Foreign Policy Focus Washington from

Alleged Maduro Accomplice Surrenders to U.S. Agents, Will Help Prosecution

March 28, 2020 Focus Washington

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents on Friday remanded in custody retired Venezuelan general Cliver Alcala, three people familiar with the matter said, after he agreed to work with prosecutors who charged him, President Nicolas Maduro […]

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tests Positive for Virus

March 27, 2020 Focus Washington

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the new coronavirus, but remains in charge of the U.K.’s response to the outbreak, The Associated Press reported. Johnson, 55, said Friday that he was tested […]

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Support for Hong Kong Protesters’ Demands Rises Even as Coronavirus Halts Rallies: Poll

March 27, 2020 Focus Washington

Support for the demands of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong has grown even as rallies have paused due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey conducted for Reuters that also showed a widespread lack […]

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Canada Attacks ‘Damaging’ Trump Plan to Deploy Troops at Border

March 27, 2020 Focus Washington

Canada on Thursday slammed a U.S. proposal to deploy troops along their undefended border to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, saying the idea was unnecessary and would damage relations, Reuters writes. The uncompromising […]

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U.S. Officials Says Ex-FBI Agent Who Went Missing in Iran, ‘May Have Passed Away Some Time Ago’

March 27, 2020 Focus Washington

Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran in 2007, “may have passed away some time ago,” according to U.S. intelligence officials. The statement came after Levinson’s family released a statement of […]

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UN Sends Humanitarian Aid to Idlib, Northwest Syria

March 27, 2020 Focus Washington

The UN on Thursday dispatched a total of 51 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Idlib, a northwestern Syrian city where millions of people are in desperate need of assistance, Anadolu Agency reported. Trucks entered the […]

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Kazakhstan Foils Islamic State Bomb Attack

March 26, 2020 Focus Washington

Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee has detained a man suspected of planning a bomb attack in the capital, Nur-Sultan, on behalf of Islamic State, the security body said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The man had an […]

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Afghans Angry With Their Warring Leaders After U.S. Pulls $1 Billion in Aid

March 25, 2020 Focus Washington

A wave of shock and anger spread here Tuesday as Afghans learned that U.S. officials plan to cut $1 billion in aid after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a brief visit here Monday, had failed […]

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China Lifting Last Controls in Province at Outbreak’s Center

March 25, 2020 Focus Washington

Trains carrying factory employees back to work after two months in locked-down cities rolled out of Hubei province, the center of China’s virus outbreak, as the government on Wednesday began lifting the last of the […]

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India to Unveil $20 Billion-Plus Stimulus Package to Tackle Coronavirus Downturn

March 25, 2020 Focus Washington

India is likely to agree to an economic stimulus package of more than 1.5 trillion rupees ($19.6 billion) to fight a downturn in the country that is currently locked down to stem the spread of […]

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Syria Confirms First Coronavirus Case

March 24, 2020 Focus Washington

War-ravaged Syria on Sunday confirmed its first case of the coronavirus after weeks of rejecting opposition allegations that the disease had already reached a country with a wrecked health system and thousands of Iranian-backed militias […]

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Rouhani Claims U.S. Should Lift Sanctions If It Wants to Help Iran Amid Coronavirus

March 23, 2020 Focus Washington

The United States should lift sanctions if Washington wants to help Iran to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday, adding that Iran had no intention of accepting Washington’s offer of […]

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Backlash in Iran After Singers Perform at Saudi Arabia Festival

March 20, 2020 Focus Washington

There was music legend Lionel Richie and Greek composer Yanni and Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli. And then, out of the winter desert in Saudi Arabia, the Iranian singers took to the stage, Middle East […]

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Kremlin Says Putin Does Not Need a Coronavirus Test

March 20, 2020 Focus Washington

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been tested for the new coronavirus and does not need to undergo such a test because he is healthy and has no symptoms, the Kremlin said on Friday, Reuters […]

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Kurdish Shelling Kills Five in Syria’s Afrin

March 19, 2020 Focus Washington

Shelling by Kurdish forces on the rebel-held Afrin city and its countryside in northern Syria killed five people including children on Wednesday, a war monitor reported, according to Xinhua. The shelling also wounded 15 others […]

