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My husband, Art Laguna, was a hero. He was a man of honor -- he kept his word and he valued truth and honesty, and he expected no less from anyone else. His life was spent in service to his country and his family. Here at home, Art served as a sheriff's reserve deputy. He was a volunteer helicopter pilot and flew medical evacuation missions with the California National Guard out of Sacramento 's Mather Field. He was the father of four and grandfather of six. Art was proud of his three-decade career with the U.S. Army and the National...

WASHINGTON: The State Department said on Friday that five US citizens had been killed in the attacks on Mumbai and that more Americans remained missing. "The Department is now able to confirm the deaths of five American citizens. Consular staff have been in contact with all of the victims' families," Gordon Duguid, acting deputy spokesman, said in a statement. "The Consulate in Mumbai will continue to work with the Indian Police until all missing American citizens have been accounted for," he added. The State Department did not identify the victims killed in the wave of attacks by Pakistan-based Islamic militants...

A suspected suicide bomber has struck close to the entrance to the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, witnesses and police say. It is unclear so far whether there are any casualties. Reports said the bomber detonated explosives about 200m from the heavily guarded entrance to the US compound. Security in Afghanistan has become a key concern for foreign troops and officials, as the country faces an increasingly strong Taleban insurgency.

(CNSNews.com) – Almost six years after her 8-year-old son Brent was sucked into a drainage pipe and drowned in a swimming pool at a Mexican resort, Nancy Midlock is still trying to find closure. For Maureen Webster, who treated her 22-year-old son Nolan to a trip to Mexico as a college graduation gift two years ago, the cause of his death near a shallow resort pool is still unresolved. But both women have transformed their personal tragedies into a cause to make sure their children did not die in vain. They want Mexican authorities to investigate the cases of Americans...

Embassy guard accuses Obama of doing deals with terrorists Rashid Razaq A SENIOR security officer at the US embassy in London is being investigated after accusing Barack Obama of brokering secret deals with terrorists. Joe Hubbard, a security supervisor who is in charge of patrolling the Grosvenor Square building, claims the President-elect secured backing from terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Colombian guerrilla group FARC, in return for changing US policy. In a vitriolic tirade in an online blog, Mr Hubbard, an American, accuses Obama of having a hidden Muslim agenda and claims his election campaign was funded by anonymous Middle...

Gunmen shot dead a U.S. aid official along with his driver as he left his home in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar Wednesday, a senior police official said. The attack took place in a neighborhood favoured by diplomats and foreign aid workers. "As he was coming out of his home, the attackers opened fire on him and killed him along with his driver," the police official, who requested anonymity said. "He was working for U.S. aid projects for tribal areas," he added. U.S. embassy officials in Islamabad were not immediately available for comment. Abdul Qadir, a superintendent of police,...

MEXICO CITY - A major drug cartel has infiltrated the Mexican attorney general's office, and one cartel worker says he even spied on DEA operations from inside U.S. Embassy, Mexican prosecutors said Monday.

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - A U.S. Embassy official says American and Russian military leaders are meeting for unannounced talks in Finland, the highest-level military meeting between the two countries since Russia's war with U.S. ally Georgia in August. U.S. Embassy spokesman Kim Hargan says the participants include Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Nikolai Makarov, who was appointed the Russian Armed Forces' Chief of General Staff in June. Hargan declined to give any details on Tuesday's talks, which had not been previously announced in Finland. The Finnish Defense Ministry said the head of...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - A U.S. destroyer arrived in the Georgian port city of Poti Saturday but was not carrying any humanitarian or military aid, the U.S. Embassy said.

(CNN) -- Eighteen-year-old Susan El-Baneh and her husband of three weeks died holding hands, her brother said, victims of a terrorist attack Wednesday on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

Even though we know yesterday's Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen were targeted at Americans and America, it's ironic that the only American who died was a relative of Jaber El-Baneh, the fugitive seventh member of the Lackawanna Six Al-Qaeda terrorists--homegrown terrorists in Suburban Buffalo. I've written about Jaber El-Baneh--who, in 2005, was allowed to escape a Yemeni prison by Yemeni police and prison guards and who has never faced justice in America for training to foment terrorist attacks on our soil. Mr. El-Baneh trained at the Al-Farooq terrorist training camp run by Osama Bin Laden...

Excerpt - DUBAI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The United States has closed its embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa after an attack on the heavily fortified building, al Jazeera television said on Thursday. It was unclear from the report whether the closure was temporary or permanent. ~ snip ~

U.S. State Department Sean McCormack said that the sophisticated attack "bears all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda attack." One source told FOX News the apparent attack on the embassy in Yemen did not "happen in a vacuum." In the last two months, Yemen has broken up or arrested members of a significant number of cells — some related to Al Qaeda. A senior U.S. official earlier said the bombings were carefully orchestrated, with sniper fire and some attackers apparently dressed as soldiers. President Bush said the attack is a reminder that "we are at war with extremists." In mid-August,...

