State Department

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North Koreans in Santa Fe to Meet Gov. Richardson

UN ambassadors get special permission to leave New York

(Newser) - Two North Korean diplomats at the UN are traveling to Santa Fe to meet with Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor and former UN ambassador, reports CNN. The meeting is taking place at Pyongyang's request, according to the governor's office, and will focus on clean energy technology. Richardson has visited...

It's Time to Start Taking Hillary Seriously

She's still trivialized as she fights to empower women

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton’s trip to Congo was meant to help fulfill a promise to focus on women’s issues, but it seems to have turned on one woman's issues. Though “there could have been no more dramatic setting,” writes Judith Warner in the New York Times, “back...

Mexico Drug Aid Delayed Over Rights Concerns

(Newser) - More than $100 million in anti-narcotics aid to Mexico has been delayed because of alleged human rights abuses in the country's war with drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of a subcommittee that oversees foreign aid spending, blocked plans to release a favorable State Department report...

Clinton Meets With Kim Jong Il
 Clinton Meets With Kim Jong Il 
UPDATED
Aug 4, 2009 8:59 AM CDT

Clinton Meets With Kim Jong Il

(Newser) - Bill Clinton has met with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, official state media reports. The Korean news agency described Clinton as "courteously" conveying a message from President Obama, saying he and Kim shared a "wide-ranging exchange of views." But the White House denied that Clinton...

Clinton Visits N. Korea to Push for Journos' Release

(Newser) - Bill Clinton is in North Korea, where he will attempt to secure the freedom of two American journalists imprisoned since March, Reuters reports, citing South and North Korean news agencies. "As soon as he arrives, he will be entering negotiations," said a source. The White House and State...

Bloated Baghdad Embassy Needs 'Rightsizing': State

(Newser) - An internal State Department assessment has deemed the recently completed US embassy in Baghdad grievously overstaffed, McClatchy Newspapers report. “There is a clear consensus from the top to the bottom of the embassy,” State’s inspector general writes. “The time has come for a significant rightsizing.”...

Clinton Won't Rule Out Second Presidential Run

But 'doubts very much' it will happen, says she's focused on State

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton had a hard time today saying she wouldn’t run for president again, the AP reports. Asked by Thai television whether again toss her hat in the ring, the secretary of State said it was “not at all on my radar screen.” Had she given up...

Loyal but Tough, Clinton Returns to Fore
Loyal but
Tough, Clinton Returns to Fore
ANALYSIS
Jul 16, 2009 5:43 AM CDT

Loyal but Tough, Clinton Returns to Fore

Facing do-everything White House, Hillary reasserts herself

(Newser) - Yesterday Hillary Clinton delivered an ambitious, muscular speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, in which she warned Iran of further sanctions while defending Barack Obama's policy of multifront diplomacy with rogue states. After months in the shadows, writes New York Times reporter Mark Landler, the secretary of State wanted...

Liz Cheney: I May Seek Office
 Liz Cheney: 
 I May Seek Office 
Jul 13, 2009 12:53 PM CDT

Liz Cheney: I May Seek Office

(Newser) - DIck Cheney's daughter Liz is considering a run for public office. “It's something I very well may do,” the lawyer and Bush-era State Department deputy secretary tells the Washington Times. Cheney says she's particularly worried about Congressional Democrats' attempts to hang charges of CIA meddling on her father....

Obama Can Lead a Peaceful World: Kissinger
Obama Can Lead a Peaceful World: Kissinger
INTERVIEW
Jul 7, 2009 12:18 PM CDT

Obama Can Lead a Peaceful World: Kissinger

Former secretary of state admires president's early moves

(Newser) - Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger has warm words for President Obama, whom he describes as "like a chess player who has opened his game with an unusual opening" in an interview with Der Spiegel. "I have no quarrel with the opening move," he adds. "I...

Clinton on the Mend After Elbow Surgery

Fracture repaired, secretary of state heads home to recover

(Newser) - Hillary Rodham Clinton had successful surgery this morning to repair her fractured right elbow and is expected to make a full recovery, the State Department says. The secretary of state underwent the procedure at the George Washington University Hospital, then returned to her Washington home. She suffered the injury in...

Hillary Excelling as Obama's Second Banana
 Hillary Excelling as 
 Obama's Second Banana 
Analysis
Jun 19, 2009 10:15 AM CDT

Hillary Excelling as Obama's Second Banana

Campaign animosity nowhere to be found for cabinet 'superstar'

(Newser) - Observers hoping for signs of the old campaign animosity between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been sorely disappointed. Clinton has been faithfully—and efficiently—executing Obama’s strategy, including the parts she criticized him for on the trail, writes the Economist. For example: Asked about her past objections to...

Iran Accuses US of Meddling
 Iran Accuses US of Meddling  
Jun 17, 2009 4:56 PM CDT

Iran Accuses US of Meddling

(Newser) - As protesters clogged the streets of Tehran for a fifth consecutive day, the Iranian government accused the US of “intolerable” meddling, reports the Wall Street Journal. The government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents American interests in the country, to complain about “interventionist” statements made by US officials,...

Blackwater Bilked US Out of $55M for Iraq Security: Audit

Company didn't provide enough workers

(Newser) - The US overpaid Blackwater by $55 million for its security work in Iraq, a government audit has found. The company, since renamed Xe, didn't employ enough guards, medics, and other personnel to protect high-level officials but still collected full payment from the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. "...

US Couple Charged With Spying for Cuba

(Newser) - A retired State Department worker and his wife were charged today with spying for Cuba for nearly 3 decades, CNN reports. Appearing before a federal magistrate in Washington, DC, Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and Gwendolyn Myers, 71, were indicted for conspiracy, providing classified information, and wire fraud. They each face...

OAS Votes to Readmit Cuba

Castro blasts group as a tool of the US

(Newser) - The Organization of American States voted today to revoke a 1962 measure expelling communist Cuba, reversing a landmark of the Cold War in the hemisphere. It was not immediately clear if the ministers set democratic reform or human-rights conditions on Cuba's return to full participation in the organization, as Secretary...

Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs
Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs
OPINION
May 29, 2009 2:11 PM CDT

Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs

If posts are just plums for political donors, why have them?

(Newser) - Barack Obama opted for politics as usual in his ambassador appointments yesterday, writes David Rothkopf for ForeignPolicy. Like recent predecessors, Obama turned to deep-pocketed campaign donors; hence Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, will deal with a tech lawyer whose sole qualification seems to have been his ability to raise...

Partners of Gay, Lesbian Diplomats Win Full Benefits

Clinton memo skirts Defense of Marriage Act

(Newser) - The State Department will offer same-sex partners of American diplomats all the benefits given to married spouses, reports the New York Times. An internal memo from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed to a gay and lesbian Foreign Service organization outlined the changes, which would ensure diplomatic passports, access to...

'Torture Sheik' Detained
 'Torture Sheik' Detained 
May 10, 2009 6:16 AM CDT

'Torture Sheik' Detained

(Newser) - An Abu Dhabi prince captured on videotape torturing a grain merchant has been detained by authorities, CNN reports. Sheik Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan is under house arrest pending an investigation, officials of the United Arab Emirates have told the US State Department. The videotape shows the prince beating, burning and...

US Won't Send Troops to Pakistan: Gates

(Newser) - There are no plans to deploy US ground troops to Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today, despite concerns over increasing violence between Pakistani troops and Taliban militants. Speaking to about 300 Marines at Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan, Gates assured the soldiers they didn't have to "worry about...

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