• Protesting NYPD's 'stop-and-frisk' policy in New York City

    Mario Tama / Getty Images

    Opponents of the New York Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policy march on Friday in the Bronx borough of New York City. The NYPD says the stops assist crime prevention while opponents say they involve racial profiling and civil rights abuses. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, during the first nine months of last year 514,461 city residents were stopped by the NYPD, of whom 451,469 were innocent (88 percent). Racially, 54 percent were black, 31 percent Latino and 9 percent white.

    Mario Tama / Getty Images

    An opponent of the New York Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policy march on Friday.

    Mario Tama / Getty Images

    Opponents of the New York Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policy march on Friday.

    Related story: Cop admits false arrest

  • 100 years of Jackson Pollock

    Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters

    A Tehran Art University student looks at a painting by 20th century U.S. artist Jackson Pollock at Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art on June 19, 2010. Artists like Monet, Picasso and Warhol were considered revolutionary in their day, but their works were not much appreciated by the leaders of Iran's Islamic revolution and many were kept out of view for decades. Now, one of the greatest collections of contemporary Western art -- put together under a Western-leaning monarchy in pre-revolutionary Iran -- is open to the public, with some works on display for the first time in more than 30 years.

    Martha Holmes / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Jackson Pollock drops paint onto canvas.

    By Natalia Jimenez

    Jackson Pollack is considered a revolutionary painter that helped bring recognition to the American art world through Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s. On January 28, Pollock would have turned 100 years old. He is most well known for his 'drip' paintings, that involved pouring paint onto large raw canvases on the floor. Pollock currently holds the title for the world's most expensive painting ever sold, when David Geffen sold his "No.5, 1948" for $140 million through Sotheby's in 2006.

    His battle with alcoholism lead him to undergo psychiatric treatment and in 1938 he spent four months in a hospital, according to a MOMA biography:

    As a result he worked with two Jungian analysts, who used his drawings in the therapeutic process until 1941. This resulted in an obsessive exploration of his unconscious symbolism, mediated through the stylistic influence of Picasso, Orozco, Joan Miró and the theories of John Graham. The works he created parallel to his psychotherapy contain the elements of what became a personal iconography.

    Martha Holmes / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Husband & wife artists Jason Pollock and Lee Krasner walking outside on Long Island with their dog in 1949.

    Nature was a huge influence in his work. When he married artist Lee Krasner in 1945 and moved to a farmhouse in East Hampton, the surrounding nature provided constant inspiration. According to the National Gallery of Art:

    Walking the meadows and woods near Accabonac Creek, which stood at the back of their property, Pollock found a kinship with nature that defines his great, classic work.

    Today, one has only to step into the meadow behind Pollock's house to understand the overwhelming presence of nature in the dense, interwoven surfaces of his work. Pollock once defended the source of his imagery saying, "I am nature."

     

    National Gallery of Australia via Reuters

    An undated handout photograph shows Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles, Number 11, 1952" in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra which was purchased a quarter of century ago for A$1.3 million ($975,000) and is now estimated to be worth A$115 million ($86.25 million).

    Tony Vaccaro / Getty Images, file

    Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock and a couple stand around a dog and smoke in Pollock's studio at 'The Springs,' in East Hampton, New York, on August 23, 1953.

    Though Pollock died tragically in a car crash in 1956 and has been gone for over 50 years, his paintings continue to spread his legacy. London's The Telegraph writes about his influence:

    Before Pollock, paintings were created on easels, conceived, executed and seen from one direction only, as they had been for centuries. Not even Picasso changed that. But Pollock, wrestling with the problems of Surrealism, of how to get deeper into the internal subject of the work, began to work on the floor on unstretched canvas with very liquid paint, leaving the idea of a pre-meditated subject far behind.

    Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Painter Jackson Pollock (seated R) sitting on the steps of painter Thomas Hart Benton's summer home with Rita Benton (sitting, in white hat) and author Coburn Gilman (standing) in 1937.

     

  • Romanians dig out from under a huge snowfall

    Bogdan Cristel / Reuters

    Petre Andrei, 56, shovels the snow covering his car in Movilita, 45 km (28 miles) northeast of Bucharest, January 27, 2012. Romania has drafted in the army to rescue hundreds of travellers stranded by blizzards that dumped up to a metre of snow in 24 hours, derailing a train and forcing authorities to shut down motorways and ports and cancel flights. Police and ambulance crews had rescued 1,300 people by Thursday but another 900 were still stuck in their cars, a spokesman from Romania's emergency services said. Authorities have banned traffic on Romania's only two motorways until weather improves.

