The Odd Truth, Feb. 28, 2003

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.

Phone Number Of The Beast

VANCLEVE, Ky. - After months of asking for a new telephone number, a conservative Bible college has finally has been able to drop the 666 prefix that many recognized as the biblical mark of the beast.

"We're just elated that the number has been changed," said Rob Roy MacGregor, vice president of business affairs for Kentucky Mountain Bible College. "It was like we had this Scarlet Letter attached to us."

MacGregor said the college is now in the process of removing the troublesome number from printed material, including the college's official letterhead.

The 666 prefix had been the only one available in this eastern Kentucky town since telephone service arrived. But the need for additional phone lines in the largely rural Breathitt County forced telephone companies to add new numbers.

The non-denominational Christian college had been trying for several months to get the number changed after a 693 prefix was added.

"We were glad we could finally get a number that the school is happy with," said Kaye Davis, general counsel for Access Point, a North Carolina-based telephone company that serves the college.

In the biblical book of Revelation, 666, the mark of the beast, is stamped into people's foreheads or right hands during the last days. Those who receive the mark, according to Scripture, are damned to eternal punishment.

MacGregor said the beast represents Satan. True Christians, he said, will not accept the mark.

Maybe It Was A Practice Run?

STOCKHOLM - Police in northern Sweden said an elaborate bank heist involving explosives, diversion maneuvers and multiple getaway cars was carried out Friday with only one glitch: The robbers didn't get any money.

A countryside bank was damaged by two explosions early Friday in Brunflo, 336 miles northwest of Stockholm, while police were tied up with a suspicious package outside the regional police station, 12 miles further north.

No one was injured, but the explosions ripped open an automatic teller machine, police spokesman Aake Mortaigne said. However, the blasts also triggered dye-packs that sprayed money inside the machine with ink, rendering the notes useless, he said.

Witnesses told police they saw six suspects carrying automatic weapons with laser sights flee the scene in a dark-colored car. A car matching the description was found burned out a few miles away, where police believe they had another car waiting.

A bomb squad blew up the package, which was spotted outside the police station an hour before the bank explosions.

Mortaigne said the package probably was used by the bank robbers as a diversion tactic in what he called the most elaborate bank robbery plot ever in the mountainous region.

"All that work for nothing," he said.

City Of Moab Objects To MOAB The Bomb

MOAB - Some folks in the southern Utah town of Moab aren't too happy with the name the military has chosen for it newest bomb.

The Pentagon announced that the 21,000 pound bomb will be called MOAB — short for massive ordnance air burst — and it could be used in a war with Iraq.

But people who live in Moab, Utah, wish the government had picked a different name.

Mayor Dave Sakrison told The Salt Lake Tribune that everyone he's talked to is appalled by the acronym.

Grand County Councilwoman Joette Langianese says she doesn't want to hear on the news that MOAB was dropped on Iraq, killing thousands of people.

Moab is an old mining town adored by outdoor enthusiasts today for its red-rock beauty.

Fast Food Makes Europeans Fat, Too

ATHENS, Greece - Nearly one-third of all Europeans are obese because of fast-food consumption and sedentary lifestyles, and nations must encourage healthier habits, a U.N. agency warned Friday.

Obesity, once considered mostly an American problem, now is prevalent in European countries, where traditional diets have been associated with long life and good health, the World Health Organization said.

Nutritionists from 50 countries opened a three-day meeting in Athens to examine ways to fight a trend among the world's developed nations, where changing diets and more sedentary lives contribute to obesity-related health problems like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

In Greece, the problem is particularly acute because many people have turned away from the country's traditional Mediterranean diet toward fast food, officials say.

McDonald's To Sell Fresh Fruit

LONDON - Stung by criticism that its food is laden with fat and salt, McDonald's said Friday its British restaurants will be the first in the world to sell fresh fruit.

Starting in April, grapes and sliced apples will be sold in 2.3-ounce bags for 95 cents, the company said.

McDonald's is also adding a new fruit juice with "no extra sugar" to its Happy Meals for children and a 266-calorie pasta salad with less than 5 percent fat to its salad menu. The pasta salad will be available May 27. It was not immediately clear whether the juice and salad would be sold at restaurants outside Britain.

"Tastes are always changing, and these changes to McDonald's menu aim to provide our customers with even more choice," said Mike Scott, head of national marketing.

Other new tastes include the Chicken Select, made from chicken breast meat, at 185 calories a serving. It will be sold in Britain on April 2. Green salads will be available over the summer.

"McDonald's are clearly pretty keen to do something, with profits down and stores closing," said Jeanette Longfield, coordinator of the British food and farming alliance Sustain, which campaigns for healthier eating. "It may be they just want to be seen selling healthier food."

Good Samaritan Gets Screwed

OWASSO, Oklahoma - A Good Samaritan may have to pay for his good deeds. Doug Jones faces a $117 traffic fine, after stopping to help motorists stranded in a snowstorm last Sunday. Jones was ticketed by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for improperly parking on U.S. 169. Troopers say no matter what his intentions, he created a dangerous situation. Officers say they warned Jones before issuing the ticket. But Jones is getting plenty of support. Well-wishers are offering to circulate petitions and even pay his fine.

Celebrity Chef Bans His Children From Restaurant

LONDON - Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has banned his four children from his Michelin-starred restaurant, saying he wants them to experience the delights of eating junk food.

"They're banned. I won't have any of the children at the restaurant before they're 15," Ramsay said.

"I want them to know what junk food is about," he added. "I want them to know what a pizza is like and what a croque monsieur is like because I don't want them to grow up as food snobs."

The former footballer, who has an acclaimed restaurant at London's Claridge's Hotel, said he did not want 4-year-old Megan, twins Jack and Holly, 3 and Matilda, 15 months, to get used to fine dining.

"I had a very hard upbringing and very limited food on the table. We never sat down to a starter, main course and pudding.

"I came from nowhere and whatever I've done, I've done through hard work. So that understanding will be put into my children because it would be very easy for them to come to Claridge's for their birthday, but they can't," he said.