WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday insisted that the country is not withdrawing from the world, as he batted away criticism of cuts to aid and diplomatic budgets from former colleagues in Congress, some of whom regret voting to confirm him because he has not stood up to President Donald J. Trump.

In sometimes feisty first testimony as the country’s top diplomat, Mr. Rubio was challenged over his role in the administration’s crackdown on immigration, Mr. Trump’s engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the decision to prioritize the resettlement in the United States of white South Africans over refugees from elsewhere.

Mr. Rubio said the intent of changes he is overseeing was “not to dismantle American foreign policy, and it is not to withdraw us from the world,” citing his travel since taking office.

“I just hit 18 countries in 18 weeks,” Mr. Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That doesn’t sound like much of a withdrawal.”

Mr. Trump’s administration has blocked mostly non-white refugee admissions from the rest of the world but has begun to resettle Afrikaners, the descendants of mostly Dutch settlers in South Africa, saying they faced discrimination and even genocide. South Africa’s government denies the allegation of genocide.

“While you’ve turned away from a genocide in Sudan and invented one in South Africa, you’ve teamed up with President Trump to throw the Ukrainian people under the bus, and have been played like a fiddle by Vladimir Putin,” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in a blistering critique of Rubio’s about-face on issues he embraced as a senator, adding that he regretted his vote for Mr. Rubio’s nomination.

“First of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job,” Rubio retorted, before the hearing devolved into a shouting exchange, something unusual for a committee long known for bipartisanship.

On Russia, Mr. Rubio said Mr. Putin had not received any real concessions in the US effort to initiate talks to end the war in Ukraine and Russia sanctions remain in place.

During a second hearing, several Republicans voiced support for aid and other forms of soft power. “This to me is national security in another form. And to the people who don’t get that, you’re missing a lot,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate appropriations foreign affairs subcommittee.

Mr. Rubio insisted many of the programs he has cut did not serve US interests, and that Washington would remain the world’s most generous donor of humanitarian aid.

The administration proposed a new $2.9-billion America First Opportunity Fund that would take on foreign aid, building on “lessons we learned from USAID (United States Agency for Internal Development),” Mr. Rubio said.

AID CUTS
Mr. Rubio said the $28.5-billion budget request by the Trump administration for the 2025/2026 fiscal year will allow the State Department to continue enacting Mr. Trump’s vision while cutting $20 billion of “duplicative, wasteful, and ideologically driven programs.”

Mr. Rubio defended cuts to foreign aid — he was an advocate of such aid during his 14 years in the Senate — while slashing State Department staff and the US Agency for International Development, which used to spend roughly $40 billion a year and is being folded into the State Department.

Senators also asked Mr. Rubio about Mr. Trump’s plans to unwind Syria sanctions, Mr. Rubio’s role in the administration’s immigration crackdown, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

“I believe (Israel) can achieve their objective of defeating Hamas while still allowing aid to enter in sufficient quantities,” Mr. Rubio said.

Mr. Rubio said the State Department would allow staff in Turkey, including the ambassador there, to work with local officials in Syria. He said his objective over time was to change Syria’s state sponsor of terrorism designation “if they meet the standard.”

A few protesters interrupted the hearings with shouts of “Stop the genocide,” before police bundled them out of the hearing rooms. Protesters have been regularly interrupting congressional hearings during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Mr. Rubio welcomed Israel’s decision to let in some humanitarian aid after a weeks-long blockade, and said he sees Israel’s actions in Gaza as targeting Hamas militants.

Washington had asked other countries in the region if they would be open to accepting Palestinians from Gaza who want to move voluntarily, Mr. Rubio said, although he denied reports there were talks for Libya to take in Gazans.

Republicans praised Mr. Rubio, who has become a crucial figure in the Trump administration. He currently is also serving as Mr. Trump’s acting national security adviser, the USAID administrator, and the acting archivist of the United States.

Mr. Rubio is the first person since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the secretary of state and national security adviser positions simultaneously.

