Roads into White Gold: stunning pictures from Ethiopia’s ancient salt trails

One of the hottest places on earth, northern Ethiopia holds long-used roads for caravans of camels to collect salt through a sun-blasted desert basin. In the “Danakil Depression”, the average temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

A paved road is being built to make it easier for industrialized companies to access the salt flats, which could put the ancient camel caravans out of business. 

“Most of the people who live here are dependent on the salt caravans, so we are not happy with prospective salt companies that try to set up base here,” said Abdullah Ali Noor.

Read our in-depth report of the salt trails.

REUTERS/Siegfried Modola

David Beckham’s career: David Beckham announced he will retire from professional soccer at the end of the season. (reuterspictures)  REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini
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David Beckham’s career: David Beckham announced he will retire from professional soccer at the end of the season. (reuterspictures) 

REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Man builds purple robot: Chinese inventor Tao Xiangli made a  500-pound purple robot for about $24,000. It took 11 months to build from recycled scrap metal and wires. (Photos by Suzie Wong)

Things we know about world leaders:  They wear suits to work, even on the weekends. They wave to strangers on the street… a lot. They like alcohol, and like us, they are also victims to having a drink spilled on them at a bar (see below).  Slideshow: World Powers Drink
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Things we know about world leaders: 

  1. They wear suits to work, even on the weekends.
  2. They wave to strangers on the street… a lot.
  3. They like alcohol, and like us, they are also victims to having a drink spilled on them at a bar (see below). 

Slideshow: World Powers Drink

White House releases over 100 pages of emails about Benghazi (PDF)

White House Benghazi Emails

A tour of the Barbie Dreamhouse in Berlin, Germany: 

The life-sized Dreamhouse offers visitors the chance to try on Barbie’s clothes in her walk-in closet an enjoy a tour of the living room and kitchen.

Did we find any parties? Not exactly: the house is a bit quieter than the usual stereotype. 

Photos: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

LIVE COVERAGE: Google I/O
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LIVE COVERAGE: Google I/O

letsbuildahome-fr:

FSSSSSSSS!

  1. A deflated Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman floats on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. The 16.5-meter-high inflatable sculpture will be shown at the Ocean Terminal for a month. The Rubber Duck was deflated after some of its parts broke. Picture: Tyrone Siu/Reuters
  2. Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman’s ‘Rubber Duck’ floats, deflated, in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, this morning. It is not immediately known why the duck, scheduled to float outside Ocean Terminal inTsim Sha Tsui until 9 June deflated. Photograph: Jerome Favre/EPA

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder faced questions over the Justice Department’s decision to seize telephone records of the Associated Press, a move denounced by critics as intrusion into freedom of the press.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Kevin Lamarque

Read: Deputy Attorney General’s Letter In Response to Associated Press regarding AP records

An Afghan woman holds her child as she walks along a street on the outskirts of Kabul on May 13, 2013. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters via fotojournalismus)
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An Afghan woman holds her child as she walks along a street on the outskirts of Kabul on May 13, 2013. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters via fotojournalismus)