UN/Treaties

The State Department on Tuesday slammed John Bolton, George W. Bush's controversial ambassador to the United Nations, after he accused Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of faking an illness to avoid testifying this week about the Benghazi attack.

Bolton implied on Fox News on Monday night that Clinton lied about her illness to avoid saying anything potentially embarrassing that could come back to haunt her should she choose to run for president in 2016. The State Department put out a statement over the weekend from doctors at Mount Kisco Medical Group and George Washington University saying that Clinton “developed a stomach virus, leading to extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted.”

“You know, every foreign service officer in every foreign ministry in the world knows the phrase I am about to use: When you don't want to go to a meeting or conference, or an event, you have a 'diplomatic illness,' ” Bolton told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren. “And this is a 'diplomatic illness' to beat the band.”

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland lambasted Bolton's comments during her daily briefing Tuesday.

“It's really unfortunate that in times like this people make wild speculation based on no information,” Nuland said.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright defended U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice on Friday and decried the political attacks against her.

Rice, no longer a candidate for secretary of State, said that she was "not a political person at my foundation."

The United States said Thursday that it will not sign a United Nations telecommunications treaty that U.S. technology companies warn would disrupt governance of the Internet and open the door to online censorship. Read more...

The nonbinding measure calls on U.N. member states to ensure citizens' access to health insurance

Delegates are running out of time to bury proposals that could have a major effect on the Internet.

Terry Kramer shot down reports that the U.S. failed to secure support for keeping Internet regulations out of the treaty.

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday night updating U.S. standards on foreign adoption services.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Wednesday that the defeat of a United Nations treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities was a "slap in the face."

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The 397-0 vote sends a signal to participants discussing a global telecommunications treaty at a closed-door conference this week.