You've heard of synchronized swimming—now Japan has synchronized precision walking.

A group of Japanese students at Nippon Sports Science University have taken walking to a whole new level, drawing in 11,000 people at their university festivities this year on Thursday (November 14).

It's called "Shudankodo " in Japanese, or "collective action", and while the university says they've been doing this sport since 1966, it wasn't until a YouTube video went viral last year that it gained huge popularity.

It took the 77 Nippon Sports Science University students 5 months—at 3 days a week—of exercises to get them in shape for the dazzling performances. Their practise forced them to walk up to 720 miles in total, roughly the distance from Paris to Rome.

The captain of the team say she hopes their collective discipline will change the older generation's view of the younger.

"People say Japanese youngsters these days lack the ability to work collectively in group, but we just proved that we don't."

Suzuki says this training also helps student with their job search.

"We all mastered this highly disciplined training and made it our habit to stick to strict rules. I believe this experience will be an asset as we enter into the job market."

The university, famed for producing many Olympic gold medalists, sumo wrestlers and politicians, uses this event to highlight its student's athletic prowess—from cheerleading to martial arts.

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Now that's what you call an impressive domino chain!

Yeah, a Belgian book association has broken the world record for the longest book domino chain ever.

The record-breaking event was designed to celebrate books and promote reading.

A total of 4,845 books followed a pathway through the Antwerp book fair -spelling the Dutch words for "book," "fair" and "read."

It took forty volunteers two hours to set up the lines of books.

At the end of the 614-metre-long journey, which took only six minutes to complete, the books set off fireworks. Oh we do love a celebration!

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The Roma community of Farsala in Greece, where a mystery blonde girl was discovered, have been defending the couple who are accused of snatching the 4 year old.

The girl known as Maria was found after police raided the settlement. DNA tests prove she is not the couple’s child.

“Their children are crying all the time, they are crying over Maria, and their mother and their father, they are constantly crying.”

This Roma woman who has a blonde child says the couple are being unfairly stigmatised.

“The child was fine just there. Sure, she bought it. Children are bought for adoption if someone does not have children, that is what is done. This woman took the child to raise it. The mother who sold it, maybe she was poor, had problems and she wanted to give it to a good family.”

The couple denies they snatched the girl and say they took her under their care after her mother handed her to them shortly after giving birth. The discovery of Maria has prompted thousands of calls with leads from across the world as authorities try to track down her real mum and dad.

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With Halloween just around the corner many are getting into the holiday spirit.
But one man has taken things to a whole new level.
Meet Dmitri Galitzine and his giant pumpkin boat.
I have always been fascinated by giant vegetables. When I found out they could float it seemed to make perfect sense.
Of course it did. Not content with being possibly the only British person to own a hollowed-out pumpkin boat, Dmitri has broken two pumpkin boat related records.
On Wednesday he set a world record in the 100m paddle.
Look at him go.
Luckily he has had supporters cheering him on every step of the way.
Then on Thursday he became the first to sail to the Isle of Wight. It was a beautiful, clear morning at Stokes Bay in Hampshire – perfect weather for sailing a giant fruit. A motor
was strapped to the 500-kilogram pumpkin boat.
After posing for a few snaps…
The Miraculous was carefully lowered into the water.
Following some last minute checks, Dimitri set sail.
The 27-year-old managed to cross one of the busiest shipping channels in a mere 1 hour 56 minutes.
The journey went so well, Dimitri even turned around and sailed back to Portsmouth.
There are now hopes his achievement will encourage more people to try and cross the Solent using other giant vegetables or fruit.
We are hoping for a massive watermelon.

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"Oh my God!"
"That sucks. I’m sorry."
"You just ruined all of my stuff!"
You don’t want to spill this woman’s coffee. You really don’t because bad things happen to people who upset her–told you.
"Just get away from me… Get out of my way!"
"Oh my God!"
Has she got evil powers? Could be. Freaking out the good souls in this New York coffee shop, who only wanted a latte for crying out loud and maybe a bagel. But not some supernatural experience. That was definitely not on the menu. Of course it’s a set-up and a pretty good one.
Come on… you spotted the wires didn’t you? Movie special effects by well, a movie company. The studio behind the remake of Stephen King horror classic "Carrie," deciding to mess with people’s heads. Pretty elaborate. And as for the girl, she’s really quite nice. See? She’s smiling and high-fiving the guy. Just wait till she finds out the cafe’s burnt her toast though. Hopefully movie bosses aren’t working on remakes of "Jaws" or "The Exorcist," pranking people with fake shark attacks and comedy demonic possessions.

