Clinton cancels visit to UK, Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has cancelled a trip to London and Istanbul to be with her ailing mother, the State Department announced.

The statement did not give any details on the health of Dorothy Howell Rodham, who is 92. Mrs Rodham reportedly has lived in Mrs Clinton's Washington home since 2006.

"Due to illness with her mother, Secretary Clinton has cancelled her scheduled travel tonight to London and Istanbul and will instead remain in Washington," a senior State Department official said.

Mrs Clinton changed her travel plans shortly before she was to have left the U.S. capital for Afghanistan to urge its neighbors to avoid meddling there and instead build economic ties with the war-torn state.

Shortly after visiting Afghanistan and three of its neighbors, Mrs Clinton was to have held talks on Wednesday, November 2, in Istanbul with a broader group about how to boost peace and prosperity after US combat troops withdraw in 2014 and hand over to Afghan forces.

On her way, she was scheduled to stop in London to join officials from 60 countries - along with internet pioneers Google, Facebook and Microsoft as well as Chinese technology firms - to discuss cyber security, The Telegraph reported.