Solid Light, an exhibition of the immersive works of Anthony McCall, opens at Tate Modern in London on June 25, 2024. Installations use beams of light projected through a thin mist to create large three-dimensional forms. (Photo by Guy Bell/Alamy Live News)

An aerial view of Syrian people flocked to the streets in the capital Damascus to celebrate US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Damascus, Syria on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Amadeusz Mikolaj Swierk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

This photograph shows installing of the artwork of Venezuelan-US artist Alex Da Corte titled “Kermit the Frog, Even” at Place Vendome in Paris, on October 19, 2025, ahead of the official opening of the Art Basel contemporary and modern art market. (Photo by Dimitar Photo)

A dog belonging to the Armed Police Force jumps through a ring of fire while performing a trick during Kukur Tihar as part of Tihar, a term used in Nepal for Diwali, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on October 20, 2025. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

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.

Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings (Lepidochelys olivacea) sit in baskets and trays at the turtle camp La Gloria, before their release into the ocean in Tomatlan November 15, 2013. Twenty years ago, Mexico's government implemented ecological plans to protect the sea turtles from being hunted for their leather and meat and established conservation areas and a pay system for local residents to protect turtle nests. Millions of baby turtles hatch on the shores in November and December, according to an environmental group. It is estimated that in 2012, there were 20 million newborns. Hatching season is still underway, but officials say they expect there will be even more turtles born this year. (Photo by Alejandro Acosta/Reuters)

“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)