    Robert Ghement / EPA

    A Romanian young man struggles with snowdrifts, as big as his house, in order to make access ways around his hous due to the recent heavy snowfall, in the affected village of Movilita, 45 Km north-east from Bucharest, Romania, 27 January 2012. Four people froze to death in Romania, as a snowstorm descended on the central Balkans, disrupting traffic, power lines and schools, according to local media reports 26 January. Snowdrifts in north Bulgaria and south Romania reached 3 metres high in places as the storm entered its second day, forcing several municipalities to declare a state of emergency.

    AP reports power outages in the region:

    Authorities said 40 towns and villages in southern Romania suffered power outages. In neighboring Bulgaria more than 100 communities were left without electricity, while traffic was snarled in many areas.

    Bulgaria's main Black Sea port of Varna was closed for traffic due to windstorms and heavy snowfall, port officials said. The heavy snow forced authorities to close several mountain passes as well as many schools.

    This storm previously on PhotoBlog.

  • A Marine fights to stand after losing his legs in Afghanistan

    The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created over 1300 amputees in the US military, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Each one is a story of life-changing pain and rehabilitation. 

    Here, PhotoBlog highlights an unusually intimate report of one such story by Tampa Bay Times photographer Kathleen Flynn. Flynn followed Justin Gaertner, a U.S. Marine lance corporal who lost both legs to an explosion in Afghanistan, through several months of recovery. Those months included surgery, 40-hour weeks of physical therapy and an emotional reunion with fellow Marines.

    Kathleen Flynn / St. Petersburg Times

    Above: Jill Dalla Betta walks near her son Justin Gaertner as he wheels his prosthetic legs through the MATC at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC in June 2011. Justin trains there Monday through Friday, 40 hours a week. The workouts consist of motions using weights and treadmills. Julie Castles, Justin's physical therapist, said he is one of her most motivated guys, almost to a fault. He'll keep working when he's hurting.

    Kathleen Flynn / St. Petersburg Times

    Above: Cpl. Austin Carter hugs Justin Gaertner as their unit returns from Afghanistan in May 2011. From the time he was injured by an IED in late November, Justin's goal was to be up on his prosthetic legs by the time his unit returned in early May. It usually takes above-the-knee amputees eight months to a year to be up and walking on their legs. Justin did it in four months. "Being able to see my boys come off the plane was my motivation to go in twice a day, every day," he said.  "And even going on the days that I'm supposed to have off I still go in every day and PT. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, work on my arm, work on my legs." Before the plane's arrival, Gaertner said, "I'm scared they're gonna tip me over they're gonna be so happy to see me."

    Kathleen Flynn / St. Petersburg Times

    Above: Gaertner holds his head for a moment after a morning workout at the MATC at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC in June 2011. "I'm never really gonna get used to the pain," he said. "I can overcome it because I'm a Marine. But it's always gonna be there."

    The full story describes Gaertner's treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His mother stayed on campus too to help with his recovery:

    She wants him to see a counselor, but Justin says there’s nothing wrong. Doctors have asked him to arrange blocks and shapes, asked if he thought someone was trying to steal his soul, asked if he wanted to kill himself. They say he has short-term memory loss, problems focusing and a quick temper. “I don’t get mad very easily,” he says, “but when I do it just kind of — it goes from nothing to a lot real quick.”

    Justin does not take pain pills, says they’re for the weak. Doesn’t like sleeping pills either. Asleep, he is haunted by searing nightmares: the death of his fire team leader, the explosion beneath his best friend in the seconds before Justin lost his legs. 

    Kathleen Flynn / St. Petersburg Times

    Above: Gaertner gets a hug from his relative Cheri McPherson as he arrives at Tampa International Airport in May2011. "I'm really excited," she said. "I have not seen him. He's come a long way."  This is Justin's first visit home since he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan in November 2010. After two weeks he will return to Walter Reed to continue his therapy. Along with family and friends, Justin left the airport in a limo which took them to a VFW in Trinity where he was greeted with a party.

    Full coverage at the Tampa Bay Times includes many more pictures and a video.

