Skoda Crashes Through Church Roof

A 23-year-old man is in hospital with serious injuries after his car crashed through a church roof.
The unnamed motorist was driving his Skoda Octavia at high speeds through villages in Saxony, eastern Germany, when he lost control at a bend.

A police officer watched in horror as the vehicle crashed through a railing and careered up an embankment in the town of Limbach-Oberfrohna.

The car then sailed 100ft through the air and smashed through a church roof.

Firefighters removed the driver from the wreckage, and he was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

They later used a crane to remove the car from the church roof.

Police said the driver was breathalysed but have yet to release his name.

The 10,000 euro Skoda was written off in the incident, and the cost of repairing the church roof is not yet known.

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2 YEAR OLD BOY Just Released From Jail in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe - A 2-year-old boy has been released from jail after being held for weeks with his parents in what the Zimbabwean opposition calls a crackdown on dissent.

Nigel Mutemagau was released to other relatives Tuesday after the judge said there was no reason to hold him, defense lawyer Charles Kwaramba said.

The boy's parents, oppositionparty members Collen Mutemagau and Violet Mupfuranhehwe, are accused of plotting to overthrow

President Robert Mugabe. At a court hearing Wednesday, at which Mutemagau and Mupfuranhehwe appeared without Nigel in their arms for the first time since they were detained, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausika ordered that all the defendants be taken to a hospital to investigate charges they were tortured.

Similar orders have been ignored.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Wednesday the charges against the boy's parents and six other defendants are "trumped up." The party said those detained - even Nigel - were abused by security agents.

Kwaramba said Nigel was hit as he and his parents were taken from their home, and that fact would be included in a dossier of evidence showing that detainees were beaten and tortured.

Police and prosecutors have denied such mistreatment.

Nigel and his parents were among a detained group that included prominent peace activist Jestina Mukoko, whose whereabouts had been unknown for weeks. Police denied they were being held.

The activists were finally brought to court Dec. 24, the same day state media reported they were accused in a plot widely dismissed as a fabrication. They have yet to be formally charged.

The defendants are accused of attempting to recruit anti-government fighters to train in neighboring Botswana.

Zimbabwean officials have repeatedly made such accusations, which Botswana and the opposition party have denied. South African President Kgalema Motlanthe dismissed the Zimbabwean allegations, saying the Southern African Development Community, the main regional bloc, opened an investigation when Mugabe's government first raised them, but "we never believed" them.

Activists fear the Mugabe government could use the charges as an excuse to declare a state of emergency and withdraw from powersharing talks.

A power-sharing deal signed in September calls for Mugabe to remain president and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to take the new post of prime minister. The agreement has stalled over a dispute about who would control key Cabinet posts - and over charges Mugabe has stepped up harassment of dissidents.

Cholera, meanwhile, continued to spread because of Zimbabwe's crumbling health-care system and water supply infrastructure. The death toll from cholera in Zimbabwe has risen to 2,106, with more than 40,448 people infected since the outbreak began in August.

The United Nations and others caution the official figures may be far lower than actual cases because many Zimbabweans are dying before they can reach medical help.

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US Plane Crashes Into NY River

The plane had just left the city's La Guardia airport when it is thought to have hit a flock of birds, which disabled two engines, said authorities.

The Airbus A320, with 148 passengers and at least five crew, was destined for Charlotte airport in North Carolina when the accident happened.

There are reports of some injuries - but everyone is believed to have survived.

Passengers said the captain told them to brace for impact and then they heard an explosion, which is thought to be the moment the plane crashed.

Emergency services then tried to get the passengers off the aircraft as quickly as possible.

TV footage showed dozens of them on the wings of the plane as it floated on the freezing cold river.

They were later all rescued. One passenger said he thought the plane had dropped about 100ft and he had stood in about 5ft of water after the crash.

The jet took off at 3:26pm local time (8:26pm UK time) and was in the air for just three minutes.

Witnesses on the ground reportedly saw a bird strike.

The FBI said it had no information that the New York crash was an act of terrorism.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said: "There is no information at this time to indicate that this is a security-related incident.

