Squid Game comes to Sydney

 

Police pose next to a replica animated doll from the series the Squid Games in Sydney

Getty Images

Boris Yeltsin celebrates failed military coup

 

Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin,  makes a V-sign to thousands of Muscovites, as his top associate Gennady Burbulis, right, stands near during a rally in front of the Russian federation building to celebrate the failed military coup in Moscow 22 Augist 1991. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Boris Yeltsin stormed parliament and called for new elections after his chief rivals, speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov and Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi, barricaded themselves in Moscow's White House and voted to impeach him. 

When the rebels incited armed gangs of anti-Yeltsin protesters to attack the Ostankino television studio, and the Moscow mayor's office, Yeltsin declared a state of emergency and ordered the military assault on the White House. 

Three months later, a new constitution was approved in a national referendum, giving the president enormous powers that the office maintains to this day.

 

Otzi, the Iceman

The first picture of Ötzi as he emerged from the melting ice, taken by the finders – the German couple Helmut and Erika Simon, in 1991.

 

Ötzi, also called the Iceman was discovered in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy.

He died from an arrow to the back on a high Alpine mountain pass more than 5,300 years ago.. A wounded—and possibly wanted—man, Ötzi the Iceman spent his final days on the move high up in the Alps until he was felled by the arrow.

President Bashar-Assad's visit to Military Academy

 

Damascus, Syria

President Bashar al-Assad visiting the Higher Military academy

Photograph: Syrian Presidency Telegram Page/AFP/Getty Images

Swizerland's Rhone Glacier covered in foam

 

A man works at Switzerland’s Rhone Glacier which is partially covered with insulating foam to prevent it from melting due to global warming. Photo AFP

The Knife Angel

 

The 27ft (8m)-tall National Monument Against Violence and Aggression, known as the Knife Angel, completed in 2018.

 

The Knife Angel is made from approximately 100,000 knives and blades taken from the streets of Britain. In collaboration with all 43 Police Constabularies in the UK, the blades were collected through knife amnesties and surrenders across the country. Once collected, the blades were safely transported to the Centre, where they were blunted and sterilized before use. A number of weapons even arrived in evidence packaging and included small traces of blood. Families of victims were invited to engrave some of the blades with messages of hope, love and disbelief, which can now be seen on the Angel’s wings.

 

Duck hunting in 1923

 

A weapon used for duck hunting in the early 20th century. Washington D.C 30 July 1923. 

 

 

Migrant caravan head for US border

 

Migrants leave Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, as they continue their trek north toward Mexico's northern states and the U.S. border.

Julian Assange Hearing in London

 

Julian Assange's father John Shipton arrives at the High Court in London, ahead of a hearing for the US government's legal challenge over a judge's decision not to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Photograph: James Manning/PA Wire

Taliban plead for aid

 

AID: Afghan internally displaced persons wait to receive food aid distributed by a German aid organization in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday. The Taliban has said that the United Nations should help them in assisting nearly 3.5 million Afghans return to their homes after having been displaced inside the country due to violence. Photograph: EPA/Stringer

Angelina Jolie spotlights her daughters

 

Angelina Jolie attended the Eternals premiere in Rome with her daughters, Zahara and Shiloh on Sunday 24 October 2021 at the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021.

Candlelight vigil for Halyna Hutchins

 

Burbank, California
People kneel at a candlelight vigil for the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed when a prop firearm being used by Alec Baldwin discharged last Thursday

Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP

Pillar of Shame removed from Hong Kong University

 

Hong Kong, China

Two children look at the Pillar of Shame statue at the Hong Kong University campus. The university demanded that a now disbanded pro-democracy alliance remove the artwork, an eight-metre tall monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, which has stood on the campus grounds for 24 years.

Photograph: Louise Delmotte/Getty Images

 

Migrants prepare to cross channel in France

 

Wimereux, France

Migrants prepare to cross the Channel towards England on an inflatable boat at night near Wimereux.

Photograph: Marc Sanye/AFP/Getty

Moscow, Russia

 

Medics work in the intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients in the Sklifosovsky emergency hospital. 1,028 people died of Covid in a 24-hour period this week, a new record.

Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty

Same sex marriage law becomes law in USA

 

Troy & Cassidy are the first same-sex couple to get married in Caddo Parish, Louisiana in June 2015

 On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case Obergefell v. Hodges.

 

Siena Award Photo of the Year

 

This powerful photograph of a one-legged Syrian father holding his son born without lower or upper limbs has been recognized as the Siena International Photo Awards 2021 photo of the year.  Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan was recognized as the overall winner in the competition with his photo titled "Hardship of Life."  It was taken in the district of Reyhanli in the Turkish province of Hatay, at the border with Syria.

“The happiness of the father and his son, even as the man stands on one leg, it is very precarious,” says Kataoka Hideko, Director of Photography at Newsweek Japan and one of the judges on the panel. “My heart, briefly saved by this moment of joyful love, is overshadowed by the long and hard lives they face ahead, a great cost left by the war.”

