CUERNAVACA, Mexico – Two hundred Mexican Navy marines stormed an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the “boss of bosses,” and six members of his cartel died in the shootout Wednesday in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, according to a navy statement Thursday. Read the full story

Two Koreas in naval clash, no casualties -Yonhap

SEOUL, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The two Koreas have had a naval skirmish in Yellow Sea waters off their west coast but there were no casualties, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.

The incident comes just ahead of a visit to Asia by U.S. President Barack Obama, with Pyongyang seeking direct talks with his administration and increasing regional tension by saying in recent days it had produced more arms-grade plutonium.

“A North Korean patrol ship crossed the Northern Limit Line and did not cease when we fired warning shots,” Yonhap cited a South Korean defence source as saying.

Military officials could not immediately confirm the reports.

The two Koreas have fought two deadly naval battles in the past decade in the Yellow Sea waters near the contested sea border called the Northern Limit Line.

The South Korean won KRW= retreated on the news, but there was no immediate impact on stocks or bonds. (Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee, Rhee So-eui, Christine Kim and Seo Eunkyung; Writing Jon Herskovitz; Editing by John Chalmers)

Report: Two Koreas’ navies in skirmish

(CNN) — North and South Korean naval forces have exchanged fire, South Korea’s semi-official Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

The two Koreas clashed off their west coast, where previous skirmishes in 1999 and 2002 turned deadly, Yonhap reported, citing an unnamed South Korean defense official.

“No South Korean casualties were immediately reported,” the official said.

He said a North Korean patrol ship crossed into South Korean waters, prompting the South’s navy to fire warning shots, according to Yonhap.

“The North Koreans then fired back,” the official said.

The two Koreas dispute the exact location of the sea border between their countries.

A clash in 2002 followed a series of incursions by navy ships from North Korea into South Korean waters. At least four South Korean sailors died in that incident and nine others were wounded.

In June 1999, several border violations by North Korean ships sparked the first naval clash between the two Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North, South Korean navies exchange fire

A North Korean naval ship was badly damaged in an exchange of fire with a South Korean vessel off the country’s west coast, Yonhap News reported, citing a government official in Seoul it didn’t identify.

The clash occurred at 11:28 a.m. local time today after the North Korean ship crossed the sea border and ignored a warning shot, the news agency reported. The South Korean navy fired first and the North’s ship shot back, it said.

There were no South Korean casualties and the North’s ship has since returned, the Korean-language report said.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff couldn’t confirm the report when called by Bloomberg News.

North Korea doesn’t recognize the maritime border off the Korean peninsula’s west coast, which led to naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002. The two nations remain divided after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease fire, and have never signed a peace treaty.

Two Koreas in naval clash off west coast: official

(AFP)

SEOUL — The navies of North and South Korea clashed Tuesday off the west coast of the peninsula, military officials said, reportedly leaving a North Korean patrol boat badly damaged.

A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the clash to AFP but said details were not immediately available.

A government source quoted by Yonhap news agency said a North Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed border in the Yellow Sea, prompting South Korea’s navy to fire warning shots.

When the boat continued sailing southwards, the South’s navy opened fire at it, the source was quoted as saying. The North Korean boat fired back.

“There were no casualties on our side while the North Korean boat, half-destroyed, sailed back to the North,” the source was quoted as saying.

The clash broke out at 11:28 am (0228 GMT) near Daechong island. It came eight days before US President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in South Korea as part of an Asian tour.

The border known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL) was the scene of deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002 and has always been a potential flashpoint.

The North’s navy last month accused South Korea of sending warships across the line to stir tensions, and said the “reckless military provocations” could trigger armed clashes.

The NLL was drawn up unilaterally by United Nations forces at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The North has never recognised it and wants it drawn further to the south.

After months of hostility marked by missile test-launches and a nuclear test, the communist North has since August put out peace feelers both to South Korea and the United States.

It freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operations of a joint industrial estate, sent envoys for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak and allowed a family reunion programme to resume.

The North has also invited US special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang for talks on ending the standoff about its nuclear weapons programme. Washington was expected to decide soon to go ahead with the trip.

S Korea, DPRK clash in naval coast off west coast: Yonhap

SEOUL: South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) clashed in naval coast off west coast of the peninsula in the morning of Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said, quoting its government source.

According to the Yonhap, a DPRK patrol ship crossed South Korea’ s Northern Limit Line (NLL), leading the South Korean Navy to fire warning shots.

As the DPRK vessel, ignoring the warnings, continued to sail into the southern territory, the South Korean Navy fired additional shots, Yonhap said.The DPRK side is reported to have responded with countering shots, Yonhap added.

“We’re still trying to find out if there were any casualties,” the source was quoted as saying.

No South Korean casualties have immediately been reported, the official added.

1 – Project X-Ray

In the early years of American involvement in WWII, a plan was conceived by a Pennsylvanian dental surgeon to strap tiny incendiary devices to bats and drop them by the thousands over Japanese cities. The bats—able to carry nearly three times their own body weight—would fly under the cover of night and take roost in traditional, highly-flammable wood and paper Japanese houses. As dawn approached, timers on the devices would ignite the “bat bombs” and entire cities would burn to the ground without the loss of life accompanied by, say, an atomic attack. The project was slowed by many complications and was ultimately shut down in 1944 because the bats would not be ready for combat until 1945. Read the full story

Russian navy ships are hunting in the Atlantic for a 4,000-tonne cargo ship that vanished more than two weeks ago, triggering an international mystery.

Observers have suggested the ship was hijacked, possibly because of a Russian commercial dispute.

The Maltese-flagged ship, the Arctic Sea, has a 15-strong Russian crew. Read the full story