MOSCOW – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart clashed openly Thursday over the planned launch this summer of Iran’s first, Russian-built nuclear power plant, highlighting a split in views over how to steer Iran away from nuclear weapons.

Clinton did not criticize the long-delayed project directly but said the Obama administration is opposed to the timing of the nuclear plant’s startup. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the summer startup plans on Thursday, shortly after Clinton arrived for a two-day visit.

The nuclear plant is an example of Russian-Iranian economic ties and technical cooperation, on terms that have long made the United States uncomfortable. It was a background issue during a difficult period in U.S.-Russian relations last year and in the ongoing U.S.-led effort to bring new United Nations economic penalties against Iran over suspicions that part of its nuclear program is aimed at building a bomb.

Putin’s announcement adds another complication to the already long list of issues on which Clinton and her Russian hosts don’t agree. Clinton is seeing Putin on Friday.

At a news conference with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after talks on a wide range of issues, Clinton told reporters that Iran, while entitled to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, must reassure the world that it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon.

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YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar’s ruling military junta decided to release a naturalized American citizen from prison because of its friendship with the U.S. government, state media said Friday.

Nyi Nyi Aung, a pro-democracy activist originally from Myanmar, was freed Thursday, a month after a court sentenced him to three years in prison with hard labor.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the junta, said the government pardoned and deported Nyi Nyi Aung after giving “special consideration to bilateral friendship in accordance with the request made by the U.S. State Department” to free him.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed the release and said, “We welcome that development.”

Ties between the two countries actually are strained and tense. In the past, Myanmar’s state media have referred to the U.S. as a “loudmouthed bully.”

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SAN FRANCISCO – Patients, growers and clinics in some of the 14 states that allow medical marijuana are falling victim to robberies, home invasions, shootings and even murders at the hands of pot thieves.

There have been dozens of cases in recent months alone. The issue received more attention this week after a prominent medical marijuana activist in a Seattle suburb nearly killed a robber in a shootout — the eighth time thieves had targeted his pot-growing operation.

Critics say the heists and holdups prove that marijuana and crime are inseparable, though marijuana advocates contend that further legalization is the answer. News of crimes related to medical marijuana comes at an awkward time for California and Washington advocates who are pushing to pass ballot measures to allow all adults, not just the chronically ill, to possess the drug.

“Whenever you are dealing with drugs and money, there is going to be crime. If people think otherwise, they are very naive,” said Scott Kirkland, the police chief in El Cerrito, Calif., and a vocal critic of his state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law.

“People think if we decriminalize it, the Mexican cartels and Asian gangs are going to walk away. That’s not the world I live in,” Kirkland said.

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