 

Robert De Niro's wife not entitled to half his wealth

 

The bitter legal fight between Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower has prompted accusations of extravagant spending from both sides  DANNY MARTINDALE/GETTY IMAGES/FILMMAGIC

Robert De Niro 78, has scored an important legal victory against his estranged wife after a court ruled she was not entitled to half of his income.  Hightower, a 66-year-old philanthropist, socialite and actress, claimed she was owed half the money De Niro made in Hollywood and from business ventures while they were together.  The earnings, she argued, counted as marital assets to be split evenly, in accordance with a 2004 prenuptial agreement she signed with him.

Alec Baldwin shooting accident

 

Alec Baldwin dressed in costume with prop blood for the movie Rust, which was shared on Instagram a day before the fatal shooting on set.(Instagram: Alec Baldwin)

Alec Baldwin has expressed his sorrow to the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an incident on the set of the film Rust saw her die after he fired a prop gun. 

Halyna Hutchins was a noted up and coming cinematographer.(Instagram: HalynaHutchins

Prop guns fire blanks — gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but not a hard projectile.   But when the trigger is pulled, the paper or plastic wadding is ejected from the barrel with enough force that it can be lethal at close range, as proved to be the case in the death of an actor in 1984.  In another accident in 1993, while filming the movie The Crow, actor Brandon Lee was killed after a bullet was left in a prop gun.

 

The last two Northern White Female Rhinos

 

A ranger feeds Najin and her daughter Fatu, the last two northern white rhino females, with carrots near their enclosure at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia National Park, Kenya. Najin has been retired from breeding leaving her daughter as the only egg donor in an embryo implantation scheme.

Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

 

The evolution of tuskless elephants

A tuskless adult female African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. A new study has found that ivory poaching has led to evolution of tuskless elephants.

Photograph: Jennifer Guyton/Caters News Agency 

Chicago Race Riot 27 July 1919

 

A member of the state militia faces off against an African-American veteran during the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. July 27, 1919.

Persian Warrior Gloves

 

Persian Warrior Gloves, possibly from Safavid Dynasty in the 1500s.

Security Dog

 

A dummy dog sports a mask equipped with cameras and a transmission device at the 22^nd worldwide exhibition of Internal State Security (MILPOL) in Villepinte, France

Knocker up in London 1927

 

Few workers possessed alarm clocks, so the services of this ‘knocker up’ were in demand. Mary Smith’s clients were roused by her shooting peas at their windows. East End of London, 1927

Photograph: John Topham / TopFoto

Dubai, UAE

 

Visitors to Expo 2020 Dubai watch the spectacular four-storey indoor waterfall inside DP World’s Flow Pavilion. The expo, which was delayed by a year by the pandemic, runs until March 2022

Photograph: DP World

Beijing, China

 

Cai Qi, Beijing Communist Party secretary lights up the Olympic cauldron during a welcome ceremony for the Frame of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, held at the Olympic Tower in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Angelina Jolie attends premiere of "Eternals"

 

Cast member Angelina Jolie poses at the premiere of the film “Eternals” in Los Angeles, California.  Reuters

Leningradsky Railway Station, Moscow

 

A worker sanitizes a chapel inside the building of the Leningradsky railway station in Moscow, Russia

900 year old sword found dating back to Crusades

 

Jacob Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, holds a 1m-long sword that experts say dates back to the Crusades. The diver who found it was given a certificate of appreciation for turning over the 900-year-old item. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP

96 year old Nazi Secretary's trial begins

 

The 96-year-old defendant Irmgard F sits in an ambulance chair as she arrives in a courtroom in Itzehoe, Germany. The woman is charged with more than 11,000 counts of accessory to murder. Prosecutors argue she was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazi camp function more than 75 years ago. Photograph: Christian Charisius/DPA via AP

Search continues for 4 year old Cleo Smith

 

Cleo Smith, 4, was last seen in her family's tent at a campsite north of Carnarvon on Saturday.  (Supplied: WA Police)

An air, land and sea search was launched over the weekend, with state emergency service (SES) crews from Carnarvon, Shark Bay, Kalbarri and Geraldton joining police.   In total, 22 SES volunteers joined the search along with community volunteers, with helicopters, drones and an Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) jet providing aerial support.

Marine search and rescue volunteers and fisheries officers have also been searching nearby waters.  Detectives from Perth, Carnarvon and Geraldton have been examining the area, along with forensics officers from Perth….

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-17/search-for-missing-4-year-old-girl-continues-wa-carnarvon/100545576

Whale watching in Sydney

 

Tourists on a whale-watching trip got their money’s worth when a humpback leapt from the water off Sydney harbour during its migration to Antarctica

JOHN GOODRIDGE / CATERS NEWS

Sydney reaches 80% fully vaxxed

 

Images of frontline workers and vaccinated residents are projected on to the Sydney Opera House in tribute after New South Wales passed a target of 80% of people over 16 being fully vaccinated

Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

 

Five Power Defence Arrangements 50 years on

 

The Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) member-nations — Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom — marked 50 years of the defence pact with a flypast and naval display off waters near Marina South on Oct 18, 2021.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Preserving the Dead Sea

 

Participants pose for American art photographer Spencer Tunick, working on a photo installation in the desert landscape surrounding the southeastern Israeli city of Arad, some 15 kilometre west of the Dead Sea. 

