■ UNITED STATES
Big purse stops bullet
The contents in an oversized purse saved Elizabeth Pittenger, a 22-year-old Middle Tennessee State University student, by stopping a bullet during an attempted robbery, police said. Pittenger was walking to her car on campus in Murfreesboro Thursday when a man confronted her and demanded her purse, cellphone and laptop, university police said. She fought the man off, but he fired a gunshot before fleeing. The bullet was found inside the purse, along with a calculator, umbrella and small case that had been punctured. Pittenger was not injured.
■ CANADA
Boyden wins Giller Prize
Joseph Boyden, a New Orleans resident who was raised in Toronto, has won the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize for his book Through Black Spruce. “I’m am so deeply humbled to be counted among the writers here,” Boyden, 41, told a packed ballroom as he accepted the C$50,000 (US$41,000) award in Toronto on Tuesday. Boyden’s book is a portrait of contemporary Aboriginal life and family struggles that ensue after a beautiful young woman goes missing. Boyden, a Canadian with Irish, Scottish and Metis roots, writes exclusively about Canada and First Nations people.
■ BRAZIL
Defrocking didn’t stop priest
Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church says it won’t recognize more than 400 marriages performed over the past 20 years by a defrocked priest. The archdiocese of the city of Goiania says in a statement Osiel Luiz dos Santos was forbidden to perform priestly duties when he got married in 1988. But Tuesday’s statement says he kept on celebrating mass and administering the sacraments. Couples married by Santos must now seek a “legitimate priest” to renew their vows.
■ MEXICO
Killer tiger put down
A tiger that escaped from its zoo cage and killed its keeper was caught and put down on Tuesday after wandering free for more than 24 hours, officials said. Around 150 state security officials, as well as vets, tried to capture the cat after it escaped from its cage in Bio Parque Estrella outside Mexico City on Sunday. The tiger’s cage had been left unlocked. It broke out and killed its 26-year-old keeper.
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