On the market for six years, the luxurious eight-bedroom "Altona" in exclusive Point Piper was bought in a secret deal with the businessman who currently lives in Melbourne, the newspapers reported.

The property and its heated waterside pool and boathouse, rented by U2 rock star Bono in 2006 for a family holiday, was last sold in 2002 for A$28 million.

While Australian capital city home prices rose by only 1.3 percent in March, top end Sydney properties have attracted strong interest from Chinese buyers, and almost three in four international sales have gone to Asian buyers in recent years.

The Altona sale beat the previous Sydney property sale record of A$45 million, but fell short of the national record of A$57.5 million paid in 2009 by mining services magnate Chris Ellison for a sprawling riverfront home in Perth.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Alonso's six years at the district's helm make him one of the longest-serving big-city superintendents in the country.

Under Alonso's leadership, student enrollment and graduation rates increased as suspension and dropout rates dropped.

He said Monday that he is retiring to return home to New Jersey to care for his parents and to assume a professorship at Harvard University.

His last day will be June 30. Chief of Staff Tisha Edwards will serve as an interim CEO through the next school year while the School Board searches for a permanent successor.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society said it chose the women to receive its Citizen Honors Medal, the highest award it gives to a civilian, after receiving dozens of nominations for their actions during the shooting.

The educators' families received the awards on their behalf at the ceremony at Newtown High School. Janet Robinson, who was superintendent of Newtown schools at the time of the shooting, told the audience that the women were not trained for anything like what happened on Dec. 14 but they acted to protect the children.

"There are no people more worthy of this award," Robinson said, according to The News-Times of Danbury.

Two of the educators honored, principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach, are believed to have lunged, unarmed, at the gunman to try to stop him. Another, teacher Victoria Soto, reportedly hid children in a closet. Lauren Rousseau read to her students as a gunman invaded the school, doing her best to keep them calm. Rachel D'Avino and Anne Marie Murphy were said to have wrapped their arms around the children as chaos ensued.

The women exemplified courage, sacrifice and selflessness in trying to protect students from gunman Adam Lanza, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said in announcing the honor.

The organization also planned to honor every other member of the school's staff with a Certificate of Commendation.

"Many teachers and staff members disregarded their own safety that day to hide and protect the children in their care," said Harold Fritz, the society's president.

The society honored four other people with the award this year. They received their medals during an annual ceremony on March 25 at Arlington National Cemetery.

In February, President Barack Obama bestowed the nation's second-highest civilian honor, the Presidential Citizens Medal, on the families of the fallen educators.

The Reds shrugged off the absence of injured captain James Horwill and a disappointing draw to the lowly Western Force a week ago, notching up four tries and a bonus point six minutes before halftime at Lang Park.

Winger Rod Davies scored a brace of tries, with the Faingaa twins, hooker Saia and inside centre Anthony, scoring one each for the 2011 champion Reds.

The shell-shocked Sharks restored some pride with second-half tries for winger Piet Lindeque and replacement flanker Derick Minnie, but the Reds coasted home to give outgoing coach Ewen McKenzie his first win over the Durban-based South Africans.

The five-point victory also ensured the Reds kept the heat on the rival ACT Brumbies who lead the Australian conference in the southern hemisphere competition with seven rounds left before the playoffs.

"Very happy, we spoke all week a bit more about playing a bit more expansive rugby, a bit more creative rugby," scrumhalf and stand-in skipper Will Genia said in a pitchside interview.

"We weren't too disciplined in our structures in the second half... All credit to them for forcing their way back into the game."

Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper boosted his chances of selection in the Wallabies squad for the upcoming tour against the British and Irish Lions, booting three conversions and two penalty goals and having a hand in all of the Reds' tries.

The New Zealand-born pivot set up Saia Faingaa for the Reds' first try in the sixth minute and was the first link in a magical second to Davies 10 minutes later.

Starting behind the Reds try-line, Cooper ran the ball out of defence rather than booting it to safety, setting up a blistering run down the left wing by centre Chris Feauai-Sautia.

