Members of the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade stand at attention as a Ukrainian folk dance group performs at the opening ceremony of the “Rapid Trident” NATO military exercises on September 15, 2014 near Yavorov, Ukraine. The two-week exercises include participating units from a variety of NATO and NATO-associate countries as well as Ukrainian troops. Meanwhile fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian armed foces has flared again in eastern Ukraine in a battle for the control of Donetsk airport despite the tenuous ceasefire. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Reuters photographer Bobby Yip took a series of portraits of people taking part in the “Occupy Central” protests in Hong Kong, and asked them why they had joined the demonstrations. China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the territory limited democracy. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding Beijing give them full democracy, with the freedom to nominate election candidates. The unrest is the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

A Palestinian demonstrator (R) shouts at an Israeli soldier, during clashes with Israeli troops at the Qalandiya checkpoint, on June 5, 2011 between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. The clashes come on the 44th Anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six Day War of the Middle East. (Photo by David Vaaknin /Getty Images)

A student falls asleep as she holds a book containing a portrait of China's late chairman Mao Zedong during a lesson at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School in Sitong town, Henan province December 3, 2013. In a remote part of central China, the day starts at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School with a pre-dawn jog, some revolutionary songs and then an activity long since forgotten at other schools: reciting quotations from Mao Zedong's famed “Little Red Book”. While the ruling Communist Party that Mao led continues to hold him in esteem as the leader of the Communist Revolution, his radical policies and teachings have been largely shelved since his death in 1976 in favour of a pro-market approach that has turned China from a backwater into the world's second biggest economy. The 120th anniversary of Mao's birth is on December 26, 2013. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia perform during Gala exhibition skating program of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Graz, Austria, 26 January 2020. (Photo by Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA/EFE)

Russian Police academy female cadets march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, is Russia's most important secular holiday celebrated on May 9. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)