It was all thanks to a large dome of persistent high pressure, clear blue skies and strong sunshine.

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Hidden in a hangar at the US Navy's Patuxent River Air Base, in Maryland, away from prying eyes and shaded from the intense sun, US and British ground crew made the final preparations before the plane took to the clear blue skies.

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The architects painted the cables white, so that they would disappear into the sky on overcast days, and complement the blue of clear skies.

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Once west of Perpignan, the landscape starts to resemble parts of New Zealand, with crystal-clear, robin-egg-blue skies and snow-covered peaks.

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Meanwhile, residents are speculating on how the return of clear, blue, smog-free skies to Beijing has coincided with the two sessions, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post observes.

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Blue may be a common favorite color because it signals such positive things as clear skies, he says.

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