■ UNITED STATES
Truckers end police chase
Three commercial truck drivers put on the brakes to help police stop a man who led authorities on a high-speed chase for more than 80km near Biggs, Oregon. The truckers pulled up alongside each other and slowed to about 8kph, forming a rolling roadblock. The fleeing driver stopped and fled on foot but was quickly captured by officers, authorities said. Trucker Edwin Beach said he had heard police radio messages and said, "OK, where's the high-speed chase at?" He coordinated with two other drivers over his radio and placed his truck in the middle on Interstate 84. "We were all kind of laughing because he was running down the freeway," said Beach. The fleeing car was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run.
■ UNITED STATES
Texas schedules executions
Texas plans to execute five convicted killers this month, with the first scheduled for today in the busiest capital punishment state in the country. The lethal injection of 30-year-old Tony Roach will bring the number of executions in Texas this year to 24, equaling the total for all of last year. One man set to die last week, Kenneth Foster, received a commutation from Governor Rick Perry after supporters and death penalty opponents waged an intense campaign pointing out Foster was not the gunman in the fatal shooting case that resulted in his death sentence. The unusual commutation sent Foster to a life prison term.
■ UNITED STATES
Castlemaker raises ruckus
The man who currently holds the world's record for the tallest sand castle is pouring cold water on an attempt in South Carolina to dethrone him. Ed Jarrett, from Casco, Maine, said the 13m castle built in June in Myrtle Beach failed to follow Guinness World Records guidelines that ban using machinery and require the structure to be taller than it is wide. "Myrtle Beach doesn't meet the criteria," Jarrett said. "You can't just pile up a bunch of sand, build a small castle on top of that pile, and call it a record." He said his nearly 10m tall castle, completed last weekend in Maine, should be the new record holder.
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