American Embassy

In an escalation of the confrontation between the U.S. diplomatic mission here and Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, Panamanian police have arrested 15 private guards hired to protect the American Embassy and its employees. During the week, the National Department of Investigation has rounded up the guards and two office workers, all employees of the Tesna-Mimsa security company, and has held them without charges in the Ancon Prison. Embassy spokesman Terrence Kneebone said Friday that the arrest of the guards has not yet "compromised" the security of the embassy or its employees.

TEHRAN - There's little reaction in Iran so far to "Argo," the box-office hit about the elaborate and risky rescue of six U.S. diplomats who avoided becoming hostages when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy here on Nov. 4, 1979 - 33 years ago Sunday. Of course, 52 other U.S. citizens were held hostage for 444 days in one of the more ignominious episodes in U.S. diplomatic history. Although "Argo" has not appeared in Iran even in a pirated version, as many movies from the West are first viewed here, curious cinema enthusiasts have viewed excerpts on the Internet, via proxy servers to circumvent government censors.

Students and teachers returning from China complained Thursday that the U.S. Embassy in Beijing was not helpful in getting them out of the strife-torn nation, leaving them waiting futilely for instructions while citizens of other countries were being evacuated. "We got nothing," said Roxanne Sylvester, 37, a teacher in UCLA's English-language program at the Chinese Academy of Social Science Graduate School in Beijing. She said she saw Canadian, Portuguese, Irish and French embassy personnel arrange charter flights and airport transportation for their respective citizens while the U.S. Embassy remained silent and unreachable.

Susan Spano did a great job of taking us along to England with Adams and Jefferson ["Chasing the Founding Fathers," Oct. 25]. Makes one want to take the trip. Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in 1874 and is buried in a very plain site in the small Bladon Church, across the street from the very elegant palace. Quite a statement about his elegance. Dick Mason Redondo Beach :: I was born and raised in England of American parents. I enlisted and served in the U.S. Navy at the American Embassy in London during 1942-43.

TEHRAN - There's little reaction in Iran so far to "Argo," the box-office hit about the elaborate and risky rescue of six U.S. diplomats who avoided becoming hostages when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy here on Nov. 4, 1979 - 33 years ago Sunday. Of course, 52 other U.S. citizens were held hostage for 444 days in one of the more ignominious episodes in U.S. diplomatic history. Although "Argo" has not appeared in Iran even in a pirated version, as many movies from the West are first viewed here, curious cinema enthusiasts have viewed excerpts on the Internet, via proxy servers to circumvent government censors.

About 3,000 protesters demanding removal of U.S. military bases from the Philippines threw rocks at the American Embassy today and charged police lines but were driven back with water cannon. Several officers and demonstrators were reported hurt.

Peruvian police picked up five people for questioning in the slaying of an American rural development worker by Maoist guerrillas. Constantine Orson Gregory, 25, a native of Torrance, Calif., and Peruvian veterinarian Gustavo Rojas, 35, were dragged from their truck on a road near the village of Huancayo, 125 miles east of Lima, and shot in the head by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels.

Police arrested two suspected members of a leftist guerrilla group who they believe were plotting an attack against the U.S. Embassy, Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi said Saturday. The alleged members of the Shining Path group had diagrams of the U.S. Embassy when they were arrested Nov. 20, Rospigliosi said. "The suspicion is that they were planning to carry out attacks against the American Embassy and against another site that is linked to U.S. interests," the Peruvian minister said.

The Scripps Ranch family trapped in Kuwait has found refuge in the American Embassy there, the U.S. State Department said Saturday evening. B. George Saloom, 52, his wife Deborah, 49, and their eldest son Preston, 17, were transferred from a hotel to the embassy on Saturday. The family, which lives in the 10200 block of Rue Cannes, left for Kuwait three weeks ago. Saloom was to take a job with the Bank of Kuwait.

Regarding your column "When Disasters Hit a Trip Site" (Insider, Oct. 12), I am distressed that of all your suggestions to travelers about to travel to a place hit by disaster, calling your travel agent was not included. Even though the airlines have tried to exclude us from the business, some of us truly enjoy what we do and try to be of help to our clients in all situations. Please do not think that all we care about is our commissions. We do have a lot of information at our fingertips.

