Free Republic

A SUSPICIOUS pipe blockage had Launceston stormwater experts stumped until a remote-controlled camera robot came face to face with the furry culprit. Launceston City Council engineering development officer Sonia Smith said anyone developing a new subdivision was required to ensure all stormwater pipes were working. "They do that by conducting a remote video camera survey, and they then send the videos in to us," she said. But no one expected to find a wombat 10m below the ground, in a cosy stormwater pipe "burrow" in the outer Launceston suburb of St Leonards. The wombat can be seen on video attempting...

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio - Buffeted by Hollywood heartthrobs Luke Perry and Adam Brody, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lent her own star power to a fellow Democrat yesterday in the crucial presidential battleground state of Ohio. Clinton, Perry and Brody were on hand to boost Sherrod Brown's chances for the Senate at a massive rally in Austintown - where, many said, New York's junior senator was the main draw. Clinton was indeed the star attraction, but she made sure to note the presence of Perry, the former "Beverly Hills 90210" star and an Ohio native, and Brody, who stars in "The O.C."

A COMPLICATED dance, a bite on the rump and ferocious backward kicks are all part of the wombat's lovemaking repertoire, a new study has revealed. Until recently, there were no recorded observations of mating between wombats. But the director of Nocturnal Wildlife Research Ltd, biologist Clive Marks, found wombats were more likely than the average Aussie male to emulate moves from the Kama Sutra. Mr Marks, whose findings are to be published this week, says the first successful captive breeding of wombats was recorded in Hannover, Germany, in 1982. "With absolute precision, details of the wombat's sex life were recorded...