Man Dodges Suicide Pact with Bride

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian man who struck a suicide pact with his new bride over their guilt for having pre-marital sex is being held by police after he backed out on his side of the bargain, judiciary officials said on Sunday.

The couple, who were not named, had been married for just two days when, "due to their guilty consciences for having illicit sexual relations, they decided to kill each other at the same time," the official said.

The man helped to hang his wife but then changed his mind about killing himself and handed himself in to police in the northeastern Khorasan province, the official told the ISNA student news agency.

Pre-marital sex is taboo in the Islamic state where some girls have to go through a virginity test before tying knot.

A Million Pennies Saved, Nothing Earned

(Reuters) - A California man who collected 1 million pennies for a bet is having a hard time cashing in on his $10,000 fortune. Ron England has amassed 3.6 tons of copper in his garage in the Los Angeles suburb of Granada Hills after making a bet with his brother 30 years ago that he could collect 1 million penniesBut neither the U.S. Mint, the U.S. Comptroller of Currency, coin collectors nor the local bank is interested in cashing in his stash -- at least without a charge;I've been working seriously for the past two weeks to get rid of these pennies," England, 60, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It's kind of frustrating. Nobody will take them without charging meWhat's worse. England is still waiting for his brother to honor his side of the bet -- a meal in Paris. "I don't remember making the wager. Am I still good for it? I'm not going to answer that question," Russ England told the Daily News.