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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Authorities in South Florida are searching for a man who held up a Fort Lauderdale bank shirtless then fled with a woman who sported a belt made of handcuffs. According to a news release from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the man demanded money from a teller at a Bank of America branch on Friday afternoon and implied he had a weapon. The teller gave the man an unspecified amount of cash, and he then fled on foot with the woman. Full Story »

ROME (Reuters) - A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Richard Branson challenged aviation rival Tony Fernandes to a Formula One duel on Tuesday with the loser having to dress up as an airline stewardess. Full Story »

TORRINGTON, Conn. - A Connecticut Salvation Army chapter got a pleasant surprise when its members were counting change dropped into one of the organization's holiday donation kettles. Members found a rare 1881 "half eagle" coin last week while counting donations made somewhere in Torrington on the day after Thanksgiving. Full Story »

BERLIN - German police have rescued four frozen walkers who called up from a waste container begging to be saved from roving wild boars. Police in Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt, said they received an emergency call at nearly 3 a.m. Sunday from a man who said he and three companions had fled into the container after being surprised by a group of boars during a nighttime walk in the woods. He said they didn't dare to emerge. Full Story »

PARIS (Reuters) - Many people love horses and traditionally, many French people have loved them even more with a side of salad. Full Story »

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Chinese police have detained some 3,470 people so far this year during a crackdown on online pornography and closed thousands of pornographic websites, state media said on Saturday. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest retailer Tesco apologised on Tuesday after complaints that a Christmas card it sold was offensive to people with ginger hair. Full Story »

ST. LOUIS - The North Face Apparel Corp. is suing a small suburban St. Louis-area company called The South Butt and the teenager who started it. The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in St. Louis seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to prohibit The South Butt from marketing and selling its parody product line. Full Story »

KELSO, Wash. - Kelso, Wash., police said a man used his compound bow to interrupt an apparent break-in at a nearby vacant home, wounding a fleeing man in the buttocks. Police said the man grabbed his hunting bow late Sunday night and chased a suspected prowler for more than three blocks. When the fleeing man refused to stop, the bowhunter shot him with a broadhead arrow. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Every so often in the Washington Metro subway system, a foot gets caught in an escalator. Usually, the culprit is a shoe lace or a flip-flop. On Monday, it was a bird's talon. D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says rescuers were called to the Benning Road station in northeast Washington shortly after 8 a.m. Monday. A large bird of prey — possibly a hawk or a falcon — had its foot stuck in the escalator. Full Story »

DUBLIN (AFP) - When world leaders in Copenhagen argue for days in knife-edge talks to save the planet, what more fitting way to relieve the tension than an environmentally-friendly vibrator? Full Story »

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada condemned on Monday a series of elaborate hoax emails and a fake website story that claimed the country would cut emissions of greenhouse gases by a much greater amount than previously announced. Full Story »

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A man who broke into an 89-year-old woman's Knoxville home and awakened her was scared off when a monitoring company answered her medical alert call. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the woman told police she was awakened before dawn Tuesday by a loud noise. She said a man stood over her bed, shaking her by the arms and asking if she were all right. Full Story »

TYLER, Texas - A 25-year-old man suspected of breaking into an east Texas house is jailed after police found him taking a bath in the house. The incident happened about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in a blue-collar neighborhood of northwest Tyler. Police Sgt. Matthew Smyser said a resident called to report that a man had kicked in the front door of the house. While en route, officers were advised the resident had left the house but the intruder remained inside. Full Story »

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's opposition Liberal Party has taken down from its website a doctored photo of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot and killed in which Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's face was substituted for Oswald's. Full Story »

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - A French court has split the jackpot from a casino slot machine between the woman who put in the money and the man who pulled the lever, ending months of argument between the two. Full Story »

BOSTON - Police say a Boston man wanted for drug trafficking tried to conceal his identity by cutting the tips of his fingers to hide the prints. State Police spokesman David Procopio said Monday that Francis Viliar admitted to police that he paid someone $400 to slice off the fleshy pads at the ends of his fingers. Full Story »