(quote)

The Queen then took her place on the Great Throne in the House of Lords, and gave the signal for MPs to be summoned, her first major royal duty since Prince Philip’s funeral. The State Opening of Parliament is usually the most colourful event of the parliamentary year and is steeped in tradition.

read more

(quote)

NASA’s Perseverance rover just made breathable air on Mars
The Perseverance rover converted carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars, marking the first time breathable air has been made on another planet, NASA announced Wednesday. A toaster-sized instrument called MOXIE – short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment – made the feat possible. read more

(quote)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — New Year’s Eve got off to a rocky start early Thursday as a 3.6 magnitude struck along the San Andreas Fault just south of Muir Beach and was felt widely in San Francisco and Marin County. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake struck at 5:41 a.m. with the epicenter on the famed fault line in the read more

(quote)

As one of the most photographed women in the world, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has been documented through a camera lens from the very start. Following the death of her father King George VI on February 6, 1952, Elizabeth II’s coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, when she was just 25-years-old. Over the read more

(quote)

Zoo Berlin’s Twin Pandas Pit and Paule Turn 1: They ‘Have Grown Very Dear to Us’
This panda duo is growing up so fast! On Monday, twin brother pandas Pit and Paule turned one, celebrating at their Zoo Berlin home with a giant beetroot-juice ice cake with carrot candles and read more

(quote) Sprigs of myrtle were included in Princess Beatrice’s breathtaking bridal bouquet. Reverend Anthony Ball, Canon of Westminster, places the bouquet on the Unknown Warrior’s Grave, in-keeping with royal tradition. Both the Queen and Prince Philip attended the wedding ceremony that was held in secret after the couple’s original plan to wed at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace, in London, on 29 May was postponed by coronavirus. Socially distanced wedding – Smiling with pride, the Queen and Prince Philip may have been required to keep their distance from newlyweds Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – but a Royal relationship has rarely been closer. Beatrice married on Friday wearing both a tiara and vintage dress generously lent to her by her grandmother. The Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara, fashioned in 1919 from a necklace given to the current Queen’s grandmother by Queen Victoria, is a treasured heirloom. Duke of Edinburgh looks back to his best beaming alongside the Queen in Princess Beatrice wedding picture Comments from readers: “It’s impressive a fella of his age walking so upright and without the use of a stick.” “He looks wonderful. His posture is amazing” high-spirit, low-key reception (unquote) Photo courtesy PA

91-year-old veteran and former sailor of the Baltic Fleet at the Victory Parade in 2015, celebrating 70 years after WWII
Victory Day: Belarus swaggers on parade, 2020
WWII veteran poses after the Victory Day parade in Red Square, 2014
The Guard of Honor of the Chinese PLA take part in the military parade in Red Square, 2020, marking 75th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War
A 97-year-old World War II veteran attends a memorial ceremony marking the 74 anniversary of the end of World War II at the Antakalnis memorial in Lithuania, 2020

(quote)

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested. Its major economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.

Minsk is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located read more

(quote)

@sciencemagazine’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year goes to the Event Horizon Telescope (@ehtelescope) global network of observatories for the first #realblackhole image. http://bit.ly/35zUtXz https://twitter.com/ehtelescope

Massive, ubiquitous, and in some cases as big as our Solar System, black holes hide in plain sight. The effect of their gravity on objects read more

(quote)

Stunning photograph shows an ancient tradition dating back to 960 AD
This is the spectacular moment a fisherman with a close bond to cormorants used a flock of birds to catch big fish in a centuries old ritual in southern China. Photographer Julia Wimmerlin said: ‘Seeing this whole process and the beautiful setting where it takes place just takes your breath away.

(unquote)

Image courtesy Julia Wimmerlin / Solent News

polar bear trying his paw at photography in Svalbard, Norway
a snail and a lizard share a moment in Indonesia
praying mantis, crouching butterfly
whale shark underneath fishing platform in Indonesia

Photo courtesy Roie Galitz, Andi Abdul Halil, Liang Wu, and Marco Zaffignani / Siena International Photo Awards