Los Angeles: Los Angeles schools mull banning soda pop sales

Dr. Pepper is about to get expelled from public schools in Los Angeles. So, too, are Coke, Pepsi and Mr. PiBB.

In an effort to promote better health, the Los Angeles district’s board is expected on Tuesday to ban soft drink sales during school hours at all of its 677 schools.

Some principals worry about replacing thousands of dollars they receive each year from soft drink sales. That money helps fund field trips and extracurricular activities.

“You can only sell so many candy bars and have so many magazine drives,” said Alex Contreras, a middle school vice principal. “Honestly, some of those programs will be hurt very badly, and I don’t know what alternative we will have.”

Berlin: German investigators say Atta trained in Afghanistan

German investigators said Saturday they believed Mohamed Atta and two other Sept. 11 hijackers trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000.

The revelation was their most detailed evidence yet of a link between the Hamburg terror cell and Osama bin Laden’s network.

Atta, the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, was in Afghan training camps about the same time as four other Arabs from Hamburg, said Federal Criminal Office spokesman Norbert Unger.

Two of the men, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi, are suspected of piloting planes hijacked in the Sept. 11 suicide attacks. Two others are being sought on German warrants charging them with complicity.

Baghdad: Iraq to lobby leaders with anti-U.S. message

Iraq will be sending envoys abroad with a message that U.S. military intervention to overthrow President Saddam Hussein is doomed to fail, the country’s vice president said in remarks published Saturday.

The comments by Taha Yassin Ramadan to the Iraqi weekly al-Ittihad come as the U.S. administration is considering whether, how and when to undertake a war to topple Saddam, accused of developing weapons of mass destruction and blocking the return of U.N. weapons inspectors.

America’s allies in Europe and in the Middle East have shown little interest in backing military action against Iraq.

Ramadan told al-Ittihad that presidential envoys will soon be visiting Arab, Asian and African capitals.

Texas: Newspaper strikes first against major league baseball

In protest of a possible baseball strike, a small Texas newspaper won’t be running coverage of the major leagues at least until Friday’s strike deadline.

Managers of The Huntsville Item polled readers before deciding to drop America’s pastime from its pages. Of 100 people who responded, 82 said they supported a boycott and 18 said baseball coverage should continue, the paper said.

The self-imposed strike would be lifted if an agreement between owners and players is reached before Friday.