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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - A U.S. official being held in the fatal shooting of two Pakistani men told a court in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday that he had killed them in self-defense. The official, based at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, said the men had tried to rob him while he waited at a busy intersection in his car. A second consular vehicle that he summoned for help struck and killed a motorcyclist as it sped to the scene, police said. A judge ordered the official held in custody for six days for further questioning. Pakistani officials insisted...

An Iranian former diplomat says Iran is working toward developing a nuclear bomb with the help of scientists from North Korea and other countries worldwide, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday. Mohammed Reza Heydari, formerly of the Iranian embassy in Oslo, Norway, told the British newspaper that he had helped North Korean technicians and military experts enter Iran while he was working for the Iranian foreign ministry office in Tehran's airport. Heydari said the North Korean experts helped Iran develop nuclear bomb capability and increase the range of Iran's ballistic missiles.

Wednesday 1st December, 2010 (IANS) France's top diplomat in Hong Kong was suspended and recalled to Paris after allegedly stealing two expensive bottles of wine, a news report said Wednesday. Marc Fonbaustier, 46, was recalled after he was reportedly caught on security cameras taking bottles of Bordeaux from the elite Hong Kong Country Club, the South China Morning Post reported. Beijing officials sought his removal after security video showed him slipping a bottle of wine into his jacket at the prestigious club in early November, according to the newspaper. An investigation was under way into the theft when Fonbaustier allegedly...

(Reuters) - Libya has ordered a diplomat at the United States embassy in Tripoli to leave the country within 24 hours for breaching diplomatic rules, two Libyan newspapers reported on Sunday. The Libyan authorities gave no confirmation of the reports while a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, contacted by Reuters, said he had no comment. In Washington, the State Department said it had no immediate comment. "The Libyan authorities asked the Political Affairs Secretary at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli to leave Libya within 24 hours," the Internet edition of the Oea newspaper reported. Citing what it called...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama met with activist-actor George Clooney at the White House on Tuesday to discuss U.S. involvement in Sudan ahead of a critical election early next year in Africa's largest nation. Clooney recently returned from Sudan, and is asking the U.S. and world community to use international pressure and robust diplomacy to prevent violence ahead of the Jan. 9 election. The election is an independence referendum on south Sudan that is likely to split the country in two, and there are fears that the vote could lead to a new outbreak of north-south civil war.<>

A top Nicaraguan diplomat was found murdered in his Bronx apartment Thursday morning when his driver came to take him to the United Nations General Assembly, police sources said. Consul César Antonio Mercado Pavón, 34, was found with his throat slashed around 10:30 a.m. in his apartment at 2070 Grand Concourse near E. 180th St. A neighbor reported hearing loud noises in the sixth floor apartment overnight. Mercado had been the Nicaraguan consul for eight years. Mercado's driver told police he waited for the diplomat to come downstairs. Then he went up and discovered the body, fully clothed and covered...

New York City police say a Nicaraguan diplomatic official was found dead in an apartment with his throat slit. Police say the 34-year-old man was found by his driver at about 10:15 a.m. Thursday.

China's top-ranking UN diplomat embarked on a drunken rant against the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, telling his boss he'd "never liked" him, and adding for good measure that he didn't like Americans either.The outburst by Sha Zukang at a retreat for top UN officials in the Austrian ski resort of Alpbach left senior UN officials cringing in embarrassment as others tried to convince him to put down the microphone, according to Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine. "I know you never liked me Mr. Secretary-General – well, I never liked you, either," said Mr Sha as Mr Ban looked on, smiling...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was said to no longer be capable of functioning in his position. Diplomatic sources said Mubarak's condition has rapidly declined over the last month and his schedule was severely restricted. They said Mubarak was avoiding meetings with most non-Arab leaders to prevent leaks of his true condition. "He is a walking corpse," a senior Arab diplomat who recently attended a meeting with Mubarak said In July, the sources said, Mubarak underwent a lengthy examination at a French military hospital outside Paris. They said the examination took place amid alarm by presidential aides and close relatives over...