Explosions and gunfire were heard in the vicinity of the US embassy in San'a, the capital of Yemen, a security official said. Police cordoned off the area, said the official, who had no further details. An embassy employee contacted by telephone inside the mission's compound would only say: "There has been a security incident." Regional TV networks were reporting a car bomb explosion outside the embassy and an exchange of gunfire between guards and unidentified assailants. In March, three mortar rounds targeting the US embassy crashed into a high school for girls next door, killing a Yemeni security guard and...

The British embassy in Yemen has been threatened with attack after 16 people died when a car bomb exploded outside the American embassy this morning. The heavily-fortified compound was on fire after the two explosions. Heavy gunfire was also heard and smoke seen rising from the compound, witnesses said. A Yemeni security source said 16 people including six attackers died in the attack. Four were bystanders. A group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen took credibility for the attack. It also threatened that it would target the British, Saudi and Emirati missions in the Yemeni capital, according to a statement...

(CNN) -- A suicide bomb attack Wednesday outside the gates of the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed 10 security staff and civilians and six attackers, an embassy spokesman told CNN. Mohammed al-Basha said the blast, described by witnesses as a "fireball," was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest. A Yemeni security official said there was a gun battle between attackers in police uniform and security staff. The second car exploded after it passed an outermost gate to the Embassy but before it reached a second protective barrier, the official said. Another U.S. Embassy spokesman,...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

EXPLOSION HEARD NEAR U.S. EMBASSY IN YEMEN -AL-ARABIYA TV

Bolivia may look towards Russia for funding if the United States decides to withdraw its £14 million in annual aid. Relations between America and the South American state are at an all-time low after Bolivia expelled the US ambassador amid civil unrest which has left more than 30 dead. Whilst long range Russian bombers now streak across the skies of the Caribbean from a base in Venezuela, and Moscow seeks to strengthen relations with its old ally Cuba, Bolivia may be the latest recruit in expanding Russian influence in Washington's "back yard". Last week the US ambassador to La Paz...

via translation - ALERT - Washington calls on American citizens to leave Bolivia WASHINGTON - The USA called Tuesday U.S. nationals to leave Bolivia, inviting them to take a flight between La Paz and Lima that the U.S. State Department proposes to affrêter Wednesday.

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez expelled the US envoy to Caracas today and threatened to halt crude exports to the US on a day he highlighted the recent arrival of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers. Mr Chavez today ordered US ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country within 72 hours, in a move he described as an act of solidarity with Venezuela's ally Bolivia, which also expelled its US envoy. "Starting at this moment the Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela," Mr Chavez said at a public event in the port city of Puerto Cabello, 120km west...

The US says it is expelling Bolivia's envoy in Washington, a day after the US ambassador was told to leave Bolivia. The US move comes after Bolivian President Evo Morales blamed the US envoy for inciting protesters in Bolivia - a claim denied by Washington. And Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez now says he will expel the US envoy in Caracas, in solidarity with Mr Morales.In Bolivia, at least eight people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-government groups on Thursday.

Islamabad (PTI): A US diplomat had a narrow escape on Tuesday when she was attacked by unidentified gunmen while going to office in Pakistan's north western town of Peshawar. Lynne Tracy, Principal Officer in the US Consulate in Peshawar, was attacked by the gunmen in the University Town area of the capital of North West Frontier Province. Tracy escaped unhurt in the attack, TV channels reported.

via translation - On board the plane crashed under the Bishkek could be two prominent basketball players NBA - гендиректор Federation basketball Kyrgyzstan Bishkek. August 24. INTERFAX - on board crashed under Bishkekom Boeing-737 airplanes could stay two famous American basketball NBA, told journalists Director General Federation of basketball Kyrgyzstan Oleg Putilov. "According to my information, players Samuel Perkins and Rebecca Bonner, who were in Bishkek and the town of Kant master classes, were to depart today from Bishkek in Iran - where they took place some competition. Until this all that I know. Ne I can dial up to...

BEIJING – The ancient Drum Tower, or Gulou, rises majestically from a gray sea of crumbling brick homes and meandering alleys in central Beijing. It was built in the 13th century and sits on the sacred north-south axis of the city, or dragon line. Giant drums were once sounded from the 153-foot-tall red and green tower so residents could tell time. Todd Bachman and his tour group probably learned this from their English-speaking guide Saturday afternoon shortly before a Chinese man fatally stabbedhim. Bachman's wife, Barbara, also was stabbed when, family members said, she went to her husband's aid. Barbara...

