A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) appears to wave with its flipper to another seal at the harbor seal station in Friedrichskoog on the North Sea, northern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. These two are among the 59 seal pups being reared here and will be reintroduced to the wild shortly.
Disputed Territory
Children play in Tskhinvali, capital of Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. On Tuesday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the two Georgian rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, prompting harsh criticism from Western nations.
Itsy Bitsy ...
A spider is seen in the center of its web, on a bridge, in March, near Freiburg southern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008.
Food Fight
A reveler throws tomato pulp at another during the annual food fight, the Tomatina, in the small Spanish town of Bunol, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. Each year tens of thousands of people hurl truckloads of tomatoes at each other, sending knee-deep rivers through the town. Local lore says it began in the mid-1940s with a food battle that broke out between youngsters near a vegetable stand on the town square.
Blast Zone
A U.S. Army soldier, seen through a shattered shop window, guards the scene of a parked car bomb which targeted a police patrol but missed, killing 3 civilians and wounding 8 others, in the Baghdad al-Jadidah area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008.
Captive Audience
Employees of LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics stand outside of the LUSH shop on Walnut Street, wearing nothing but aprons to urge shoppers to buy products that are free of packaging, while bystanders take photos, in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008.
Night Blooms
One of Millicent Brubeck's Night Blooming Cereus flowers opens its once-a-year blossom, blooming only for several hours in late summer, at Brubeck's home in Staunton, Va., Monday, Aug. 25 2008.