Photographer in the frame over track soaking

A photographer caused a delay during a crucial moment of the women's luge competition on Tuesday when he accidentally knelt on a switch that sent water spurting on to the track. Germany's bronze medallist Natalie Geisenberger was just about to push off for her fourth run down the Whistler course when a red warning light flashed at the starting gate -- causing a two-minute delay.

30cm-long surgical tool left in woman's abdomen

Czech medical staff are being disciplined after a 30cm-long surgical instrument was found in the abdomen of a woman who was operated on five months ago. The patient, 66-year-old Zdenka Kopeckova, repeatedly complained of severe abdominal pain following a gynaecological operation at a hospital in the southeastern town of Ivancice.

Twitter dating for tech-savvy singles

For tech-savvy singles who are unlucky in love, shy or just looking for a new way to meet people, Flitter could be the answer. Hundreds of singles attended the first Flitter parties across the Canada last week in the latest dating game which is a play on words of the microblogging site Twitter and flirting.

Bad news for record lottery "winner"

A deaf South African cleaner besieged by begging relatives after a newspaper reported he had scooped a 91 million rand ($12 million) lottery jackpot was not the winner, the draw's organizers said. National Lottery spokeswoman Thembi Tulwana said the real winner of Friday's PowerBall draw was an unnamed 43-year-old woman, and not 52-year-old Stanley Philander, a Cape Town hardware store cleaner reported to have carried off the record rollover prize.

"It's not me," man in Israel says in hit-squad saga

A man in Israel with the same name as an alleged member of a hit squad that assassinated a top Hamas militant in Dubai said Tuesday he was "angry, upset and scared" over what he called a misidentification. Dubai police listed "Melvyn Adam Mildiner," a British national, as one of 11 Europeans suspected of killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a luxury hotel in the Gulf emirate last month.

Give up your iPod for Lent, bishops urge

British church leaders are encouraging people to give up their iPods for Lent, instead of more traditional vices such as chocolate, to help save the planet. The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, are among those calling for a carbon fast for Lent -- a period ahead of Easter which Christians traditionally consider a time of penance and reflection -- which begins on Wednesday.

Arrested robber, 73, says he was paying off mortgage

A 73-year-old Florida man who was arrested for robbing three banks -- unarmed and taking $600 in each heist -- said he needed the money to pay his home mortgage, police said on Friday. James Bruce of Tampa was arrested on Thursday. He admitted robbing the banks but said he planned to pay back the money, Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

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