.
A Syrian man walks past damaged homes following a snow storm in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday: photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP, 5 January 2015
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi celebrate after they managed to secure completely and take control of the port of the southern city of Aden: photo by Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP, 5 January 2015
The rubble of the Chamber of Trade and Industry headquarters in Sana, Yemen, on Tuesday after it was hit by airstrikes said to have been carried out by the Saudi-led coalition: photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters, 5 January 2015
A Syrian refugee and two children arrive aboard the passenger ferry Ariadne at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece: photo by Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters, 4 January 2015
A Syrian refugee and two children arrive aboard the passenger ferry Ariadne at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece: photo by Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters, 4 January 2015
On the route of a thousand hells: Grande-Synthe camp, Dunkirk
Scenes from refugee settlements in France as rains flood in: #calais #dunkirk: image via Australia for UNHCR @UNrefugees, 5 January 2015
Volunteers try to clean up the camp in Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk. Many refugees are reported to be suffering from scabies and coughing up blood: photo by Jordi Oliver for the Guardian, 5 January 2015
A girl tries on mud-caked boots in the camp: photo by Jordi Oliver for the Guardian, 5 January 2015
Much-needed supplies appear to have been blocked from being delivered to the camp: photo by Jordi Oliver for the Guardian, 5 January 2015
A pool of water in the middle of the camp, which has destroyed large numbers of tents.Hundreds of refugees are living in dangerous, unsanitary conditions after days of heavy rain left their camp in northern France ankle-deep in filthy water, while guards have blocked migrants’ attempts to replace tents and rebuild temporary shelters. Aid agencies working at the camp in Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, say they are concerned for the health of the refugees due to an apparent ban on building materials, firewood and even blankets being brought into the compound during the cold, damp period. The site, known as France’s “forgotten” camp and which is about 50 miles from Dover, is estimated to hold 3,000 refugees mainly from Syria, Iran and Iraq. After Sunday night’s rain, 200 refugees –- many of them children –- had to leave their sodden tents to keep dry in the distribution shelter. By Monday a huge pool of water stood in the middle of the camp, which has destroyed large numbers of tents. Building rain-proof dry shelters or bringing new tents is forbidden, according to aid workers on the ground.: photo by Jordi Oliver for the Guardian, 5 January 2015
On the route of a thousand hells: In The Jungle, Calais
A Syrian man and his son in the Jungle in Calais: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Karzan, a nurse back in Iraq, with his wife Sharmin and son Hemn in their makeshift shelter in the Jungle in Calais: photo by David Levene for the Guardian, 3 November 2015
The Jungle in Calais -- ‘It is the largest slum in Europe and probably the worst’: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Many people in the camp wear ill-fitting shoes that have been donated by well-wishers: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Some of the refugees waiting, hoping for a chance to get to Britain: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Those with children cannot risk the dangers of trying to jump trains or lorries: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
High-energy drinks are a popular item at the camp’s unofficial shops: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Men queue in line for a handout of clothing: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
Some of the books in the Jungle’s library, set up by volunteers: photo by David Levene for The Guardian, 3 November 2015
The #jungle camp in #calais: cold, muddy and unwelcoming. @care4calais donations keep refugees warm, dry and fed: image via Sean Hawkey @seanhawkeye, 3 January 2016
The #jungle camp in #calais: cold, muddy and unwelcoming. @care4calais donations keep refugees warm, dry and fed: image via Sean Hawkey @seanhawkeye, 3 January 2016
The #jungle camp in #calais: cold, muddy and unwelcoming. @care4calais donations keep refugees warm, dry and fed: image via Sean Hawkey @seanhawkeye, 3 January 2016
The Jungle refugee camp, Calais.‘No sanitation, no healthcare, no security, no refuse collection, and no roads – just tracks of stinking mud full of litter and human detritus.’: photo by Jeff J Mitchell via the Guardian, 10 December 2015
Troopers of The Empire
Camels compete during the Liwa 2016 Moreeb Dune Festival on Tuesday, in the Liwa desert, 250 kilometres west of the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi: photo by Karim Sahib/AFP, 5 January 2015
Japan sushi boss pays $117,000 for endangered tuna: AFP, 6 January 2015
A Japanese sushi boss paid more than $117,000 Tuesday for a giant bluefin tuna as Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market held its last New Year auction ahead of a much-needed modernisation move.
Bidding stopped at a whopping 14 million yen for the enormous 200-kilogram (440-pound) fish -- a threatened species -- that was caught off Japan's northern coast.
The price was three times higher than last year but still far below a record 155.4 million yen paid by the sushi chain operator in 2013 -- when a Hong Kong restaurant chain weighed in and drove up bidding -- for a slightly larger fish of similar quality.
