A Palestinian man hangs decorations for the holy month of Ramadan outside his home in Jerusalem's Old City, July 31, 2011. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. (Reuters)
An Egyptian woman (C) salvages boxes of medicine left behind after Egyptian troops tore down the protesters' encampment in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Egyptian troops clashed with a small group of protesters camping out in Cairo's Tahrir Square to press demands for faster change and justice for protesters killed in the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (AP)
The sun sets over the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, July 31, 2011. The whole of drought and conflict-wracked southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, the United Nations said. (Reuters)
A rebel fighter takes cover during fighting in the village of Josh, at the foot of the Nafusa mountain range in western Libya, as fighting continues between rebel forces and those loyal to the Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, July 31, 2011. (AFP)
A makeshift gallows with a poster shows the pictures of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assd (top-C), his sons current President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L and bottom C), and Maher (L), their brother in-law General Assef Shawkat (2nd R), and businessman Rami Makhluf (R), during an anti-regime protest outside the Syrian embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus on July 31, 2011. Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people including 100 when the army stormed the city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, activists said. (AFP)
People pay their respects to the victims of the attacks in front of a sea of flowers outside the Oslo cathedral, July 31, 2011. Norwegians united in mourning on Friday as the first funerals were held a week after anti-Islam extremist Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people in attacks that traumatized the nation. (Reuters)
U.S. Capitol is reflected in the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington on July 31, 2011, as Senators hold a rare Sunday session to debate the debt crisis. (AP)
Artists perform during the closing ceremony for FINA World Championships at the outdoor diving pool of the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on July 31, 2011. (AFP)
Malaysian jellyfish swim in a tank at the Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo. The aquarium located on the top of a building, will be reopened on August 4 following a one-year renovation. (AFP)
A tourist looks at the landscape between the clouds on the peak of Transalpina, the highest road in Romania, which crosses the Parang mountains in the southern Carpathians reaching an altitude of 2,147 meters (7,044 feet) in Urdele pass, July 31, 2011. (Reuters)
A car passes by a defaced giant statue showing the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, second right, and ousted President Hosni Mubarak, left, in 6th of October city, Egypt. (AP)
A man uses a inner tube as he negotiates a chest-deep flood water in suburban Quezon City, north of Manila, Philippines. (AP)
Indian Muslims break their fast on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. (AFP)
Paratroopers march across the Red Square while celebrating a Russian Paratroopers' Day in Moscow, Russia, with St. Basil's cathedral in background. Russian Paratroopers' Forces celebrate the 81th anniversary of their creation. (AP)
A former paratrooper lays flowers at a monument commemorating the victims of the Afghanistan conflict in the capital Minsk, Belarus. (Reuters)
Female Indian folk dancers show their hands decorated with henna paste before their performance at a cultural program organized during the "Teej" festival in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. (Reuters)
A visitor is reflected in a mirror as she looks at the interior of Rundale Palace, Latvia. Rundale Palace was built by Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence for Duke Ernst Johann of Courland. (Reuters)
Workers fix the sculpture "Giant Mermaid" on the Alster lake in the northern German city of Hamburg. The sculpture was created by art and advertising agency Oliver Voss. (AFP)
Greylag Geese take flight at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Greylag goose is the ancestor of domesticated geese in Europe and North America. (AFP)
An Egyptian protester argues with a riot policeman outside the court set up in the Cairo Police Academy, on the first day of the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons and other officials. (AFP)
A Pakistani passenger van rides past a burning NATO oil tanker on the outskirts of Quetta. According to an official, two NATO oil tankers from Karachi were set afire after the vehicles were intercepted by armed men. (AFP)
An Afghan woman and her children walk past a destroyed building in the old part of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Reuters)
Displaced Somali families wait for humanitarian assistance near a street in southern Mogadishu. Somali government officials said at least 700 people displaced by famine reach the capital almost every day. (AFP)
Teenagers from the Fukushima area in Japan pass St. Stephen's Cathedral in downtown Vienna, Austria. 23 young Japanese, who had lost their homes in the devastating earthquake and tsunami, will spend a three-week vacation in Austria, organized by an international charity. (AP)
A Muslim girl reads verses from the Quran at al-Amin mosque, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, during the holy month of Ramadan. (Reuters)
