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Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 11, 2001
Fistfights follow warning in Tehran
TEHRAN, Iran -- Fistfights broke out between hard-liners and supporters of a leading dissident on Saturday, shortly after President Mohammad Khatami warned that extremist interpretations of Islamic law were threatening freedom and democratic rule in Iran.
"The revolution belongs to all Iranians and nobody has the right to seize it in his own name or tendency," Khatami said in a speech marking the 22nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. "Misrepresentation of Islam and seizing Islam in favor of narrow, dark and non-democratic tendencies is threatening the country."
Not long after Khatami's speech, hard-line vigilantes clashed with supporters of Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, the head of the reformist Iranian People's Democratic Front party.
Authorities arrested more than 50 of Tabarzadi's supporters.
HAGEN, Germany -- Thousands more protesters than expected turned out Saturday to demonstrate against a neo-Nazi march in western Germany that drew 250 people.
About 7,500 counter-demonstrators came to the march organized by the Federation of German Unions, far exceeding the 5,000 expected. Police said 200 protesters tried to break through barriers and disrupt the neo-Nazi march.
Four police officers sustained minor injuries and 17 demonstrators were arrested.
URUS-MARTAN, Russia -- Clashes between Russian troops and Chechen separatists left seven dead Saturday, media reports said, after a rebel commander was captured by Russian authorities in the breakaway republic.
Rebel commander Ali Shabazov was captured by Russian troops Friday during a raid in the village of Shalazhi, in southwestern Chechnya, Interior Ministry officials said.
BEIJING -- A severed underwater cable between China and the United States has disrupted Asian Internet users' access to U.S. Web sites, China's Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.
Authorities were unsure what caused the break in the fiber optic cable on Friday morning, but a China Telecom official told the news agency that fishing vessels and undersea drilling have caused similar breaks in the past.
Repair crews were headed to the site about 230 miles off China to investigate.