World briefs 1/17/05

Marine who killed police officer was gang member

CERES, Calif. -- A Marine who killed one town police officer and wounded another one was a gang member who was high on cocaine, not a combat veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, police said. Investigators said they are discounting a theory that Lance Cpl. Andres Raya, 19, may have instigated a "suicide by cop" -- provoking officers to shoot him -- because he did not want to return to Iraq. "During our investigation, we found he wasn't due to go back to Iraq, never faced combat situations and never even fired his gun," Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Woodman said Saturday.

Incumbent easily wins second term in Croatia

ZAGREB, Croatia -- Croatian President Stipe Mesic, who is credited with leading his country out of isolation after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, was overwhelmingly elected to a second term Sunday in a runoff vote, according to exit polls. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader acknowledged that polls done by his party, which had backed the other candidate, also showed Mesic had won and he would congratulate the 70-year-old incumbent after the Electoral Commission releases official results.

Sprinklers helped fuel fire at magnesium plant

ANDERSON, Ind. -- A magnesium recycling plant's sprinkler system helped turn a small fire in a scrap bin into a toxic inferno that forced thousands of people from their homes, fire investigators said. Officials are trying to determine why the Advanced Magnesium Alloys Corp. plant had a working sprinkler system in the same area where the metal is stored. Water causes burning magnesium to flare up and explode.

U.S. military releases 81 prisoners in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military freed 81 prisoners held in Afghanistan on Sunday, and the country's most senior judge said the government was pressing for the release of hundreds more from American custody. The prisoner release ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, which begins Thursday, could help a reconciliation drive with former Taliban regime members sought by both President Hamid Karzai and the American military in hopes of defusing a stubborn insurgency hampering Afghanistan's recovery.

Man finds nail in skull six days after accident

LITTLETON, Colo. -- A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a four-inch nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier. A nail gun backfired on Lawler, 23, on Jan. 6 while working in Breckenridge, a ski resort town in the central Colorado mountains. The tool sent a nail into a piece of wood nearby, but Lawler didn't realize a second nail had shot through his mouth, said his sister, Lisa Metcalse. Following the accident, Lawler had what he thought was a minor toothache and blurry vision. On Wednesday, after painkillers and ice didn't ease the pain, he went to a dental office where the nail was discovered. The nail had plunged 1 1/2 inches into his brain, barely missing his right eye, Metcalse said.