ELLEN KNICKMEYER

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
DOGE associate is made acting head of foreign assistance at the State Department, a US official says
The Trump administration has expanded the power of adviser Elon Musk’s government-cutting team over the State Department.
 
Kari Lake speaks to supporters at a campaign event, Sept. 4, 2024, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
America’s news TV channel for the Mideast fires its staff after funding cuts
The head of the U.S.-funded Al Hurra Arabic-language television and online news outlet has terminated most of his staff and curtailed TV programming. On Saturday, Jeffrey Gedmin notified Al Hurra staffers of their firings.
 
Afghan refugees take rest at a transit station setup to facilitate Afghan refugees' deportations, outskirt of Chaman, a town on the Pakistan and Afghanistan border, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo)
US restores urgent food aid, except in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest countries
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has reversed cuts in emergency food aid to several nations but maintained them in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest countries.
 
The seal of the State Department is seen at the Washington Passport Agency, July 12, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Trump administration says it cut funding to some life-saving UN food programs by mistake
The State Department says it’s rolled back some of its sweeping funding cuts to U.N. World Food Program emergency projects in 14 impoverished countries.
 
Food parcels provided by the World Food Program, part of the humanitarian aid shipments into Syria, are stacked at the Reyhanli border crossing with Syria, near Hatay, southern Turkey, Wednesday, May 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, Pool, File)
The US ends lifesaving food aid for millions. The World Food Program calls it a ‘death sentence’
The Trump administration has ended funding to U.N. World Food Program emergency programs helping keep millions alive in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other impoverished countries, many of them struggling with conflict.
 
A Bhutan medical volunteer attends to a patient at their make-shift tent after last week's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo)
In the race to save lives after the Myanmar quake, US rescuers are notable by their absence
Day after day, Chinese rescue teams haul children and elderly people from collapsed buildings. Cameras beam the thanks of grateful survivors around the world. Russian medical teams show off field hospitals erected in a flash to tend the wounded.
 
Volunteers look for survivors near a damaged building Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Trump says the US will help in Asia quake. A former official says the system is now in ‘shambles’
President Donald Trump says U.S. officials are “going to be helping” with the response to Southeast Asia’s deadly earthquake. Trump spoke after a Friday quake killed at least 150 people outright and trapped others in the ruins of high-rises.
 
Supporters cheers the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) workers, as they carry their personal belongings after retrieving them from the USAID's headquarters in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Appeals court clears way for DOGE to keep operating at USAID
A federal appeals court has lifted an order blocking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from further cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
America’s European allies are trying to pry their unspent money back from USAID
Three European allies have been pressing the Trump administration to get back money they sent to the United States to help low-income countries.
 
Pete Marocco, a political appointee focused on gutting USAID, departs after briefing the House Foreign Affairs Committee behind closed doors, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
DOGE official takes a leadership role at USAID, an agency Musk’s team has helped dismantle
A senior official at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is taking a leadership role at the U.S. Agency for International Development, giving DOGE a top job at an agency that it has helped dismantle.
 
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from his vehicle as he walks to board his airplane prior to departing Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec, Canada, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)
Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to the US ‘is no longer welcome’ in the country
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to the United States “is no longer welcome” in the United States. Rubio accused Emrahim Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” and declared him “persona non grata.”
 
Flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters Sept. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz, File)
The Trump administration demands UN agencies disclose any ‘anti-American’ ties
The Trump administration is demanding U.N. humanitarian agencies that receive or disburse U.S. funding to fill out a questionnaire disclosing any ties to communism, socialism or anti-American beliefs.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
Court asked to intervene after email tells USAID workers to destroy classified documents
A union for U.S. Agency for International Development contractors is asking a federal judge to intervene in any destruction of USAID classified documents. That’s after an email ordered staffers to help burn and shred agency records.
 
Lane Pollack, center, of Rockville, Md., a senior learning advisor at USAID for 14 years, is consoled by a co-worker after having 15 minutes to clear out her belongings from the USAID headquarters, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in freezing Congress’ funding for USAID, judge says
A federal judge says President Donald Trump overstepped his authority in freezing almost all spending on U.S. humanitarian and development work abroad. Judge Amir H.
 