ANKARA (AFP) — Washington has made no formal request from Ankara to allow two US hospital ships to sail through the Turkish Straits to Georgia, a US diplomat said Saturday, following reports that Turkey was dragging its feet on making a decision.

Today President & Mrs. Bush attended the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Before the ceremonies, the President met personally with all the US Olympic Athletes and encouraged them to “go for it, give it all you've got” and reminded them that the American people will be cheering for them back home. (Transcript) I wasn't exactly sure what to say to you, except to start with, God, I love our country and I love what we stand for. (Applause.) And I love being with you. Earlier today President Bush was joined by his father,...

Ten years ago today, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, causing a devastating loss of life and signaling that the United States faced new and more serious terrorist threats abroad and potentially at home. That potential became a reality on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, causing an even more devastating loss of life and sending an even clearer signal regarding the necessity of a smart and focused response to a challenge that could no longer be ignored. Unfortunately, President Bush did not get the message. He and his neoconservative advisers...

U.S. Senator John McCain issued the following statement on the tenth anniversary of the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania: "Today marks the 10th anniversary of the al Qaeda terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 225 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands others. The attacks made it painfully clear that al Qaeda's terrorist call to arms to attack Americans anywhere in the world was not an empty threat. The attacks proved the vulnerability of U.S. installations overseas, and demonstrated -- to any that needed further evidence -- that al Qaeda was a...

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Republican Congressman, Duncan Hunter's name was popping up in blogs and cable news shows Thursday. Hunter's staff was reported to have contacted the U.S. embassy in the African country of Chad to see if Hunter could distribute food at a refugee camp. Hunter also wanted to hunt Wildebeest in Chad and distribute the meat to refugees. The embassy staff reportedly said they were happy to hear about the Congressman's interest in helping refugees, but as far as hunting goes, there are no Wildebeest to hunt in Chad and the government there does not permit the...

John McCain said he would move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem upon being elected president. "Right away," Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee for president told CNN Friday. "I've been committed to that proposition for years."

The American Embassy in Baghdad announced Thursday that it had expanded tenfold its program to help Iraqi employees of the American government here, who faced threats for their work, to obtain visas and ultimately citizenship in the United States. The decision is the latest step in the administration’s attempt to answer sharp criticism over its failure to help even those Iraqis who have made the American presence in Iraq possible by serving as translators and supervisors on embassy projects, for the American military and for the Agency for International Development. But critics in the refugee relief community noted that the...

The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush. The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country. ~ snip ~

For months before a group of disguised Colombian soldiers carried out a daring rescue of three U.S. citizens and a prominent Colombian politician from a guerrilla camp, a team of U.S. Special Forces joined elite Colombian troops tracking the hostages across the jungle in the country's southern fringes. The U.S. team was supported by a vast intelligence-gathering operation based in the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, far to the north. There, a special 100-person unit made up of Special Forces planners, hostage negotiators and intelligence analysts worked to keep track of the hostages. They also awaited the moment when the rescue...

Three unidentified gunmen and three Turkish policemen were killed Wednesday in an attack on a police guard post at the main entrance of the well-fortified U.S. Consulate in Istanbul that officials labeled a "terrorist" act. One person has been taken into custody, Dogan News Agency reported. (UPDATED) The attack was "an obvious act of terrorism" aimed at the United States, the country's ambassador to Turkey said. "This was an attack on an American diplomatic establishment. The persons who lost their lives are Turkish citizens and we are very sad about that," Ross Wilson told reporters in Ankara. The three assailants...

The new US embassy in Berlin was opened Friday by America's last Cold War leader in a nostalgia-laden ceremony marking the mission's return to the site it last occupied in 1941. Former president George H.W. Bush, who was in the White House when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, cut a ribbon at the embassy that was rebuilt in the former no man's land that divided Berlin during the communist era. Fireworks, Broadway standards and speeches by Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to round off festivities at the new mission that took four years and 130 million dollars...

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Thursday that the proposal to establish a U.S. diplomatic interests section in Tehran is a "deceitful move". "I do not like to talk about rumors but it seems that some of these rumors are very sneaky," the official IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying, when responding to reports on building U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran.

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An explosion rocked a municipal building Tuesday in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, killing six Iraqis, two U.S. soldiers and two civilian U.S. Embassy employees, officials said. An Iraqi soldier removes razor wire to allow a vehicle to pass in Baghdad's Sadr City earlier this month.

US Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain used the status of Jerusalem to attack his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama on Friday, accusing his opponent of flip-flopping on the issue while affirming his own commitment to an "undivided Jerusalem." "I can't react to every comment that Senator Obama makes, because it probably will change," McCain told a crowd of supporters while campaigning in Florida. "The point is Jerusalem is undivided. Jerusalem is the capital," he continued, and, in an effort to offer a practical demonstration of his stance, suggested moving the American embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. However, McCain...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - U.S. diplomats and British colleagues were attacked as they tried to investigate political violence in Zimbabwe, American officials said Thursday. The U.S. ambassador reportedly blamed the incident on President Robert Mugabe's government. "Police put up a roadblock, stopped the vehicles, slashed the tires, reached in and grabbed telephones from my personnel, and the war veterans (Mugabe's supporters) threatened to burn the vehicles with my people inside unless they got out and accompanied police to a station nearby," Reuters quoted U.S. Ambassador James McGee as saying. McGee said he believes the orders of intimidation are "coming directly from...

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee met in Washington, U.S. President George Bush Wednesday suspended plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. The White House released a memo to the secretary of state ordering a six-month suspension in preparations for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. The order also coincided with a visit to the Oval Office by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I hereby determine that it is necessary, in order to protect the national security interests of the United States, to suspend for a period of six months" plans to move the embassy, the president's...

MINSK (AFP) - Eleven US diplomats left Belarus Saturday after being expelled by the Minsk authorities, crossing the border into Lithuania just an hour before their deadline to leave expired, an embassy spokesman said. The diplomatic spat is the latest in a series of incidents between the US and a state Washington describes as the "last dictatorship in Europe." On Wednesday, Belarus gave the US embassy 72 hours to expel 10 of its staff who were no longer welcome in the former communist state, it said. The US had originally refused to reduce its diplomatic core in Minsk. It finally...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The United States may post Marines at its unofficial embassy in Taiwan - a small but symbolically significant change in its delicate political relationship with the self-ruled island. A State Department advertisement in the English-language Taipei Times newspaper called for contractors to construct quarters for Marine security guards at a new U.S. compound in the capital, Taipei. Since the U.S. switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, there have been no marine guards at its Taipei facility - the American Institute in Taiwan - in keeping with its deliberately low political profile. It is customary...

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2008 – Twenty-five years after terrorists detonated a massive car bomb, killing 52 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, President Bush urged unity in condemning terrorism he said continues to threaten the United States. President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Islamic Jihad Organization, today known as the terrorist group Hizballah, launched the April 18, 1983, attack...

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Declared Ready, With Nudge by RocketsBy Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A19 The troubled effort to build the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be months away from completion when a team of top State Department officials flew to Iraq on March 20 to meet with senior staff from the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting. But as insurgent rockets began to rain down on the flimsy trailers housing diplomats inside the Green Zone, the two sides suddenly found ways to settle many of the major issues...

WASHINGTON — A Kuwait contractor has concluded the construction of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. On April 14, the State Department issued a certificate of acceptance for the 104-acre, 27 building compound. The $474 million facility is the largest U.S. embassy in the world, with 619 apartments for staffers as well as restaurants, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, volleyball court, and indoor Olympic-size swimming pool. After years of delay, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting completed the design and construction of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The project, plagued by faulty construction and scandal, was certified by the State...

Facts: Occurred at about 1300 (1:00 pm Lebanon Time) on April 18th, 1983 Carried out by a terrorist driving a van, reportedly stolen from the Embassy in June 1982. The van carried a 2,000-pound load of explosives, tearing through the front portion of the seven (7) story building. Most of the victims were at lunch and were killed by the collapsing building. Killed 63 occupants of the building, 17 of whom were Americans. One Marine was killed - Corporal Robert V. McMaugh, an embassy guard.

(KUNA) -- Ambassador Robert Dillon, who served during the explosion of the US embassy in Beirut in 1983, recalled on Friday how this incident shaped US foreign policy in this embattled country 25 years ago, and indicated that Washington possessed information about the culprits. In an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Dillon said the misinterpretation of US foreign policy towards the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982 and the "Iranian grievances" against the United States are the two main motivations behind this attack. [SNIP] He said that investigations revealed that a Shiite family and an emerging radical group from...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A desperate appeal from the president Wednesday failed to restore order to Haiti's shattered capital, and bands of looters sacked stores, warehouses and government offices. Gunfire rang out from the wealthy suburbs in the hills to the starving slums below as 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers were unable to halt a frenzy of looting and violence that has grown out of protests over rising food prices. Thousands of people were in the streets of Port-au-Prince following President Rene Preval's speech, many looting stores and terrorizing drivers and shopkeepers with rocks. Thousands more took part other in protests across the...