Feauai-Sautia gave the ball off to livewire winger Digby Ioane, who cut back inside and sent it to Genia.

Rather than risk passing the ball forward to Davies, who was streaming down the right wing, the pint-sized scrumhalf grubbed a kick along the ground that bounced up perfectly for the winger to gather and carry across the line.

Cooper then set up Anthony Faingaa for the Reds' third try five minutes later, dispatching a flat pass to put the inside centre over at the left corner.

The Reds had their fourth try and a bonus point six minutes before the break with Cooper dribbling a kick behind the Sharks' 22-metre line, and Davies enjoying the spoils of a ruthless clean-out by his team mates.

The bamboozled Sharks headed for the sheds trailing 29-3, but emerged a different side after halftime.

They had their first try within five minutes of the break when flyhalf Patrick Lambie fed Lindeque at the right corner.

Minnie gave the Sharks faint hope of snatching victory when he sneaked away from a line-out drive to cross for his team's second try, trimming the lead to 12 with 14 minutes left.

Cooper, however, calmly slotted home his second penalty kick to release the pressure in the 73rd minute, allowing his team to coast to a confidence-building win ahead of their tough road trip to South Africa.

The American Library Association (ALA) said Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series for children, that features characters like Professor Poopypants and Wedgie Woman, came top of its 2012 list of books that Americans asked to be removed from libraries because of content they considered inappropriate.

The "Captain Underpants" series of 10 books has appeared on the annual list three times since 2002, but has never previously reached the No.1 spot, the ALA said on Monday.

"Fifty Shades of Grey," the best-selling sadomasochistic tale of college students and a businessmen by British author E.L. James, debuted on the list in fourth place after the erotic trilogy sold 70 million copies around the world in the past two years.

The ALA said that its office for intellectual freedom received a total of 464 reports in 2012 on attempts to remove books from public and school libraries or school curricula. That was an increase from the 326 such attempts recorded in 2011.

The ALA defines such "challenges" as formal written complaints to a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed.

Other books making the list included "And Tango Makes Three," a children's tale about two male penguins who adopt an egg together, and Khaled Hosseini's Afghanistan-based best-seller "The Kite Runner."

The ALA's top 10 list of the most-challenged books of 2012 are:

1) "Captain Underpants," (series) by Dav Pilkey

2) "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," by Sherman Alexie

3) "Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher

4) "Fifty Shades of Grey," by E.L. James

5) "And Tango Makes Three," by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

6) "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini

7) "Looking for Alaska," by John Green

8) "Scary Stories" (series), by Alvin Schwartz

9) "The Glass Castle," by Jeanette Walls

10) "Beloved," by Toni Morrison

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.8 percent to 1,972.70 after the Bank of Korea lowered its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven months.

In announcing that it was lowering the rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.5 percent, the Bank of Korea became the latest central bank, following those in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan, to take steps to help their flagging economies.

"Overall sentiment continues to be dictated by central bank actions and hopes of more policy accommodation," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.7 percent to 14,381.99. Shares of Toyota Motor Corp., the world's top-selling auto maker, rose 1.5 percent a day after reporting that its quarterly profit more than doubled. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines rose.

But Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2 percent to 23,203.56 after the Chinese government issued a report showing that inflation rose slightly in April, which could temper any stimulus response by Beijing to China's shaky economic recovery.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 15,000 for a second day, yet another record finish. The Dow climbed 0.3 percent to end at 15,105.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.4 percent, to 1,632.69. The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.5 percent, to 3,413.27.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 9 cents to $96.71 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1 to finish at $96.62 a barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday, its highest level since April 2.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3163 from $1.3159 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar was little changed at 98.82 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

of mozambique * Says net interest income grew 7,3% to R5 121m (Q1 2012: R4 774m) * Says elevated consumer indebtedness and unsecured lending continued into

2013, leading to higher retail impairments * Says credit loss ratio increased to 1,22% (Q1 2012: 1,08%) * Says cautious in outlook for the year but remains on track to achieve medium to long term earnings growth target

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Dow industrials hitting intraday record highs after U.S. employment rose more-than-expected in April, easing concerns about weak economic growth.

