The top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the Trump administration made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea amid an effort deport people to the West African country.

The Trump administration has formally barred Iranian diplomats based in or visiting New York from shopping at wholesale club stores like Costco and purchasing luxury goods in the United States without specific permission from the State Department.

The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel.

As the State Department doubles its emergency evacuation flights from Israel and steps up travel warnings around the Middle East, News4JAX wants to know if you feel comfortable traveling outside of the country?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump are hosting the annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards ceremony at the Department of State.

The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase.

President Donald Trump says he is exploring whether he can send American criminals jailed in the “most severe cases” to be incarcerated in other countries.

The Trump administration has hired a “Make America Great Again” ideologue to run the State Department's worldwide public diplomacy efforts.

The Biden administration has, as expected, announced an additional $275 million in military aid for Ukraine as Kyiv struggles to hold off advances by Russian troops in the Kharkiv region.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has denounced the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court for seeking the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Exploring the cosmos makes for happy employees, federal workers like to work from home like everyone else, and an agency that has struggled with low morale is showing improvement.

The former top military chief Gen. Mark Milley and former head of U.S. Central Command testified before Congress Tuesday on policy failures by the Biden administration to adequately plan for or direct an evacuation in time to avoid the chaotic final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The family of an American citizen arrested in Saudi Arabia says he was tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States.

The United States has taken control of Afghanistan's embassy in Washington and the country's consulates in New York and California.

U.S. officials are looking into reports that in the frantic evacuation of desperate Afghans from Kabul, older men were admitted together with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused.

A former State Department aide in President Donald Trumps administration has been charged with participating in the deadly siege at the Capitol. Authorities say Klein pushed his way toward the doors, where he physically and verbally engaged with officers trying to keep the mob back. AdKlein became a staff assistant in the State Department shortly after Trump's inauguration in 2017, according to a financial disclosure report. One of Klein's State Department coworkers helped authorities identify him, officials said. The Department of State official identified Klein in photos and video shown by the FBI, officials said.

The cables were an extraordinary protest against a sitting U.S. president by American diplomats, who have long complained that the Trump administration has ignored and diminished their role and expertise. The cables also reflect anger at the response to the riot by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a loyal Trump ally. Trump himself has railed about what he sees as disloyalty at the State Department. It was not immediately clear how many diplomats signed the cables, both of which were viewed by The Associated Press. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ron DeSantis has said all mail ballot drop off boxes must be staffed at all times. But supervisors question whether the guidance is enforceable and voting groups say the late advice is likely to leave some confused. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley already staffs his drop boxes, but said that isn’t necessarily the case statewide. And Earley said the state makes a decent point, since many drop boxes are outside this year because of the pandemic. Whether that rule applies to all drop boxes at all hours is where interpretations between supervisors and the state split.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Voting has already begun in Florida, whose 29 electoral college votes will be critical in the presidential election. In 2016, 2.7 million people voted by mail out of more than 3.3 million ballots requested. This year, more than 2.3 million Democrats have requested vote-by-mail ballots, compared to nearly 1.6 million Republicans. More than 1.1 million people not registered with either major party have requested ballots to vote by mail. Overall, Florida has more than 14 million voters, including more than 5.2 million Democrats and more than 5 million Republicans.

Florida is reaching out to more than 2 million unregistered voters and urging them to register by the state’s Oct. 5 deadline. The state is doing the outreach effort to meet requirements of the multi-state partnership known as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC. “This unprecedented outreach is a testament to the commitment Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have for registering new voters and encouraging participation in our democratic processes,” Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee said in a prepared statement. The agency said the time for the postcards was selected in consultation with ERIC as the most “effective” period to do voter outreach. The postcards urge people interested in registering to go to Florida’s online voter-registration system at RegistertoVoteFlorida.gov.

But red tape still entangles American travelers at a few borders across the world. Americans must obtain a visa from a Chinese consulate before walking the Great Wall or exploring the Forbidden City. If you're carrying an American passport, you can travel the world with a freedom that Lebanese or Nepali citizens can only dream of. Americans visiting Iran are required to travel with an officially sanctioned host at all times, and red tape can mean unpredictable delays. That's not all: Iran is designated with the US State Department's top-level travel advisory, and once there, Americans are required to travel with an officially sanctioned host at all times.

With a federal lawsuit already filed, some believe the governors letter asking for an opinion is an attempt to get a state court, the Florida Supreme Court, to make a decision before federal court rules. But some Democrats blasted DeSantis for turning to the Supreme Court, even as the state law is the focus of a federal lawsuit. Under that scenario, financial obligations are considered paid in full once community service is complete. But a finding from the Florida Supreme Court that the law upholds the Constitution could bolster the states arguments in the federal case. It referred, in part, to statements the amendments backers have made in addressing the Florida Supreme Court and Secretary of State Laurel Lee.