WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department says it sees no policy changes by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the wake of former President Jimmy Carter’s meetings with Hamas leaders. The Bush administration counseled Mr. Carter against meeting Hamas.
Bush administration officials were irate over Mr. Carter’s plans to meet Hamas, arguing it would undermine a […]

JERUSALEM - Three Hamas militants have been killed and 13 Israeli soldiers wounded in a daring Palestinian attack on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. The attack is raising tension as Israel celebrates a major Jewish holiday.  
Under cover of fog, Palestinian militants rammed two military style vehicles packed with explosives into an Israeli cargo crossing […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says opposition Democrats in Congress are making a serious error by refusing to vote on a free trade agreement with Colombia. 
President Bush wants Congress to ratify a free trade agreement with Colombia because, he says, the status quo is unfair to American businesses that still pay stiff tariffs in Colombia […]

JERUSALEM - Israel has condemned the meeting between former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the exiled leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Damascus.
The Israeli government believes former President Carter’s meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal harms the global war on terrorism and the Middle East peace process. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, […]

BEIRUT - Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy bombing in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, that killed 52 people.
U.S. envoy David Welch, who was a desk officer for Lebanon at the State Department at the time of the attack, attended a memorial ceremony in Beirut Friday. He recalled that - at the time […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says an economic stimulus plan of tax rebates and business incentives should start to help the U.S. economy by July. 
President Bush says there is no doubt that Americans are feeling the affects of a slowing economy.
“Businesses are being squeezed by high energy prices and high health care prices,” said Mr. […]

WASHINGTON - A group of Democratic and Republican senators have begun drafting legislation that would require Iraq to fund more of the war costs that Americans are now paying.
Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee told a news conference Thursday that Iraq should begin paying some of the costs of the war and reconstruction […]

CAIRO - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has sparked an outcry of protest from Israeli and American officials for his decision to meet with Hamas leaders during a week-long visit to the Middle East. Although he received a cold welcoming in Israel in recent days, he was warmly received by Egyptian officials and a large […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown say they are working to extend sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. The two leaders met to discuss wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as political unrest in Zimbabwe.
President Bush says Iran’s leaders can not be trusted to maintain a uranium enrichment program that […]

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators in Washington have approved plans to upgrade the nation’s Emergency Alert System to include text messages to cellphones and other mobile devices.
When disaster strikes, the Federal Communications Commission wants to make sure that as many Americans as possible know about it. The Emergency Alert System just approved by the FCC would […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the most common method of lethal injection used for executions by the federal government and 36 states.  The unsuccessful constitutional challenge to the three-drug lethal injection was brought by lawyers representing two men sentenced to die in the state of Kentucky. 
Lawyers for the two convicted murderers at […]

CAPITOL HILL - The Bush administration is warning Congress of potential layoffs at the Department of Defense if they do not approve a $108 billion funding package for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of next month.  But lawmakers are demanding more accountability over the war funds and more attention be spent […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says the United States will strive to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The pledge came as representatives of 17 countries headed to Paris for talks on climate change.
President Bush says the United States is already on a path to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases by […]

SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Program says urgent action is needed to prevent what it calls a “serious tragedy” because of food shortages in North Korea.  A bad harvest and soaring world food prices may be creating one of the leanest years in the North since a period of mass starvation in the […]

LOS ANGELES - A Hollywood television director is helping elderly Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.
Zane Busby got her start in Hollywood as an actress, appearing in films and television series. Then she became a director of television comedies.
But curiosity attracted her to another part of the world. In 2001, she decided to visit the towns […]

DAYTON, TEXAS - A dramatic surge in the international price for rice has U.S. producers planting more fields in an effort to increase profits. 
Tractors are tilling the land and building earthen rows that will serve as levees once water flows into these fields.  This area of southeast Texas is one of the best rice growing […]

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has outlined his economic policy based on tax cuts for businesses and middle income Americans.
During a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee proposed a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, saying high taxes are driving U.S. businesses overseas.
McCain also […]

WHITE HOUSE - The Bush administration says it is working to provide additional food aid to hunger-ravaged countries that need it most. The initiative comes at a time when food prices have been rising sharply around the world, and many nations are complaining of severe shortages of basic goods.
The Bush administration notes that the United […]

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia has temporarily banned marriages between foreigners and Cambodians because of concerns over the rising number of brokered unions involving poor, uneducated women. The move follows the publication of a report highlighting the abuse of many Cambodian brides who went to South Korea following hastily arranged marriages.
The ban will at least briefly […]

WASHINGTON - Economic policy makers from all corners of the word ended their meeting in in Washington with a call for assistance to countries most affected by a recent sharp rise in food prices.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said help is needed for countries in which sharply higher food prices are causing hunger. Many grain […]

JERUSALEM - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is getting a cold reception in Israel. Mr. Carter is perceived as having a strong anti-Israel bias.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his foreign minister have snubbed Mr. Carter and are refusing to meet with him. They are angry that the former president compares Israeli policies to apartheid and […]

WASHINGTON - Soaring food prices are causing big problems in many parts of the world today. One factor in the ballooning costs may be the increasing global demand for biofuels - vehicle fuels made at least partly from corn (maize) or other food crops.
Some critics of biofuels contend that using food-based fuel to power vehicles […]

WHITE HOUSE - President Bush says security in Iraq is improving, in part because of his decision to send 30,000 troop reinforcements last year. Opposition Democrats say the cost of the war is hurting Americans at home.
In the 15 months since he ordered more U.S. troops to Iraq, President Bush said there has been a […]

PARIS - The French government says its naval forces off the coast of Somalia have captured half a dozen pirates following an operation leading to the release of 30 hostages aboard a tourist yacht that had been seized earlier.
The Elysee presidential palace says the 30 hostages were released in a operation earlier Friday, bringing to […]

HONG KONG - Japan has extended economic sanctions against North Korea, citing the reclusive country’s lack of progress on an international nuclear disarmament agreement. As Naomi Martig reports from Hong Kong, the extension of sanctions comes as six-party nuclear talks continue to stall.
Japan’s economic sanctions against Pyongyang will remain in place for another six months. […]