The Week in Pictures | Sept. 13-19, 2010 - Framework - Photos and Video - Visual Storytelling from the Los Angeles Times

St. Petersburg, Russia — A boy looks at a glass ball filled with gas to create a plasma sphere at an exhibition.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK / Reuters

London — A model wears an outfit by designer Caroline Charles during her show at London Fashion Week. The designers are showing their spring/summer 2011 collections.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Joel Ryan / Associated Press

Srinagar, India — Relatives and neighbors of Yasir Rafiq, a relative of senior separatist leader Yasin Malik, mourn at his funeral. Rafiq was injured when he was allegedly shot while playing a board game in the street during curfew last month. He succumbed to his injuries in a New Delhi hospital Thursday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mukhtar Khan / Associated Press

Queensboro Hill, N.Y. — A man looks at car that was hit by a tree toppled in a storm. There are reports that tornadoes hit parts of the New York City area, causing widespread damage and killing one woman.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JUSTIN LANE / EPA

Tehran — A demonstrator rips up a poster showing American Pastor Terry Jones in Enqelab Square during a demonstration against earlier threats by Jones to burn copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ATTA KENARE / AFP / Getty Images

Shotol, Afghanistan — An election worker carries voting material to the remote mountainous villages in Shotol, in the Panjshir region. More than 2,500 candidates will contest for 249 seats in the lower house of the Afghan parliament in the country's second election.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Ashdod, Israel — An Ultra-Orthodox Jew holds a chicken as he performs the Kaparot ritual ahead of the holiday of Yom Kippur. Kaparot is a custom in which white chickens are slaughtered as a symbolic gesture of atonement. The slaughtered chickens are then donated to the poor.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AMIR COHEN / Reuters

Alcaniz, Spain — MotoGP Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo of Spain rides his motorbike during a practice for Sunday's Aragon Motorcycle Grand at the Motorland racetrack.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MANU FERNANDEZ / Associated Press

Kandahar, Afghanistan — An Afghan security official stands guard at a roadside checkpoint amid intensified security for the parliamentary elections on Saturday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MATIULLAH ACHAKZAI / EPA

Versailles, Ind. — Marine Cpl. John Bishop's son K'Sean Bishop, 4, holds onto an American flag and his stepfather David Rohwer while leaving the cemetery where his father was buried. Bishop, 25, of Columbus, Ind., died Sept. 8 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JOEL PHILIPPSEN / THE REPUBLIC

Glasgow, Scotland — Catholic priests are sheltered by umbrellas during Holy Communion as Pope Benedict XVI presides over a celebration of Mass in Bellahouston Park. The pope warned young Catholics about the temptations of drugs, money, sex, pornography and alcohol in a homily at the first open-air Mass of his state visit to Britain.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: LEON NEAL / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

London — Pope Benedict XVI is seen through the window of his aircraft as he arrives at Heathrow airport outside London. The first state visit of a pope to Britain — his predecessor John Paul II made a "pastoral visit" in 1982 — began in Scotland today, where Benedict met with Queen Elizabeth II, titular head of the world's Anglicans, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BEN STANSALL / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Edinburgh, Scotland — Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI meet schoolchildren outside the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the queen's official residence in Scotland. The pope is conducting the first state visit to Britain by a pontiff.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PHOTOSHOT

Glasgow, Scotland — Pilgrims fly flags as they wait for Pope Benedict XVI to say Mass at Bellahouston Park, part of the pontiff's four-day trip to Britain.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PHIL NOBLE / Reuters

Jerusalem, Israel — Men pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The holiest of Jewish holidays finds observant Jews atoning for sins of the past year with prayer and a fast lasting more than 24 hours, beginning at sundown Friday and ending with the breaking of the fast after dark Saturday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS

Stuttgart, Germany — Fans react after lighting a flare during their Europa League Group H soccer match against VfB Stuttgart.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALEX DOMANSKI / REUTERS

Rome — A video is projected onto Rome's ancient Colosseum by installation artists Thyra Hilden and Piuz Diaz. "City on Fire" is a series of large-scale video projections simulating fire burning down symbolic monuments in the Western world.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALESSANDRO BIANCHI / REUTERS

Mexico City — Soldiers dressed in traditional clothing march during a military parade at the culmination of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ELIANA APONTE / REUTERS