The S&P 500 index broke above 1,600 and the Dow traded above 15,000 for the first time as stocks extended this year's rally.

Non-farm payrolls rose 165,000 last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, a four-year low, from 7.6 percent, the Labor Department said. In addition, hiring was much stronger than previously thought in the prior two months.

Investors welcomed the gains after weeks of disappointing data, including weak manufacturing reports, that suggested the economic recovery was losing steam.

"This is the type of data that people then begin to look through some of the noise that is in the ISM data, or the PMI data," said Darrell Cronk, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank in New York.

"When the labor markets are firming up, they feel better about that."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 174.63 points or 1.18 percent, to 15,006.21, the S&P 500 gained 20.65 points or 1.29 percent, to 1,618.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 46.39 points or 1.39 percent, to 3,387.01.

In other economic reports on Friday, U.S. factory orders fell sharply in March while the pace of growth in the vast U.S. services sector eased in April to the slowest pace in nine months.

Mining stocks were among top gainers, including Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc , up 3.4 percent at $31.36 after prices of copper posted the biggest daily gain in almost 1-1/2 years.

LinkedIn Corpshares fell nearly 9 percent to $184.46 a day after the social network reported disappointing revenue forecasts.

Wall Street was on track to end the week about 2 percent higher. On Thursday, Wall Street rallied after data showing U.S. weekly jobless claims dropped to a five-year low. Also helping was the European Central Bank's decision to cut to its benchmark interest rate to spur growth in the euro zone's economy.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Additional reporting by Chuck Miklojczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Now they're faced with planning his funeral after he succumbed to injuries late Saturday that had put him in a coma for a week since a 17-year-old goalie punched him in the head.

Authorities say the teen punched Portillo after the youth was called for a foul and issued a yellow card.

"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal said in a statement.

The suspect has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since the 46-year-old Salt Lake City man has died.

Hoyal said an autopsy is planned. No cause of death was released.

Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.

The victim's family spoke publicly of Portillo's plight this past week, but has asked for privacy, Hoyal said.

The unaffiliated soccer league, Liga Continental de Ftbol, updated its Facebook posting Sunday with a tribute to Portillo including a number of photographs of him refereeing and playing soccer. It also set up a bank account to accept donations for his family. No plans have been announced for a funeral or memorial services.

Mario Vazquez, the league president who also was a friend and worked with Portillo, said Sunday everyone in the league had the greatest respect for him.

"We will miss him at the soccer fields. He loved the game and loved doing his job. Ricardo always had a great sense of humor and loved being in the service of others," Vazquez said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Portillo family during this difficult time. Ricardo will always be with us," he said.

Daughter Johana Portillo, 26, said last week that she wasn't at the April 27 game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head.

"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said. She did not immediately respond to a text message request for comment The Associated Press sent her on Sunday.

Accounts from a police report, Portillo's daughter and others offer further detail what occurred.

The teenager was playing goalie during a game at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville when Portillo issued him a yellow card for pushing an opposing forward trying to score. In soccer, a yellow card is given as a warning to a player for an egregious violation of the rules. Two yellow cards lead to a red card and expulsion from the game.

The teenager, quite a bit heavier than Portillo, began arguing with the referee, then punched him in the face. Portillo seemed fine at first, then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. He sat down and started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance.

When police arrived around noon, the teenager was gone and Portillo was laying on the ground in the fetal position. Through translators, Portillo told emergency workers that his face and back hurt and he felt nauseous. He had no visible injuries and remained conscious. He was considered to be in fair condition when they took him to the Intermountain Medical Center.

But when Portillo arrived to the hospital, he slipped into a coma with swelling in his brain. Johana Portillo called detectives to let them know his condition had worsened.

That's when detectives intensified their search for the goalie. By Saturday evening, the teenager's father agreed to bring him down to speak with police.

Portillo's family said he had been attacked before, and Johanna Portillo said she and her sisters had pleaded with their father to stop refereeing because of the risk from angry players, but he continued because he loved soccer.

"It was his passion," she said. "We could not tell him no."