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Brian W. Shukan
Brian Wesley Shukan is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service (class of Minister-Counselor) who is serving as the United States ambassador to Benin. He previously served as the U.S. chief of mission in Khartoum from October 2019 to January 2022. Early life and education Shukan was raised in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Law, and a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. Career Shukan served as Director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan at the U.S. Department of State and from 2014 to 2017 as Chargé d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. From 2011 to 2014, Shukan served as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca, Morocco. He has been considered the top State Department official in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Ambassadors Appointed By Joe Biden
This is a list of United States ambassadors appointed by the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden. Biden is expected to appoint more ambassadors who are career members of the foreign service compared to former president Donald Trump, who deviated from the 70 percent norm by nominating 56 percent career foreign service members. He is expected to make appointments who will restore America's diplomatic standing after the Trump administration, which included several major campaign donors who were not well received in their host countries. Among the political appointees, more are expected to be policy experts and politicians rather than campaign bundlers. , according to tracking by ''The Washington Post'' and Partnership for Public Service, 143nominees have been confirmed, 24nominees are being considered by the Senate, and 11positions currently do not have nominees. Color key * Announced appointees not yet sent to the Senate. * Denotes nomination pending before a S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defined by the IHSI as including the communes of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Tabarre, Carrefour and Pétion-Ville. The city of Port-au-Prince is on the Gulf of Gonâve: the bay on which the city lies, which acts as a natural harbor, has sustained economic activity since the civilizations of the Taíno. It was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749. The city's layout is similar to that of an amphitheater; commercial districts are near the water, while residential neighborhoods are located on the hills above. Its population is difficult to ascertain due to the rapid growth of slums in the hillsides above the city; however, recent estimates place the metropolitan area's population at around 3.7 million, nearly half of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrice Talon
Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon (born 1 May 1958) is a Beninese politician and businessman who has been President of Benin since 6 April 2016. Early life and career Talon is of Fon origin and was born in Ouidah. He descends from slave traders. His father was from Ouidah while his mother came from a Guédégbé family in Abomey. He obtained a baccalaureate in Dakar, Senegal. After obtaining a "C" grade in his bachelor's degree in science at the University of Dakar, he was transferred to the École nationale de l'aviation civile in Paris. With dreams of becoming a pilot, Talon failed a medical test and this dream became impossible. In 1983, Talon became involved in trading packaging and agricultural inputs. In 1985, he returned to Benin and established the Intercontinental Distribution Company ''(Société Distribution Intercontinentale''; ''SDI)'', which supplies agricultural inputs to cotton producers. In 1990, after recommendations by the World Bank to liberalize economies i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voice Vote
In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vocally. The voice vote is considered the simplest and quickest of voting methods used by deliberative assemblies. The presiding officer or chair of the assembly will put the question to the assembly, asking first for all those in favor of the motion to indicate so orally ("aye" or "yea"), and then ask second all those opposed to the motion to indicate so verbally ("no" or "nay"). The chair will then make an estimate of the count on each side and state what they believe the result to be. Voice votes have inherent disadvantages and the method has major shortfalls in close contests. The volume of the voices are typically only estimated and not actually measured with sound level meters, giving a chair enough plausible deniability to falsify ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its entirety. Each of the 50 states is equally represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years, for a total of 100 senators. The vice president of the United States serves as presiding officer and president of the Senate by virtue of that office, despite not being a senator, and has a vote only if the Senate is equally divided. In the vice president's absence, the president pro tempore, who is traditionally the senior member of the party holding a majority of seats, presides over the Senate. As the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs; funding arms sales and training for national allies; and holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs.Renamed from Committee on International Relations by the 110th Congress in January 2007. Along with the Finance and Judiciary committees, the Foreign Relations Committee is among the oldest in the Senate, dating to the initial creation of committees in 1816. It has played a leading role in several important treaties and foreign policy initiatives throughout U.S. history, including the Alaska purchase, the establishment of the United Nations, and the passage of the Marshall Plan. The committee has also prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Ambassador To Benin
The Kingdom of Dahomey was an overseas possession of France—part of French West Africa—until 1958. In that year Dahomey became an autonomous republic, and gained full independence in 1960. The United States immediately recognized Dahomey and began the process of initiating diplomatic relations. A U.S. Embassy at Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (then named Ivory Coast) was established with Donald L. Norland as Chargé d'Affaires ''ad interim''. The embassy was also accredited also to Dahomey, Niger, and Upper Volta (now named Burkina Faso) while resident at Abidjan. On July 31, 1960, Chargé Norland presented his credentials to the government of Dahomey, to take effect on August 1, 1960. On October 14, 1960, R. Borden Reams was appointed as the ambassador and presented his credentials on November 26, 1960. On February 15, 1961, the Embassy in Cotonou, Dahomey, was established with Converse Hettinger as Chargé d'Affaires ''ad interim''. Ambassador Reams remained resident in Abidjan. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asma Mohamed Abdalla
Asma Mohamed Abdalla (also: ''Asmaa'', ''Abdallah'', ''Abdullah''; ar, أسماء محمد عبد الله) is a Sudanese diplomat. She became Sudan's first female Minister of Foreign Affairs in early September 2019 in the Transitional Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, during the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy. Early life and education Asma was born in 1946 in Khartoum. She graduated in 1971 from the University of Khartoum after studying economics and political science. Diplomatic career Asma was a Sudanese ambassador, employed by the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prior to the Omar al-Bashir presidency. She was one of the first three women employed by the Foreign Ministry. Asma was dismissed from the Ministry following the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état that brought Omar al-Bashir to power and persecuted by the new government. According to UNICEF scanned paper records of 1990, Asma was Fourth Vice-Chairman of the UNICEF Executive Board during 1990/1991. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In the 1970s, it focused on loans to developing world countries, shifting away from that mission in the 1980s. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by the Sustainable Development Goals as well as environmental and social safeguards. , the World Bank is run by a president and 25 executive directors, as well as 29 various vice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." Formed in 1944, started on 27 December 1945, at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international monetary system. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. , the fund had XDR 477 billion (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdalla Hamdok
Abdalla Hamdok Al-Kinani (also transliterated ''Abdallah'', ''Hamdouk'', '' AlKinani''; ar, عبدالله حمدوك الكناني; born 1 January 1956) is a Sudanese public administrator who served as the 15th Prime Minister of Sudan from 2019 to 2021, and again from 2021 to 2022. Prior to his appointment, Hamdok served in numerous national and international administrative positions. From November 2011 to October 2018, he was Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). UNECA staff described Hamdok as " diplomat, a humble man and a brilliant and disciplined mind". In August 2019, Hamdok was suggested as a likely candidate for Prime Minister of Sudan for the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy. Following the transfer of power from the Transitional Military Council to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, the Sovereignty Council appointed Hamdok as Prime Minister during the transitional period. He was sworn in on 21 August 2019. He was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
