Speed scam

Canberra, Nov. 11 (Reuters): A dead man has been blamed for hundreds of speeding offences in Australia in what police believe is a major fraud designed to help motorists avoid traffic fines.

Police in Sydney said 240 people were under investigation over the speeding scam, where motorists blamed either the same dead man, or a person living in another state, for driving their cars at the time of the speeding offences.

“These offences amount to fraud and, if proven, those involved could face stiff penalties including imprisonment,” the police said.

The investigation found hundreds of people named the same man from Sydney’s west, who died five years ago, as the person driving their vehicle when it was speeding.

Panda porn

Bangkok (Reuters): A Thai zoo, which has hosted a couple of pandas for four years, will play “porn” videos for the male next month to encourage them to breed in captivity, the project manager said on Saturday. The pair have been living chastely together at a zoo in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Panda project chief Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee said Chuang Chuang, the six-year-old male, would be shown the videos on a large screen when he might be feeling amorous. “We’ll play the video at the most comfortable and intimate time for him, perhaps after dinner,” Prasertsak said, hoping Chuang Chuang would then use the techniques on Lin Hui, a five-year-old female.

Sex signs

Madrid (Reuters): A Spanish town council has vowed to banish sexism from street signs by demanding half of all road signs and traffic lights show female figures with skirts and ponytails. Fuenlabrada, which lies south of the capital Madrid, will replace old and damaged road signs and traffic lights with new stock within a year. “In this way the sexism which until now has seen only masculine figures appear in traffic signals will be brought to an end,” the council said.

Loud Lohan

Los Angeles (AP): Lindsay Lohan tossed a four-letter expletive at fellow Hollywood run-around Paris Hilton earlier this week. In a video posted on Thursday on YouTube.com, Lohan was captured leaving a Los Angeles hotel inside which Hilton had reportedly been partying. The 20-year-old actress, as she was getting into the passenger side of a vehicle, used the profanity to describe Hilton after an observer asked if they had fought earlier. “She’s kidding,” a friend in the back seat quickly followed up.