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Mr. Trump said. — Reuters

TOKYO — Japanese farm minister Taku Eto resigned on Wednesday after remarks he made about rice triggered a firestorm of criticism from voters and lawmakers, posing a fresh challenge to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s embattled government.

Mr. Eto has been in hot water since media reports exposed comments he made at a weekend political fundraising party that he had “never had to buy rice” thanks to gifts from supporters.

The comment led to a frenzy of criticism from voters, already angry about the historically high price of the staple food due to a poor harvest and elevated demand from a boom in tourism.

“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when citizens are suffering from soaring rice prices,” Mr. Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.

Mr. Ishiba appointed former environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi as his replacement at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), saying he was counting on his reform-minded stance to produce results.

“Mr. Koizumi is someone who has experience, insights, and passion for reforms on agriculture and fisheries,” Mr. Ishiba said.

The doubling of rice prices from last year has become a top concern for Japanese voters, long accustomed to years of deflation and suffering from stubbornly low inflation-adjusted wages.

The government has been releasing rice since March from its emergency stockpile to tame prices, but that has had little impact.

Data on Monday showed retail prices rising again in the week through May 11 after falling for the first time in 18 weeks. That has increasingly led to retailers and consumers seeking out cheaper, foreign rice.

‘MINISTER OF RICE’
“What’s on everyone’s mind right now are the soaring rice prices and anxiety over whether there’s enough of it in the market, and I want to dispel these concerns,” said Mr. Koizumi, whose father Junichiro pushed through sweeping reforms and deregulation as prime minister in the 2000s.

“(MAFF) covers a wide range of responsibilities but in my mind, what I need to focus on right now is simply rice. I’m going into this job with the mindset that I am essentially the ‘minister in charge of rice’,” he said.

Mr. Koizumi, who previously served as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) agriculture and forestry division, said there would be no sacred cows in his efforts to lower rice prices, and that a strong political will would be needed to achieve those goals.

Rice farmers are traditionally a strong support base for the long-governing LDP, and Japan protects the rice market with hefty levies beyond the tariff-free “minimum access” quota agreed under World Trade Organization rules.

Mr. Eto’s departure threatens Mr. Ishiba’s already-shaky grip on power ahead of key upper house elections in July. His LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the more powerful lower house in a snap election Mr. Ishiba called in October shortly after taking office.

Mr. Eto’s resignation is the first from Mr. Ishiba’s cabinet excluding ministers who had lost their seats in those elections.

“Minister Eto’s resignation was inevitable from the moment the gaffe occurred,” said Hiroshi Shiratori, a political science professor at Hosei University in Tokyo. “The decision to replace him only after five opposition parties had planned their no-confidence motion was too slow, exposing Prime Minister Ishiba’s lack of leadership.”

A Kyodo News opinion poll on Sunday showed support for Mr. Ishiba at a record low 27.4%, with nearly nine out of 10 voters dissatisfied with the government’s response to soaring rice prices. — Reuters

ROME — Italian Prime Minister  (PM) Giorgia Meloni said in a statement on Tuesday that Pope Leo had confirmed during a phone call with her his willingness to host in the Vatican the next round of negotiations to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“Finding in the Holy Father confirmation of the readiness to host the next talks between the parties in the Vatican, the Prime Minister expressed deep gratitude (to) Pope Leo XIV for his unceasing commitment to peace,” Ms. Meloni said.

Following a call on Monday between US President Donald J. Trump and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, Ms. Meloni’s office said she welcomed remarks by Mr. Trump that Leo had expressed an interest in hosting talks between Kyiv and Moscow, but the Vatican did not immediately confirm any such offer.

Pope Leo, elected two weeks ago, is the first US leader of the global Catholic Church. In a May 14 speech, he said the Vatican could act as a mediator in global conflicts, without specifically mentioning of Ukraine and Russia.

In a second, separate statement the Italian prime minister said she also had talks with other European leaders and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the next steps.

“It was agreed to maintain close coordination between the partners with a view to a new round of negotiations aimed at a ceasefire and a peace agreement in Ukraine,” the statement said. — Reuters