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U.S. officials said Sunday they will halt operations at the embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia for the next couple of days, in response to “heightened security concerns.” Embassy officials in Riyadh issued the statement, saying telephone lines at the facilities will be down Sunday and Monday and encouraging U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia to “be aware of their surroundings and take extra precautions when travelling throughout the country.” The message did not cite a specific security concern or threat nor call for the evacuation of the facilities. However, an intelligence source told Fox News that the threat is serious...

Riyadh: The US embassy in Saudi Arabia said it had suspended consular services in the kingdom for two days due to “heightened security concerns”, after warning of threats against Western oil workers. All services in Riyadh and at the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran have been cancelled for Sunday and Monday, it said in a statement posted on its website Saturday. The embassy warned US citizens to take extra precautions and keep a low profile if they were out in public. “All US citizens are encouraged to be aware of their surroundings, and take extra precautions when travelling throughout the...

Drones have been seen flying over several sensitive landmarks in Paris in a night-time mystery that French police say is being taken seriously. At least five of the unmanned aerial machines were spotted between midnight on Monday and 0600 on Tuesday, and none of the operators has been caught. The first appeared over the US embassy and there were later sightings near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde. French police believe the drone flights could be linked. Small drones are easy to buy but their appearance in recent months over sensitive locations has worried French authorities.

Germany announced Friday it had temporarily closed its embassy in Yemen and were pulling staff out because of ongoing violence in the troubled country. […] “The situation is anything but stable,” said a German foreign ministry spokeswoman, calling the ouster of the government by Shiite militiamen known as Huthis “unacceptable, dangerous and with consequences for the region”. …

Another US-friendly regime has folded completely, and after bumbling US foreign intervention in Libya and Egypt made the countries into terrorist breeding grounds where Americans are kidnapped on sight or worse, it is now Yemen's turn: another country in the Middle East whose president until recently was backed by the US government, and which will now be nothing more than civilian casualty fodder for remote-controlled US drones. YEMENI EMPLOYEES SAY US AMBASSADOR IN YEMEN INFORMS STAFF THE EMBASSY IS CLOSING DOWN COMPLETELY, AMBASSADOR TO LEAVE BY WEDNESDAY For those Americans who are still on location, fear not: you are in...

An Iranian 'diplomat' who was caught gathering intelligence on the Israeli embassy in Uruguay has fled that country. Ahmed Sabatgold, 32, a political consultant in the Iranian embassy in Montevideo, was suspected of being involved in placing an explosive device near the new Israeli embassy in early January, the Uruguayan El Observador newspaper reported Sunday. Haaretz reported on Friday that the Uruguayan government had expelled an Iranian diplomat on suspicion of involvement in the attempted bomb attack on the Israeli embassy. The publication caused a great deal of embarrassment in Montevideo, where the government had tried to keep the...

The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Libya on Tuesday, overriding the previous warning issued in July 2014. In July, the U.S. embassy suspended all operations in Libya and relocated staff due to “ongoing violence between Libyan militias in the immediate vicinity of the Embassy.” On Tuesday, the State Department said that “the security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable.” Pointing to the inability of the Libyan government to “adequately build its military and police forces and improve security following the 2011 revolution,” the State Department said that crime levels remain high and various groups have called...

The U.S. Embassy warns all U.S. citizens to avoid the areas around 50 and 60 Meter Road near the Presidential Palace, Presidential residence, and Haddah Area in Sana’s due to heavy fighting. While the fighting appears to be politically motivated and an internal domestic dispute not directed against foreign interests, all U.S. citizens should be vigilant of the continued high risk of kidnapping and terrorist attacks throughout Yemen. U.S. citizens living in Yemen should take extra precautions and consider leaving the country. The U.S. Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen...

President Barack Obama on Monday said he was not ruling out the possibility of reopening a U.S. Embassy in Iran, reports The Associated Press (AP). Obama was asked in an NPR interview whether he could envision opening an embassy there during his final two years in office. “I never say never,” Obama said, adding that America’s ties with Tehran must be restored in steps. …

President Obama isn't ruling out the possibility the U.S. could one day reopen an embassy in Iran. Obama was asked in an NPR interview whether he could envision opening an embassy there during his final two years in office. Obama replied, "I never say never," but said ties must be restored in steps. Obama says Iran is different from Cuba, where the U.S. plans to open an embassy. He says Cuba is small and poses no major threat to the U.S., while Iran is large, has sponsored terrorism and has sought nuclear capabilities. Still, Obama says he hopes the U.S....

