Rape house razed

CLEVELAND: Demolition has begun on the US house where three women were held captive and raped for over a decade, and authorities want to make sure the rubble isn’t sold online as “murderabilia,” though no one died there. The house is being torn down as part of a deal that spared Ariel Castro a possible
death
sentence. He was sentenced last week to life in prison plus 1,000 years. One of the women, Michelle Knight, showed up early on Wednesday at the house to make a brief statement and release some balloons. A crowd of onlookers cheered as the demolition began.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports that the Cuyahoga Land Bank plans to complete the demolition in one day.

Iraq blasts kill six

BAGHDAD: Officials say bombings in north and central Iraq have killed six people, including three policemen. Police officials said the first attack occurred on Wednesday morning when a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing three policemen and wounding two others. Another bomb in Mosul missed a police convoy but killed one civilian passer-by and wounded two others. Later, a bomb attached to a car killed two people in Musayyib.

Egypt crisis persists 

CAIRO: Egypt’s presidency said on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff between the country’s military-backed interim leadership and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed. The statement from interim President Adly Mansour’s office follows a flurry of diplomatic visits over the past two weeks by envoys from the United States, the European Union and Arab Gulf states to defuse the crisis between the government and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Mursi, a Brotherhood member.