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe must follow through on its pledge to impose sanctions on Iran's energy sector in order to coax Tehran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear activities, a top US diplomat said Tuesday. Robert Einhorn, the US coordinator for Iran sanctions, said he held meetings in Brussels with European Union officials to discuss the measures being drafted after EU leaders agreed this month to impose new sanctions. "What we hope is that stronger measures on the pressure side, on the sanctions side will give leaders in Iran strong incentives to come to the negotiating table and...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli media say the Foreign Ministry has ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of the uproar over Israel's deadly naval raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. State-run Israel radio and other stations and newspapers say the diplomatic mission itself will remain in Turkey.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQzlIT9zDlI "Indian diplomat turns spy" Video Description - quote: ndtv — April 27, 2010 — Madhuri Gupta, an IFS officer, has confessed that she sold secrets for love, money and because "service conditions were bad". Category: News & Politics Tags: Barkha Dutt diplomat IFS officer India Madhuri Pakistan spy NDTV 24x7

U.S. officials say a Qatari diplomat whose remark caused a bomb scare on a commercial flight over the United States was on his way to visit an imprisoned al-Qaida terrorist. The officials say the diplomat, Mohammed Al-Madadi, was going to a prison in the western state of Colorado to visit Ali Al-Marri, a Qatari citizen serving an eight-year jail term for conspiring to support terrorism. Madadi has been released from U.S. custody and will not face charges after being restrained Wednesday by U.S. air marshals on a flight from Washington to Denver, Colorado. Officials said he is expected to leave...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Qatari diplomat who caused a bomb scare after sneaking a smoke in an airplane bathroom was traveling for a consular visit to see an imprisoned al-Qaida agent. A State Department official and another person close to the matter say Mohammed Al-Madadi was going to meet Ali Al-Marri for an official visit. Consular officials frequently visit foreigners held in the United States to make sure they are being treated well.

A veteran Iranian diplomat based in Norway has resigned his post, denounced his government and urged colleagues around the world to do the same after the regime’s brutal suppression of huge opposition demonstrations last month. Mohammed-Reza Heydari, Iran’s consul in Oslo, is the first Iranian diplomat to publicly quit and condemn the regime. He revealed that it sought to lure him back to Tehran after rumours of his defection surfaced last week. At the time, the Iranian Foreign Ministry insisted that the rumours were baseless. In an interview with the Norwegian television channel NRK, Mr Heydari said that he decided...

ITALIAN MEDIA sources last weekend reported that the Holy See has rejected the possible appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US Ambassador to the Vatican. Milan-based daily Il Giornale, owned by the family of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said that the Vatican has rejected three possible choices by the Obama government for the post of US ambassador, including that of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F Kennedy. Il Giornale claims that the appointment of a new US ambassador to succeed Mary Ann Glendon has proved difficult because of the “strained” relations between the White House and the Holy See,...

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway's ambassador to the United Nations has accused Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of weak, ineffective and at times counterproductive leadership during recent crises, the daily Aftenposten reported on Wednesday. Aftenposten published what it said was a letter from Ambassador Mona Juul to Norway's Foreign Ministry, where she said Ban was late in handling challenges and that his abrasive style irked even seasoned diplomats. "At a time when the need for the United Nations and for multilateral solutions to global crises is greater than ever, Ban and the United Nations are conspicuous in their absence," Aftenposten quoted the letter...

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- An appeals court commuted the death sentences for four men convicted of killing an American diplomat and his Sudanese driver after the driver's family decided to pardon the murderers, a news agency reported Thursday. Sudanese law stipulates that if a victim's family chooses to pardon the murderer, the person cannot be sentenced to death and the prison term cannot exceed 10 years. The case will be referred back to the initial court for a new sentence, said the Sudan Media Center.

Britain sparked controversy yesterday by sending its second most senior diplomat in Tehran to the ceremony at which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, officially endorsed President Ahmadinejad’s hotly disputed re-election. Iran’s opposition leaders, who say the election was rigged, boycotted the event. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) sent Patrick Davies, the British Embassy’s deputy head of mission, even though the regime has repeatedly accused Britain of fomenting the turmoil that has engulfed Iran since the ballot, arrested Iranians working for the Embassy and expelled the BBC’s Tehran correspondent. The FCO said that it sent Mr Davies to the...