Honeymoon robbery and rape pair jailed
WELLINGTON Two men who kidnapped a Dutch honeymoon couple, robbing them at gunpoint and raping the woman, have been jailed. The judge said that the attack had horrified the community and harmed New Zealand’s reputation. Keith Anthony McEwen, 30, admitted rape, sexual assault, armed robbery and kidnap. He was jailed for ten years, with a detention order that could mean he is held indefinitely. Christopher Mana Manuel, 27, who admitted kidnapping and robbery, was jailed for nine years. ( AP)
Six die in avalanche
ZURICH An avalanche killed six Swiss soldiers as they were climbing the Jungfrau mountain in central Switzerland. The victims, all men, fell several hundred metres when fresh snow gave way at a height of 3,800 metres. Eight soldiers survived the incident unhurt. (Reuters)
Murderer executed
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SIOUX FALLS The first man to be executed in South Dakota for 60 years was given a lethal injection on Wednesday. Elijah Page, 25, had been sentenced to death for the torture and murder of Chester Allan Poage, 19, in 2000. Page had given up his appeals and asked to die. (AP)
Ghouls’ school
PATNA Parents of pupils at a makeshift school in a graveyard have demanded that classes be moved because their children are suffering from nightmares. “Ghosts haunt them and they are falling ill ,” said the father of one child at the school in the Indian state of Bihar . (Reuters)
Cardboard on menu
BEIJING A Chinese food factory has been closed by police after a state television report showed it making steamed buns from chopped cardboard, softened in an industrial chemical and mixed with 40 per cent fat pork and seasoning. They were sold in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. (AP)
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Potter breaks record
LOS ANGELES Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took $44.8 million (£22 million) on its first day in the US – the highest box-office takings for a Wednesday. The film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling, beat the previous best, of $40.4 million, set by Spider-Man 2. (Reuters)