By Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is removing numerous career ambassadors from their posts abroad, marking the latest shake-up of the US State Department and diplomatic corps.

At least two dozen senior diplomats have received notice that they must leave their roles next month, sources said. They were appointed to ambassadorships around the world during the Biden administration, but are career diplomats, meaning they have served for years in the foreign service under presidents of both parties.

Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, but their tenures in each diplomatic mission usually last three or four years. Political appointee ambassadors typically leave their roles at a change of administration.

A senior State Department official described the recall of the ambassadors as “a standard process in any administration.”

“An ambassador is a personal representative of the President, and it is the President’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda,” they said.

The official did not confirm the number of career ambassadors being recalled or the locations where they served. Politico first reported on the removal of the career diplomats.

However, former diplomats described the situation as unprecedented.

“This has never happened in the 101-year history of the U.S. Foreign Service. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president. But every president has kept most career professional ambassadors in place until their successors are confirmed by the Senate,” said Eric Rubin, a retired career diplomat and former president of the American Foreign Service Association.

Rubin said the US is now facing a situation where more than half of US embassies abroad will not have a confirmed ambassador, calling it “a serious insult to the countries affected, and a huge gift to China.”

“The ambassadors who have been dismissed will mostly have to retire, which means the State Dept. will lose a large number of our most senior, experienced and accomplished professionals,” he said. “This is bad for our diplomacy, bad for our national security, and bad for our influence in the world.”

AFSA, the union for foreign service officers, said it “has received credible reports from our members in diplomatic posts across the world that multiple career ambassadors, appointed during the Biden administration, have been directed to vacate their posts by January 15 or 16.”

“According to our sources, no explanation was given for these recalls,” its statement said.

In its statement, AFSA warned that “to remove these senior diplomats without cause or justification sends a dangerous message.”

“It tells our allies that America’s commitments may shift with the political winds. And yet again, it tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a backsea

Por German Padinger, CNN en Español

“La Armada más grande reunida en la historia de Sudamérica”, según el presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, ejecuta un “bloqueo total” de los buques sancionados que transportan el petróleo de Venezuela.

Estados Unidos ya incautó dos de esos buques la semana pasada, y hay decenas de estos petroleros sancionados actualmente en el Caribe que podrían ser incautados en el contexto de este bloqueo.

América Latina tiene una nutrida historia de bloqueos, que constituyen un acto de guerra según el derecho internacional, y la sola mención de la palabra retrotrae al bloqueo de Cuba en 1962, en medio de la crisis de los misiles.

Pero hubo otros bloqueos en la región y uno de los de mayor dimensión ocurrió, precisamente, en Venezuela hace más de un siglo.

Según la Marina de EE.UU., un bloqueo es un “una operación bélica para impedir que buques o aeronaves de todas las naciones, tanto enemigas como neutrales, entren o salgan de puertos, aeródromos o zonas costeras específicas que pertenezcan a una nación enemiga”.

¿Qué dice la historia sobre los bloqueos -definidos como lo hace la Marina- en América Latina?

En 1902, hace 123 años, buques de guerra de Alemania, Italia y el Reino Unido bloquearon puertos venezolanos y amenazaron con iniciar acciones militares en medio de una crisis desatada por la incapacidad de Venezuela de pagar su deuda con estos y otros países europeos

Venezuela, liderada en ese momento por el presidente Cipirano Castro, emergía de un período de conflictos internos y era un “un país empobrecido, con una escasa estructura productiva, déficits fiscal y externo y un desarrollo institucional precario”, de acuerdo con el historiador venezolano Carlos Hernández Delfino.

En 1901, el Gobierno incumplió los pagos de la deuda externa y un grupo de países europeos, liderados por Berlín, Londres y Roma, citando además la necesidad de compensar por daños a sus intereses durante las guerras civiles, movilizaron en 1902 sus flotas para bloquear Venezuela y exigir el pago.

Aunque inicialmente EE.UU. aceptó la coerción sobre Venezuela, la operación militar europea atrajo la atención del entonces presidente de Estados Unidos, Theodor Roosevelt, quien se amparaba en la doctrina Monroe de 1823 que dictaba una influencia exclusivamente estadounidense en los asuntos americanos, dejando Europa para los europeos.

Roosevelt, temeroso especialmente del avance de Alemania en la región, finalmente movilizó a la flota estadounidense en torno a Puerto Rico. El presidente de Estados Unidos declaró entonces que su país podría “ejercer el poder policial internacional en casos flagrantes de irregularidades o de impotencia”.

En tanto el Gobierno de Argentina fue el único de la región en protestar en forma oficial con

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) - Guard Hamad Mousa scored a game high 33 points – including sinking three successive free throws with three seconds to play to force overtime – but the Cal Poly men’s basketball program, after overturning an 18-point deficit with seven minutes remaining in regulation, dropped an 83-80 overtime home decision against Idaho Sunday evening to close the 2025 calendar year.

