Tag Archives: State Department

NBC News reports: U.S. embassies and consulates have stopped monitoring air quality abroad, ending a program that had provided essential public health data for more than a decade. The State Department said its collection of air pollution data at more than 60 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world had been suspended as of Tuesday due to “budget constraints.” The …

The New York Times reports: Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department in Washington around the world, landing in inboxes for refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding for lifesaving work. “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” …

The Associated Press reports: Thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development workers who have been fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency are being given a brief window Thursday and Friday to clear out their workspaces. Many USAID workers saw the administration’s terms for retrieving their belongings as insulting. In the notice, …

Axios reports: A federal district court judge on Tuesday granted a motion to enforce his temporary restraining order against the Trump administration over its foreign aid freeze. It comes days after U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali said the administration had “not complied” fully with his order pausing the freeze on foreign aid. Ali ordered the Trump administration to pay …

Drop Site reports: The State Department’s procurement forecast, revised as of late December 2024, lists Tesla as the recipient of the largest expected contract, with Marco Rubio’s department planning to buy $400,000,000 worth of “Armored Tesla.” The award is targeted for Q4, and is forecast to last for five years. The procurement forecast is listed as having been modified on December …

The Washington Post reports: A 19-year-old acolyte of Elon Musk known online as “Big Balls” has taken on new roles as a senior adviser at the State Department and at the Department of Homeland Security, raising concerns among some diplomats and others about his potential access to sensitive information and the growing reach of his tech billionaire boss into America’s …

Boston’s PBS affiliate reports: The annual State Department report documenting the severity of human trafficking around the world will not include a section on LGBTQ victims this year, one of its authors told GBH News. Each year the State Department publishes what it calls the Trafficking in Persons Report — also known as TIP — to gauge how individual countries …

Axios reports: In a rebuke of the Trump administration, Panama has refuted a claim by the U.S. State Department that American vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without being charged fees. The dispute comes shortly after the State Department made the announcement Wednesday evening. President Trump has pushed to regain control of the canal — one of the world’s …

Semafor reports: The US State Department has suspended its organization for LGBTQ employees, with leadership ordering a pause on all official activities. The move is part of the department’s wider directive to all employee affinity groups to “cancel any planned events, meetings, announcements or other activities,” GLIFAA, the official group representing LGBTQ State Department employees, told its members in an …

The Independent reports: The State Department on Friday froze new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue. The sweeping order threatened a quick halt to countless projects globally aiding health, education, development, job training and other efforts by the United States, the largest provider …

The Guardian reports: The US state department has frozen all applications for passports with “X” sex markers and changes to gender identity on existing passports, following a new executive order signed by Donald Trump on his first day of office. In an internal cable obtained by the Guardian, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, instructed department staff on Thursday to …

Politico reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit Panama — the country whose canal President Donald Trump has suggested he’d seize — as early as next week, according to three U.S. officials briefed on the plan. The trip is expected to be Rubio’s first foreign travel as secretary of State, said one former official who was also …

The right wing Washington Free Beacon reports: The Trump State Department implemented a landmark “One Flag Policy” policy, barring U.S. outposts at home and abroad from flying any other flag but the Stars and Stripes. The newly issued order, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, effectively bans American facilities from displaying flags affiliated with left-wing …

CNN reports: The Senate voted on Monday to confirm Marco Rubio as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, the first high-level Cabinet official for the new administration to be approved by the chamber. The confirmation vote took place just hours after Trump was sworn in as president. Rubio has served as a Republican senator from Florida since 2011, and his …

The Washington Post reports: Scores of senior career diplomats are resigning from the State Department effective at noon on Monday after receiving instructions to do so from President-elect Donald Trump’s aides, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. The forced departures, aimed at establishing a decisive break from the Biden administration, will result in an exodus of decorated veterans …

ABC News reports: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday was interrupted multiple times by outbursts from attendees — who are not members of the regular State Department press corps — shouting questions about U.S. support for Israel as he tried to make farewell remarks to reporters in the State Department briefing room. At least one individual was removed from …

Reuters reports: Aides to President-elect Donald Trump have asked three senior career diplomats who oversee the U.S. State Department’s workforce and internal coordination to step down from their roles, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, in a possible signal of deeper changes ahead for the diplomatic corps. The team overseeing the State Department’s transition to the new administration …

Politico reports: Congratulations, Marco Rubio! You’ll soon be secretary of State. Condolences, too. You’re not likely to last long in the job. Unlike many of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees, Rubio is a shoo-in for Senate confirmation, having already nabbed some Democratic support. U.S. diplomats and foreign officials, too, view the GOP senator from Florida as a knowledgeable, not-insane, well-behaved person …

From the State Department: In honor of Pride Month, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will host a convening and reception for U.S. leaders championing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) equality across the U.S. government and around the world on Thursday, June 27, at the Department of State. The convening will begin at 1:00 p.m. EDT in …

“In honor of Pride Month, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will host a convening and reception for U.S. leaders championing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) equality across the U.S. government and around the world on Thursday, June 27, at the Department of State. “The convening will begin at 1:00 p.m. EDT in the Burns Auditorium, and …