On Wednesday, Iranians mourned the loss of another member of the royal family, Alireza Pahlavi, the youngest son of the former monarch, the Los Angeles Times reports. It was the former ruling family's second loss in recent years. Alireza's sister, Leila, died of a drug overdose in a London hotel room a decade ago. Exiles who either supported the Shah, or at least thought fondly of the freewheeling period before the revolution, have been the most vocal in their mourning. But even some inside Iran have expressed sympathy for the family, despite the Shah's brutal legacy of cracking down on his political opponents.
Meanwhile, the Guardian published an article headlined "Iran arrests US woman on spy charges." It says that Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges. The woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities arrested her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles (600km) north-west of the capital. She arrived in Iran from neighbouring Armenia without a visa. The woman is the fourth American Iran has arrested and accused of spying in less than two years. The US has dismissed the spying charges and says the three are innocent hikers. Their families have said if they crossed the border at all, it was not intentional.
Hurriyet reports on a rally in Ankara. A "battle" broke out between students and police in Ankara on Wednesday after students tried to march to the city's headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. The students protested for "the basic democratic right of equal, scientific, free education in their native language" and against "the Justice and Development Party administration and attacks on students from police forces who are under their control," according to a press release distributed by the students on Monday.
"Turks see US as biggest external threat" is an article published by Hurriyet. Some 43 percent of Turks perceive the United States as the country's biggest threat, followed by Israel, according to a broad survey carried out in December. In previous years, Armenia, Russia and Greece were perceived as the main external threats for Turks. But their ratios have fallen to around 1 or 2 percent. Turks do not see them as enemies anymore. The survey asked "From which country does the biggest threat come?" with 43 percent of Turks saying the U.S., followed by 24 percent who indicated Israel, 3 percent for Iran, 2.3 percent for Greece, 2.1 for Iraq, 1.7 for Russia and 1 percent for Armenia. Some 1.3 of participants said no country posed a threat to Turkey, while 18.9 said they had no idea.
The Iranian information agency Press-TV published an article, which quotes Iranian caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehie as saying Iraq is regarded as a model of democracy in the Middle East, stressing that the country has been successful in promoting pluralism. The Iranian official added that the Iraqi nation displayed a model of freedom to the world. He expressed optimism that unity among the Iraqi nation would bring political and economic stability to the country. He also pointed out that all attempts by certain countries to damage Tehran-Baghdad ties have failed.
