National Security

The White House has indicated a desire to slash 37 percent of funding from the budget of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which currently has a combined budget of just over $50 billion.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), currently chaired by the Philippines, is aspiring to debut a new maritime code of conduct by June intended to diminish tensions between member nations and China in the South China Sea.

President Donald Trump paid tribute to the widow of fallen Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens in an especially touching moment during his address to Congress Tuesday evening.

Director Ava DuVernay celebrated her decision to wear a gown to the 2017 Oscars by a designer from Lebanon, which she proudly described as predominantly Muslim country. Lebanon was founded as a Christian “sanctuary” state in the Middle East, and its religious makeup is so controversial the nation has not held a census since 1932.

During his address to a special joint session of Congress Tuesday, President Donald Trump vowed to use his position as commander in chief to eradicate the Islamic State terrorist group and work with America’s “friends and allies in the Muslim world” to combat radical Islamic terrorism.

The United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) issued a trilateral statement on North Korea on Monday, denouncing Pyongyang’s “flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs” and calling for “strong international pressure on the regime.”

As the international community continues to grapple with how to properly reduce the global risk of an emboldened and increasingly erratic North Korea, South Korea warns that dictator Kim Jong-un appears to have completely overhauled his intelligence agency.

The U.S. military is getting its first Muslim division-level chaplain in history this summer.

Numerous articles in Chinese state-controlled media are encouraging Chinese nationals to boycott the Lotte Group, a South Korean conglomerate that recently approved a land deal making the deployment of a new U.S. missile defense system in the country possible.

Christian dignitaries in the Egyptian city of Ismailia have been absorbing a wave of refugees from across the Sinai Peninsula after at least seven Coptic Christians were murdered by militants affiliated with the Islamic State.

A pastor and his wife have been arrested in Cuba for homeschooling their children, according to Mike Donnelly, director of global outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association, a U.S.-based organization that has offered legal assistance to homeschooling families since 1983.

An organization partnered with far-left groups that calls itself the Revolutionary Love Project distributed an actual script with anti-Trump talking points for citizens to use when meeting with constituents in town halls, including during last week’s Congressional recess.

TEL AVIV – Head of the opposition Isaac Herzog on Monday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set up an “emergency national program” in preparation for “waves” of Jewish immigration as a result of an ongoing upsurge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and France.

Contents: ISIS forces hundreds of Christians to flee Egypt’s North Sinai; ISIS-linked Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in Sinai continues to confound Egypt’s army

At least two former Guantánamo Bay detainees from the United Kingdom have reportedly re-engaged in terrorist activities. One carried out a suicide attack on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq last week, and the other has reportedly joined a group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Syria.

Police began evacuating settlers and hundreds of protesters who gathered in nine buildings in the West Bank settlement of Ofra Tuesday, ahead of a court-ordered demolition of the houses found built without permits on private Palestinian land, according to a court ruling.

TEL AVIV – Reverting to psychological warfare, Hezbollah recently erected a giant sign on the Israel-Lebanon border with images of “Hezbollah heroes” alongside the threatening inscription: “This account is not settled.”

European officials are mounting an unprecedented campaign to block President Trump’s putative nomination of Ted Malloch as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union (EU).

Egyptian airport security denied entry to a senior Palestinian official on Monday and deported him, sources at Cairo airport said.

The Iranian Navy test-launched an anti-ship cruise missile on Monday morning as part of a large-scale naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday reiterated his warning that Israel will not allow any “drizzle” of rocket fire on its territory from enemy entities.

The state prosecution service of Denmark is bringing blasphemy charges against a man who burned a copy of the Koran in his garden and then posted a video of the act on a Facebook page.

Facebook has shut down the page of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s party Fatah, apparently over a picture of late leader Yasser Arafat with a weapon, the movement said on Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told MKs from his ruling Likud party on Monday that he still has not reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump regarding the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements.

ISMAILIA, EGYPT—After Islamic militants barged into his uncle’s house, shot him and his son dead, then looted the place and set it on fire, Said Sameh Adel Fawzy knew it was time to leave.

Thousands of people participated in a march in Moscow over the weekend to commemorate the death of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered outside the Kremlin two years ago.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are strapping bombs on stray dogs, including a puppy, to use them against U.S.-backed coalition forces in Iraq, a video posted by Iraqi government-sanctioned paramilitary fighters purportedly shows.

Some Republican lawmakers have denounced character assassination attempts against Dr. Sebastian Gorka, White House deputy assistant and former Breitbart News national security editor.

In confirming the death of Jurgen Kantner, the hostage to the Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf beheaded overnight Sunday, the Philippine government revealed that multiple soldiers had died to prevent his murder, but their rescue attempts failed.

“We confirm that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands with all its might behind the Islamic causes in general and we are fully ready for assistance and cooperation with your sisterly country as regards any effort or movement that serves Muslims’ issues,” Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud said from Malaysia on Monday.

Seven Republican Congressman have started an inquiry into U.S. taxpayer funding of a George Soros-connected organization that they allege has been involved in trying to shape the internal politics of the country of Macedonia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the war against the Islamic State and a plan to curb Syrian Kurdish influence with the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) Masoud Barzani over the weekend.

Lawmakers in South Korea on Monday accused North Korea of masterminding the murder of dictator Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia. Meanwhile, an Indonesian official revived the theory that the killers were innocent women duped into poisoning the victim.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) General Joseph Votel made an unannounced visit to Syria last week to meet with the heads of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia fighting the Islamic State largely composed of Kurdish fighters.

On Sunday, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement condemning a Russian attack in Ukraine that targeted the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

It seems clear enough that the Trump administration is not pleased with the conduct of the U.N. Human Rights Council. According to the ever-popular roster of unnamed current and former U.S. officials, the administration is considering a complete withdrawal from the HRC, reports Politico.