The Pied Piper of Hamelin, actually city tourism employee Michael Boyer, leads local children dressed as rats through a quiet street on November 19, 2012 in Hameln, Germany. The Pied Piper (in German: Der Rattenfaenger), is one of the many stories featured in the collection of fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers, and the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the stories will take place this coming December 20th. Boyer, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Hameln for 15 years, and city children regularly perform a reenactment of the Pied Piper tale throughout the summer months. The Grimm brothers collected their stories from oral traditions in the region between Frankfurt and Bremen in the early 19th century, and the works include such global classics as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

An Ezo red fox, or kitakitsune, and her cub are seen at night near the city of Sapporo, northern Japan, 15 May 2022. Authorities are calling population to avoid contact with the animals due to risks of echinococcosis infection. (Photo by JIJI Press/EPA/EFE)

Hideki Tokoro, president of whaling company Kyodo Senpaku, boards Japan's new whaling mothership, the Kangei Maru, following the ship's launch ceremony at a port in Shimonoseki city, Yamaguchi prefecture on May 21, 2024. The nearly 9,300-tonne ship set sail on its maiden hunting voyage on May 21, heralding a new era for the controversial practice defended by the government as an integral part of national culture. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)

Tourists dressed in yukatas, a light, unlined, summer kimono made of cotton instead of the traditional silk, climb steps to visit a temple on April 27, 2016 in Kyoto, Japan. Now the seventh largest city in Japan, Kyoto was once the Imperial capital for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture and a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

“Solar Impulse is a European long-range solar powered plane project being undertaken by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. The project eventually hopes to succeed in the first circling of the earth with a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power. The first aircraft, bearing the Swiss aircraft registration code of HB-SIA, is a single-seater, capable of taking off under its own power, and intended to remain airborne up to 36 hours. This aircraft first flew an entire diurnal solar cycle, including nearly 9 hours of night flying, in a 26-hour flight on 7–8 July 2010”. – Wikipedia


Photo: Workers prepare the Solar Impulse airplane HB-SIA for a first runway test on November 19, 2009 in Dubendorf, Switzerland. Solar Impulse chairman Bertrand Piccard, psychatrist and aeronaut, who made the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight, and CEO and former fighter pilot Andrй Borschberg plan a round-the-world flight, driven only by solar energy, for 2012. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

A man holds a metal bar as a weapon during a training day for former soldiers and volunteers train in a makeshift camp in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 28, 2015. Haiti disbanded its abusive armed forces two decades ago but uniformed veterans and young recruits are resurfacing to add another destabilising factor to the volatile Caribbean nation already dealing with a political vacuum. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

Royal sacred white oxen are offered food to consult the oracles during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony at the Royal Ground, Sanam Luang near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, 09 May 2016. The ancient Brahmin rite is of great importance to the country's farmers. Thousands of farmers converge in Bangkok for the annual event, which is believed to assure a successful planting season and an abundance of crops. This year the sacred oxen ate paddy, sesame seeds, water and liquor which according to traditional soothsayers predicts that the country will have abundant food, sufficient water for agriculture as well as communication and foreign trade will improve leading to the prosperous economy. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

AFP presents a photo essay on professional wrestler Gia Scott shot by photographer Jim Watson over several months in 2018. Kierra Scott – better known by her stage name Gia – is a rising star in the US pro wrestling scene. This month, the 19-year-old became the youngest ever female champion of the MCW wrestling league in Maryland. Here: Professional wrestler Gia Scott (R) tries to break free from the grip of professional wrestler Aria Palmer (L) during Autumn Armageddon 2018 in Galena, Maryland on October 6, 2018. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP Photo)