Author: Matthew Lee
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White House, US diplomats clash over travel order
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save WASHINGTON — The White House clashed Monday with a large group of American diplomats who are voicing dissent with Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim majority countries, challenging them to resign…
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Senior diplomat resignations accepted as Trump team enters
WASHINGTON — A number of senior career diplomats are leaving the State Department after the Trump administration accepted their resignations from presidentially appointed positions. The State Department said Thursday that several senior management officials as well as a top arms control diplomat would be leaving. All had submitted their resignations prior to Donald Trump’s January…
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Obama denies $400M payment to Iran was ransom
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama vigorously denied on Thursday that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the release of four Americans jailed in Tehran. He defended the transaction as evidence that the nuclear accord with Iran has allowed for progress on other matters. “This wasn’t some nefarious deal,” Obama said…
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US orders diplomatic, military families out of south Turkey
WASHINGTON — The State Department and Pentagon ordered the families of U.S. diplomats and military personnel Tuesday to leave posts in southern Turkey due to “increased threats from terrorist groups” in the country. The two agencies said dependents of American staffers at the U.S. consulate in Adana, the Incirlik air base and two other locations…
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US, EU hit Russia with new sanctions over Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The United States and its European allies hit more than two dozen Russian government officials, executives and companies with sanctions Monday as punishment for their country’s actions in Ukraine, yet the penalties stopped short of targeting Russia’s economy more broadly. In Moscow, there was relief that the sanctions were not as far-ranging as…
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ANALYSIS: High-seas raid heightens Israeli isolation
JERUSALEM — Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating U.S.-led Mideast peace efforts, deepening Israel’s international isolation and threatening to destroy the Jewish state’s ties with key regional ally Turkey. And while Israel had hoped to defend its tight blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza with Monday’s high-seas raid, it instead appeared…
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Clinton: Koreas security situation ‘precarious’
BEIJING — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the Obama administration is striving to avoid a conflict on the Korean Peninsula following an investigation that blamed North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship. Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Clinton said North Korea’s chief ally China and its other…
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North Korea crisis looms as Clinton heads to Asia
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is embarking on a three-nation tour of Asia whose centerpiece — a new round of U.S.-China strategic and economic talks — is likely to be overshadowed by a crisis with North Korea, possible new sanctions on Iran and the debate over U.S. military bases in Japan. There…
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Clinton: Iran proving it deserves sanctions
WASHINGTON — Iran will continue to defy demands to prove its nuclear program is peaceful unless it is hit with a new round of U.N. sanctions, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday. Speaking at a news conference with new British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Clinton said negotiators from Germany and the five permanent…
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U.S. tries to blunt Iran’s anti-sanctions push
WASHINGTON — The United States moved Thursday to head off a joint Turkish-Brazilian effort that could help Iran avoid new United Nations sanctions over its suspect nuclear program. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a blunt message to Turkey’s foreign minister, telling him that Iran is not serious about accepting international demands to prove…