McDonald's Lawsuit Claims Rat Head in Burger
March 27, 2001
TORONTO (Reuters) - McDonald's Canada is being sued for $11.2
million by a Toronto family that claims a severed rat's head
was found nestled between the toppings of a Big Mac that was
about to be eaten by a nine-year-old girl.
After biting into the Big Mac, Ayan Abdi Jama noticed the remains
of the rodent, "complete with eyes, teeth, nose and whiskers,"
says the statement of claim. It adds, "the rat and the Big Mac
sandwich were partially ingested by Ayan." The lawyer for the
family said the ordeal has been a horrible experience for the
child. The experience left Jama suffering from "extensive psychiatric
damages," the claim says.
In a statement, McDonald's Canada said: "The quality and safety
of our food is paramount to every aspect of our McDonald's operation.
McDonald's will defend itself to the fullest extent of the law."
McDonald's Canada estimates it serves more than three million
customers each day.
Sex-Starved Moose Defecates on Car
March 21, 2001
OSLO (Reuters) - A sex-starved moose in Norway mistook a small,
yellow car for a would-be partner, but defecated on it after
it got no response.
Leif Borgersen, owner of the Ford Ka model, told the Norwegian
regional daily Telemarksavisa Tuesday that he found his car
bathed in lick marks, saliva and moose excrement. Borgersen
says the moose left its mark on the front yard of his home in
Lardal, about 125 miles southwest of Oslo. "The front yard was
simply transformed into an outdoor toilet," he said. "I'm a
bit uncertain whether I should take the risk of letting the
car stand alone and defenseless on the front yard from now on."
There was no damage to the car apart from the sideview mirror
that was bent backwards.
Lawmaker Punished for Fake Radio Interview
March 20, 2001
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian member of Parliament has been
punished for trying to cover up the fact that his assistant
impersonated him on a radio show, party officials said on Monday.
The bizarre case started on Saturday when a listener to a Vancouver
radio station called in to point out that the person being interviewed
was certainly not Rahim Jaffer of the opposition Canadian Alliance
party.
When the station later contacted Jaffer, he at first insisted
he had given the interview. He then admitted that he had not
been available to speak when the station called and his assistant
Matthew Johnston had therefore impersonated him.
Alliance chief whip John Reynolds was not amused and immediately
suspended Jaffer, 30, from his job as chairman of the party's
small-business advisory committee. Jaffer was not available
for comment. Johnston resigned as his assistant once the cover-up
was discovered.
Hispanically Speaking, Bush Has New Word
March 20, 2001
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush came out with
a new word from his personal dictionary on Monday -- "Hispanically."
No stranger to ungrammatical words and phrases, Bush used the
word in remarks to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce while advocating
a tax cut.
"A lot of times in the rhetoric, people forget the facts. And
the facts are that thousands of small businesses -- Hispanically
owned or otherwise -- pay taxes at the highest marginal rate,
because most small businesses are not incorporated, they're
sole proprietorships...," he said.
Bloody Mary
January 1, 2001
When six Brazilian car thieves overpowered a medical worker
and stole his car over the weekend, he never had a chance to
tell them, "Don't drink the blood." But after stopping at a
bar to get drunk, that's apparently what two of them did, mistaking
vials of HIV-infected blood samples for a yogurt drink. Following
their arrest and the recovery of the car, police said the suspects
told reporters that they were drunk and confused and didn't
know what they were doing. One wonders what Darwin would have
to say about this.
Penguin Plane Spotters Intrigue Scientists
November 2, 2000
LONDON (Reuters) - Do penguins fall over backwards when watching
aircraft fly overhead?
Two British scientists are traveling to South Georgia in the
south Atlantic to find answers to that question and others from
a study of the island's 400,000 King Penguins. Scientists have
usually been skeptical about reports of penguins falling over
backwards to watch aircraft flying above them.
But a senior officer on the British navy ship HMS Endurance,
which is taking the scientific team to South Georgia, said he
believed the reports. "The penguins always look up at the helicopters
and follow them all the way until they fall over backwards,"
Stuart Matthews, the ship's operations officer, told the Daily
Telegraph.
