A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The “most improved” top 10 contains some unexpected names. So, eg, the fourth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Latest ranking: 128; Ranking five years ago: 131; Five-year index movement: 3.8%. Here: A supporter of Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara campaigns in a market in the city’s Koumassi quarter. (Photo by Sia Kambou/AFP Photo)

#Resistiré 2020 (# I will resist 2020), the hymn recorded by more than 30 Spanish artists to beat the coronavirus together. Participating in the hymn: Alex Ubago, Andrés Suárez, Álvaro Soler, Blas Cantó, Carlos Baute, Conchita, David Bisbal, David Otero, David Summers, Despistaos, Diana Navarro, Dvicio, Mariposa Effect, Hall Effect, Ele, Georgina, India, Jose Mercé, Josemi Carmona, Manuel Carrasco, Melendi, Mikel Erentxun, Nil Moliner, Pastora Soler, Pedro Guerra, Pitingo, Rosana, Rozalén, Rulo, Sofía Ellar and Vanesa Martín. Promoted by Cadena 100, all these musicians and artists come together under the production of Pablo Cebrián to get this Resistiré, with which all funds will be for the benefit of Cáritas (Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 165 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Collectively and individually, their claimed missions are to work to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed).

A mermaids swims during MerMagic Con at the Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas, Virginia on August 7, 2021. MerMagic Con is advertised as the largest Mermaid convention in the world. Some parts of the convention are based on modeling and looks like the Miss Mermaid USA Pageant. The Society of Fat Mermaids looks to bring together plus size people and promote the idea that anyone can become a mermaid. Becoming a mermaid is not cheap, most merfolk spend thousands of dollars on their tail and outfit. Most tails are custom made out of silicone and others are foam and fabric. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP Photo)

Chinese women wear protective masks as they are dressed in traditional clothing from the Qing Dynasty era outside a park on March 29, 2020 in Beijing, China. A limited section of the iconic tourist site was re-opened to the public this week allowing a smaller number of visitors to reserve tickets online in advance and to enter after passing health screening. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

National Geographic invites photographers from around the world to enter the 2013 National Geographic Photography Contest. The grand-prize winner will receive $10,000 (USD) and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2014. Photo: “We just want to move to search to the Leopard at that morning but we found a group of giraffes come toward a small lake and start drinking it was a nice moment when the Giraffe finish from drinking and leave a letters “S” with motion in the air”. (Photo and caption by Majed Ali/National Geographic Photography Contest)

James Kerr started his project “Scorpion Dagger” without any real direction, except for the intention to make one GIF everyday(ish) for one year. He had been making collages for some time and “Scorpion Dagger” started out to be a test of discipline and a way for him to learn how to animate. Making GIFs was a logical evolution to him. The project represents many different things to him, the works from which he draws upon are so powerful and inspirational to him, that he is now nearly obsessed with repurposing them to share his vision of the world, and perhaps inspire people to look at art differently. The project is tremendously personal to him, it’s a lot more than the humor that’s at its surface and he is still trying to work out what “Scorpion Dagger” really is.

“The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae now found in the wild only in the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding”. – Wikipedia. Photo: A Tasmanian Devil bears it's teeth at a quarantine facility August 31, 2005 in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Isabel Schmalenbach, an environmental scientist with the Helgoland Biological Institute (Biologische Anstalt Helgoland), part of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, holds a one-year old baby European lobster (Homarus gammarus) raised at the institute on August 3, 2013 on Helgoland Island, Germany. Later in the day Schmalenbach and her colleagues released a total of 415 one-year old lobsters into the North Sea as part of an effort to repopulate the lobster population around Helgoland (also called Heligoland). In the 19th century local fishermen caught up to 80,000 lobsters a year in the surrounding waters, combined with the heavy allied bombing of the island during and after World War II, as well as other environmental factors, decimated the lobster population. (Photo by Sean Gallup)