SHANGHAI EXPO NEARLY READY

Fireworks explode over the site of World Expo during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony in Shanghai, China on April 27, 201


Organizers of Shanghai's World Expo have been holding trial runs this week, before the official opening this Saturday, May 1st. About 70 percent of the nearly 200 participants participated in the trials, and visitors were already encountering long lines. Officials now estimate the 6-month event, themed "Better City, Better Life", will attract up to 100 million visitors, 95 percent of them Chinese. Shanghai has spent 400 billion yuan (58.6 billion US dollars) preparing for the Expo, according to state media - more than was spent on the Beijing Olympics. Collected here are photographs of last-minute preparations in Shanghai as they prepare to welcome the world this weekend.

Visitors gather in front of a huge animated baby mannequin displayed in the Spanish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 25, 2010. Expo organizers gave members of the public a preview of the largest-ever World's Fair as they tested facilities and public transportation before the official start on May 1.

A visitor stands at the South Korea Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Friday, April 23, 2010 in Shanghai, China.

Visitors walk past the illuminated Expo Axis of Sunshine Valley on the first day of the trial run of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday, April 20, 2010.

Visitors stand outside the U.K. Pavilion, known as the "Seed Cathedral," at the site of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

A night view shows the Serbia pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 23, 2010

A general view of the panorama of Shanghai and the Huangpu River from the top floor of Shanghai World Financial Center (492 meters high) in the Pudong Lujiazui Financial District on April 17, 2010 in Shanghai, China

Workers attach a logo in Chinese characters meaning the United States at the USA Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China.

Journalists gather at the US pavilion for a press preview at the site of the World expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010.

A worker stands at the wall of the South Korea pavilion at the World Expo site in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

In this April 11, 2010 photo, Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (SAIC) debuts the Ye Zi or Leaf concept car at the World Expo in Shanghai.

Visitors outside the Danish pavilion take photos of Denmark's iconic Little Mermaid statue after it was unveiled at Shanghai World Expo site April 25, 2010.

Denmark's famed Little Mermaid statue is displayed after it was unveiled in Denmark Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) statue honoring Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen left Copenhagen Harbor for first time in 97 years for Shanghai's Expo which opens May 1.

Lead architect of the Danish pavilion, Bjarke Ingels rides a bicycle on its roof at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 25, 2010.

Workers assemble a wall part of the Latvia Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China.

A night view shows the Russia pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 23, 2010.

An aerial view shows vehicles traveling on newly-lit intersections at night in Shanghai in this March 28, 2010 photo.

Riot policemen take part in a swearing-in ceremony at a security meeting for the upcoming Shanghai World Expo 2010 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province April 10, 2010.

Paramilitary policemen take part in a drill in preparation for the security of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province April 26, 2010.

Two performers practice at the World Expo site in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Performers dressed as traditional Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors march during an event as part of the Shanghai Expo to promote tourism to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, in Shanghai, China, Saturday, April 10, 2010.

A man walks past the Polish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 27, 2010.

An aerial view shows the French Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai March 28, 2010.

A performer prepares for a rehearsal in Beijing on April 26, 2010 for their performance in the first week of the upcoming Shanghai 2010 World Expo. Along with daily parades, fireworks and other festivities, the Shanghai World Expo's 192 participating countries are contributing to a six-month calendar of music, dance and stage shows.

A Chinese worker stands on the top of the pavilion of Iceland at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010.

Farmer Wu Yulu, 48, operates his walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing April 14, 2010. Hobby inventor Wu, who started to build robots in 1986, has invented 47 robots that can perform different functions like jumping, painting, drinking, pulling carts, massaging and helping with cooking. He will display more than 30 of his robots during the Shanghai World Expo 2010, where he hopes to promote the practical uses of his robots

A child poses for her mother in front of the China Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 25, 2010

An aerial view shows Shanghai's new financial district skyline along the Huang Pu river at night in Shanghai in this March 28, 2010

Visitors walk past the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, known as the Dream Cube, in Shanghai on April 26, 2010. Multi-nationals are seizing on the six-month event beginning May 1 to build their brand presence in the market of 1.3 billion people, but also the business and government connections - or "guanxi" - crucial to making money in China.

A visitor takes photos of a 3D-projected image of a Terracotta Warrior jade burial suit in the Aurora Pavilion as organizers of Shanghai's World Expo gave members of the public a preview of the massive event in Shanghai on April 26, 2010

A project model shows a possible future transport system in the Pavilion of Future as organizers of Shanghai's World Expo gave members of the public a preview of the massive event in Shanghai on April 26, 2010

Visitors walk past the "Information and Communications Pavilion," built by China Mobile Ltd. and China Telecom Corp., in Shanghai, China, on Monday, April 19, 2010.

The North Korean pavilion is seen, next to the Iranian pavilion (right) at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 27, 2010.

Elevated highways are illuminated by LED lights on April 18, 2010 in Shanghai, China

A Chinese worker peers from behind a wall surrounding the UK pavilion at the site of the World expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010

EARTH DAY 2010

The most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth created to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite.

Yesterday was Earth Day, since 1970 it's been a day set aside to remember and appreciate the Earth's environment, and all of our roles within it. As a way to help appreciate and observe our environment, I've collected 39 recent images here, each a glimpse into some aspect of the world around us, how it affects and sustains us, and how we affect it. Here's hoping everyone had a great Earth Day yesterday.

In this aerial photo taken Wednesday, April 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, rising smoke and an oil slick are seen as the firefighting boats attend to the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

A poison dart frog of the dendrobates genus clings to a leaf at the Botanic Gardens in Medellin April 22, 2010.

