WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Friday it will redirect $230 million in frozen funding away from Syria and had raised $300 million from coalition partners for recovery efforts in areas retaken from Islamic State militants in northeast Syria.
Human rights activists on both sides of the aisle are urging the Senate to swiftly confirm President Donald Trump’s choice for a key State Department post charged with promoting freedom and democracy and protecting persecuted minorities around the world.
The State Department is reconsidering an $850 million contract award for IED and bomb removal in hot spots around the world after a previous agency grant to the same company received new scrutiny just weeks into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s tenure.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a declaration Thursday encouraging the global community to stand up for religious freedom.
The Trump administration’s State Department is working to quash new legislation that would sanction international terror groups for using human shields, a battlefield tactic employed Hezbollah and Hamas, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the administration’s behind-the-scenes effort to nix the legislation.
Victims of religious persecution shared their stories of suffering Tuesday during the State Department’s first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, which brings together foreign ministers, religious leaders, and other stakeholders to discuss the issue of international religious freedom.
Democratic congressional candidate Tom Malinowski is touting his national security experience, but there are questions surrounding his experience at the left-wing organization Human Rights Watch.