"We continue to closely monitor the situation, which at present is focused on search and rescue."

One witness Barbara Sambriski said: "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water."

Emergency services reportedly had stretchers waiting at the riverbank to take people to hospital.

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mafia Godfather who escaped police by fleeing along a sewer has been arrested

Giuseppe Setola, 38, who claims to be blind, suffered cuts and bruises after running for more than a mile through the sewer with his two bodyguards, who fired several shots at chasing police.

He had got into the sewer through an escape tunnel in his house.

Setola is among Italy's 10 Most Wanted and is said to be in charge of a vast criminal empire that controls drug running, prostitution, extortion and arms and is wanted for 17 murders.

Police named him as the prime suspect in the gunning down of six Africans four months ago in what was described as one of the largest and bloodiest "group massacres" in clan wars in recent years.

This week he fled through an escape tunnel into the sewer network from his hideout at a house in Trentola Ducenta near Naples after police raided the lair after a tip-off.

But he was tracked down to a private medical clinic at Mignano Montelungo, 50 miles to the north, where he had gone to be treated for his injuries under an assumed name.

Staff recognised him from his photofit and tipped off police, who stormed the premises and arrested him - just hours after detectives had seized more than £10m in mafia assets around Naples.

The area is the home of the local version of the mafia known as the Camorra. Setola was well known as a ruthless Godfather who struck fear into locals.

Naples anti-mafia prosecutor Franco Roberti said: "This is a great moment for the Italian state.

"We were certain Setola was in a situation of great difficulty. We promised all the citizens that he would be caught. We have kept that promise.

"I feel immense joy and a great sense of pride because the State has succeeded, the anti-mafia apparatus has worked."

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BART Police Officer Arrested on Murder Warrant For NYE Shooting

Johannes Mehserle, the San Francisco BART police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man at point blank range on an Oakland subway platform early on New Year's Day, has been arrested on a fugitive murder warrant.
Mehserle's actions, in which he pulled out his gun and shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant in the back while he lay prone and subdued on the platform. were recorded on several phone video cameras and posted to YouTube. The senseless killing sparked riots in Oakland.

AP: "The 27-year-old Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said...Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets calling for the prosecution of Mehserle, with one rally last Wednesday spiraling into violence and resulting in more than 100 arrests and dozens of businesses damaged. John Burris, the attorney for Grant's family, said he talked to Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, on Tuesday night and she was delighted with the news of the arrest."
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Angry Teacher Rips Student’s Cheek Off

On December 18th, 2008, a 10 year-old 5th grader named Chao Qun Zheng went to his elementary school in HeNan, China.
When his teacher, Guo, found out that young Zheng had not completed his homework, she flipped out.

“She was very angry at the time,” he said. “She ripped and twisted my cheeks with both her hands and then she lifted me off the ground.”

The teacher held the boy up until one of his cheeks actually ripped off and the boy was bleeding profusely.

Without hesitation the teacher reached down and picked up Zheng’s cheek skin, put it on his face, and instructed the boy go home immediately.

When the parents saw Zheng, they immediately took him to the hospital where it took 52 stitches to have his cheek sewn back on.

Zheng’s father has reported the case to the police and is expected to press for damages.

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X Factor winner kicked off top spot

She has been labelled the New Madonna - and now Lady GaGa is celebrating being Britain's new Number One.
The 22-year-old New Yorker hit the top of the charts with her debut single, Just Dance, which outsold the number two record by more than three-quarters.

She knocked X Factor winner Alexandra Burke off the top spot, where she spent three weeks with her version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - the fastest-selling single ever by a female artist.

James Morrison and Nelly Furtado's Broken Strings climbed three places to number two.

Lady GaGa said: "It's been a long running dream to have a big hit in the UK - my fans there are so sexy and the people are so innovative and free in how they think about pop culture and music.

"I was in my apartment in Los Angeles getting ready to go to dance rehearsal when they called and told me, and I just cried."

Her album The Fame is released next week.

The winner of X Factor 2006 Leona Lewis dropped from two to four with her cover of Snow Patrol's Run, while Tennessee rockers Kings of Leon climbed a single place to number five.
Source:Yahoo News