President Obama nominated Carlos Pascual, a Cuban-born U.S. diplomat, as ambassador to Mexico, the State Department said Thursday. Reports have circulated for more than two months that Pascual, director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, would be named to the important post. Pascual's name surfaced during Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to Mexico in March, and generated no controversy.

I have only one question regarding "Passport to a Major Headache" [Nov. 23], which was a most informative and frightening article. Did someone think to send a copy to the State Department? Frank L. Jameson Jr. Pasadena -- We were on a Viking "Waterways of the Czars" trip. The ship's purser took our passports for safekeeping. On our last Friday in Moscow, we paid our bill and asked for our passports. They could not find them. At 10 a.m., I called the American Embassy. They informed me that they closed at noon but would wait for us. We arrived at the Embassy at 11 a.m. They took our picture and processed new passports in an hour.

A rocket hit the U.S. Embassy here early today but no one was hurt, officials said. Dozens of police cars surrounded the embassy and officers cordoned off all roads in the area, including a major boulevard in front of the mission. Greek antiterrorism officers rushed to the compound. Investigators found the device used to fire the rocket at a construction site nearby. "This was a rocket attack launched from a building across the street.

Mortar shells rained down on this coastal capital Monday, killing and maiming scores of civilians as a small force of U.S. Marines arrived to bolster security at the besieged U.S. Embassy. Several thousand more Marines were ordered to the Mediterranean for possible deployment in the war-ravaged West African nation. The exact death toll Monday was unknown, but aid workers estimated that at least 90 Liberians were killed and said the number probably would rise. More than 300 people were injured.

The State Department issued an alert late Thursday warning that terrorists may be planning to attack American targets soon in the Saudi city of Jidda, triggering a new wave of fear among Westerners in the region even as a U.S. team arrived in the country to investigate Monday's car bombings here in the capital.

Kenya handed over a suspected member of the Al Qaeda terror network to American officials Wednesday, saying he participated in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 231 people, including 12 Americans. The suspect was identified by authorities as Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed. National Security Minister Chris Murungaru said Hemed, whose alleged involvement in the bombings was not detailed, already was on his way to the United States, but he would not elaborate. U.S.

Travelers to Spain, beware. Last month my wife and I were robbed of all of our valuables as we were loading our rental car at a railway station on a Sunday in Madrid. The thieves were evidently well organized because they knew which bag to take and a getaway car was waiting nearby. The next morning at the American Embassy was an eye-opener. There were at least 50 Americans applying for new passports because many had been attacked and robbed in broad daylight during the weekend. Methods of theft that they reported included choking the victims from behind to unconsciousness and then stripping them of their possessions, beatings and distractions.

I have only one question regarding "Passport to a Major Headache" [Nov. 23], which was a most informative and frightening article. Did someone think to send a copy to the State Department? Frank L. Jameson Jr. Pasadena -- We were on a Viking "Waterways of the Czars" trip. The ship's purser took our passports for safekeeping. On our last Friday in Moscow, we paid our bill and asked for our passports. They could not find them. At 10 a.m., I called the American Embassy. They informed me that they closed at noon but would wait for us. We arrived at the Embassy at 11 a.m. They took our picture and processed new passports in an hour.

BEIJING -- Chinese police have arrested a U.S. citizen and accused him of sabotaging state broadcasting equipment in China, the U.S. Embassy said Thursday. The Falun Gong spiritual group identified the man as Charles Li of Menlo Park, Calif., and said he was a member of their organization. Although several Chinese Falun Gong adherents have been jailed for disrupting state broadcasts, this appears to be the first such case involving a U.S. citizen.

The U.S. Embassy shut down all operations Friday because of a terrorist threat, just days after police raided an Islamic charity, arrested an espionage suspect and seized bogus passports, weapons and plans for making bombs, officials said. The embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina's capital, had reduced operations Wednesday after receiving word of a possible terrorist threat.