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An angry crowd riots outside Australian hospital treating suspect in 5-year-old girl’s death

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An angry crowd rioted outside an Australian Outback hospital where a man accused of killing a 5-year-old girl was treated for a vigilante beating.

The suspect, Jefferson Lewis, allegedly abducted the girl at an Indigenous community near Alice Springs in the central Australia at the weekend. The body of the girl, who is now known as Kumanjayi Little Baby because of an Indigenous ban on naming the dead, was found on Thursday.

Lewis had been beaten unconscious by a mob before police arrested him at an Indigenous community later Thursday, police said.

He was taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where hundreds of people late Thursday demanded he face so-called payback under customary law, which can involve spearing or beating.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several police vehicles were damaged.

The hospital discharged Lewis to police, who flew him to the Northern Territory capital Darwin, 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) to the north, for his own safety to be detained.

He is expected to be charged Friday.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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