Former U.S. senator from Florida Marco Rubio jumps into new role as secretary of state with flurry of phone calls, planned trip to Panama.

It wasn’t immediately clear if already-issued passports that use “X” under the gender option will remain valid. A State Department spokesperson told NBC updates would be shared as soon as possible on the department's travel website.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is advising his department to cease refugee resettlement operations and begin ramping up vetting of visas from certain regions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a memo reviewed by NBC News, said additional guidance would be issued on existing passports containing an “X” sex marker.

At least three U.S. lawmakers said on Tuesday healthcare providers were blocked from the Medicaid payment portal after the Trump administration announced a federal funding pause, even as the White House said the program was exempted.

The State Department has frozen new funding for almost all U.S. aid programs worldwide, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to Central America, including Panama, is partially about countering China, a State Department spokesperson told Fox Business, as new President Donald Trump is pushing to "take back" the Panama Canal.

While the Gulf of America will be applied to federal references, other nations will not be required to recognize the name.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jan 29) signed executive orders to promote parental choice in school selection and end federal funding for curricula that he called the "indoctrination" of students in "anti-American" ideologies on race and gender.

Figure skaters and coaches returning from the national championships were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, the U.

An American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter crashing into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport (DCA) Wednesday night.