Munich, Germany — A zoomed image of the benches in a beer tent as preparations are underway for Oktoberfest at the Theresienwiese in Munich. The 200th staging of Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, opens Sept. 18 and runs through Oct. 4.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Zittau, Germany — A man works on an installation of life-size mockups of animals onto the wall of a house in the artists' district of Zittau. The project is part of one of Germany's biggest pop-art districts and consists of the modernization and decoration of an old apartment building modeled on plans by the artist Sergej Alexander Dott.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MATTHIAS HIEKEL / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Brooklyn, New York — Residents in the Park Slope neighborhood in the New York borough of Brooklyn surround a car crushed by a fallen tree. A brief but severe and damaging storm swept through New York City.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MARK LENNIHAN / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pingtung, Taiwan — Genetically engineered angelfish glow under a black light shining on their tank. The fish are the world's first fluorescent angelfish and were created by a joint project between Taiwan's Academia Sinica and Jy Lin, a private biotechnology company.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PICHI CHUANG / Reuters

Brussels, Belgium — Belgian cooks toast at a event known as "Dinner in the Sky" while sitting on an elevated platform in Brussels. "Dinner in the Sky" accommodates 26 people suspended from a crane at a height of 164 feet.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: YVES HERMAN / Reuters

Pasadena, California — Engineers work on the Mars rover Curiosity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Curiosity is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JAE C. HONG / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Flagstaff, Arizona — The All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE), a prototype heavy-lift utility vehicle to support future human exploration of extraterrestrial surfaces, flexes its limbs as it moves across the northern Arizona desert on the last day of NASA's two-week field testing of new aerospace technology.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ROBYN BECK / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Makuhari, Japan — Visitors participate in a photo session of "Cosplay" characters at the Tokyo Game Show.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Junji Kurokawa / Associated Press

Stockholm — Police push back a group of protesters demonstrating against a speech by the leader of the right-wing Sweden Democrats. Sweden will hold national elections on Sunday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BOB STRONG / Reuters

Amritsar, India — A bride takes part in a mass-marriage ceremony for about 121 low-income couples from the India-Pakistan border area. Mass marriages organized by social organizations to cut ceremony costs are common in India.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NARINDER NANU / AFP/Getty Images

Villeneuve d'Ascq, France — Children of a Roma family prepare to leave a camp in northern France to go to Lille Airport for a flight to Romania in a voluntary repatriation scheme. The European Union on Tuesday threatened France with legal action over its handling of the expulsion of Roma migrants.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PASCAL ROSSIGNOL / Reuters

Munich, Germany — Caro Kopecky, assistant to Herbert Lipah, the owner of Lederhosenwahnsinn (Lederhosen crazy), pins underwear to the ceiling of the clothes shop. Lipah, who has collected about 2,500 leather trousers over the last 18 years, sells traditional Bavarian clothing and accessories worn at Oktoberfest.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MICHAELA REHLE / Reuters

Berlin — Two demonstrators pull off their T-shirts to reveal a "poor but sexy" slogan inscribed on their bodies during a mock fashion show in front of Berlin's parliament building, part of a demonstration against what protesters say is a reduction in social spending by the German government.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP/Getty Images

Chamonix, France — French winter sports athletes climb to the top of the Aiguille du Midi, a peak in the French Alps, during an event to promote the region's candidacy for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP/Getty Images

Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan — A garden caretaker with stork figurines at dusk in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh province, north of Kabul.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MUSTAFA QURAISHI / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dresden, Germany — British shorthair cat Berny vom Rosenpavillon peers through his basket during a photocall at the Heimtiermesse pet fair. The fair runs from September 17 through 19.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ARNO BURGI / AFP/Getty Images

Beijing — Chairman Mao's portrait at Tiananmen Gate is partly covered by scaffolding during renovations ahead of the National Day celebrations October 1. National Day in 2010 will mark the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PETER PARKS / AFP/Getty Images

Astrakhan, Russia — A desert lizard is an unlikely spectator at the Silk Way Race, part of the Dakar series, about 90 miles from Astrakhan.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MIKHAIL MORDASOV / AFP/Getty Images

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Foreign women sunbathe at the Dubai Marina in the gulf emirate against a backdrop of monolithic high-rise buildings.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: KARIM SAHIB / AFP/Getty Images

Ravensburg, Germany — An employee of the German company Ravensburger AG gets to work during the presentation of what is according to the manufacturer the world's largest jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle, with motifs by U.S. artist Keith Haring, has a length of almost 18 feet and is more than 6 feet wide. Its 32,256 pieces weigh about 37 pounds.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PATRICK SEEGER / European Pressphoto Agency

Macao — Performers take part in the show "The House of Dancing Water" at the City of Dreams resort. The $256-million water-based show, created and directed by Franco Dragone, was inspired by the seven-emotions principle derived from classical Confucian beliefs in Chinese culture.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: TYRONE SIU / REUTERS