A fisherman rides his banca next to a fish pen in the calm waters off Manila Bay after the weather partially cleared in Manila, Philippines. The death toll from Typhoon Muifa rose to five and affected at least 8,418 people in 20 villages across central and southern Luzon and metro Manila, according to a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesperson. (Reuters)
Tribal Ao Naga men look on before performing a warrior dance during the Tsungremong festival in Dimapur, India's northeastern state of Nagaland. The festival, celebrated by the Ao Naga, is a thanksgiving festival invoking the blessings of god an abundant harvest after the completion of seed sowing. (AFP)
A surfer rides a wave at Le Port beach in the French Indian ocean island of La Reunion. Bathing and nautical activities are forbidden because of a strong southern swell which causes 12 meter-high waves. (AFP)
Workers operate a crane to lift a turbine rotary wheel, weighing 144.5 tons, to place it onto a barge for its further transportation to the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station at a river port on the Yenisei River, near Peschanka village on the suburbs of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. (Reuters)
South Korea's contestants perform during the 2011 Miss Korea Contest at the Seijongro Cultural Center in Seoul. (AP)
Children play in a fountain on a hot summer's day in London. (Reuters)
Zoo owner and artist Aleksandr Pylyshenko strokes female African lion Katya inside a cage at a private zoo situated in his yard in the city of Vasilyevka, southeastern Ukraine. Pylyshenko decided to spend five weeks in a cage with a pair of African lions, Katya and Samson, to get money for improving the lions' living conditions, according to local media. (Reuters)
An Indian man tries to keep his feet out of the water as he rides on the back of a bicycle cart at a water-logged intersection during monsoon rains in New Delhi. (AP)
First Sgt. Ricardo Torres, 40, left, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, boards a truck taking troops to an airstrip to begin their trip home upon completion of a year-long deployment at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika province, Afghanistan. (AP)
A child stands in front of her home at a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. (AP)
A young girl plays as Indonesian women pray on the fourth day of Ramadan at the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta. (AFP)
Texas State Park Police Officer Thomas Bigham walks across the cracked lake bed of O.C. Fisher Lake, August 3, 2011, in San Angelo, Texas. A combination of the long periods of 100-plus degree days and the lack of rain in the drought-stricken region has dried up the lake that once spanned over 5,400 acres (AP)
Riders practice for a show on their horses at a farm in Kaposmero, 190 km west of Budapest, Hungary, August 3, 2011. (Reuters)
Contestants perform with umbrellas during the 2011 Miss Korea Contest at the Seijongro Cultural Center in Seoul, South Korea, August 3, 2011. (AP)
Two friends jump into a cool public pool in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. People enjoy a sunny blue sky and warm temperatures up to 28 degrees Celsius before the contrary summer weather returns with rain at the weekend. (AP)
People raise their arms as they form a human chain to surround the Atomic Bomb Dome at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan. People gathered around the dome denouncing atomic bombs and nuclear power plants on the eve of the 66th anniversary of the world's first atomic attack on August 6 and in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in March. (AFP)
Somali refugees carry firewood outside Dadaab, eastern Kenya, 100 kms (60 miles) from the Somali border. (AP)
Soldiers run as a wave hits the coast in Wenling, Zhejiang province, China. Shanghai and the neighboring province of Zhejiang are bracing for a strong typhoon that is expected to hit this weekend. (Reuters)
A worker carries a banner inside Romania's new National Stadium, the Lia Manoliu Arena, which is under construction in Bucharest. The new 55,000-seater stadium will be the biggest in Romania and will host the 2012 Europa League final. (Reuters)
Workers prepare a massive stage, where Pope Benedict XVI is to hold a prayer vigil and a mass, as part of the World Youth Day activities at the Cuatro Vientos aerodrome, outside Madrid, Spain. (Reuters)
Visitors look at floral arrangements at a flower show at the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, Glass House in Bangalore, India. (AFP)
Indian Muslims offer Friday prayers at the Feroz Shah Kotla mosque during the first Friday of Ramadan in New Delhi. (AFP)
The Sugarloaf Mountain and the Guanabara Bay are seen at dawn in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP)
A southern Cassowary bird in its enclosure at Tierpark Zoo in Berlin, Germany (AFP)
Nicki Minaj performs on ABC's Good Morning America in New York, USA. (AP)
A woman holds a rose as she takes part in an Amnesty International demonstration in solidarity with Syria's anti-government protesters in Berlin, August 6, 2011. (Reuters)
A Marine carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Sgt. Daniel J. Patron Monday, Aug. 8, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Patron, of Canton, Ohio, died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. (AP)
Newly arrived Somali refugees are seen in Kenya's Dadaab Refugee Camp, situated northeast of the capital Nairobi near the Somali border, August 8, 2011. (Reuters)
A Somali boy walks along a street in the Wardigley district of southern Mogadishu, August 7, 2011. African peacekeepers have forced Somalia's al Shabaab Islamists to abandon their campaign to hold the capital Mogadishu, but the fighters' retreat hardly ends the country's bloodshed and could herald a wave of al Qaeda-style suicide attacks. (Reuters)
