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)

Computer Inc. (Asus) unveiled the Zenbook, the new super-thin laptops. Encased in brushed steel, the Zenbook feels solid, yet light. “The super-thin laptop’s $999 configuration, which includes 4 GB of 133MHz DDR 3 RAM, a 128 GB SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) and two USB 3.0 ports, is $200 cheaper than a similarly configured “competitor” (read: MacBook Air). You can by a MacBook Air for $999 with the same Intel Core i5 CPU — but with only half the memory and storage space. Zenbook would get 7 hours of battery life (roughly 3.4 hours of streaming video and 3.25 hours of gameplay) and could remain in standby for up to two weeks”.

In this May 4, 2014 photo, a miner holds an amalgam of mercury and gold he mined after working a 28-hour shift at an illegal gold mining process, in La Pampa, in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Thousands of artisanal gold miners sweat through the long shifts and endure, for a few grams of gold, the perils of collapsing earth, limb-crushing machinery and the toxic mercury used to bind gold flecks. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Music student Daniele Gonzalez, (centre row, L), and Australian musician Susie Park from the Minnesota Orchestra (centre row, 2nd L), react during a rehearsal in Havana, May 15, 2015. The Minnesota Orchestra will offer two concerts in Havana and is the first major U.S. orchestra to play in Cuba since 1999. The trip cost nearly $1 million. It was underwritten by Marilyn Carlson Nelson, an heir to the Carlson hotel company fortune, and her husband Glen. The U.S. government gave special permission for a direct charter flight from Minneapolis to Havana for the event, putting 4 tons of equipment and 160 people on an Airbus 330. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A dinosaur robot produced by Tyco Electronics Japan G.K. is controlled by a smartphone at CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) Japan 2014 held at at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, east of Tokyo, Japan, 07 October 2014.With a Sharp Aquos ZETA mobile phone model, users can make the 6.5-meter (21 feet, 4 inches) long, 2.1-meter (6 feet, 11 inches) tall dinosaur robot to walk forward and backward, jump, move its head, hands and legs up and down, left and right, open and close its mouth by touching the screen panel and make it bark by shaking the handheld. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)

“The Mahamasthakabhisheka (or Mahamasthak Abhishek) is an important Jain festival held once every twelve years in the town of Shravanabelagola in Karnataka state, India. The festival is held in veneration of an immense 18 meter high statue of the Bhagwan (or Saint) Gomateshwara Bahubali. The anointing last took place in February 2006, and the next ceremony will occur in 2018”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Jain Sadhu (2nd L) and devotees gather and pray at the feet of the monolithic statue of Jain sage Gomateswara during preparations for the Mahamastak Abhisheka ceremony February 7, 2006 in Shravanabelagola, India. The Mahamastak Abhisheka ceremony is held just once every twelve years where the statue will be bathed with milk, yogurt, saffron, gold coins and other religious items. The statue is said to be the world's largest monolith. The ceremony officially runs February 8-19. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

“Sidney D. Gamble (July 12, 1890 – 1968) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to David Berry and Mary Huggins Gamble; grandson of James Gamble, who, with William Procter, founded Procter & Gamble in 1837. in 1912 he graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Literature degree and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He visited China for four extended periods, 1908, 1917–1919, 1924–27, and 1931–1932, doing Christian social work for the Y.M.C.A and conducting social surveys. He is now best known for his remarkable and extensive photographs of Peking and North China.” – Wikipedia. (Photo by Sidney David Gamble via Duke University Libraries)

Photo: Hillcoat Riding Fu Tu. China, An Xian, 1917-1919. P.S. All photos are available in high resolution.