- Visiters of the town travel with an old post coache along the square of the Nuremberg Christmas Market. Photo by Horst Linke, 27.11.2011
Nürnberg (NZ) - Advent, Advent, a light is burning - at the first Christmas market weekend (Christkindlesmarkt: Christ-child market) ) an overwhelming rush of visitors came to the city. The merchants are pleased because through the favourable date-related time leading up to Christmas they can sell this year on their approximately 180 market stalls their goods a few days longer. (more)
Libyan rebel fighters embrace at a former female military base in Tripoli on August 22, 2011. In Benghazi thousands celebrated their advance into Tripoli. “We are smelling freedom today, and I hope all the Arab countries get the same soon,” said Abdul Ghani Sharif, 45. But he acknowledged forgiveness might not be easy. “We have paid a high price.” (more)
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"Four decades of a nation's life were squandered by this regime. Surely the successor can do better."
- Libyan rebels' seizure of large parts of Tripoli marks a dramatic advance for revolutionary movements in the Middle East, but the impact depends on how the Libyans' success affects the potentially more important rebellion in Syria. While the Libyan rebels continue to face resistance, their swift march into the capital likely will be seen in the region as a lesson that not even widespread government brutality can deter citizens fed up with decades of abuse by authoritarian regimes. (more)
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The Moscow City Center: The city center in Moscow is expected to grow significantly since the Russian Federation Council has now approved a huge expansion.
- On Friday, Moscow's Bolshoi Theater will reopen following a six-year renovation that cost €570 million ($798 million). The theater has one of the richest traditions of all of Europe's stages. It is famous for opera and, most of all, for its ballet company. With its 200 dancers, the Bolshoi Ballet is the world's largest dance company.
The Bolshoi is the pinnacle of the Russian theater world. Following a six-year renovation, fans are thrilled to see the dazzling new building. But new onstage performances have dampened the enthusiasm. Read more »
Already in 1169 there had been a massive eruption of Mount Etna. The consequences of this eruption were more severe than 1536: At the eruption in the year 1169 about 15,000 people lost their lives.
Florida's coastal region in an image from the Envisat satellite. Ecologists are particularly worried about the Florida Keys although Florida's west coast may be spared because the current passes by at a distance.
The Maldives have become a symbol of the dangers of global warming, amid fears the islands could disappear as a result of rising sea levels. But one team of scientists believes the truth is more complicated. The coral islands, they postulate, may be growing with the rising waters. • Read article
Male, the capital city of the Maldives, is comprised of a tiny island. It's one of the world's smallest capitals. The Maldives, comprised of 1,192 islands, is the country most threatened by climate change and rising seas.
Trees purify the air, climate scientists need accurate data on the forest resources. Now a researcher presents the first world map of tree heights. It shows where giant trees stand - and where smal trees grow.Read more »
Scorching heat, for weeks already: Russia currently has to contend with a severe drought. From space is to see how drastic the forest fire situation in the region around Moscow has become.
A Venus fly-trap anemone, Actinoscyphia species, is seen in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 1,500 m. Census of Marine Life scientists have released an inventory of species distribution and diversity in key global ocean areas. Australian and Japanese waters, which each feature almost 33,000 known species, are by far the most biodiverse of the 25 areas reported to date; the oceans off China, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico round out the top five. Experts say the number of known, named species range from 2,600 to 33,000 but average about 10,750 across the 25 areas. Picture: AFP/Getty
Scientists involved in the Census of Marine Life (CoML), a 10-year project to find out what lives in the world's oceans, have published some of their data. This dragonfish, which is found in waters around Australia, is one of the more unusual species.
One of the more unusual creatures to feature in the CoML is this deep-sea jellyfish, found in the waters off Japan, that - when attacked by a predator - uses bioluminescence to "scream" for help. The findings appear in the journal PLoS One.
Business daily Vedomosti hit out at Putin's latest PR attempt flying a Russian firefighting plane
Moscow (AFP) — Russia on Wednesday admitted wildfires hit hundreds of hectares of land contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as anger grew over the slack official response to its worst ever heatwave. The smog from the wildfires that triggered a public health crisis which descended for days over Moscow dissipated as the authorities claimed the total area on fire in Russia had halved over the last 24 hours. Read more »
Houses swallowed by tsunami waves burn in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11. Photos: Kyodo News/Associated Press . An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan last Friday. The quake -- one of the largest in recorded history -- triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats.
A satellite image shows damage to the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant at the town of Okuma in Futaba district in Fukushima. Teams of Japanese workers and troops on March 18 battled to prevent meltdown at the quake-hit nuclear plant as alarm over the disaster grew with more foreign governments advising their citizens to flee.
13 years data: The greater the green on the Earth, the more chlorophyll
At what proportion the world's oceans absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have for long been unknown. The data collected over 13 years by a satellite show impressively the importance of the oceans for the global climate. (more) • German article
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.Photos: Nuremberg Christmas Market
.Traditional Nuremberger spicy gingerbread 