About 300 participants have registered to be part of the nude photo installation, designed to draw world attention to the importance of preserving and restoring the Dead Sea, a unique natural resource and one of Israels most famous tourist attractions

Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

 

And this is why https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-10/the-disappearing-dead-sea-sinkhole-science-en-gedi/100123858

Sydney opens up after 100 days in lockdown

 

Sydneysiders dine near the Sydney Opera House on Sunday ahead of Covid restrictions easing further on Monday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/EPA

Russians film movie in space

 

Jezkazgan, Kazakhstan

Ground personnel help the Russian actor Yulia Peresild after the landing of the Soyuz MS-18 re-entry capsule. Peresild was onboard with the film director Klim Shipenko and the cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky after filming a movie in space

Photograph: Sergei Savostyanov/Tass

Face Pay in Moscow

 

The facial technology is able to recognise passengers even if they are wearing hats or masks

GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/ TASS/ GETTY IMAGES

 

Commuters on the Moscow metro will be able to pay for their journeys at a glance with the introduction of the world’s most extensive facial recognition system for payments today, despite concerns about the “Orwellian” surveillance tools being deployed in the Russian capital.  The system, named Face Pay, allows users to look into a camera at special entrance turnstiles fitted in the metro’s 241 stations, instead of tapping in with a bank or metro card.

Nelson Mandela's shirts up for auction

 

New York

Nelson Mandela’s shirts are displayed before a charity auction

Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Sydney, Australia

 

A koala cub at Wild Life Sydney zoo. After 109 days of closure, Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Madame Tussauds Sydney and the zoo have reopened

Photograph: Mark Evans/Getty Images

 

 

Elephant in the room

 

Winner, photojournalism
Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia

Zoo visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners.

Photograph: Adam Oswell/2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

 

 

William Shatner returns from space

 

SPACE MISSION: Jeff Bezos greets William Shatner as he emerges from the capsule after landing following the New Shepard NS-18 mission to space near Van Horn, Texas, USA. The mission carried Shatner along with Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries. Photograph: Blue Origin/EPA

 

The genius of Nikola Tesla

 

Nikola Tesla is most widely known for his contributions to the development of the modern AC electric supply system and as an early pioneer of many of the technologies that shaped the second half of the 20th century.

Like many people with OCD, Tesla was particularly concerned with germs, cleanliness and avoiding disease.   According to Smithsonian Magazine, he obsessively washed his hands, and in his later life ensured that all his food was boiled before he would touch it.  He often refused to shake hands when he met someone, and usually wore gloves to avoid any physical contact with people he met.

 

İzmir, Turkey

 

A 1,800-year-old mosaic is being restored at Metropolis ancient city in Torbalı district. After using modern techniques that ensure the preservation of colours and grains for a longer time, mosaics resembling paintings of Eros, Dionysus and his wife Ariadne were visible again

Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

 

Sydney, Australia

 

Police on horseback ride past Sydney Opera House after Covid stay-at-home orders were lifted in New South Wales

Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Indigenous Peoples' Day, Washington, US

 

A demonstrator wears a traditional Native American headdress during an Indigenous Peoples’ Day protest outside the White House, Washington, US. 11 October 2021.  Reuters/Sarah Silbiger TPX

Ron Mueck's sculpture 'Dark Place'

 

A gallery assistant poses by a sculpture entitled ‘Dark Place’ by Australian artist Ron Mueck displayed at Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in London.  Reuters/Matthew Childs

 

Myrtle Corbin, the girl with two sets of legs

 

Myrtle Corbin, a girl who was born with two sets of legs, two pelvises, and two functional sets of sexual/reproductive organs

At age 19 she married James Clinton Bicknell, with whom she had four daughters and a son.  "It was "determined that it was in her left uterus that Mrs. B. was pregnant." "physicians determined that Corbin preferred intercourse in the right side, and this fact was commented upon in several subsequent reports."

Corbin was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee.  Her parents were William H. Corbin, aged 25 at the time of his daughter's birth, and Nancy Corbin (née Sullins), aged 34.  Both parents were described by physicians who examined the infant shortly after her birth as being very similar in appearance, "both having auburn hair, blue eyes, and very fair complexion"; in fact, they looked so similar that the physicians felt compelled to point out that they were not "blood kin" The Corbins had four children in total, including a child from Nancy's first marriage.

Myrtle's birth was not marked by anything "peculiar about the labour or delivery" according to her mother. Doctors who examined the child shortly after her birth noted that a breech presentation "would have proved fatal to the infant, and possibly to the mother."  Corbin soon showed herself to be a strong child, weighing 10 lb (4.5 kg) three weeks after the birth, and it was reported in a journal published later that year that she "nurses healthily" and was "thriving well".