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Trump seeks to slash funding for UN missions in Mideast

The State Department budget is seeking across-the-board cuts to international peacekeeping missions worldwide.
U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the Lebanese-Israeli border as they drive past a picture of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon January 29, 2015. Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed when Hezbollah fired a missile at a convoy of Israeli military vehicles at the Lebanon border. A U.N. spokesman and Spanish officials said the peacekeeper was killed as Israel responded with air strike
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p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #0463c1; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #0463c1} The Donald Trump administration today unveiled a budget blueprint for next year that calls for slashing the US contribution to the United Nations mission in Lebanon by almost half while pursuing similar cuts to international peacekeeping missions around the world.

The State Department budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 seeks a 42% cut over fiscal 2017’s request for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), from $146.1 million to $84.2 million. Funding for UN missions in the Golan Heights, Western Sahara and Cyprus is also to be slashed.

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