Humor in the news

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(Austria) - An Austrian trade union has claimed the repetitive playing of Christmas carols in department stores is "psycho-terrorism" for salespeople. From morning to night, week after week, the same Christmas music was played in department stores over and over again, Gottfried Rieser, of the Union of Private Employees, said. "Many staff in the retail sector suffer psychologically from it. They get aggressions and aversions against Christmas music. On Christmas Eve, with their families, they can't stand 'Silent Night' or 'Jingle Bells' any more," he said. His union had already tried without success to take legal steps. It is now appealing to department store owners to use "moderation" and to play Christmas music for only a few hours each day.

A thief left a bizarre calling card after breaking into a Darwin city business recently. The thief left several images of their backside created by an office photocopier. Detectives have yet to identify the thief's gender. The images have been seized by police for forensic testing. The thief also left behind DNA. Senior Sergeant Scott Pollock said it was not the first time his office had dealt with a break-in where the offenders had left photocopied "calling cards." "We've had people photocopying their faces. I don't know what it is about these photocopiers," Pollock said.

(Brazil) - Three burglars were arrested in Brazil after they returned to a house and asked for the receipts for the goods they had stolen. The young thieves told the owners of the house in Belo Horizonte that they were struggling to sell the stereo, TV and mobile phones because they didn't have the original receipts. A police spokesman said, "We have never seen anything so stupid. It was obvious that when they rang the bell the owner of the house would call us straight away and they were all arrested. They are all underage and I think they were just really naive and thought they would get away with going back."

(Florida) - A Sarasota County woman says she felt like she was "losing her mind" when she suffered a stroke and wound up with a British accent. Judi Roberts was doing a crossword puzzle four years ago when her right hand went numb. She suffered a stroke, which left her paralyzed on her right side and unable to talk. But when her speech finally returned, her deep northern accent was gone. Roberts now speaks with a higher-pitched British accent. A University of Central Florida expert says Roberts has an extremely rare disorder called "foreign-accent syndrome." Few than 20 cases have been reported worldwide since 1919. UCF professor Jack Ryalls is an expert on speech and language disorders. He has conducted a series of tests on Roberts and says the syndrome is the only explanation. Roberts say she has been accused of faking the accent. She became a recluse and even contemplated moving to England until she read about the disorder last spring and contacted experts.

[cdnsniper 0]

Second one's great