Incredible photos have emerged showing the devastating impact of this week's earthquake on the New Zealand coastline after it was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake around midnight on Sunday. Aerial photos (left) detail the enormity of the damage caused just north of Kaikoura on New Zealand's south island. Scientists say the seabed lifted an estimated two metres (centre) on the foreshore and admit they have never seen anything like it. Social media users have taken to the internet to express their distress at the images and the impact it could have on sea life in the region. It comes as rain and strong winds battered central New Zealand on Thursday, threatening further damage - just days after the quake killed two people and sparked with huge landslides (top right).

Horrifying CCTV captured the moment Alan Peters drove his double decker bus along the hard shoulder of the M1 near Flitwick, Bedfordshire, before smashing into the car at 61mph even though had its hazard lights flashing. Audi driver Allan Evans, 59, had just finished topping up the oil and was preparing to set off again when Peters ploughed into the back of his vehicle, killing him and his passengers Tom Aldridge, 20, and Nathan Reeves, 23. Luton Crown Court heard Peters had ignored warning signs not to drive on the hard shoulder and a jury convicted the 78-year-old (inset) of three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Piling on pounds during pregnancy, sleepless nights and constant worry about your offspring - is it any wonder that some British women say motherhood adds years to their faces and figure, writes Jill Foster. In fact, according to a new survey of more than 7,500 women, mothers barely have any time and money for pampering.

The Isle of Skye won the accolade following a survey of nearly 24,000 people by property website Rightmove. The Scottish island (pictured top left), where the average house price is £230,000, was among the seaside locations that featured heavily in the top ten, including Woolacombe (top right), in Devon, and the popular Cornish holiday destinations of St Ives (bottom right), Padstow (bottom left) and Newquay.

The assault took place as two men tried to park in an Esso petrol station forecourt in Bexleyheath, south-east London, before heading to a nearby restaurant. The 36-year-old victim asked the men to move the car, which sparked a dispute at around 1pm on October 5, Scotland Yard said. CCTV footage shows the victim was talking to one of the men when the suspect slowly walked up to him (pictured right) and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. The Metropolitan Police described the suspect (shown left), who is still at large, as a white man in his early 30s with short brown hair and a beard.

Claire Fielding (left and right), 34, of Bolton, had been taking drugs and alcohol for her condition since 2002, an inquest heard, after 'retreating into her shell' due to the constant buzzing in her ears. She was taken ill at her home last July and was seen coming down the stairs with blue lips, struggling to breathe and telling her partner to call an ambulance. Although she was rushed to hospital she could not be saved and the inquest ruled her death was due to the drug, with the coroner warning of the 'fatal consequences' of the cocaine.

Hillary Clinton said Wednesday evening, at her first public appearance since she conceded to Donald Trump a week ago, that coming to the event was difficult - and she considered staying home - but kept the commitment our of respect for her mentor. 'I will admit coming here tonight wasn't the easiest thing for me,' Clinton said at the Children's Defense Fund's gala in Washington, D.C. The losing presidential candidate said she 'wanted to curl up with a good book or our dogs and never leave the house again.' She drew inspiration, she said, from the organization's founder, Marian Wright Edelman. 'If there's anyone who knows how to pick your self up, and get to back to work it is Marian,' Clinton said. 'She has been doing it all of her life, and she has been helping the rest of us do it, too.'

Theresa May and other European leaders will meet President Obama to discuss an extension to sanctions against Russia. But as Edward Lucas outlines, Donald Trump has very different ideas. The restoration of the Soviet empire is under way - and America is not going to stop it. That is the chilling conclusion we must draw from Donald Trump's first few days as President-elect, in which he received what he termed a 'beautiful' letter from Vladimir Putin, followed by an amicable phone call in which the two pledged to restore friendly relations between Washington and Moscow.

The west London airport's first Christmas campaign is titled: 'Coming home - the greatest gift if all', and stars two ageing teddy bears (pictured) who are making their way home for the festive period. The poignant film follows Mr and Mrs Bair as they land at Heathrow and are faced with travelling through the busy airport to meet their waiting relatives. Struggling with luggage they are seen blearily making their way through the familiar sites of the airport to the Chas and Dave song 'I'm Coming Back'. The emotional 70-second film was shot over three days earlier this year while the airport was fully operational.

