■ BERLIN. Man convicted of sending penis photo by phone. A 21-year-old German man has been convicted of sending a photograph of his penis to an unknown woman via mobile phone, authorities said on the day before. ?We all had a bit of a laugh when we saw the thing,? said Christian Kropp, presiding judge at the court in the eastern town of Sondershausen. The woman reported the sender to police after receiving the photo attachment of the man?s genitals, the court said. Officers found evidence he may have sent similar images to other women. The man did not explain his motive but expressed remorse for the photo, Kropp said. He was fined 150 euros (around Rs 6 500) for distributing pornographic material.

■ USA. Britney Spears released from hospital. Britney Spears (photo) was released from a hospital psychiatric ward on the day before, six days after being admitted amid concerns for her mental health, US media reported. The troubled singer made a low-key departure from the UCLA Medical Centre accompanied by private security guards, according to the Los Angeles Times , before returning to her Beverly Hills home. However, later on Wednesday, local television networks carried live footage of Spears and unidentified companions leaving her home in her black Mercedes and being trailed by a convoy of paparazzi.

Spears, 26, had been the subject of a mental health evaluation order after being whisked from her home by paramedics and police last Thursday on the recommendation of her psychiatrist. Reports last weekend said Spears had her stay at the medical centre extended by two weeks but the singer could legally demand to be released or go home if a doctor judged her suitable for outpatient treatment.

It was the second mental health scare for Spears in less than a month after she was rushed to hospital in early January by paramedics following a child custody stand-off with the her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Spears? latest hospital drama triggered a court-room battle for control of the singer, with her father being temporarily placed in charge of his daughter?s business and financial dealings. Spears parents have also accused the singer?s manager and companion Sam Lutfi of drugging their daughter and trying to control every aspect of her life, according to court documents unsealed on Tuesday.

■ STUDY. Head lice came out of Africa. Head lice taken from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru support the idea that the little creatures accompanied humans on their first migration out of Africa, 100,000 years ago, researchers reported on the day before. Genetic tests showed the lice are nearly identical to strains found around the world that have been dated to when humans first began to colonize the rest of the world. ?It tells us that this genetic type got around the globe right as humans spread and migrated around the globe,? said David Reed of the University of Florida, who worked on the study. ?We know that this parasite was distributed all over the globe along with us,? Reed said in a telephone interview. Writing in Journal of Infectious Diseases, Reed and colleagues noted that there are three known strains, or clades, of head lice -- A, B and C.

■ BUDAPEST. Man who returns from the dead suspected of fraud. A Hungarian man who was reported dead by his wife in 2001 has been detained in the Czech Republic and is suspected of fraud, Hungarian police said. In a case reminiscent of the British canoeist who ?returned from the dead? five years after he went missing, the man?s wife said he had drowned while windsurfing on holiday in Greece. His body was never found and a Hungarian court declared him legally dead in 2003. The man had taken out several life insurance policies in 2000, worth more than 200 million forints ($1.15 million), and he also bought travel insurance before going to Greece, Hungarian police said in a statement. Last year, the man was detained by Czech police who handed him over to Hungary. He told Hungarian police that after the ?accident? he had swum to shore where a friend gave him clothes and forged documents.

■ WASHINGTON. Study links marijuana smoking to gum disease. Smoking marijuana, much like smoking tobacco, may increase a person?s risk for gum disease that can lead to tooth loss, researchers said recently. A study of 903 New Zealanders found that people who smoked marijuana frequently had triple the risk for severe gum disease and a 60 % higher risk for a milder form of it compared to people who did not smoke the drug, also called cannabis.