A police officer patrols as firemen dowse down buildings set alight during riots in Tottenham, north London, August 7, 2011. Rioters throwing petrol bombs battled police in an economically deprived district of London overnight, setting patrol cars, buildings and a bus on fire in some of the worst disorder seen in the capital in recent years. (Reuters)
A share price display shows stocks on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney on August 8, 2011. Australian stocks fell 114 points to close at 4055 following the downgrading of the US credit rating. (AFP)
The Dalai Lama (C) holds hands with Lobsang Sangay (L), the elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, and outgoing PM Samdhong Rinpoche before Sangay's swearing-in ceremony at the Tsuglakhang temple in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, August 8, 2011. Sangay, a Harvard graduate, replaced the Dalai Lama as the Tibetan movement's political leader. (Reuters)
Dark clouds move over the grandstands at Pocono Raceway on August 7, 2011 in Long Pond, Pa. Brad Keselowski won the rain-interrupted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race earlier in the day. (AP)
People watch a performance next to an umbrella at the 2011 Beijing Forest Music Festival near the Shuiguan section of the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing, China, August 7, 2011. (Reuters)
A Kashmiri Muslim boat man prays on his boat after breaking his fast during the holy month of Ramadan, in Srinagar, India, August 8, 2011. (AP)
Members of the public show their brushes to Mayor of London Boris Johnson as they prepare to clean their streets of debris in Clapham Junction, in south London, following a third night of unrest in London. (AFP)
An employee of the Tokyo Stock Exchange reacts as he works at the bourse. The Nikkei stock average closed down 1.7 percent Tuesday, having trimmed losses on bargain hunting after the index tumbled more than four percent in the wake of Wall Street's plunge. (Reuters)
A person walks past a board showing stock market prices inside a brokerage in Taipei. Taiwan stocks fell 0.79 percent Tuesday, but some companies such as Apple suppliers got a lift as government intervention was seen, some fund managers said. (Reuters)
Idols of Hindu Goddess Dashama are pictured on the banks of the river Sabarmati in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Hindu devotees keep the idols in their house for 10 days, for the Dashama festival, before immersing them in the Sabarmati river on the tenth night. (Reuters)
Tribal dancers from the western Indian state of Gujarat perform at a rally to mark International Day of the World's Indigenous People, in New Delhi, India. The word 'tribal' is a collective term for many indigenous people in India. (AP)
A tribal man holds a handmade umbrella and walks behind his cattle, unseen, near Manikpur village, in Ganjam district, about 200 kilometers from the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneshwar, India. The International Day of the World's Indigenous People is being marked across the world Tuesday. (AP)
Police uses a water cannon against a demonstrator during a student protest in Santiago. Riot police battled high school and university students in the streets of Chile's capital, firing water cannons and tear gas, using officers on horseback to break up flaming barricades. (AP)
Somali Borow Adam Mohamed weeps at the grave of one of his children in Mogadishu, Somalia. The number of people fleeing famine-hit areas of Somalia is likely to rise dramatically and could overwhelm international aid efforts in the Horn of Africa. (AP)
Agent Orange victims learn embroidery at Friendship Village, a hospice outside Hanoi. Delegates from around the world gathered in Hanoi for the second international conference on Agent Orange victims August 8-10, on the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Agent Orange/Dioxin into Vietnam. (Reuters)
Members of the Meyboom brotherhood carry the Meyboom tree before the planting in central Brussels. The Meyboom festival dates back 703 years and celebrates the 1213 victory of Brussels over neighboring city of Leuven in a battle over a beer tax. (Reuters)
A skater rolls past confessionals set in Madrid's Retiro Park for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI during the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day. The pope arrives in Madrid August 18 to attend the final four days of the six-day youth festivities. (AFP)
Afghan boys play volleyball in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)
Children hold candles during a rally by Uganda's opposition parties in memory of nine people who died during a government crackdown on protesters who took part in an April/May "walk to work" campaign, in Masaka town, 120 km southwest of Kampala. (Reuters)
A shoe hangs in the smashed window of the Nike store in Manchester, northern England after violence flared in British cities and towns Tuesday night. (Reuters)
Chinese artist Liu Bolin, waits for his colleagues to add finishing touches, blending him into rows of soft drinks in his artwork entitled "Plasticizer," to express his speechlessness at use of plasticizer in food additives, in his studio at the 798 Art District in Beijing. (AP)
During a media preview of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology show, a Hsiung Feng III missile is seen propped against the backdrop of a billboard depicting a missile-riddled aircraft carrier, closely resembling China's carrier "Varyag". Taiwan is hailing its most advanced missile as "an aircraft carrier killer,'' the same day that China began sea trials of "Varyag." (AP)
A priest covers Living Goddess Kumari's ear as the Nepal army fires a gun during the Changu Narayan festival in Kathmandu. The Kumari, a young girl who is a manifestation of a Goddess, is worshiped by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal. The Kumari emerges from her temple about 12 times a year for religious occasions. (Reuters)
