MEMPHIS - For many people it is hard to believe that it has been 30 years [August 16th] since the death of rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley.   Every year, 600,000 people from around the world visit his home, Graceland, in the U.S. southern city of Memphis, Tennessee.    
In the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley played a new kind of […]

DAKAR - In Nigeria’s violence-plagued and oil-rich Niger Delta, unrest continues after one of the deadliest days in nearly a week of gang warfare. Police have confirmed nearly a dozen deaths since Monday and witnesses say that toll is likely to rise.Gunfire continued to be heard across the city of Port Harcourt, following intense battles […]

BEIJING - U.S. and North Korean diplomats are meeting in Beijing to discuss North Korea’s agreement to declare and dismantle all of its nuclear programs. Washington’s chief negotiator at the North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-Kwan. 
At the top […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesTOKYO, JAPAN (ANS) – A group of Israeli politicians and academics on Monday (August 6) sought the support of Japan’s small but influential Christian community, to be part of an increasingly global Judeo-Christian alliance against radical Islam.
A group of Israeli politicians and academics on Monday (August 6) sought the support […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President George Bush and French President Nicholas Sarkozy met Saturday for informal talks on the war in Iraq and uranium enrichment in Iran.  The French leader was a guest at the Bush family home in the Northeast state of Maine.
There was no official agenda for the hamburger-and-hot-dog picnic at the Bush estate […]

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceSAUDI ARABIA (ANS) – Christian travelers to Saudi Arabia should be forewarned to leave their Bibles at home, according to an article in the Jerusalem Post.
Christian travelers to Saudi Arabia should be forewarned to leave their Bibles at home, according to an article in the Jerusalem Post.The Post reports […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesRIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) – Members of Saudi Arabia’s controversial religious police have arrested a Nigerian man who converted to Islam for being alone with a woman he was not married to or related to. It happened after the African man helped the sick woman by taking her to hospital.
Members […]

WASHINGTON - In Iraq Friday, a car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more in the northern Kurdish city of Kirkuk. But U.S. military officials are praising the performance of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, after hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims marched to a shrine Thursday, without any major violence. 
Baghdad was […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush spends much of the rest of this month away from the White House, either at his Texas ranch or his family’s home in the northeast state of Maine, where he has lunch Saturday with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The president also will be preparing for the release of […]

WASHINGTON - Rescue efforts continue for six men trapped in a coal mine in the U.S. western state of Utah.   Although the fate of the miners is still unknown, the unfolding tragedy is putting a spotlight on America’s reliance on coal.
Few industries are as essential to the American way of life as coal mining. 
Jeff Goodell, […]

NEW YORK - The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution that expands the U.N. role in Iraq. The U.N. will play a larger role in brokering political dialogue inside Iraq and winning support from Iraq’s neighbors for the country’s security.  
The resolution passed on Friday renews the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq […]

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News ServiceBIJAPUR, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA (ANS) – A pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of conversion on Thursday, August 9th, in the Bijapur district of Karnataka State, India.
A pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of conversion on Thursday, August 9th, in the Bijapur district […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States Thursday announced a new, more aggressive, strategy for curbing the illicit drug trade in Afghanistan. U.S. officials concede that opium poppy production in the country overall is growing but say there have been local successes. 
The United States, in coordination with Britain, other NATO countries and the Kabul government, is […]

WASHINGTON - A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that whites are now in the minority in nearly one in ten U.S. counties. Experts say that increased diversity is helping to offset population losses in a number of rural areas, but it is also creating social tensions in some communities.
The population of the […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush says Iran will pay a price for what he says is a continuing effort to supply Iraqi militants with weapons to attack American troops. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday wrapped up two days of talks in Tehran. 
President Bush says he presumes Prime Minister Maliki is trying to […]

NEW YORK - In 2011, the so-called baby boomer generation of Americans born after World War II will hit 65 and start looking at its options for retirement. While more than 78 million baby boomers are contemplating how to spend their golden years, businesses are bracing themselves for labor shortages and the biggest brain drain […]

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News ServiceAUSTRALIA (ANS) – Article 2 of Egypt’s Constitution states that Islamic Law is the principal source of legislation. Islamic (Sharia) Law thus defines the rest of the Constitution, including ‘Article 46: The State shall guarantee the freedom of belief and the freedom […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour has lifted off into space late Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida and is heading towards the International Space Station for a construction mission.
The first mission of the space shuttle Endeavour in more than four years is off to a smooth start, counted down by George Diller of Launch […]

ALBUQUERQUE - Navajo rugs are highly regarded for their fine hand weaving and designs.  They are often expensive and are considered by many to be quite beautiful.
Pearl Sunrise is a Navajo weaver.  Her mother and her grandmother were also weavers. Sunrise’s multiple oak tools were made by her father and grandfathers.  Today, she is one […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesNEW YORK CITY, NY (ANS) – Several dozen Korean-Americans rallied Monday outside United Nations headquarters to demand the release of 21 Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Several dozen Korean-Americans rallied Monday outside United Nations headquarters to demand the release of 21 Korean hostages held by the Taliban in […]

BEIRUT - A Lebanese government spokesman says police have killed the second in command of the Fatah al-Islam terrorist group, which has been battling the Lebanese Army in a Palestinian refugee camp for more than two months.
News that Abu Hureira - the number-two man of the Fatah al-Islam Palestinian terrorist group - has been killed […]

WASHINGTON - Russia has threatened to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty or INF.
The INF treaty was signed in December 1987 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev. It entered into force in June 1988.
Steve Andreasen, former arms control expert on the National Security Council (1993-2001), says the treaty did […]

APOPKA, FLORIDA - Authorities in the United States are stepping up efforts to return illegal immigrants to their home countries. Under a program called  “Operation Return to Sender,” 2007 is set to be a record year for deportations. Critics say the government is shifting away from only pursuing illegal aliens with criminal records to arresting […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesGHAZNI PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) – Amid mounting concerns for the health of the 21 Koreans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Afghan doctors delivered medicines for the hostages, Reuters reported on Sunday (August 5, 2007).
Amid mounting concerns for the health of the 21 Koreans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, […]

MOSCOW - Russia has deployed a new missile defense system to protect the skies above Moscow.
The deployment included an Orthodox priest who blessed the new Russian S-400 Triumph missile system with holy water in a ceremony broadcast on national television news.
The surface-to-air facility upgrades the previous S-300 system with stronger rocket engines and an improved […]