Motorists in northern Mexico who are caught dabbing on lipstick, shaving or carrying a pet at the wheel will now face hefty fines as authorities try to cut down on traffic accidents. Putting on make-up or shaving with an electric razor will land drivers fines of up to 346 pesos ($32) in the northern Mexican city of Torreon from this month, Mexican media reported yesterday.
Along with a slew of higher fines for common traffic offenses such as driving while intoxicated, speeding, and talking on a telephone without a headset, Torreon city hall said new misdemeanors included throwing trash out of a car window, and driving with another person or an animal on a motorist's lap.
Tries to smuggle lion, monkey
While thousands of Palestinians flooded into Egypt to stock up on food, fuel and other staples after Islamist militants breached the border, one man bought a lion cub and a monkey to smuggle back home.
The man managed to reach Cairo and buy the animals despite a heavy security cordon, but police caught him at a checkpoint as he tried to sneak them back into Gaza in a small truck carrying furniture, security officials told Reuters yesterday. They said the man, whom they did not identify, confessed to wanting to sell the cub and monkey in Gaza.
Six more winter weeks
America's most famous groundhog emerged from his burrow early yesterday and declared that winter will last another six weeks.
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow shortly before 1.30 p.m. to the cheers of over 30,000 people from as far away as Alaska and Texas, one of the largest crowds in the 122-year history of the event in the central Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney. The rodent was taken out of a tree stump on a hill called Gobbler's Knob, and delivered his prognostication to William Cooper, president of Punxsutawney's Inner Circle, who organisers say is the only person in the world who can speak 'groundhog-ese'.
According to the tradition that may have links with the European festival of Candlemas, if the groundhog sees his shadow, it will mean six more weeks of winter. If not, there will be an early spring.
Cooper read a scroll containing the groundhog's prediction. It said: "As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter it will be."
Plan to export monkeys scrapped
Malaysia has dropped a plan to round up nuisance monkeys from its cities and sell them abroad as exotic meat or for medical research, after discovering that most of the animals are too ill to be exported.
In August, the Government said it would end a ban on the export of long-tailed macaques after complaints that they were too aggressive and had attacked residents. Animal rights groups objected, saying the monkeys would be sold to laboratories.
But the New Straits Times said yesterday the Government had now reversed its decision after discovering that the monkeys were riddled with diseases and that no one would want to buy them.
Venezuela seeks upfront cash
Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is seeking a $1 billion upfront payment for several large shipments of fuel oil, El Universal newspaper reported yesterday, in what may be a new sign of cash flow problems.
Under the deal, Venezuela is selling the fuel relatively cheaply but wants payment this week, the newspaper said.
PDVSA wants to find buyers for eight very large crude carrier cargoes of fuel oil by Wednesday and expects payment the following day.
President Hugo Chavez uses PDVSA as the financial engine of his socialist revolution, drawing down capital for social projects, and analysts say the company is facing a cash crunch despite high crude prices.
Sarkozy aide against SocGen bid
A senior adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told French paper Le Parisien that France remains against any hostile bid for Societe Generale, the French bank hit by a trading scandal.
In an interview due to be published today, Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant said France preferred a "friendly" solution for SocGen should the bank end up as a bid target.
"For the public authorities, one thing is clear: a friendly solution would be preferable to a hostile attack from any kind of financial establishment," Gueant was quoted as saying. He also criticised SocGen for not having alerted Sarkozy sooner to its problems.
Four dead in store shooting
Several people were shot inside a store at a suburban Chicago shopping centre yesterday, police said, and media reports said four were killed and another wounded.
Police in Tinley Park southwest of Chicago would only say they were searching for a man who may have fired the shots inside a Lane Bryant clothing store at the Brookside Marketplace shopping centre. One report said the shootings may have happened in the course of a robbery.
Local media reports said four people were found dead and another wounded inside the store but police believed the suspect had fled.