Category: Face Of The Day

In a restoration of a painting, the Vatican has found images of people who appear to be Native Americans:

The painting, by the Renaissance master Pinturicchio, was finished in 1494, just two years after Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World. It has adorned the walls of the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican for 500 years but was only recently subjected to restoration work. The naked men, who appear to be dancing, were spotted by a restorer, Maria Pustka, as she removed centuries of grime.

I feel a History Channel Aliens Special looming on the horizon. But I find those faces mesmerizing.

Led by Mayor Michael Hancock, Anna and Fran Simon are the first couple to take part in a civil union ceremony at the Webb Building in Denver, Colorado. The Clerk and Recorder’s Office opened for business from midnight to 3 a.m. to issue civil union licenses to couples on May 01, 2013, when the Civil Union Act became law. By Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post via Getty Images.

Meanwhile, the Rhode Island bill for marriage equality carries the following important religious exemptions:

The bill that passed the House stated that religious institutions may set their own rules regarding who is eligible to marry within the faith and specifies that no religious leader is obligated to officiate at any marriage ceremony. The Senate added language to ensure that groups like the Knights of Columbus aren’t legally obligated to provide facilities for same-sex weddings.

I favor maximal religious liberty with maximal civil equality. The point is the expansion of freedom, not its contraction. And religious freedom and gay freedom are inseparable under the Constitution, in my view. That mix is likely to be signed into law tomorrow. It’s the formula of the future.

Bangladeshi property tycoon Sohel Rana, seen wearing police-issue body armour and helmet, is escorted for his appearance at the High Court in Dhaka on April 30, 2013. Bangladesh defended Tuesday its decision to snub foreign aid after the collapse of a garment factory complex where at least 388 people died as the UN revealed it had offered specialist help to find survivors. By STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images.

A police officer and paramedic wrap a thermo foil around a woman injured by a powerful gas blast on April 29, 2013 in Prague’s historic center. The blast injured up to 20 people, four seriously, rescuers said, adding that it was possible some people were buried in the rubble. By Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images.

For Colors magazine, photographer Jen Osborne followed two therapy llamas on their rounds:

Details on an upcoming show at New York’s Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery:

Street artists JR and José Parlá recently teamed up to create enormous and yet very intimate portraits of senior citizens who survived the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). It’s a continuation of a series called The Wrinkles of the City that JR started in Cartegena, Spain and that was recreated in Shanghai and Los Angeles. This new iteration, based in Havana, Cuba, involved Parlá, who is of Cuban descent. French artist JR created the large portraits while Parlá added depth and beauty using calligraphic writings and color.

Amber displays a painting of a bee on her nose as she joins bee campaigners on Parliament Square on April 26, 2013 in London, England. Over a hundred campaigners including British fashion designers Dame Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnett gathered on Parliament Square, some dressed as beekeepers, to urge British Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, to not block EU proposals to suspend the use of bee killing pesticides. By Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

This is the winning entry in the Society of German Nature Photographers‘ annual contest. It’s by Herman Hirsch. This slideshow is a bit of a marvel. There are shots where you marvel at the high-def precision and mastery of the camera; and others that look more like a Monet or an abstract piece of art.

A crowd gathered during a vigil for the marathon bombing victims held at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Boston. By Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe via Getty Images.

People celebrate in front of the Paris City Hall on April 23, 2013, hours after the French National Assembly adopted a bill legalizing same-sex marriages and adoptions for gay couples, defying months of opposition protests. In its second and final reading, a majority of lawmakers approved the bill by a vote of 331 to 225. By Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images.