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This photo shows severe bleaching to coral in the Lord Howe Island Lagoon. The world's southernmost coral reef is on a 'knife-edge' after warmer seas blamed on climate change bleached large parts of it for the first time, an Australian scientist warned on Wednesday. Professor Peter Harrison, who has been monitoring the world heritage-listed Lord Howe Island since 1993, said a two degrees Celsius (four Fahrenheit) rise in sea temperatures had drained much of the reef of its distinctive colours. -- PHOTO: AFP




Lehiya-writer artists replicate Jain scripture on jute paper at a workshop in Mumbai. Some 20-odd lehiyas in traditional white tunics and red turbans hunch over their worktable in monkish silence, rewriting ancient scriptures in painstaking detail, using the same craft as the Maharaj Sahibs (Jain monks) did with the original scriptures of Teerthankars 1,800 years ago on parchments. The pens are made of tree barks, ink from organic substances like burnt sesame seeds or gold leaf are used. -- PHOTO: AFP




From on top of the Flatiron Building, one of the 31 life-size fiberglass nude body cast by the British artist Antony Gormley, that were inaugurated on sidewalks and rooftops of buildings surrounding Madison Square Park, including the Empire State Building. The art display, called 'Event Horizion', will run from Friday to Aug 15. -- PHOTO: AFP