By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News ServiceFORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (ANS) – Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.., today announced the retirement of its senior pastor Dr. D. James Kennedy.
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.., today announced the retirement of its senior pastor Dr. D. James Kennedy.Church officials assured the […]

JERUSALEM - Israel is considering a military response in the Gaza Strip after an infiltration by Palestinian militants. Israel sees Gaza as a growing threat since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory from the more moderate Fatah faction two months ago. 
Israeli Cabinet ministers demanded tough military action Sunday after two Palestinian […]

NEW YORK - A delegation of U.S. advocates for Darfur says Friday that conditions in refugee camps in Sudan and Chad are appalling and that the population in Darfur continues to suffer a genocide by attrition in those camps.
The advocates recently returned from Chad where they saw first-hand what they called the deplorable condition of […]

NEW DELHI - At least 42 people have been killed and scores of others wounded in powerful blasts in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Senior officials are calling it a terrorist attack.Police say the blasts ripped through a roadside food stall and an amusement park in Hyderabad late Saturday within minutes of each other.
Hundreds of people were at […]

WHITE HOUSE - In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush says U.S. troop reinforcements in Iraq are helping to reduce sectarian violence there. A short while later, a former Democratic senator gave a radio address saying the war is encouraging terrorists.
The White House is due to give a key report on Iraq to Congress […]

MIAMI - A U.S. judge has refused to block the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France to face money laundering charges. Noriega is seeking to return home when his U.S. prison term ends next month.
The federal judge in Miami rejected claims from attorneys for former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who are seeking […]

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon for another year, as requested by the Lebanese government. 
Council members unanimously adopted the resolution to extend the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, through August 2008. The 13,000-strong force patrols the Lebanese-Israeli border area. It was strengthened after the […]

MEMPHIS - It has been nearly 40 years since the assassination of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior. He was gunned down at a motel in Memphis, in the southern U.S. state of Tennessee. That motel was turned into the National Civil Rights Museum and highlights people who fought for racial equality and […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military commander in one of Iraq’s troubled areas has rejected a call by influential Republican Senator John Warner to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by the end of this year. Army Major General Rick Lynch spoke to U.S. reporters in a video conference from Iraq Friday.
Major General Lynch, commander of coalition forces […]

MOSCOW - Human bones found near the city of Yekaterinburg are undergoing forensic examination to see if they are the remains of the son of Russia’s last czar. If confirmed, the archaeological find could help answer questions about the fate of Russia’s last royal family, the Romanovs.
Russian Archeologists say they have discovered bones near the […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli border communities are facing the new school year under the threat of Palestinian rockets.  Residents are accusing the Israeli government of failing to protect them.
Parents in the Israeli border town of Sderot say five out of nine schools have not been fortified, even though Palestinian rockets fired from the nearby Gaza Strip […]

IRBIL - The electricity shortage in Iraq continues to plague the country.  Power blackouts have become a telling symbol of the difficulties Iraq’s government and the United States are having in improving life for ordinary Iraqis.  But power plants being built in the Kurdish region could end the local electrical shortage and send power to […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush is calling on Americans to have patience with the war in Iraq as he works to restore public support by focusing on the the conflict’s broader context in history rather than the daily reporting of casualties. The Bush administration’s effort comes ahead of a critical report to Congress that is […]

NEW YORK - The American market accounts for nearly a third of the estimated $100 billion a year the world spends on toys and video games. And while most of the world’s largest toy companies are American, 80 percent of the toys they sell are manufactured in China.
Consumer confidence in the safety of Chinese-made toys […]

IRBIL - An economic boom is under way in the relatively peaceful and secure northern region of Iraq.  But inflation is also on the rise and wages for some workers are actually decreasing.
The city of Irbil is under construction.  Its center is being transformed with new shopping malls, offices and hotels. City officials believe the […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush says he supports Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The president’s statement came in a speech Wednesday that followed calls by a U.S. senator for replacing the government in Baghdad. The president is hoping to restore public support for the war in Iraq by comparing that fight to past […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States Wednesday condemned Burma’s arrest of at least 13 activists who staged rare public demonstrations this week against government-mandated fuel price increases. The State Department accuses the military government in Rangoon of a “blatant” attempt to silence peaceful protests.
Public protests are rare in Burma, where the military government brutally repressed […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has released an alleged al-Qaida operative without charge three years after his arrest. The suspect played a key role in an undercover sting operation that targeted known al-Qaida terrorists.Pakistani authorities say Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan was freed several days ago and is with his family in the southern city of Karachi.
Khan’s lawyer, […]

KOCHI - An Indian car maker is getting set to roll out a car next year aimed at those on the lower end of the country’s economy. It is expected to extend the dream of car ownership to millions of Indians.
Many Indians predict the country’s already jammed streets are going to get even more clogged […]

BUDAPEST - German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that her country’s dependence on Russian energy will not prevent her from criticizing Russia’s human rights record. Ms. Merkel made the comments during a visit to Budapest, where she also discussed the future of Kosovo, the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province of Serbia.
Energy issues were high on the agenda during […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush says, despite Washington’s frustration with the slow pace of political progress in Iraq, it is up to Iraqis to decide the future of their government.  The president is responding to an influential U.S. Senator who says Iraq’s parliament should dismiss Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The chairman of the U.S. […]

NEW YORK - The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution extending its authorization of the African Union’s mission in Somalia for another six months. It also calls for the U.N. to develop plans for a possible deployment of U.N. troops to Somalia. But some diplomats say the resolution passed Monday does not go […]

JERUSALEM - The Israeli government has reached a compensation deal with Holocaust survivors ending a bitter feud. Many survivors of the Nazi genocide during World War II have also suffered from financial difficulties.
The Israeli government is granting Holocaust survivors an additional monthly stipend of nearly $300. The agreement came after embarrassing revelations that one third […]

TEHRAN - Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator has warned the U.N. Security Council against imposing new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, saying doing so would be a “grave mistake.”Iranian state media quote Ali Larijani as saying a new sanctions resolution would make Iran’s cooperation with the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency “futile.”
Larijani spoke Monday […]