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It's been a gloomy week to end with yesterday with terror getting the better of humanity — not just in France's capital but in Beirut and Baghdad as well. As the world marches on for peace, let's turn our focus to some events and themes that require a bit more of our attention and perhaps, more understanding as well. There have been fascinating archaelogical developments (both in Andhra Pradesh and faraway Egypt), a little-known Indian connection rising up the ladder of Portuguese politics, one of the germiest touristy places in the world looking to shed its embarrassing tag and more! Read on:
The sun breaks through the clouds behind a statue as both serving and former commandos gather during the Commando Memorial Service commemorate and pay respect to the sacrifice of service men and women who fought in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts on November 8, 2015 in Spean Bridge, Scotland. People across the UK will gather to pay tribute to service personnel who have died during conflicts, as part of the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremonies. ~Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
Pope Francis delivers his blessing during his Angelus prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. In his first public comments on the latest scandal rocking the Vatican, Pope Francis told followers on Sunday that the theft of Vatican documents describing financial malfeasance inside the Holy See was a "crime" but pledged to continue reforms. Photo: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Amateur archaeologists on Nov. 9 stumbled upon Mesolithic period rock paintings at Gandikota Fort in Kadapa district. The paintings representing geometrical designs are seen on a big boulder executed in red ochre. The lines painted in the shape of rectangles, triangles and circles denote abstract forms of some animals. Based on the information given by Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, archaeologist and CEO of The Cultural Centre of Vijayawada (CCV) E. Sivanagi Reddy inspected the site and confirmed that the rock paintings belong to the Mesolithic period datable to 10,000-8000 B.C. Photo: Special Arrangement
The Gracanica Monastery is one of the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage. The United Nations cultural body UNESCO voted on November 9, 2015 in Paris narrowly rejecting Kosovo’s application as a member, after its executive board recommended the move last month — despite Kosovo not being a UN member state. Membership would have put the government in Pristina in charge of managing all of Kosovo's heritage sites — including Orthodox heritage, which until now has been the domain of UNESCO member Serbia, Kosovo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A view of the living root bridge in Mawlynnong in Meghalaya state on Monday, 09 November 2015.The living root bridge is one of the most spectacular natural bridges that’s made by twisting the roots of the gigantic rubber tree. The roots make a pathway across a stream, making it easy for villagers to commute. These bridges are unique to Meghalaya. Such bridges fashioned by Khasi villagers who have, over decades, woven the roots of ficus trees across rivulets and streams. The hardy roots slowly grow to form a cantilevered and intertwined mesh that is used as a bridge over waterways. Tourists from all over the world come to see these unique bridges which can only be reached by hiking through the forest for several hours. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar/The Hindu
The window of a damaged house is pictured in Bento Rodrigues district after a dam, owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd burst, in Mariana, Brazil, November 9, 2015. President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday announced preliminary fines worth 250 million reais ($66.2 million) against a mine in southeastern Brazil where two dams burst, killing at least seven people and coating a two-state area with mud and mine waste. The fines, announced after Rousseff flew over the affected area, come as federal prosecutors announced plans to work with state prosecutors to investigate possible crimes that could have contributed to the disaster at the mine, jointly owned by multinational mining companies BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA. Photo: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
In this Nov. 9, 1965 file photo, New Yorkers eat dinner by candlelight in an automat in Manhattan in New York during a massive blackout 50 years ago. In the city it came at 5:27 p.m., the height of the evening commute, trapping hundreds of thousands of subway riders in their train cars, stranding others in building elevators, and turning Grand Central into an ad-hoc bedroom for commuters who couldn’t get home. Photo: AP Files
Portuguese Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa addresses the parliament, as government ministers listen, bottom row, during the debate of the government's four-year policy program at the Parliament in Lisbon, Tuesday, Nov. 10 2015. Together the left-of-center parties have 122 seats in the 230-seat Parliament, outnumbering the government, and have vowed to reject the program in a vote, possibly forcing the government to resign. According to Outlook magazine's profile of him last year: "Born in 1961 in Lisbon, Costa has an Indian connection. His father, Orlando da Costa, a well-known novelist who also wrote essays on Rabindranath Tagore, was born in Mozambique, but spent most of his youth in Goa where his own father, Luis Afonso Maria da Costa, was born and brought up. The latter was a descendant of reputed Hindu families from the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community that converted to Catholicism during the Portuguese colonial era." Photo: Armando Franca/AP
