The green thumbs who keep lawns lush and flora flourishing in the city have found a new foe among the aphids, white flies and other yard pests - the water police. Just as some scofflaws keep an eye out for black-and-white patrol cars, gardeners have learned to spot the white Toyota Priuses driven by Los Angeles water cops out to fight waste as California struggles with an extended drought.

"They get to scattering when they see us," said Department of Water and Power officer Alonzo Ballengar. "I don't know what they call me, but I'm sure they have names."

A total of 15 officers now prowl neighborhoods and respond to thousands of tips in their search for those who use sprinklers between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., clean driveways with water instead of a broom or otherwise waste the precious commodity.

A funeral home might be a place for eternal rest, but police say an Arkansas man saw an opportunity to build a methamphetamine lab undisturbed by the living. There was just one problem: the funeral home was across the street from the sheriff's office.

Officers said Robert Lee Lewis, 43, left the light on in the basement of the Higginbotham Funeral Home in Walnut Ridge on Dec. 3. Officers noticed the light on after hours and walked into the funeral home through an open door.

Warning: This story contains plot spoilers

US President-elect Barack Obama is to appear on the cover of a special edition of a Spider-Man comic.

A six-page story, with the superhero saving the day when an imposter tries to take Mr Obama's place as president, will hit shelves next Wednesday.

Incoming administration will abandon Bush's isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush's ­doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush ­presidency's ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 ­Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three ­people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive. A tested course would be to start ­contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services, similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.

You've heard of a mob mentality. Well, I've just seen it in action.

Wednesday night's riot in Oakland developed quickly like a spark into a wildfire, and I was right in the middle of it.

It started with a peaceful demonstration at the Fruitvale BART station. Hundreds of demonstrators carried signs, shouted into megaphones and voiced their opinions.