By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (ANS) – Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, the former televangelist and Christian singer died Friday morning of inoperable cancer, CNN’s Larry King said Sat. night. She was 65.
King said the family had asked him to make the delayed announcement. Messner was a guest on CNN’s “Larry King […]

ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan’s former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has died at the age of 92. Born October 16, 1914, the king ruled Afghanistan for 40 years until he was deposed in a bloodless coup in 1973. After a lengthy exile, he returned in 2002 to help his war-torn country’s new democratic government. The former monarch […]

ISTANBUL - Turkish voters went to the polls Sunday to cast their votes for a new 550-seat parliament. The choices are varied and the election is widely seen as crucial for Turkey’s future.There is no shortage of choice - 14 political parties and a large slate of independent candidates are vying for seats in parliament.
By […]

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) – International Christian Concern (ICC), a Washington-DC based human rights group, www.persecution.org  says the Korean Embassy in Afghanistan has launched a search mission for the kidnapped South Korean evangelists taken from a bus yesterday.Taliban insurgents abducted about 20 South Korean Christians who were on an […]

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceKABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) – Twenty-three Korean Christians have been kidnapped from a bus in Afghanistan, officials said on Friday. This is the biggest group of foreigners seized so far in the militant campaign to oust the government and its Western backers.
Twenty-three Korean Christians have been kidnapped from a bus […]

MIAMI - Some U.S. senators have welcomed a new report that suggests easing U.S. trade restrictions with Cuba could boost American farm sales to the Communist-ruled island. In Miami, experts say Cuba’s political and economic system, however, remain key obstacles to lifting U.S. trade restrictions.
The report by the U.S. International Trade Commission shows that the […]

BEIJING - China has shut down two companies for exporting tainted pet food ingredients believed responsible for poisoning hundreds of dogs and cats in North America. China has been defending itself against accusations of poor quality controls after a series of revelations that some exports were unsafe. Chinese officials say lax U.S. customs inspections are […]

WASHINGTON - The second ranking U.S. commander in Iraq says the coalition offensive that began a month ago is making “significant progress” toward establishing security, but he said he will not be able to assess whether that progress will be long-term until later in the year. Speaking via satellite from Iraq to reporters at the […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States Thursday gave strong support to Britain in its escalating diplomatic dispute with Russia over the Alexander Litvinenko murder case. The State Department says Moscow should comply with Britain’s demand for the extradition of a Russian suspect in the case of the murdered former spy.
The Bush administration is publicly calling […]

WASHINGTON - The White House is stepping up pressure on Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf to oust al-Qaida terrorists from remote areas along the border with Afghanistan.
White House Spokesman Tony Snow says there is no doubt that President Musharraf needs to take more aggressive steps to end al-Qaida’s safe haven in Pakistani tribal areas.
The terrorist […]

GLOUCESTERSHIRE - The 60th anniversary of the United States Air Force was celebrated at an airshow in Britain over the weekend. All kinds of aircraft were featured at the show, from antique B-52s to the agile Thunderbirds aerobatics team. Organizers wanted to celebrate the close relationship between the U.K. and U.S. military forces. 
F-15 fighter jets, […]

IRBIL, IRAQ - The U.S. military says it has captured the top Iraqi member of al-Qaida in Iraq.  Officials say Khaled al-Mashhadani was an intermediary among top al-Qaida leaders including Osama bin Laden. 
Khaled al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured July 4 in the northern city of Mosul.
U.S. Brigadier General Kevin Bergner told reporters in […]

MIAMI - Chinese manufacturers are facing harsh scrutiny after a series of health scares involving toxic exports to several nations.  In Panama, officials are struggling to understand how a poisonous chemical made in China was wrongly mixed into a cough syrup formula, killing more than 100 people since last year.  China has denied wrongdoing in […]

WASHINGTON - Majority Democrats and opposition Republicans in the U.S. Congress focused on the fight against terrorism Tuesday as they debated the latest government report on the threat facing the country. There is strong disagreement on the best strategy to keep the country safe and on how to deal with the war in Iraq.
Speaking after […]

WASHINGTON - Terrorism topped the agenda for U.S. President George Bush as he met Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The president and secretary-general discussed the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region and U.N. investigations into the killings of anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon.
But the president focused on terrorism in remarks to reporters following his meeting […]

LONDON - Britain is expelling four Russian diplomats and exploring other retaliatory measures after the refusal by Moscow to send former intelligence officer Andrei Lugovoi to London for trial in the murder of his former colleague, Alexander Litvinenko. Moscow says the British move will lead to serious consequences when Russia responds.
British-Russian relations have taken a […]

WASHINGTON - The United States says it is hopeful the six-party agreement to end North Korea’s nuclear program is getting back on track, following confirmation that the communist country’s main nuclear reactor has been shut down. The six parties meet at the envoy level in Beijing later this week.
North Korea agreed to shut down […]

HONG KONG - Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in northwestern Japan due to fears of mudslides and aftershocks following Monday’s powerful earthquake. At least nine people were killed in the disaster. The damage to a nuclear power plant in the region has again focused attention on the safety of the country’s […]

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake hit northwestern Japan Monday morning, killing at least six people, injuring more than 700 others, and causing a minor fire at a nuclear power plant. 
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Monday shortly after 10 a.m. Japan time, 60 kilometers southwest of Niigata City in the Sea of Japan.
Hospitals in the region reported […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s elder statesman, Shimon Peres, 83, was sworn in Sunday as his country’s ninth president, a largely ceremonial post that has come under a cloud of scandal in recent years. Israeli officials have agreed to stop pursuing about 180 wanted Palestinian militants loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, one day before Mr. Abbas […]

BANGKOK - The head of the United Nations nuclear agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, says his inspectors have confirmed that North Korea has shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, a key step in efforts to halt the country’s production of nuclear weapons. From Bangkok, ElBaradei says North Korea’s move is positive but that there is still […]

MOSCOW - Russia has suspended its participation in a European arms control treaty, because of what the Kremlin has described as “extraordinary circumstances.”
President Putin signed a decree Saturday suspending Russia’s participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.  In a statement, the Kremlin said it was taking that step because of “extraordinary circumstances that affect […]

By Patrick Reilly
Special to ASSIST News ServiceMANCHESTER, UK (ANS) – Christian police officers and support staff of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) force have an updated website, loaded with the latest news and information of their ministry among their colleagues, which has attracted the attention and respect of senior officers as well as senior politicians […]

By Patrick Reilly.
Special to ASSIST News ServicePARIS, FRANCE (ANS) – The hopes and prayers of the families of three Israeli Defense soldiers taken hostage a year ago have intensified as an historic meeting is taking place between French officials and a delegation representing Hezbollah in Paris this week.
The hopes and prayers of the families of […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says it is too soon to judge the success of his decision to send more troops to Iraq. Opposition Democrats say it is time to start bringing those troops home.
President Bush used his weekly radio address to defend the recent administration report on mixed progress in Iraq, saying his strategy […]