Union Pacific Corp. wants a federal judge to set aside nearly US$38 million in proposed drug penalties a U.S. agency has assessed against the railroad since 2002.

A 2-year-old El Mirage girl has been placed in state custody after authorities say she ate marijuana and lived in filthy conditions.

A defendant in a drug-related slaying in Ludington has been convicted of first-degree murder.

Afghan and NATO troops targeted a group of Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, killing 17 militants and wounding six others, the Defense Ministry said Monday.

Four police were killed separately in a militant ambush in central Ghazni province, a provincial official said.

The joint force clashed Sunday with militants in the Marjah district of Helmand province, the ministry said in a statement. The troops seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants and 132 pounds (60 kilograms) of drugs after the clash, it said.

A Nebraska judge has ruled that a prison secretary should not have lost his job for smoking pot when not at work.

Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson says burning poppy crops in southern Afghanistan is not the way to stem the tide of opium and heroin coming out of the war-ravaged region.