USA: Cuba officially removed from list of state sponsors of terrorism

State Department spokesperson Jeff Rathke announced from Washington D.C. on Friday, that Secretary of State John Kerry has officially removed Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, adding that "It is effective today, May 29, 2015." Speaking during the State Department's daily press briefing, Rathke stated that the State Department reached the conclusion that "Cuba had not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six months; that Cuba has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future." The United States severed diplomatic relations with the caribbean island nation in January 1961.