Clan

Brotherhood is not The Sopranos. Nothing is. Nevertheless, comparisons between the new Showtime series and the HBO classic are as inevitable as they are unfair. Brotherhood 10 p.m. Sundays on Showtime (encores include 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays).

On his 21st birthday, Tanner Nickerson received a birthday card and a gun. He had graduated from the Maryland State Police academy in September, more than two weeks before he could legally make an arrest. The newly minted trooper bided his time at the Centreville Barracks wearing street clothes until Oct. 11, the day he became old enough to put on the olive-colored uniform and Stetson hat, and arm himself with a .40- caliber Beretta. Tanner Nickerson has a unique reason to be eager.

PARIS -- The brief mutiny by Iraqi army units against President Saddam Hussein that was reported to have occurred last week, while insignificant in military terms, seems to reflect tribal fault lines among Sunni Muslims, the core of political support for the Iraqi government since the Persian Gulf war.Iraqi opposition figures in Europe and Arab diplomats say that the rebellion Wednesday was led by the very Sunni clansmen who fought for President Hussein four...

It would be easy to say that Wu-Tang Clan has peaked — that its best period is behind it. It's not just that Ol' Dirty Bastard died in 2004, or that members have dabbled with solo projects over the years to varying degrees of success. The group has now been together for nearly 20 years, making it positively prehistoric in hip-hop. Against the members' better wishes, they've become elder statesmen. But despite not having released an album in three years, the group's new tour makes a defiant claim on relevance.

Tonight's big cable matchup: Hannah vs. Hannah. HBO has Daryl Hannah in a brand-new tongue-in-cheek remake of "Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman," while Lifetime has her in a smaller role (in terms of overall size, that is) in 1986's "The Clan of the Cave Bear." As usually is the case in these types of bouts, the larger combatant has a distinct advantage.* "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 p.m.-1 a.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Sally Field is guest host, so we can see whether her stand-up skills have improved all these years after filming "Punchline" with Tom Hanks.

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Mogadishu's other warlord, enraged that America has abandoned the fight against his archenemy, is warning of renewed clan warfare in Somalia after U.S. troops leave."

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- When his younger sister was killed by a mortar shell and the family's house was destroyed, Omar Sabrie Abdulle faced the most agonizing moment he has known in the Somali civil war.He tried, but failed, to dissuade his vengeful brother from joining the ragtag group of gun-toting teen-agers that passed for a unit in the family's clan army.Soon the brother was dead too, killed in a skirmish. Last month, another sister was killed, hit in the head by a stray bullet as she sat in the garden.

QALANDIYA, West Bank - It began as an argument between two Palestinians over a broken car mirror. They were jostling for position in traffic backed up at an Israeli checkpoint. Their argument escalated into a stabbing, and Jabril Eid died on the dusty road. His family avenged his death by looting shops in nearby Ramallah and beating friends of Hanna Abdullah, a local butcher they accused of the stabbing. So, two families were incensed: the family of the victim and the family of the suspect.

KABUL, Afghanistan - We climbed the stairs to a second-story restaurant overlooking Chicken Street, Kabul's central tourist bazaar. While diplomats and machine gun-toting peacekeepers shopped for carpets below, we scooped up qabuli - a dish of rice with raisins, shredded carrots and lamb - with our fingers, Afghan style, and sipped green tea. Habib and I knew each other pretty well. But for the first time, talk turned to the sometimes dangerous topic of politics. "Americans always tell the truth about their political views, but not always about their personal lives," I said.

U.S. MARINES went ashore in Somalia in 1992 to set up Operation Restore Hope, with a secret asset -- reservist Sgt. Hussein Aidid of Los Angeles, 30, who had lived in the U.S. since age 14, as interpreter and guide. That he was the third son of Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid, militia chief of the Habr-Gedir sub-clan of the Hawiye clan and boss of south Mogadishu, did not hurt.After the United Nations declared General Aidid the problem and ordered his arrest, Sergeant Aidid was packed home. The U.S. went after the warlord, who killed Americans, humiliated the superpower and turned American public opinion against the operation, mission creep and ever sending American troops on ill-defined missions without exit route or date.

