WASHINGTON - On Thursday, Americans will mark our annual Thanksgiving holiday. It often revolves around a lavish dinner for family and friends that begins with a solemn prayer of thanks for our blessings. The Thanksgiving tradition is modeled after the harvest-home feasts of many cultures — especially what’s been called the First Thanksgiving in colonial […]

WASHINGTON - Not long ago, Benedict DiGiovanni played 18 holes of golf. Instead of taking an easy-going ride in a golf cart, the 41-year old orthopedic surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center decided to walk the course.
He says he didn’t have a problem until the next morning, “I woke up and put my […]

WASHINGTON — A federal court in Washington, D.C., has entered an order revoking the U.S. citizenship of a former Florida resident for his role in a Ukrainian police unit that participated in the mass murder of over 100,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal […]

Worship songs mocked, drunk Muslim boys harass girls attending 
By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in PakistanLAHORE, MANGA MANDI, PAKISTAN (ANS) – A Church of the Nazarene in Talib Sarai in district Manga Mandi some 45 kilometers from the eastern city of Lahore was pelted with stones and bricks by Muslim residents of […]

WASHINGTON - The United States and more than 30 other nations have signed a $13 - billion agreement to develop a form of nuclear power in a process called fusion. In a Paris signing ceremony, they agreed to cooperate to build an experimental reactor intended to mimic the way stars make energy, with the hope […]

LONDON - Iran and Syria are sending signals they are ready to play a larger role in curbing the continuing violence in Iraq. Tehran has invited Iraq and Syria to a summit conference and, at the same time, Iraq and Syria have renewed diplomatic relations after a nearly quarter-century break. Some experts consider the moves […]

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council has condemned the assassination of Lebanese Christian leader Pierre Gemayel. The Council also approved plans for an international court to try suspects in another political killing in Lebanon. 
The Security Council issued a statement condemning Gemayel’s assassination within hours after news of his death reached New York. The French […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush has condemned the assassination of Lebanese cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, saying the world must reject those who use violence to weaken young democracies.Speaking in Hawaii on his way home from a trip to Asia, President Bush says those responsible for the murder of Lebanese Industry Minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesLONDON, UK (ANS) – A British Airways (BA) employee has lost her fight to openly wear a cross necklace at work at London’s Heathrow Airport. 
A British Airways (BA) employee has lost her fight to openly wear a cross necklace at work at London’s Heathrow Airport. In a story on the BBC […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesDILI, EAST TIMOR (ANS) – A Brazilian missionary was murdered in Dili, as new fighting flared in the capital of East Timor late on Sunday, Nov.19 according to a U.N. spokeswoman and a government statement said on Monday (today). 
A Brazilian missionary was murdered in Dili, as new fighting flared in […]

Iraq Says No Trilateral Summit With Syria, Iran
BAGHDAD — Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will visit Tehran on November 25-26 for a long-planned bilateral summit with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
A Talabani spokesman quoted by Reuters denied earlier press reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might also be present at the talks.
On November 20, the Associated Press […]

Iraq: Syrian Minister In Baghdad As U.S. Mulls Options On Iraq
PRAGUE — Three years ago, when the U.S.-led international coalition toppled Saddam Hussein, optimism in Washington was high.
Part of the stated goal was to rebuild Iraq as a democracy that could inspire change elsewhere in the region. And that included hopes of democratic governments one […]

SEOUL - North Korea has rejected a new United Nations resolution accusing the North of human rights abuses. South Korea, which supported the measure, cut off emergency food aid to the North in the aftermath of Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear tests, and humanitarian groups now fear the number of North Koreans attempting to escape […]

NEW YORK — An 11-count indictment was unsealed today charging Javed Iqbal, a/k/a “John Iqbal,” 42, of Staten Island, N.Y., and Saleh Elahwal, 53, of Matawan, N.J., with providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization — Hizballah. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia of the Southern District of […]

WASHINGTON — Three gang members were sentenced today to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole for participating in a six-year conspiracy that led to the assault and murder of African Americans in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, the Justice Department announced. The defendants, who are members of the Avenues street […]

IRBIL, IRAQ - Iraqi and Syrian officials meeting in Baghdad continued talks on security and cooperation for a second day. Meanwhile, the security situation remained critical, as police discovered another 14 tortured bodies in Baghdad, and Iraqi and U.S. security forces again raided a Shi’ite district to try to break up kidnapping and terror cells.
Syrian […]

HO CHI MINH CITY - President Bush has completed a tour of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City following the APEC summit in Hanoi, and praised the strides America’s one-time enemy has made over 20 years of economic reforms.The U.S. president sounded a gong three times to open a session of trading Monday at Ho Chi Minh […]

NEW YORK - More than 40 million Americans trace their ancestry to Germany. In the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Art Museum is celebrating the richness of the United States’ German American heritage with an exhibition called, “Biedermeier: the Invention of Simplicity.”  
Wisconsin actively recruited German immigrants in the mid-1900’s and the state’s biggest city, […]

JERUSALEM - Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike has wounded nine Palestinians in Gaza City. They say an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying a Hamas militant.  Israel confirmed the strike.
Hours earlier, rockets fired from Gaza by Palestinian militants wounded an Israeli woman in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
Meanwhile, Israel […]

HANOI - The United States and Russia have signed a landmark trade agreement moving Moscow closer to membership in the World Trade Organization. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports the deal was announced in Hanoi as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was drawing to a close.Word of the agreement came as President Bush sat […]

U.S. Provides Additional Emergency Food Assistance to Sudan
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will fund an additional $90.5 million in additional emergency food aid to help feed the most vulnerable people in Sudan. This donation comes in addition to previous contributions of $92.2 million in fiscal year […]

KHARTOUM - United Nations Humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, has painted a grim picture of life for millions of civilians in Darfur, following his return from the war-torn region. On Saturday, Egeland appealed to the Sudanese government, armed militias and rebel groups to cease fighting.
Egeland, on his final mission to Darfur, said he was stunned at […]

NEW YORK - The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that nearly 15 percent of veterans aged 20-24 were jobless in July 2005 - three times the national average. The unemployment rate of non-veterans in the same age category was just under eight percent.Twenty-four year old Lee French is a veteran without a job. French […]

WASHINGTON - Lebanon’s political crisis deepened this week following the resignation of six government ministers from opposition parties led by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement Party. The resignations occurred after talks collapsed over Hezbollah’s demand for a key role in decision-making.
Trouble began after Israel’s military offensive into Lebanon ended last August.  The Shi’ite […]

WASHINGTON - Recent elections for the U.S. Congress and continuing bloodshed in Baghdad have renewed debate over whether there should be a timetable for American-led coalition forces to leave Iraq. Many critics of the war say the time has come to accelerate the turnover of the country to Iraqi security forces, but some analysts agree […]