MANTECA, Calif. - A pastor accused of selling the town's oldest church pleaded guilty to embezzlement on Monday and agreed to 18 months in prison, court officials said. Randall Radic, 53, entered his plea as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop nine other charges. Radic had preached at First Congregational Church in Ripon for nearly a decade before he sold the church last October for $525,000, allegedly using the money to buy a BMW. He also faked documents that gave him possession of his house, which was owned by the church, then used the property to take out loans, authorities said.

ROME - Premier Silvio Berlusconi has promised Italians he would lower taxes and raise pensions. His latest campaign pledge is rather personal: no sex until April 9 elections, an Italian newspaper reported Sunday... the no-sex vow was made during a campaign rally in Cagliari, Sardinia, on Saturday with a popular TV preacher on the island and his followers. The clergyman... praised the premier for what he described as a defense of family values... Berlusconi replied: "I will try to meet your expectations, and I promise from now on, 2 1/2 months of absolute sexual abstinence, until April 9."

READING, Pa. - One registered Republican won't be able to vote in the next election unless he appears at a Berks County Elections Board to explain the signature on his registration form. The man is registered as Paul S. Sewell... but his form is signed "God."... Sewell claims his "God" signature is merely a legal mark like the "X" used by people who are illiterate... As the owner of a bail enforcement agency, he finds fugitives, he said. "Whenever I go to arrest somebody, they say, 'Oh, God, give me another chance. Oh, God, let me go. I'll turn myself in tomorrow,'" Sewell said. He said he thinks his designated mark is legal. "PennDOT accepted it on my driver's license. I have a credit card with it," he said. "It shouldn't be a problem."

WASHINGTON - United States intelligence agencies have been hunting for one of al-Qaida's most notorious members - an expert in poisons and lethal chemicals. But NBC News has learned they have been trying to find him by using a photo of the wrong man on his wanted poster. For a year and a half, the U.S. government has been asking for the public's help in finding Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a dangerous al-Qaida operative. But now intelligence officials admit to NBC News they were using a photo of a different man.

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - A character in some copies of an Elmo potty training book has an unusual message that you may not want your toddler to hear. The Baby David character in "Potty Time With Elmo" says, "Uh oh, who wants to die?" when a read-along button is pushed... He's supposed to say, "Uh oh, who has to go?" The publisher said the sound was recorded correctly, but some consumers hear a different phrase due to compression of the digital audio file... The book is becoming a collector's item, and is being sold on eBay.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Sylvester J. Williams, 21, of Leavenworth, was charged Monday with possessing crack cocaine with the intent to sell it... police had heard for some time that Williams had been selling drugs in the area. "Then we heard that he was handing out business cards," the officer said. "In the course of our investigation we were fortunate to come up with one, and we gave him a call." ... the business card had an image of what appeared to be an alarm clock being hit by a boxing glove and said: "For a quick hit on time call the boss." "When he answered, we agreed to buy some crack from him, we went up there, and we arrested him".

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Showing the R-rated movie "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" during high school Spanish class this week resulted in suspension for the teacher, who later resigned. Fernando Del Pino was suspended with pay Tuesday for showing the movie to students... Del Pino, who was hired in August, said he decided to show the film after a student brought it to class and said it "was very funny"... The movie is about a 40-year-old single man whose friends try to help him gain experience in sex.

FORT BRAGG, Calif. - A man on a weekend getaway was arrested after allegedly burglarizing the Fort Bragg motel where he was staying, then leaving a note indicating where to find him. Enrique Rodriguez Vasquez, 37, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of methamphetamine after police confronted him at the Best Western motel room he'd described in the note... Vasquez's poorly spelled note berated the motel manager for being absent from the office. "There was no one here to attend us guest in rm427. You even left the office unattended. You could have been burglurized ... Your lucky I didn't steele," the note said in part.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - An airline passenger bit a fellow traveler Monday, then jumped out of a jetliner as it was moving to take off, authorities said. He was later subdued with a stun gun. The man was taken to a hospital from the Fort Lauderdale airport, the Broward County sheriff’s office said. It was unclear whether he was injured. The other passenger suffered minor injuries from the bite.

NEW YORK - From the waist up, they looked like perfectly normal commuters. That wasn’t good enough for police. Eight pranksters who dropped their pants and showed their underwear on the subway on Sunday were taken into custody and issued summonses for disorderly conduct. All were ultimately released, said Improv Everywhere, the group that organized the stunt. The group said more than 160 riders participated in the fifth annual No Pants Subway Ride before police halted their No. 6 train about 5 p.m.

