Saddam's yacht

For sale

Saddam's yacht

Iraq says it will sell Saddam Hussein's luxury yacht after winning a legal dispute over its ownership. The former dictator's 269-foot superyacht is fitted with swimming pools, salons, a secret passage and a rocket-launching system. French authorities seized the boat Jan. 31 after it docked in Nice on the Mediterranean coast. The yacht remained there while courts settled a row over the ship's ownership.

Bite size

100-calorie Twinkies

Hostess Twinkies are becoming the latest product remade and repackaged into 100-calorie snack packs. The maker of the golden yellow, cream-filled cake is launching "Twinkie Bites" nationwide in stores today. It's also introducing a snack pack featuring strawberry cupcakes as it extends the 100-calorie pack line originally aimed at women who wanted to snack more sensibly.

Box office

"High School Musical"

Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" hauled in $15 million to remain the top movie for the second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, raising its 10-day total to $61.8 million. Debuting at No. 2 with $10.7 million was the Weinstein comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

Passages

Yma Sumac, 86, the Peruvian-born singer whose spectacular multi-octave vocal range and exotic persona made her an international sensation in the 1950s, died Saturday in Los Angeles.

Robert Barrow, 86, a retired four-star general who was a former commandant of the Marine Corps and was decorated for heroism and recognized for reforms, died Oct. 30 at his home in St. Francisville, La.

William Stall, 71, a longtime staff member of the Los Angeles Times who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2004, died Sunday at his home in Sacramento, Calif.

John Ripley, 69, a retired Mairine colonel who was credited with stopping a column of North Vietnamese tanks by blowing up a pair of bridges during the 1972 Easter Offensive of the Vietnam War, died Saturday at his home in Annapolis, Md.

Shakir Stewart, 34, the executive who succeeded Jay-Z as the head of hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings, died Saturday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home near Atlanta.

Today in History

1903: Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.

1957: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second man-made satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named Laika who was sacrificed in the experiment.

1979: Five radicals were killed when gunfire erupted during an anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Greensboro, N.C.

1986: The Iran-contra affair began to come to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.

1998: Minnesotans elected former pro wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura to be their governor.

Today's Birthdays

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, 75. Actor-dancer Ken Berry, 75. Actor Shadoe Stevens, 62. Singer Lulu, 60. Comedian-actress Roseanne Barr, 56. Actress Kate Capshaw, 55. Comedian Dennis Miller, 55. Singer Adam Ant, 54.

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