Turning the World Blue

Sweden joined the world in celebrating the UN's 70th anniversary 

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  Stockholm's Globe Arena is lit with hundreds of places around the world to celebrate the United Nations' 70th anniversary. Photo Festivalrykten.se

• Celebrating UN70
  More than 300 monuments, buildings, museums, bridges and other famous sites around the world were illuminated in blue — the official color of the United Nations — on Saturday, Oct. 24 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the world body, chartered on the date in 1945. The global celebration kicked off in New Zealand and moved around the world to the Great Wall of China, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Pyramids in Egypt, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Empire State Building and of course the U.N. headquarters in New York and, appropriately, the Globe Arena in Stockholm. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that "by turning the world U.N. blue for a day, we can light a way to a better tomorrow." The U.N. charter unites all member states "in diversity beyond our differences of language, culture or religion, today as 70 years ago." Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström was in NY supporting women as peacemakers during a meeting on human rights. http://storify.com/un/unblue