Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Oil Paintings: 40 Stupendous Slabs Of Art by RedBubble
There are many skills to envy in life, from ninjas to Olympic
yo-yoers. But the knack some people have of combining colored oil on a
bit of canvas with only a brush, is simply staggering. Our oil painting gallery is bursting at the seams with textured goodness – here are just a few that caught our eye:
Friday, July 29, 2011
Golden Examples Of Sunrise Photos And Pictures
Our
most favourite moment in our daily life is sleeping in the early
morning, But the most golden moment in our daily life is to look at the
east side for sunrise. In my childhood days I love to
read the poem about sunrise is the grey began to fade, As the colors
filled the sky, The chill began to warm, As the sun began to rise. This
is not the only poem about sunrise, there are more than thousands of
poem written about sunrise because of the sunrise lovers.
For the people never look out the sunrise before :) and for sunrise lovers I am showcasing here golden examples of Sunrise photos and pictures.
For the people never look out the sunrise before :) and for sunrise lovers I am showcasing here golden examples of Sunrise photos and pictures.
Summer Festivals
Summer weather brings people together
outside to enjoy music festivals, county fairs, carnivals and religious
observations. I've gathered here some recent images of these
celebrations, including a flaming horseman in Kyrgyzstan, Bastille Day
in France, a German fun park inside a former nuclear power plant, and
much more. [39 photos]
A girl on her father's shoulders looks through a maze of sunflowers
growing in a field during a three-day sunflower festival in the town of
Nogi, Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, on July 24, 2011. A total of
some 200,000 sunflowers welcomed guests for the summer festival, an
annual draw for the small town. (Kazuhuro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Miniature World Heritage Buildings at Tobu World Square
If you have a dream to travel the world, but have a budget to
visit one country, choose Japan and visit the Tobu World Square in
Nikko. This theme park contains over a hundred 1:25 scale models of
famous buildings designated as World Cultural and Heritage Sites by the
UNESCO and other important landmarks, complete with 140,000 1:25 scale
miniature people. As incredible as it may sound, no two of the 140,000
miniature residents at Tobu World Square looks alike! The park also has
20,000 real bonsai trees.
The White House
At
Tobu World Square, it took 5 years for artisans to create the miniature
reproductions of world historical sites like the Sphinx, the Parthenon,
the Great Wall of China and the World Trade Center. From these
pictures, it is impossible to tell whether they are real or models. Take
the visitors out of the picture and your sense of scale is seriously
impaired.
The park is open year-round at a cost of 2,500 Yen for adults, a little over $22, and about half that for children.
Madurodam - The city of miniatures
Madurodam is a small scale miniature town at Scheveningen,
Holland, and is one of the most popular tourist attraction of the
country since it opened in 1952. Built on a scale 1:25 and reconstructed
up to the smallest details, Madurodam gives a bird's eye view of
Netherlands' some of the most impressive architecture dating from many
periods.
Realistic Wildlife Paintings by Collin Bogle
Inspired by the beauty of nature talented award-winning artist Collin Bogle
uses pastels, colored-pencil, watercolor and acrylic, all that’s needed
to create stunning realistic and almost photographic paintings, which
brought him well-deserved popularity and prestige. His collection
contains beautiful nature, wildlife, animal and flower paintings. The
artist exhibited in art shows through the United States and in the most
famous and prestigious galleries in the world.
Victor Rodriguez’s Incredible Paintings
Victor Rodriguez
was born in Mexico City, 1970, Currently Lives and works in Brooklyn,
NY. He is considered to be the leader of the new generation of
hyperrealist artists working internationally today. He has exhibited
extensively internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art,
San Diego, the Flint Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museo de
Monterrey in Mexico and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey MARCO.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Kay Petal’s Needle Felted Celebrity Wool Sculptures
Kay Petal is a sculptural needle felt artist from Alaska who specializes in soft-sculpted lifelike dolls with a focus on celebrity caricatures.
