JERUSALEM - Israel has allowed a one-day delivery of food and fuel to the Gaza Strip, partially lifting a nearly week-long blockade of the territory.
Israeli officials say they are allowing 2.2 million liters of fuel into Gaza - enough fuel for the Gaza power plant to generate electricity for about a week. The plant ran […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. central bank has slashed a key interest rate amid continued global market upheaval sparked by fears of a possible U.S. recession. The move came as the Bush administration renewed calls for a swift economic-stimulus package to spur growth.
The interest rate cut is the biggest by the Federal Reserve since the aftermath […]

JERUSALEM - Israel has launched an advanced spy satellite, named TecSAR, into orbit on board India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The PSLV successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 3:45 a.m. GMT yesterday, with a successful cast off from the launch rocket at around 4:05 a.m. GMT. Israel Aerospace Industries report that the first […]

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service LONDON (ANS) – Churches from across London will converge on Westminster Chapel in central London this Friday to launch the Global Day of Prayer London 2008, and celebrate the completion of London’s prayer marathon.
According to a story on the Christian Today web site, thousands of individuals from hundreds […]

ISLAMABAD - Islamic militants attacked and killed five Pakistani soldiers in the country’s tribal mountainous region near the border with Afghanistan as analysts say the al-Qaida-linked fighters appear to be gaining more control of the region.
Violence has increased in the past week between Pakistani security forces and militants. The latest attack, before dawn Tuesday, left […]

PARIS - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf pledged in Brussels Monday that Pakistan’s elections next month will be free and fair, and appealed to western nations to be more patient on human rights.
Speaking to the European Union legislators in Brussels, President Musharraf said that Pakistan suffers from misperceptions and distortions in the West, as he tried […]

JERUSALEM - Large parts of the Gaza Strip are without power Monday after the main power plant in the area shut down because its fuel supplies have been cut by Israel.
Residents of Gaza City are using their daylight hours to stock up on essentials like bread, after their neighborhoods went dark overnight following the shut […]

JERUSALEM - Israel is threatening to target the leader of the Islamic guerrilla group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The threats came in response to a fiery speech that infuriated Israeli officials. 
At the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, several Israeli ministers called for the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“Nasrallah is a madman, and I do not […]

WASHINGTON - The United States is observing a national holiday Monday to honor The Reverend Martin Luther King, Junior, an American civil rights leader in the 1950’s and 1960’s who led nonviolent protests in opposition to segregation and discrimination against Black Americans.In one of his most famous speeches, delivered in Washington in 1963, Dr. King […]

HONG KONG - China has introduced price controls to slow a rapid rise in politically sensitive food prices.
Price controls were imposed on a range of essential goods, such as flour, meat products, milk, cooking oil and liquefied petroleum gas.
These are not price freezes per se: under new rules announced by Beijing this week, large producers […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says it is a challenging time for the U.S. economy, so he wants as much as $150 billion in tax relief to help. Opposition Democrats say an economic stimulus package should include greater spending on social programs. 
President Bush says he knows many Americans are concerned about the future of the […]

ISLAMABAD - The CIA has blamed al Qaida-linked militants operating in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region for the assassination last month of former Prime Minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. The Pakistani government is tightening security around the country to thwart militant attacks.
CIA director Michael Hayden said in a Washington Post interview published Friday al-Qaida linked […]

MOSCOW - Russia has signed an agreement with Bulgaria to construct a gas pipeline that could increase Western European reliance on Russian energy.  The deal also competes with a U.S. and European Union pipeline aimed at bypassing Russia.
The Russian-Bulgarian agreement to build the so-called South Stream pipeline was reached in Sofia after intense last minute […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says he wants as much as $150 billion of tax relief to stimulate the U.S. economy, which has been hurt by rising energy prices, a steep housing slump and problems in the manufacturing sector.
President Bush says his top economic advisers are working with Congress on an economic growth package to encourage […]

JERUSALEM - Israel has sealed its borders with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after a surge in cross-border attacks this week. The move is raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.
Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, in response to an escalation in Palestinian rocket attacks. The Islamic militant group Hamas, which […]

GODE - Ethiopia says it has detained some American and European citizens on suspicion of terrorist activities in the restive Southeastern region known as the Ogaden.
The leader of Ethiopia’s Somali region, also known as the Ogaden, told visiting international journalists that his government is holding an unspecified number of American and European passport holders.
Regional President […]

PENTAGON - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he expects the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq to proceed through July, as planned, and he hopes the process will continue in the second half of the year.
U.S. officials say the departure of each U.S. military unit from Iraq depends on the security situation at the […]

MOSCOW - The British Council is suspending its cultural activities in two Russian cities, citing intimidation and harassment of its local employees by Russia’s Federal Security Service.  A top Russian lawmaker is hinting at a possibility of resolving the dispute. 
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking in Parliament, called Russian moves against the British Council’s cultural centers […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush’s wife Laura told a gathering of Afghan and U.S. women Thursday in Washington that Afghan society has made great strides in the five years since the Taliban were driven from power.
The first lady says men and women in Afghanistan are rebuilding a stable, democratic society. In an exclusive interview, Laura Bush […]

WASHINGTON - On Monday, January 21st, Americans will celebrate the life of an African-American and civil rights pioneer, Martin Luther King, Junior on the U.S. holiday commemorating his birth. King’s actual birthday is January 15th.
King was a key figure in bringing about change at a time when much of the American South was still segregated […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s prime minister on Thursday vowed to wage war against Palestinian militants who are continuing to fire homemade rockets at southern Israel. An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian militants in Gaza on Thursday.  Twenty-five Palestinians, mostly militants and one foreign worker in Israel have been killed so far this week in the […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum says it is ready to begin using an international archive to help families find relatives who went missing in Europe during World War II.The museum recently acquired digital copies of records linked to more than 17 million people who were arrested, deported, forced into slave labor, killed, or […]

WASHINGTON - United States President George Bush has urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government to allow more freedom in the country’s young democracy. Bush’s remarks came at the end of his Middle East tour with a visit to Egypt’s resort town of Sharm EL-Sheikh. He praised the work of Egyptian judges, journalists, and civil society […]

UNITED NATIONS - Serbia is urging the United Nations to reject any unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders and instead to support continued negotiations on the future status of the breakaway province.
Serbian President Boris Tadic, told the Security Council that Belgrade would never recognize Kosovo’s independence. He said Serbia would use all […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - The Bush administration insisted Wednesday that international sanctions against Iran are having some impact despite a new government report questioning their usefulness. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice goes to Berlin next week seeking a new U.N. sanctions resolution against Tehran because of its nuclear program.
Administration officials are defending their policy of seeking […]