Official: Suspects tried Gadhafi rescue

Official: Suspects tried Gadhafi rescue

MEXICO CITY

Prosecutors said Wednesday they broke up not one, but two Indiana Jones-style plots to “extract” the son of late dictator Moammar Gadhafi from Libya and bring him to Mexico as his father’s regime crumbled.

The plan to sneak out al-Saadi Gadhafi involved piles of stolen passports, white-knuckle flights with pilots who refused to land in war-torn Libya and luxury homes bought under false names in Mexico, according to Assistant Attorney General Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas.

He said it was led by a Canadian woman, a Danish man and two Mexican suspects who were charged this week with attempted immigrant trafficking, falsifying documents and organized crime.

Birth-control pills recalled after mix-up

INDIANAPOLIS

Birth-control pills are known to be nearly 100 percent effective when taken properly, but a recall of the drugs could send a shudder through women of childbearing age.

A manufacturing mix-up by Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug maker, led to some packets being distributed with the pills out of order. That means a patient could have unknowingly skipped a dose and raised her risk of an accidental pregnancy.

Pfizer has recalled about 1 million packets of Lo/Ovral-28 and its generic equivalent, but the company estimates that only about 30 packets were flawed. The pills were made and shipped last year.

Panetta: Troops out of Afghanistan by ’14

BRUSSELS

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta laid out the administration’s most explicit portrayal of the U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, saying Wednesday that U.S. and other international forces in Afghanistan expect to end their combat role in 2013 and continue a training and advisory role with Afghan forces through 2014.

Assange continues extradition fight

LONDON

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday launched a final attempt to persuade British officials not to force him to go to Sweden to face sex-crimes allegations.

A lawyer for the 40-year-old Australian told Britain’s highest court that age-old legal tradition would be compromised if it endorsed a European Arrest Warrant written up by Swedish prosecutors.

The Supreme Court hearing is the latest chapter in Assange’s months-long fight against allegations of molestation and rape lodged by two women he met during a trip to Sweden in 2010, just as his website was grabbing worldwide attention with its spectacular leaks of sensitive U.S. government documents.

Miss. high court takes pardons case

JACKSON, Miss.

The Mississippi Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up the legal challenge to the pardons ex-Gov. Haley Barbour gave out in his last days in office.

State Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, wants to invalidate dozens of the 198 pardons that Barbour, a Republican, handed out before his second four-year term ended Jan. 10. Ten of the people were still incarcerated when they received reprieves.

Associated Press