Wacky Stuff

An Obsession With Being On Time

Anywhere else in the world, a train running 90 seconds late would perhaps be considered on time. But in Japan, 90 seconds would foil commuters who depend on trains' connecting to one another with balletic precision, often with only a couple of minutes to spare.

And so to make up for a lost 90 seconds, a 23-year-old train engineer, it has become increasingly clear, was speeding when his train jumped off the tracks at a curve here in western Japan and hurtled into a nine-story apartment building on Monday morning.

The death toll of the deadliest train accident in Japan in four decades rose Wednesday to 94. In this rusting industrial town just outside Osaka, workers continued to bring out bodies.

Across the country, the accident has already caused much soul-searching over Japan's attention to - some would say obsession with - punctuality and efficiency. To many, the engineer's single-minded focus on making up the 90 seconds seemed to reveal the weak points of a society where the trains really do run on time, but where people have lost sight of the bigger picture.

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Japan Sex Industry Ensnares Latin Women

At least 1,700 women from Latin America and the Caribbean are lured each year into sexual slavery in Japan's huge illicit sex industry, according to a new report.

A team of researchers hired by the Organization of American States found that most of the women come from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.

The team of researchers -- led by Phillip Linderman, an expert on loan from the U.S. State Department -- presented the "Rapid Assessment Report" to an international seminar on human trafficking sponsored by Peru's Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The OAS analysis was culled from interviews with presumed victims, Japanese immigration records and crime data.

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World's Most Expensive Hotels 2005

Continuing with our series of World's Most Expensive.

Yesterday was Most Expensive Zip Codes of 2005, today is World's Most Expensive Hotels 2005.

Son Stabs Mom 111 Times / Mom Stabs Kids 100 Times Each

An ongoing argument between a 15-year-old boy and his single mother about guns, porn and the teen's girlfriend may have led to a violent outburst sometime last weekend in which the son brutally killed his mom -- stabbing her 111 times, police said.

According to law enforcement officials, sometime before her death, Diane Michele took away the gun her son, a Rochester Hills high school freshman, apparently made out of PVC pipe to shoot marbles. She did not like that he played paintball. She found out he had been looking at porn.

The teenager, Christopher Dankovich, was arraigned Tuesday before 52-3 District Court Judge Nancy Carniak in Rochester Hills and charged with murder, accused of slashing his mother's body with a knife -- even poking her eyes. Police say he admitted to the killing. He is being held without bond in Children's Village, a juvenile detention facility in Pontiac.

If convicted, Dankovich could face life in prison.

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Mom Stabs Kids 100 Times Each

The mother of a 9-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl who were fatally stabbed more than 100 times each inside their suburban Chicago home was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder, authorities said.

Tonya Vasilev, 34, was expected to appear in bond court later Friday. Investigators believe she was at home Wednesday night when Christian and Gracie Vasilev were killed.

The children's father and a friend who had been living with the family discovered the bloody scene when they arrived home that evening.

Police found the boy lying just inside the front door and carried him outside, where they tried in vain to resuscitate him, said Hoffman Estates Police Lt. Rich Russo.

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Ebay Auctions Pope Benedict's VW

A Volkswagen Golf IV purportedly once owned by Pope Benedict XVI is up for sale on eBay's German auction site, with bidding as high as euro42,070 (US$54,257) on Friday.

Benjamin Halbe, 21, from the western German town of Olpe, claims he owns the pope's former hatchback. He says he bought the car for just euro10,000 (US$12,900) in January, when Joseph Ratzinger was still a cardinal.

"Nobody could have imagined back then that Ratzinger would suddenly become so famous," he said. "Until last week my Golf was actually just a normal cardinal car."

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The Most Expensive Zip Codes 2005

1	94027	ATHERTON, CA	$2,496,553
2	93108	SANTA BARBARA, CA	$2,176,251
3	92067	RANCHO SANTA FE, CA	$2,144,254
4	92662	NEWPORT BEACH, CA	$2,046,577
5	11765	MILL NECK, NY	$1,948,636
6	94957	ROSS, CA	$1,910,263
7	89402	CRYSTAL BAY, NV	$1,806,962
8	07620	ALPINE, NJ	$1,773,880
9	89413	GLENBROOK, NV	$1,765,000
10	07976	NEW VERNON, NJ	$1,760,000

Check out if your zip code falls in the list.

Human Animation or Art?

George Reiger, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, shows off his tattoos in this file photo. Reiger has turned his body into a canvas for tattoos of hundreds of Disney characters. "The bottom line is it makes me happy,'' said Reiger, 51, a postal worker and professional magician in Bethlehem.

Elegant or Elephant Art?

Asia, a 9,000-pound Asian elephant with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus, is a big talent. Asia's paintings will be donated to North Light Community Center in Philadelphia to raise money by auction.

Woman Jailed For Raping Man

A 23-year-old Norwegian woman was sentenced to nine months in prison yesterday after she was convicted of raping a man.

The Bergen district court also ordered her to pay 40,000 kroner (£3,340) in compensation, in what the local news media said was the first case of its kind in Norway.

According to court testimony, the January 2004 sexual assault took place when the 31-year-old man, whose name was withheld, fell asleep on a couch in the apartment the woman shared with her boyfriend.

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Chocolate Beauty Treatments

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

Women are being given the chance to 'dive into chocolate' to make themselves beautiful at a health spa in Paris.

Beauty treatments include a Chocolate and Cranberry Body Scrub, a Toffee Chocolate Wrap and a Deep Chocolate Massage.

Therapists at the Four Seasons Hotel George V spa say cocoa has anti-ageing properties and that the treatments are designed to be 'anti diet'.

"You know you're going to do yourself good and you won't have any regrets afterwards," said manager Isabelle Schlumberger.

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