Difficult words:

freak out = to become very anxious, upset or afraid, or make someone very anxious, upset or afraid

bagel = a small ring-shaped type of bread

supernatural = impossible to explain by natural causes, and therefore seeming to involve the powers of gods or magic

prank = a trick, especially one which is played on someone to make them look silly

elaborate = carefully planned and organized in great detail

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If you've been waiting far too long for a lover to pop the question, perhaps it's best to look away now, for this is the most expensive diamond ever to go under the hammer. That's what auction house Sotheby's says, anyway.

It's called the 'Pink Star' and experts believe that at 59.6 carats, it could fetch as much as 40 million pounds. It was cut and polished from a 132.5 carat rough diamond mined by De Beers somewhere in Africa in 1999. It was then sold to an anonymous buyer in 2007. Not her. So let's hope whoever buys it this time around is luckier in love than she was.

Difficult words:

go under the hammer = to be sold at an auction (= a public sale where objects are bought by the people who offer the most money)

polish = to make something smooth, bright, and shiny by rubbing it

anonymous = unknown by name

fetch = to be sold for a particular amount of money, especially at a public sale – used especially in news reports

carat = a unit for measuring the weight of jewels

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Meet China's Wang Wuka, the three-year-old with an exceptional talent.

The little snooker prodigy has wowed fans with his skills, in one video even potting 15 balls in just ten seconds.

And it's little wonder he's so good. His father, a keen snooker enthusiast, had the table installed when he was born, denying him any other toys.

And nowadays, at the tender age of just three, little Wuka spends five hours a day practising. Other toddlers take note!

Difficult words:

exceptional = unusually good

snooker = a game played especially in Britain on a special table covered in green cloth, in which two people use long sticks to hit coloured balls into holes at the sides and corners of the table

prodigy = a young person who has a great natural ability in a subject or skill

pot = to hit a ball into one of the pockets (=holes at the edge of the table) in games such as billiards, pool, and snooker

keen = someone who is keen is eager to work or learn and enjoys doing it

tender age = the time when you are young or do not have much experience
 

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Diana Nyad is off again.

After saying goodbye, the U.S. endurance swimmer is on her fifth attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida.

Accompanied by a small fleet of five support boats and a crew of 35, the 64-year-old is braving sharks, man o'wars and poisonous jelly fish, among other challenges.

Jellyfish stings sank her last attempt at the 103-mile swim, but this time she's wearing a protective silicone mask.

"I think I have some luck in my favor with Mother Nature. And I'm ready and the jellyfish protection that we've spoken about—better than it's ever been. I think it's going to help me get through those animals."

Nyad says this will be her last attempt.

Only one other swimmer has swum the Florida Straits. Australian Susie Maroney conquered the swim with a protective cage in 1997.

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A new safety car crash-test has found that half of the vehicles tested were rated "marginal" or "poor."

The test designed by the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sees a car crash into a five-foot barrier while travelling at 40 miles per hour (64 kilometres per hour).

The insurance group said that nearly a quarter of front-of-vehicle crashes result in serious injury or death.

These types of crash tend to involve a single corner of the car, usually on the driver’s side that comes into contact with another vehicle or object.

Half of the 12 small cars tested didn't meet the industry standards. The two-door and four-door models of the Honda Civic were the only small cars to earn the top rating of good in the test.

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Chaos on a motorway in China as police try to catch a group of stampeding piglets.

Officers could be seen running after the agile animals in China's Guiyang province after the truck carrying them overturned.

Police finally outsmarted the runaways when they started cooling themselves under a rescue truck with the road eventually able to be reopened.

Difficult words:

stampede = when a group of large animals or people suddenly start running in the same direction because they are frightened or excited

piglet  = a young pig

agile = able to move quickly and easily

outsmart = to gain an advantage over someone using tricks or your intelligence

eventually = after a long time, or after a lot of things have happened
 

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