Picture News
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Flying high
Space shuttle Discovery roared into the near cloudless sky. A huge exhaust plume was left in its wake.
The separation of solid boosters and external tank all occurred without incident; and after eight-and-a-half minutes, Discovery shut down its engines to enter the planned preliminary orbit. -
Day of celebration
Millions of people from all around the world watched with held breath as Discovery blasted away from the Kennedy Space Center.
As the orbiter faded into the blue sky, apparently free from problems, celebratory cheers echoed around the spaceport.
Nasa managers expressed delight but cautioned that much work still needed to be done. -
Monsoon havoc
Monsoon rain in India's Maharashtra state is the heaviest recorded. Scores of people have been killed. -
Commuters had to wade to work in India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay). -
Nearly one-third of Mumbai is under water after 26 inches of rain fell on Tuesday. -
The city's rail and air links have been badly disrupted - many roads are littered with abandoned cars. -
These French students stroll along a Mumbai road which is more like a river. -
Tropical fish draw the attention of pedestrians in Tokyo, Japan.
Photo: Katsumi Kasahara/AP -
Discovery takes off
The space shuttle Discovery takes off from the Kennedy Space Centre on Tuesday. Heading for the International Space Station, it is the first space shuttle to be launched since the fiery devastation of the Columbia in February 2003. -- AFP -
Mumbai under water
Indian taxi drivers push a stranded taxi from a waterlogged street in Mumbai on Wednesday. India's commercial capital remains cut off by land, rail and air links from the rest of the country, as heavy overnight rains lash streets, triggering landslides. -- AFP -
AFP - Tue Jul 26,12:57 PM ET
A lot of hot air : Hot air balloons take off Chambley during the World Air Ballons gathering. (AFP/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen) -
Reuters - Mon Jul 25,12:52 PM ET
A Russian crew member tends to the rigging on one of the ships as the crew prepares for the Tall Ships race out of Newcastle July 25, 2005. The ships will race from Newcastle to Fredrikstad in Norway on Thursday 28, July. REUTERS/Ian Hodgson -
AP - Wed Jul 27, 3:23 PM ET
Maylen, 18, receives communion at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Wednesday, July 27, 2005. Hundreds of clowns of all ages ended their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) -
HOT STUFF: Japanese women use medicinal herbs burnt atop earthernware pans to beat the heat in Tokyo on Thursday. -- AFP -
Reuters - Wed Jul 27, 2:31 PM ET
An acrobat drops past onlookers in an office window on a building in the landmark Rockefeller Center during the 'Target Vertical Fashion Show' in New York, July 27, 2005. Acrobats dropped from the roof of the nine-storey building in fashions from Target department store's Fall 2005 women's and men's collection in an outdoor presentation. REUTERS/Mike Segar -
Steady on horseback
Horse riders put up a stunning display of equestrian skills at the Naadam festival on the grasslands of China's Inner Mongolia region on Tuesday. Hundreds of Mongolians gathered to celebrate the annual festival where they compete in archery, wrestling and various traditional sports. -- AFP -
Reuters - Tue Jul 26,12:06 PM ET
Strains of the influenza virus are constantly swapping genes among themselves and giving rise to new, dangerous strains at a rate faster than previously believed, U.S. researchers reported on July 25, 2005. File photo shows an Influenza Virus Vaccine vial sitting on the counter of medical center in Great Neck, New York October 22, 2004. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) -
Reuters - Tue Jul 26,12:48 PM ET
The space shuttle's return to flight could mean survival -- or at least extended life -- for the popular but aging Hubble Space Telescope. Beloved for its unparalleled views of distant galaxies, infant stars and collisions in our own solar system, Hubble needs new batteries for power and new gyroscopes to keep it steady and let it point at specific celestial features. A new view of the Eagle Nebula, one of the two largest and sharpest images Hubble Space Telescope has ever taken, released by NASA on Hubble's 15th anniversary April 25, 2005. (Reuters - Handout) -
Right on Target
Members of the Jochenschweizer acrobatic rappelling troupe leap down the side of a nine-storey office building in Rockefeller Center on Wednesday in New York City. The troupe was performing at the Fall 2005 Target Vertical Fashion Show. -- AFP -
Reuters - Tue Jul 26, 2:01 PM ET
An albatross guards its chicks on Gough Island in the South Atlanic, where 'monster mice' are threatening rare seabird populations in this undated handout picture. 'Monster mice' are eating metre-high albatross chicks alive, threatening rare bird species on a remote south Atlantic island seen as the world's most important seabird colony. Handout/Reuters (Handout/Reuters) -
Reuters - Wed Jul 27, 1:09 AM ET
The Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior sits in front of a coal ship at Newcastle's coal port July 27, 2005 during a protest about global warming. Around a dozen activists and the vessel attempted to stop coal being transported at the world's biggest coal port in protest at the continued use of fossil fuels that they claim contribute to global warming. A federal government-commissioned report released yesterday found that Australia could be up to two degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter by 2030 and face more bushfires, heatwaves, and storms and is at risk of stronger cyclones, fewer frosts, changing ocean currents and a more pronounced cycle of prolonged drought despite global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. (David Gray/Reuters) -
Reuters - Wed Jul 27, 4:30 PM ET
U.S. health experts are putting together a plan for dealing with a pandemic of avian influenza should one break out, a Health and Human Services Department official said on Wednesday. The plan includes deciding who should be vaccinated and who should get antiviral drugs first, said Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, an HHS vaccine adviser. Indonesian workers wait to cull chickens in a poultry farm in Sukabumi in west Java July 26, 2005, following signs of bird flu in chicken droppings near the home of three Indonesians who died from the virus. (Dadang Tri/Reuters) -
Miracle on MMS, anyone?
Pilgrims have been flocking to a church in the southern Italian town of Acerra, near Naples, to take pictures of a marble statue of the Virgin Mary with their mobile phones on Tuesday. Word has been spreading that the statue had taken human form. -- AP -
Reuters - Thu Jul 28, 1:02 AM ET
The space shuttle Discovery lifts off from pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida July 26, 2005. NASA halted future shuttle flights on Wednesday after learning that a large chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew 2-1/2 years ago. Picture taken July 26, 2005. (Reuters - Handout) -
NATION-BUILDERS: From the age of 12, Madam Li (left) and Madam Wu helped clear forests and laid the roads of Bukit Timah and Redhill. Theyu will take seats of honour in float procession. -- ASHLEIGH SIM