Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, in an unprecedented diplomatic gesture, sent a private emissary to Jeddah with a message of top importance for relay to President Bush via visiting Vice President Dick Cheney, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly. The letter, delivered Saturday, March 16, was also addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the intelligence service reported. What did it say? ... more

ROME (Reuters) - Afghanistan's former king, who is set to return home next week after 29 years in exile, vowed on Thursday to help rebuild his country from the rubble of war and said he would become monarch again if his people desired it. ... more

Campaign To Free Iran's Students. In a statement dated 19th March, 2002; United Student Front (Jebheh Mottahed Daneshjooyi) confirmed the doubling of the sentence for Manouchehr Mohammadi by 'Judge' Zargar, of the Court 28th Branch. ... more

TEHRAN, Iran, March 20 (UPI) -- Iran on Wednesday vehemently rejected CIA Director George Tenet's claims of an Iranian link to ousted hard-line Taliban regime or al Qaida network, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. ... more

NEW YORK – Argentinean President Eduardo Duhalde suggested to a group of US Jewish leaders this week that he may seek US assistance in finding the perpetrators of a 1992 bombing at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 22 people. ... more

The country's security service is keeping an eye on the current visit to Baku by the leader of the national liberation movement of southern Azerbaijan [northwestern Iran], Dr Mahmudali Cohraqani, in an effort to prevent a potential negative impact on Azerbaijan's national interests. ... more

The chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticizing certain positions adopted inside America, has proposed that members of parliament of the two countries of Iran and America ... more

One of the more hopeful prospects of Indo-Pakistan cooperation seems to have been by-passed, after Iran's National Iranian Oil Company signed a contract with India and the Italian Snamprogetti engineering group for feasibility studies on a 1,200-mile deep sea pipeline. ... more

AMMAN, Jordan, March 20 — This is a nervous little kingdom, picking a careful path through the Arab- Israeli conflict. Just how delicate was well illustrated recently when Jordanian intelligence thwarted a Hezbollah attempt to smuggle Katyusha rockets to the Palestinians ... more

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghans welcomed their first new year since the fall of the Taliban yesterday with a raucous celebration of Spring Harvest, a holiday of renewal that this year carries special importance for the nation's women. ... more

LONDON -- Iran is believed to have launched an effort to upgrade Mirage jets ferreted by Iraq on the eve of the 1991 Gulf war. Arab diplomatic sources said Iran has engaged in contacts with former East Bloc countries for an overhaul of the Mirage F-1E fighter-jets in the Iraqi air force. ... more

Iran Air announced its intention to acquire 10 new Airbus aircraft. The state-owned air carrier is also considering the purchase of 20 second-hand Airbuses from international airliners. ... more

The Middle East, especially Qatar and Iran, will become significant natural gas suppliers to Europe which faces a growing gas shortfall towards the end of the decade, said a former Algerian energy minister yesterday. ... more

LOS ANGELES — Navid Taj knows quite well that the Justice Department accuses him of abetting terrorists. It is also clear to him that federal prosecutors want to toss him in prison for funneling charitable contributions, made to save starving children, to an Iranian military group ... more

Tehran, 22 March: Road accidents have taken a heavy death toll within just two days of the new Iranian year which started Thursday [21 March], leading to the death of 74 people and injury of 900 others, Iran's Red Crescent Society said Friday. The fatalities peaked during 455 cases of car accidents as Iranians hit the roads for merrymaking destinations with the start of Nowruz which is a 13-day national holiday. ... more

Upland High School teacher Judith A. Wenrick asked juniors in her advanced placement language composition class to research and write about issues of concern to them that have surfaced since the eve. ... more

"Iran va Jahan" extends its best wishes for a very happy "Norooz"

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police have detained 10 Iranians for questioning about possible leads in the deadly grenade attack on a church here, Interior Minister Tasneem Noorani said yesterday. ... more

Tehran: After 27 years of shared life, Iranian Siamese twins joined at the head are seeking international help to undergo surgery and lead individual lives. ... more

Religious conservatives (backed by some 20 percent of the population) and moderates (backed by the rest, at least according to the results of the last elections) are still arguing over domestic and foreign policy. ... more

RIYADH, 22 March — The Symposium on Islam and the Dialogue of Civilizations called for setting up an international forum here to promote dialogue between Islam and other nations, chiefly in the West. ... more

I want to thank the American-Iranian Council for inviting me to speak this evening. I am honored to have the opportunity to be with you, particularly as we approach Nowruz. I want to give my advance wishes for a happy new year to all Iranian-Americans and the Iranian people. ... more