Authorities in Somaliland have arrested a man for poisoning dozens of guests at a wedding.
Ambe Abdillahi Omer, 39, apparently poisoned sweets he handed out at his younger brother's wedding and put poison in water jugs and on eating utensils. A local spokesman said one of Omer's brothers and a sister had died. Mr Omer's mother and four other people were seriously ill in hospital.
The spokesman said, "It is a miracle that the bride and bridegroom are safe."
Ambe confessed to trying to kill as many people as possible and said he had no regrets. The motive behind the attack remained unclear.
'Ratatouille' boosts rats' image
Demand for rats as pets has surged thanks to the latest Disney /Pixar animated film Ratatouille featuring the adventures of a gourmet rat Remy demonstrating his culinary prowess in the top kitchens of Paris.
Britain's Pets at Home domestic pet chain says rat sales have surged 50 per cent since the film opened in Britain on October 12.
"It seems 'Ratatouille' has done wonders for the image of rats," said company spokesman Steve Fairburn. "Contrary to popular opinion, rats are actually one of the cleanest and least smelly pets you can own. They are incredibly responsive to learning and can be taught to do amazing tricks, much in the way that dogs and cats can."
Magic mushrooms protest
Protestors turned out on Amsterdam's central Dam Square on Saturday, hoping to stop the government from banning magic mushrooms.
People with hats resembling the bright red cap of the popular fly agaric variety, protested with banners to keep hallucinogenic mushrooms legal. After several incidents involving tourists - in March, a French teenager jumped to her death from a bridge after taking mushrooms - the Dutch government plans to ban them.
Arno Adelaars, author of a book on magic mushrooms, said what was needed was better information on how to use mushrooms. "It's only foreigners who have this problem," he said, "The typical young tourist that comes here drinks an awful lot of beer, smokes an awful lot of grass, and then takes mushrooms. That's the recipe for disaster."
Cuban dentistry woes
Visiting the dentist in Cuba is a still an unhappy prospect marked by a lack of dentists, technicians, materials and even reclining chairs, an official newspaper reported yesterday.
In Cuba's second internal criticism in as many weeks, a team of reporters from the Juventud Rebelde, or Rebel Youth, fanned out to 22 dental clinics in various provinces only to discover the problems were the norm.
"The majority of the 22 clinics lacked adequate professional and technical personnel, more than half had passed through crisis due to a lack of water, dentist chairs, materials to fill cavities, significant delays for dentures," the article stated.
Other problems included patients waiting for hours in offices with little air conditioning and few toilet facilities.
Rabin's assassin fathers a son
Yitzhak Rabin's assassin became a father yesterday when his wife gave birth to a son, almost 12 years to the day since Yigal Amir shot the Israeli prime minister at a peace rally.
Amir, 37, a Jew who opposed Rabin's peace efforts with the Palestinians, is serving a life sentence for murder. He was allowed to marry three years ago and has been permitted conjugal visits.
Amir's wife Larissa is a Russian immigrant who has four children from a previous marriage.
Many had campaigned to deny Yigal the right to father a child as prison authorities and liberal groups tried to prevent the marriage but rabbis upheld it under religious law after Amir's friends smuggled a wedding ring out of prison.
Speed limit on German motorways
Germany's speed limit-free motorways may fall victim to fears of global warming after the Social Democrats unexpectedly voted on Saturday in favour of introducing a top speed of 130 kph.
Studies showing Germany's CO2 output from cars could be cut sharply with a speed limit helped convince a majority of SPD delegates to ignore their leaders at a party congress. The autobahns were built without speed limits by the Nazis and, after World War II, Germany's influential car industry pressured lawmakers against introducing any national limit.
Nobel laureate Al Gore last week criticised Germany in a Berlin speech for not having motorway speed limits. However German President, Angela Merkel is firmly against a speed limit and the suggestion has no chance of becoming law.