Female metro passengers hold flowers presented to them by metro workers, prior to International Women's Day in Kiev, Ukraine, 02 March 2016. The hustle and bustle of the morning commute is broken up by an unexpected surprise. The first passengers to step on the train receive – a warm welcome and a pot of flowers. One woman says, “It's very nice. All the running around and then you're given a flower, it's not often. It's very nice. I'm going to take care of this flower”. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century, in North America and across Europe, it is celebrated on March 08 in many countries around the world. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA)

An elephant eats a snack after performing at Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus' “Circus Extreme” show at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 29, 2016. Elephants take a final bow at Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus on Sunday, ending a 145-year spectacle that delighted fans but enraged animal activists, who say the highly publicized retirement is not enough. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

“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)

“The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an air-to-air tanker aircraft in service with the United States Air Force derived from the civilian DC-10-30 airliner. The KC-10 was the second consecutive McDonnell Douglas transport aircraft to be selected by the US Air Force following the C-9 Nightingale. The similar KDC-10 is in service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.”

Photo: A B-52G Stratofortress aircraft takes off with another B-52G close behind. Three cells of six B-52 and KC-10 Extender aircraft will takeoff seconds apart under combat conditions during the minimum interval takeoff exercise. The exercise is a part of an operational readiness inspection by the Strategic Air Command Inspector General Team. (Photo by USAF). 1998

“Itasha (痛車), literally “painmobile”, is a Japanese term for an otaku fad of individuals decorating the bodies of their cars with fictional characters of anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo game or eroge). These characters are predominately “cute” female. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. Automobiles are called Itasha, while similar motorcycles and bicycles are called itansha (痛単車) and itachari (痛チャリ), respectively”. – Wikipedia


Photo: A visitor takes pictures of an anime-decorated «Itasha» car displayed during the “Moe Fes in Washimiya” at Washimiya Town Hall on July 18, 2009 in Washimiya, Saitama, Japan. Itasha, a word derived from “itai” (painful) and “sha” (car), are vehicles decorated with mostly female characters from Japanese manga, anime and video games. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

A cyclist climbs over a tree fallen atop a car after a heavy storm in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 25, 2015. One person was killed as the most severe July storm ever recorded in the Netherlands swept across the country on Saturday, delaying flights and disrupting road and rail traffic. Dozens of flights were delayed at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and authorities warned travellers not to take to the road as gale-force winds and rain lashed the country, prompting the meteorological service to issue a “Code Red” warning. (Photo by Cris Toala Olivares/Reuters)

Runner-up. “The City of London, looking towards the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England. The ever-changing London skyline provides many excellent opportunities for cityscape photography, none more exciting than the ebb and flow of traffic at night”. (Photo by Mark Caldon/The Guardian)

Sustainable development goal target 12.5 is to reduce waste. But with a planet increasingly dependent on technology, is that even possible? As of today, over 30m tonnes of electronic waste has been thrown out so far this year, according to the World Counts. Most e-waste is sent to landfills in Asia and Africa where it is recycled by hand, exposing the people who do it to environmental hazards. Kai Loeffelbein’s photographs of e-waste recycling in Guiyu, southern China show what happens to discarded computers. (Photo by Kai Loeffelbein/laif Agentur)