Around the world
SUDAN: Stepping up its feud with Egypt, Sudan staged army exercises today, and an Islamic group called for a general mobilization to face possible Egyptian aggression. The exercises, attended by Sudanese leader Lt. Gen. Omar el-Bashir and broadcast on state radio, were the latest response to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's charges that Sudan was behind the attempt on his life Monday. Mubarak has also threatened unspecified retaliation against Sudan for a clash on the disputed Egypt-Sudan border Tuesday.DISPUTE: A historic deal to give hungry North Koreans free rice from rival South Korea is being threatened by a dispute over which country's flag must fly on the cargo ship. South Korea today demanded an apology from North Korea for replacing the South Korean flag with its own on a ship carrying the rice.
QUAKE: An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook the Baja California region on Mexico's Pacific coast early Friday but caused no loss of life and little damage, officials said. The quake struck at 6:59 a.m. MDT with an epicenter 15 miles north of La Paz.
Across the nation
DOG DRIVER: Coach didn't get a ticket when he rear-ended another car in St. Joseph, Mo. - maybe because he has some pull with a local police officer. Coach, in fact, belongs to officer Charles Parsons. Parsons left the black Labrador in his Bronco, which was parked in the police department parking lot, while he went in to get his paycheck. Parsons turned the engine off, but with dogged determination, Coach managed to knock the vehicle out of park. The Bronco rolled forward and hit a car owned by another police officer.
FRY FUSS: A man who claimed a McDonald's in Erie, Pa., shortchanged him on two extra-large orders of french fries will be eating jail food for a while. Dennis Briggs claimed his two Super Size cartons of french fries ($1.45 each) had fewer fries than the ones pictured in a McDonald's advertisement. Restaurant manager Fred Johnson said he tried to stuff more fries in Briggs' cartons, then offered him a refund. That was too little, too late for Briggs, who refused to move his car from the drive-through window for 10 minutes during the dinnertime rush. Briggs was sentenced Wednesday to three to 90 days in jail for disorderly conduct.
SNATCHER: Several men chased down a suspected purse snatcher in Topeka, Kan., then choked and beat him until he had no pulse. The man, whose name was not known, was in critical condition this morning. Police were investigating whether excessive force was used to subdue him. Witnesses said the suspect knocked a woman down and grabbed her purse Thursday in a grocery store parking lot, Sgt. John Sidwell said. The suspect struck the first man who grabbed him, then ran up a hill before he was caught by store employees and at least one other man, Sidwell said.
SENTENCED: The former mayor of Quartzsite, Ariz., was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole until he is 96 years old, for plotting to kill a political rival. Rex Byrd, 71, resigned from office after he was convicted May 4 of conspiracy to commit murder. Superior Court Judge Bob Moon denied Byrd's request for a new trial Thursday before he handed down the sentence.