Hamas has named the next three Israeli hostages it plans to release as part of the ceasefire deal.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has canceled what would have been his final official trip abroad as concerns grow over potential violence at next week’s presidential inauguration, the State Department said Tuesday. Pompeo was to have met with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Belgium's foreign minister while in Brussels. Officials said the cancellation of Pompeo’s trip was intended to support the transition and was not related to fears of violence. “The Department of State is well along in its transition efforts with President-elect Biden’s team," Ortagus said in a statement. The department had announced late Monday that Pompeo would be visiting Brussels on his final trip abroad.

MOSCOW – The United States and Russia inched closer Tuesday to a deal to extend their last remaining arms control pact, after U.S. threats to allow the deal to expire early next year. “We appreciate the Russian Federation’s willingness to make progress on the issue of nuclear arms control,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. The pact limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. After both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty last year, New START was the only remaining nuclear arms control deal between the two countries. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that Russia couldn't agree to the U.S. proposal to limit tactical nuclear weapons alongside nuclear warheads that arm strategic missiles and bombers until Washington agreed to withdraw its nuclear warheads from Europe.

Mourners pray over the coffins of civilians killed by a Katyusha rocket attack near the international airport in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Several Iraqi civilians were killed and two severely wounded Monday after the rocket hit near Baghdad airport, Iraq's military said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)BAGHDAD – The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it was outraged by a rocket attack a day earlier that killed Iraqi civilians and called on the government to take action amid an impending diplomatic crisis between Baghdad and Washington. “We are outraged by yesterday’s rocket attack in Baghdad that killed civilians, including a mother and her children,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. A Katyusha rocket attack struck a residential home killing six civilians, all women and children, the night before.

Rain droplets line a railing along the waterfront of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)WASHINGTON The Trump administration on Wednesday suspended or terminated three bilateral agreements with Hong Kong covering extradition and tax exemptions. President Donald Trump already had determined that Hong Kong was no longer eligible for the continued preferential treatment that it enjoyed based on its autonomy following its reversion to Chinese rule in 1997. These steps underscore our deep concern regarding Beijings decision to impose the National Security Law, which has crushed the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. The administration has already acted to end special trade and commercial privileges that Hong Kong had and has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials involved in enforcing the new security laws.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus says the Cuban diplomats who are being expelled are attached to the U.N. mission. Ortagus says in a statement that the diplomats tried to "conduct influence operations against the United States." All members of the Cuban mission are being restricted to the island of Manhattan. The Cuban mission had no immediate response to the decision. His administration has restricted travel to the island and has imposed new economic sanctions.

Win McNamee/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON, D.C. - The US is warning Iran it's taking Tehran's threats seriously and will hold it accountable if it compromises the safety of any American. The comments came in a tweet from US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus on Saturday, after Iran announced sanctions against American Mark Dubowitz and his foundation for what it called "US economic terrorism." "The outlaw regime in Iran issued a threat today against @FDD, an American think tank, and its CEO. We intend to hold Iran responsible for directly or indirectly compromising the safety of any American," Ortagus said. The FDD says it "conducts independent research and analysis on national security issues" while Iran "prohibits such freedoms at home, and would like to do so abroad as well.