■ UNITED STATES
Smelly box causes stink
A foul-smelling package that led to the evacuation of a post office next to the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum contained two cans of spinach and a dirty diaper, authorities said. "No wonder it smelled," said Deborah Yackley, a spokeswoman for the US Postal Service. "I don't know why it was being mailed." A postal worker alerted police shortly before 11am on Thursday after spotting the smelly package sitting on a counter with no one around to claim it, authorities said. The package had no postage or address. District of Columbia police bomb technicians X-rayed the package and a hazardous materials team inspected it before determining that it contained nothing dangerous.
■ CANADA
No girlfriend for three years
A judge has ruled that a 24-year-old Peterborough, Ontario, man is not allowed to have a girlfriend for the next three years. The ruling came after Steven Cranley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to several charges stemming from an assault on a former girlfriend. Cranley, who has been diagnosed with a dependent personality disorder, attacked his girlfriend in an argument after their breakup. He tried to prevent her from phoning the police by cutting her phone cord and punched and kicked her. He finally stabbed himself with a butcher knife, puncturing his aorta. Doctors say Cranley has difficulty coping with rejection and runs a high risk to re-offend if he becomes involved in another intimate relationship.
■ UNITED STATES
Wife of Billy Graham dies
Ruth Graham, the wife of prominent evangelist Billy Graham, died on Thursday at her home in North Carolina, her husband said. She was 87. She had slipped into a coma after months of illness, and when she died she was surrounded by her husband and their five children. "Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Graham, 88, said in a statement. "I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in heaven," he said.
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