Istanbul, Turkey — The luxury yacht Savarona, once the presidential yacht of modern Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk, is anchored in the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MURAD SEZER / REUTERS

Star City, Russia — Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri of the International Space Station examines the controls during a session in a Soyuz flight simulator at the Star City Space Center outside Moscow.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP/Getty Images

Srinagar, India — A Kashmiri youth holds rocks during a clash with Indian police. At least eight protesters were injured by police when they opened fire to control the latest violent demonstration in the disputed Muslim-majority region.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP/Getty Images

Lazarevac, Serbia — A group of miners travel over a barren landscape to begin their shift at the coal mine in Lazarevac. Serbia's power distribution and production network fell into disrepair during a decade of international isolation during the Balkan wars in the 1990s. Plans are now underway for the construction of two power plants, the first in 20 years.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MARKO DJURICA / REUTERS

Guernica, Spain — A boy cycles past graffiti that reads "Continue the Fight" in the Basque town of Guernica. Nine members of the Basque pro-independence organization EKIN, declared illegal by Spanish authorities in 2007 for political and ideological links to armed separatists ETA, were arrested in raids on Tuesday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: VINCENT WEST / REUTERS

Munich — The Irish band U2 performs at the Olympic Stadium as part of the band's 360 Degrees tour.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: TOBIAS HASE / European Pressphoto Agency

Tanah Karo, Indonesia — Abandoned puppies roam a village in Tanah Karo near the erupting Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra, seen emitting volcanic ash. More than 20,000 people have fled their homes since the volcano first erupted in late August and remain in emergency shelters. Volcanologists have said Sinabung's long dormant period has made it highly unpredictable.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: SUTANTA ADITYA / AFP/Getty Images

Tel Aviv, Israel — Ultra-orthodox Jews take part in Tashlich, the ritual of casting away sins of the past year into the water, along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea near Tel Aviv port.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS

Kabul, Afghanistan — Afghan police walk toward protesters in Kabul as fire burns behind them. Police fired their weapons into the air to disperse thousands of angry anti-American protesters in Afghanistan's capital, witnesses and police said, with at least two people suffering apparent gunshot wounds.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AHMAD MASOOD / Reuters

Shenyang, China — An 18-story hotel is demolished in Shenyang, China. A new hotel will be built on the site.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Reuters

Ahmedabad, India — People carry water pots as they take part in procession in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AMIT DAVE / Reuters

Frankfurt, Germany — At the stock exchange building, a man dressed as a vampire demonstrates against the financial system.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: KAI PFAFFENBACH / Reuters

Seoul, South Korea — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shakes hands with U.S. military members.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JO YONG-HAK / Reuters

Mumbai, India — A devotee carries an idol of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, toward the Arabian sea.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DANISH SIDDIQUI / Reuters

Dresden, Germany — Two workers carry chip wafers at a ceremony marking the construction of a new computer chip plant.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: OLIVER KILLIG / EPA

Sydney, Australia — Water cascades down after the re-lighting of the Olympic cauldron as Sydney marks the 10th anniversary of the 2000 Olympic Games.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: GREG WOOD / AFP / Getty Images

Zurich, Switzerland — Kuwam, Kalika, Keladi and Kanya, the four cubs of the Indian lioness Joy, make their official debut at Zurich's zoo. The cubs were born on July 14.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP / Getty Images

Elazar, West Bank — A Palestinian laborer walks on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elazar, south of Bethlehem.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BAZ RATNER / Reuters

Faridabad, Pakistan — A flooding victim rides a navy helicopter as he is evacuated to safer ground from Faridabad in Pakistan's Sindh province.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CARL DE SOUZA / AFP/Getty Images

Havana — A woman cleans the floor at a state workers canteen in Havana. Cuba is planning to lay off 500,000 government employees by March and try to move most of them to nonstate jobs in the biggest shift to the private sector since the 1960s.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DESMOND BOYLAN / REUTERS

Jerusalem — Visitors pause in front of candles at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS

Kabul, Afghanistan — A girl stands in line with her mother to receive food distributed to flood-hit families by NATO-led Turkish troops on the outskirts of Kabul.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AHMAD MASOOD / REUTERS

Doha, Qatar — In its bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar presents zero-carbon, solar-powered cooling technology for open-air stadiums during the FIFA inspection visit at a showcase stadium in Doha.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FADI AL-ASSAAD / REUTERS

Maale Adumim, West Bank — A Palestinian laborer walks past a billboard advertising apartments for sale in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS

Al Ram, West Bank — A Palestinian boy rides a bicycle alongside the controversial Israeli barrier at Al Ram, West Bank. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton began a round of talks Tuesday to try to bridge an impasse over Israeli settlement building that threatens the new Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS

Tokyo — A signboard shows the U.S. dollar trading at the upper 82-yen level in Tokyo. The dollar fell below 83 yen for the first time in 15 years after Japan's prime minister won a ruling-party leadership vote, reducing the chances Japanese authorities would attempt to stem yen gains.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: KYODO / REUTERS

Berlin — People walk past a luxury goods department store on Friedrichstrasse Boulevard in Berlin. On Oct. 3, Germany will mark the 20th anniversary of the unification of the two German states and the reestablishment of federal states on the territory of the former German Democratic Republic.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS

Paris — French Communist Party deputies hold placards protesting the overhaul of the pension system during a question session at the National Assembly in Paris. The placards read "Retirement age at 60", "To tax the capital" and "The struggle goes on."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CHARLES PLATIAU / REUTERS

Hollywood — CleanStreet employee John Peterson cleans and polishes a Walk of Fame star in Hollywood. There are almost 2,500 stars on the Walk of Fame. Peterson cleans more than 75 of them a day.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FRED PROUSER / REUTERS

Tianjin, China — A320 tails for China Southern Airlines, center, and Beijing Capital Airlines aircraft are under construction at the Airbus factory in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. The factory is the only one of its kind outside Europe and on average produces two planes per month.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DAVID GRAY / REUTERS

Berlin — A Ugandan giraffe foal (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) born on Sept. 8 and named Egon explores its enclosure at the Berlin zoo. The population of the endangered species is fewer than 700.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MARTIN FOERSTER / EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Malang, Indonesia — Indonesia's Mt. Bromo volcano, adjacent to the Mt. Semeru volcano, is seen emitting smoke in this view from Penanjakan mountain outside Pasuruan, East Java province.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BEAWIHARTA / REUTERS

Dadu, Pakistan — A flood victim takes a bath in a well while taking refuge on an embankment in a village in Dadu, north of Karachi, Pakistan.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AKHTAR SOOMRO / Reuters

Xuancheng, China — A just-hatched Yangtze alligator is seen at the Chinese Alligator Propagation Research Center in Xuancheng, Anhui province.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: JIANAN YU / Reuters

Bangkok, Thailand — Thai riot control policemen face off against protesters during a security drill in Bangkok. The drill is preparation for this weekend's demonstrations by anti-government "Red Shirt" protesters, who have said they will mark the four-year anniversary of the military coup that ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BARBARA WALTON / EPA

Munster, Germany — A conscript of the Bundeswehr, Germany's army, crawls through the woods near Munster. Germany's military structure is on the brink of radical change as top government officials signal their approval of plans to turn the Bundeswehr into an all-volunteer army, thus ending decades of forcing young men into service.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PETER STEFFEN / EPA

Tordesillas, Spain — Horsemen ride during the Toro de la Vega festival in Tordesillas, Spain. The festival is one of the country's oldest, with roots dating back to the 15th century. The bull has to be enticed across the river from the village to the plain Vega before it can be killed to honor the Virgen de la Pena.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: STR / AFP / Getty Images

Nicosia, Cyprus — A journalist walks through Cyprus' defunct Nicosia airport terminal during a rare media tour of the facility. The airport has remained closed since 1974, when a coup by supporters of union with Greece prompted Turkey to invade and split the island into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south. The airport was the scene of fierce battles during the invasion and was declared a U.N.-protected area.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Petros Karadjias / Associated Press

Kathmandu, Nepal — A sadhu smiles while waiting for tourists at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Some sadhus -- a sweeping term that includes tens of thousands of Hindu holy men, from revered leaders to charlatans -- make money from tourists taking their pictures.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NARENDRA SHRESTHA / EPA

Ostrava, Czech Republic — Natalia Partyka of Poland serves to Elizabeta Samara of Romania during the women's teams semifinals at the 2010 European Table Tennis Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FILIP SINGER / EPA

Kandahar, Afghanistan — The boots and a portrait of 1st Lt. Todd W. Weaver are displayed in his honor at Combat Outpost Terra Nova on the outskirts the Arghandab Valley's Jellawar village in Afghanistan. Weaver, of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, was killed in a Sept. 9 attack by insurgents.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PATRICK BAZ / AFP / Getty Images

Mumbia, India — A boy performs Mallakhamb during a practice session at a playground in Mumbai. Mallakhamb is a combination of traditional Indian gymnastics and martial arts and can be traced back to the 12th century.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DANISH SIDDIQUI / Reuters