A woman stands on the snow-covered top of the Zugspitze, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany. Fog and temperatures below zero degrees prevailed on Germany's highest mountain. (AFP)
A Kashmiri woman removes lotus leaves from the water of Dal Lake in Srinagar, India. Dal Lake is famous for its natural beauty and a popular destination for both Indian and foreign tourists. (AP)
Spc. Christopher Aust, of Harrison, Arkansas, with the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, takes a picture of a rainbow at the Transit Center in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, during a layover on the way home from a deployment in Afghanistan. (AP)
Children play on a flooded street in central Bago town, around 100 km north of Rangoon, Burma. Heavy rains caused the Bago River to overflow, flooding towns and forcing evacuation of some 4,000 people to temporary shelters. (Reuters)
A Somali boy sings an Irish song to his classmates at the Illeys primary school in Dagahaley refugee camp north of Dadaab, Eastern Kenya, 100 kms from the Somali border. About 1,300 new refugees arrive each day in the Dadaab camps. (AP)
A pedestrian walks past a large street mural in Hackney, east London, close to the area where widespread rioting and looting took place earlier this week. (Reuters)
A foreign exchange broker taking a breather is at a dealing room in Tokyo. Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda sharpened his warning to currency markets in the wake of the yen's rise near record highs against the dollar. (Reuters)
Customers look at gold jewelry at a shop in Hong Kong. The price of gold topped $1,800 an ounce for the first time, as concern about Europe's debt problems intensifies. (AP)
Libyan rebel fighters flash the victory sign as they head to the front line at a staging area near the village of Shal Ghouda in western Libya. (Reuters)
A farmer takes part in a sit-in protest in New Delhi. The protest, organized by political party Janata Dal, was against what they said were illegal land acquisitions by the government to be given to private companies at a low price. (Reuters)
A woman buys bread from a bakery in Kabul. (Reuters)
People carry bamboo shoots they collected from the forest on the Rangoon-Naypyitaw highway near Naypyitaw, Burma. (Reuters)
Solar car Nuna6 is driven around a track in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Dutch Nuon Solar team will participate with the car in the 11th World Solar Challenge in Australia, October 16-23, 2011. (AFP)
Malaysia's Chong Wei Lee returns a shot to Korea's Sung Hwan Park during their match at the World Badminton Championships at Wembley Arena, London. The championships are an unofficial testing event for the London Olympics. (AP)
Telescope-eyed goldfish swim in a fish tank as part of the exhibition 'Art Aquarium' at a press preview in Tokyo. The exhibition, designed by aquarist Hidetomo Kimura, is open August 12-September 12. (AFP)
Egyptian riot police take their places as they move into Tahrir Square in Cairo. More than 42 political parties and youth coalitions were to gather in the square to break their fast after activists called for a million-man protest to demand a civilian state. (Reuters)
South Korean national flags are on display in Seoul to celebrate the Aug. 15 Korean Liberation Day from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. (AP)
A man takes a picture as Mount Etna spews volcanic ash during an eruption on the southern Italian island of Sicily. Mount Etna is Europe's tallest and most active volcano. (Reuters)
A girl lights candles at an event to commemorate the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, north of Japan. The event was held on the eve of the annual Buddhist ceremony Obon that welcomes back the spirits of the dead. (Reuters)
A member of the Islamist Sunni group Jamaat al-Islamiya has his face painted with the colors of the Syrian national flag during an anti-Syrian government protest, at the port-city of Sidon in south Lebanon. (Reuters)
A woman walks past hundreds of messages of support from the community of Peckham posted on a looted storefront in southeast London. (Reuters)
An Indian tea garden worker carries an empty basket at Gulma Tea Estate on the outskirts in Siliguri. Tea labor unions, calling for higher wages, have called on work to stop in over 191 tea gardens across the Dooars and Terai areas of Jalpaiguri district. (AFP)
A woman attaches tissue to metal rods that delineate the line where the Berlin Wall stood at the memorial site in Bernauer Strasse. The German capital is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, which was erected on August 13, 1961. (Reuters)
A boy takes shelter from the rain under his horse-cart on the banks of the Tawi River in Jammu. India's monsoon rains were 14 percent above normal in the week to August 10, improving sharply from 22 percent below average the week before. (Reuters)
Turkish port workers in Istanbul load a ship with humanitarian aid from IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation destined for Somalia. (Reuters)
Aprilia rider Nicolas Terol of Spain, left, speeds up during the 2nd 125cc free practice at the Czech Republic Motorcycle Grand Prix circuit in Brno. The Grand Prix takes place Sunday, Aug. 14. (AP)
A Nepalese shopkeeper looks out from his shop at Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu. The Durbar Square, which holds the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings, is located in the center of the capital and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. (AFP)
Buddhist monks visit the Uppatasanti pagoda in Naypyitaw, Burma (Reuters)