A young woman photographs flowers left by other visitors at the Berlin Wall memorial at Bernauer Strasse on the 26th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. On November 9, 1989, East German border guards opened barriers at the Berlin Wall and allowed thousands of East Germans to cross into West Berlin, symbolically heralding the end of the division of Europe and the conclusion of the Cold War. Today politicians across Europe, even in Germany, are debating erecting border barriers of their own in order to stem the influx of migrants. According to the latest estimates Germany could receive up to 1.5 million migrants seeking asylum by the end of the year. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
An Egyptian policeman walks past the Khufu pyramid, left, towards the Khafre pyramid, right, in Giza, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Egypt's Antiquities Ministry says a scanning project in the Giza pyramids has identified thermal anomalies, including one in the largest pyramid, built by Cheops, known locally as Khufu. This would open up possibilities of finding one or more tombs that have been left undiscovered for a long time. ~Photo: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
One of the few surviving copies of Magna Carta, Latin for "The Great Charter" written in 1217 on sheep skin is displayed at an exhibition in Hong Kong, China, November 10, 2015. The exhibition is part of worldwide celebrations of its 800th anniversary, British Consulate in Hong Kong said. ~Photo: Bobby Yip/Reuters
German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt delivers his speech at his belated 95th birthday party, organized by German weekly magazine "Die Zeit", at a theater in Hamburg in this January 19, 2014 file photo. Schmidt, who led the country for eight years at the height of the Cold War, died at the age of 96, his office said on November 10, 2015. The New York Times in its obituary for Schmidt had this to say: "The attributes that won him plaudits as West German chancellor — as he dealt with some of the tensest moments of the Cold War and a surge in domestic terrorism — occasionally caused offense, especially later in life. But mainly they helped make him a respected and popular elder statesman across party lines." Photo: Fabian Bimmer/ Reuters Files
A new holiday Starbucks cup is viewed on November 12, 2015 in New York City. The coffee giant has come under criticism by some for leaving any Christmas or traditional holiday signage off of the red cup. While Starbucks has said there is no cultural or political message to the design, critics claim that the company doesn't want to offend non-Christians or those who don't celebrate Christmas. ~Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A woman pretends to lick a wall full of gum as she poses for a photo taken by a friend at Seattle's famous gum wall at Pike Place Market, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. On Tuesday, a steam-cleaning process to remove all of the gum is from the walls is scheduled to begin, the first full cleaning the quirky tourist attraction has received in 20 years. According to CNN, the tradition began around 1993 when patrons of Unexpected Productions' Seattle Theatresports stuck gum to the wall and placed coins in the gum blobs. Theatre workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction around 1999. It was named one of the top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, second to the Blarney Stone. ~Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP
India’s first national landscape festival was held from November 11 to 15 in Lalbagh under the joint endeavour of the horticulture and agriculture departments that would demonstrate and exhibit several aspects of landscaping, urban horticulture and spiritual gardens. This unique initiative fest would showcase the biggest vertical garden in the history of Lalbagh — at 7 feet tall and 1000 feet wide, covering an area of 7,000 square feet all around the glass house at Lalbagh, in Bengaluru on November 09, 2015. Photo: K. Murali Kumar/The Hindu
Waves break in front of the South Pier on Blackpool Promenade, northern Britain, on November 13, 2015. Abigail, the first named storm to hit Britain, whipped up winds of up to 84 miles per hour and cut power to 12,000 home according to local media reports. ~Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Relatives and comrades march as they carry the coffin of Hussein Hojeij, a member of Amal movement party, who was killed in the two explosions that occurred on Thursday, during his funeral in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November 13, 2015. Residents and Lebanese army members inspect a damaged area caused by two explosions in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 12, 2015. At least 37 people were killed and more than 181 wounded on Thursday in two suicide bomb blasts in a crowded district in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah. ~Photo: Hassan Abdallah/Reuters
