Washington, June 3 (IANS) Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday reaffirmed the importance of the Quad partnership, saying leaders of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia are expected to meet before the end of the year as Washington intensifies its focus on the Indo-Pacific. Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the State Department’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request, Rubio said the Quad is a key pillar of the administration’s regional strategy, highlighting rece…
Latest State Department News & Updates
Washington, June 3 (IANS) Bipartisan lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have introduced legislation requiring the State Department to determine whether China has committed genocide or crimes against humanity against Tibetans, adding fresh congressional pressure on Beijing over its human rights record.Representatives Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, and Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York, on Tuesday introduced the Tibet Atrocities Determination Act, which would require the S…
Washington, June 3 (IANS) The Trump administration is working with Kenya and other international partners to maintain a quarantine and treatment arrangement near the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, with officials arguing that potentially exposed Americans should not be transported directly to the United States. During a White House news conference, Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr Mehmet Oz said the administration’s preference is to keep treatment facilities as close as…
Washington, June 2 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced sharp criticism from Senate Democrats on Tuesday over foreign aid cuts, Congressional oversight and the administration’s handling of a growing Ebola outbreak in Africa.During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department budget, Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen accused the US administration of repeatedly failing to respond to Congressional requests for briefings and information on a range of foreign policy issu…
Washington, June 2 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday delivered a forceful defence of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, telling lawmakers that every diplomatic decision must be judged by whether it advances the interests of the United States.Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said the administration had reoriented US foreign policy around national security, economic strength and sovereignty after what he described as “years of misplaced prior…
Washington, June 2 (IANS) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Iran has agreed to discuss parts of its nuclear programme that it had previously refused to negotiate, raising the prospect of new talks after recent U.S. military action against Tehran. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said Iran’s military capabilities had been significantly weakened and that Tehran was now willing to engage on issues it had long kept off the table.”There is the prospe…
Washington, June 2 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to tell lawmakers on Tuesday that the Trump administration has fundamentally reshaped US foreign assistance policy, replacing what it sees as dependency-driven aid programmes with a strategy centred on trade, investment and partnerships that directly advance American interests. In prepared testimony obtained by IANS ahead of a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and…
Washington, June 2 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to tell lawmakers on Tuesday that the Trump administration has reshaped US foreign policy around advancing American interests, defending a sweeping overhaul of foreign aid, diplomacy and regional security as he makes the case for the administration’s State Department budget request.In prepared testimony obtained by IANS ahead of his appearance before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of S…
Ottawa, May 28 (IANS) The United States, Mexico and Canada on Thursday issued a trilateral statement on public health travel measures in the wake of the Ebola virus outbreak in parts of Africa.“The United States, Mexico and Canada have announced aligned public health travel measures for individuals arriving from African regions considered at greatest risk from the Ebola virus. This coordinated approach aims to protect our citizens and the millions of visitors, fans, athletes and tourists expec…
Washington, May 28 (IANS) The United States has mobilised more than $112 million in bilateral foreign assistance in less than two weeks to combat the fast-spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, the State Department said on Thursday.The announcement came as US health officials warned that the outbreak remained “rapidly evolving and fluid”, while insisting that the current risk to the United States remained low.The State Department said it had finali…