Kay
Petal discovered needle felting in 2007 when she was recovering from
cancer. After surviving from a rare cancer Petal became keenly aware of
the need to stop giving in to the mundane things in life and find that
thing she is truly passionate about. When she purchased a book by a
pioneer of needle felting, Birgitte Krag Hansen, she discovered what she
really wanted to do.
Kay Petal’s Felt
Alive dolls are fully jointed, solid felted wool and require no sewing,
no stuffing, no painting, no knitting or crocheting, no patterns and no
wire armatures. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and has
been getting accolades in the blogosphere.
The Megaliths of Great Britain
A megalithic monument, in archaeology, is a construction
involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size; it is
usually of prehistoric antiquity. These monuments are found in various
parts of the world, but the best known and most numerous are
concentrated in Western Europe, including Brittany, the British Isles,
Iberia, South France, South Scandinavia, and North Germany, the highest
concentration being at Great Britain. Scotland, England, Ireland and
Wales together accounts for hundreds of megalith and stone circle sites.
Here is a collection of some of the more popular ones.
The
most famous megalith structure is the world is the Stonehenge in the
English county of Wiltshire. Stonehenge is composed of earthworks
surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It is at the
centre of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments
in England, including several hundred burial mounds.
Mila’s Dreams
International Festival of Sand Sculpture, St. Petersburg
The annual International Festival of Sand Sculpture was held recently in In St. Petersburg. Subject of the festival was “World cinema”. Among the participants were Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Finland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, France and several others.
New York City From Above
Breathtaking aerial photography of the New York City by photographer Daniel Acker.
Office
and residential buildings stand in the financial district of Manhattan
in this aerial photograph taken over New York, U.S., on Wednesday, July
7, 2010.
Famine in East Africa
With East Africa facing its worst drought
in 60 years, affecting more than 11 million people, the United Nations
has declared a famine in the region for the first time in a generation.
Overcrowded refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia are receiving some 3,000
new refugees every day, as families flee from famine-stricken and
war-torn areas. The meager food and water that used to support millions
in the Horn of Africa is disappearing rapidly, and families strong
enough to flee for survival must travel up to a hundred miles, often on
foot, hoping to make it to a refugee center, seeking food and aid. Many
do not survive the trip. Officials warn that 800,000 children could die
of malnutrition across the East African nations of Somalia, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, and Kenya. Aid agencies are frustrated by many crippling
situations: the slow response of Western governments, local governments
and terrorist groups blocking access, terrorist and bandit attacks, and
anti-terrorism laws that restrict who the aid groups can deal with --
not to mention the massive scale of the current crisis. Below are a few
images from the past several weeks in East Africa. One immediate way to
help is to text "FOOD" to UNICEF (864233) to donate $10, enough to feed a child for 10 days, more ways to help listed here. [38 photos]
Mihag Gedi Farah, a malnourished seven-month-old child weighing only
7.5 pound (3.4kg), is held by his mother in a field hospital of the
International Rescue Committee, IRC, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, on
July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to
parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than
two years ago, in a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from
dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." Tens of
thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping
to get aid in refugee camps. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A visualization of United States debt
One Hundred Dollars
$100Keeps the world moving.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Stunned Norway mourns assault victims
OSLO,
Norway (AP) -- Signs of normality began to return to Oslo on Monday
after the peaceful, liberal
country was stunned on Friday by the bombing in downtown Oslo and the shooting massacre at a youth
camp outside the capital.
Over the weekend, Oslo mourned the
victims. Norway's King Harald V and
his wife Queen Sonja and Prime
Minister Jens Stoltenberg crowded into Oslo Cathedral on Sunday,
where
the pews were packed, and people spilled into the plaza outside the
building. The area was
strewn with flowers and candles, and people who
could not fit in the grand church huddled under
umbrellas in a drizzle.
Afterward, people sobbed and hugged one another in the streets, as many lingered over the memorial
Afterward, people sobbed and hugged one another in the streets, as many lingered over the memorial
of flowers and candles. The royal couple and
prime minister later visited the site of the bombing in Oslo.
