World
U.S. Becomes First Country to Skip Its Own U.N. Human Rights Review
The State Department says it gives the Geneva council 'no credibility'; the ACLU says the walkout tells the world Washington does not care about scrutiny.
Topic
State Department
33 stories from Planck Standard. Latest: November 10, 2026.
WorldState Department Approves $2.1 Billion Sale of 500 Patriot Missiles to Ukraine
Canada, Germany and Norway are paying for the Lockheed Martin interceptors, but Zelenskyy warns deliveries could take years and asks allies to hand over stockpiled missiles now.
PoliticsKristi Noem Is No Longer Trump's Shield of the Americas Envoy, State Department Says
An official says her envoy status expired last month; the former DHS secretary now serves as a senior adviser to Deputy Secretary Landau on the same portfolio.
PoliticsTrump's Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Resigns Within Two Hours of White House Ouster Request
The Wall Street Journal reported allegations including an alleged threat to a host-country official and improper gifts; Guilfoyle denies wrongdoing and says she will 'vigorously defend' herself.
PoliticsRubio Tells Athens Crowd the West Lost Its Drive and America Has Chosen 'National Power'
In a sunset speech at the Pnyx, the secretary of state tied ancient Greece to Trump's agenda while the war with Iran enters its eighth month without a deal.
PoliticsTrump Plans to Admit Up to 17,500 White South Africans as Refugees Next Year
A State Department notice to Congress says the fiscal 2027 refugee slots will go 'primarily' to Afrikaners, at a projected cost of $500 million, while the program stays shut to most other refugees.
PoliticsThe State Department Cleared a $24.3 Billion Sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia, the First Arab Country Ever Approved for the Jet
Congress has 30 days to block the deal. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said the sale could put 'the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party.' The kingdom is under daily Houthi attack and just lost its East-West pipeline.
WorldWashington Denied Mahmoud Abbas a Visa for the U.N. General Assembly for the Second Year Running
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza is nearly a year old and Israeli strikes are still killing people there. The Palestinian president will again have to address world leaders by video from Ramallah.
WorldEswatini Soldiers Shot Two U.S. Government Workers at a Military Roadblock After Their Car Made a U-Turn
The shooting happened Friday night in the Maphiveni area near the Mozambique border, during an anti-smuggling operation by Africa's last absolute monarchy. Both Americans had 'minor injuries,' the government said, and an investigation is underway.
WorldHuckabee Went to Turmus Ayya and Called Israeli Settler Attacks 'An Act of Terror'
The U.S. ambassador to Israel met about 10 Palestinian American residents of the West Bank village and said the violence they described cannot go on without investigation and prosecution.
PoliticsThe State Department Wants Parents to Prove Their Own Status Before a Child Can Get a U.S. Passport
Draft guidance would make a mother's I-94 or green card part of her newborn's passport file — the first concrete machinery behind Trump's Aug. 6 birthright citizenship order.
WatchTop NewsNinety Americans Are Among the Missing in Nepal. The Recovered Death Toll Passed 680 on Friday
A collapsing Himalayan glacier dumped more than 100 million cubic meters of ice and rock into the Trishuli valley. Three days later, Nepali police are still counting.
WatchWorldA Glacier Collapsed on the Nepal-Tibet Border. Police Now Count 360 Dead and More Than 1,400 Missing
The U.S. State Department says about 90 Americans may be caught up in the disaster. Nepal's tourism board says 65 of them are still unaccounted for two days after the wall of water came through.
Top NewsRussia Freed a Former Marine Who Spent 47 Days in a Dissociative Stupor
Robert Gilman, 32, was arrested on a train in Voronezh in January 2022 and watched a three-and-a-half-year sentence grow to ten. He was flown out Tuesday on a State Department plane with his mother beside him.
PoliticsThe State Department Will Now Read Foreign Journalists' Social Media Before Granting Them a Visa
An internal memo reported Thursday extends the administration's public-account screening requirement to foreign media representatives. The department declined to confirm it, citing a policy on 'purported internal documents.'
WorldThe U.S. Just Put $25 Million on a Man Born in Santa Ana, California. He Runs Mexico's Most Powerful Cartel
The State Department raised the bounty on Juan Carlos Valencia González fivefold and announced $102 million in total rewards for leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, six months after Mexican troops killed his stepfather.
WorldWashington Revoked the Visa of Brazil's Ambassador Because Brasília Won't Accept a Florida Politician
The State Department pulled Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti's credentials after Brazil declined to approve Daniel Perez, the speaker of Florida's House and a Rubio ally, as the next U.S. ambassador — two months before a presidential election.
