KEY POINTS:
Bernadette Peters is looking for witnesses. "On Thursday night at 6.10pm I was driving along Mt Eden Rd outbound from the city and a Stagecoach bus cut me off at the Kingsview Rd intersection. The bus drove straight past my car, ripping the bumper off, mangling my wheel, and sent me and my car into the middle of the road. The bus overtook me on the inside and I couldn't move backward so had to stay there as my car scraped right along the right side of the bus. This would have been really obvious to anyone on the bus ... Once I pulled my car over to the side of the road, the cars directly behind me drove off and no one stopped. Has Auckland really got as bad as New York or London? Are we so busy we can't stop to be a quick witness to such a blatant hit'n' run?" If anyone was travelling on a bus down Mt Eden Rd about 6pm on Thursday night and witnessed the accident, please email Sideswipe.
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A New Zealander has become one of the first people to go scuba diving under the Eiffel Tower.
To promote the sport, scuba instructors have begun offering free lessons - with wetsuits, scuba gear and even a biodegradable towel - in a chest-high pool at the foot of the French capital's most famous landmark. Ignoring the nippy and overcast weather, Kiwi Adrian Carter jumped in: "Through the water you can see the monument," he said afterwards. "It's magnificent."
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Overheard In The Office is a website that collects snippets of conversations. Here are a couple of goodies:
1. Spanish teacher, in Spanish: Margarita, what are you doing today?
Margarita: [Mutters something in Spanish.]
Student: Did you just say: 'I'm planning to attend the party where it is raining babies'?
Margarita: Baby shower. I'm going to a baby shower!
2. Co-worker #1: My son is hanging out with the stupidest kid ...
Co-worker #2: What do you mean?
Co-worker #1: He's not exactly the brightest knife in the drawer.
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India's richest man is building a tower-block home for his mother, wife, three children and 600 full-time staff. Mukesh Ambani's new home will be the height of a 60-storey building - but will have only 27 storeys because the ceilings are so high. The 174m tower, in the financial hub of Mumbai, will include a helipad and six floors of car parking. Draped in hanging gardens, the building will have a floor for a home theatre, a glass-fronted apartment for guests, and a two-storey health club. With property prices rocketing, the building is already worth more than $1.3 billion.
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The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig" after being killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred. Far from wild, the 450kg pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 60ha fenced area, the animal's former owner said. Phil Blissitt told the Anniston Star newspaper that he bought the 6-week-old pig in 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all their pigs. "I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig," Rhonda Blissitt said.