January 20, 2006 LOWELL, Mass. -- A man who held up banks by claiming he had a bomb in a bag was arrested after police found the bag actually contained books, including a phone book that had a mailing label with the man's full name and address... George Melendez was arrested Thursday at his home in Lowell and charged with the Jan. 6 robbery of a bank in Dracut... Melendez would hand tellers a note claiming to have a bomb in his bag and demand large bills. As he left with the cash, he would leave behind the bag, prompting Dracut and Salem police to call in bomb squads as a precaution... After he allegedly hit a Sovereign Bank in Lawrence last week, police found a Lowell-area phone book in the bag the robber had left behind. They went to the address listed on the label and arrested Melendez, who also fit the bank tellers' description of the robber.

MORGANTON, N.C. - Police captured a man wearing only a toga while he sped away in a car with women's underwear inside. Michael Sean Ostrander, 33, was arrested Monday after allegedly breaking into the home of a Burke County woman and making off with some of her clothes... Ostrander was arrested... after stopping his car. The Burke County Sheriff's Office said it found panties and photos belonging to the woman inside Ostrander's car.

BERLIN - When a 58-year-old motorist nipped into a German highway rest stop public toilet to answer the call of nature Friday morning, he had no idea how cruel nature could be... in Bavaria, which has been experiencing cold weather and snow over the past few days, the man found himself trapped in the toilet stall after the lock froze while he was inside. Unable to pry the door open, the man finally was able to explain his predicament when someone occupied the stall next to him and get them to call police on a cell phone.

Don Bertone is not your usual problem neighbor... Bertone, 54, doesn't just play loud music... he has blasted police radio broadcasts, shrill oscillating tones, Spanish dance tunes and other noise from speakers he installed on the outside of his home... Bertone isn't just a nosy neighbor... he hooked up floodlights and six cameras that swept the block. Inside his home, he could monitor his neighbors' movements on four video screens.

A Russian woman took out a full page advert in a newspaper asking for sex to help cure her cancer. Divorcee Elisaveta, 30, explained in the ad: "Doctors have discovered two lumps in my breast. "They have told me the best way to beat cancer and stop the spread is to have sex."

She placed her advertisement in top Russian daily Moscow Komsomolets. It went on: "The ideal candidate would need to have sex with me every two days for at least a year."

A cancer specialist told the paper: "To avoid this cancer after a certain age, three sex sessions a week are necessary."

LONDON - A British dentist has been banned from working after allowing her unqualified boyfriend to carry out dental work on patients in her surgery, the profession’s U.K. regulatory body said on Tuesday.

Mojgan Azari was found guilty of serious professional misconduct for letting boyfriend Omid Amidi-Mazaheri work at her practices in south London between 2002 and 2003, the General Dental Council (GDC) said.

The boyfriend worked on more than 600 people, drilling out cavities without local anaesthetic and installing expensive fillings that crumbled within days, often leaving patients in agony, the BBC said.

ST. LOUIS Jan 16, 2006 — Ken Ortmann, an alderman who owns a local tavern wants to lower the penalties for public urination before the Feb. 25 Mardi Gras Parade.

Ortmann said his bill would allow police to issue different citations for public urinators who try to be discreet than they might for those who are more open about it. "There's a difference between going in the middle of the street, in front of God and country, and somebody who is behind a Dumpster," Ortmann said.

But public urination remains plenty offensive to residents of Soulard, where some homeowners leave their sprinklers on to discourage Marti Gras partygoers from relieving themselves on their lawns.

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. Jan 16, 2006 — Kaylee Reynolds had a problem when she recently received a summons to serve on a jury. She wasn't old enough to read it.

The 2-year-old has quite a few years to go before she reaches the minimum age of 18 to serve on a state jury. Lucky for Kaylee, Massachusetts Jury Commissioner Patricia Reynolds seemed willing to let it slide for a while. "We'll give her a 16-year grace period," Wood told The Standard-Times of New Bedford.

Wood guessed the mix-up could be traced to a local census form. If the form has a blank or mistaken birth date, July 4, 1776 is filled in. "With that date we'll know it is wrong," Wood said.

Friday the 13th is a good choice as campaign launch date for a Satanist. Jonathon “The Imapler” Sharkey is running for Governor of Minnesota. And why not? They did elect Jesse “The Body” Ventura. On his website, Sharkey comes clean: Honesty is very seldom heard nowadays, especially from a politician. So, I am going to break from political tradition. My name is Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey, Ph.D., L.D.D.D. I am a Satanic Dark Priest, Sanguinarian Vampyre and a Hecate Witch.

Tampa, Florida -- A woman lost four fingers Monday when a firework she thought was a candle blew up in her hand... The 48-year-old woman was without electricity... "The woman was looking for a candle, thought she had found one and lit the fireworks instead".