Passive aggressive notes are an annoying feature of any shared flat or office environment. But these hilarious notes from around the web take the art of passive aggressive writing to a whole new level. A woman named Kelly had a lot to get off her chest when she wrote to her ex-partner about his cheating ways and bad baking (left). A serial fridge offender was issued with a stern 'lunchbox violation' (top right). And a hirsute flatmate was admonished for leaving their pubic hair all over the bathroom (bottom right).

Rachel Armstrong, 38, says little Zoe (pictured right) asked her thoughts on Seann Miley Moore wearing a dress on the ITV talent show. Zoe (pictured with Rachel, inset) then revealed that she herself was transgender and no longer wanted to be known as Sam. It emerged Zoe, who is now 10, had already researched how she was feeling online and discovered there was a name for it. Only weeks later teachers announced to her school that Sam would be returning on the following Monday as Zoe and has been wearing dresses ever since. Now the family (Zoe is pictured with two of her brothers, left), from Durham, plan to use medication to pause her puberty and will consider giving her female hormones - which will leave her infertile.

In a new memoir, Fisher (inset left) has revealed that she and Harrison Ford (inset right) had a whirlwind three-month-long, drink-sozzled, drug-addled affair while filming the first Star Wars movie at Elstree studios in Hertforshire in 1976. She was an innocent of 19 and Ford a 33-year-old married father of two. 'It was so intense,' she said. 'It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend.' The couple are pictured left in their on-screen romance, while Fisher is pictured right as Princess Leia. The actress has previously kept mum about whether anything romantic happened between them.

A terrifying video has been released today of a 'kamikaze' madman driving a stolen bus through red lights and on the wrong side of the road while being pursued by police for twelve miles. Joyrider John Burton, who had been disqualified from driving, is filmed careering over pavements and going the wrong way around a traffic island after the bus was stolen from its depot in Dudley, West Midlands The video was made public today after Burton appeared in court, where defence lawyer Mr Andrew Mitchinson admitted: 'It is only by the grace of God that serious injury was not caused to anybody.' The black and white film shows the bus dangerously swerving around roundabouts the wrong way and careering up residential streets.

NEW The online retailer came in for a barrage of criticism from frustrated shoppers across Britain, many of whom took to the social media site Twitter to post pictures of their over-sized parcels (right). One user tweeted a picture (left) with the caption: 'I think I lost my mum in the sea of packaging that one feather duster was sent in @amazon #findTina' (inset). Another added: 'I can't believe amazon went to all this trouble on packaging for a screwdriver.... pretty funny.' It comes four months after Amazon vowed to change its ways after years of being shamed for using huge packages to deliver small items. Following criticism from customers and environmental campaigners, the retail giant said it was trialling new technology that selects more sensible delivery boxes. Among the worst offences by Amazon's packing robots are a book wrapped in 30ft of packaging paper, and a lipstick sent in a box the size of a computer.

Louis Harris, 24, (in pink shirt) and David Butlin, 22, appeared in an image posted on the TOWIE star's Instagram account just days after the two men were released on bail by Dubai police. A 25-year-old IT consultant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims she was attacked while on a break to the United Arab Emirates in October. But when she went to officers for help they charged her with having sex outside marriage and confiscated her passport. Butlin, a martial arts expert from Sutton Coldfield, and Harris, a footballer from Lichfield, are still in Dubai and are understood to firmly deny the allegations.

Even in skyscraper-filled lower Manhattan, the windowless mass of 33 Thomas Street (pictured left, and right in read of photo) stands out: A faceless concrete tower, topped with vents and impervious to the outside world. Constructed and owned by AT&T;, and known as the 'Long Lines Building,' it's officially a telecommunications hub with its own power and water, capable of sheltering those inside against two weeks of nuclear fallout. But documents leaked by Edward Snowden, along with others gathered by The Intercept, suggest that it has a worrying secret identity: An NSA surveillance base named Titanpointe that spies on phone calls, fax messages and internet data. The building is located just two blocks from the FBI field office (map pictured inset) in which NSA agents are instructed to go before heading to Titanpointe - and that's just the start of the disconcerting connections.

