Demonstrators take part in a mass “face-sitting protest” outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 12, 2014, as they protest against changes to p*rnography regulations. An amendment to the 2003 Communities Act applies the same strict rules to p*rn bought online as those included in the guidelines set out by the British Board of Film Censors for DVDs. The new laws ban films that feature s*x acts, such as spanking, caning, strangulation, aggressive whipping, humiliation, and face-sitting. Ministers say the rules have been brought in to protect s*x workers. But campaigners say it is an attempt to censor and control the internet. Paid-for videos shot overseas and viewed online in the UK are not affected by the new rules, which were introduced on December 2, 2014. (Photo by Leon Neal/AFP Photo)

A diver swims near sculptures during the inauguration of the underwater museum in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 01 August 2021. At the new Ayia Napa Underwater Sculpture Museum (MUSAN), located in the Pernera area of Ayia Napa, visitors, both swimmers with mask and flippers and divers, will be able to tour around an underwater forest, the first of its kind in the world. (Photo by Jason Decaires Taylor/EPA/EFE)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

“Sixteen pilot whales died when they became stranded at Pittenweem, near St Andrews, on Sunday morning, Forth Coastguard said.

The mammals were part of a group of 26, of which 10 were refloated and returned to sea by vets and more than 50 volunteers from the emergency services and British Divers Marine Life Rescue. The whales were kept cool and hydrated with wet blankets and sheets on the shore”. – WalesOnline

Photo: Emergency service personnel walk near beached whales as they continue in their rescue attempt to save a large number of pilot whales who have beached on September 1, 2012 in Pittenweem, Scotland. A number of whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of Scotland between Anstruther and Pittenweem. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)

A British photographer has captured life at the “edge of the world”. Timothy Allen, best known for his work on BBC's Human Planet, trekked through the freezing Siberian wilderness for 16 days as he joined part of an 800km migration of reindeer in the Yamal-Nenets region – a name that roughly translates to “edge of the world”. The stunning pictures feature the nomadic Nenets tribe, who drink blood to survive in -45°C temperatures. Timothy's epic journey, which will be revealed in an eight-minute documentary on Animal Planet USA, saw him travel across the bleak terrain of the frozen Ob River with the Nenets people in December last year. Here: An empty camp is shown beneath a colourful sky in Siberia, December 2016. (Photo by Timothy Allen/Barcroft Productions)

A dancer lets a Russian tourist practice the traditional tannoura dance at a cafe in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 10, 2015. The fallout from the crash of a Russian Metrojet passenger plane in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula could slash tourism income from Sharm al-Sheikh by half, the head of the region's travel agents' association said on Tuesday. Several airlines have suspended flights to the Red Sea resort since the Oct. 31 crash, which investigators and Western governments believe was likely to have been caused by a bomb. Thousands of Russian and British tourists have been flown home. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

An arctic tern feeds its chick on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, northern England July 8, 2013. The Farne Islands, which lie off the coast of northeast England, are home to a huge array of wildlife. The islands are owned and protected by the British conservation charity, the National Trust, which says they host some 23 species of seabird, as well as a substantial colony of grey seals, who come to have their pups there in the autumn. Every five years the National Trust carries out a census of the islands' population of puffins, and this year's survey showed there were almost 40,000 nesting pairs on the islands – an 8 percent rise from 2008. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Reuters)

“The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of genetically manipulated mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Various storylines portray them as having had every emotion removed except hate, leaving them with a desire to purge the Universe of all non-Dalek life. Collectively they are the greatest enemies of the series' protagonist, the Time Lord known as the Doctor. Their famous catchphrase is “Exterminate!”, with each syllable individually synthesised in a frantic electronic voice” – Wikipedia

Photo: Max Hardy, aged 6, stands by a street sign from the Doctor Who Experience as Dalek, from the cult television show Doctor Who watches him on April 16, 2011 in London, England. The Doctor Who Experience Exhibition is currently running at Kensington Olympia Two, celebrating the science fiction programme that was originally screened in 1963. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for BBC Worldwide)