Artists perform at the opening ceremony of the 26th Universiade games at Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen, China. (AP)
An Iraqi man inspects damage at the Mar Afram Syriac Orthodox Church following an explosion in the northern city of Kirkuk, as a series of nationwide attacks hit the country. (AFP)Egyptian anti-Mubarak protesters hang a noose to his poster outside police academy court in Cairo. (AP)
Smoke rises in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia, August 14, 2011. Residents and rights groups said Syrian tanks and navy ships shelled Latakia on Sunday, killing 24 people. (Reuters)
A farmer works in his field as Mount Soputan volcano spews volcanic ash, in Minahasa on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island on August 14, 2011. (AFP)
A supporter of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attends the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames, August 13, 2011. (Reuters)
School children take part in a cultural program to celebrate India's independence day in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. (Reuters)
Participants ride their horses during the traditional Palio horse race (Il Palio) at the Il Campo square in the Tuscan city of Siena. (AFP)
Supporters of anti-corruption, wearing masks of Anna Hazare take a break from a rally at Freedom Park in Bangalore, India. Veteran campaigner Anna Hazare, 74, was taken into custody by plain-clothes police as he prepared to lead a parade to a public park where he was to begin a "fast unto death". (AFP)
Vehicles drive past as residents gather near burning oil tankers, used to carry fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan, after they were hit by a bomb attack in the outskirts of Landikotal, northwest Pakistan. (Reuters)
South Korean special warfare command soldiers aim their weapons during a sea infiltration drill in Taean. (AP)
Fatumah (L) sits next to her sick sister Dahira (R) in a corridor of a local hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Both sisters and their families came to Mogadishu about a month ago escaping the worst drought in the region in 60 years and settled in a crowded camp for internally displaced persons. (AFP)
Six Thai woman police ride on a motorcycle as they show their skills during a training at Honda driving ground in Samut Prakarn province, central Thailand. Fourty female police officers, the so-called Sweet Battalion, were on the personal protection training aimed at providing security for female VIPs. (AP)
Nuns from New York belonging to Sisters of Life, a female Roman Catholic religious order, fix a poster with the image of Jesus Christ after hanging it up on the wall in an improvised chapel at a sports stadium in Madrid, Spain. (AP)
A pilgrim confesses at the confessional booths set up at Madrid's Retiro park on the first day of the World Youth Day meeting in Madrid, Spain. (Reuters)
A woman washes clothes in a polluted canal in central Beijing. China is now the world's second largest economy, but hundreds of millions of its people still rely on fouled water that will cost billions of dollars to clean. (Reuters)
Artists participate in the "Graffest" street art and graffiti animation festival at the "Krasnoye Znamya" (Red Banner) cultural center in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Reuters)
Houses that can be rented by beachgoers are seen on the beach in the coastal town of Oostduinkerke, Belgium. (Reuters)
Ethnic Chinese devotees carry a 26.71 foot (8.1 m) high statue made of paper - Chinese deity "Da Shi Ye" or Guardian God of Ghosts - prior to setting it on fire during the festive event of Hungry Ghost in Malaysia's northern town of Bukit Mertajam. In the Chinese tradition the seventh month of the lunar year is regarded as the Ghost Month in which spirits and ghosts come down to earth. (AFP)
Zoo performer Theerapone Manolai puts his head between the jaws of a crocodile during a performance for tourists at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, about 120 km (74 miles) east of Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)
Pakistani boys bathe in a watercourse after rainfall in Islamabad. (AP)
A person looks out of a window at the Roggendorf House covered by climbing figures called 'Flossis' of German artist Rosalie in Duesseldorf, Germany. (AP)
A man holds his friend as they attempt to climb a greased and slippery pole, to which is attached a prize, to celebrate the Indonesian Independence Day in Jakarta. Indonesia marked the 66th anniversary of its freedom from Dutch rule. (AFP)
Thai fire fighters spray water on smoke coming out from the 18th floor of a 30-story luxury condominium where a fire broke out in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)
Flood-affected women jostle for food distributed in Tando Mohammad Khan, near Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province. (AP)
Members of the Spanish Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army, guard El Cristo de la Buena Muerte or Christ of the Good Death, inside the military archbishop's Church in Madrid, ahead of visit by Pope Benedict XVI. (AP)
A child reaches out to touch a huge straw sandal dedicated to the temple in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
A python regius inspects the head of a bunny in Leipzig, eastern Germany, during a photo call to promote the "Hund & Heimtier" pet fair. (AFP)
An Afghan man carries an injured child from a helicopter, after the boy was injured by a roadside bomb, in Herat. Women and children were among the casualties when a roadside bomb tore through a minibus in the western province of Herat, killing 22 civilians, the provincial government said. (AFP)
A supporter of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare displays his handcuffed hands in front of a portrait of Hazare during a protest against corruption in Hyderabad, India. (AP)
