulating plans for additional terrorist attacks on the US – and to provide an escape route for later use. ... more

In the first concrete sign that the US is planning military action against Iraq despite objections from its allies, CIA officers have surveyed three key airfields in northern Iraq. The airfields, situated in northern Iraq near the cities of Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah in Kurdistan – the only part of Iraq not held by Saddam Hussein – could be used to receive arms and troops in the event of a conflict between the US and Iraq, an Iraqi source has told The Independent. ... more

Beijing, 17 March: The 11th Session of the Sino-Iranian Joint Committee of Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation was held in Tehran on 17 March. Both sides highly appraised the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries and have agreed to continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation, promote Sino-Iranian economic and trade cooperation, and push forward the bilateral relationship towards a new developmental stage. ... more

TERRORISM is always ugly, but there is something especially horrible about murder in a church. Even people with no sense of religion are likely to be uniquely appalled by the thought of families at prayer being attacked with hand grenades. At a time when the West is being asked to mobilise against terrorism, the assault on the Protestant International Church in Islamabad, in which five people were killed and 46 others were injured - including Western diplomats and their families - is a brutal reminder of precisely what it is we are fighting. ... more

SADDAM HUSSEIN should be toppled in Iraq before he can finish developing missiles and nuclear weapons capable of threatening European cities, Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative Party leader, says today. Iain Duncan Smith: accused Europe of 'gazing at its political navel'. His call comes as Tony Blair faces a Cabinet split and possible isolation in Europe over British support for American military action against Iraq. Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, said yesterday that a military response would be "very unwise" and would not solve the problem. ... more