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In 1944, a student led revolution, which my mother and uncle were part of, helped usher in Guatemala’s decade of democracy after a century of dictators. I was born in Boston in 1954, the year a C.I.A.-led coup overthrew Guatemala’s elected government. But in 2001, three military officers were convicted of participating in his state-sponsored extrajudicial execution, a landmark verdict that seemed to herald a new era of justice. Efforts to build a working democracy by defending the rule of law and fighting corruption has been the central struggle of 21st-century Guatemalan politics. The commission dismantled 70 organized crime and corruption structures, and charged some 680 people, including two former presidents.
Persons: Guatemala’s, Bishop Juan Gerardi, Jimmy Morales, Morales, Giammattei, , Consuelo Porras Organizations: United Nations, Guatemalan Public Ministry, U.S, U.S . State Locations: United States, Boston, Latin America, U.S .
CNN —The Biden administration has approved funding for the first-ever transfer of US military equipment to Taiwan under a program typically saved for sovereign nations, according to a notification sent to Congress on Tuesday. The package – which is part of the State Department’s foreign military financing (FMF) program – totals $80 million and will be paid for by US taxpayers. The US has sold weapons to Taiwan in the past through a separate program called Foreign Military Sales (FMS). The FMF program will provide grant assistance, paid for by US taxpayers, to Taiwan in order to make those purchases. “I am glad the administration is further implementing our bipartisan Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act by finally providing FMF to Taiwan.
Persons: CNN —, Biden, , Michael McCaul, ” McCaul Organizations: CNN, State, State Department, Taiwan Relations Act, US, Pentagon, Foreign, Taiwan Enhanced Locations: Taiwan, China, United States, Taiwan Strait
CNN —A US envoy for Iran met on Friday with the family of Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been imprisoned and sentenced to death in Iran. He was sentenced to death last February for “corruption on Earth”, which sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and Western governments. Iranian-German national and US resident Jamshid Sharmahd attends his trial at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on Feb. 6, 2022. Koosha Mahshid Falahi/Mizan News Agency/APIn a statement following the decision, the European Union said Iranian authorities denied consular access to Sharmahd, despite his German nationality. In response to Paley’s statement, Gazelle Sharmahd urged the US government to help free her father.
Persons: Jamshid Sharmahd, , Jamshid Sharmahd’s, Abram Paley, Sharmahd’s, Shayan, Gazelle, , Koosha Mahshid, Vedant Patel, Gazelle Sharmahd Organizations: CNN, Amnesty International, Iranian, European Union, Revolutionary, Mizan News Agency, AP, US State Department, State, Biden Administration Locations: Iran, German, Shiraz, Western, United States, Tehran
CNN —Anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo, from the progressive Movimiento Semilla party, appeared to have won Guatemala’s presidential election on Sunday, beating former first lady Sandra Torres in a race marred by fears of democratic backsliding. With more than 95% of the ballots counted, Arévalo won 59.1% of the vote compared to Torres’ 36.1%, according to official data from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. A voter casts their ballot at a polling station during the presidential run-off election in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on August 20, 2023. Prosecutors and judges associated with the commission were arrested and investigated and many have since fled the country. Members of the media who have opposed corruption in their reporting have also faced legal consequences.
Persons: Bernardo Arévalo, Sandra Torres, Arévalo, Torres, Irma Palencia, , , Alejandro Giammattei, Cristina Chiquin, Rafael Curruchiche, Department’s Engel, ” Curruchiche, José Rubén Zamora Organizations: CNN, Movimiento Semilla, Torres ’, Torres ’ Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza, Reuters, US, Central, United Locations: Guatemala, Guatemala City, Central American, United States, United Nations, Guatemalan
CNN —At least 26 people have been killed in an explosion in the town of Finote Selam in northwestern Ethiopia, amid heavy fighting between government forces and a local militia group. Tenaw told CNN that people reported hearing only one explosion, the cause of which is unclear. The Ethiopian government declared a six-month state of emergency in the Amhara region on August 4 after days of clashes. The United Nations “called on all sides to respect human rights and take steps to deescalate the situation,” noting that “previous states of emergency have been accompanied by violations of human rights” in a statement Friday. CNN has reached out to the federal government, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, and the Amhara regional government for comment.
