In case you missed it: Plastic seas and Kraftwerk sings
An Indian zoo plays god with pythons, and a concert hall's "white skin" ceiling provides music lovers with the perfect sound. Here is this week's news that you might have missed.
At least they're not poisonous
Visitors got to ooh and aah as a Kolkata zoo's first artificially incubated and successfully hatched reticulated and Burmese pythons took their first slithers this week. Both species are found in Southeast Asia and are nonvenomous constrictors who are normally not considered dangerous to humans ...
Bobbing with balls in China
At a water park in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei Province, people enjoy swimming in a pool full of plastic balls.
The coming plastic apocalypse
A man picks through PET bottles at a junkyard in India. On World Environment Day, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the UN's first conference on oceans with a warning that the seas are "under threat as never before," with one recent study warning that discarded plastic could outweigh fish by 2050 if nothing is done.
A hearty laugh on a somber day
A convoy of more than 90 London taxis brought veterans of World War II to the battlegrounds of Normandy, the location of the D-Day landings. The number of veterans who are able to make the journey continues to decline.
By the 'Numbers'
The German musical innovators Kraftwerk perfected a robotic stage presence for their pioneering computer-based sound. In recent years, the remaining members of the 48-year-old electronica institution have toured frequently, enhancing their shows with 3-D projections. For this gig, they took the "Autobahn" to England.
A sweet noodle to break the fast
A man arranges strands of vermicelli to dry at a factory in Allahabad, India. Vermicelli is a specialty eaten during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. During this time, a sweet traditional dish called sheerkhorma is made out of these thin noodles and may be eaten at sundown - before the next day's fast begins.
No job for a child
A boy breaks bricks in Dhaka. With over half of Bangladesh's population living below the poverty line, children are often forced into hard manual labor such as brick breaking. Working with only rough tools, each child earns less than $2 (1.70 euro) per day.
The acoustically superior white-skin ceiling
The Hamburg Elbphilharmonie's plasterboard ceiling is designed for optimal sound absorption and scattering. The foundation stone for the "Elphi," which is billed as a future national landmark and global attraction, was laid in April 2007, with construction scheduled for completion in 2010. Nearly 10 years later - and with a price tag exceeding 800 million euros - the hall opened in January.
Do not connect these dots
A woman walks through an installation by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at the National Gallery in Singapore. The exhibition, "Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of the Rainbow," showcases more than 120 of the artist's works.
Big waves batter South Africa's shores
A powerful storm packing gale-force winds, lightning and torrential rains hit South Africa's Western Cape province, felling trees, tearing the roofs off shanty houses and causing traffic chaos as roads shut. About 2,500 people were forced to leave their homes. The fierce rain was not expected to bring long-lasting relief to Cape Town and nearby areas that have been experiencing severe drought.