Internally displaced Somali families settle inside a war-devastated cathedral building in the old center of the capital Mogadishu. (Reuters)
Pilgrims scream as Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Popemobile at the Nunciature in Madrid, Spain. (AFP)
Dancers Alexai Geronimo (L) and Lee Gumbs from Rock the Ballet perform for photographers with Edinburgh Castle in the background during a media event for their shows at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Reuters)
Pet bird Xiao Nuo pecks at the flash while perched on the lens of a camera during an interview by local media with its owner in Kunming, Yunnan province, China. The bird is attracted to cameras and will approach and investigate any cameras it sees, according to the owner. (Reuters)
Bolivian squirrel monkeys gather around a toy football at London Zoo in central London. The zoo has a total of 22 squirrel monkeys. (AFP)
People play the latest video games at the Gamescom 2011 computer game fair in Cologne, Germany. 550 exhibitors from around the world show the latest world premieres at what is supposed to be the world's largest fair for interactive entertainment. (AP)
Afghan security forces carry a wounded man at the site of a suicide attack outside the British Council in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)
A member of the Russian aerobatic group 'Russkiye Vityazi' (Russian Knights) piloting a Sukhoi Su-27 jet performs during a demonstration flight at the MAKS-2011 International Aviation and Space Show in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow. (AP)
Pope Benedict XVI, background center, delivers his message inside the St. Lorenzo Monastery during his visit in El Escorial, Spain. (AP)
The Buddha Dordenma statue, still under-construction, overlooks the capital city of Thimphu, Bhutan. Buddha Dordenma is a 138.6-foot-tall Shakyamuni Buddha statue seated on a 62-foot-tall throne which upon completion will be one of the largest Buddha statues in the world. (AFP)
Tibetan girls perform on horses during a horse racing festival in Damxung county of Lhasa. (Reuters)
Members of an international religious movement called the White Brotherhood perform ritual dances on the top of the Rila Mountain, near Babreka lake, some 100 km south of Sofia, Bulgaria. (AFP)
US rally driver Ken Block and his co-pilot Alex Gelsomino steer their Ford Fiesta RS WRC through the vineyards above the river Mosel near Piesport during a special stage of the Rallye Deutschland that starts and ends in Trier, Germany. (AP)
The Belarus team paddle to win the men's C4 1000m final during the ICF Canoe and Kayak Sprint World Championships in Szeged, 170km (106 miles) south of Budapest, Hungary. (Reuters)
Lightning spreads across the sky over the Russian Orthodox Church of Three Saints in Garfield, New Jersey, during a storm on August 18, 2011. (AP)
Demonstrators burn a portrait of Libyan leader Moamaar Gadhafi and copies of his green book during a protest outside Libya's embassy in Ankara, 2011 as Libyan rebels entered the heart of Tripoli in a final drive to oust Gadhafi. (AFP)
Rebel fighters are seen on the streets of the Libyan capital Tripoli. Heavy fighting raged near the compound of embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi as jubilant rebel forces surged into the symbolic heart of Tripoli. (AFP)
Fireworks explode as people gather near the courthouse in Benghazi to celebrate the entry of rebel fighters into Tripoli. (Reuters)
Delegates read documents beneath a ceiling painted by Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo prior to an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to examine the crackdown in Syria after investigators found evidence of crimes against humanity committed by President Bashar al-Assad's regime. (Reuters)
A local resident fills a jerrycan with fuel from a bullet-ridden NATO supply oil tanker following an attack by gunmen on the main highway at Kolpur village, south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. (AFP)
A Taiwanese soldier peers through binoculars towards China on the eve of the 53rd anniversary of a bombing campaign on Taiwan's Kinmen island. Communist government forces on mainland China on August 23, 1958 resumed massive artillery bombardment on Taiwan's outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu and threatened invasion in an event widely known as the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis. (AP)
Pope Benedict XVI (C) celebrates mass on a vast dusty esplanade outside Madrid during World Youth Day (WYD) festivities, August 21, 2011. (AFP)
Japan's Luke Thompson (top, L) and Louis Stanfill of the US (top, R) fight for the ball in the air during their World Cup rugby warm-up match at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo, August 21, 2011. (AFP)
An artist performs during a Fire Night Festival outside Minsk, August 21, 2011. (AFP)
Rebel fighters observe the fighting near the main Moammar Gadhafi compound in Bab Al-Aziziya district in Tripoli, Libya, where some of the heaviest fighting took place. (AP)
A Libyan rebel fighter fires from the back of a vehicle towards Bab al Aziziya compound in Tripoli. (Reuters)
A Somali soldier stands guard at Koonis Football Stadium in Mogadishu where Somali people have gathered to celebrate the ouster of the insurgent al-Shabaab group from the capital. (Reuters)
US soldiers gather near a destroyed vehicle and protect their faces from rotor wash as their wounded comrades are airlifted by a Medevac helicopter from the 159th Brigade Task Force Thunder to Kandahar Hospital Role 3. (AFP)
A line of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force tanks flares up a smoke screen during the annual live-firing exercise and demonstration at Higashi Fuji training range in Gotemba, northwest of Tokyo. (AP)
