Kathmandu, Nepal

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Week in Photos: August 2, 2014

From a grim search for bodies in Gaza to a funeral for an Israeli soldier and boxers throwing punches in Glasgow, the most striking photos of the past seven days.

The Daily Beast

08.02.14 5:45 AM ET

Kathmandu, Nepal

New York, New York — July 31, 2014
Jorge, an immigrant from Mexico dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo, rests in Times Square. Elmo and Cookie Monster have long delighted young viewers on the TV show, but the recent antics of New York street performers dressed as the beloved characters have drawn the ire of city officials and now the show’s producers. Sesame Workshop, which owns the rights to Big Bird, Ernie, and the assorted puppet monsters on the 45-year-old program, said it was drafting plans to stop performers who dress up as the characters from appearing in Times Square, where they pose for photos with tourists and then demand tips.

Glasgow, Scotland — July 27, 2014
England’s Samuel Maxwell throws a punch at Kenya’s Denis Okoth during their men’s Light Welterweight boxing fight at the Commonwealth Games.

Meitar, Israel — July 28, 2014
An Israeli soldier attends the funeral of Israeli soldier Liad Lavi, who died after succumbing to wounds he sustained last week while fighting in Gaza. Palestinian fighters slipped into an Israeli village from the Gaza Strip and fought a gun battle with troops on Monday as an unofficial truce called for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival disintegrated. The incident was not the only breach of the fragile truce. Eight children and two adults were killed by a blast at a park in northern Gaza, and four Israelis were reported to have been killed by cross-border Palestinian mortar fire.

Malaga, Spain — July 27, 2014
A child walks toward the shore of Malagueta beach on the Mediterranean Sea. Spain played host to 28 million foreign tourists in the first half of 2014, a 7.3 percent increase over the same period in 2013, according to figures from the Spanish Institute for Tourist Studies.

Choa Saidan Shah, Pakistan — July 30, 2014
Miners pose for a photograph at the coal face inside a mine in Punjab province. Workers at the mine dig coal with pick axes, break it up, and load it onto donkeys to be transported to the surface. Employed by private contractors, a team of four workers can dig about a ton of coal a day, for which they earn about $10 to be split between them. The coal mine is in the heart of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and richest province, but the laborers mostly come from the poorer neighboring region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Nanjing, China — July 29, 2014
Paramilitary policemen raise their fists as they attend an oath-taking rally to ensure the security of the upcoming 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. The eastern Chinese city will host the 2014 Youth Olympic Games between August 16 and August 28.

Srinagar, India — July 29, 2014
Kashmiri Muslim women offer prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. The festival marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Rafah, Gaza Strip — July 29, 2014
Palestinians search for victims atop the remains of a house, which witnesses said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike. Israel’s military pounded targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country should prepare for a long conflict in the Palestinian enclave, squashing any hopes of a swift end to 22 days of fighting. Israel launched its offensive on July 8 saying it wanted to halt rocket attacks by Hamas and its allies. It later ordered a land invasion to find and destroy the warren of Hamas tunnels that criss-crosses the border area. More than 1,100 Gazans, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict. On the Israeli side, 53 soldiers have been killed as well as three civilians.

Hefei, China — July 27, 2014
A mother holds her daughter as they wade across a flooded street during heavy rain. According to Xinhua News Agency, super typhoon Rammasun in China has killed 62 with another 21 people still missing, while typhoon Matmo has claimed two lives.

Los Angeles, California — July 30, 2014
Dominic Aguilera slides down a hand rail into a parking structure outside Pauley Pavilion sporting arena as water flows down stairs from a broken 30-inch water main that was gushing water onto Sunset Boulevard near the UCLA campus. The geyser from the 100-year-old water main flooded parts of the campus and stranded motorists on surrounding streets.

Kathmandu, Nepal — July 31, 2014
A Buddhist monk takes part in the funeral of Shamar Rinpoche in a monastery. Nepal has allowed a monk prominent in Tibetan Buddhism to be cremated in a monastery in Kathmandu, a minister said on Tuesday, disregarding fears of possible anti-China protests by his followers during the funeral. The government had previously barred the followers of Shamar Rinpoche from bringing his body back to Nepal, where he ran a monastery, for the final rites, a decision that local media had blamed on pressure from China. Rinpoche, also known as the Shamarpa, died of a heart attack in Germany aged 62 on June 11.