Man base jumps off The Shard with parachute

A man jumped off The Shard, the tallest building in London, with a parachute on Saturday morning and landed safely on a street below.

The Shard in London is one of the tallest buildings in Europe

Witness Justin Knock captured images of the base jump and said the "dangerous" move was "skilfully" done with the jumper landing on his feet.

The base jumper landed at about 10.18am, police said, adding that no-one has been arrested.

The Shard stands at 310 metres and is one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

A spokesperson for The Shard said: "We are investigating an incident involving a member of the public this morning."

Eyewitness Mr Knock, said: "I was buying some cheese from the store opposite St Thomas's Street and looked up and this guy was coming down with his parachute.

"It was obviously a dangerous thing to do but he pulled it off skilfully."

He and another man bundled up the parachute within seconds of landing and left the scene. Police and staff from the building arrived at the scene soon after, Mr Knock said.

Americans construct tiny houses – and new lives

More and more Americans are building tiny houses, drawn to the prospect of financial freedom and a smaller ecological footprint. Gianna Palmer reports on the growing movement from Charlotte, North Carolina.

When Sicily Kolbeck first told people she was planning to build her own house, they often assumed she meant a doll house. "I got a lot of, 'That's cute,'" Sicily recalls.

In reality, Sicily, 13, aimed to become part of a burgeoning movement. Sicily didn't have any construction expertise when she read about these scaled-down houses online and was inspired to build her own.

"I would make forts, but those were made of blankets," she says. Sicily isn't so different from many fellow tiny house builders in this respect.

"Most folks who are interested in tiny houses don't have any building experience," says Ryan Mitchell, 30, who runs TheTinyLife.com and organised the inaugural Tiny House Conference earlier this month in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But building smaller doesn't necessarily mean easier, as tiny houses generally use the same materials and building conventions as traditional houses.

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From BBC Magazine

Mercury City beats Shard to Europe's tallest building

The Mercury City in Moscow

London's Shard skyscraper has lost its title as Europe's tallest building - to a tower in Moscow, Russia.

Developers of Mercury City said on Thursday their creation had topped a height of 338 metres - beating the Shard's 310 metres

The Shard was officialy opened in July

The copper-coloured high-rise will be a mix of offices and homes when it's completed early next year.But it looks set to be overtaken by the Federation Tower, also in Moscow.That should hit 506 metres when it's finished sometime next year.

The view from the Shard's 69th floor

Details of a 360-degree viewing platform on level 69 of the Shard were revealed last week. It's due to open in February.

From CBBC News