TOKYO - The U.S. Navy says trace amounts of radiation detected near one of its nuclear submarines at a Japanese port are no cause for alarm.
The U.S. Navy reacted quickly Thursday to allay concerns about a radiation leak from one of its submarines in Japan.
The Japanese government said Wednesday that tiny amounts of radiation had […]

The remains of Maria Fyodorovna, the Danish princess who became empress of Russia in 1866, are due to be reburied in St. Petersburg on September 28. Is this Russia’s reconciliation with its Soviet past, or a Kremlin campaign to raise its own profile? 
MOSCOW (RFE/RL) — Early on September 26, a Danish naval ship carrying Maria […]

Is this barren former minefield, close to the Dead Sea in Jordan, the birthplace of Christianity? 
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries 
BETHANY-BEYOND-THE-JORDAN, JORDAN (ANS) – It was once a minefield and it’s hot, humid and covered with scrub, but the significance of this unlikely place close to the Dead Sea in Jordan may be the greatest […]

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News ServicePALU, INDONESIA (ANS) – Three Christians have been executed in Indonesia by a government firing squad
Three Christians have been executed in Indonesia by a government firing squadAccording to a news release from Jubilee Campaign, the executions of Marianus Riwu, Fabianus Tibo and Dominggus da Silva occurred at about 1.00am […]

Horse fanciers in the former Soviet Union have long known about the beauty, speed, and stamina of the Ahal-Teke breed native to Turkmenistan. But despite attempts to spread the word about this breed, the Ahal-Teke remains obscure to most of the rest of the world. A small community in the United States is trying to […]

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Phoenix returned an indictment charging a former commercial refrigeration company manager with participating in a conspiracy to rig bids on contracts for the installation of commercial refrigeration equipment in Safeway Inc. grocery stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in […]

MIAMI - Two Colombian brothers who built the world’s largest cocaine smuggling empire have pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges Tuesday in federal court in Miami. The guilty plea was the culmination of a federal investigation that spanned two decades.
Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela and his brother Miguel founded the Cali cartel, named after their home city in […]

BEIJING - China is warning Taiwan not to reform the island’s constitution. The warning from the Communist leadership on the mainland comes as legislators on the democratically ruled island consider making changes, including re-naming the island.
Revamping the constitution has been one of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s main political objectives, and one that Beijing - which […]

UNITED NATIONS - A top North Korean official has ruled out a return to six-party talks on its nuclear program, and accused the United States of trying to rule the world.The verbal broadside came during North Korea’s annual address to the U.N. General Assembly.
North Korea’s deputy foreign minister, Choe Su Hon, blamed what he called […]

TIRANA, ALBANIA - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Tuesday with Montenegro’s prime minister and received the former Yugoslav Republic’s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism.Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic told Rumsfeld that Montenegro would consider sending troops to support U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Djukanovic called terrorism a global threat that Montenegro […]

HOUSTON - The murder of a policeman in Houston has started an angry debate over immigration policy because the alleged killer is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Houston police currently operate under a policy of not asking people they encounter about their immigration status, but some outspoken local media figures are demanding that policy be […]

WHITE HOUSE - The Bush administration has released parts of a previously secret government assessment of the war on terror. It says the conflict in Iraq has become both a cause and a recruiting tool for terrorists.
The document has intensified the ongoing debate in Washington over the link between Iraq and the war on terror.
Unauthorized […]

WASHINGTON - The former Director of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) Division of Environmental Protection pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Virgin Islands government of approximately $1.4 million, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Jenkins of the District of […]

DETROIT - Seven individuals appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Detroit today on three criminal complaints charging them with various fraud offenses for their participation in filing for and receiving assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in connection to Hurricane Katrina, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced today. Murphy was joined in […]

WASHINGTON - Horizon West Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Horizon West Healthcare Inc., have agreed to pay the United States $14.7 million to settle allegations that the companies violated the civil False Claims Act, the Justice Department announced today. Rocklin, Calif.- based Horizon runs a nursing home chain with approximately 30 facilities in California […]

By Alex Murashko
Special to ASSIST News Service
DUTSE, NIGERIA (ANS) – Investigations are still ongoing for arson fires set by Muslim mobs last week in the northern Nigerian town of Dutse. The rioting and fires damaged up to 70 structures, including churches, homes, and Christian businesses, said a Christian Solidarity Worldwide(CSW) leader.
Investigations are still ongoing for […]

MOSCOW - The remains of Maria Fyodorovna, the mother of Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas the Second, have arrived in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg, from Denmark.   Two days of ceremony will culminate in her interment next to the rest of her family in the Peter and Paul Fortress. 
The coffin containing the remains of Empress […]

WASHINGTON - Joseph Francis, founder, CEO and sole shareholder of two California companies doing business under the name “Girls Gone Wild,” has pleaded guilty to charges that he failed to create and maintain age and identity documents for performers in sexually explicit films produced and distributed by “Girls Gone Wild,” as required by federal law, […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering applications from four commercial U.S. air carriers, who are vying with each other to offer the next direct flight from the United States to China.
The four U.S. airlines competing to offer direct flights to China are American, Continental, Northwest and United. Monday was the deadline for […]

Western states must fight forest fires, drought with long-term policy
By: Kirsten Brown
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - When it comes to dealing with drought, Western states tend to take the “Wile E. Coyote” approach.
That’s what Brad Udall, Western water assessment director for the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder. Colo., […]

UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has established links to 14 other political killings in Lebanon. A new report on the status of the probe says investigators are developing new leads as they move closer to pressing formal charges.  
An interim report by Belgian prosecutor Serge […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government is looking for ways to curb the multi-billion dollar child pornography business, which lawmakers say has grown almost as fast as the Internet.   The U.S. Senate Banking Committee believes one solution is to remove credit card privileges for online child porn rings.
A study by a children’s advocacy group says images […]

SEOUL - A U.S. official says North Korea could have the high-level, one-on-one conversation with the United States that it has long requested. The offer is being described as a new approach to dealing with Pyongyang - but comes attached to a long-standing demand that the North fulfill its nuclear disarmament pledges. 
The U.S. ambassador to […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush has met with a group of American business leaders who are raising private funds to help the people of Lebanon. The president says they are working with U.S. government officials to strengthen the Lebanese economy and support Lebanon’s young democratically elected government, following the conflict between Israel and Lebanese-based Hezbollah […]

IRBIL, IRAQ - Saddam Hussein’s stormy trial on genocide and other charges has resumed in Baghdad. The trial was in session just two hours before the former Iraqi leader was thrown out of court - again.
Defendant Saddam Hussein told the presiding judge he did not want to be kept in a courtroom cage anymore. His […]