Los Angeles — High school students get an impromptu lesson on the murals in the library from Paul Schrade on the opening day of the new Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex, which is on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel. Schrade was with Kennedy at the hotel when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968, and was also shot in the head but survived. He was a key player in getting the school built on the site.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Tehran, Iran — A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to protest plans by a Florida pastor to burn the Koran, which he later dropped.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CAREN FIROUZ / REUTERS

Tlacotalpan, Mexico — A boy tries to mop his house in flooded Tlacotalpan, Veracruz state, Mexico. At least 25 people have died since the end of August due to heavy rains and flooding, which have affected almost 1 million people in south and eastern Mexico.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: LUIS ACOSTA / AFP/Getty Images

Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela — Rescue workers search for victims at the place where an ATR-42 plane crashed in Puerto Ordaz. The passenger plane owned by Venezuela's state-run airline Conviasa crashed with about 50 people on board, killing at least 13 as it came down just outside a steel mill.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: REUTERS

Washington, D.C. — A renovation worker climbs atop the Capitol Dome. A new layer is being painted onto the dome for the first time in eight years. The project is expected to be finished by December.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MICHAEL REYNOLDS / European Pressphoto Agency

Conakry, Guinea — A poster for Guinea presidential candidate Alpha Conde is displayed on a street in Conakry. Police deployed extra forces around the Guinea capital after street fighting between supporters of rivals for its presidential election left one dead and 50 injured over the weekend.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: REUTERS

Stockholm, Sweden — A pedestrian walks across a checkerboard plaza on a rainy day.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: BOB STRONG / REUTERS

Minsk, Belarus — Belarussian schoolchildren salute during the Pioneer youth organization's anniversary at Victory square in Minsk. Early pro-communist Pioneer movements appeared in Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. In May 1922, they were organised into the Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union. In Belarus, the Young Pioneers has remained a government loyal youth movement.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: VASILY FEDOSENKO / REUTERS

Beijing, China — Chinese babies accompanied by their parents take part in a baby swimming contest, which the organizer hopes will break the Guinness World Record for the most babies swimming together, at a stadium in Beijing on Sept. 11.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AFP/Getty Images / AFP/Getty Images

Kabul, Afghanistan — Mullah Tarakhel (Mohammadi), a Kuchi member of Parliament seeking reelection, addresses his supporters during a campaign stop in a room on the outskirts of Kabul. Afghanistan will hold parliamentary elections Sept. 18.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FAYAZ KABLI / REUTERS

London — A Sotheby's gallery technician hangs "La Femme Qui Pleure" by Pablo Picasso, which is estimated will fetch up to $1.1 million at an auction of prints at Sotheby's in London on Thursday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: SUZANNE PLUNKETT / REUTERS

Vatican City, Italy — Books are shelved at the Vatican Apostolic Library, which is reopening to scholars following a three-year renovation to improve its cataloging and security measures. The library, which houses one of the world's best collections of illuminated manuscripts, opens its doors Sept. 20.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Pier Paolo Cito / Associated Press

New York NY, United States — Vania King, right, of the United States and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan return a shot against Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova of Russia to win the women's doubles final on Day 15 of the 2010 U.S. Open.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Bello / Getty Images

Sakhir, Bahrain — An oil pump works at sunset in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain. A warm response to new global banking rules and robust Chinese economic data shored up sentiment in the markets Monday with stocks up strongly, the euro climbing and oil prices spiking to a one-month high.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hasan Jamali / Associated Press

Berlin, Germany — A man looks at a newly opened display at the Museum of Natural History, which includes a temperature-controlled exhibition room with 85,000 specimens of animals preserved in alcohol.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FABRIZIO BENSCH / Reuters

Jiaxing, China — A vendor sleeps near sacks of grapefruit as he waits for customers at a fruit wholesale market.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: STRINGER SHANGHAI / Reuters

Munich, Germany — An activist with the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plays the role of a fish in a net during a protest.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MARC MUELLER / AFP / Getty Images

Manila, Philippines — An exterminator in a classroom takes aim at mosquitoes that cause dengue fever.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ROMEO RANOCO / Reuters

Dadu, Pakistan — Pakistani flood victims, desperate for aid, struggle against the dust churned up by an army helicopter delivering supplies.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CARL DE SOUZA / AFP / Getty Images

Srinagar, India — A Kashmiri boy shouts slogans during a protest fueled in part by a report of the Koran being desecrated in the United States.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Altaf Qadri / Associated Press

Seoul, South Korea — A man is apprehended by police officers after he tried to fight with antiwar protesters denouncing the visit of Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea, at the Foreign Ministry.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: TRUTH LEEM / Reuters