A large Pacific sideband snail slowly crosses a rain wet road in rural Douglas County, Oregon near Elkton on Sunday, December 2, 2012. The moisture loving snail should be very content with the recent heavy rains in southwestern Oregon and northern California. (Photo by Robin Loznak)

A Aldabra Tortoise receives a Christmas treat at Taronga Zoo on December 14, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. Taronga Zoo celebrated Christmas early giving Christmas-themed environmental activities to the Zoo's Giraffes, Sun Bears, Meerkats, Aldabra Tortoise and Cockatoos providing a wonderful natural display for Zoo visitors. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams)

“Actor and director Mel Gibson has pleaded no contest to a “misdemeanour” battery charge after a fight with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in 2010. Gibson, 55, was placed on probation for 36 months and ordered to attend a year of domestic violence counselling. The complaint accuses Gibson of “wilfully and unlawfully” using force and violence against Ms Grigorieva. A misdemeanour charge is generally considered a lesser criminal act than a felony charge in the US”. – BBC News

Photo: Oksana Grigorieva arrives at the premiere Of Warner Bros. “The Edge Of Darkness” held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on January 26, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

“With a fourth explosion rocking the Fukushima nuclear plant on Tuesday, danger of the spent nuke fuel pool boiling and radiation levels at the facility's gate increasing hundredfold, fears of a meltdown in Japan skyrocket”. – Russia Today

Photo: In this handout image provided by U.S. Navy, an aerial view of tsunami and earthquake damage is seen from an SH-60B helicopter assigned to the Chargers of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 14 from Naval Air Facility Atsugi March 12, 2011 seen from the air of Sendai, Japan. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

“The Lockheed Martin X-33 is an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program”. – Wikipedia

Photo: An Artist's Rendering Shows How Nasa's X-33 Technology Demonstrator, A Cost-Cutting Fully Reusable Single-Stage-To-Orbit Space Vehicle, Will Look Upon Completion. The 67 Foot-Long, 278,600 Pound, Twin Engine Space Vehicle, Capable Of Reaching Speeds In Excess Of Mach 15, Will Lead To The Construction Of A 127 Foot-Long, 2,186,000 Pound Version With Seven Engines And A 50,000 Pound Payload Capacity Called The “Venturestar”. (Photo By Nasa/Getty Images)

In this photo distributed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) May 23, 2005, woman soldiers wear branches in their helmets as their infantry instructors' course learns about camouflage during the field craft week of their training May 19, 2005 at an army base near Beersheva in Israel's southern desert. It takes the IDF more than 2 months to teach these 18-year-old female recruits the basic arts of warfare before they assigned to pass on their newly-acquired skills to the army's male and female draftees. (Photo by Abir Sultan/IDF via Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, an endangered Chinese box turtle which hatched at Bristol Zoo is placed on a box of matches on August 12, 2008 in Bristol, England. It weighs just 15 grams and measures around 4cm long whereas an adult box turtle weighs around 800 grams, measures around 16 cm long and can live up to 50 years. Chinese box turtles are hunted for their meat for use in medicine or as pets and have been listed as endangered on the International Union for Endangered Species Red List. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

“The Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A vivandiere, a female soldier selling provisions and spirits, with the Allied forces during the Crimean War. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)