The State Department plans to reconstitute U.S.A.I.D. as the U.S. Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance and abolish its status as an independent agency, according to an internal planning memo reviewed by The Times. Because of the way U.S.A.I.D. was established, Congress would have approve changes the Trump administration makes to the agency. If the planned … Read more
The State Department has ended funding for the tracking of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, and American officials or contractors might have deleted a database with information on them, according to a letter that U.S. lawmakers plan to send to Secretary of State Rubio on Wednesday. The work on the abducted children by … Read more
President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia are expected to speak on Tuesday as Washington pushes for a cease-fire in Ukraine. Mr. Trump said the topics would include power plants and “dividing up” Ukrainian assets. The call will be the first known conversation between the two leaders since Ukraine agreed to support a … Read more
The guards wore name tags that read “Hitler” and “Demon” and covered their faces with ski masks. The Americans in the Venezuelan prison were confined to cement cells, beaten, pepper-sprayed and subjected to what one prisoner called “psychological torture.” Three months into their capture, the Americans were so filled with anger that they rebelled. They … Read more
Shortly after the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador this weekend, the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, posted a three-minute video on social media. It featured shackled men being marched off a plane over a dramatic electronic soundtrack and into prison, where they were shaved bald. Mr. Bukele also taunted the U.S. judge … Read more
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from all but a sliver of land in Russia’s Kursk region, according to military analysts and soldiers, as their monthslong campaign to seize and occupy Russian territory appears to be nearing an end in the face of Moscow’s counterattacks. At the height of the offensive, Ukrainian forces controlled some 500 square … Read more
President Trump’s administration has officially expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, a spokesman for the South African president said on Saturday, calling the decision “regrettable.” The ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, received an expulsion letter from the State Department, said Vincent Magwenya, the spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. The move comes during … Read more