HOW BIZARRE NEWS (1-12-09)

A GUY IS SUING HIS EX-WIFE FOR $1.5 MILLION . . . BECAUSE HE GAVE HER A KIDNEY???

In 2001, Dawnell Batista of Garden City, New York, was on the verge of death. Luckily, her husband . . . 49-year-old Richard Batista . . . stepped up and donated one of his kidneys to save her life. Of course, that was before Richard found out that Dawnell was CHEATING ON HIM.

Anyway, the couple got divorced in 2005. But now, Richard is suing Dawnell . . . and he's given her TWO options:

#1.) Dawnell can either give Richard his kidney back.

#2.) Or she can agree to pay him $1.5 MILLION for the organ that saved her life.

According to Richard, quote, "I saved [Dawnell's] life. But the pain is unbearable . . . This is my last resort. I didn't want to be in the public eye." (New York Daily News / Yahoo News)

(Check out a pitcure of Richard & his Kidney-taking wife.)

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THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IS TELLING PEOPLE TO . . . SWALLOW THEIR GUM???

According to estimates, the average Mexican chews about 2.6 pounds of gum a year (--which is only about HALF of what the average American chews) . . . and each square foot of sidewalk in Mexico City has nearly 25 gobs of disgusting, discarded gum on it.

Anyway, in order to help keep Mexico's sidewalks clean, the government has come up with a "brilliant" new solution for the chewing gum problem. So what are they doing? According to Mexico City's director for conservation of public spaces . . . a guy named Ricardo Jural . . . quote, "When you finish chewing a piece of gum, you either have to put it in a piece of paper and deposit it in a trash receptacle, or SWALLOW IT."

Now, I know what you're thinking: Isn't it unhealthy to swallow your gum? Well, it's probably not going to kill you . . . but it's not great for you either. In fact, if you swallow too much gum, it can ball up with other objects in your stomach and cause an intestinal blockage. But according to Ricardo . . . that's not a problem.

He says, quote, "I've always swallowed my gum, and it's never done me any harm." (Yahoo News)

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BRIDE ADVERTISES FOR WEDDING GUESTS

A bride from Eastern Europe who is marrying in London is advertising for 'decent' guests to fill her side of the church. The Ukrainian woman's family are all at home, and only her parents can be at the ceremony, reports the BBC. So the woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, has posted a free ad on classifieds website "Gumtree" looking for 30 people to sit with her. She also wants bridesmaids, groomsmen and ushers.

The woman says in the advertisement: "I'm having a large mixed wedding of about 150 people. "My partner has loads of family around to invite to the wedding. Unfortunately for me, my family are all in Ukraine so they all can't make it. Only my mum and dad will be there."

Volunteers have to send a photograph and write about themselves, but in return they get invited to the reception. Gumtree trends analyst Trisha Routledge said: "For brides and grooms whose family live abroad, it must be tough not to have them there on the most special day of your life. "It's great to see that they're finding other ways of filling the seats, whilst offering some lucky people the chance to go to a wedding for free - and you never know who you might meet."