Feb. 17 Photo Brief: Primitive Biathlon, the Lancaster bomber Just Jane, Danica Patrick and a Mount Rushmore made of cheese
Primitive Biathlon, the Lancaster bomber Just Jane could be airworthy soon, Danica Patrick beats the men in Daytona 500, a Mount Rushmore made of cheese and more in today’s daily brief.
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- An Indian Hindu Sadhu poses for a photo at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad on February 17, 2013. The Kumbh Mela in the town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers gather over 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings. (Andrew Caballero-ReynoldsAFP/Getty Images)
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- Johnny Hollywood from Atlanta in the U.S. poses for a portrait in Brighton, southern England February 16, 2013. Brighton hosts “The Brighton Tattoo Convention” this weekend, an annual two-day gathering which attracts visitors, performers and tattoo artists from around the world. (Toby Melville/Reuters)
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- Women, who are part of the Sawt al-Haq (Voice of Rights), stand with their weapons as they undergo military training in Aleppo February 17, 2013. (Muzaffar Salman/Reuters)
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- A Malian soldier handles ammunition aboard a vehicle as they enter Bourem northen Mali on February 17, 2013. Leaders in Africa’s Sahel region called on Saturday for further efforts to support Mali as they announced new funds to back a West African force in the country. A French-led military intervention launched on January 11 has driven the Islamist rebels in Mali from the towns they controlled, but concerns remain over stability amid suicide attacks and guerrilla fighting. (Pascal Guyto/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Young Sri Lankan Buddhist monks takes part in a rally calling for a ban on Islamic halal-slaughtered meat at Maharagama, a suburb of the capital Colombo, February 17, 2013. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Villagers create fire during a rice cooking festival at Cam Thi village, outside Hanoi February 17, 2013. Rice farmers of Cam Thi village organised the annual rice cooking festival on the eighth day of the first month of the lunar calendar to commemorate their village’s deity Phan Tay Nhac, who fought the Han Chinese more than 2,000 years ago. (Kham/Reuters)
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- Cuba’s best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, stands at the emigration control at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport February 17, 2013. Sanchez says she plans to make good use of “my victory” when she leaves on an 80-day-tour of more than a dozen countries on Sunday. Sanchez, considered Cuba’s pioneer in social networking, told Reuters on Thursday that she would visit the headquarters of Google, Twitter and Facebook, and travel to Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and other nations. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters)
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- Thousands of newlyweds attend a mass wedding ceremony of the Unification Church at Cheongshim Peace World Centre in Gapyeong, about 37 miles northeast of Seoul on February 17, 2013. The Unification Church founded by evangelist reverend Moon Sun-myung in Seoul in 1954, performed its first mass wedding in 1961 with 33 couples. Approximately 3,500 couples attended the mass wedding on Sunday. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
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- Wrestlers fight in a permanent mud wrestling ring at “Sia Ram bhajan samati akhaara”, a traditional Indian wrestling training center, on the banks of the river Ganges in Kolkata February 17, 2013. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)
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- People gather at the site of Saturday’s bomb attack in a Shi’ite Muslim area in the Pakistani city of Quetta February 17, 2013. A provincial official criticized Pakistani security forces on Sunday after a bombing targeting the Shi’ite Hazara community killed 80 people in the northwestern city of Quetta. (Naseer Ahmed/Reuters)
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- A boy reacts as he walks at the site of Saturday’s bomb attack in a Shi’ite Muslim area in the Pakistani city of Quetta February 17, 2013. A provincial official criticized Pakistani security forces on Sunday after a bombing targeting the Shi’ite Hazara community killed 80 people in the northwestern city of Quetta. (Naseer Ahmed/Reuters)
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- A man prepares graves for the burial of victims of Saturday’s bomb attack in a Shi’ite Muslim area, in the Pakistani city of Quetta February 17, 2013. Pakistan’s unpopular government, which is gearing up for elections expected within months, faced growing anger on Sunday for failing to deliver stability after the sectarian bombing in the city of Quetta killed 81 people. (Naseer Ahmed/Reuters)
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- Pope Benedict XVI leads the Sunday Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican February 17, 2013. Pope Benedict, speaking before a larger than usual crowd at his penultimate Sunday address, asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)
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- People stand outside the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant building, which was damaged after a meteorite passed above the Urals city of Chelyabinsk February 17, 2013. (Anton Melnikov/Reuters)