    To see another Marine's life in the wake of war, look at this PhotoBlog post about Brian Scott Ostrom, who returned to the U.S. from Iraq with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

    And for more visual coverage ofAfghanistan, see our slideshow:

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Qais Usyan / AFP - Getty Images

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

  • Cargo ship crashes into bridge, removing a section of it

    Tina Carroll / AP

    A cargo ship named The Delta Mariner pauses in the water after colliding with a southwestern Kentucky bridge that partially collapsed when it was struck Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, near Aurora, Ky. The ship was traveling upriver toward the Kentucky Lock and Dam when it hit the aging steel bridge, which was built in the 1930s and handles about 2,800 vehicles a day.

    Tina Carroll / AP

    The Delta Mariner pauses in the water.

    WPSD

    Aerial photo of the The Delta Mariner, an ocean freight vessel as it sits under the collapsed 200-foot segment of the Eggner's Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake, Jan. 27, 2012. The Delta Mariner struck the main span of the Eggner Ferry Bridge on Thursday evening at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80.

    The full story reported by AP includes a description by a motorist who was on the bridge at the time:

    "All of a sudden I see the road's gone and I hit the brakes," he said. "It got close."

    Parker said he stopped his pickup within five feet of the missing section. Two cars behind him stopped on his bumper and he saw another car on the other side of the missing section stopped.

  • Costa Concordia passengers offered $14,460

    Pier Paolo Cito / AP

    View of the bow of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, on Jan. 27. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers $14,460 apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany.

    Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images

    A local man pulls his small boat as the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia (background) lies aground in front of Giglio island on Jan. 27 after hitting underwater rocks on January 13. Official sources said the same day that here are still 18 people officially missing after the Costa Concordia cruise liner crashed off the coast of Tuscany two weeks ago, including a five-year-old girl.

    Pier Paolo Cito / AP

    Italian firefighters scuba divers approach the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, on Jan. 27.

    Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

    DigitalGlobe

    The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.

    Launch slideshow

    msnbc.com news services:

    Passengers who were on the Costa Concordia are being offered $14,460 apiece to compensate them for their lost baggage and psychological trauma after the cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany when the captain deviated from his route.

    In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding.

    The deal does not apply to the hundreds of crew on the ship, many of whom have lost their jobs, the roughly 100 people who were injured in the chaotic evacuation or the families who lost loved ones. Sixteen bodies have already been recovered from the disaster and another 16 people who were on board are missing and presumed dead.

    Read the full story.

    In an exclusive interview, the captain of the Costa Concordia says he feels as if his company has abandoned him as new video emerges from the day of the ship disaster. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

  • Egyptians mark 'Friday of rage' in Tahrir Square

    Suhaib Salem / Reuters

    Demonstrators pray in Tahrir square in Cairo during a protest demanding that the army hand over power to the civilians, on Jan. 27.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    An Egyptian man reacts in Tahrir Square during Friday prayers on Jan. 27 in Cairo, Egypt. People prayed in the square just days after the tens of thousands celebrated in Cairo's Tahrir Square marking the first anniversary of the uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

    AP reports:

    Large marches of protesters chanting anti-military slogans streamed from mosques around Cairo to join tens of thousands massed in central Tahrir Square in a new uprising anniversary rally Friday, with many demanding an early transfer of power by the ruling military and the trial of generals for the killing of protesters.

    Tensions erupted when one march of hundreds of protesters headed toward the Defense Ministry building and was met by dozens of supporters of the military who chanted "the army and people are one hand." The pro-military group formed a human chain across an intersection, but the protesters pushed through them, shouting "down with military rule."

    The protests, which included mass rallies in other Egyptian cities, commemorated the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," one of the bloodiest days of the 18-day wave of protests a year ago that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

    Read the full story.

    Suhaib Salem / Reuters

    Demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the army to hand power to civilians, at Tahrir square in Cairo on Jan. 27.

    Suhaib Salem / Reuters

    A woman holds the Egyptian flag during a protest demanding the army to hand power to civilians, at Tahrir square in Cairo on Jan. 27.

     

  • An early-riser bear wakes up two weeks early from his winter hibernation

    Bernd Wustneck / AFP - Getty Images

    Swedish brown bear Fred is pictured at their enclosure of the Naturund Umweltpark Guestrow animal park on Jan. 27 in Guestrow, northeastern Germany. The bear just woke up from his hibernation, two weeks earlier than the year before.

    Bernd Wüstneck / EPA

    Swedish brown bears Fred and Frode play in their compound at the Nature and Environment Park Guestow, Germany, on Jan. 27. The eight-year-old brothers have already finished their winter sleep: about two weeks earlier that in the previous year.

    See more images of cute animals on Animal Tracks.

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