Through the lens

Do you also feel the need to see something cute and fuzzy for a change? As a refreshing change of pace from what's happening in the world these days? Well, here you go: we would like to introduce you to Fritz, Berlin's new favorite bear - and the world's as well, probably. Berlin's zoo received 10,000 submissions for possible names for the white little cutie and in the end, he got the very traditional German name Fritz. Suggestions came from as far away as Sweden, the United States and Canada.
But let's get back to day-to-day business - in other words: Donald Trump. Seven Greenpeace activists are facing the full force of the US justice system. They had climbed onto a construction crane near the White House in Washington, D.C. to unfurl a banner there that read "resist." This happened one day after the Trump administration had delayed the implementation of a number of environmental regulations. Now the activists are being charged with a number of violations including "unlawful entry, destruction of property and illegal protest." 

Man's oldest known ancestor was probably quite ugly. The egg-shaped creature, which lived about 540 million years ago, didn't have a butt. Instead, it used the same hole to eat as it did to "secrete." Hmm. Anyway, well-preserved fossils of the tiny animal were discovered in China and their appearance reconstructed. Starting with this creature, evolution took its course and one of the species that eventually developed was man. 

In a rural corner of Pakistan, a bull run provides a welcome diversion from an every day live full of deprivation. Traditionally thousands of spectators gather for the event to watch men as they are being drawn by bulls while standing on wooden sleds. This distracts people from their problems, participants say. The event takes place during winter so that people can gather in the empty open fields.