Li Wei, a police officer, trains a police dog jumping through a fire loop in Harbin Police Dog Training Base in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, July 29. As the unique base of the police frontier defense army in China, it has sent more than 1,000 dogs to places all over China in the past 13 years. It has recently imported more than 30 varieties of dogs in a bid to seize drugs and search for weapons.
A timekeeper watches the clock with unidentified competitors at right during the Final of the extreme sport sauna bathing competition in the town of Heinola, 95 miles east of the capital Helsinki, Finland, on Aug. 2.
Ksenia Vidyaykina performs as a 1920's-era strip tease dancer who takes off her cloths, and then her skin in a portion of "Trapped," a one-woman performance, which tells stories of women alone, confined, and forced into difficult choices, during a press preview of the New York International Fringe Festival, Aug. 5, in New York.
A herdsman carries a 275-pound stone during a stone-carrying match in Damxung County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 3. During the match, the one who walks furthest by carrying the weight will be the first-place winner.
"Goliath" a white-tail deer buck, stands in the field of Rod and Dianne Miller in Knox, Pa., Aug. 5. The giant buck with some 50 to 60 points on its antlers and worth upward of $1 million is believed back with its rightful owners after it was stolen nearly four years ago. But the owners of the deer farm aren't conceding yet that their deer is Goliath.
A civil servant breaks a window of the national congress during a protest against the social security reform bill in Brasilia on Aug. 6. Brazil's lower house of Congress approved the key constitutional reform early Wednesday that would slash civil servants' pensions and save the government billions of dollars.
Cast into a city gas chamber to be euthanized with other unwanted or unclaimed dogs, it appeared this one-year-old Basenji mix had simply run out of luck and time. But when the death chamber's door swung open Aug. 4, the dog, dubbed Quentin, for San Quentin Prison, stood very much alive, his tail wagging amid the carcasses of the other dogs. Quentin is staying at Stray Rescue, an organization that plans to adopt the dog.
A gelatinous substance in a Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J., lagoon, Aug. 5. It smells like rotten eggs at best, decomposing flesh at worst. It looks like the pods from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." To the people whose homes back up onto the Tuckerton Creek tributary where the gelatinous substance recently appeared, it's just "The Blob."
Confederate soldiers lead Pickett's Charge to the Union line, Sunday, Aug. 10, in Gettysburg, Pa., during a re-enactment commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg. Pickett's Charge is considered to have been the turning point of the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg started July 1, 1863 and closed two days later with Pickett's Charge.
J. L. Hunter Rountree, 91, of Goldthwaite, Texas, is escorted by police to the Abilene/Taylor County Law Enforcement Center in connection with a robbery at a bank in Abilene, Texas, Aug. 12. Police say money that was believed taken in the holdup has been seized from the suspect, who's now facing a bank robbery charge. He is accused of robbing his third bank in five years.
Green Party California gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo, left, watches as Ralph Nader, who is endorsing Camejo, prepares to clean up after being hit with a pie during a media conference Aug. 12, in San Francisco.
Nearly 100 people take part in a 'flash mob' event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Aug. 13. The mob participants took off their shoes and banged them against one of the city's main avenues. The Mob Project is a worldwide movement in which a group of random people perform some kind of action announced via Internet. After the action is done the participants simply take off. The banner reads 'download MP3.'
Hannah Takaki, left, with her cousins, harvests a giant Jackfruit in Kona Hawaii, August 8. The family will submit it to Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest tree fruit. The sweet tasting fruit weighed in at 76.4 pounds. Native to Western India, the fruit spread throughout South East Asia and first came to Hawaii in 1888.
Cafe customers giggle as "Medama-man," which translates as "Eyeball-man," reads an English paper in Tokyo, Aug. 13. This is part of a "walking act performance" being held to mark the opening of Japanese broadcasting company Nippon Television Network's new headquarters.
Hot air balloons sail over the Androscoggin River near the South Bridge between Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, Aug. 17. Sunday's launch is part of the 11th annual Great Falls Balloon Festival.
Adrienne T. Samen, 18, photographed by police, spent part of her wedding night in jail, Aug. 16, after police said she hurled wedding cake and vases at reception hall workers who closed the bar. Samen, was arrested on criminal mischief and breach of peace charges after police responded to the Mill on the River restaurant.
Tirto, a Komodo dragon, is treated with acupuncture by Dr. Oh Soon Hock at the Singapore Zoological Gardens, Aug. 18, in Singapore. The 8-year-old Komodo dragon had been experiencing difficulty in swallowing and eating, and when initial treatments didn't work, the zoo turned to acupuncture. Hock traced meridian points along Tirto's back and is attempting to stimulate these vital points to free energy blockages.
Porn star and Calif. gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey poses for the media during a campaign stop in Sacramento, Aug. 16. Carey's platform includes taxing breast implants, making lap dances tax-deductible and installing a webcam in the Governor's mansion.
Andrew Kelly, 15, of Sanford, Maine, plunges into the Mousam River to cool off, Aug. 15, in Springvale, Maine. Temperatures in Maine approached 90 degrees for the second day in a row.
Andy Dux of Bozeman, Mont., attempts to cool off in Lake McDonald while watching the Robert fire burn in Glacier National Park in Montana, Aug. 19. Dux is a Montana State University graduate student doing research in the park this summer.