The New Year auction is a traditional feature at Tsukiji, where bidders pay way over the odds for the prestige of buying the first fish of the year.
But it came as Japan, the world's largest consumer of bluefin tuna, faces growing calls for a trade ban on the species, which environmentalists warn is on its way to extinction.
Kiyoshi Kimura, president of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, paid more than $117,000 for the 200kg bluefin tuna, displayed at his main restaurant near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on January 5, 2016: photo by AFP, 5 January 2016
The population of Pacific bluefin tuna is set to keep declining "even if governments ensure existing management measures are fully implemented", Amanda Nickson, director of Global Tuna Conservation at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said in a release.
Bluefin is usually the most expensive fish available at Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world.
A single piece of "otoro", or the fish's fatty underbelly, can cost up to several thousand yen at high-end Tokyo restaurants.
The growing popularity of Japanese sushi worldwide has stoked demand elsewhere.
Fishmongers inspect frozen bluefin tuna before the first auction of the New Year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, which will end its eight-decade history this year: photo by AFP, 5 January 2016
"Given the already dire state of the population –- decimated to just four percent of unfished levels -- it is of particular concern that the auction price is rising again," Nickson added.
"The international community must let the Japanese government know that additional action is needed to save this species."
Tuesday's auction winner, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the firm behind the popular Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he was "glad to make a winning bid in the last New Year auction at Tsukiji."
Kimura has won the bidding every year since 2012.
Tsukiji -- a sprawling complex of tiny stalls and wholesalers popular with tourists -- will end its eight-decade history this year when it is relocated to a modern facility in Toyosu, a few kilometres (miles) away.
Garbage (Higashizu-cho, Shizuoka Prefecture): photo by efo, September 2015
Star Wars fans wait for the first showing of the movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” outside a cinema in Tokyo: photo by Issei Kato/Reuters, 18 December 2015
Tokyo Invasion: "All your base are belong to US". The Empire sent three Stormtroopers to invade Tokyo. One went off dancing and the other two decided to take some time off instead, seeing the sights at Akihabara, Shibuya, Asakusa and more: photo by Danny Choo, 25 January 2011
Angry single men stage anti-Christmas rally in Tokyo: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 19 December 2015
Fries and kebabs [Nishishinjuku 2 Chome, Tokyo]: photo by efo, 2015
Cat with guard, Tokyo [Nishishinjuku 1 Chome, Tokyo]: photo by efo, 7 November 2015
Smile [Higashinippon 4 Chome, Tokyo]: photo by efo, 2015
Yoshimi [Yoshimi-machi, Saitama Prefecture]: photo by efo, 29 September 2015
Touchy Subjects
Wearing makeup to workout: it's a touchy subject: image via New York Times @nytimes, 6 September 2015
This image of Alan's body washed up on a beach in Turkey led to an outpouring of concern for Syrian refugees. Since then, at least 100 more children have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea: photo by Nilufer Demir via Agence France-Presse, 2 September 2015
A Turkish police officer carried the body of Alan Kurdi a young Syrian refugee who drowned off the coast of Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula on Wednesday: photo by Nilufer Demir/DHA, via Reuters, 2 September 2015
Abdullah Kurdi in the piano bar of a hotel in Erbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, less than a month after losing his wife and two sons in an attempt to flee the Syrian conflict by risking the perilous sea journey from Turkey to Greece. “I have become a shadow,” he said..: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 27 December 2015
Armed activists defy government in #Oregonstandoff: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 4 January 2015
Ammon Bundy addresses reporters earlier today. #Oregonstandoff #OregonUnderAttack #OregonOccupation: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w 3 January 2015
This is as close as I was allowed to get to the armed militia occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge HQ. #burnsoregon: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w, 2 January 2015
A few unpublished pics from the trip to the Malheur Refuge today. 1. Ammon Bundy. #Oregonstandoff #burnsoregon: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w, 3 January 2015
2. Ammon Bundy and crew: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w, 3 January 2015
3. Ammon's bodyguard: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w, 3 January 2015
The unnamed bodyguard is Brian David Cavalier, aka Booda. He's a tattoo artist from Arizona. @jason_a_w: image via JJ MacNab @jjmacnab, 3 January 2015
6. Needed a longer lens for this - anyway, the fire observation tower now manned with sentries.: image via Jason Wilson @jason_a_w, 3 January 2015
Larger Than Life
Monster statue of China's founder Mao Zedong built by group of capitalists: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 5 January 2015
