WORLD BRIEFS

BRITAIN: 4 guilty in plot on stock exchange

Four Britons pleaded guilty Wednesday to planning a bomb attack on the London Stock Exchange as part of an al-Qaida-inspired plot to cause fear and wreak economic havoc. The men admitted in a London courtroom to hatching the plan, though they had not gotten as far as buying explosives. The plotters took their inspiration from Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric killed in Yemen last year in a U.S. drone strike. The four were among nine people charged with terrorist offenses following a major police sweep in December 2010 across Britain. Bombing the stock exchange formed part of what authorities allege was to be a larger terrorist plot at Christmas 2010 that included possible attacks on Big Ben, the London Eye (the Ferris wheel on the banks of the Thames), Westminster Abbey and various pubs.

RUSSIA: Might face a runoff, Putin admits

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday he might not win in a March presidential election in the first round. Putin, facing the biggest opposition protests of his 12-year rule, remains the strongest candidate, but polls suggest he could fall short of 50 percent of the votes and face a runoff, which would be an embarrassing blow. Survey results released Jan. 25 by independent polling agency Levada showed 37 percent would vote for Putin, 17 percent were undecided and another 9 percent uncertain whether they would vote. A runoff would be likely to pit Putin, 59, against veteran party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who came second in the Levada poll with 8 percent. Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, owner of the New Jersey Nets, was backed by 4 percent in the poll. A runoff, he said, would be "a blessing for the country. It means that political competition and a democratic system would be born."

MEXICO: U.S. missionary couple slain in home

A missionary couple from Texas were slain in their home outside the violence-plagued northern city of Monterey, the U.S. Embassy and their family said Wednesday. John and Wanda Casias were found dead by a son Tuesday in their home in Santiago, Nuevo León. Valerie Alirez, in Greeley, Colo., said her father and stepmother moved to Mexico in 1979. John Casias was a Baptist preacher and the couple ran the First Fundamentalist Independent Baptist Church in Santiago, she said.