A DISTINGUISHED British historian claims he was knocked to the ground by an American policeman before being arrested and spending eight hours in a grim jail because he crossed the road in the wrong place.

Two teenage girls were facing life in prison today after being found guilty of the murder of a middle-aged man they accused of making an indecent proposal during a party.

King Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, elected by sultans under Malaysia’s unusual royal rotation system, died today after weeks of complications following heart surgery, prime minister Mahathir Mohamad announced.