Members of a music band rest before the procession of “Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem”, in Constancia April 6, 2015. This benediction has been held annually for about 200 years. In the past, goods were transported by the Tagus river in small boats to Lisbon, 100 km south. The sailors, as the navigation was dangerous, blessed their boats every year during the festivity of “Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem”. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

The great vector artist OG Abel was a diamond in the rough. Growing up in violent surroundings, OG Abel found shelter in art. With an unsupportive father who always told him artist die broke, his only creative activity was strongly connected to religion. Having a church-going mother, OG Abel says he would spend hour drawing images from the Bible, his favorite pictures being those of animals, especially lions. He would also study the elaborate paintings in churches, the architecture, and/or the sculptures.

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

Buzludzha is a historical peak in the Central Stara Planina, Bulgaria and is 1441 metres high. In 1868 it was the place of the final battle between Bulgarian rebels led by Hadji Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha and the Ottoman Empire. The Buzludzha Monument on the peak was built by the Bulgarian communist regime to commemorate the events in 1891 when the socialists led by Dimitar Blagoev assembled secretly in the area to form an organised socialist movement with the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, a fore-runner of the Bulgarian Communist Party. The Monument was opened in 1981. No longer maintained by the Bulgarian government, it has fallen into disuse. Buzludzha is reached by a 12 km side road from the Shipka Pass.

Ban Gioc – Detian Falls are two waterfalls on the Quây Sơn River, in Chinese Guichun River, straddling the Sino-Vietnamese border, located in the Karst hills of Daxin County, Guangxi (Chinese side), and in Trùng Khánh District, Cao Bằng province on the Vietnamese side, 272 km (169 mi) north of Hanoi. In Vietnamese, the two falls are considered as two parts of one waterfall with the sole name Bản Giốc. The two parts are called as: thác chính (Main waterfall) and thác phụ (Subordinate waterfall). Chinese texts sometimes name both falls from the Détiān falls on the Chinese side. During the summer rains the two waterfalls may join together.

Ucil, a trained monkey, takes part in a street performance on June 1, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The street performances usually involve the monkeys wearing masks, such as dolls' heads or attire to mimic humans, with the monkeys trained to act out human activities such as shopping, riding bicycles or other simulations of human behaviour. Poverty drives the handlers to exploit the monkeys in the hope of earning small change, but the effect and cruelty to the monkeys is a cause that charities such as the Jakarta Animal Aid Network are increasingly taking up. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

“BASE jumping, also sometimes written as B.A.S.E jumping, is an activity that employs an initially packed parachute to jump from fixed objects. “B.A.S.E.” is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Felix Baumgartner, world-renowned B.A.S.E jumper, is pictured in this undated handout photo. Baumgartner will attempt the first unpowered crossing of the strait between England and France. (Photo by Red Bull via Getty Images)