Object thrown from stolen car strikes man

A MAN is in hospital with serious head injuries after being hit by an object thrown from a suspected stolen car in the Northern Tablelands of NSW.

Police had been trying to stop the suspect vehicle but called off their pursuit on the New England Highway near Glen Innes at about 4.20pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

Shortly afterwards, when the vehicle passed another car, a heavy object was thrown from it.

It hit the other driver on the head, leaving his passenger to take over as he was left incapacitated.

The car was eventually stopped by the passenger and the injured man was taken to Armidale Hospital with serious head injuries, after being treated at the scene.

Officers from New England Local Area Command arrested four men and one woman who are assisting them with inquiries.

A critical incident team from a neighbouring command will investigate circumstances surrounding the police operation, overseen by the Professional Standards Command.

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It's crunch time for Abbott, warns Wilkie

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott is facing crunch time and has to prove he could be prime minister, an independent MP has claimed.

If he fails to come up with detailed policies, Mr Abbott could be in trouble, according to Andrew Wilkie.

Speaking to ABC's Lateline on Thursday night, Mr Wilkie said the Liberal leader has experienced "a rough couple of months".

"It was always going to come to the point where people were expecting him to be the alternative prime minister, to be a statesman, a man who offered a range of well thought out and detailed and fully-costed policies," said Mr Wilkie, federal member for Denison.

"He's reached crunch time. If he hasn't started acting like that, if he doesn't roll out good policies, costed policies, he could well be in strife."

Either party could win an election at this stage, according to Mr Wilkie, but he described both Mr Abbott and Prime Minister Julia Gillard as "two deeply unpopular politicians".

He said that even with hindsight, he believes he made the right decision in backing Ms Gillard, however.

Discussing Ms Gillard's now infamous misogyny speech, he said he was surprised "at how effective it has been for her".

The prime minister would have had the "moral high ground" if she had taken the unprecedented step of supporting the opposition's motion to remove Peter Slipper as Speaker however, he added.

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US stocks gain in early trade

US stocks have registered solid gains as the markets rebounded from a two-day shutdown and a hesitant reopening a day earlier.

Earnings reports ahead of the opening were mixed: ExxonMobil (-0.68 per cent) reported a smaller-than-expected seven per cent dip in profit for the third quarter.

Pfizer (-1.37 per cent) disappointed with a 14 per cent fall in net income and lowered guidance for the rest of the year.

Ten minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 72.01 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 13,068.47.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 4.85 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 1,417.01.

The Nasdaq added 13.67 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 2,990.90.

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Court hands Iraq VP 2nd death sentence

AN Iraqi court has convicted the country's Sunni vice-president on charges of instigating bodyguards to assassinate a senior government official and sentenced him to death.

Thursday's verdict was the second death sentence for Tariq al-Hashemi in less than two months, both delivered in absentia since he is in exile in Turkey.

Hashemi fled Iraq in December 2011, when the Shi'ite led-government accused him of playing a role in numerous attacks

He has denied the charges.

The criminal court in Baghdad also sentenced Hashemi's son-in-law to death on the same charges.

Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said the two suspects instigated bodyguards to kill an official by sticking a bomb to his car.

Hashemi's lawyer Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi said he was not informed about the hearing or verdict.

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Israel fesses up: We killed Arafat deputy

LIFTING a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy, Israel is admitting that it killed the deputy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a 1988 raid in Tunis.

Israel has long been suspected of assassinating Khalil al-Wazir, who was better known by his nom de guerre Abu Jihad.

But only on Thursday did the country's military censor clear the Yediot Ahronot newspaper to publish the information, including an interview with the commando who killed him.

Dozens of brazen operations have been attributed to Israel over the decades. But Israel rarely takes responsibility.

The acknowledgement gives a rare glimpse into the country's covert operations.

Abu Jihad founded the Palestinian Liberation Organisation with Arafat and was blamed for a series of attacks against Israelis.

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Sandy toll rises to 34 in NYC

THE number of deaths in New York City from superstorm Sandy has risen again, from 24 to 34, city police say.

The increase raises the national toll to 82 across 15 US states hit by the storm, according to US media reports.

The overall toll from the storm thus went up to 154, including fatalities in Canada and the Caribbean, where Haiti and Cuba were hit particularly hard.

In New York the majority of those killed were hit by trees that fell on their homes or cars as the storm whipped into the city.

Others were electrocuted when they stepped in water electrified by downed power cables, or drowned in the storm surge that flooded into homes at the peak of the storm.

Sandy hit the east coast on Monday night, with violent winds that carried unprecedented amounts of water into parts of New York City. The storm caused massive power outages, plunging much of lower Manhattan into darkness.

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Mum stabbed son, 7, more than 100 times

Elzbieta Plackowska, 40, who was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old girl. Source: AP

PROSECUTORS say a suburban Chicago woman stabbed her 7-year-old son more than 100 times and a 5-year-old girl about 50 times and slit both their throats because she was angry with her husband.

A DuPage County judge ordered 40-year-old Elzbieta Plackowska of Naperville held without bond.

Prosecutor Robert Berlin says Ms Plackowska gave investigators several stories about Tuesday's killings but eventually said she killed her son, Justin, because she was angry that her truck driver husband left her alone to care for the child.

Mr Berlin says Ms Plackowska then killed the girl she was babysitting, Olivia Dworakowski, because the child had witnessed the attack on her son.

Ms Plackowska didn't speak during the hearing overnight other than to indicate she could not afford an attorney.

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