Fellow sophomore Cayden Ward finished with 22 points for Cal Poly (5-9), which trailed Idaho (8-4), 67-49, before closing regulation with a 24-6 run. With Cal Poly still facing a 71-65 deficit and 81 seconds to play, Ward converted a three-point play before Mousa cut the gap to one after knocking down a jumper with 11 seconds on the clock.

With Cal Poly forced to foul, Vandals guard Kolton Mitchell – who scored 31 points – sank two free throws to keep Idaho in front with nine seconds left, 73-70. Mousa though was fouled attempting a three-pointer with three seconds and sank all three attempts to deadlock the matchup at the buzzer, 73-73 (left).

Playing its first overtime game of the season, Cal Poly took its first lead of the game after sophomore guard Peter Bandelj opened the extra period with a pair of free throws. Cal Poly then scratched out a 78-75 advantage with two minutes left after Ward hit a three-pointer.

Idaho, however, answered with a jumper from guard Biko Johnson to close to within a point before Mitchell converted a four-point play to hand the Vandals an 81-78 lead with seven seconds to go.

Cal Poly trailed at the Sunday’s break, 29-26, despite a 25.0 (7-for-28) percent first-half shooting mark before Idaho opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers. The Vandals led by as much as 19 points and were up 67-49 before the Mustangs produced a 14-0 run to shave their deficit to four points with two-and-a-half minutes remaining.

Cal Poly Noteworthy (versus Idaho Jan. 21)

Up Next:After an 11-day holiday break, Cal Poly plays its first New Year’s Day game since 1966 and resumes Big West action when welcoming defending conference champion UC San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 1 at 7 p.m.
A double-digit scorer in all 13 appearances, Hamad Mousa maintained the Big West scoring lead at 20.6 points per game.
Mousa enjoyed his second collegiate double-double after co-leading Cal Poly with 10 rebounds.
Cal Poly now features three of the Big West’s top seven scorers with Peter Bandelj (16.2) ranking sixth and Cayden Ward (16.1) seventh.
Junior Kieran Elliott grabbed a Cal Poly best 10 rebounds against Idaho.
Sunday’s matchup was Cal Poly’s first overtime game since a 112-100 home victory against UC Riverside (Feb. 22, 2025).

(Article courtesy Cal Poly Athletics).

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By Tal Shalev and Eugenia Yosef

Jerusalem (CNN) — The Israeli government has approved the closure of the country’s Army Radio after 75 years of broadcasting, in a move that shutters one of Israel’s oldest media institutions at a time of mounting concerns over press freedom.

Under the proposal, introduced by Defense Minister Israel Katz, the station, known as Galei Tzahal, will cease operations on March 1.

The resolution passed unanimously Monday despite opposition from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who warned in an official memorandum that the decision lacked the necessary factual and professional foundation and that advancing it violated the law.

“The decision forms part of a broader move to undermine public broadcasting in Israel and to restrict freedom of expression,” Baharav-Miara said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying “a military station broadcasting under the army’s authority exists in North Korea and perhaps a few other countries, and we certainly don’t want to be counted among them.”

The Israel Press Council, the Israeli journalists’ union, and other civil society groups have said they will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

Katz announced his intention to close down Army Radio last month, amid a broader government push to consolidate control over the media sphere, including a dramatic broadcast regulation reform that would give the government sweeping authority to fine and sanction news outlets.

The military-run broadcaster is legally an IDF unit overseen by the Chief of Staff, but has a vibrant news department operated by both soldiers and civilian journalists, who host some of the country’s most popular political talk shows and some of the journalists are regularly critical of politicians and the military.

Katz is not the first defense minister to dislike the tone of Army Radio’s journalist and others had previously floated the idea of closing or restructuring it. But he is the first to take action – – convening what critics have called a hand-picked committee of figures politically aligned with the government who recommended closing the station down or converting it to a different model, without substantial news and political content.

Katz said in a statement that “a reality in which a radio station, intended for all citizens of the state, is operated by the army is an anomaly that does not exist in democratic countries.”

“This anomaly causes substantial difficulty for the IDF stemming from the involuntary involvement of the IDF in political discourse. The station’s engagement in political content harms the Israel Defense Forces, its soldiers, and its unity.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid condemned the decision, calling it “part of the government’s campaign to abolish freedom of speech in Israel during an election year. They fail to control reality, so they try to control consciousness. Wherever there’s a truth inconvenient to the government, they act to eliminate it.”

“The government doesn’t know how to deal with the cost of living, the neglect of security … so it shuts down the media,” he said.

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