Persons: Manaye Tenaw, Tenaw, EHRC, ” “ EHRC, Finote Selam, , United Nations “, Antony Blinken, , I’ve, ” Blinken Organizations: CNN, Human Rights, Ethiopian, Dar, United Nations, Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Amhara, Eritrean Defense Forces, Front, State Locations: Finote, Ethiopia, Fano, Amhara, Debre Birhan, Gondar, Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, America, Tigray
Two weeks ago, a military junta suddenly deposed Niger’s pro-American, democratically elected president. Already at least one leader of the Niger junta has met with Wagner representatives in neighboring Mali, where Wagner has developed a firm presence. Given the stakes, the initial responses by those who support Niger’s ousted president have been ill-considered and anemic. But the Wagner-supported ruling juntas in two of Niger’s neighbors immediately pledged to join with Niger’s military in fending off any such invasion, calling it a “declaration of war” against them. All have been grounded since Niger’s junta declared the entire country a no-fly zone.
Persons: David A, Niger’s, David Andelman, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Mohamed Bazoum, Bola Tinubu, Tinubu, ECOWAS’s, didn’t, Bazoum, Germany —, Putin, Antony Blinken’s, Victoria Nuland Organizations: CNN, French Legion of, The New York Times, CBS News, American, David Andelman CNN, Central African, West African States, ECOWAS, Wall Street, US, African Union, NATO, Russian, Wagner Group, Faustin, Twitter, Niger’s Locations: United States, Africa, Russia, Niger, Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan, Burkina Faso, African, Niamey, Sahel, South Asia, Afghanistan, East, North Africa, France, Italy, Germany
Vance of Ohio, have also blocked nominees for different reasons. “These delays are undermining our national security,” Mr. Blinken told reporters during an unusual appearance at the State Department’s daily news media briefing. The overwhelming majority of the stalled State Department nominees are career diplomats, and more than a third have been awaiting votes for about a year or more, he added. The aide noted that the vacancies put the United States at a disadvantage in its global competition with China, which many Republicans call their top foreign policy priority. Beijing has ambassadors in dozens of foreign capitals where the United States lacks them, the aide said.
Persons: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Biden, Ted Cruz of, Vance of, Mr, Blinken, , chargé d’affaires Organizations: State Department, Republican, State, Department, Democratic, Foreign Relations, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund Locations: Ted Cruz of Texas, Vance of Ohio, United States, China, Beijing
Often it is unclear exactly which acts violate public order and morality, according to the U.S. State Department’s most recent report on human rights, as well as a report by Human Rights Watch and other free speech and human rights organizations. Um Fahad, the social media influencer who was dancing on her son’s birthday, said she still did not understand why she was arrested and imprisoned. In 2021, the federal court stripped commissioners of their immunity, making them vulnerable to financially crippling lawsuits from any politician, government ministry or party. That curbed the commission’s efforts to hold to account Iraqi government officials or institutions for human rights violations under Iraqi and international law. Officials note accurately that when government critics are pursued in court, in the majority of cases they eventually prevail.
Persons: Um Fahad, , , Ali al, neutered, Saddam Hussein Organizations: U.S, U.S . State, Human Rights Watch, Iraqi Human Rights Commission Locations: U.S ., Iraq
The answer is: The last battle of America’s war of independence was fought on this continent. DuVal and others say two key protagonists of the Revolutionary War – Britain and France – actually fought the final battle of the conflict in Cuddalore, India, in June of 1783. Britain and, to a lesser extent, France were well established with colonies in India when the American Revolution began and had already brought their hostilities from Europe to the subcontinent, according to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. “They brought news that six months before in Paris, the British, French and the Americans – the Dutch were a little later – signed the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution,” he says. “Cuddalore, India, was indeed the last battle of the American Revolution.”
