KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan authorities this week shut down two private security companies and said more than 10 others – some suspected of murder and robbery – would soon be closed, Afghan and Western officials said yesterday.

The pilot and co-pilot of a civil plane were killed after it crashed onto a factory in northeastern Tehran at around midday.

Iran, enjoying wide popular support, is the most democratic, stable and secure country in the region, but enemies cannot stand this fact, Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said in a meeting with members of the Presidential Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina Wednesday night.