Posted by Ryan Palsrok on May 13, 2008 - 03:19 PM
![Screenshot of the new Students Abroad website. [State Department image]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0513_students_bh_m.jpg)
Every year more than 200,000 students from American universities travel abroad to pursue international experience in an academic setting. This constitutes a nearly 150 percent increase in the past 10 years, despite post-9/11 apprehensions. Many young people also go abroad on their own dime and outside structured University programs to volunteer, work, intern, and simply to take vacation. According to U.S. Department of State figures, more than 100,000 students spend their Spring Break in resorts across Mexico annually.
The increase of students traveling abroad can be attributed to many factors, but regardless of the "why" or "how" students go abroad, the number one concern among university officials, parents, and even…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on May 09, 2008 - 05:58 PM
![Airport staff load crates of United Nations aid onto a cargo aircraft in the UAE May 7, 2008. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0509_usaid2_bh_m.jpg)
When a government is incapable of, or unwilling to protect its people, how far should the international community go to deliver humanitarian assistance?
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on May 12, 2008 - 05:58 PM
MR. MCCORMACK: I want to talk about something that is on everybody’s radar screen right now and that is the humanitarian disaster in Burma. And you are at the forefront of the United States’ response to that disaster.
I’d like to, first of all, get your assessment of what’s the situation here. Can you give us a reference point for this, say, versus several years ago, the tsunami or other humanitarian disasters that AID has dealt with?
MS. FORE: Well, it is certainly on everyone’s…
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Posted by Charles S. Shapiro on May 08, 2008 - 10:09 AM
![A worker packs roses to be shipped to the U.S. north of Bogota, Colombia Feb. 8, 2008. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0508_colombia_bh_m.jpg)
Throughout the hemisphere, democratic nations are looking to create conditions for sustained economic growth. In today’s world of globalization, countries are not looking inward but rather outward to achieve growth and prosperity. Our friends in Latin America see free trade agreements as the way to accomplish this goal. As we partner with other nations to remove trade barriers, no country wants to strengthen its ties with us more than Colombia.
The cup of Colombian coffee that I had this morning, the roses that I’m going to send to my mother for Mother’s Day along with the box of chocolates all come from Colombia into the United…
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Posted by Steve Royster on May 07, 2008 - 09:56 AM
![A map of the path that cyclone Nargis followed as it passed into Burma May 3, 2008. [State Dept.]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/nargis/2008_0507_burma_map2_bh_m.jpg)
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Cyclone Nargis struck Burma this weekend with winds of 120 miles per hour lasting for 10 hours. The Category 4 storm left over 22,000 dead and widespread devastation in its wake.
When a crisis like this strikes around the world, the Department of State’s first thought is for the safety of American citizens. As the storm brewed offshore, colleagues at the American Embassy in Rangoon issued…
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