(25 images)
People embrace and mourn at the massive flower field laid in memory of victims of Friday's twin attacks in front of the Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Norway, Monday, July 25, 2011. AP / Frank Augstein
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Welcome Home, Atlantis
Today marks the end of an era. Three
decades of missions came to a close this morning as the Space Shuttle
Atlantis touched down in Florida after a 13-day trip to the
International Space Station. All told, the 135 space shuttle missions
have racked up more than 542 million miles in low earth orbit. Commander
Chris Ferguson piloted the Atlantis to a safe landing at 5:52 a.m., and
the spacecraft will soon undergo processing and decommissioning. It has
been an emotional experience for residents and workers along Florida's
Space Coast -- some 9,000 shuttle engineers, technicians, and other
staff are being laid off, and the main tourism draw for the area has
come to an end. Shown here, for one last time, is a look at a full
shuttle mission, STS-135, the final flight of Atlantis. Also, be sure to
see The History of the Space Shuttle, an earlier entry on In Focus. [39 photos]
Synchronization
The 2011 FINA World Aquatics Championships
are taking place in Shanghai, China, and will run until July 31.
Swimmers and divers from 74 nations are currently competing in open
water swimming, diving, water polo, and more. The synchronized
completions, two in diving and four in swimming, can be especially
picturesque, as competitors strive to position their bodies in exacting
poses while tumbling through the air or suspended in water.
Photographers in Shanghai positioned their cameras above and below the
water's surface to capture some of these poolside images from the 2011
World Aquatics Championships. [32 photos]
Machu Picchu (Old Peak) is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca
site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a
mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Most archaeologists
believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor
Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas,
it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. 100 Years ago
this month it was (re)discovered and Peru is celebrating this joyous
occasion with a special exhibition.
World's Most Dangerous Countries for Women
Targeted violence
against females, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make
Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a
woman, with Congo a close second due to horrific levels of rape.
Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth,
respectively, in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging
from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide (the
destruction of a fetus in the uterus), genital mutilation and acid
attack. A survey compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the
launch of TrustLaw Woman*, puts Afghanistan at the top of the list of
the most dangerous places in the world for women. TrustLaw asked 213
gender experts from five contents to rank countries by overall
perceptions of danger as well as by six categories of risk. The risks
consisted of health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence,
cultural or religious factors, lack of access to resources and
trafficking. The collection of images that follow were provided by
Reuters to illustrate the dangers women face in those 5 countries. -- Paula Nelson (*TrustLaw Woman is a website aimed at providing free legal advice for women’s' groups around the world.) (37 photos total)
Women
in Afghanistan have a near total lack of economic rights, rendering it a
severe threat to its female inhabitants. An Afghan soldier uses a
wooden stick to maintain order among women waiting for humanitarian aid
at a World Food Programme WFP distribution point in the city of Kabul,
December 14, 2001. The U.N. (WFP) started its biggest ever food
distribution in the Afghan capital, handing out sacks of wheat to more
than three-quarters of the war-ravaged city's population. (Damir
Sagolj/Reuters)
Monday, July 18, 2011
Days of Summer
Across the northern hemisphere, people are
doing what they can to cope with the summer weather. Heatwaves have
recently struck the Midwest and East Coast in the United States and in
parts of Eastern Europe. Hot summer days also bring stormy afternoons,
with downpours that have caused numerous flooding problems across parts
of China. For many, though, the way to beat the heat is to get outside
and cool off in lakes, fountains, or water parks, or to find a place to
simply live in the moment and enjoy the sunshine. Collected below are
some images from these recent summer days, and of people around the
world either enjoying or coping with the heat. [39 photos]
Women's World Cup
After an emotional
run through the tournament that few predicted, Japan emerged yesterday
as the unlikely champion of the FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011.
After enduring the triple disasters of the earthquake, tsunami, and
Fukushima Diaichi nuclear catastrophe, Japan rejoiced in the first good
news in months. The final came in dramatic fashion against the United
States in a penalty shoot-out after the score was tied 2-2 in
regulation. Sixteen countries fought for the title in Germany,
resulting in the first Asian world champion. Collected here are images
of the games, fans, and celebration. -- Lane Turner (30 photos total)
Japan's
midfielder Homare Sawa celebrates with the trophy and teammates after
the FIFA Women's Football World Cup final match against the US on July
17, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main Germany. Japan won 3-1 in a penalty
shoot-out after the final had finished 2-2 following extra-time.
(Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Salmon Spawning at Kuril Lake in Kamchatka
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a 1,250-kilometer long peninsula in
the Russian Far East. It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and
the Sea of Okhotsk to the west.
Kamchatka
contains probably the world's greatest diversity of salmonid fish,
including all six species of anadromous Pacific salmon (chinook, chum,
coho, seema, pink, and sockeye). Biologists estimate that a sixth to a
quarter of all Pacific salmon originates in Kamchatka. Kuril Lake is
recognized as the biggest spawning-ground for sockeye in Eurasia. In
response to pressure from poaching and to worldwide decreases in salmon
stocks, some 24,000 square kilometers (9,300 sq mi) along nine of the
more productive salmon rivers are in the process of being set aside as a
nature preserve.
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel
In the book Hungry Planet,
photographer Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio present a photographic
study of families from around the world, revealing what people eat
during the course of one week. Each family's profile includes a detailed
description of their weekly food purchases; photographs of the family
at home, at market, and in their community; and a portrait of the entire
family surrounded by a week's worth of groceries.
To
assemble this remarkable comparison, Menzel and D'Aluisio traveled to
24 countries and visited 30 families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico
and Mongolia, and recorded what they ate for a week. Menzel photographed
each family in their kitchen with the week’s worth of groceries, while
D’Alusio interviewed them about their food habits and family structure.
Accompanying the portraits and narratives are detailed breakdowns of
each family’s grocery list, more photographs of the family and home
country, and statistics for each country visited.
Here is a selection of pictures from the book. Note: the book was made about 5 years ago, and the prices were of that time.
Buddhist Temple Built from Beer Bottles
Drinking is a sin in Buddhism but they certainly don’t have
any issues with building temples from beer bottles. In the north-east of
Thailand, is a temple built from more than 1.5 million recycled beer
bottles.
Sometimes
known as Wat Lan Kuad, or Temple Of A Million Bottles, the temple uses
the discarded bottles to construct everything from the crematorium to
the toilets. Recycling doesn't stop at building the temple's buildings -
mosaics around the temple, predominantly of Buddha, are made out of
bottle caps. Besides being ego-friendly, the disused bottles don't fade,
provide good lighting and are easy to clean.
The
resident Buddhist monks at the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew complex even
encourage local authorities to deposit any used bottles at the temple
which they then use to build new structures.
The 30 Best of Animal Photography 2010
Photography is so popular these days,
largely thanks to the digital revolution, allowing us to upload our
pictures in seconds to our computers. The photographic art has been
around for almost two hundred years with people diversifying into
various areas of expertise and specialising in such topics as fashion,
glamour, wedding, portrait, etc. One of the most rewarding and
satisfying has to be wildlife photography. Capturing that perfect
moment, the split second when light, focus, absolutely everything is
just right. That you were lucky enough to have managed to shoot the
perfect picture more than compensates for all the endless hours of
waiting.
Of all the genres, wildlife is certainly one of the more difficult to
take on board. Unless you are at the zoo or another kind of animal
enclosure, you can be hanging around endlessly for weeks and even months
to get that one perfect animal moment. It takes time, passion and
immense patience if you are really serious about wildlife photography.
As most of the animals we are talking about, eg foxes, birds, squirrels
and bears, would not naturally come close to you, the majority of your
wildlife shots will be captured using a telephoto lens. Here is our
selection of 30 best animal photographs of 2010.
30 Photos
20 Examples Of Lovely Baby Animal Photography
Absolutely Stunning Views of Nature
Nature photography should put the
subject in the light and thus it should communicate. Therefore, the
composition is essential for good results. That is very obvious that
good fine art photography would require lots of practice but it is
evident that following few techniques would help you to enhance and
improve your skills. So, here are few tips for this kind of photography. 30 photos
It is important to look in the camera
and ask few questions to yourself, for example: what would be the
message of the photograph and how you can make it communicate well. As
soon as you will sort this out, you can easily work with other aspects
like using texture, lighting, color, tone, line etc.
