A flyover THROUGH an office block !

The 16-storey Gate Tower Building in the city of Osaka has a busy fly-over running straight through the ground floor as this amazing picture shows.The building has a double core construction, with a circular cross section and the Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the Hanshin Expressway system passes between the fifth and seventh floors.

The highway is the tenant of those floors and actually pays rent.
The lift even passes through the floors without stopping, floor 4 being followed by floor 8.
The floors through which the highway passes consist of elevators, stairways and machinery.
The motorway does not make contact with the building and it passes through as a bridge, held up by supports next to the building.
Architects surrounded the road with a structure to protect the building from noise and vibration.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093903/No-room-road-Japanese-engineers-just-build-straight-middle.html#ixzz1kxnuuy75

Hostage tells of prison in the Wellington suburbs....

 Are you kidding me.......this happening in Wellington New Zealand ?

 For months, in an ordinary house in a Wellington suburb, a 17-year-old Pakistani was held hostage, trapped in a marriage forced on her by her parents and threatened with death.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, was married in 2010 without her consent or knowledge after her Muslim parents learned she had a Hindu boyfriend and became concerned she was too westernised. The man they chose for her was a distant relative, a 21-year-old she had met in passing.

 

The Wellington teenager refused to go ahead with the marriage, despite months of family threats of deportation and violence.
Then her parents took her to the Internal Affairs Department to sign what they said were visa documents but which she later found were marriage papers.
That night a ceremony was held at her parents' home. She was told it was an engagement ceremony and, if she did not attend, she would be deported. After the ceremony she said her father told her she was married and was to go to her husband's house in Newtown with him that night.
"I was crying all day and night. I didn't want to get married. I don't think any 17-year-old girl would want to get married.
"I was freaking out. I was still in shock and told the guy not to touch me. He was trying to be forceful to me sexually but, when I warned him about the police, he backed off."

Read More : http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6332762/Hostage-tells-of-prison-in-the-suburbs

Japanese tourist dies on Milford track

A Japanese man in his early-60s has died while walking the Milford track with guided walk company.
He was with a group of 31 people and three guides crossing McKinnon Pass about 11.20am yesterday when he collapsed on the track. CPR was carried out but the man could not be revived, Ultimate Hikes said today.
Emergency services were immediately contacted, and the man was taken by helicopter to Te Anau where he was pronounced dead. His body was taken to Invercargill.
The man was travelling alone and had booked his trip through an agency.
Acting Sergeant Glenn Matheson of Te Anau police said the normal processes for such an incident were now under way. The cause of death was not yet confirmed. The coroner had been called in.
At mid-morning today the man's next of kin were still to be advised, and his name could not be released. 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6334512/Japanese-tourist-dies-on-Milford-track 

Walking for Health

  Get up and walk.Most of us do need to move more....
   
Walking may be the single best – and easiest – exercise you can do to improve your health in 2012.
Not only will going for a daily walk help you feel better now, it will help you maintain your independence and ability to do daily tasks as you age, says Barbara Bushman, a health professor at Missouri State University who has helped older, sedentary men and women start a walking routine.
Research also has shown walking regularly can help protect the brain against memory loss and dementia, help cut the risk of heart disease, and reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults by a whopping 60 per cent.
 And we're not talking marathon walking either. The peak benefits come from 30 minutes of exercise several times a week, say experts.
Read more  :http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/6330385/Research-offers-a-leg-up

Man kept warm by burning MONEY in mountain blizzard.

A seasoned mountaineer, who was lost for two days in a snowstorm on a mountainside, told rescuers he survived by burning dollar bills and dreaming of a sauna.

Yong Chun Kim, 66, started a fire and first burned leaves - before resorting to the contents of his wallet and his socks.

The pensioner, from Tacoma, became stranded on Mount Rainier in Washington after becoming separated from a group who were also snowshoeing on Saturday. 

Tough terrain: Yong Chun Kim, 66, survived two days and nights on Mount Rainier in Washington by burning money and then his socks

In good shape: Mr Kim (centre) is greeted by his wife and another relative at the ranger station on Mount Rainier

Mr Kim, who served in the South Korean military in the Vietnam War, told local station KOMO-TV that he had fire starters with him and first burned some leaves before turning to personal items.

The 66-year-old also kept moving to stay warm, took cover under a tree at night and dreamed of his wife and being in a sauna.

He was rescued yesterday but was in such good shape that there was no need for him to go to hospital.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087986/Man-66-survived-mountain-blizzard-days-burning-money-dreaming-sauna-wife.html#ixzz1jlz6udyE

A Costa Concordia true love story.

