MANILLA - Philippine military officials say troops have killed a top leader of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, which is linked to a number of bloody attacks in the country.
General Hermogenes Esperon, the chief of the Philippine military, said Wednesday that army special forces killed Abu Sulaiman in a gun battle on the southwestern island […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush has made his toughest comments to date on the way Iraqi officials handled the execution of Saddam Hussein. The president’s remarks came in his second nationally broadcast interview in less than a week.
President Bush says Iraq sent a confusing signal to the world. Mr. Bush says after giving Saddam Hussein […]

JERUSALEM - The head of the Israeli Defense Forces, Air Force General Dan Halutz has resigned. Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accepted the resignation just hours after Israel’s state prosecutor ordered a criminal investigation into Mr. Olmert’s role in the privatization of a leading Israeli bank two years ago. 
After months of mounting criticism of his […]

MILWAUKEE — The Potawatomi Business Development Corporation (PBDC) announced today the purchase of Advancia Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The purchase of Advancia allows the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe of Wisconsin to participate in the Federal Government contracting arena at a new level.
“The purchase of Advancia offers the Potawatomi Capital Company, a division of PBDC, […]

ISLAMABAD - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is making his first visit to Afghanistan since taking the job last month. U.S. officials want to discuss Taleban attacks that have increased since Pakistan signed a controversial peace deal with tribal militants last September.
Secretary Gates is meeting with military and civilian leaders during his two-day visit to […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan forces launched a powerful air strike against a series of suspected al-Qaida military camps in the country’s tribal region near the Afghan border Tuesday. Officials say a number of foreign militants were among those killed.
Military spokesman General Shaukat Sultan says the raid occurred early Tuesday morning in the South Waziristan tribal area.
“We […]

Thousands celebrate the Epiphany at what many now believe to be the baptism site of Jesus
It is in a barren former minefield, close to the Dead Sea in Jordan 
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries 
BETHANY-BEYOND-THE-JORDAN, JORDAN (ANS) – It was once a minefield and in the summer months, it’s hot, humid and covered with scrub, but […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush says he will implement his revised Iraq strategy despite substantial Congressional opposition. The president and his top aides are defending his plan in a series of interviews on national television.
President Bush makes the case for his new plan in an interview recorded for broadcast late Sunday on one of the most […]

BAGHDAD – A spokesman for Iraq’s government has confirmed that two of Saddam Hussein’s codefendants have been hanged for crimes against humanity.
Hussein’s half-brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and Awad Hamad al-Bandar, the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court,  had been found guilty along with Hussein of the killing of 148 Shi’ite residents of […]

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Tawafuq (accordance) Front has released the following statement through its representative Focus on Advocacy & Advancement of International Relations (FAAIR).
His Excellency Vice President of the Republic of Iraq Mr. Tariq Al-Hashemi declared today his approval of President George W. Bush’s new strategy and proposed call for additional US troops in Iraq, announced […]

BAGHDAD - U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and other members of a congressional delegation met in Baghdad Saturday with Iraq’s prime minister and U.S. military commanders to discuss plans to stem violence in the country. 
The U.S. delegation’s visit to Baghdad comes amid a debate in Congress over President Bush’s proposal to send an additional 20,000 U.S. […]

WASHINGTON (RFE/RL) — Iran demands the immediate release of five Iranians held by U.S. forces in Iraq, saying they were “involved in consulate affairs.”
The U.S. military earlier announced that five Iranians arrested in northern Iraq on January 11 were connected to the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which it said provides support to Iraqi insurgents.
Iran’s […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush is defending plans to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq as part of what he says is a new way forward. Opposition Democrats say it will only make things worse.
Responding to criticism of the plan, President Bush says this strategy will succeed where past efforts have […]

WASHINGTON and LINDON, Utah — Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein and Footnote, Inc. CEO Russell Wilding today announced an agreement to digitize selected records from the vast holdings of the National Archives. The 4.5 million pages that have been digitized so far are now available at www.footnote.com/nara.
This non-exclusive agreement, beginning with the sizeable […]

PENTAGON - Along with his new Iraq strategy and troop increase, President Bush has named a new commander for U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. He is Lieutenant General  David Petraeus, the man who has spent the last year supervising the re-writing of the army’s counterinsurgency manual. If the Senate approves his assignment, he will have […]

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  – A ninth doctor was sentenced today as a result of an Internet prescription investigation that started in Dubuque, Iowa, and worked its way across the United States. Acting U.S. Attorney Judith Whetstine of the Northern District of Iowa announced that an Illinois physician who illegally prescribed drugs over the Internet was […]

LONDON - Gunmen fired a rocket at the American embassy in Athens early Friday morning, causing damage but no injuries. Greek police are calling it terrorism and authorities blame a leftist Greek militant group.
The rocket hit the heavily fortified embassy building shortly before 6:00 am local time.
U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries told journalists damage was not […]

WASHINGTON (RFE/RL) — Afghanistan saw its bloodiest battle in months overnight when NATO and Afghan troops spotted two groups of militants mainly within Pakistan and then tracked them as they crossed into Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktika Province.
The NATO alliance says as many as 150 insurgents were killed during an overnight battle in southeastern Afghanistan after the insurgents […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush has launched a campaign to win public support for his revised Iraq strategy. Mr. Bush traveled to one of America’s largest military bases - Fort Benning, Georgia. 
While members of his cabinet were testifying about the new strategy on Capitol Hill, Mr. Bush sought to rally public support for the plan.
He […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday resisted calls for U.S. outreach to Iran and Syria over what the Bush administration sees as efforts by those countries to destabilize Iraq. In Senate testimony, Rice said the United States is not prepared to pay a diplomatic price for such contacts. 
Rice is insisting that if […]

WASHINGTON - An international team of scientists has cracked the genetic code of the parasite that causes one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases in the world known as trichomoniasis. The research is expected to help people with the infection soon.
Up close, the single-celled bacterium that causes trichomoniasis is almost pretty to look as […]

BAGHDAD — Iraq state television reported today that U.S. troops raided the Iranian Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil and arrested several Iranian officials.
The Iranian news agency IRNA confirmed the raid, saying U.S. troops arrested five Iranian officials at the consulate in the Kurdish region and confiscated documents and computers. 
IRNA also reported that […]

WASHINGTON (RFE/RL) — U.S. President George W. Bush said he intends to end the bloody civil strife in Iraq by sending 21,500 more troops to the country.
In a televised address on the evening of January 10, Bush acknowledged he’d made some mistakes in his handling of the nearly 4-year-old war, but said he was determined […]

CAPITOL HILL - President Bush’s plan to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq in a temporary surge to help the Iraqi government fight insurgents has been met with sharp criticism from majority Democrats. 
In the official Democratic response, Senator Richard Durbin said the president is ignoring the advice of his military commanders, and the […]

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee met Wednesday to hear whether government databases that store information about U.S. citizens violate the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, made clear his priorities by devoting the committee’s first hearing of the year to an examination of the […]