A really spectacular image … those clouds looks rather portentous and the way the light is breaking through at the heart of the frame seems almost apocalyptic. It was taken over Victoria harbour in Hong Kong, in case you’re wondering. From picture desk live: best news images of the day
Photograph: Philippe Lorez/AFP/Getty Images
The gargantuan size of Seoul, along with its numerous skyscrapers, creates an awe-inspiring view from the top of Namsan Tower. Mike Beech captures the intensity of this 24-hour city, home to half of South Korea’s population, but also its quieter moments, in this series of photographs
Photograph: Mike Beech
Photograph: ISS/NASA
One of the fascinating shots in our monthly gallery of images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites:
The city of Shanghai (right) sits along the delta banks of the Yangtze river along the eastern coast of China. It is the world’s most populous city (the 2010 census counted 23 million people, including “unregistered” residents). With so many humans, the city is a tremendous sight at night. The bright lights of the city centre and the distinctive new skyscrapers that form the skyline along the Pudong district (the eastern shore of the Huangpu river, a tributary of the Yangtze that cuts through the centre of Shanghai) make for spectacular night viewing both on the ground and from space. On the left is Suzhou located 120km from Shanghai
Japan has, for years, been presented as a kind of Nerd Mecca. Not only is it the undisputed gadget capital of the world, it’s a place where being a geek (or otaku) is comfortably mainstream. Charlie Brooker goes to Japan. Check out the all new Tokyo city guide here.
A selection of stories, photos, quotes, video and audio from guardian.co.uk, curated by James Walsh, Hannah Waldram, Carmen Fishwick and the Guardian's editorial team. We are also editors of the news tag.
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Flickr has had a re-boot and, as a result, it has released all of the photos of mine it previously had locked up...
The part of the brain that senses danger becomes overactive in city-dwellers when they are under stress -