Aden

WASHINGTON -- As thousands of U.S. troops pour int Somalia, they are confronting a nation in the grip of anarchy caused, in part, by the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for dominance in the Horn of Africa, political analysts say.Superpower rivalry for strategic footholds near the oil-rich Persian Gulf and influence in Northeast Africa led to a massive infusion of arms -- mostly Soviet, but also American -- into Somalia during...

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of Somalis will die because of world respect for Somalia's supposed sovereignty. That sovereignty consists of warring clans practicing what would be called genocide, except that the people they are destroying are their own.Now that a clan warlord has given his permission to the United Nations, the U.S. has undertaken to fly 500 well-armed Pakistani soldiers to Somalia to protect U.N. food supplies, and cannot do it...

WHILE THE stock market rises and dips, here are some tips to help you cope:NEST EGG: If from age 25 to 65 you invest $50 a month and receive an annual 8 percent return -- 2 percentage points below stocks' historic annual returns -- at age 65 you can start taking out $1,650 every month until you reach age 100.GOOD PAYOUTS: "Buy-and-hold investors should stick to stocks that have solid histories of rising dividends. Dividend-rich stocks hold up much better during stock market declines and ease the sting of lower stock prices.

DO YOU LIKE to buy low-priced stocks? If so, here's good news: "Low priced stocks are winners," says Victor Niederhoffer, author of The Education of a Speculator. "Although a recent study found that stocks that fell below $10 were unlikely to rise significantly, a 10-year analysis with Value Line of 11,796 stocks showed that stocks priced below $5 a share but above $1 at each year-end had gained an average of 34 percent a year later." WALL STREET WATCH: "Many investors think the safest bet right now is to get out of tech stocks," says Tom Galvin, chief investment officer, Credit Suisse First Boston, "but I think it's time to buy. Top tech stocks now are Nokia Corp.

It was an unabashed attack on the high seas that delivered an extraordinary bounty - $100 million worth of crude oil. But the Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi Arabia-owned supertanker off the coast of Kenya over the weekend - and later seized two freighters in the Gulf of Aden and defied an Indian navy vessel sent to intercept them - have shown a brazenness that should chill commercial shipowners. Combating piracy at sea has become a matter of international urgency that will require a coordinated response on many fronts.

The family of a slain Columbia teen went to her murderer's sentencing trial in Howard County Circuit Court yesterday in search of closure, but was handed a two-month postponement instead."

NORFOLK, Va. - Its jagged and torn hull fully repaired, its decks polished and shimmering, the destroyer USS Cole is headed back overseas for the first time since it was attacked in Yemen. This morning, the Norfolk-based ship will head out for its first deployment since Oct. 12, 2000, when two suicide bombers drove an explosive-packed boat into the Cole as it refueled in Aden, Yemen. The attack left 17 crew members dead and 39 wounded. It nearly sank the ship and changed the Navy drastically.

MANY CAUTIONARY lessons should be taken from the just-concluded trial of Curtis Aden Jamison for the murder of Tara Allison Gladden. However, the many people who watched in abject horror as this trial unfolded in the news media, should not come away with the wrong lesson. The last thing the Jamison verdict should do is exacerbate prejudice.Jamison, who faces sentencing for the murder next month, is black. Miss Gladden was white. But those facts were insignificant compared to the other issues involved.

After a 17-month investigation, Howard County police charged a jailed 29-year-old Baltimore man yesterday with murdering 15-year-old Tara Allison Gladden of Columbia.Curtis Aden Jamison, in prison for having sex with two other young girls, was transported yesterday morning from the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown to police headquarters in Ellicott City and formally charged with Miss Gladden's strangulation death.After announcing the charges yesterday afternoon, police revealed that Jamison had been indicted for the crime in December -- a grand jury action that police and court officials kept secret for fear it would hamper the investigation.

A 28-year-old Baltimore man who police say is a suspect in the death of a 15-year-old Columbia girl was charged yesterday with new sex offenses against one of three girls with whom he is accused of having sexual relations in the past year.Curtis Aden Jamison was taken from the Howard County Detention Center in Jessup to police headquarters in Ellicott City and formally charged with second-degree rape, a second-degree sex offense and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.He has been held in the Detention Center for more than two weeks on charges involving the three girls.