WIFE 'SAVED BY HUSBAND' WHO HANDED HER HIS LIFEJACKET

A survivor told how her husband saved her life before drowning - because there was 'nobody there' to save him.
Frenchwoman Nicole Servel, 61, said Francis Servel, 71, gave her his lifejacket before they leapt off the sinking cruise ship.
She said: 'I owe my life to my husband – it’s obvious he saved me.' She managed to swim for shore, while Mr Servel was swept underwater and drowned.
Speaking from her home near Toulouse, south west France, Mrs Servel said: 'He shouted  'jump, jump, jump. I can't swim so he gave me his life jacket.
'I froze and couldn’t jump, but he jumped off the ship and shouted upwards 'Come on, don't worry.
'I jumped off and the last thing I heard him say was that I would be fine. Then I never saw him again.
'The water was only eight degrees. When I was alone in the water I thought of my children, my grandchildren. The thought of them kept me afloat. It kept me living. I do not know how I did it.
'I swam for several minutes. I am unable to say exactly how long. And then I found myself on a rock. Villagers came to pick us up. They led us to a church. I was very cold, frozen. In the sacristy we found a cassock. I took it. It made me warm.'
 

Grounded: The cruise ship was lit up by emergency vessels as darkness fell this evening

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087249/Costa-Concordia-cruise-ship-accident-Bodies-4-men-1-woman-found.html#ixzz1jjWEl53Y

We will miss you...

Wellington's 'Blanket Man' Ben Hana dies..

 

 

 

 

STREET IDENTITY: Ben Hana, popularly called "Blanket Man", was a well-known personality on Wellington's city streets.

Wellington street personality Ben Hana, more commonly known as "Blanket Man", has died.
Hana, 54, died in Wellington Hospital at 3.35pm today, a Capital and Coast District Health Board spokeswoman confirmed.
Authorities had become increasingly concerned about his health in the past few weeks.
It was not known what he died from. However, he was suffering medical problems stemming from heavy alcohol use and malnutrition, lawyer Maxine Dixon said.
Hana was famous in Wellington and further afield, with fans creating Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia internet sites in honour of "Blanket Man".
At least one song has been written about him and T-shirts emblazoned with his cartoon image have been sold.
During the debate over the proposed Wellywood sign near the airport, an image of Hana was suggested.
Hana's change from family man to homeless person was spurred, in part, by a series of personal disasters, including killing his friend while drink-driving. "[It's] something I can't talk about," he told the Dominion Post in 2010.
In June 2010 Hana faced cannabis and drinking charges in Wellington District Court and was ordered to be admitted to Wellington Hospital's psychiatric ward. When he returned to the streets he vowed to turn over a new leaf. ... We will miss you when we next go to Wellington and walk around Courtenay Place.

Tributes are flowing for Wellington's iconic character 'Blanket Man', who died in hospital yesterday afternoon.

Messages have been scrawled on a wall, and flowers, candles and other items have been left on Courtenay Place where the 54-year-old homeless man, whose name was Ben Hana, was known to sit.

Mr Hana was a well-known face who often sat or lay against shops and buildings in the central city.

He preferred to wear a blanket and a loin cloth, and was often sighted with an iPod.

Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown said she was "very sad" to hear of the local personality's death.

"He was a very well-known character who obviously lived his life in a very high profile way."

Costa Concordia ran aground

• Passengers tell of 'chaos' as crew members said 'go back to your cabins'
• Survivors leapt for their lives into the icy sea as the liner rolled onto its side
• Captain of the ship in custody with another crew member
• Boat was 'four miles off course' when it hit rocks
• Bodies of two French passengers and a Peruvian crewman recovered
• One victim, 65, died from heart attack following shock of cold water
• Liner had listed so badly 'lifeboats had difficulty being launched'
• 37 Britons on board but none believed to have died or been injured

Divers last night searching the Italian luxury cruise liner that capsized in the Mediterranean, pulled two people alive from the wreckage amid fears that more passengers were left trapped inside.
More than 4,000 people were rescued when the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany on Friday, leaving two passengers and a crew member confirmed dead. But last night up to 40 people were still missing.
The Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer Ciro Ambrosio were detained last night at the police station in Porto Santo Stefano on the Italian mainland, as they faced continuing questioning about the events leading up to the disaster. Prosecutors are investigating possible charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship while passengers were still in danger.
Italian media reported that a man and a woman had been located alive on board the stricken ship. It is said the survivors were on the deck levels above the water line and a team of firefighters had been sent on board the vessel to rescue them.

Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia carrying more than 4,000 people ran aground and keeled over off the Italian coast near the island of Giglio in Tuscany, Italy, last night

 

Italian Coast Guard personnel recover the black box from the Costa Condordia cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast of Italy

 'It seemed just like the Titanic,' say survivors

Many passengers likened the tragedy to the sinking of the Titanic exactly a century ago.
Although the death toll from Friday’s accident was small in comparison to the 1,514 who perished when the doomed liner went down on April 15, 1912, there are many parallels.
As the Costa Concordia listed amid panicked cries, passengers in evening wear crawled along upended corridors, just as they did in 1912. Meanwhile, a small number of people, apparently unable to reach lifeboats, jumped in desperation into the cold night sea.
Questions about lifeboats were also raised by both disasters. The Titanic carried just 20 lifeboats – in line with regulations at the time – but that was enough for only about half the 2,223 people on board. And one of the chief complaints yesterday was that the crew delayed lowering lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.
American passenger Valerie Ananias, 31, said the scenes on board were ‘exactly’ like those from the Hollywood film Titanic. ‘We were crawling up a hallway with only the light from the life vest flashing,’ added her 61-year-old mother Georgia. ‘We could hear dishes crashing and people slamming against walls.’

The Costa Concordia after the evacuation off the Itaiian coast had been completed. Tonight Captain Francesco Schettino was being quizzed by police

 

The cruise ship that ran aground is seen off the west coast of Italy as a helicopter hovers above to try and find passengers

The damage to the vessel can be seen quite clearly

Italian news agency Ansa said 4,165 out of the 4,234 people on-board were safe but did not know the whereabouts of the remaining 69

Lifeboats are pictured in the foreground. Among the dead was a man around age 65, who officials believe may not have been able to withstand the cold of the sea at night

The Concordia's grounding should serve as a wake-up call to the shipping industry and those who regulate it, the maritime professionals' union Nautilus International said

Passengers spoke of having to crawl along near vertical hallways and stairwells to escape the ship as it began to take on more and more water

Close-up: A woman looks at the cruise ship as it lies half in the water off the coast of Italy. Three people have been killed

Disaster: The Costa Concordia lies partly submerged this morning after hitting rocks. So passengers were rescued by helicopter

A woman is cared for by a rescue worker and a child is taken to safety. Thousands of people have been affected by the incident

Waiting game: A passenger took this photo of a group of passengers in life-jackets on board the liner as they waited to be rescued

Rescue workers help a woman as she is led to safety at Porto Santo Stefano. Lifeboats had difficulty launching

Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano

The evacuees were taking refuge in schools, hotels, and a church on the tiny island of Giglio, a popular holiday isle about 18 miles off Italy's central west coast

A Carabinieri boat approaches the Costa Concordia as it lies partly submerged in the water off the coast of Tuscany

Collision: Rocks embedded in the ruptured side of the Costa Concordia reveal the extent of the damage to the hull

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086831/Costa-Concordia-accident-Pictures-cruise-ship-sinking-coast-Italy-Titanic-like-scene.html#ixzz1jVp6B3Po

Driver rams 13 vehicles in China with stolen car.

See video : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16542553

A driver in China has crashed into 13 cars trying to avoid arrest, according to police.
Surveillance video shows a traffic officer trying to flag down a stolen car but the driver refuses to stop, reversing into motorbikes and ramming cars that block his path.
Chinese state television said the driver was arrested in the end, and charged with endangering public safety.

NZ is the friendliest country on earth....

 

Kids swimming, inner harbour, Raglan, New Zealand. Photo / NZPA, Ross Setford

 

New Zealand is the friendliest place on earth, according to a survey of expats - and Australia ranks well with people who don't call the country home.
A total of 3385 expatriates living in 100 countries were asked a number of questions as part of the 2011 HSBC Expat Explorer Survey.
The results show many expats rate New Zealand highly in a number of categories, including how easy it is to befriend locals, fit into a new culture and learn the language.
Up to 75 per cent of expats said they were integrating well into the community.
Australia came second in the friendly stakes, followed by South Africa, Canada and America.
One quote included in the survey from an expat living in New Zealand said: "The lifestyle is better in the South Island, the jobs are mainly in the North Island."

Read more : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10778637

High school removes doors from bathrooms to 'prevent students from having sex in them'

One high school in McKinney, Texas has removed the doors to bathrooms, invoking an outcry from both parents and students.
McKinney North High School says removing the doors to the bathroom entrances are a preventative measure to ‘keep kids safe.’
But rumours have been circulating among students that the doors were removed because of illicit sexual behaviour in the loos.

Privacy's a privilege: McKinney High School in Texas removed all exterior bathroom doors

One high school student said she’s seen some questionable activities in the women’s restroom. ‘I’ve walked into the bathroom and seen girls in the bathroom with guys,’ Sarah O’Kerke told KDAF-TV.
Another student agreed. ‘I heard the reason they took (the doors) off was because they caught a freshman couple having sex in the bathroom,’ Avniel Guerra said.
 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086501/High-school-removes-doors-bathrooms-prevent-students-having-sex-them.html#ixzz1jObK9sVd