Police Headquarters

The City Council voted Wednesday to increase the budget for a new police headquarters complex to $396.8 million, up from the original spending plan of $302.7 million adopted two years ago. The increased cost was blamed on a larger-than-expected bid on the 11-story headquarters building and on rising costs for materials, land, debt and design work. The council approved the budget without discussion.

NEW DELHI -- Several hundred people protesting the kidnapping and rape of a 5-year-old girl descended on police headquarters Saturday, waving signs, overrunning barriers and calling for the resignation of the capital city's police commissioner. The angry demonstration, which spread to a hospital and the homes of two senior officials, was reminiscent of the outcry seen after a 23-year-old student was brutally raped in December, a crime that shook the nation and leading to tougher laws and the creation of special courts for rape cases.

Islamist fighters firing rocket-propelled grenades and submachine guns seized the police headquarters at the heart of the Somali government's stronghold in Mogadishu, killing two soldiers and two policemen, witnesses said. The ambush could not be immediately be verified by Somali officials. It came a day after insurgents attacked Ethiopian military convoys in two rural areas, and the soldiers opened fire on civilians in response, killing at least 17 villagers, according to witnesses.

NEW DELHI - Several hundred people protesting the rape and kidnapping of a 5-year-old girl descended on police headquarters Saturday, waving signs, overrunning barriers and calling for the resignation of the capital city's police commissioner. The angry demonstration, which spread to a hospital and the homes of two senior officials, was reminiscent of the outcry seen after a 23-year-old student was brutally raped and killed in December, a crime that shook the nation and led to tougher laws and the creation of special courts for rape cases.

A bomb exploded inside Indonesia's police headquarters compound in Jakarta early today, damaging two cars and a meeting room. No one was injured in the blast, which police said originated in a parking lot. They said it was too early to identify those responsible.

A man allegedly angry about having his car towed went on a vandalism rampage at police headquarters early Sunday, breaking windows and glass doors and damaging three patrol cars, an official said. The suspect caused about $15,000 in damage to the building by smashing windows and glass doors with a crowbar or sledgehammer, said San Diego Police Sgt. Tom Carmody.

A consultant next week will present his study on the need for a new Glendale police headquarters that could cost between $18 million and $21 million. The consultant, Jim McClaren of San Jose, is scheduled to unveil to city officials on Tuesday site options and several possible floor plans for the proposed facility.

They broke ground Thursday for the long-awaited, $12-million police headquarters, marking the moment with hope, scorn and gold-painted shovels. The shovels came from city supplies, wielded by the Simi Valley City Council, legislators and police chiefs past and present who turned ceremonial loads of dirt.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday unanimously approved a ban on smoking at City Hall and police headquarters because of potential fire hazards at the buildings, which are not equipped with sprinklers. The vote previews a proposal expected to come before the council within a few months to ban smoking at all city facilities. That plan, by Councilman Marvin Braude, is based on public health concerns. City Councilman Mike Hernandez, the council's only smoker, joined the vote for the ban.

San Diego police shot and wounded a man in a fierce gun battle early Thursday morning, and, after taking a box of weapons from the man's house to police headquarters, found a live pipe bomb and immediately ordered the partial evacuation of the building. The bomb was safely removed by experts from the Fire Department's explosive-device team, and none of the 200 police employees evacuated from the top three floors of the headquarters building was injured. Melvin King Jr.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested and placed in police custody Friday, a day after commandos whisked him away from an Islamabad courthouse where he faces charges of illegally detaining dozens of judges while in power. Musharraf, who only a few weeks ago presented himself as a patriotic savior returning to his homeland from self-imposed exile, was being held at police headquarters at least until his next court appearance, which was expected within 48 hours.

Mississippi authorities confirmed Friday that a Jackson police detective was shot with his own service weapon in what investigators say was a murder-suicide at police headquarters. At the time of the Thursday night incident, Detective Eric Smith was questioning Jeremy Powell, 23, who was a suspect in a slaying. "The detective was overpowered and shot with his own weapon," Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, told The Times. Citing the ongoing investigation, Strain would not comment on whether other people were in the interrogation room or whether Smith was allowed to have a weapon in the room.

KABUL, Afghanistan - At least two police officers were killed Monday when five gunmen armed with suicide vests and rocket-propelled grenades stormed the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police department, setting off a firefight that lasted more than eight hours, Afghan officials said. It was the second brazen assault in less than a week in the Afghan capital, which has enjoyed a measure of safety compared with other parts of the country in recent years. The national intelligence agency was attacked Wednesday.

As we approach the end of the year, we tend to think about making changes. Think you can't change? These hotels did. Many of them started as one thing and wound up another. They may inspire you to the point of prayer, drink (water or something harder), a life of crime or even going underground. Here are some that intrigued us. (Note that rates do not include applicable taxes.) Malmaison Glasgow, Scotland If neoclassical architecture makes your heart shout "Hallelujah!," this former Episcopal church may bring you to your knees in Glasgow, Scotland's largest city.

MEXICO CITY -- Questions are dogging police this week after nearly 100 people were detained and at least 100 others injured -- two seriously -- during hours of raucous demonstrations in central Mexico City as Enrique Peña Nieto was  sworn in as president of Mexico .  In scenes captured on video or transmitted live via Internet streams, demonstrators with their faces covered clashed Saturday with federal police officers outside the San...

The man holding a hostage in a Pittsburgh office building on Friday surrendered to authorities without any violence, police said. Police Chief Nate Harper announced that the suspect, identified as Klein Michael Thaxton, 22, had turned himself in to authorities and had released his hostage. During the almost six-hour standoff, Thaxton had updated his Facebook page, on which friends had urged him to end the confrontation peacefully. “The suspect is in custody. The hostage gentleman is safe.

A former senior police official who escaped from prison and then seized national police headquarters was captured today by U.S. troops after he fled the building. The former police official, Col. Eduardo Herrera Hassan, walked out of the building ringed by a group of police officers loyal to him and an estimated 80 journalists who were trying to ask him questions. The cluster crossed a roadblock manned by U.S. troops, and Herrera, who was wearing civilian clothes, got away in the confusion.

The hundreds of protesters who gathered Sunday outside Anaheim police headquarters remained angry with law enforcement after recent fatal officer-involved shootings sparked unrest in Orange County's largest city, although the tension did not escalate as it had last week. The demonstration stretched long into the afternoon, with more than 200 protesters initially chanting in front of police headquarters and taking over a parking lot where they drew chalk outlines of bodies and wrote messages condemning the police.

El CAJON, Calif. —This day's English lessons for Iraqi immigrants at Cuyamaca College involved learning how to talk about bad news. From their text, "Day by Day: English for Employment Communication," the 25 students repeated dialogue wrapped around common occurrences: "I lost my wallet" and "My husband got fired from his job. " But the students had a horrific piece of real news on their minds: the March 24 death of an Iraqi immigrant who...