US is shutting down Office of Palestinian Affairs and merging it into its embassy in Jerusalem
CNN
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is closing the Office of Palestinian Affairs and merging it into the US embassy in Jerusalem, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is closing the Office of Palestinian Affairs and merging it into the US embassy in Jerusalem, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday. “This decision will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified US diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the US ambassador to Israel,” Bruce said at a department briefing. “Ambassador (Mike) Huckabee will take the steps necessary to implement the merger over the coming weeks.” Bruce claimed the closure of the office “is not a reflection on any outreach or commitment to outreach to the people at the West Bank or to Gaza.” “It really is actually very similar to what’s happening here with the bureaus, with our reorganization. It is making sure that the issues that are important are all working together right, are not segmented out so that the interests of the embassy – very, very much like the interests of our foreign aid and other actions – can work together in the Bureau as one entity,” she said. Still, it appeared to be a further downgrading of relations with the Palestinian people, especially since the announcement comes one day after Israel approved plans to expand its war in Gaza. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “One thing will be clear: there will be no in-and-out.” After more than 18 months of war, Netanyahu said the population of Gaza will be displaced to the south “to protect them.” Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that “we are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip.”
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning
The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.