Nation briefs 11/22/02

Impact in Wellstone crash caused death of pilots Paul Wellstone died from the impact of the plane crash, not the fire that followed, a medical examiner said Thursday.

St. Louis County medical examiner Thomas Uncini said fire has not been ruled out in the deaths of the passengers, who included Wellstone, his wife and daughter and three campaign workers.

"I'm still trying to find out what role fire played in their deaths, and whether it was a cause of death or played a role in their deaths," Uncini said.

The determination took several weeks because the bodies were severely burned in the Oct. 25 crash, Uncini said. He filed the death certificates Monday.

The plane crashed into a wooded bog while making its final approach to Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in northeastern Minnesota, where Wellstone, 58, was headed to attend the funeral of a legislator's father. Everyone aboard the plane was killed.

Judge: Investors to get WorldCom documents

NEW YORK -- Investors suing the bankrupt WorldCom Inc. will be given key documents in the congressional and criminal probes of the $9 billion accounting scandal, a judge ruled Thursday.

Federal Judge Denise Cote found the investors, who have filed about 40 lawsuits against the telecommunications giant, must have access to the papers to settle their claims while the company still has some value.

Lawyers for the company had argued that the plaintiffs were too vague in their request for documents.

The ruling allows the lead counsel in the case to review documents that WorldCom has given to Congress, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and those collected by the company's internal investigators.

N.J. mother charged in smothering deaths

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. -- A woman smothered her two young daughters with a pillow, then called 911 to report them dead, police said.

Olga Lorena Valdez, 28, was charged with murder in the deaths of Loiana, 5, and Larilis, 1.

Officers found both girls lying on a bed, unresponsive, when they arrived at the home early Wednesday. The children were pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later.

Authorities said they believe the children were killed just before their mother called police.

The girls' father, Edward Valdez, was also questioned but not charged.

Valdez was arraigned Wednesday and was being held on $500 bond.

Barbie gets trendier to fight competition

NEW YORK -- Forget pink ballgowns and feather boas. This Barbie's got attitude.

A new kind of Barbie doll has hit the stores, one with platform shoes, low-rise jeans, heavier makeup and an exposed navel. Called My Scene Barbie, the doll is Mattel's attempt to stop girls from growing out of Barbie too fast and too soon -- and from defecting to Bratz, a line of funky, sultry-eyed dolls that have become must-haves for the 8-to-12 age group since their launch more than a year ago.

"I'm not into Barbies," said Alex Stallings, 7, of Baltimore, who has five Bratz dolls. "Bratz are cool. I am into fashion."

Bratz's five-character multi-ethnic assortment has supplanted Barbie as the nation's No. 1 best-selling fashion doll for six months in a row, according to NPD Inc.

Mattel said the new Barbie is an attempt to capitalize on the lucrative business for the age group known as tweens.-- From wire reports