George R.R. Martin, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, and other cast and crew of Game of Thrones have faced the winds of winter – or anyway, a bucket of ice water – with the popular charity challenge. HBO’s Game of Thrones gives fans chills in every episode. But as the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS research has exploded across the internet, the cast and crew of the shocking show gave themselves goosebumps as they stepped up to get soaked.

“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)

Participants in the Grelka Fest at the Sheregesh resort in Tashtagolsky District of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia on April 22, 2017. Russian girls marked the end of the ski season with a record-breaking bikini ski festival at Siberia’s top winter resort, Sheregesh. Some 1,498 skiers and snowboarders undressed to impress in the annual event as they took to the pistes under blues skies and sunshine in a bracing temperature of just 5°C. (Photo by Grelka Fest/The Siberian Times)

With the humpback calving season drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of Rita Kluge’s distinctive marine photos from the south Pacific. The Sydney-based photographer fell in love with whales after witnessing southern rights from the New South Wales coastline as they travelled to and from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. She has since been to Tonga, where humpbacks breed and calf in winter months, to photograph them in the water. (Photo by Rita Kluge/The Guardian)

An image of a Fennec fox painted on a tree hole by Wang Yue is seen in Shijiazhuang, on March 13, 2013. Wang Yue, a senior at Dalian Industry University, uses her paintbrush to turn ugly tree holes into lovely views in Shijiazhuang, capital city of Hebei Province, China. Wang and her companions call the tree-hole paintings “meitu”, which means “beautiful journey”. The paintings on the trees have brightened the city during the dull, grey winter. (Photo by Pillar Lee/Reuters)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

A monarch butterfly rests on the ground at the Sierra Chincua butterfly sanctuary on a mountain in Angangeo, Michoacan November 24, 2016. Angangueo is a town and municipality located in far eastern Michoacán state in central Mexico noted for its history of mining and its location in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is a World Heritage Site containing most of the over-wintering sites of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

A member of the punk group p*ssy Riot is restrained by a member of the Cossack militia in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday, February 19, 2014. Cossack militia attacked the p*ssy Riot punk group with horsewhips on Wednesday as the group tried to perform under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics. The group had gathered to perform in a downtown Sochi restaurant, about 30km (21miles) from where the Winter Olympics are being held.They left the restaurant wearing bright dresses and ski masks and had only been performing for a few seconds when they were set upon by Cossacks. (Photo by Morry Gash/AP Photo)

Despite the high winds and fright temperatures, about 1/2 dozen brave members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean at March 14, 2017, just of Stillwell avenue in Coney Island beach in Brooklyn NYC. (Photo by Paul Martinka)