Photographs

A new high-resolution portrait of the so-called face on Mars, released Monday by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reveals the enigmatic feature in 10 times greater detail than previously available, showing the eroding features of what appears to be a natural geologic formation. Even so, it is unlikely to settle a 20-year controversy over whether the formation is a fluke of weathering, as most planetary scientists believe, or the work of an ancient alien civilization, as some imagine.

Cast in roles they never envisioned, let alone approved, many of Hollywood's top celebrities are increasingly finding that they are the star attractions on thousands of Internet sex sites. Hoping to bring the curtain down on such sites, "Melrose Place" star Alyssa Milano is expected to file two lawsuits today against several online firms accused of selling nude pictures of her and dozens of other stars over the Net.

News photographers in Quebec who take pictures of ordinary people outdoors violate their subjects' right to privacy, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a decision likely to have a chilling effect on the media. The case centered on Gilbert Duclos, who took a photo of then-teenager Pascale-Claude Aubry relaxing on the steps of a Montreal building 10 years ago.

Television actress Alyssa Milano recently won several legal skirmishes in her crusade to stop Internet sites from posting nude pictures of her. Two operators of nude celebrity Web sites have agreed to remove the pictures of Milano and settle suits she filed against them, according to Milano's attorney, Mitchell Kamarck. He declined to specify how much money the sites agreed to pay except to say that the total is "in the five figures."

For as long as he can remember, David Stansfield has serviced his alcohol habit at the downtown Long's drugstore--buying everything from big plastic jugs of cheap vodka and long-necked bottles of beer to those thirst-quenching 22-ounce tallboy cans of malt liquor. Then one day earlier this month, the 53-year-old homeless man known around town as "Doc" was told without warning that his money was no longer good at the bustling store a short walk from the Stanford campus.

The Buena Park Historical Society is looking for photos taken locally during the past year to complete a year-to-year pictorial history of the city. Photos can be of any person, place or event of general interest. Include the date, place and other information with the photo, as well as the photographer's name and phone number so that pictures can be returned. The society plans to enlarge some of the photos and display them in City Hall.

The girl in the photograph is the archetypal kid sister. No more than 12, her body is a boy's, but her face is pure woman. The contrast is so intense that you almost don't notice: She's wearing a defiant gaze and nothing else. The photograph is alluring, arresting, fine art in the eyes of many. But in Alabama and South Carolina and Colorado and elsewhere, it's the ultimate indecency.

Ah, New Orleans' Bourbon Street--the stretch of strip clubs, adult "novelty" shops and daquiri window service where frat-boy yahoos shout from balconies for women to expose themselves . . . and they do. It's a year-round Mardi Gras of fleshly indulgence, accented by the fragrant mix of rotted beer and you'd-rather-not-know-what-else. But lately, on the corner of Bourbon and St. Peter, people have been observing some rather strange behavior.

Photojournalist Antonin Kratochvil left Czechoslovakia in 1967, when he was only 19, because he didn't want to whisper. His parents had been incarcerated and damned as "class enemies" by the Communists, so they lowered their voices when they talked about anything important and warned their son that the walls had ears. Nine years later--armed with an American passport that allowed him to travel freely--Kratochvil returned to Eastern Europe with a camera and began to shout.

Inspired by a huge version of the photograph of Earth taken by Apollo 17 that hangs in his White House office, Vice President Al Gore has cooked up a plan to provide round-the-clock live coverage of the home planet to anyone with Internet access. Gore challenged NASA on Friday to launch a satellite equipped with the technology necessary to take and broadcast live images of Earth.