WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner Friday agreed on the need for more pressure, through sanctions and business restrictions, to get Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions. They also jointly condemned this week’s murder of Lebanese politician Antoine Ghanem.  
The French foreign minister, on the eve of his […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. tech-heavy stock exchange, Nasdaq, has struck a deal to sell a 20 percent stake to the United Arab Emirates-owned Borse Dubai, in exchange for control of the Nordic bourse operator OMX. But the deal was followed by Persian Gulf neighbor Qatar acquiring large stakes in the London Stock Exchange and OMX. […]

PARIS - The French National Assembly has adopted legislation tightening immigration requirements. The senate has not yet examined the bill, which includes a controversial provision for voluntary DNA testing. 
France is hardly a fortress, but it is getting harder to enter the country as a legal immigrant - and easier for illegal aliens to be deported. The […]

PENTAGON - The Pentagon says an Iranian operative captured in Iraq on Thursday and accused of helping Iraqi insurgents was acting under orders from the elite Quds Force. 
The U.S. military command in Iraq says the man was arrested in Sulimaniyah Province in the northeast along the Iranian border. The command says the unidentified man is […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has rejected, by a 28 to 70 vote, a Democratic-sponsored measure to withdraw troops from Iraq and cut funding for the war.
The measure, proposed as an amendment to a defense bill, called for most U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by next June and cutting off financing for military operations. 
Senator […]

WHITE HOUSE - says one of the reasons for the slow pace of political progress in Baghdad is the continuing legacy of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
When President Bush announced he was sending reinforcements to Iraq earlier this year, one of his goals was to have Iraqis in charge of security in all 18 provinces by […]

BEIRUT - Stores, banks and some government offices were closed in many parts of Beirut to mourn the slaying of Christian member of parliament Antoine Ghanem in a car bomb explosion, Wednesday.
Anger, frustration and fear are gripping many Lebanese, after Wednesday’s powerful car bomb explosion that ripped through rush-hour traffic and killed Christian Lebanese Member […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s Election Commission says the presidential election will take place on October 6, despite pending legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid.
Thursday’s announcement by the election commission, whose head was appointed by Mr. Musharraf, ignores several petitions currently before the Supreme Court challenging his eligibility to seek re-election.
Opponents have argued that the […]

ISTANBUL - Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has called for new sanctions against Iran because of its ongoing nuclear program.  The call was made during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara, where Burns met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.   Turkey, which borders on Iran, is viewed by the United States as a key […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush is urging the U.S. Congress to permanently extend a law that enables the government to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists. Mr. Bush made the case for action during a visit to the top-secret National Security Agency near Washington. 
President Bush says the law gives the intelligence community the tools it needs to keep […]

WASHINGTON - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced $280 million in grants to fight the global tuberculosis epidemic. The money will be used to develop vaccines, diagnostic tests and drugs to treat a disease that kills nearly two million people each year.
The Gates Foundation has pledged $900 million in grants to fight TB […]

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear activities, after France’s foreign minister warned that the world should prepare for war if negotiations fail.
In a news conference with reporters to mark the opening of the 62nd Session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General said […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has urged lawmakers not to weaken powers Congress approved in August expanding government capabilities conduct electronic eavesdropping to prevent future terrorist attacks.
Before leaving Washington in August for its summer break, Congress approved what is called the Protect America Act.
Passed with bipartisan margins in the House […]

ISLAMABAD - A lawyer for Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has said Mr. Musharraf plans to give up his post as chief of the military if he wins forthcoming presidential elections. The statement was made to Pakistan’s Supreme Court as it was holding hearings on petitions challenging the right of Mr. Musharraf to run for president. 
Government […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - A White House report says Burma and Venezuela failed during the past year to make substantial efforts to curb drug trafficking or cooperate with the United States on the issue. Venezuela and Burma were among 20 countries listed in the report as major drug-producing or narcotics-transiting countries.
Officials here say being on the […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush and members of his national security team conferred via video teleconference Monday with U.S. reconstruction and military officials in Iraq.
President Bush leaves no doubt he is pleased with the news he got from U.S. personnel in Baghdad, Fallujah and Wasit province.
“For the week of September 8th to 15th, attack levels […]

CAPITOL HILL - U.S. Senate Democratic leaders are planning to hold votes next week on a series of measures aimed at changing the course of the Iraq war.   Congressional Democrats are rejecting President Bush’s plan for a gradual troop pullback from Iraq as too little too late. 
Speaking at a military base not far from Washington, […]

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesWASHINGTON, DC (ANS) – A U.S. State Department report released on Friday (September 14, 2007) has said that political violence in Iraq has significantly impaired religious freedom there. But the annual world-wide survey cited improvements in conditions for religious adherents in, among other places, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
A U.S. State […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says American troops are likely to remain in Iraq for the long term, although their numbers will decline and their mission will change. Gates defended President Bush’s war strategy during a series of interviews on American television.
President Bush has spoken of an enduring U.S. military presence in Iraq. […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says he will bring nearly 6,000 U.S. troops home from Iraq by the end of the year because security there is improving. 
President Bush used his weekly radio address to recap Thursday’s nationwide address in which he announced that 5,700 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of […]

Ten Tribal Sites Selected to Help Expand AMBER Alert into Indian CountryWASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced that ten Tribal sites have been selected to serve as pilot communities as part of the Department’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. The ten Tribal sites will serve as demonstration sites for other Native American […]

Tribe calls on House to maintain Senate level in Conference negotiationsROSEBUD, S.D. — The Rosebud Sioux Tribe announced today that $4 million was included for the Advanced Electronics Rosebud Integration Center (AERIC) in the U.S. Senate’s Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Appropriations bill. The bill was passed by the full Senate September 12, 2007.
ROSEBUD, S.D. — […]

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is planning to give domestic law enforcement agencies increased access to powerful spy satellite technology. The Department of Homeland Security says the satellites will be used to boost border security and help rescuers respond to natural disasters. But some lawmakers and civil liberties groups say that the program may invade […]

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he hopes U.S. troop levels in Iraq can be cut to about 100,000 by the end of next year, a figure that is well beyond cuts recently approved by President Bush.Stressing he is expressing his hope, not a Bush administration plan, Secretary Gates told reporters at the Pentagon […]

WASHINGTON - Sunni Arab mourners in western Iraq called for revenge against al-Qaida at the funeral of Sunni tribal council leader Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, who was killed in a roadside bomb blast near his home Thursday.
Scores of Iraqi police and U.S. military vehicles lined the route of the funeral procession from the slain […]