MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Ä Guns trained to the rear, U.S. Marines backed into the sea Thursday with the remnants of a multinational force that fed thousands of Somalis but failed to conquer chaos.
The Marines escorted the final U.N. forces from Mogadishu's shores, a quiet end to a two-year intervention that began with a televised invasion and ultimately cost $2 billion and the lives of more than 100 peacekeepers.
The last peacekeepers were hurried to off-shore battleships. The move of 1,500 American and 350 Italian marines from a small beach cove back to their ships was expected to take most of the night.
American Marines landed Monday to protect the evacuation of 2,400 Pakistani and Bangladeshi peacekeepers, the last in a multinational force that once totaled 38,000 troops from 21 countries.
The withdrawal was delayed several hours when a ferry chartered to pick up the Pakistanis was rammed by a tugboat, damaging its cargo doors. As the doors were being repaired, port officials found their only gangplank was missing, apparently looted.
''Just give us ropes and we'll climb aboard,'' one Pakistani officer said. A makeshift gangplank was jury-rigged from shipping containers, and the ship left after a three-hour delay.
CEDARVILLE, Ohio (AP) Ä Underwear? Over there.
Police have finally figured out what happened to all the underwear that has been disappearing since last spring from the laundry room at a Cedarville College dormitory and the town's only coin-operated laundry.
Acting on a tip, police searched the apartment of Daniel Richard Meeder and found 257 pairs of panties, three bras and three slips.
Meeder, a former Cedarville College student, pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor theft.
''He admitted right off the bat to stealing the underwear,'' Police Chief Keith Stigers said. Meeder told police he did it for ''kicks.''
Meeder, 25, was referred to the probation department for a presentence investigation. The maximum penalty is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Meeder didn't return messages left at his home.