JERUSALEM - Israeli police and army units removed two Jewish settler families from a house in the West Bank city of Hebron early Tuesday. More than a dozen police were injured in the incident and eleven Jewish settlers were arrested.
Police moved in at dawn to remove the two families who have been squatting in apartments […]

WASHINGTON - A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says tens of thousands of rifles, pistols and other items sent to Iraq are unaccounted for. Officials are promising to keep closer track of weapons sent to Iraq. 
The report does not say the missing weapons have gone astray, into the hands of insurgents or onto […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military in Iraq says coalition forces have killed the man behind bombings at a revered Shi’ite mosque that triggered sectarian violence across Iraq.Military authorities say Haitham al-Badri, described as the al-Qaida in Iraq emir of Salaheddin province, was killed by a U.S. air strike Thursday outside the northern city of Samarra.
He […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George W. Bush and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, are holding talks at Camp David - the secluded U.S. presidential retreat in the mountains outside Washington. 
President Karzai makes clear more must be done to stabilize Afghanistan and help its people.
“The security situation in Afghanistan has definitely deteriorated over the last […]

HIROSHIMA - Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons Monday, as the city of Hiroshima made its annual observance of of the city’s bombing by the first atomic weapon used in war.
Mr. Abe spoke to a gathering of citizens, survivors of the blast, politicians and foreign dignitaries in […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are scheduled to meet today in the West Bank city, Jericho. It will be the first time an Israeli leader has traveled to the West Bank in more than six years.
Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas are to meet less than a week after both men […]

LONDON - Foot-and-mouth disease has appeared again in Britain, six years after it sparked the widespread slaughter of about seven million cows throughout the country in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Just the mention of foot-and-mouth leaves many British farmers with a chill.
They know the severe impact the outbreak had in 2001 on rural communities […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush got a firsthand look on Saturday at the bridge that collapsed earlier this week in the northern state of Minnesota, killing at least five motorists. Several others are still missing and scores have been injured.
President Bush traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota Saturday for an aerial inspection of the disaster site. After viewing […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation authorizing temporary changes to a U.S. electronic surveillance program to allow more flexibility to intercept communications overseas. The bill was approved by a vote of 227 to 183, following a Senate vote on Friday, sent the bill to President Bush.The revisions were a key priority for President […]

PARIS - France and Libya have agreed to their first arms deal since the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Libya in 2004. The deal comes after the release last week of six medical workers who Libya accused of intentionally infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus. French opposition parties say they want proof […]

NEW YORK - The U.N. Security Council Friday voiced concern about reports of arms smuggling from Syria into Lebanon and also called on the Syrian government to step up security controls along its border with Lebanon.  The Council also offered support to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
In a statement Friday, the Security Council […]

HOUSTON - In Minneapolis, recovery work continues in the rubble of the 35 West bridge, which collapsed during the afternoon rush hour Wednesday. Officials have now confirmed five deaths from the disaster, with eight people still listed as missing. Among visitors to the site Friday was First Lady Laura Bush.
The First Lady came to the […]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says Washington is doing all it can to pressure Taleban kidnappers who are holding 21 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan. The United States has so far limited itself to making public statements calling for the hostages to be released, the official did not rule out the possibility of using military […]

WASHINGTON - Researchers aboard two small Russian submarines have planted the country’s flag nearly 4,300 meters below the North Pole.The mission was aimed at laying claim to vast mineral riches below the polar ice cap.
After spending much of Thursday submerged in the Arctic Ocean, Russian television footage showed the two orange and white deepwater submarines […]

WASHINGTON - Consideration Friday by the House of Representatives of defense spending legislation will give Democrats and Republicans a last opportunity before a long summer break to voice opposing views about the situation in Iraq. Majority Democrats will be holding much of their fire until September, when the Bush administration is to deliver a major […]

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceRIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) – An Egyptian Christian working in Saudi Arabia as a surgeon has been repeatedly blocked from going home for over two years. The Saudi government has intentionally run him in circles, promising he can leave, then refusing to let him go.
An Egyptian Christian working in […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesVAN NUYS, CA (ANS) – Afghanistan’s Taliban have threatened to kill more of the 21 South Korean hostages after a Wednesday deadline expired, the Daily Times of Pakistan has revealed in a story.
Afghanistan’s Taliban have threatened to kill more of the 21 South Korean hostages after a Wednesday deadline expired, […]

CHELMSFORD, ENGLAND - Scouts from all over the world have descended on Britain to celebrate the 100th anniversary (August 1st) of the scouting movement. At the 21st Jamboree in the British town of Chelmsford, 40 thousand scouts created their own town made entirely of tents for 12 days of adventure and friendship. 
Scouting communities from 216 […]

WARSAW - Poland’s capital came to a standstill Wednesday as the country marked the 63rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising - an ill-fated revolt against Nazi Germany.Warsaw residents stood silently and sirens wailed at 5 p.m. local time, the exact hour when Polish fighters rose up against the city’s Nazi occupiers on August 1, 1944.
Nazi […]

HOUSTON - A bridge spanning the Mississippi River in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis collapsed Wednesday, during the evening rush hour, dumping scores of vehicles into the river. At least seven people died and local hospitals have treated dozens of people for injuries.
Officials say the Interstate 35 West bridge was crowded with about 50 vehicles […]

WHITE HOUSE - The Bush administration is citing increased co-operation from the Iraqi public in the search for hidden weapons as a sign of progress in Iraq.
According to U.S. commanders in the field, the number of arms caches seized by coalition forces in the first six months of this year is already above the amount […]

WASHINGTON - The head of a U.S. oversight agency investigating reconstruction projects in Iraq says there are many instances of fraud and waste that are hampering efforts to improve living conditions in the country.
Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, heads the independent agency that oversees the $44 billion of funds authorized by […]