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- A whale tied to the side of Japanese Research vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 is dragged through the ocean in Mackenzie Bay, Antarctica, in this picture provided by Sea Shepherd Australia and taken February 15, 2013. Anti-whaling activists of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Group unsuccessfully tried to intervene in the transfer of the whale from a Japanese whaling vessel to another for more than nine hours, according to Sea Shepherd Conservation Group. Picture taken on February 15. (Glenn Lockitch/Sea Shepherd Australia HO via Reuters)
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- Fred Panton, the owner of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, stands in front of the Lancaster bomber “Just Jane” which is being restored with the aim of getting it airworthy on February 14, 2013. The plane, which last flew in 1971, would become one of only three airworthy Lancaster bombers in the world. Brothers Fred and Harold Panton, owners of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, are restoring the plane in memory of their sibling, Christopher Panton, who died aged 19 when his Lancaster was shot down in 1944. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
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- The Lancaster bomber “Just Jane” is being restored with the aim of getting it airworthy at Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre in East Kirkby, England. The plane, which last flew in 1971, would become one of only three airworthy Lancaster bombers in the world. Brothers Fred and Harold Panton, owners of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, are restoring the plane in memory of their sibling, Christopher Panton, who died aged 19 when his Lancaster was shot down in 1944. Photo taken on February 14, 2013. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
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- A vehicle waits as two roosters cross the road in front of them February 16, 2013 in Key West, Florida. There have always been chickens in Key West. When people stopped the laborious process of turning live chickens into Sunday dinner many decades ago, some backyard chickens gained their freedom. Other roosters were released when cock-fighting became illegal. Some find them to be an annoyance, others feel they are part of Key West’s charm. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Artist Sarah Kaufmann sculpts an image of Abraham Lincoln ahead of President’s Day at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Times Square, New York February 15, 2013. Kaufmann used 160 pounds of cheddar cheese over the span of two days to carve out a replica of the historic Mount Rushmore national monument to commemorate President’s Day holiday which is observed on February 18, 2013. Picture taken February 15, 2013. (Zoran Milich/Reuters)
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- A cheese sculpture of the Mount Rushmore national monument is seen at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Times Square, New York February 16, 2013. Artist Sarah Kaufmann used 160 pounds of cheddar cheese over the span of two days to carve out a replica of the historic Mount Rushmore national monument to commemorate President’s Day holiday which is observed on February 18, 2013. (Zoran Milich/Reuters)
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- Revellers play with tomatoes during a “Tomatina” (tomato fight) in Quillon town near Concepcion city, south of Santiago February 16, 2013. (Jose Luis Saavedra/Reuters)
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- A man fires a flintlock rifle at a target as he competes in the Primitive Biathlon in Dalton, New Hampshire February 16, 2013. The Dalton Gang, a single action shooting club, holds the annual Primitive Biathlon in which competitors wear snowshoes and fire single shot muzzle loaded firearms at four stations along a 1.75 mile course. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)
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- A boy plays with a “bate bola” in a street of the Cidade de Deus shantytown, western Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 16, 2013. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A British Shorthair cat looks on during a cat exhibition in the Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on February 16, 2013. Cats owners from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan gathered today in Bishkek to show off their pets. (Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP/Getty Images)
Pope, near abdication, says pray “for me and next pope”
Philip Pullella, Reuters
11:23 a.m. EST, February 17, 2013
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope, in his penultimate Sunday address to a crowded St. Peter’s Square before becoming the first pontiff in centuries to resign.
The crowd chanted “Long live the pope!,” waved banners and broke into sustained applause as he spoke from his window. The 85-year-old Benedict, who will abdicate on February 28, thanked them in several languages.
Speaking in Spanish, he told the crowd which the Vatican said numbered more than 50,000: “I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope”.
It was not clear why the pope chose Spanish to make the only specific reference to his upcoming resignation in his Sunday address.
A number of cardinals have said they would be open to the possibility of a pope from the developing world, be it Latin America, Africa or Asia, as opposed to another from Europe, where the Church is crisis and polarized.
“I can imagine taking a step towards a black pope, an African pope or a Latin American pope,” Cardinal Kurt Koch, a Swiss Vatican official who will enter the conclave to choose the next pope, told Reuters in an interview.
After his address, the pope retired into the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace for a scheduled, week-long spiritual retreat and will not make any more public appearances until next Sunday.
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