PoliticsThe State Department Is Closing Five Diplomatic Posts, Including a Consulate in Canada
Grenada, Japan, Indonesia, Cameroon and Winnipeg are all losing U.S. missions in a downsizing that is not tied to any war, coup or rupture in relations.
PoliticsState Department Apologizes for an AI-Made Map That Moved Nigeria Into the Sahara
The slide, shown at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio, mislabeled every African country it highlighted. A Reuters analysis found an OpenAI watermark on the image.
WorldBrazil Denies Visas to Two Trump State Department Officials Sent to Question Its Voting Machines
Brasília refused entry to Riley Barnes and Samuel Samson, saying the mission was a renewed attempt to delegitimize Brazil's electronic voting system ten weeks before Lula faces Flávio Bolsonaro.
PoliticsState Department Accuses Cuba of a 67-Year 'Campaign of Subversion' Against the U.S.
A sweeping new report alleges Havana cultivated American left-wing groups including CodePink and the National Lawyers Guild, drawing swift denials and accusations of a politically motivated witch hunt.
WorldRubio and Miller Warn 67 Nations of a 'Mortal Threat' From 'Far-Left Terrorism' at State Department Summit
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House adviser Stephen Miller urged diplomats to help build a global counterterrorism push against the left, and Rubio announced new visa restrictions — as some allies quietly recoiled.
PoliticsJudge Boasberg Blocks Trump Policy Stripping Visas From Misinformation Researchers
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping the State Department from revoking or denying visas to noncitizens who study disinformation, fact-check, or do trust-and-safety work, finding the government failed to tie them to any foreign manipulation of U.S. debate.
WorldRubio Vows to Dismantle the International Criminal Court 'Brick by Brick' in Sweeping U.S. Campaign
The State Department launched a whole-of-government effort to 'systematically disable' the court, widening sanctions to its prosecutor, judges and a United Nations investigator.
WorldMarco Rubio Is Running Venezuela From Washington as 'De Facto Viceroy,' Report Finds
Months after U.S. forces seized Nicolás Maduro, the secretary of state is said to control Venezuela's finances, oil and cabinet appointments — directing its acting president by text message.
PoliticsA New U.S. Passport Features an Image of Trump — and You Can Only Get It One Way
The State Department's commemorative passport for America's 250th anniversary depicts President Trump at the Resolute Desk, and it is issued only in person, by appointment, at a single office in Washington.
WatchPoliticsRubio Defends Iran War in First Testimony to Congress, Says Tehran Will Now Negotiate Its Nuclear Program
In back-to-back hearings, the secretary of state told lawmakers Iran has agreed to discuss aspects of its nuclear work it long refused to address, even as Democrats pressed him over strikes launched without congressional approval.
PoliticsRoughly 2,000 Career Diplomats Pushed Out as State Department Hollows Out, Leaving Half of Ambassadorships Vacant
The American Foreign Service Association says layoffs, forced retirements and buyouts have stripped the U.S. of decades of crisis-response experience and rare language skills just as global conflicts multiply.
WorldLeaked State Department Cable Orders U.S. Diplomats to Threaten Palestinian Visas Unless U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour Withdraws His Bid for a General Assembly Vice Presidency
The May 19 'sensitive but unclassified' cable directs the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to pressure Palestinian officials to abandon one of the 21 vice-president slots at the next U.N. session, citing Mansour's record of accusing Israel of genocide and warning of possible visa revocation in what former diplomats call an unprecedented threat.
PoliticsState Department Begins Revoking Passports of 2,700 Americans Owing $100,000 or More in Child Support
A 1996 welfare law has long allowed denial of new passports for delinquent parents — but the Trump administration is the first to actively cancel passports already in circulation.
PoliticsState Department Begins Revoking Passports From Parents Who Owe $100,000 in Unpaid Child Support
A 1996 law has sat largely dormant for decades. The Trump administration is now wielding it against 2,700 passport holders and plans to drop the threshold to $2,500 by late summer.
Top NewsU.S. Fast-Tracks $8.6 Billion Arms Package to Mideast Allies
State Department bypasses congressional review as Persian Gulf countries and Israel face repeated Iranian attacks during ongoing war.
WatchTop NewsIsrael Authorizes Direct Peace Talks With Lebanon as Airstrikes Kill 300 in Single Day
Netanyahu agrees to State Department negotiations next week to discuss disarming Hezbollah — even as Israeli jets struck more than 100 targets in 10 minutes on Wednesday.