Absolutely Fantastic Flowers Photography by Bahman Farzad
Capturing an open field of flowers or
photographing flowers using macro photographic skills is any serious
photographers dream. Be a amateur or a professional photographer, taking
photos on flowers needs not only patience and skills but also a popular
subject in photography. If you are shooting flowers in a studio, it is
important to separate the fresh flowers from the wilted ones. For
example, flowers which have damaged petals, faded colors and irregular
stems will have to be get rid of before taking photos. Here are some
mind-blowing examples of flowers photography done by Bahman Farzad. 12 photos
Saturday, July 16, 2011
City Illustrations by Fernando Volken Togni
Brazilian illustrator Fernando Volken Togni created this cool series of illustrations for Oryx,
the in-flight magazine for Qatar Airways. Each illustration was for an
article highlighting the must-see sights in various cities. I really
like Fernando’s bold, graphic style. It reminds me a bit of Federico Jordan’s work.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Stealth Bomber
Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit, more affectionately known as the Stealth Bomber,
is one sexy, sneaky and sophisticated piece of technology. More an
alien spaceship than US Aircraft, the Stealth Bomber’s iconic design is
instantly recognizable… unless of course it’s on a stealth mission.
Below are ten things you might not have known about the world’s most
expensive boomerang.
Women's World Cup 2011
This coming Sunday, the final match of the
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup will take place in Frankfurt, Germany, as
teams from Japan and the United States vie for the championship. Sixteen
teams from around the world initially qualified for the tournament, and
began playing the first round of matches in nine different arenas
across Germany. This year will mark Japan's debut in the final, as the
U.S. team, led by Hope Solo
and Abby Wambach, tries to become the first national squad to win three
Women's World Cup titles. Collected here are some images from this
year's championship, from June 26 through today. The final match is
scheduled to begin at 2:45 pm Eastern time on Sunday, July 17. This
entry will be updated shortly afterward. [41 photos]
2011 Tour de France, Part 1
The world's most
beautiful stadium - the entire country of France - annually hosts the
most important bike race of the year: the Tour de France. Upwards of 12
million fans line the roads to watch the race. For free. No tickets
needed. The race traverses over 2000 miles in 21 days of racing.
Every year the route changes, but the mountains are a constant: racers
must scale absurdly steep peaks in both the Pyrenees and the Alps before
a victory race onto the Champs Elysees in Paris. This year's tour may
be remembered most for the spate of horrible crashes that have
eliminated many of the top riders. Most outrageously, a media car hit a
cyclist at speed, causing a horrific crash that sent another rider
cartwheeling into a barbed-wire fence. Both riders remounted and
finished the stage. The race goes on through July 24. -- Lane Turner (35 photos total)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Страстные картинки Леши Курбатова
Леша Курбатов рисует человеческие эмоции и чувства.
Даже если нарисован просто дом. Даже если это иллюстрация для новостного
сайта на злободневные темы.
Его работы - это не просто филигранная техника сочетания фотографий, акварели и фотошопа, это тонкая, чувственная эстетика и глубина переживаний, которая есть в каждом, а он ее из нас достает и показывает нам же.
Алексей иллюстрирует книги, рисует для Сноба, Ленты.ру. Делает проект "Белые вещи" - постеры, футболки, сумки, кружки со своими картинками. Среди которых есть очень живые портреты замечательных людей, выполненные в особой стилистике.
А вот в рекламе он не задействован. Что удивительно с одной стороны, но с другой - очень даже понятно. Работы Леши - живые, страстные и драматичные - никак не вписываются в целлулоидный, кастрированный мир российской рекламы.
Его работы - это не просто филигранная техника сочетания фотографий, акварели и фотошопа, это тонкая, чувственная эстетика и глубина переживаний, которая есть в каждом, а он ее из нас достает и показывает нам же.
Алексей иллюстрирует книги, рисует для Сноба, Ленты.ру. Делает проект "Белые вещи" - постеры, футболки, сумки, кружки со своими картинками. Среди которых есть очень живые портреты замечательных людей, выполненные в особой стилистике.
