Latest U.S. Department of State News
International students urged to return to US campuses before Trump inauguration
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities are advising international students to return to campus before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, over concerns that he might impose travel bans like he did during his first administration. More than...
Republican senators demand an end to science and tech cooperation with China
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Republican senators is demanding that the Biden administration revoke a science and technology agreement with China, barely a week after the two countries renewed cooperation for five more years to keep ties from deteriorating. In a letter Thursday to...
Pakistan denounces US sanctions on its missile program as biased and putting regional peace at risk
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan on Thursday denounced new U.S. sanctions on the country's ballistic missile program as “discriminatory” that put the region's peace and security at risk. Pakistan's foreign ministry warned in a statement that the sanctions “have dangerous...
Lawsuit accuses State Department of creating loopholes for Israel on military aid and human rights
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a U.S. law restricting foreign military support over human rights abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives asserted Tuesday. Former State...
US updates a science and technology pact with China to reflect growing rivalry and security threats
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has updated a decades-old science and technology agreement with China to reflect their growing rivalry for technological dominance. The new agreement, signed Friday in Beijing after many months of negotiations, has a narrower scope and additional safeguards to minimize...
Bolivia extradites former anti-narcotics chief to the US to face drug trafficking charges
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's former anti-narcotics chief was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face federal drug trafficking charges in a New York court. Authorities said that Maximiliano Dávila, who served as anti-narcotics chief in the final months of Evo...
US says terror designation doesn't bar talks with Syrian rebel group
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Monday it is not actively reviewing the “foreign terrorist organization” designation of the main Syrian rebel group that overthrew Bashar Assad’s government this weekend. But, it said such designations are constantly under review, and that even...
US hostage envoy in Beirut to seek information on missing journalist Austin Tice
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government's top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, the State Department said Monday. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy...
Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he is appointing one of his defense attorneys in the New York hush money case as counselor to the president. Alina Habba, 40, defended Trump earlier this year, also serving as his legal spokesperson....
Trump isn't back in office but he's already pushing his agenda and negotiating with world leaders
NEW YORK (AP) — He's making threats, traveling abroad and negotiating with world leaders. Donald Trump has more than a month and a half to go before he's sworn in for a second term. But the Republican president-elect is already moving aggressively not just to fill his Cabinet and...
