Around the world
FOILED: Egyptian security forces said Wednesday they foiled a plan by Muslim radicals to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak last weekend and take over the government. A Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report by an opposition newspaper that the attack was planned by Islamic Jihad, the group blamed for killing President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The weekly Al-Ahali, published by the leftist Tagamua Party, said the group planned to use two cars load- ed with 550 pounds of explosives to blow up Mubarak's motorcade as he traveled Saturday to open the new legislature building.CORSICA BOMBS: Three bomb explosions rocked cities around Corsica in the latest spurt of violence between rival independence groups on the French Mediterranean island. The bombs exploded Monday night or early Tuesday in Ajaccio to the south, Bastia to the north and Calvi on the northwestern coast. No one was injured and the blasts caused only minor damage.
BARBIES: Toy retailers in Kenya's capital Nairobi are doing a brisk trade in Christmas sales of a black, Maasai Kenyan Barbie Doll, the first in Africa. "We've sold at least 60 percent of our stock since we got it in Friday," Vinay Shah, sales manager of Nairobi Toys House, told Reuters Wednesday. "Sixty percent means 50 pieces over the past four days." The Malaysian-made Kenyan Barbie doll retails for 2,950 Kenyan shillings ($53), considered a small fortune among ordinary Kenyan shoppers. But retailers said sales were brisk among foreign tourists wanting a souvenir and Kenyans wanting an ornament for display.
Across the nation
TEETH SUIT: A champion show dog went to the vet's for a teeth cleaning - and had 14 teeth pulled instead, a breeder charges in a lawsuit. The extractions ruined the show career of the Shetland sheep- dog, Carmylie Prance in the Sun, and devalued the animal for breeding, Barbara Bussey of B&B Kennels in Pittsfield, Maine, says in the lawsuit. It asks for damages to be determined by the court.
SHOOTING: Three women were shot to death Wednesday in a St. Louis apartment and a man was critically injured in what police described as an apparent murder-attempted suicide. Neighbors at the Delor Park Apartments in south St. Louis said they heard arguing and then gunshots.