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Passengers spend fearful night in plane

TRIPOLI, Libya - Two Sudanese men, armed with handguns and the threat of explosives, stormed the cockpit of the Boeing 737, taking control just minutes into the flight. Passengers said the hijackers remained calm but they still spent a night in fear.

Once on the ground at a remote Libyan airfield, the hijackers demanded maps and enough fuel to reach France. But after 22 hours, the standoff ended Wednesday with the 95 passengers and crew let go and the gunmen surrendering in a run-down VIP lounge with a plea for asylum.

Passengers and officials at the airport in southeastern Libya said the men identified themselves as members of a Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, which promptly denied any involvement.

Woman gets years for attempted infant theft

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A 20-year-old woman who kidnapped a pregnant teenager she met online in a foiled plot to steal her unborn baby has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Lauren Gash pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping, assault and felonious restraint in the July 2007 attack on Amanda Howard, then 18. Gash was sentenced Tuesday to eight years each on the first two counts and seven years on the third.

Howard, now Amanda Culley, was single and unemployed when two women she met on the Internet lured her from her home with promises that they would drive her to get baby clothes.

Culley got into the car with Gash and co-defendant Alisa D. Betts, but soon realized something was wrong, police have said.

The pair sprayed Culley with pepper spray and drove her to a motel room where Gash and Betts had set out scissors, a sheet of plastic and a multipurpose fishing tool, along with diapers, a blanket and a fake birth certificate.

Prosecutors say Betts got cold feet and called police.

Fossil of pregnant turtle makes debut

CALGARY - A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle was officially introduced to the public today, nine years after it was discovered,

The turtle fossil and a nest of fossilized eggs were found in the badlands of southeastern Alberta in 1999 but had to be prepared for viewing.

University of Calgary scientist Darla Zelenitsky said it's the first time the fossil of a pregnant turtle has been discovered anywhere.

She said the find will yield new ideas on the evolution of egg-laying and reproduction in turtles and tortoises.

The 40-centimetre long fossil closely resembles a turtle but Zelenitsky noted that it looks like it has been "run over by a semi.''

Man gives winning lottery ticket to church

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. - A New York pastor says one of his congregants donated a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million to his church.

Pastor Bertrand Crabbe of the True North Community Church in Port Jefferson said the donor donated the "Ba Da Bling" scratch-off ticket immediately after realizing he won.

Crabb said the donor said: "This was why God put the ticket in his hands."

Sources: The Canadian Press, The Associated Press