Windmills turn in the breeze at Horns Rev 2, the world's largest wind farm, 30 km (19 mi) off the west coast of Denmark near Esbjerg September 15, 2009.

An explosion, part of mining technology, takes place at Olimpiadinskoye gold mine, 660 km (410 mi) northeast of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, April 13, 2010.

A visitor takes photographs of cherry blossoms at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, west London April 15, 2009

The eye and skin of a circus elephant, seen in the sun in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday, April 7, 2010.

An armored vehicle from the Centurion Company, 2-1 Infantry Battalion, 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team is framed by a bolt of lightning during a storm at Combat Outpost Terminator in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on April 19, 2010.

Skeletal remains of cattle lie on the shore of the Grijalva river in Villahermosa April 20, 2010. According to Mexico's National Committee for Protected Areas (CONANP), 12 tons of garbage are illegally dumped daily at the Canyon del Sumidero where the river runs through.

A general view shows a "solucar" solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, Spain.

A worker unloads coal at a storage site along a railway station in Shenyang, Liaoning province April 13, 2010.

A gray whale surfaces near the mouth of the Duwamish River late Saturday March 27, 2010 in Seattle, Washington. The nearly 40 foot-long animal was watched by excited spectators as it hugged the shore around the West Seattle peninsula earlier in the day. Gray whales are not as common in Puget Sound as orca whales; gray whales are rarely seen in Elliott Bay near downtown Seattle. Maritime officials with the Port of Seattle were concerned the whale would attempt to travel up the Duwamish River, a major industrial area and Superfund site

A worker walks past a wall made of recycled plastic bottles at the Flora Expo construction site in Taipei, taiwan on April 13, 2010. The world's first green building made of plastic bottles will be used as one of the 14 exhibition halls at the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo, starting from November 6.

Hoover Dam, on the on the Colorado River, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, seen from a DigitalGlobe satellite on February 28, 2010. The energy generated by Hoover Dam annually is about 4.2 billion kilowatt-hours.

Swans stretch and swim after being released from their winter quarters on Hamburg's city lake Alster April 12, 2010. Every year the swans are collected from waterways around Hamburg and taken to winter quarters where they are fed and cared for until the spring.

A Union Pacific freight train passes between windmills on January 17, 2010 near of Palm Springs, California.

The underside of space shuttle Discovery is visible in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking relative separation on April 17th, 2010. The recognizable feature on Earth below is the south end of Isla de Providencia, about 150 miles off the coast of Nicaragua. (NSAA)

A mature bald eagle calls out to its mate Monday, April 12, 2010, near the the confluence of the Tanana and Chena Rivers outside of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Young Indian ragpickers search for valuables and recyclable materials at the city's largest legal municipal waste landfill in Mavallipura village on the outskirts of Bangalore on April 20, 2010.

A woman herds horses along a snow covered road in a valley below Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, near Evindarholar April 22, 2010.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, as seen from the International Space Station on April 14th, 2010. The image spans just over 80 km (50 mi). (NASA)

Mike Cianchette, operations manager of the Stetson Mountain wind project, checks his safety line before making inspections on top of a 300-foot tall windmill, in Range 8, Township 3, Maine on July 14, 2009.

A larval tube-anemone fishes for food with the tentacles it will use as an adult as seen in an undated handout photo released April 18, 2010.

The Northern Lights appear above the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the evening April 22, 2010.

A young male giraffe named Carlo takes his first walk around an outdoor enclosure with his parents at the zoo in the southern German city of Nuremberg on April 20, 2010.

Health officials on a truck spray chemicals to disinfect animal farms around the village where outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease were reported in Gimpo, about 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Seoul, South Korea on April 20, 2010

High above the African continent, tall, dense cumulonimbus clouds loom on April 22, 2010. The clouds can form alone, in clusters, or along a cold front in a squall line. The high energy of these storms is associated with heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and tornadoes.

Kurniah collects rust from a beach at a ship demolition site, near Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 16, 2010. Kurniah said she can earn approximately $2 after collecting about 100 kg (220 lbs) of rust a day. The rust is sold to a middleman who will sell it to a factory that will recycle it.

A plastic bottle rests on cracked earth at Las Canoas Lake, 59 km (37 mi) north of the capital Managua, Nicaragua on April 20, 2010. The water level of the lake has fallen to dangerously low levels due to a severe drought.

The Sun appears slightly squished in this image of the Earth eclipsing the Sun seen from NASA's recently-launched Solar Dynamics Observatory in high orbit. An instrument on board, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, was undergoing a series of adjustments when its view was partially blocked by the Earth. At the edges of the shadow, the Sun's shape bends, due to the light's refraction by the Earth's atmosphere.

A crowd watch as a baby hawksbill turtle swims into the deep after a symbolic release ceremony on Pramuka Island located north of Jakarta, Indonesia on April 20, 2010. Twenty baby hawksbill turtles and four four months old hawksbill turtles were released from the turtle conservation area

A late afternoon rainbow appears briefly above Port Susan near Stanwood, Washington on April 5, 2010.

A interior view of several large turbines at the construction site of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei province, China on September 10, 2009.

Palestinian beekeepers inspect hives at an apiary near the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Bureij on April 19, 2010.

In this Friday night April 2, 2010 picture, people watch the sunset from the edge of the frozen mudflats near Elderberry Park in Anchorage, Alaska. The Mt. Spurr volcano is at right.

A man rows a boat down a flooded street in the village of Radul, north of Kiev, Ukraine on April 19, 2010

An aircraft passes the moon over Frankfurt, Germany on Thursday, April 22, 2010, as German air traffic went back to normality following the airspace closure due to the volcanic ash cloud that came from Iceland.

A man takes a break on a sunny day on the grass of LaFayette Park near the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2010.