NO TAKERS (AFP) – A lottery employee with a drawing apparatus.

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Check your pockets and cupboards, officials urged Israelis on Monday after waiting three weeks for someone to step up and claim about 20 million dollars, the Jewish state's largest-ever lottery prize.

There was one winning ticket for the December 26 lottery, with a first prize of 76 million shekels ($20.6 million dollars), but so far no one has come forward, Oved Hazan of Israel's state-run lottery told Channel 10 television news.

"The message we want to get out is: People, check your tickets," Hazan said.

"They probably don't know that they have won, it's a person who just knows they have not checked their ticket," said Hazan holding up a large version of the 76 million-shekel check.

The longest Israel's lottery officials have waited for someone to claim a jackpot prize is three months.

In that case, the lucky man's ticket was found lying at the back of a cupboard.

The winner of this prize has another five months to claim the millions before they revert to the state's coffers, Hazan said.

Burglar showers, cuts hair, fries chicken

EASTON, Pennsylvania (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania man was charged after he allegedly broke into a home, cut his hair and prepared fried chicken before being discovered. The man was charged with breaking into the home in Easton, about 80 kilometers north of Philadelphia. According to court documents, the homeowner returned home Sunday to discover him watching TV and cooking chicken.

Authorities said the man threw a rock through a front door window to get inside and appeared to have rummaged through every room in the house. He also took a shower.

The man faces burglary, criminal trespass and other charges and was being held on $15,000 bail.

Woman bites off part of sister's nose

NAPOLEON TOWNSHIP, Michigan — A Jonesville woman was charged with biting off part of her sister's nose. Bobbie Smith was held in the Jackson County Jail on a $5,000 bond after her arraignment Tuesday on charges including mayhem and domestic violence. Napoleon Township Police Chief Michael Curry said the 27-year-old woman bit off "a significant portion" of Sandra Smith's nose during a fight. Police recovered the detached piece.

Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer told the Jackson Citizen Patriot that photographs indicated one-third of Sandra Smith's nose was bitten off. The 28-year-old woman was to meet with a plastic surgeon at University of Michigan Hospital.

Mayhem, defined in part under a 1931 Michigan law as mutilating another person's nose, is a 10-year felony.

Jail records didn't indicate if Bobbie Smith had a lawyer.

Man shoots way out of sinking SUV

ROSEVILLE, California (AP) — A driver whose SUV plunged into a Northern California creek after he was startled by his hands-free cell phone device escaped the sinking vehicle by blasting out the window with a handgun. The 28-year-old man, whose name wasn't immediately available, is an armed security guard at Thunder Valley Casino, north of Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries in Sunday's accident.

A spokesman for the Roseville Fire Department said the man was traveling northbound on Industrial Avenue in Roseville when the cell phone device activated. The driver was startled and veered off the road through the guardrail. The SUV landed in Pleasant Grove Creek.

He used his gun to shoot himself out, then flagged down a passerby.

Children cause frenzy over preschool breakout

BERLIN (AFP) — Three young schoolchildren sparked a panicked search when they slipped out of their kindergarten to flee wintry Germany to "fly to Africa," authorities said.

"The rogue youngsters aged five and six took advantage of an unobserved moment to break out of their class" in the southern city of Nuremberg, police said in a statement.

"Their teachers called the police immediately and took part in the search" which included federal officers, the fire brigade and a police helicopter.

About two hours later, they were found safe and sound and said they were planning to catch a plane to Africa.

"On the way, they wanted to make a 'stopover' at a toy store on Trier Street," police said.