"In August 1998, the detainee traveled to Pakistan with a member of Iraqi Intelligence for the purpose of blowing up the Pakistan, United States and British embassies with chemical mortars."  U.S. government "Summary of Evidence" for an Iraqi member of al Qaeda detained at Guantanamo Bay, CubaFOR MANY, the debate over the former Iraqi regime's ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network ended a year ago with the release of the 9/11 Commission report. Media outlets seized on a carefully worded summary that the commission had found no evidence "indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or...

<p>"CAIRO — The Canadian Embassy in Cairo has closed over security concerns, a day after the British Embassy suspended its services over safety worries.</p> <p>The Canadian Embassy announced its closure through a message on its main telephone number Monday. An Egyptian security official told The Associated Press that Canadians asked for all roads around the embassy shut down and more security.</p>

Recently, the Saudi ambassador in Turkey acknowledged that before the Unite States launched its airstrikes against the so-called Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Saudi embassy in Ankara provided the Saudi nationals who previously joined ISIL ranks and later defected and wished to return to home with passports and identification documents. The Saudi embassy also admitted that it housed many repentant former jihadists inside the Saudi compound in Istanbul or rented safe houses for them in downtown Istanbul. As a matter of fact, it seems not so much surprising to hear that a country provides consular services...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian prosecutors said on Thursday they had detained a man of Iraqi nationality after a series of letters containing a nerve gas ingredient were sent to the prime minister's office and the U.S. and British embassies. A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told a news conference the 45-year-old man was arrested late on Wednesday in the western Belgian town of Deinze. Two postal workers were taken to hospital after being exposed to the chemicals in the letters at mail depots. No one else was hurt by the 10 letters sent to a variety of targets, including...

Nearly two years ago today, on September 11, 2012, four Americans were killed in a coordinated and sophisticated attack on an American diplomatic consulate and a nearby CIA outpost in Benghazi, Libya. But you’re not supposed to talk about that. At least not within the context of today’s news; that the Islamist militia, which recently sacked the country’s capital, have also taken control of portions of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Amid turmoil in Libya in late July, the United States suspended operations at the Tripoli-based diplomatic facility and evacuated American personnel to nearby Tunisia. “Due to the ongoing...

An Islamic militant group said Sunday it has “secured” a U.S. Embassy compound in Libya’s capital city of Tripoli.

British diplomats in the US have been forced to apologise after revealing they were hosting a party to celebrate the anniversary of the burning of the White House. The British Embassy in Washington held a ‘White House barbeque’ yesterday to mark the two hundredth anniversary of Britain capturing the US capital and setting fire to the President’s iconic address. The Embassy even sent a message on Twitter from its official account with a photograph of a White House cake, flanked by British and American flags and surrounded by sparkler fireworks.

President Barack Obama spent a leisurely five hours golfing Sunday afternoon as his Martha’s Vineyard vacation continues while Iraq falls further into chaos.As Obama was midway through his golf outing reports from Baghdad erupted with rumors that Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki was staging a coup to hold on to power as Iraq struggles to form a new government while fighting off the ISIS terrorists’ conquest of large swaths of Iraq.Right before heading off for his annual two week vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, Obama ordered air strikes against ISIS to ward off a possible advance against Erbil in Kurdish controlled...

WASHINGTON—Following a dozen airstrikes from the U.S. military in Northern Iraq this weekend, the U.S. State Department on Sunday relocated "a limited number" of staff from the American embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. consulate in Erbil. The staff from the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil will be transferred to the U.S. consulate in Basrah, Iraq and to Amman, Jordan. The State Department also issued a travel warning for Iraq, cautioning U.S. citizens against nonessential travel to the country, citing the security situation. The U.S. embassy's ability to assist U.S. citizens is limited, the State Department said.

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq. Travel within Iraq remains dangerous given the security situation. On June 16, the Department of State began relocating some staff members from the Embassy to the Consulates General in Basrah and Erbil and Iraq Support Unit in Amman. The Embassy remains open and is operating. In early August, the threat to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) increased considerably with the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) towards Kurdish areas. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated June 16, 2014, to...