BERLIN (Reuters) - A busy intersection in the German city of Kassel turned into a lake of frozen beer on Tuesday when some 1,600 bottles smashed after poorly secured crates flew off a delivery truck, police said.

The truck, carrying 12 tonnes of freshly brewed beer, lost most of its load on a sharp left-hand turn at the bottom of a hill, according to Kassel police inspector Wolfgang Jungnitsch.

Nearly 80 crates carrying about 800 litres flew off the truck, most of the bottles smashed, and their contents quickly froze in the chilly temperature of about -4 degrees Celsius (25 Fahrenheit), he said.

"A sheet of ice quickly formed and the air was filled with beer fumes," Jungnitsch said.

It took an hour to clear the intersection, and police said the trucker faced a fine for not securing his load properly.

LONDON (Reuters) - A player with English minor league club Chippenham Town has set a record for the fastest-red card in senior soccer when he was sent off for a wild tackle three seconds after kickoff, media reported on Monday.

Striker David Pratt, 21, was dismissed in a Southern Premier League game against Bashley on Saturday.

The previous fastest sending-off is generally accepted to be 10 seconds for Bologna's Giuseppe Lorenzo after he struck an opponent in a 1990 Italian league game.

English soccer's previous "best" was 13 seconds when Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman handled outside his box in a game in 2000.

Also in 2000 an English amateur player, Lee Todd, was sent off after two seconds when he responded to the referee's whistle to start the game by saying "xxxx me, that was loud" and was dismissed for foul and abusive language.

Angry journalist throws shoes at Bush' head


President Bush got a pair of shoes thrown at his head in Bagdad, an expression of contempt in Iraq. Bush avoided them and both shoes missed their target.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Buy one, get one free: it's a familiar sales pitch for happy-hour cocktails or last season's fashions, but now a Belgian car dealer is luring customers with just that line.

Antwerp-based Cardoen, which sells about 10,000 new and nearly new cars per year, started the promotion at the end of November and said it would run until December 15.

During that period, customers can choose from a range of new, full-price cars -- the cheapest being a 22,800 euro (19,878 pound) Hyundai van -- and then pick a second free vehicle from a selection that goes up to 14,000 euros.

"People have been coming in from all over Belgium and abroad," Cardoen's Commercial Director Ivo Willems said, adding that Cardoen's eight showrooms had seen more than 10 times their usual number of visitors since the promotion began.

"People will still buy cars, you just have to give them as much advantage as possible, to sell in an innovative way."

Willems said Cardoen was able to run the promotion without losing money because distributors in southern Europe had been so desperate to get cars off their lots that they were selling them to Cardoen at large discounts.

The move underscores how difficult the situation has become for an auto industry buckling under a global economic downturn.

Belgian new car registrations fell 16.4 percent year-on-year in November, according to data released on Monday. In Spain, sales nearly halved.

Willems said Cardoen had yet to see an impact on its sales from the downturn.

LONDON (Reuters) - A rubbish collector in central England could have a very good Christmas if he can solve one of the biggest jigsaw puzzles going -- 10,000 pounds-worth of torn up bank notes.

Graham Hill found the large bundle of cut up 10- and 20-pound notes while emptying bins in Lincoln last May, according to the Lincolnshire Echo newspaper.

He handed the package to police, but after six months no one had claimed the notes and investigators could find no evidence that it was stolen or linked to criminal activity.

The Bank of England said it would exchange the notes for new ones if Hill could piece the money back together again.

"Providing the bank notes meet the evidence requirements, then an application for reimbursement should be successful," a central bank spokeswoman said. "In particular we look at the two serial numbers on the front of the notes."

Colleagues of Hill's are hoping he gets to work quickly.

"I just hope he pieces enough of the notes back together to get a round of drinks in at the works Christmas do," a co-worker was quoted as saying. "Christmas is only around the corner, so any bonus will be welcome."

De Marokkaanse pieten kunnen lastige straatjongeren in hun eigen taal aanspreken als ze vervelend doen. "Het leukste voor die jongelui is bijvoorbeeld om de baard van sint af te trekken." De maatregel is ongeveer vier jaar geleden ingesteld. "Sinterklaas werd toen gemolesteerd in een winkelcentrum in Osdorp", zegt Nassy. "Dat was voor ons de druppel."

Om een probleemgebied te bezoeken zijn nogal wat maatregelen nodig. "Bepaalde sinterklazen zijn goed geoefend in bepaalde wijken. We gaan niet als er geen beveiligingsmedewerkers worden geregeld. Verder nemen we minimaal vijf pieten mee, en dan zitten er vaak grote jongens tussen." Een chauffeur waakt bij de wagen van de goedheiligman om te voorkomen dat de ramen worden ingeslagen of de lak wordt bekrast. Ook agenten zijn werkzaam als piet. "En die kunnen 24 uur per dag optreden", benadrukt Nassy. "Het is eigenlijk schandalig dat dit nodig is, maar het is niet anders."

Sinds de inzet van de 16- of 17-jarige Marokkanen zijn er volgens Nassy nauwelijks problemen. "De jongeren schrikken zich lam als hun in hun eigen taal wordt verteld dat ze moeten ophoepelen. Dat verwachten ze niet."

Van een regelrechte strijd tussen Marokkanen en Sinterklaas is geen sprake. Vaak zijn het Marokkanen zelf die willen dat de sint op bezoek komt. Ook kinderdagverblijven met veel Marokkaanse klanten willen graag dat de sint langskomt."

De sinterklaascentrale gebruikt de inkomsten van andere bezoeken om gratis op bezoek te komen in armere buurten. Vaak zijn dat ook de buurten die de meeste overlast en de hoogste kosten met zich meebrengen, bevestigt Nassy. "Arme kinderen hebben ook recht op een leuk sinterklaasfeest."

Maar niet iedereen neemt de traditie over. De Marokkanen die lastig doen, zijn volgens Nassy jaloers op degenen die wel cadeaus van de kindervriend krijgen.

Niet alleen Marokkanen kunnen trouwens voor overlast zorgen. "In het verleden zijn pieten door donkere mensen in het water gegooid. Ze voelden zich beledigd, terwijl de zwarte kleur gewoon door de roet van de schoorsteen komt, onbegrijpelijk", vindt Nassy, zelf van Joods-Surinaamse afkomst.