The Latest
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US, Cuba Hold Highest-Level Talks in Four Years
The United States and Cuba have held their highest-level diplomatic talks in four years after a severe disruption in ties during the Trump administration.
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President Biden Preparing to Formally Recognize the Armenian Genocide, Officials Say
President Joe Biden is preparing to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago was genocide, according to U.S. officials.
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North Korea Conducted Short-Range Missile Test, White House Says
North Korea fired short-range missiles this past weekend, just days after the sister of Kim Jong Un threatened the United States and South Korea for holding joint military exercises.
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From Resort Amid Palm Trees, Trump Settled on Iran Strike
At the midway point of his annual Christmas vacation, President Donald Trump huddled at his Florida club with his top national security advisers. Days earlier, a rocket attack by an Iranian-funded group struck a U.S.-Iraqi base, killing an American contractor and wounding several others. Trump’s advisers presented him with an array of options for responding, including the most dramatic possible response:...
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Horse-Trading Iran Hawks Seize on Pompeo's Senate Interest
In recent days, Iran hawks in Congress leveraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interest in a Senate run to win a key concession from the Trump administration that could help their bid to kill the nuclear deal with Tehran. Late last week, the State Department agreed to release a portion of an internal legal opinion that says the U.S. has the...
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Iran Frees Chinese-American Scholar for US-Held Scientist
A Princeton scholar held for three years in Iran on widely criticized espionage charges was freed Saturday as part of a prisoner exchange that saw America release a detained Iranian scientist, a rare diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Washington after months of tensions. The trade on the tarmac of a Swiss airport saw Iranian officials hand over Chinese-American graduate student…
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Trump Administration Quietly Releases Lebanon Military Aid
The Trump administration has quietly released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay that led some lawmakers to compare it to the aid for Ukraine at the center of the impeachment inquiry. The $105 million in Foreign Military Financing funds for the Lebanese Armed Forces was released just before the Thanksgiving holiday and...
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Trump Predicts All ISIS Territory Will Be Cleared Next Week
President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that the Islamic State group will have lost by next week all the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria. He said the U.S. will not relent in fighting remnants of the extremist organization despite his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria over the objections of some of his most senior national security...
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Trump Suspends Arms Treaty, Citing Chinese, Russian Threats
The Trump administration is pulling the plug on a decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia, lifting what it sees as unreasonable constraints on competing with a resurgent Russia and a more assertive China. The move announced Friday sets the stage for delicate talks with U.S. allies over potential new American missile deployments. In explaining his decision, which he had foreshadowed...
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Trump Grounds Pelosi After She Imperils His Big Speech
She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her a plane to visit troops abroad. The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing their political powers from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government...