Uranjargal, a leader of the Mongolian neo-Nazi group Tsagaan Khass, stands next to a statue of Chingunjav, a Mongolian national hero, in Ulan Bator June 22, 2013. The group has rebranded itself as an environmentalist organisation fighting pollution by foreign-owned mines, seeking legitimacy as it sends Swastika-wearing members to check mining permits. Over the past years, ultra-nationalist groups have expanded in the country and among those garnering attention is Tsagaan Khass, which has recently shifted its focus from activities such as attacks on women it accuses of consorting with foreign men to environmental issues, with the stated goal of protecting Mongolia from foreign mining interests. This ultra-nationalist group was founded in the 1990s and currently has 100-plus members. (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)

“Mehndi or menhdi is the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in India, as well as by expatriate communities from the country. The word mehndi is derived from the Sanskrit word mendhikā. The use of mehndi and turmeric is described in the earliest Vedic ritual books. Haldi (Staining oneself with turmeric paste) as well as mehndi are important Vedic customs as a symbolic representation of the Outer and the Inner Sun. Vedic customs are meant to awaken the “inner light” and so the gold of the inner Sun has an important symbolic function”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Application of henna or “Mehndi” to a girls hand in a market on October 18, 2010 in Jaipur, India. (Photo by Simon de Trey-White/Getty Images)

In one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 43 and wounding 140 others. Turkish officials blamed the attack on a group linked to Syria, and a deputy prime minister called the neighboring country's intelligence service and military "the usual suspects."

The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart and hit the town of Reyhanli's busiest street, raised fears that Turkey could increasingly be drawn into Syria's brutal civil war.

Turkey already hosts Syria's political opposition and rebel commanders, has given shelter to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and in the past retaliated against Syrian shells that landed in Turkey.

Maj. Matt O'Donnell of Glenelg, MD shields himself from rotor wash as Ospreys carrying the delegation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta leaves on March 14, 2012 at Forward Operating Base Shukvani, Afghanistan. Panetta is also scheduled to meet with President Karzai during his two-day visit to Afghanistan. The trip comes as the Taliban has vowed revenge following this past weekend's killing spree by a U.S. soldier who is accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. Most of those killed were children and women. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Associated Press photographer Wong Maye-E tries to get her North Korean subjects to open up as much as is possible in an authoritarian country with no tolerance for dissent and great distrust of foreigners. She has taken dozens of portraits of North Koreans over the past three years, often after breaking the ice by taking photos with an instant camera and sharing them. Her question for everyone she photographs: What is your motto? Their answers reflect both their varied lives and the government that looms incessantly over all of them. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

Rusting old petrol pumps outside a long-closed rural village petrol station are seen on a minor road near Trowbridge, Britain, October 21, 2016. From art deco apartments in Sussex to a trendy burger bar in London, some of England's former petrol stations are enjoying a new lease of life following creative makeovers. The overhaul opportunities have been created as more than 20,000 stations closed in the United Kingdom over the past 40 years, according to the U.K.'s Petroleum Industry Association (PIC). (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)