Monster statue of China's founder Mao Zedong built by group of capitalists: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 5 January 2015
Ghettovision. Los Angeles, California.: photo by michaelj1998, 2 December2015
The Empire loves itself some Empire: image via Al Seib @AlSeibPhoto, 6 January 2015
Nothing but life itself
Syrians evacuate a wounded man on a stretcher following an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Damascus’ rebel-held suburb of Zamalka, on Wednesday: photo by Abdul Monam Eassa/AFP, 6 January 2015
A child looks out of a bus window after walking from the Macedonian border into Serbia, in the village of Miratovac, Serbia, Wednesday. Hundreds of migrants continue to arrive daily into Serbia in order to register and continue their journey further north towards Western Europe: photo by Visar Kryeziu/AP, 6 January 2015
Bulgarian men dance in the icy winter waters of the Tundzha river in the town of Kalofer as part of the Epiphany Day celebrations. As a tradition, an Eastern Orthodox priest throws a cross in the river and it is believed that the one who retrieves it will be healthy through the year as well as all those who dance in the icy waters: photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP, 6 January 2015
Turkey finds drowned bodies of 21 migrants, including children: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 5 January 2015
#Refugees and #migrants. From #Lesbos to .......: image via Aris Messinis @Aris Messinis, 8 December 2015
21 #Refugees, many of them children, have washed ashore in Turkey photo @dromografos: image via Revolution News @NewsRevo, 5 January 2015
21 #Refugees, many of them children, have washed ashore in Turkey photo @dromografos: image via Revolution News @NewsRevo, 5 January 2015
Κατα τ αλλά αν έπεφτε ο φράκτης θα θρηνούσαμε θύματα... #refugeesGr: image via dromografos @dromografos, 5 January 2015
Κατα τ αλλά αν έπεφτε ο φράκτης θα θρηνούσαμε θύματα... #refugeesGr: image via dromografos @dromografos, 5 January 2015
Κατα τ αλλά αν έπεφτε ο φράκτης θα θρηνούσαμε θύματα... #refugeesGr: image via dromografos @dromografos, 5 January 2015
Κατα τ αλλά αν έπεφτε ο φράκτης θα θρηνούσαμε θύματα... #refugeesGr: image via dromografos @dromografos, 5 January 2015
Number of #refugees drowned off #Lesbos rises to 34 - another 10 bodies found off #Turkey coast. (Pics via @HDNER): image via Jon Williams Verified account @WilliamsJon 5 January 2015
Accurate information is a massively unmet need for #refugees #migrants - Nobody knows what's next causing huge anxiety.: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 2 January 2015
yIn Belgrade, activists appealed for winter clothes as 4 child #migrants were admitted to emergency with hypothermia.: image via Balkan Newsbeat @BalkanNewsbeat 3 January 2015
Bodies of 34 #migrants found on #Turkish coast #migrantcrisis: image via Arab News Verified account @Arab_News, 5 January 2015
Bodies of 34 #migrants found on #Turkish coast #migrantcrisis: image via Arab News Verified account @Arab_News, 5 January 2015
The Kid makes a splash
Trash collects on the banks of the Los Angeles River after a heavy rainstorm passed through the area, raising the water levels in the river in Vernon: photo by Abdul Monam Eassa/AFP, 6 January 2015
Today's #ElNiño storm brings more flood danger as it moves slowly over the L.A. area: image via Los Angeles Times Verified account @latimes, 6 January 2015
Homes at Mondo's Beach between the Solimar and Faria Beach communities west of Ventura have their sea walls tested Wednesday morning, as the third storm of this season's El Nino moves in with more rain and heavy surf: photo by Al Seib / Los Angeles Times, 6 January 2015
#ElNino making waves as vehicles navigate flooded lanes on the SB 101 Fwy at California Street in downtown #Ventura: image via Al Seib @AlSeibPhoto, 6 January 2015
Pouring in Vallejo as we talk #ElNino @KQEDForum #cawx: image via voxterra @voxterra, 6 January 2015 Vallejo, CA
Felipe Flores Lopez, 59, loses his homeless encampment to #ElNino: image via Genaro Molina @GenaroMolina47, 5 January 2015
@berkelyside rainbow over the Bay between storms in Berkeley: image via Fred Werner @SustainableFred, 6 January 2015
Deluge
Study for Deluge (portion of sheet): Jacopo Pontormo. c. 1546, red chalk on paper, 419 x 216 mm (whole sheet)(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)
The Deluge: Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1508-09, fresco, 280 x 570 cm (Cappella Sistina, Vatican
The Deluge (detail): Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1508-09, fresco (Cappella Sistina, Vatican)
The Deluge (detail): Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1508-09, fresco (Cappella Sistina, Vatican)
The Deluge (detail): Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1508-09, fresco (Cappella Sistina, Vatican)
Deluge over a city: Leonardo da Vinci, 1517-18, black chalk on paper, 163 x 210 mm (Royal Library, Windsor)
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi celebrate after they managed to secure completely and take control of the port of the southern city of Aden: photo by Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP, 5 January 2015
A Syrian man walks past damaged homes following a snow storm in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday: photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP, 5 January 2015