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Coronavirus Rocks Already Strained Ties Between U.S. and China

March 18, 2020 Focus Washington

Badly strained ties between the United States and China are deteriorating further with the two sides hurling harsh accusations and bitter name-calling over responsibility for the spread of the novel coronavirus, The Associated Press informs. […]

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Middle Eastern States Not Communicating Enough About Virus, WHO Claims

March 18, 2020 Focus Washington

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that some information about coronavirus cases was being “insufficiently communicated” by Middle East states, Reuters informs. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said there […]

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China Expels American Journalists Over Escalating Spat With U.S.

March 17, 2020 Focus Washington

China announced early on Wednesday that it was retaliating against U.S. restrictions on Chinese journalists, with actions that include rescinding the press credentials of American correspondents with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and […]

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Iran Temporarily Releases 85,000 Prisoners, Including Political Ones, Amid Coronavirus

March 17, 2020 Focus Washington

Iran has temporarily freed about 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners in response to the coronavirus epidemic, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus has reached 853 […]

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With Cease-Fire in Place, Syrians Return for Belongings, but Not to Stay

March 17, 2020 Focus Washington

Families sifted through the bombed-out ruins of their shops and homes on Thursday in the front-line Syrian town of Balyoun, using a fragile cease-fire between Russia and Turkey to retrieve their belongings but voicing little […]

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Pompeo Delivered ‘Strong U.S. Objections’ to Beijing Over COVID-19 Accusations

March 16, 2020 Focus Washington

A war of words between China and the United States showed no signs of let up on Monday, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call with a top Chinese diplomat expressing […]

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Member of Iranian Clerical Assembly Dies From Virus

March 16, 2020 Focus Washington

A 78-year-old member of the Iranian clerical body that chooses the country’s supreme leader has died from the illness caused by the new coronavirus, news agencies reported Monday. He was the latest of several senior […]

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Syrians in Idlib Fear End Nearing

March 16, 2020 Focus Washington

“There’s nothing now. Nothing at all,” said Yasser Aboud, as he looked away from his family’s few remaining belongings, dumped on the floor of the bare single room that would now be their home in […]

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Nunes Slams China on Handling of Coronavirus: ‘They Downplayed it’

March 15, 2020 Focus Washington

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., blasted China’s handling of the coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures”, Fox News informed. Nunes, the ranking member on the House Permanent […]

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Satellite Images Show Iran Building Burial Pits for Coronavirus Victims

March 13, 2020 Focus Washington

Iran has been rapidly expanding a major cemetery in Qom, the area worst hit by the country’s novel coronavirus outbreak, satellite images obtained by CNN reveal. The country has reported at least 10,075 confirmed coronavirus […]

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U.S. Strikes Iran-Backed Group That Hit Iraq Base

March 13, 2020 Focus Washington

The U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq, targeting the Iranian-backed Shiite militia members believed responsible for the rocket attack that killed and wounded American and British troops at a base north of Baghdad, the Pentagon said, […]

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U.S. Carrying out Retaliatory Strikes After Deadly Iran Attack

March 12, 2020 Focus Washington

The United States is carrying out retaliatory strikes in Iraq in response to a rocket attack on Wednesday that killed two U.S. troops and a British service member at a base north of Baghdad, two […]

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Iraq Military Base Hit by Airstrike, Two Americans, One British Dead

March 12, 2020 Focus Washington

A base in Baghdad where U.S. military staff was housed has been hit by an airstrike, leaving two Americans and one British national killed, USA Today reported. A U.S. military spokesperson in Iraq confirmed three military coalition […]

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Russia Passes Bill Allowing Putin to Stay in Power Past 2024

March 11, 2020 Focus Washington

The Russian parliament approved a sweeping constitutional reform in the third and final reading Wednesday, a move that will allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power for another 12 years after his current term […]

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Erdogan Threatens Retaliation If Syria Truce Is Broken

March 11, 2020 Focus Washington

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his country will not shy away from even stronger military action in northwest Syria’s Idlib region if last week’s truce is broken, Reuters reported. Turkey and Russia, which […]

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