А вот в рекламе он не задействован. Что удивительно с одной стороны, но с другой - очень даже понятно. Работы Леши - живые, страстные и драматичные - никак не вписываются в целлулоидный, кастрированный мир российской рекламы.
Метро Стокгольма
Метро Стокгольма по праву считается одним из самых
красивых в мире. Метро в Швеции называется Tunnelbana. Состоит оно из
100 станций, 47 из которых проходят под землей, а 53 являются наземными и
надземными. Открыто оно было в 1950 году. Подземные станции вырублены в
скалах.
Running wild: San Fermin festival 2011
Those mad
adrenaline- (and sometimes alcohol-) infused half-mile dashes dodging
1,800-pound stampeding bulls have begun through the streets of Pamplona,
Spain. Part-spectacle, part-tradition, the Running of the Bulls is the
most celebrated slice of the nine-day San Fermin Festival. In addition
to the daily runs, events include bullfighting and a parade featuring a
statue of Pamplona\'s first bishop, St. Fermin. Pleads for safety and
prayers of thanksgiving to St. Fermin traditionally begin and end the
run through the streets, which was famously depicted in Ernest
Hemingway\'s \"The Sun Also Rises.\" Concluding on the 14th of July
every year, attendees gather on the town hall plaza at midnight for
singing by candlelight. --Lloyd Young (40 photos total)
Lars van de Goor Photography
It’s almost unbelievable that self-taught photographer Lars van de
Goor didn’t use Photoshop to digitally enhance these images. “All the
sun-rays in my images are real,” he says. “My composition are 99%
genuine, the only editing I do is coloring and getting rid of garbage,
lanterns, things like that.
“What happens a lot is people do not believe the rays of sunlight or
endless tree lined roads are real, but they are! The most hilarious
comment was from a very technical photographer who criticized an image
of mine which has a natural reflection in it. He said that I knew
nothing about creating reflections, didn’t they teach you that at
school?”
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
2011 Special Olympics Summer Games
Last month, some 7,500 athletes from 185
countries gathered in Athens, Greece, to compete in 22 sports in the
2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games. These athletes, individuals
with intellectual disabilities, vied for medals in events ranging from
judo and powerlifting to badminton and bocce. The Special Olympics
organization coordinates the games, inviting competitors to participate
and be celebrated for their accomplishments. From the organization's
website: "It's often the first time that our athletes have truly taken
center stage and been recognized as individuals." This year's event
started with a lavish opening ceremony on June 25 and wrapped up on July
4. Collected here are some glimpses from the events of the 2011 Special
Olympics World Summer Games. [39 photos]
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone, the first national park in the
world, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1872 and has welcomed
millions of visitors in the 139 years since. Last year, Yellowstone
recorded its highest number of visitors ever, as some 3.6 million people
passed through its gates. Its well-known geothermal features --
geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles -- owe their existence to the
massive Yellowstone Caldera, a 45-mile-wide volcanic system beneath the
park. Tourists are also drawn to Yellowstone's hundreds of species of
wildlife, massive waterfalls, and incredible vistas. Collected below are
a few recent views of Yellowstone National Park. [41 photos]
South Sudan: The Newest Nation in the World
Last Saturday, the Republic of South Sudan
declared its independence, creating the newest nation in the world --
the 193rd nation to join the United Nations. The new country has been in
the making since a referendum last January, when nearly 4 million
southern Sudanese voted to secede from Sudan by a margin of more than 98
percent. The region has been involved in civil wars for at least the
past 50 years, and the days-old nation is already battling several armed
groups within its new borders. Many issues still remain unresolved --
the oil-rich region continues to rely on pipelines that run through
Sudan, and a revenue-sharing agreement has not been reached. The new
nation, which is comprised of more than 200 ethnic groups, has a largely
rural economy, and poverty, civil warfare, and political instability
will be the biggest of many challenges for the new administration.
Gathered here are scenes from South Sudan as it made its debut on the
world stage this weekend. [35 photos]
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