A supporter of the Pheu Thai party shows his painted face with words "Love Prime Minister" outside the parliament while Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra delivers the government's policy speech in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)
A flamingo stands in the shadow under a tree at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP)
US Vice President Joe Biden walks to deliver remarks at Yokota Airbase, Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
North Korean women dance in front of the nation's flag, made by thousands of people holding colored cards in the seats at May Day stadium in Pyongyang. North Korea's huge synchronized dance and gymnastics show, called "Arirang", includes up to 100,000 participants, according to organizers. (AP)
Afghan would-be child suicide bombers attend a ceremony to mark the release of 20 detained would-be child suicide bombers, presided over by President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul. (Reuters)
Riot policemen stand in front of residents protesting outside the Turkish consulate in Arbil, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad, against Turkish shelling on northern Iraq. (Reuters)
A rebel fighter climbs on top of a statue inside Moammar Gadhafi's compound Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli, Libya. (AP)
On the 20th anniversary of Ukraine''s Independence, police in Kyiv prevent thousands of opposition supporters from marching to the presidential administration building during a protest against the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. (Reuters)
Demonstrators block a main street with barricades during a 48-hour national strike in Santiago, Chile. The rally is in support of a strike by students, workers and citizens to demand reforms in the public state education system, better salaries and health care. (Reuters)
A vendor with his head covered by a lotus leaf sells lotus-buds on a street in Srinagar, India. (Reuters)
A man covered in mud sunbathes next to a small mineral spring pool in Ovca, a rural suburb of Belgrade, Serbia. Hot weather has set in with temperatures rising up to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Serbia. (AP)
An orangutan uses a cardboard box as a makeshift sun shelter in Budapest's Zoo. Temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in Hungary. (Reuters)
A couple looks out at a fog-shrouded Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. (Reuters)
Office workers stand outside after being evacuated from buildings on Wall Street in New York after a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the US East Coast, August 23, 2011. (Reuters)
A man walks along the waterfront as Hurricane Irene passes to the east of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. Irene, a Category 3 hurricane, pounds the Bahamas. (AP)
Even though the center of Hurricane Irene is more than 230 miles away, clouds associated with extreme outer bands from the tropical cyclone swirl above Biscayne Bay in Miami. (AP)
An internally displaced malnourished child receives treatment inside a paediatric ward at the Banadir hospital in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. The African Union holds a much delayed summit to raise money to ease the Horn of Africa's famine. (Reuters)
Nepal's Ambika Niraula blows a fireball in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record of the most consecutive fireballs blown by mouth without re-fuelling in Katmandu, Nepal. (AP)
Mexico's Alvaro Valdez (L) of Mexicali is tagged out at home by Venezuela's catcher Carlos Narvaez of Maracay during the seventh inning of their Little League World Series baseball game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, US. (Reuters)
A young woman eats her lunch beneath giant pictures of athletes in the media center following an Adidas press conference in Daegu, South Korea two days before the start of the World Athletics Championships. (AFP)
An Emperor Tamarin (Saguinus imperator) pokes his tongue out as he sits on a set of weighing scales at London Zoo in London. The zoo is carrying out its annual check on over 750 species, recording weights and heights. (AP)
A healthy Feather Duster is part of the rich marine life in the Caribbean waters off the island of Provo, in Turks and Caicos, August 11, 2011. The creature is actually a worm that lives in a tube. Its "feathers" are both its feeding apparatus and breathing gills. If disturbed, it instantly disappears into its tube. Feather Dusters are part of a diverse and colorful family of marine worms. (VOA Photo - Zulima Palacio)
Image of Category 2 Hurricane Irene taken by the NOAA GOES-East satellite. Irene is still tracking northward along the US eastern coastline with 110 mph sustained winds. (NOAA)
A surfer hits the break of an eight foot wave at Folly Beach in Charleston, South Carolina as Hurricane Irene causes larger than normal swells along the South Carolina coast. (AP)
Vehicles drive in lines of traffic headed north on the Garden State Parkway across the Great Egg Harbor Bay Inlet Bridge, near Ocean City, New Jersey as much of the Jersey shore evacuates inland ahead of Hurricane Irene. (AP)
A shopper passes empty shelves at a supermarket in Long Beach on Long Island, New York. As North Carolina braced for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene, cities along the East Coast were on alert and millions of beach goers cut short vacations to escape the powerful storm. (AP)
The dedication ceremony for the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC has been postponed by Hurricane Irene. (Reuters)
Children and Catholic nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, the global order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa, pray beside her tomb on the occasion of her 101st birth anniversary in Kolkata, India. (Reuters)
