Iran’s President Proposes Debate With Bush   

TEHRAN (RFE/RL) — Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, during a televised press conference today, said Iran does not represent a threat to anyone. 
 
He added that his government is willing to talk to the international community about all outstanding issues, but he questioned the veto right of the UN Security Council’s permanent members and […]

Case Against John Mark Karr Dropped
BOULDER - Prosecutors have withdrawn their case against John Mark Karr, the man who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, since DNA tests do not place him at the crime scene.
“The people would not be able to establish that Mr. Karr committed this crime despite his repeated insistence that […]

Watchdog Group Warns Against Free AOL Software
WASHINGTON - The software watchdog group StopBadware.org, ran by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society of Harvard Law School and the Oxford Internet Institute, has opened a dialogue with AOL with concerns over the presence of badware, also known as malware, in the now-free AOL 9.0 software. Badware […]

Turkey Debates Sending Troops To Lebanon
TURKEY - Turkish government spokesman and Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has confirmed the Turkish government’s intentions to send troops to Lebanon under the UN Resolution 1701. The statement was made after the Council of Ministers meeting yesterday. The final decision is to be made by Turkish parliament.
The statement also revealed […]

House Church in Inner Mongolia Raided, Woman Missionary Sentenced to Re-education through Labor,Civil Rights Activist, Chen Guangchang Sentenced  
By Michael Ireland
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceMIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) – A house church in Liang Jiagou Village, Wudaqu District, Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China has been raided by the local police.
A house church in Liang […]

Firearms Industry Calls Gun Microstamping Ill-Advised and Says Bill Will Lead to a Ban on Ammunition Sales in California 
NEWTOWN, Conn. - The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, said today that Senate passage of AB 352, legislation which will mandate the use of unreliable, patented, sole-sourced technology to microstamp […]

John Mark Karr DNA Does Not Match Evidence In JonBenet Ramsey Murder
BOULDER - According to reports by MSNBC and KUSA, a local television station in Denver, Colorado, tests performed on DNA samples taken from John Mark Karr, the man who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, do not match DNA samples recovered from Ramsey’s […]

Israel’s Olmert Rejects Independent Investigation Into War 
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said he will appoint two government commissions to examine Israel’s conduct in the recent conflict in Lebanon, but he rejected calls for an independent investigation.  
Ehud Olmert faced down his critics, saying there will be no official state inquiry into the […]

Crime Rate Soars as People Return to New Orleans 
NEW ORLEANS - Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans a year ago, the city had one of the highest crime rates in the United States.  
New Orleans has only about half the population it had before Katrina. But law enforcement officials say, among the people who have come […]

US Calls Iranian Nuclear Defiance Disappointing 
STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States said Monday Iran’s apparent intention to defy the U.N. Security Council on its nuclear program is disappointing, and that it expects the world community to follow through with sanctions against Tehran. The Security Council’s deadline for Iran to stop reprocessing uranium and return to […]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is considering replacing the nuclear warheads on some ballistic missiles with conventional munitions so that they can be used for “pre-emptive” strikes against terrorists, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters after a meeting with Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov.
“If either of our countries or friends and allies were threatened at some […]

Activists in Iran have started a petition drive calling for changes to laws that discriminate against women. Organizers hope to attract the signature of 1 million Iranians — a challenge that they say public officials could not ignore. Authorities blocked the gathering at which the launch was supposed to take place on August 27 on […]

LEXINGTON - A Comair Canadair Regional Jet operating as Delta Connection Flight 5191 crashed after takeoff from Lexington, Kentucky at 6:07 a.m. Eastern Time, killing 49 of 50 people aboard. The sole confirmed survivor, First Officer James M. Polehinke, was taken to the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Medical Center, where he is currently listed in […]

TOKYO - An influential moderate from the Middle East is calling for Israel to drop its opposition to Asian Muslims being included in the United Nations peacekeeping force headed for Lebanon. Jordan’s Prince Hassan made his call in conjunction with a peace dialogue now underway among world religious leaders in Japan.
Jordan’s Prince El-Hassan bin Talal […]

SYDNEY - Australian terrorism suspect David Hicks will not face the death penalty if he is found guilty by the United States of war crimes and attempted murder. This assurance has been given by the new U.S. ambassador to Australia, Robert McCallum. Hicks has been held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay since […]

PRAGUE (RFE/RL) - Defying Western calls to stop its nuclear programs, Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad launched a new phase in the country’s nuclear development on August 26 as he formally opened a heavy-water-production plant at Arak.  
 

The plant is designed to supply a heavy-water nuclear reactor. Iran says the reactor will be used for electricity, but […]

WASHINGTON - With the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching on August 29, the effects of the devastating storm are still being felt in the southeastern United States. While much attention has been focused on the recovery in the city of New Orleans, many rural areas are struggling to rebound as well. 
Officials with the National […]

DARFUR - An American journalist is being held in Sudan’s Darfur region on charges of espionage and entering the country illegally. The case has highlighted issues of press freedom in Sudan, a nation which routinely censors independent media.
 
Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer-prize winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, was arrested in Darfur earlier this month, […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush is marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a pledge that the federal government will continue helping people along America’s Gulf Coast rebuild their lives. The killer storm was America’s costliest natural disaster. 
President Bush says Hurricane Katrina showed that federal, state, and local officials were unprepared to respond to such a […]

JERUSALEM - Two journalists, who have been held for nearly two weeks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, were freed unharmed on Sunday. 
Fox television correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, were greeted by a tumultuous welcome at a Gaza City hotel on Sunday –  just minutes after they were released by a previously […]

TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad today opened a heavy-water plant intended to fuel a nuclear research reactor that is currently under construction.  
 

The ceremony took place at the Khondab plant near the city of Arak, some 200 kilometers southwest of Tehran.  
Ahmadinejad said that his country’s controversial nuclear program poses no threat to any other country, […]

ISLAMABAD - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a U.S.-led attack that left at least eight people dead. The U.S. military says the raid targeted an al-Qaida hideout, but local officials say the victims were all civilians, not militants.  
President Karzai ordered the probe after local authorities said the attack in the […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department said Friday it is investigating whether Israel may have used cluster munitions in Lebanon in violation of agreements with the United States restricting their use. A United Nations agency said earlier this week it has found abundant evidence that Israel used the bombs against Hezbollah guerrillas, some in populated […]

WASHINGTON - Bruce D. Hopfengardner, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges in a scheme to defraud the Coalition Provisional Authority - South Central Region (CPA-SC) in Al- Hillah, Iraq, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.
At today’s hearing before the Honorable Colleen […]

WASHINGTON - America’s Indian tribes are working successfully with public and private utilities to deliver energy to millions of families throughout the country, according to a joint report just released by the federal Departments of Energy (DOE) and the Interior (DOI).
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which represents 70 percent of Indian tribes in […]