Harry Potter sets new records

LONDON (AFP) - The final book in the world-shaking Harry Potter series headed yesterday for new sales records as millions of readers across the globe rushed to find out the fate of the bespectacled boy wizard.

"Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows," the seventh volume in a decade-long magical saga, went on sale at 2301 GMT Friday in most countries as author J.K. Rowling hosted an overnight reading for fans at a London museum.

In Britain, bookshop and supermarket chains stayed open all night to meet what they said was record demand.

Waterstone's bookshop, which hosted Britain's main Harry Potter party at its flagship store in central London overnight Friday, said 250,000 fans filled its shops nationwide as it sold more than 100,000 copies in the first two hours.

"There ain't nothing like that in book-selling history," spokesman Jon Howells said.

The same was true for Borders and other bookshop chains in New York and other US cities.

"The biggest day in Borders' history. We've never had a book like this," Borders USA chief executive officer George Jones told AFP.

Borders said it had sold 1.2 million copies of the book worldwide on Saturday, compared to first-day sales of 850,000 for the sixth book.

Stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico launched sales at their time midnight, later than Britain's "witching hour," but shops across the rest of the world stuck to 2301 GMT.

In Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, long lines of children, some dressed in costumes of Harry Potter characters and accompanied by their parents, formed outside bookshops for the launch at 8:00 pm.

In Asia, all-night parties and Hogwarts Express-style train trips were among hundreds of events held over the weekend.

In Bangladesh, Mohammad Kamal Hossain, an executive at ETC, the largest bookstore chain in the capital Dhaka, said around 1,000 copies were sold less than an hour after the novel went on sale but demand outstripped supply.

In India, the Indian Express newspaper said bookstores received 240,000 copies in advance of Saturday's release and sold at least half on the first day.