NEW YORK TIMES SERVICE TEL AVIV, Israel -- U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials have concluded that Yasser Arafat has forged a new alliance with Iran that involves Iranian shipments of heavy weapons and millions of dollars to Palestinian groups that are waging guerrilla war against Israel. ... more

PARIS -- The Islamic Republic and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have forged an alliance to arm Palestinians fighting Israel with adequate weapons, the "New York Times" (NYT) said, quoting Israeli and American officials. ... more

WASHINGTON -- Top Bush administration officials said on Sunday they could not confirm a published report that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has forged an alliance with Iran and declined to speculate on it. ... more

The two Iranian-run refugee camps in Afghanistan will stay open until at least mid-April, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official said on Sunday. ... more

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -- An"often-delayed summit to discuss dividing the resource-rich Caspian Sea is to be held in late April, an official in Turkmenistan's government said Monday. ... more

Baku, 25 March: Talks between Azerbaijan and Iran over the legal status of the Caspian Sea have not yet yielded any results, SOCAR First Vice-President Ilham Aliyev told a news conference in Moscow on 22 March. ... more

In circumstances in which ministers from Arab League member countries are meeting in Beirut to prepare the agenda for these countries' summit, public opinion among the nations of the region underlines, in various ways, the need for all-sided support for the intifadah of the people of Palestine. ... more

Shahr-e Rey, March 24, IRNA -- Iranians will close ranks to confront US threats if American leaders' aggressive overture against the Islamic Republic takes a turn for an attack, a leading MP from Tehran Majid Ansari said in this city near Tehran on Sunday. ... more

Thousands of Shia Muslims - many bloodied from beating themselves - marched through Lebanon's cities on Sunday to commemorate the killing of one of their most revered figures, Imam Hussein. ... more

NEW YORK : Iran's Economy and Finance Minister Tahmaseb Mazaheri and his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz stressed on implementation of the monetary accord and called for a mechanism to survey ways and means of implementing its agreements. ... more

THE CLOCK IS TICKING VERY FAST. THERE IS A RACE between the rapidly decreasing life expectancy of Ariel Sharon's prime ministership, now that Avigdor Lieberman & Co. are out of the government, and the renewed momentum being gained by Yasser Arafat. ... more

Mohammad Zaher Shah said he would return in mid April. He said the Italian government would ensure his security during his return journey and a special Afghan group trained by the multinational force would then takeover his inside Afghanistan. ... more

DESPITE postponement of the king's return, preparations are being stepped up for the loya jirga, or grand tribal council, writes in Kabul. Women are expected to make up more than one tenth of the representatives of the loya jirga ... more

NOT SINCE Secretary of State Warren Christopher returned from Europe with egg on his face in May 1993 has a high-ranking American official had such a bad week abroad as Vice President Dick Cheney just spent in the Middle East. ... more

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Two weeks after a school fire killed 15 girls and triggered unprecedented public criticism, King Fahd yesterday dismissed the official overseeing girls' education. ... more

Abadan, Khuzestan Province, 25 March: For the first time in the past 21 years, a cargo plane landed in Abadan's airport in southwest of Iran on Sunday [24 March]. The plane had flown from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ... more

The gunboats were loaded onto an Iranian freighter at the North Korean port of Nampo over the past two weeks. The shipment is believed to be headed to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, U.S. intelligence officials told The Washington Times. ... more