July 8

JK Rowling sets off on a promotional tour

England have

The latest story about boy wizard Harry Potter has broken all publishing records.

The fourth instalment of JK Rowling's series has been released simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic with an initial print-run of 5.3m - 1.5m in the UK and 3.8m in the US.

In Britain the usual run for children's books is 20,000.

The content of the new story has been closely guarded - no review copies were issued - but the author revealed someone close to Harry dies.

Many bookshops opened specially in the middle of the night and laid on wizard-related entertainments so that fans could buy Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as soon as it was released for sale at midnight.

Others waited for the 640-page book to arrive through the letterbox after ordering online.

Internet bookseller Amazon sold 400,000 copies worldwide and expected to deliver 53 tonnes of the book to British readers.

Staff in the distribution centre in Milton Keynes worked overnight to ensure all orders went out yesterday.

Priced ?.99 for paperback and ?4.99 for hardback the book is being widely distributed across the UK - including to roadside restaurants - but booksellers still think it will sell out.

The first three books - beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1997 - have sold 35m copies in 31 languages.

Last year the Edinburgh-based author, a single mother, earned ?4.5m in royalties, advances and film rights.

JK Rowling left King's Cross Station at 1127 BST today on a specially created Hogwart's Express - the fictional train to wizard school - on a promotional tour to Scotland.

Her previous story, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was shortlisted for the Library Association's Carnegie Medal - the top award for children's writing - but the prize went to Aidan Chambers and Postcards From No Man's Land at the ceremony last night.

Nursery nurse Lisa Potts in hospital after the attack

They were enjoying a teddy bears' picnic at St Luke's Church of England school in the Blackenhall area.

Emergency services received reports of the attack at about 1515 BST andparamedicsarrived on the scene within seconds.

Police are looking for a black man with a beard, in his mid-30s, 5ft 9in (1.75m) tall and of slim build. They have named a man they would like to question.

The victims were taken by West Midlands Ambulance Service to New Cross Hospital where they are being treated for stab wounds.

Their conditions are not life threatening but some have serious head injuries.

In just a couple of minutes the knifeman had attacked a parent barring his entrance into the school and launched a frenzied assault on the nursery group in the garden.

Wolverhampton education chairman Bob Jones has praised the bravery of parents and staff for preventing any loss of life.

Balbinder Bains, a 29-year-old courier, was one of many parents waiting to collect his child: "I could see him hanging around the bushes. I thought he was a litter collector.

"The guy jumped over a two foot fence into the kindergarten play area and just started hacking anybody and everybody. He was completely out of control."

Mr Bains and another man chased the attacker to Villiers House flats where he disappeared.

The injured children have been named as Ahmed Pervaz (3), Francesca Quintyne (4) and Rhena Chopra (4). The adults were Rhena's mother Surinder Kaur (29), Wendy Wellington (29), Azar Rasiq (29) and nursery nurse Lisa Potts (21).

Coming just four months after the massacre of 16 pupils and one teacher at Dunblane, this incident again highlights the issue of security in and around schools.

paramedics :護理人員