Persons: you’ve, Kathleen DuVal, , ” DuVal, DuVal, France –, , Don Glickstein, Frederick the Great, Prussia, Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Prince Charles of Lorraine, it’s, Glickstein, ” Glickstein, David Allison, ” Allison, Generals Rochambeau, Marquis de Lafayette, Organizations: CNN, University of North, British, US, Department, State Department’s Office, Austrian, Hulton, National Park Service, National Museum of, Smithsonian, Yorktown, Washington, Getty, Brits, American Revolution, Museum, American, British East India Company, Britain Locations: North America, Asia, University of North Carolina, United States, Massachusetts, Virginia, Britain, France, Cuddalore, India, British, Spain, Netherlands, American, Seattle, Yorktown, Quebec, Abraham, North Carolina, Pacific, Portugal, Canada, Prague, Yorktown , Virginia, , Dutch Republic, Washington, Paris, Jamaica, Gibraltar, Europe, Philadelphia, Bengal
CNN —The US State Department on Friday released its long-awaited Afghanistan After Action Review report, which found that both the Trump and Biden administrations’ decisions to pull all US troops from Afghanistan had detrimental consequences, and details damning shortcomings by the current administration that led to the deadly and chaotic US withdrawal from that country after nearly two decades on the ground. Sharper criticism of Biden admin actions than earlier White House documentThe State Department’s report contains much sharper criticism around the Biden administration’s actions than the White House summary document released in April. That added significantly to the challenges the Department and DoD faced during the evacuation,” the report said. The report noted that in the chaos, the State Department received an “overwhelming volume of incoming calls and messages to the Department from other government agencies, Congress, and the public inquiring about individual cases mostly with regard to at-risk Afghans,” which created an immense challenge. The report detailed 11 recommendations, mostly related to the Department’s crisis response and preparedness.
Persons: Donald, Trump, Joe, Biden, , Afghanistan “, , Hamid, State Department “, ” “, Antony Blinken, I’ll, ” Blinken Organizations: CNN, US State Department, Trump, Biden, State Department, White, Department, Bagram Air Base, Hamid Karzai International Airport, US, , DoD, United States, Task Force Locations: Afghanistan, United, United States, Kabul, Washington
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. sharpened its criticism of Russia's record on human trafficking on Thursday, citing Moscow’s treatment of conscripts and Ukrainian children, in an annual report on countries that Washington says are failing to protect victims. The State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons report kept Russia on a list of "state sponsors" of human trafficking and ranked Russia among the world's worst at addressing the problem. A section on Russia included more criticism than last year of Moscow's detention of people in Ukraine. “There was a government policy or pattern of trafficking of Ukrainian citizens and North Korean workers,” it added. The report put Russia in Tier 3, which groups the worst offenders in human trafficking, where it was last year.
Persons: Vladimir Putin, , Matt Spetalnick, Simon Lewis, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Criminal, State Department, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, North, Syria, Russia's, Tier, Algeria, Chad, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Vietnam
“The coverage of Blinken’s visit in China is not nearly as extensive or enthusiastic as it has been in the West,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington. (Chinese experts say it was because the US failed to lift sanctions on Li, imposed in 2018 over China’s purchase of Russian weapons.) China cut off talks with US military commanders following former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August. Zhao said China has adopted “a brinkmanship policy” to highlight the risk of military confrontation to the US. Wang, the expert at Peking University, said Blinken’s long-delayed visit is the “last chance” to repair ties with China before the US election next year.
