Around The Weird: Bizarre News Briefs (Wed)

[movieguy]

Around The Weird: Bizarre News Briefs

STOCKHOLM (Wireless Flash) -- Norway has invaded Sweden -- with rats. Thousands of rats, which are thought to have crossed the border from Norway with garbage shipments, have invaded the town of Kiruna, Sweden. It's believed the rats came into the small mining town via its recycling center, which handles 25,000 tons of Norwegian waste a year.

CANBERRA, Australia -- Virgin Mobile is helping its Australian customers put an end to embarrassing, late night "drunk dialing" calls. A new cell phone feature lets drinkers blacklist certain phone numbers before they head out for a night out at the bars so they won't be able to call them later. A recent survey shows 95 percent of people Down Under have made drunk calls and 30 percent of those were to ex-partners, 19 percent were to current partners and 36 percent were to other people, including their bosses.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Stress doesn't just cause women to tear their hair out, it may age their chromosomes by as much as 10 years. A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, monitored the white blood cells of 58 women, some who have chronically ill children and some without, to gauge how stress affected them at the cellular level. The results show the longer a woman remained a caregiver under stress, the more damage was done to her chromosomes.

SEOUL -- Bronze baby shoes aren't good enough for Korean parents, who are having their babies' umbilical cords plated in gold. The Korean company U&I Impression says it has been plating about 80 to 100 umbilical cords a month since it began offering the service in August. The cost for preserving a baby's bellybutton droppings runs about $75 to $100.

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