21 killed in fighting in Somalia's capital city

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Heavy fighting between Islamist militants and pro-government troops raged in several parts of Somalia's capital Thursday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 78, an official said.

Mortar shells pounded northern and southern neighborhoods in Mogadishu as militants launched attacks with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, according to a witness.

In Mogadishu's south, government soldiers and African Union peacekeepers tried to push insurgents back from a strategic road often used by government officials.

Ali Muse, the head …

Honduras becomes Western Hemisphere cocaine hub

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — On Honduras' swampy Mosquitia coast, entire villages have made a way of life off the country's massive cocaine transshipment trade. In broad daylight, men, women and children descend on passing go-fast boats to offload bales of cocaine destined for the United States.

Along the Atlantic coast, the wealthy elite have accumulated dozens of ranches, yachts and mansions from the drug trade.

And in San Pedro Sula, local gangs moving drugs north have spawned armies of street-level dealers whose violence has given the rougher neighborhoods of the northern industrial city a homicide rate that is only comparable to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Long an …

USASOC: Resolute and Ready

As the global war on terrorism enters its eighth year, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) continues to provide trained and ready forces to support the geographic combatant commanders, the theater special operations commands and ambassadors throughout the world. On any given day, elements of three of the five active duty Special Forces groups, one Ranger battalion, some 34 special operations aircraft, more than 35 Civil Affairs teams, 35 Psychological Operations teams and supporting logistics units are deployed around the world. At the same time, the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School continues the training pipeline to put more Special Forces, Civil …

Pastor apologizes for anti-Catholic remarks

John Hagee, an influential televangelist who endorsed John McCain, is apologizing to Catholics for referring to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and calling it "the apostate church."

Hagee's support for McCain has drawn criticism from some Catholic leaders. McCain has said he does not agree with some of Hagee's past comments.

In a letter to William …

Secretive speed traders in spotlight after crash

If you saw a penny on the sidewalk, would you pick it up?

You may think it's not worth the effort, but a breed of investors who have been in the news do. Using super-fast computers, high-frequency traders in effect bend down to pick up pennies lying about in the stock market _ then do it again, sometimes thousands of times a second.

More than a week after the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 1,000 points, its biggest intraday drop ever, regulators are still sifting through buy and sell orders to figure out what sparked it. One big focus are orders placed by high-frequency traders, or HFTs, and for good reason. These quick-buck firms barely existed a few …

Dow Up 7 After Late Selling

NEW YORK Wall Street's blue-chip stocks closed higher Thursdaybut failed to hold onto higher levels when a late spurt of sellinghit trading.

Stocks, which have been struggling to recover from recentlosses, were buoyed by overseas rallies, a steady dollar and firmerbond prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 7.83 points higher at3,254.64. Gainers outpaced losers 1,066-675 on the New York StockExchange.

Big Board volume rose to 178.5 million shares from 171.8million on Wednesday.

Volume levels since the big selloffs last Friday and Mondayhave been mostly moderate and traders said they detected littlestrong buying conviction.

…

Western Michigan blows out Bowling Green 41-7

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) — Alex Carder completed 23 of 33 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns as Western Michigan blew out Bowling Green 41-7 on Friday in their Mid-American Conference season finale.

The Broncos (6-6, 5-3) scored the first 27 points of the game to take a 27-0 lead at halftime. John Potter kicked field goals of 42 and 25 yards and Carder completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Blake Hammond in the first quarter.

Carder threw a 4-yard …