Furious rail commuters in Argentina set fire to a train yesterday in anger over delays during the morning rush hour.

TV images showed black smoke and flames engulfing the train at the station of Merlo, in the western suburbs of the capital, Buenos Aires. At nearby Castelar, passengers hurled stones at the ticket office and blocked the rails.

"We understand that people get angry when the service is delayed or cancelled, but they absolutely can't attack a public service in this way," Gustavo Gago, a spokesman for rail company TBA, told local TV.

Many passengers said the delays, caused by a broken down train, had cost them a day's work.

Argentina's dilapidated rail services are plagued by delays and travellers' anger sometimes erupts into violence.

Last year, commuters torched a carriage at a station south of the capital.

Drug gang fed rivals to caymans

Rio de Janeiro police found two caymans in a raid on one of the city's slums, saying the crocodile-like reptiles were used by drug traffickers to intimidate their enemies and dispose of bodies.

Police were conducting a raid in the west of the Brazilian city looking for a drug gang boss when they came across the animals in the backyard of a house in the Coreia slum.

"The caymans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and give him to the caimans," Ronaldo Oliveira, head of the robbery and car theft unit, was quoted as saying.

TV footage showed police officers carefully placing the small reptiles in the back of a truck.

Robin Hoods raid stores

Greek anarchists stormed a supermarket yesterday and handed out food for free in the latest of a wave of raids provoked by soaring consumer prices.

About 20 unarmed people, mostly wearing black hoods, carried out the midday robbery in the northern city of Thesaaloniki, police said.

Local media have labelled the raiders Robin Hoods following previous raids.

They take only packets of pasta, rice and cartons of milk which they drop in the middle of the street for people to collect, a police official said.

"They have never stolen money or hurt anyone. They ask people to remain calm but use ambush tactics, jumping over cash desks," he said.

The rising cost of living has replaced unemployment as Greeks' main concern. Inflation is officially running at a 10-year high of 4.9 per cent although many items have risen in price more sharply.

Policewoman leaves gun in café

A British specialist armed police officer is facing investigation after leaving a loaded gun in a Starbucks caf‚ in central London, police said yesterday.

The unnamed officer, who the Sun newspaper said provided personal protection for Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair, forgot the weapon after she visited the coffee house last week.

"A police issue firearm was left unattended in a central London caf‚ on Friday evening and was found by a member of the public," a Metropolitan Police (MPS) spokesman said. Apart from specialist officers, such as those who respond to armed incidents or those who guard dignitaries, the vast majority of British police officers do not carry guns. The Sun said it was a female officer aged in her 30s whose job was to protect Mr Blair, the former British Prime Minister. The paper added the semi-automatic Glock 17 gun had been left in a toilet of the caf‚ after the officer took off her belt.

It said the officer had been relieved of her duties while the investigation was underway.

Elephant beats heroin habit

A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will return home after emerging clean from a three-year detox programme on China's tropical island province of Hainan.

The four-year-old bull elephant, referred to as Big Brother, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by traders who used spiked bananas to control him.

After police arrested the traders and freed Xiguang a few months later, the elephant was confirmed to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms and sent to a wild animal protection centre in Hainan for rehab, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

A year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage had helped wean the elephant off its addiction.