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Nine choke to death on Japanese New Year delicaciesPublished: 4 January 2015 Naked men in loinclothes pound steamed rice into a mochi, rice cake to celebrate the New Year at the Kanda shrine in Tokyo on January 1, 2015. – AFP pic, January 4, 2015. Nine people have choked to death in Japan after eating traditional glutinous "mochi" rice cakes to celebrate the New Year, an official and local media said Sunday. In Tokyo alone, 18 people were sent to hospital due to suffocation after eating the New Year delicacy, and three of them died, a fire department official said. The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the death toll from rice cake accidents reached nine by Friday across the nation and 13 others were in a serious condition. During the New Year period, one of Japan's biggest holidays, families traditionally cook "ozouni" soup and put the sticky rice cakes in the vegetable broth. The fire department is advising people, especially the elderly and infants, to cut mochi into small pieces before eating it. Every year, several Japanese die after choking on rice cakes. – AFP, January 4, 2015. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/world/article/nine-choke-to-death-on-japanese-new-year-delicacies

what is this guy talking about?

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporesc...180318-500.html The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised Singaporeans in the areas affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant problems in Japan to move to safer locations. A spokesman from the MFA said Singaporeans currently in Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures should evacuate the area with immediate effect. Singaporeans in prefectures neighbouring Fukushima, such as Yamagata, and Niigata, as well as in the Kanto region (Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi), should consider leaving if they have no pressing reasons to remain there. The Singapore Embassy in Tokyo has made arrangements for Singaporeans living within the radius of 80 to 100 km from the nuclear power plant to leave for safer locations starting 17 March 2011. The embassy has been assisting Singaporeans who wish to leave Japan with travel arrangements, immigration or visa-related issues, and in some urgent cases, helped arrange local transportation. "We are working closely with Singapore Airlines to ensure that there is sufficient capacity for Singaporeans wishing to return to Singapore, including the possibility of mounting extra flights," said the spokesman. Consular teams in Tokyo are stationed at Narita and Haneda Airports and will render the necessary consular assistance to Singaporeans who decide to return to Singapore, the spokesman added. Singaporeans wishing to return home or travel to a third country may also wish to consider commercial flights from the Kansai International Airport in Osaka, the Central Japan International Airport in Nagoya, and the Fukuoka International Airport in Fukuoka. They should closely monitor the situation and follow instructions from their local authorities, the spokesman pointed out. 20 Singaporeans in Sendai, approximately 90km from Fukushima, have indicated to that they wish to stay behind. The Singapore Embassy will continue to stay in touch with them. "We continue to advise against all non-essential travel to Japan," the MFA spokesman said.

Would like to hear advice from bros who know much abt E90.. For a mid 2006 unit, is it risky to buy? Gearbox if got problems will be costly to replace?

Toyota: 3.8 million cars with risky floor mats NHTSA and world's largest automaker warn vehicle owners to remove driver's side floor mats in 7 Lexus and Toyota models. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toyota issued a safety warning for 3.8 million Lexus and Toyota cars because of potentially deadly floor mats. In statements released Tuesday, the world's largest automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned drivers to remove the mats or risk a forced-down accelerator pedal that could lead to a fatal crash. The seven models being recalled could potentially have removable mats that would interfere with the pedal and cause it to stick. "A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death," said Toyota in its statement. Though Toyota recalled accessory all-weather floor mats in 2007 for similar problems, NHTSA noted that reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly even after the release of the pedal have continued. In a statement posted on the automaker's Web site earlier this month, Toyota said that preliminary information from investigators indicated that a fatal crash involving a family driving a 2009 ES350 loaned by a local Lexus dealer in San Diego could have been caused by an all-weather floor mat interfering with the accelerated pedal because of a faulty mat installation. "There is an urgent matter," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in the NHTSA statement. "For everyone's sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration." Toyota has announced that it will soon launch a safety recall to redress the problem, but NHTSA and the automaker warn Toyota and Lexus drivers of certain models to remove that floor mats sooner for safety. The Toyota models being impacted are: 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma and 2007-2010 Tundra. The Lexus models facing the safety recall are the 2007-2010 ES 350, and the 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS 350.

Fernando Alonso's overtaking move on his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa in China recently was "incredibly risky", according to Mark Webber. Australian Webber, who is known to be a friend of the Spanish double world champion, was commenting on Alonso's controversial move in the Shanghai pit entry that left his relationship with Massa the subject of speculation. "It was very hard against your teammate, if fair, but also incredibly risky and incredibly opportunistic," said Webber, who drives for Ferrari's championship rival Red Bull. "It could have been quite confusing for the team, because they needed to switch the tyres around. And I'm not sure I'd want to risk walking into the factory having taken both cars out at the entry to the pitlane," he added. "That would have been a pretty serious one to try and get over. But in the end it turned out ok for Fernando and he got away with it," said Webber. Last week, 28-year-old Alonso hit out at the fact that the move and its after-effects were still in the headlines. "What is clear is that two weeks after a race you can't keep talking about such unimportant things, so I'm going to refuse to answer," he is quoted as saying by the Spanish sports newspaper Marca. And in a more recent interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera, Alonso was asked if he would repeat the pit entry move in light of the criticism it has generated. "Absolutely yes," he answered. Source: GMM