US Army soldiers with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry (the Wolfhounds), Task Force NO FEAR, take positions upon arrival from Forward Operating Base Bostick to Observation Post Mace in eastern Afghanistan's Naray district, Kunar province near the border of Pakistan. (Reuters)
An injured man is carried from a United Nation's office after a car bomb in Abuja, Nigeria. The car, laden with explosives, rammed through two gates and blew up at the UN offices in Nigeria's capital, killing at least seven people and shattering part of the concrete structure. (AP)
A passenger plane destroyed by over-night shelling at Tripoli International Airport outside Tripoli, LIbya. (AP)
The crew wave from the rigging as Colombia's naval sailing ship ARC Gloria passes though Tower Bridge at the end of a three day visit to London. (Reuters)
Melted gold flows out of a smelter at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna. Oegussa processes some 100 tons of various precious metals and generates a turnover of 300 million euros a year. (Reuters)
Swiss acrobat Freddy Nock balances upon a rope at the Jungfraujoch (3454 meters) in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. (Reuters)
Ciuchcia, a four-month-old dog, chases a cat in a courtyard after being helped onto a specially made wheelchair at Schronisko, a shelter for homeless animals, near Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland. Ciuchcia's rear legs were paralyzed after it was physically abused and abandoned with its two siblings on a train track. (Reuters)
Workers position the center arch span to the Lake Champlain Bridge before it is lifted into place, in Crown Point, New York, US. (AP)
A Hawksbill turtle and reef sharks are seen twenty-five meters under water off the coast of Provo Island in the Caribbean. (VOA Photo - Zulima Palacio)
Muslims pray outside the Grand Mosque ahead of Eid festivities as the month of Ramadan winds down, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
A rebel fighter patrols at the town of Abu Grein, west of Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining stronghold. (Reuters)
A Pakistani rescue worker is seen through the bullet-riddled window of a passenger train following an attack by unknown gunmen in Mach near Quetta, Pakistan, August 28, 2011. (AP)
Engineers from the public works department on a safety inspection are slammed by waves and storm surge pounding the boardwalk and the beach at first light as Hurricane Irene slams into Asbury Park, New Jersey, August 28, 2011. (Reuters)
A rainbow appears over a building at sunset as sand is blown down Long Beach Park and the sky clears from Hurricane Irene in Long Beach, New York, August 28, 2011. (Reuters)
Ineta Radevica of Latvia competes during the women's long jump final at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, August 28, 2011. (Reuters)
A performer dances in the street parade at the annual Notting Hill Carnival in central London. (Reuters)
An old woman and her husband wait for distribution of food from Oxfam in central Turkana district, Kenya. The UN says tens of thousands of people already have died in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti due to famine and has warned that the famine hasn't peaked. (AP)
A girl takes part in celebrations for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
War College students march during the Victory Day celebrations in Ankara, Turkey. (AP)
People gather alongside workers making repairs on Route 100 in Killington, Vermont, washed out by flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene. (AP)
The group 'Minyons of Terrassa' forms a human tower called 'Castell' during the annual fiestas of Sant Felix in Vilafranca del Penedes town, near Barcelona, Spain. The formation of human towers is a tradition of Catalonia and between 100 and 200 people are needed to complete a tower. (Reuters)
A very thin house at the end of a terrace in London. Lenders approved the highest number of mortgages since May 2010 last month but consumer borrowing was unexpectedly weak, doing little to shift a downbeat outlook for retail spending and property prices. (Reuters)
Masses of green seaweed, which at times emits noxious gasses, on a beach at Kerlaz near Douarnenez in Brittany, western France. (Reuters)
Germany's Robert Harting celebrates after winning the gold in the Men's Discus Throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea. (AP)
Policemen and residents run as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of the Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province in China. As Typhoon Nanmadol approaches eastern China, the tides and waves in Qiantang River recorded its highest level in 10 years, local media reported. (Reuters)
In a clash with anti-riot policemen, informal settlers attempt to block demolition of shanties on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, metro Manila, Philippines. (Reuters)
Police officers detain an activist during a protest to defend Article 31 of the Russian constitution in St. Petersburg, Russia. Article 31 guarantees the right of assembly. (Reuters)
Iranian women perform prayers on Eid al-Fitr, or the Festival of Sacrifice, at Imam Square in the city of Isfahan, some 234 mile (390 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran. (AP)
A fan places flowers on the temporary gates in front of Kensington Palace in London on the 14th anniversary of the death of Britain's Princess Diana. She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris. (AP)
A reveler lays in tomato pulp during the annual "Tomatina" - tomato fight fiesta in the village of Bunol, near Valencia, Spain. (AP)
Nepalese Hindu holymen with ash smeared on their bodies sit at the Pashupatinath temple, during Teej festival celebrations in Katmandu, Nepal. (AP)
