Rubio vows to put State Department at core of Trump foreign policymaking
Washington DC, US Reuters Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his tenure as the top US diplomat on Tuesday by pledging to keep his department at the heart of US foreign policymaking and execute what he said was President Donald Trump’s aim of promoting peace through strength. Ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would be official […]
US declares warring parties in Sudan committed war crimes
Washington DC, US/Cairo, Egypt Reuters The United States on Wednesday formally determined that warring parties in Sudan committed war crimes, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as Washington increases pressure on the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to end fighting that has caused a humanitarian crisis. Washington also determined that the RSF and […]
Henry Kissinger, American diplomat and Nobel winner, dead at 100
Washington DC, US Reuters Henry Kissinger, a diplomatic powerhouse whose roles as a national security adviser and secretary of state under two presidents left an indelible mark on US foreign policy and earned him a controversial Nobel Peace Prize, died on Wednesday at age 100. Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut, according to a […]
Ukraine claims to have taken back dozens of communities as Blinken visits
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine on Thursday hailed a lightning counter-offensive it said had recaptured swathes of its territory in the east and south, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the country to pledge further aid. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address that Kyiv’s forces had “liberated dozens of settlements” and […]
US offers refuge to more Afghans who aided Americans in new program
Washington DC, US Reuters Thousands more Afghans who may be targets of Taliban violence due to their US affiliations will have the opportunity to resettle as refugees in the United States under a program announced by the State Department on Monday. Reuters first reported earlier on Monday the plans to set up the “Priority Two” […]
China labels Pompeo “doomsday clown” over genocide claims
Beijing, China AP China’s Foreign Ministry described outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday as a “doomsday clown” and said his designation of China as a perpetrator of genocide and crimes against humanity was merely “a piece of wastepaper”. The allegations of abuses against Muslim minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region are “outright […]
US Secretary of State meets Orthodox spiritual leader in Istanbul
Istanbul/Ankara, Turkey AP US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians on Tuesday during a short trip to Turkey that raised the ire of Turkish officials and included no meetings with any of them. Pompeo, who is on a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle […]
Pompeo, Vatican talk China after tensions spill out publicly
Rome, Italy AP The US and the Vatican butted heads over China on Thursday as the Holy See chafed at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s public call to take a harsher stance against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom. The State Department sought to play down the differences, but tensions were palpable during Pompeo’s two-day […]
Pompeo says US should limit which human rights it defends
Washington DC, US AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued Thursday for a more limited US view of global human rights advocacy based on the principals laid out by America’s Founding Fathers, a suggestion critics assumed meant stepping away from more modern concepts such as support for women and the LGBQT communities around the world. […]