Persons: Antony Blinken, Washington, Blinken, Qin Gang, State Department –, , Yun Sun, , “ We’re, ” Daniel Kritenbrink, Trump, Wang Yong, Biden, Joe Biden, ” Wang, Tong Zhao, Lloyd Austin, Li Shangfu, Li, Nancy Pelosi’s, Zhao, ” Zhao, , Blinken’s, Janet Yellen, John Kerry, Sun, ” lockdowns, Xi Jinping’s, Xi, Wang Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, China’s, State Department, Biden, China Program, Stimson, State, Peking University, Foreign Ministry, Carnegie Endowment, International, Defense Locations: China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Washington, East Asia, Taiwan, South China
Peru"Peruvians are welcoming travelers back with open arms," says travel one travel expert. And perhaps most importantly, the city offers excellent value, in part because it will be the winter/low season there during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. It’s home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including megalithic temples that date to the 4th millennium BC. Although summer is the rainy season, Gellis says showers are often brief and intermittent. AlbaniaAlbania is a Mediterranean gem that’s likely to be less crowded this summer than Greece and Croatia, says Joao Donadel, another EMBARK Beyond travel advisor.
“Currently we don’t have security in Afghanistan at all, whenever we go out we don’t know if we will come home alive or not,” he added. Taliban security forces guard a checkpoint near the foreign ministry in Kabul on March 27, after an ISIS-K suicide bomber struck the site. The data, which is available in a live map, includes 367 pieces of open-source evidence — largely videos and images shared on social media — about 70 ISIS-K attacks since August 2021. As the Taliban try to minimize the threat ISIS-K poses, attacks on civilians continue. Taliban security forces have been waging ongoing operations and night raids against ISIS-K.
The Pentagon also will not disclose a comprehensive list of partner forces and the countries in which they are operating. The documents obtained by The Times include directives for two programs that are named for the laws that authorize them. The Section 127e program, commonly called “127 Echo,” can spend up to $100 million a year on counterterrorism proxies. The Section 1202 program is authorized to spend up to $15 million a year on surrogates for irregular warfare. The rules lay out the process by which special operators propose developing a new partner force, which is ultimately up to the secretary of defense.
CNN —The situation on the ground in Sudan on Wednesday remained too volatile to get diplomatic staff from the US Embassy in Khartoum out of the country, a top State Department official told congressional staffers. Another US official told CNN that State Department officials are in contact with Pentagon officials in Djibouti where the US has military assets to determine the best evacuation operation. Officials told staffers Wednesday that there are an estimated 16,000 American citizens in Sudan, most of whom are dual nationals, and roughly 500 had contacted the US Embassy since the outbreak of fighting. “Within Sudan, the Department of Defense’s mission is primarily focused on providing security at the US Embassy. While operational security prevents us from going into detail, the Department of Defense, through the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, provides ongoing security for diplomatic facilities worldwide,” he said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges at a news conference in Washington, alongside Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors. The fentanyl trafficking, weapons and money laundering charges in three indictments involved a total of 28 defendants: 23 of whom are based in Mexico, four in China and one in Guatemala. A senior administration official on a call with reporters on Friday called the reward offers “unprecedented.”“These targets traffic fentanyl from around the world including from Mexico, (China) and Guatemala. These reward offers are part of a government wide attempt to put a halt to trafficking in illicit fentanyl and its precursor,” they added. And in late March, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an over-the-counter version of the opioid overdose antidote Narcan for the first time.
Expedited Passport Renewals Now Taking Over a Month
  + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Allison Pohle | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: 1 min
The passport renewal system is backed up again, sending people who are planning spring trips overseas scrambling. The State Department’s website currently estimates five to seven weeks for expedited passport renewals and eight to 11 weeks for routine renewals. Earlier this month, the website said expedited passport renewals would take three to five weeks and routine renewals would take six to nine weeks. These processing times don’t include mailing times, which the department says can add several weeks.
The State Department has found that Moscow is in ‘noncompliance’ with the nuclear-arms accord for the first time. Russia has violated the New START treaty cutting long-range nuclear arms by refusing to allow on-site inspections and rebuffing Washington’s requests to meet to discuss its compliance concerns, the U.S. State Department said in a report sent to Congress on Tuesday. The State Department’s finding that Moscow is in “noncompliance” with the accord marks the first time that the U.S. has accused Russia of violating the treaty, which entered into force in 2011.
