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Overnight gun-battles between rival clans in a pirate stronghold on the coast of Somalia have left at least 17 dead and 30 injured, reports say. Local residents in Haradheere fled as fighting, reportedly over land and the alleged rape of a woman, intensified. Pirates who operate in the area, a port off the shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia, said they were worried the conflict could affect their activities. Somalia, torn by civil war since 1991, lacks an effective central government. "The two clans are fighting over land and a girl who was raped in the forest," a local man,...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants. General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana. "The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants. snip...,/i>

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Hijackers Friday released a U.N.-chartered ship carrying food aid and a crew of 10 following successful negotiations with a Somali businessman, officials said. Gunmen released the MV Miltzow after a Somali contractor, hired by the U.N. World Food Program to handle the food aid, negotiated with them, said Karim Kudrati, managing director of Motaku Shipping Agency, the Kenyan company that owns the ship. Kudrati said he was not aware any ransom was paid.

A UN-chartered vessel carrying aid for Somali tsunami victims has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia amid a flurry of new piracy warnings for the area, the World Food Programme (WFP) said. The freighter hauling 850 tonnes of Japanese and German food aid was seized by unidentified pirates on Monday between Haradhere and Hobyo, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of Mogadishu, it said in a statement.

As a group of residents cheered, a Glen Park man tackled Gary Patrolman Carl Cochran, choking the officer and threatening to kill him in an unprovoked attack Wednesday night, Lt. Roger Smith said. Cochran, a five-year veteran and member of the department’s elite S.W.A.T. team, suffered cuts to his face and injuries to his arm and back as a result of the protracted struggle with Kelvin D. Banks, 40. Cmdr. Jerome Krebes said Thursday he ordered additional patrols in the area in response to the incident. A small group of people — ten or less — surrounded the officer during...

City officials, fearful that the smells emanating from downtown alleys is hampering the area's economic resurgence, have launched an assault on stench. "People are walking downtown and holding their noses," said David Semenza, Las Vegas' neighborhood response manager. "What good is redevelopment when you have this stench?" The stinky problems involve everything from rotting food to people relieving themselves wherever they please.

Criminals get 4-month break 03/01/03 - ROBIN FRANZEN and JOSEPH ROSE Unless Oregon's Legislature intervenes in the coming days, it will be a bold new world for burglars, car thieves, prostitutes, junkies and a host of other "low-level" criminals who feast on neighborhoods. Facing budget shortfalls, Oregon's chief justice has ordered the courts not to hear such cases until July 1, when the new fiscal year begins. That means anyone arrested for stealing a car, breaking into a home or passing a bad check will taken to jail for a few hours -- if that -- and then released, leaving...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - In Nevada, they love gambling and tolerate prostitution. Now they are talking about legalizing pot. A measure on the ballot Nov. 5 would make Nevada the first state to allow adults to possess marijuana — up to 3 ounces, enough for maybe 100 joints. People over 21 would be allowed to smoke it in their homes but not in cars or public places. Pot would be sold in state-licensed smoke shops and taxed like cigarettes. "This initiative will allow the police to spend more time going after murderers, rapists and other violent criminals," said Billy...