Lane Pollack, center, of Rockville, Md., a senior learning advisor at USAID for 14 years, is consoled by a co-worker after having 15 minutes to clear out her belongings from the USAID headquarters, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is signaling that the Trump administration has finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development. Rubio made the announcement Monday in a post on X.
 
Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, and his son Henry take pictures as they visit the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. The Syrian-American Jewish family returned for the first time since emigrating from Syria to the United States more than three decades ago. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
American Jews who fled Syria ask White House to lift sanctions so they can rebuild in Damascus
American Jews who fled their Syrian homeland decades ago went to the White House this week to appeal to the Trump administration to lift sanctions on the country.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
Judge orders Trump administration to speed payment of USAID and State Dept. debts
 
Former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Trump’s pick as NATO ambassador says US commitment to the alliance is ‘ironclad’
President Donald Trump’s pick as NATO ambassador is reassuring senators at his confirmation hearing that the Trump administration’s commitment to the military alliance is “ironclad.”
 
Flags and a sign thanking United States Agency for International Development (USAID) workers are pictured as USAID workers retrieve their personal belongings from USAID's headquarters in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
USAID workers clear their desks in Trump’s final push to dismantle the agency
U.S. Agency for International Development workers, some in tears, are carting away belongings from a final visit to their now-closed headquarters.
 
The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is pictured Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Trump administration says it’s cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts
The Trump administration says it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world.
 
Retired United States Agency for International Development worker Julie Hanson Swanson, left, join supporters of USAID workers outside the USAID's Bureau of Humanitarian affairs office in Washington, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Judge gives Trump administration two days to release billions of dollars in blocked foreign aid
A federal judge has given the Trump administration less than two days to release billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Trump administration is putting USAID staffers on leave worldwide and firing at least 1,600
The Trump administration says it’s placing all but a fraction of staffers at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave worldwide and eliminating at least 1,600 U.S.-based jobs.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Judge clears way for Trump administration to pull thousands of USAID staffers off the job
A federal judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to pull thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers off the job. U.S.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Trump administration is flouting an order to temporarily lift a freeze on foreign aid, judge says
A federal judge says the Trump administration has kept withholding foreign aid despite a court order and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide. But the U.S.
 
President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Pool via AP)
Trump administration labels 8 Latin American cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organizations’
The Trump administration has designated eight Latin American crime organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations,” upping its pressure on cartels operating in the U.S. and on anyone aiding them.
 
Dr Brian Diers, associate director of the Soybean Innovation Lab, waters soybean plants in the growing chamber, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)
The USAID shutdown is upending livelihoods for nonprofit workers, farmers and other Americans
The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is hurting a variety of U.S. companies, nonprofits and farms.
 
The American flag flying alone beside an empty flagpole that previously had the flag of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, are pictured in the reflection of a window that previously had the sign and the seal of USAID, outside the agency's headquarters in Washington, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Judge sets a 5-day deadline for the Trump administration to start lifting its USAID funding freeze
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze shutting down U.S. humanitarian aid and development worldwide.
 
A bouquet of white flowers placed outside the headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, is pictured, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily allow funds for foreign aid to flow again
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift a three-week funding freeze that has shut down U.S. aid and development programs abroad.
 
Priya Kathpal, right, and Taylor Williamson, left, who work for a company doing contract work for the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, carry signs outside the USAID headquarters in Washington, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
USAID staffers describe colleagues abandoned in violence in Congo as DOGE ends assistance programs
Newly filed affidavits of U.S. Agency for International Development workers describe a lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders directing the immediate termination of hundreds of U.S. aid and foreign assistance programs abroad this week.
 
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
White House fires USAID inspector general after warning about funding oversight, officials say
The White House fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday. That’s according to U.S. officials familiar with the dismissal but not authorized to comment publicly.
 
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