This year's Rock the Bells tour arrives at Merriweather with a twist. In addition to the show's usual multigenerational mix of hip-hop, this year's headlining acts are performing their most acclaimed albums in their entirety. It's a concept more familiar to fans of rock and roll, but, hey, hip-hop has its classics too. Here are three must-own rap records — all released in November of 1993 — you'll hear Sunday. "Doggystyle" He was Snoop Doggy Dogg when this, his solo debut, was released and further defined the West Coast G-funk style.

THEATER The Stoop Holiday Hoopla: The Stoop Storytelling Series gets supersized this week with a bigger venue and broader show. While this holiday jamboree will be less intimate than previous Stoops, the upside is that you can actually get a ticket. Previous shows quickly sold out. Speakers include Ace of Cakes' Mary Alice Yeskey (above) and Mayor Sheila Dixon. The hoopla starts at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Meyerhoff. For more: stoopstorytelling.com CONCERT Ra Ra Riot: This is great time to catch these "under-the-radar" rockers.

Rams Head Live will host a performance by the Wu-Tang Clan on Wednesday. The notorious New York hip-hop group, which had been on a six-year hiatus, is on tour to promote its new album, The 8 Diagrams. Doors open at 7 p.m. The group performs at 9 p.m. Rams Head Live is at 20 Market Place. Tickets are $49.50. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com.

Just announced SOUND CHECK Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds -- Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis on Dec. 15. 410-268-4545 or ramsheadtavern.com. Wu-Tang Clan -- Rams Head Live on Jan. 9. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive.com. Rasputina -- 9:30 Club in Washington on Dec. 9. 800-955-5566 or tickets.com. Chemlab -- Sonar on Dec. 13. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Matchbox Twenty -- George Mason University's Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., on Feb. 8. Also, Avril Lavigne is there on April 15. 410-547-7328 or ticket master.

WASHINGTON -- Under cover of the Ethiopian move into Somalia, U.S. officials launched an intensive effort to capture or kill three key suspects in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa more than eight years ago that killed 224 people, including 12 American diplomats. An Air Force Special Operations gunship struck a place in southern Somalia where the suspects were believed to be hiding, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday. U.S. military and counterterrorism officials said they did not know whether any of the men had been killed.

Music GZA at Sonar Former Wu-Tang Clan member GZA takes the stage tonight at Sonar. Doors open at 8 p.m. for the free concert. Sonar is at 407 E. Saratoga St. To register, visit scion.com/livemetro. Call 410-327- 8333 or go to sonarbaltimo re.com.

Hang around Ripken Stadium this week and you're bound to bump into Cal Ripken - as well as his mother and three siblings. The whole clan is taking part in the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen. The Iron Man and his brother, Bill, are there, having organized the event. Cal's sister, Elly, slips into the stands when time allows. The accounting manager for the Aberdeen IronBirds, she works at the ballpark. Fred Ripken, their older brother, serves as a tournament host, having opened his home in Havre de Grace to two youngsters from Missouri who are competing in the Babe Ruth League-affiliated 12-and-under event.

BEIT JALA, West Bank - Palestinians here and in neighboring Bethlehem marched through the streets yesterday, protesting the death of Mohammed Abayat and threatening to destroy the calm that descended here after the Israeli military withdrew in August. Abayat, who belongs to a prominent Palestinian militant clan, had dropped his mother off at a hospital and walked outside to make a phone call Sunday night. He picked up the blue phone, only to have it explode the moment he put it to his ear. Doctors from Beit Jala Government Hospital rushed out the front door, but there was nothing they could do for him. Convinced the Israelis had assassinated Abayat, 25 - and had mistaken him for a higher-ranking militant in the same family - Palestinians marched through the streets in rage.

Brotherhood is not The Sopranos. Nothing is. Nevertheless, comparisons between the new Showtime series and the HBO classic are as inevitable as they are unfair. Brotherhood 10 p.m. Sundays on Showtime (encores include 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays).

Capsules are by critics Michael Sragow and Chris Kaltenbach, plus wire services. Full reviews at baltimoresun.com/movies. Brokeback Mountain, -- an overlong and way-too-polite tale of forbidden passion on the range, stars a terribly over-emphatic Heath Ledger as Ennis del Mar, the ranch-hand lover of small-time rodeo-man Jack Twist (the excellent Jake Gyllenhaal). Ennis and Jack start families with their respective wives (Michelle Williams as Alma and Anne Hathaway as Lureen), but reconnect after four years.