“A dazzling exhibition featuring jewelry made with the world’s largest diamond will be part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The jewelry was made with a 3,106-carat diamond discovered in 1905 at the Cullinan Diamond Mine near Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The diamond was so large that miners initially thought it was a worthless crystal and almost threw it away”... – Vidya Kauri via News.nationalpost.com

Photo: Caroline de Guitaut, Curator of Royal Collections, holds the Cullinan III and IV Broach and the Cullinan VII Delhi Durbar Necklace and Cullinan Pendant at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on May 15, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

Just a week before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America's first Olympics, city residents expressed mixed feelings about the cost and security of the Games, while holding out hope they will bring joy to a nation facing economic and political crises. The conflicted thoughts mirror a recent survey by the Datafolha polling group showing that half of Brazilians were opposed to holding the Games, while 63 percent think the costs of hosting the event will outweigh benefits. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Jeremy Davis (L) demonstrates the operation of the safe room shelter door lock to homeowner Rob Hamlin on June 18, 2011 in Neosho, Missouri. Once thought of as a luxury item there has been a surge of interest from homeowners in purchasing shelters to ride out damaging storms ever since a F5 tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Missouri. Ranging in price from $3,000 to $5,000 homeowners can supplement the cost with a mortgage insurance program offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for installing a safe room built to FEMA specifications. Lawmakers in Alabama have even considered requiring construction of storm shelters in mobile home parks after forty people died in April. (Photo by Julie Denesha/Getty Images)

An artist has given classic paintings new hope – by adding Star Wars elements into the famous works. David Hamilton, 50, put his unique twist on paintings by the likes of Monet, Munch, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. The creative artist, from Livingston, Scotland, came up with the idea while flicking through a book of classic paintings. As a Star Wars fanatic he thought to himself how funny it would be funny to see a Stormtrooper incorporated into one of the works. Here: Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. (Photo by Dave Hamilton/Caters News)

Memory Suitcases is a thought-provoking series by Israeli artist Yuval Yairi that uses old, worn suitcases as canvases for nostalgic landscapes. Like scenes out of one's memory, the propped up traveling cases feature a range of sepia-toned settings. The series presents the objects as though they are relics of a civilization from yesteryear, each with their own story to tell.
There's something both heartbreaking and sentimental about the images. It appears to tell a number of stories of leaving one lifestyle for another. The suitcases hold within them a picture show of memories from a life-altering journey. Like a number of his other works, Memory Suitcases "mimics the natural process of memory."

Dan surrounded by seven days of her own rubbish in Pasadena, California. If you've never thought about how much rubbish you throw away an honest photographic series will open your eyes. Men, women, couples and families with young children have been photographed lying on their backs surrounded by a week's worth of their own rubbish – from old cartons of milk, used nappies and even tampons. The startling series “Seven Days of Garbage” by Californian photographer Gregg Segal is an unforgettable reminder of the amount of waste a human collects in just seven days. (Photo by Gregg Segal/Barcroft Media)

It is simply staggering how complicated some items really are. We never think about it, but some items that we use every day consist of hundreds of parts meticulously put together and working perfectly. Todd McLellan is a photographer who based his newest book “Things Come Apart” on the complexity of various old and new tech. By carefully taking apart various items and arranging all of the parts in perfect order, Todd has allowed us not only to look inside various appliances, but also to appreciate the astounding complexity of these items. Just like the human mind, we are so used to seeing and talking with people that we forget just how complicated their minds really are. It would be great if we could “take apart” the human mind in order to gain some insight into the person’s thoughts and desires. However, very few people are capable of doing it, while the rest will remain blind to the obvious. (Photo by Todd McLellan)