KEY POINTS:
Tourists wowed by Sky TV's innovative outdoor ad: The Morses from Manhattan write, "After having driven around New Zealand for the past two weeks, we decided to spend our last few days here in Auckland. We went for a walk on Saturday morning to get our bearings and came across this just around the corner from our hotel. You can't really see it from our shot, but the balcony above and a nearby tree had clothes hanging off them too. It'll certainly stand out as one of the more 'unusual' sights we've seen on our holiday."
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Two Chinese officials have been jailed for letting a blind contractor build a bridge that collapsed during construction, injuring 12 workers. Xinhua News Agency says a court in the province of Jianxi sentenced Huang Wenge, a village chief in Xiushui county, to 18 months in jail, and local party leader Xia Jiazhong to 12 months. The agency said that last November the two hired for a bridge-building project a contractor, who then transferred the construction to another contractor, Xia Huaqing, who is blind. Xinhua said that when Xia Huaqing suggested changing the bridge's design, the two approved this without telling higher-level officials. The new design was being used when the bridge collapsed in March, hurting the 12.
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A date with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd will be auctioned on eBay for charity. One winning bidder will join Mr Howard at the PM's XI cricket match at Manuka Oval in November and a reception for both teams at his Canberra residence the night before. The highest bidder for Mr Rudd, meanwhile, will be invited to bring six friends to dinner with the Labor leader and another "surprise" frontbencher in Parliament House. Bids start at A$2999 ($3366).
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Emily Droy and Bryan Magee returned from holiday to their home in Streatham, England, to find their Mitsubishi Colt gone. They contacted the police and were told thieves had broken into the car by smashing out the rear window. After that, local officials had towed the car and wanted £390 ($1020) before they'd give it back. The couple went to the impound lot to pay the fee, only to find that their car had been crushed earlier that day, just 12 days after it was towed.