“While respect for human rights is unquestionably a high priority, we have many other equities at stake,” McCulley wrote. He said the focus on human rights had sent relations between the two countries into the “lowest ebb” in his three years there. Nigeria’s human rights record wasn’t only a moral issue – it was a legal one. Working under these laws provided “openings to incentivise and institutionalise” human rights protections within the Nigerian military, the State Department said. The pact also noted that London and Abuja had agreed on an “enhanced human rights dialogue” to ensure compliance with international rights standards.
U.S. Sanctions Russia’s Rosbank, Subsidiaries of VTB
  + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( David Smagalla | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: +3 min
The U.S. government has sanctioned Russian lender Rosbank and has expanded sanctions against VTB, one of the country’s largest banks, in a move to further limit the Russian government’s efforts to fund its war in Ukraine. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday announced sanctions against 17 subsidiaries of VTB, building on sanctions placed on the parent company in February, after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Treasury cited the importance of Rosbank to the Russian government, given that the lender is considered a “systemically important credit institution” in the country. The U.S. sanctions follow similar sanctions of Rosbank by the U.K. and Canada earlier this year. Nornickel wasn’t included in the State Department’s sanctions package.
Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief benefits, including Small Business Administration loans and unemployment insurance funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service. One senior Justice Department official called it “dangerous” and said it had serious national security implications. ‘The horse is out of the barn’As soon as state governments began disbursing Covid unemployment funds in 2020, cybercriminals began to siphon off a significant percentage. China’s targets include state governments, which can have inadequate cybersecurity defenses. “The state governments don’t allocate a lot of cyber protection money to their state I.T.
The US had qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France with ease. “Instantly, it was less about Germany, less about Yugoslavia, more about Iran,” Sampson told CNN Sport. “That was a bit of a distraction.”Over two decades later, the USMNT again faces Iran in the group stages of a World Cup. Gael Cornier/APThe USMNT had to face Germany, then the reigning European champion in its opening match, yet the Iran match, the second group game, was everyone else’s focus. “We had 150 armed police, which was unprecedented for a World Cup match.
After all, the rate of gun-related deaths in the United States has been going up in recent years. CNN Travel keeps a periodic check on what the governments of the United States’ neighbors and closest allies tell their citizens about coming here. It also tells its citizens that “violent crime, including gun crime, rarely involves tourists, but you should take care when traveling in unfamiliar areas. In many states, it is legal for United States citizens to openly carry firearms in public. “Violent crime has targeted individuals and groups from the LGBTQIA+ community and those with diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Persons: , It’s, They’re, , it’s, Tara Walton, Lauren Redfern, ” Redfern, Israel Israel, Uriel Sinai, sprees, Kazuhiro Nogi, Shinzo Abe, they’re Organizations: CNN, US, Violence, CNN Travel, United, Washington Post, Getty Images Canada, , US Department of Homeland Security, London, Israel, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lufthansa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan Airlines, Haneda Airport, New Zealanders, & Infrastructure Security Agency Locations: United States, America, Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, United States of America, Canada, Windsor , Ontario, Detroit , Michigan, Mexico, ” United Kingdom, United Kingdom, United, London, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Israel, Algeria, France, carjackings, Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, , Atlanta, Germany German, Europe, Germany, Florida, Japan, Tokyo, AFP, Zealand, New Zealand, New
But after North Korea re-engaged in negotiations, he reduced sanctions in exchange for promises of denuclearization, which Pyongyang soon violated. They included sanctions and an indictment against a Chinese company and four Chinese people who helped North Korea evade U.S. sanctions. This robust sanctions policy in the last year of Obama’s presidency extended into the beginning of his successor’s term. More than 20 countries curtailed diplomatic or commercial relationships with North Korea. Yet, instead of ratcheting up pressure on North Korea, Trump turned to other issues for the rest of his term.
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