A builder who was accidentally added on Facebook by a prisoner at HMP Guys Marsh, in Dorset, was shocked to learn of the inmate's alcohol and drug-fuelled lifestyle. Gloating pictures of life inside were taken by prisoners who were snapped partying together, swigging booze, having takeaways and steaks delivered to their cells and with wads of cash. One inmate also posted a series of pictures with the hashtag 'jailfies', as well as images of what is suspected to be cannabis. A prisoner was also pictured playing on an Xbox. The builder, who wished to remain anonymous, was added earlier this year by the inmate at HMP Guys Marsh, in Dorset. Since then, his Facebook feed has been filled by pictures of prisoners larking around 'like students'.

The latest puzzle (above) on the Internet is one of the hardest. The image appears to show pink and red starfish of different sizes along with seaweed floating around them - but somewhere inside there is a hidden airplane waiting to be spotted. See if you can spot the airplane and try some of the old

Lauren Farley-Smith (left), 20, from Darlington, first showed symptoms of Hereditary Angioedema - which causes attacks of extreme body swelling - when she hit puberty. The rare condition is an inherited blood disorder that causes attacks of extreme body swelling, continuous vomiting, as well as intense abdominal pain. Her flare-ups (inset) are triggered by bouts of anxiety and stress so she often practices meditation and has counselling to cope. She fell into depression as strangers often stared at her and made cruel comments about her face having swelled to double its size (right). But last year she vowed not to be beaten by the affects of her illness and she will soon begin a four week course to become a flight attendant.

This is the 'miraculous' moment a young boy dove to his baby brother's rescue after the infant tipped over the side of his changing table (left, the baby falling to the ground). Surveillance video showed mother Tila Levi turning her back on the 11-month-old baby, before nine-year-old Joseph Levi (inset) darted into the camera's frame (right) just as the infant fell to the ground, WSVN reported. Joseph has been hailed as a hero after he caught the 30-pound baby inches away from the floor in their Bal Harbour, Florida home.

Donna Lowe, 34 and husband, William, 45, from Sheffield weighed more than 40st combined meaning they were unable to dance at their wedding (left). But after joining a slimming club they have lost half their body weights. William wears a size medium rather thank an XXXL and Donna has dropped five dress sizes.

The driver of a dark grey Renault Megane was filmed with the paper in front of him as he travelled along the A45 near Birmingham. Coach driver Tanvir Hamid filmed the incident and is sharing the footage as a warning of the dangers of not paying attention to the road.

Among the global hopefuls are Simon Berry (left), 24, from Sheffield. He can be seen dunking a Chocolate Hobnob into a cup of tea just as his bungee reaches its full extension. Another wannabe record breaker is Martin Rees, 28 from Hemel Hempstead. He hopes that his minimum of ten magic tricks on a 15,000 ft skydive over Salisbury, Wiltshire, will accord him the title of, you guessed it, most magic tricks performed in a single skydive. Others attempts include: most rings placed on a target by a parrot in one minute; most people performing squats, led by Instagram star Kayla Itsines; various slam-dunking attempts by the Harlem Globetrotters; and most double dutch-style skips in 30 seconds.

Freaked out drivers filmed what they believed was a ghost sitting calmly on the back of a speeding car. The spooky footage shows a woman with long dark hair, wearing shorts and a stripy top sitting on the car, but she didn't seem to really be moving at all or holding on despite the vehicle moving at 50mph on the Rama IX highway road in the district of Huai Khwang in Bangkok, Thailand. Photojournalist Powarit Katkul shot the footage on Sunday at 6.30pm and said that he "couldn't believe his eyes" and during filming he asked friends "do you see what I see?".

Havana's fishermen call the practice 'balloon fishing' - a technique employing a couple of cents worth of government-subsidized condoms to pull fish worth an average month's salary from the ocean. The men blow the contraceptives up to the size of balloons, and then tie them together, attach them to the end of a baited fishing line and set them floating on the tide until they reached the end of the fishermen's 750-foot lines. On any given night in Havana, dozens of men can be found 'balloon fishing' along the seawall, using their homemade floats to carry their lines as far as 900 feet into the coastal waters, where they also serve to keep the bait high in the water and to increase the line's resistance against the pull of a bonito or red snapper.