World’s Tallest Log Cabin..[ 1529 ]

World’s Tallest Log Cabin Was Built by a Russian Gangster

Telegraph co.ul., by Yuka Yoneda...,27/ 07/10

filed under: Architecture

The world's tallest treehouse that we featured a few months back was constructed by a preacher, but the world's tallest log cabin was built by someone with a decidedly less wholesome occupation - a Russian gangster. That's right - Nikolai Sutyagin's soaring home is believed to be the world's tallest wooden house and stands 144 ft. tall (about half the size of Big Ben). You might think that its 13 bizarrely shaped floors look haphazard or thrown together, but make sure Sutyagin doesn't hear you saying that....

Located in the city of Arkhangelsk in northwest Russia, the wooden building was supposed to be just 2 storeys tall when it was started in 1992.

“First I added three floors but then the house looked ungainly, like a mushroom,” says Sutyagin of how 2 floors grew to 13. “So I added another and it still didn’t look right so I kept going. 

What you see today is a happy accident.” Sutyagin actually added a five-storey bath house in the garden and wanted to keep building but was unfortunately hauled off to jail for a four-year prison sentence in 1998 before he could enjoy it.

Sutyagin is now out of jail but has still not been able to complete his towering home. He and his wife Lena live in four drafty rooms at the bottom of the now crumbling abode and neighbors who call the house a monstrosity have threatened to have it torn down.

They fear that since the house is made of wood and is so large, it could easily catch fire and cause the whole neighborhood to go up in flames. Unscathed, Sutyagin conducts tours of his masterpiece, taking tourists around it tip-toeing across rotting planks.

Via Telegraph

Abolition of visa regime ..[ 1528 ]

Turkey, Russia achieve visa-free regime

Trend /////27.07.2010 12:59

 

On Tuesday, a document confirming the abolition of visa regime entered into force between Russia and Turkey, the website of the Turkish newspaper Zaman reported.

The document was signed May 12 during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to Ankara.

Now Russian citizens will be able to enter the territory of Turkey without a visa for up to 30 days. 

Previously, they had to obtain a visa at the border with Turkey, which cost $ 20.

Spain, popular' mosque cloded..[ 1527 ]

Spanish mayor closes 'too popular' mosque

A Spanish mayor has told Muslim worshippers to "pray at home" and closed the town's mosque because it was too popular.

 

Photo: Heathcliff O'malley

Telegraph co.uk.,Fiona Govan in Madrid
Published: 5:35PM BST 23 Jul 2010

( Madrid )Angel Ros, the socialist mayor of Lleida, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, complained that the mosque was too full and closed it on Wednesday until further notice.

The building, a former garage used to service trucks, was often filled with crowds exceeding a thousand people, the council said, when the authorised limit for the venue is 240.

A new mosque is under construction on the outskirts of the town but work had been stalled because of a lack of financing during the economic crisis.

"The municipality has no obligation to provide places of worship," Mr Ros said in response to complaints from the town's Muslim population over the closure. "Those that wish can pray at home, as I do," he added.

The move follows a recent ban on women wearing the burka or niqab in municipal building in the Catalan town. In June Lleida was the first town council in Spain to introduce a ban, which has since been adopted by half a dozen other councils, including Barcelona, the capital of the region.
Abdelwahab Houzi, the local imam, said the mosque closure had added to the Muslim community's sense of "persecution" by authorities.

S Korea-US military exercise ..[ 1526 ]

S Korea-US military exercise begins in the Sea of Japan

 

The US-South Korean military exercise, code-named Invincible Spirit, will last four days

BBC.,July 25,3010
The US and South Korea have begun a major military exercise in the Sea of Japan, despite threats of retaliation from North Korea.

The navy and air force manoeuvres involve 20 ships, 200 planes and 8,000 US and South Korean personnel.

Washington and Seoul say they want to send a clear signal to the North following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
An international investigation said a North Korean torpedo sank the ship.

However, the claim has been angrily denied by Pyongyang.

On Saturday, North Korea threatened to use its nuclear deterrent in a retaliatory, "sacred war" in response to the exercise.

The BBC's John Sudworth, who is aboard one of the warships, says the show of strength is intended to rattle Pyongyang's military and political elite.
But some observers are questioning whether the display of military power will simply galvanise the hardliners inside the isolated country, he says.
North Korea's inflammatory rhetoric is nothing new, he adds, but the rising tension is causing concern, with China urging all parties to show restraint.

The South Korean defence ministry said the manoeuvres had been relocated from the sensitive Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan following protests from China, North Korea's ally.
Border monitored Amid the rising tension, military officials in Seoul said they were closely monitoring the North's military in border areas but had not detected any unusual activity in the run-up to the exercises, code-named Invincible Spirit.

The North's National Defence Commission denounced the war games as "nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] by force of arms," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," it added.

The US responded by saying it was "not interested in a war of words with North Korea".
The four-day drill includes the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and some 200 fixed-wing aircraft, officials said.

The sinking of the Cheonan warship claimed the lives of 46 South Korean sailors.

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Silly asses!...] 1525 ]

Silly asses! Britain loves the donkey

The donkeys are flying in Russia !!

Clik for Full story: The Independent

Here's a quiz question to start off the silly season: what do Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Karl Marx and Rupert Murdoch have in common? Apart, of course, from the wacky lifestyle and their influence on generations of literature lovers.



1 hour ego posted by  Robobloger