Two Londoners who attempted to extort $100,000 (Ł50,000) from a Royal Family member have been sentenced to five years imprisonment in the first publicized case of "Royal Blackmail" since 1891. BBC said Friday that Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan were found guilty by the Central Criminal Court of trying to blackmail a member of the Royal Family by making public an eight-hour video of him allegedly taking drugs and performing oral sex on his aide.

An entire city's train traffic was brought to a stop Saturday by a rat that authorities discovered was stuck in a hotel signal box. Stockholm residents suffered a three-hour traffic delay, with officials primarily failing to find the source of the problem. Questions about the transit problem were answered when the police finally found the large rat inside the signal box at the basement of a local Sheraton Hotel.

A man who found himself the winner of a Ł1. 3 million ($2. 6 million) lottery recently returned to his job at a local McDonald's after living a rich life, simply because he missed his co-workers. The man, 25-year old Luke Pittard, won the lottery with his girlfriend and co-worker, 29-year old Emma Cox, 18 months ago, leading Pittard to quit his job as the restaurant's staff trainer. However, he decided to return because of the fact that he simply loved his job.

Almost 50 people reportedly lost their sight after staring at the sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rumored image of the Virgin Mary. Officials of India's Kottayam district reported a total of 48 individuals experiencing the condition, after medical examinations determined that their retinas were burned from staring at the sun. The cases had reportedly been constantly coming in since Friday last week.

India's lucrative outsourcing sector is not limited to back office jobs. It is now emerging as a major supplier of "back bedroom jobs" as an infant outsourcing hub as well. According to the International Herald Tribune, reproduction is the newest addition to the Asian tiger's outsourcing industry. Couples from the United States and Europe are asking Indian women to serve as surrogate mothers, leading to a boom in the number of clinics offering the procedure.