Warning Shots

Fijian soldiers in Suva, the capital, fired warning shots when vehicles carrying nationalist rebel leader George Speight and his backup team drove through a checkpoint, the military said. Speight was apparently returning from a hospital visit made for an unknown reason, it said. A backup vehicle was hit by a bullet after the cars refused to stop. Speight's vehicle continued to Parliament.

Thousands of Syrians flooded the streets of several major cities Friday for a new round of antigovernment protests, defying security forces who used gunfire and tear gas to disperse them. Four people were shot dead in Duma, a suburb of the capital, Damascus, when police fired on about 2,000 people gathered in a major square chanting "Freedom," according to a witness who withheld his name out of concern for his safety. Activists had dubbed Friday the "Day of Martyrs" to commemorate the more than 70 people who have been killed during the unrest of recent weeks.

An Iraqi merchant ship ignored more than 40 warning shots blasted across its bow by an American destroyer Sunday in an act of defiance that raises the prospect of a new confrontation at sea. The tense situation in the Persian Gulf continued after daybreak today as the Iraqi vessel sailed toward the Yemeni port of Aden after its captain made clear to the Navy destroyer O'Brien that he does not intend to return to Iraq, military officials said.

The U.S. military says a 12-year-old girl was killed when American soldiers fired at a vehicle speeding toward them and Iraqi police near the northern city of Mosul. Americans fired two warning shots when the vehicle ignored signals for it to stop near the Hurriyah Iraqi police station. The military says the girl was standing about 100 yards behind the vehicle and was struck by a round.

A Russian coast guard vessel fired warning shots Monday at a Greenpeace ship as it tried to investigate the environmental threat posed by a vast nuclear dump site inside the Arctic Circle, officials said. After firing flares and repeatedly ordering the Solo--a 219-foot ship owned by the maverick environmental group--to leave Russia's economic zone, the Ural patrol vessel "was forced to fire several warning shots with a 30-millimeter cannon," said Vladimir Biketov, a Russian official spokesman.

Two Japanese jet fighters scrambled into the air and one of them fired several warning shots today when a Soviet bomber violated Japanese airspace off Okinawa, the Defense Agency said. It was the first time a Japanese plane had fired warning shots at Soviet aircraft since the Self-Defense Force began intercepting intruders or potential intruders 33 years ago, the agency said.

The San Diego Police Department has revised its procedures to permit officers to fire warning shots, and to lift a requirement that police keep a log to note all cases in which they use physical force. Other changes adopted by the department include no longer investigating certain citizen complaints, providing training bags at substations for patrol officers to practice their baton-swinging techniques, and testing collapsible batons for possible use by investigators.

Marine guards at the U.S. Embassy annex outside Beirut fired warning shots at a U.N. helicopter that hovered over the building, a Western diplomat said Thursday. The diplomat, who asked not to be identified further, said the incident happened four days ago and caused no injuries. "The Marine guards who are always on alert fired several warning shots at the helicopter that hovered over, forcing it to divert course," the diplomat said.

A tense confrontation in the Persian Gulf ended Monday when an embargo-busting Iraqi vessel stopped defying American warning shots and was discovered to have quietly dumped its prohibited cargo at sea. The surprise conclusion to the standoff came after U.S. and Australian warships maneuvered to force the Iraqi vessel to a halt, then dispatched an armed boarding party to its decks.

In a new show of force aimed at ending Iraqi defiance at sea, U.S. Marines swung from helicopters to the deck of a homeward-bound Iraqi ship and forced it to halt Sunday as American fighter planes screeched overhead, military officials said. The aerial assault off the coast of Oman marked the first time the United States has forced a boarding on a moving Iraqi ship and the first use of American warplanes in an interception. Although U.S.

In an age when Americans compare hotel rooms, cars and even prospective mates with the click of a mouse, helping people identify the most cost-effective medical care seems like common sense. But when President Obama included money in his economic stimulus plan to do just that, he set off one of the sharpest, and most unexpected, political fights of his young administration. Though Obama prevailed -- securing $1.

Federal agents Tuesday seized a 26-foot boat off the coast carrying 22 illegal Mexican immigrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped the fishing boat at 3:30 a.m. about a mile west of city-owned Torrey Pines Golf Course, officials said in a news release. Agents fired two warning shots before the boat's operator surrendered, but no one was injured, officials said. Sixteen men and six women from Mexico were aboard the boat, all wearing life vests and in good condition.

Prince William took part in a British navy helicopter raid that opened fire on a speedboat believed to be used by drug runners, the Ministry of Defense said. It was the second time the prince, second in line to the throne, has helped his crew mates on the Iron Duke go after suspected narcotics traffickers in the Caribbean as part of his program to gain experience in all the branches of the British armed forces. Royal Marine commandos aboard a Lynx used high-power, long-range rifles to disable the 30-foot vessel after it ignored warning shots.

A U.S.-flagged cargo ship contracted by the Pentagon to ferry military equipment fired on a motorboat while preparing to enter the Suez Canal on Monday night, U.S. Navy officials said. Egyptian officials said one Egyptian man was killed and two wounded in the incident. According to a statement issued by the commander of the Navy's 5th Fleet, the cargo ship used its radio and other measures to warn several small boats that had approached to turn away.

Police in riot gear fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse more than 100 Buddhist monks today who defied the military government's ban on public assembly by trying to penetrate a barricade blocking Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda. Scores of monks were reportedly arrested as officials cracked down on the biggest anti-government protests in nearly 20 years.

UNIONIZED GROCERY workers in Southern California brought more drama to their contract negotiations this week, voting overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if contract talks break down. The move reflected the Kabuki-theater quality of major contract negotiations, whose slow pace often prompts union members to pose belligerently simply to energize the proceedings. In this case, however, the vote reminded negotiators for Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons that these episodes don't always end well.

For incumbents, this continues to be the year of living dangerously. On Saturday in Louisiana, three-term Democratic Sen. J. Bennett Johnston narrowly escaped a stunning challenge from state Rep. David Duke--an improbable opponent, whose political baggage included service as the grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, ties to neo-Nazi and other anti-Semitic groups, fabrication of a war record in Vietnam and embarrassing disclosures that he had once authored a sex manual for women.

Folsom Prison's 3,000 inmates were confined to their cells after eight inmates were stabbed in five separate incidents. The victims were being treated at University Medical Center in Sacramento. Two were reported in serious condition. Officers fired warning shots to put down the fifth incident, the 111th stabbing of the year at Folsom. Prison authorities said the weekend fights were part of a two-year feud between blacks and Latinos.

Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas clashed with Israeli soldiers in the disputed Shabaa Farms border area Saturday with machine-gun fire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. No injuries were reported. The Israeli army said its soldiers fired into the air to prevent a Lebanese shepherd from entering Israel, sparking the clash.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said its navy fired warning shots today after three North Korean fishing boats crossed the nations' disputed Yellow Sea border. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The incident occurred near Yonpyong Island, west of the Korean peninsula. The fishing boats turned back after South Korean navy ships fired shots into the air, a ministry spokesman said.