Woman Finds $10 Billion in Account

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - When Gun-Britt Marklund checked her bank account to see whether her monthly child allowance check had arrived from the Swedish government, she knew that what she saw was too good to be true.

Her account showed a balance of more than 93 billion kronor (US$10 billion) on Sunday.

"You never see amounts like this," said the 40-year-old teacher and mother of three children, ages 10, 13 and 15. "I thought this money doesn't belong to me. Something must be wrong."

Marklund's hunch was correct. On Monday, she informed her bank of the inflated child allowance payment — twice the size of Sweden's defense budget — and the bank acted swiftly.

An employee had punched in a few too many zeros when funneling payments from the social insurance office into Marklund's account, ICA Bank spokesman Bo Lagergren said.

The transaction was canceled and gone were the 93 billion kronor along with 15 million kronor (US$1.6 million) of interest accrued over the three days before the error was detected.

Lagergren said the bank had sent Marklund a bouquet of flowers along with apologies.

"We hope she'll be happy with that," Lagergren said. "But it's of course very difficult to find compensation on this level."

Marklund, who lives in Haernoesand, 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, said her child allowance is normally 3,000 kronor (US$322) a month.

Videotape of Girls Locker Room Probed

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A water polo coach at a southern California high school has been fired after administrators found a secret videotape of girls undressing in their locker room, officials say.

Brian Akian, an assistant water polo coach at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, was dismissed over allegations that he was involved in the taping, said Carol Osbrink, assistant superintendent of Huntington Beach Union High School District.

Osbrink said the tape was apparently made with a video camera that had been hidden in an equipment cage next to the girls' locker room and showed the students as they dressed, undressed and showered.

The tape was found in an office used by swimming and water polo coaches by another teacher, Osbrink said. She declined to say what led officials to Akian. "He has a role in this, let's just say that," Osbrink said Wednesday.

Osbrink said that, as a coach, Akian would have had access to the equipment cage and could have employed a school video camera normally used to tape matches. She said the tape is over 30 minutes long and contains footage shot over several days.

"The water polo team itself is upset for a number of reasons," Osbrink said. "There are a lot of unknowns and obviously the students and their parents are concerned. Some of the students have known this young man for quite a bit of time. It's been a very emotional time for them."