The news in sepia

Pop star Madonna holds Mercy in this emotive publicity shot, taken in Malawi Photograph: Ho/Reuters

A scene from Chariots of Fire? No, but can't you just hear that music as Barack Obama and his faithful new friend Bo race around the Sepia House Photograph: Pete Souza/AP

Jack Straw: "I say Damian, will the sepia look really go down well with my constituents in Blackburn?"
Damian McBride: "Trust me, I'm a spin doctor. It always worked for me at Cambridge University" Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

In sepia, an LA courtroom becomes Middle Earth and Phil Spector a bedraggled hobbit condemned to Mordor Photograph: Al Seib/EPA

The head of a wooden Madonna - no, not the wooden actress Madonna - damaged by an earthquake, lies in a storage room in Saint Gregorio village near L'Aquila, Italy Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Crew members of the Maersk Alabama cheer on learning their captain has been rescued from the clutches of the Somalian pirates who had taken him hostage Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

David McGoldrick's goal-scoring celebration harks back to another era for Southampton Photograph: Henry Browne/Action Images