WASHINGTON - Fifty years ago this Thursday, on June 29, 1956, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that dramatically changed the future of America. It called for the creation of the Interstate Highway System – a vast network of high-speed expressways, criss-crossing the nation. Later in 1956, the first spade of dirt was turned […]

WASHINGTON - As the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States approaches, the hunt for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden continues. Most military and intelligence analysts believe bin Laden is hiding somewhere along the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
 
December 2001: U.S. warplanes rained bombs and missiles on Tora […]

Technology, lax security put personal information at risk
By Nicholas Beadle
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON – The holes in America’s information security system are spacious enough for more than 88 million personal records – equivalent to almost a third of the U.S. adult population – to have slipped out for possible fraudulent use in the past 16 […]

NEW YORK - The National Socialist Movement (NSM), a Minneapolis-based hate group known for its Nazi uniforms and open display of explicit Nazi symbols, has outpaced its rivals on the far right in both membership and activity, earning it the dubious distinction of being the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States today, according to […]

Immigration reform hinges on hiring crackdown, witnesses say
By Nicholas Beadle
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Immigration reform is useless if it does not sew up the loopholes through which illegal immigrants slide into American jobs and bust the employers that hire them, Department of Homeland Security and Social Security officials told senators Monday. Work site arrests […]

SYDNEY - A man accused of planning to blow up an electricity grid in Australia has been found guilty of terrorist offenses. Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistan-born architect, has been convicted of gathering maps, chemicals and instructions for making homemade bombs and poison.  
Faheem Khalid Lodhi was accused of planning the attack on the electricity grid […]

WASHINGTON - While making modest political gains in the last few years, women in the Islamic world continue to be underrepresented and largely absent from politics.
In 2003, the percentage of women elected to parliament in Indonesia, home to about 200 million Muslims, was close to eight percent. Today, that number has risen to a little […]

TAHLEQUAH – A Cherokee Nation tribunal has approved the new 1999 constitution that was passed by Cherokee voters in July 2003. Two of the three justices ruled that approval of the constitution by the Bureau Of Indian Affairs was not necessary and that the new constitution is effective immediately.
The constitution includes the creation of a speaker for the legislative […]

Giambastiani: Conventional Trident Missiles Will Aid Terror War
By Paul X. Rutz
American Forces Press Service

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 8, 2006 – Arming submarines with nonnuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles will give America a necessary quick-strike weapon in the war on terror, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here yesterday.The proposal, part of the Defense […]

Native American Indians Reach For The Stars 
MADISON, WISCONSIN - To many star-gazers, the ladle-shaped cluster circling the North Star is The Big Dipper. For others, it’s a great bear. But the Ojibwa Indians of America’s Upper Midwest see a fisher, a weasel-like animal featured in many of their legends, tumbling through the sky.
The Native American perspective […]

NATO Will Double Troop Strength In Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD - NATO says it will double its troop strength in southern Afghanistan as it takes over security operations there from the United States next month. The planned handover comes amid a spike in violence across the region and growing concern about NATO’s ability to beat back the insurgents.
The NATO commander […]

Saudi Textbooks Preach Wahhabi Islamic Intolerance Of Religions
WASHINGTON - Despite years of work aimed at changing Saudi Arabia’s public school curriculum, a study released last week found that the kingdom’s latest textbooks continue to promote intolerance of other religions.  Saudi journalist Ali Al-Ahmed is director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, which along with the […]

Nuclear Energy Attractive In Wake Of High Oil, Gas Prices 
PARIS - The rising price of oil and gas and unstable energy supplies are prompting a number of nations to take a second look at nuclear energy. A new study published Thursday says there is plenty of uranium to fuel nuclear reactors in the future. 
The report published […]

Proposed Temporary Worker National ID Program Raises Concerns
By Austin B. Boques
Scripps Howard Foundation WireWASHINGTON - President Bush has endorsed a national identification process for temporary workers that uses biometric technology.The plan is part of the immigration reform bill now in a congressional conference committee. A national identification program has been contentious for some time.
The Senate […]

Research Group Says Textbooks In Saudi Arabia Teach Violence 
WASHINGTON - A private research group in Washington says religious textbooks in Saudi Arabia, despite revisions, continue to teach intolerance and violence.
The Washington-based Center for Religious Freedom and the Institute for Gulf Affairs recently analyzed 12 new textbooks the Saudi government says were purged of all intolerant […]

Cold War To War On Terrorism, U.S. Military Overhaul 
WASHINGTON - The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, focused attention at the Pentagon on one unavoidable fact - the world’s most powerful military force was not very well prepared to fight the wars of the 21st century.
The […]

Japan Announces Deployment Of Whaling Fleet To Northwestern Pacific Ocean
CAPE COD - The government of Japan has announced the deployment of its whaling fleet to hunt 260 whales in the northwestern Pacific, following its killing of 863 whales earlier this year. Conservation groups around the world, including IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare - www.ifaw.org), have […]