4 days ago
Photos of the Week: Ox Racing, Bat Research, Smart Whale
Monsoon flooding in India, destroyed bombers on a Russian airfield, Dragon Boat Festival races in China, a huge tomato fight in Colombia, surfing in South Africa, and much more Gareth Fuller / PA Images; Getty Dawn breaks over the Standing With Giants silhouettes, which create the 'For Your Tomorrow' installation at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, France, a day before the 81st anniversary of D-Day, on June 6, 2025. The 1,475 statues honor each of the servicemen who fell on D-Day, and stand in the shadows of the memorial overlooking Gold Beach, where many of them landed 81 years ago. The sculpture Knife Angel is installed in Newton Aycliffe's town center mall on May 31, 2025, in England. The Knife Angel 's arrival in Newton Aycliffe is meant to coincide with the Durham police force's monthlong initiative to raise awareness of knife crime. The 27-foot (eight-meter) sculpture was created by artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironwork Centre, and is made of 100,000 blunted blades surrendered during knife amnesties held by police forces across the country. A folk artist spits fire during the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, on June 1, 2025, in Tacheng, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Sanka Vidanagama / AFP; Getty People take photos of the aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, as it glows on the horizon over Lake Ellesmere in Lincoln, on the outskirts of Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 1, 2025. The South African big-wave surfer Jacques Theron rides a foil board on a wave at an offshore reef known as Dungeons, in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 1, 2025. A sports enthusiast and his dog compete during Bunar Fest, a tire festival, navigating rocky obstacles while floating on an inner tube in the chilly Lumbardhi River, in Kosovo, on June 1, 2025. Lionel Bonaventure / AFP; Getty A French gendarme kisses his dog during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the National Canine Training Center of the Gendarmerie, in Gramat, France, on June 5, 2025. Yuriy Dyachyshyn / AFP; Getty Oleksandr Zavnenko, an amputee and Ukrainian veteran of the fight against Russia's invasion, dances on prosthetic legs with his wife, Maria, a professional choreographer, in Lviv, on June 4, 2025. Luca Bettini / AFP; Getty During the 21st stage of the 108th Giro d'Italia cycling race, the peloton rides past the Colosseum, in Rome, on June 1, 2025. Daniel Karmann / DPA; Getty Florian Janik, lord mayor of Erlangen, in Bavaria, Germany, distributes the first mugs of free beer after the traditional barrel tapping at the Erlangen Bergkirchweih festival, on June 5, 2025. People throw tomatoes during the Gran Tomatina Colombiana, on June 1, 2025, in Sutamarchán, Colombia. Similar to the event held in Buñol, Spain, the festival hosts thousands of people who gather to be part of a celebration that includes parades, music, and the well-known tomato battle. Children accompanied by their parents splash in a water path set up during the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, China, on June 1, 2025. Peter Kneffel / DPA / Getty The oxen Simmerl ( left ) and Ferdinand ( right ), with their respective riders, Leonhard Wagner and Vroni Stürzer, race at the first Hadorfer Ochsenrennen oxen race, in Hadorf, in southern Germany. Rolf Vennenbernd / DPA; Getty A baby southern pudu named Adora sits in a box on a scale at the Cologne Zoo, in Germany, on June 5, 2025, weighing 1,325 grams. Southern pudus are considered one of the smallest deer species on Earth. A periodical cicada nymph climbs to the tip of a fern frond in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 16, 2025. People take part in a dragon-boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival in Tongren, Guizhou Province, China, on May 31, 2025. A scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute captures a bat for research in Gamboa, Panama, on June 1, 2025. Homeland Security officers prepare to transport immigrants who were taken into custody at the offices of a Homeland Security contractor, on June 4, 2025, in Chicago. About a dozen immigrants were taken into custody after reporting to appointments at BI Incorporated, a company that contracts with government agencies to provide electronic monitoring. An aerial view of unsold Tesla vehicles sitting in a parking lot at the Hunter's Square mall, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on June 2, 2025. Dozens of Cybertrucks have been parked at the partially closed shopping center over the past week. According to a report, Tesla employees said that the 'vehicles are sold and marked for delivery' and the shopping center was owned by the owner of a nearby Tesla service center. However, according to the City of Farmington Hills, 'storage of vehicles is not a permitted use,' and the city is currently in the process of resolving the issue with the mall's management. An aerial view as construction continues at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, in Los Angeles's Exposition Park, on June 2, 2025. The spaceship-style 300,000-square-foot museum, which plans to open in 2026, following years of delays, was founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, and was designed by the architect Ma Yansong. Saudi Arabian security forces take part in a demonstration as people arrive for the annual hajj pilgrimage, in the city of Mecca, on May 31, 2025. Thick smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on June 1, 2025. Maxar / DigitalGlobe / Getty A satellite view of the aftermath of a coordinated drone strike shows destroyed Russian Tu-95 bombers on the tarmac at Belaya Air Base, in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast. The image reveals significant blast damage and charred aircraft remains. Ukraine claims to have damaged or destroyed 40 large Russian aircraft in the attack. A volcanic plume rises from the southeast crater of Mount Etna, on June 2, 2025, in Catania, Italy. A car moves away from an approaching storm with a rain shaft during a Project ICECHIP operation studying hail and the hazards of severe thunderstorms, near Tipton, Oklahoma, on June 3, 2025. A woman carrying her pet dog wades through a flooded street in Imphal East, in the Indian state of Manipur, on June 1, 2025, following flash flooding and landslides caused by torrential monsoon rains over the previous two days. Barbara Gindl / APA; AFP; Getty A float with a whale sculpture titled Schlau Wal ('Smart Whale'), made of daffodil flowers, on the water during the daffodil festival Narzissenfest, in Altaussee, Austria, on June 1, 2025. Hannah Mundin, a colorist at Madame Tussauds London, looks toward the Greggs sausage-roll figure as it is unveiled at the waxwork attraction in London, on June 4, 2025, ahead of National Sausage Roll Day, on June 5. Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
