Czech Republic
Uranium smugglers arrested
Czech police arrested two Slovaks who tried to sell 3kg of radioactive material for more than US$700,000 to undercover officers working a sting operation, officials said on Saturday. The potential uses of the substance remained unclear pending an investigation, with experts differing on whether it could possibly be used in a dirty bomb. Initial tests on the material in four parcels detected traces of thorium and uranium, said Pavel Pittermann, a spokesman for the State Office for Nuclear Safety, which conducted the tests. The suspects were arrested on Friday in the Voronez hotel in the city of Brno, 200km southeast of Prague.
■ Colombia
Bars attacked with grenades
Suspected rebels threw grenades at two crowded bars in a popular Bogota nightclub district, injuring more than 40 people, authorities said. Police blamed Colombia's largest leftist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, for the attack, which took place about 11pm on Saturday in the upscale Zona Rosa district in northern Bogota. At least 42 people were injured, police said. One suspect was captured, Fernando Ramirez Cortez, the director of disaster prevention for Bogota, told reporters. The person was not identified. The two bars hit by the grenades -- Bogota Beer Company and Palos de Moguer -- are frequent gathering spots for foreigners. It was not immediately clear if any foreigners were among the injured.
■ United States
Alligator found in mail
A 1.2m alligator chewed its way out of a shipping carton before a postal worker tossed it into a hamper and called animal control officers. Employees were sorting mail on Friday when they noticed the alligator chewing its way out of an Express Mail box, said JoAnne Blackburn, a Postal Service spokeswoman. Workers tried to tape the box closed, but the alligator bit it open. A postal employee picked it up by its tail and threw it in a hamper. Alligators longer than 50.8cm are not allowed to be sent through the mail, and officials said the shipment from Milwaukee to Colorado was under review.
■ United States
Dice cast to choose mayor
With the roll of the dice and the flash of cameras, Mark Allen won a third term as mayor of the city of Washington Terrace, Utah. Allen and challenger Robert Garside tied in a Nov. 4 election with 724 votes each. Under Utah law, tie votes must be decided by drawing lots, which can mean anything from flipping a coin to drawing a name out of a hat. "We felt rolling dice was a more fair way to make a choice," city recorder Shari Peterson said. With quick flicks of their wrists, Allen rolled a 4 and a 1 on Friday for the top score, while Garside rolled a pair of 2's.
■ United States
Massive pillow fight staged
Knocking the stuffing out of each other may also set a record if Oregon State University students are recognized for what they hope was the largest pillow fight in history. Unofficially, 766 people showed up at the campus in Corvallis on Friday to take part in the jumbo pillow fight in hopes of topping the Guinness Book of Records mark set by 645 people who staged a mass pillow brawl in Kansas, last June. Five classmates in Communications 322 -- a class also known as Small-Group Problem Solving -- got an assignment a couple of weeks ago to "do a project with no parameters."
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