May 15
A cloud of ash belches out of Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano, some 35 miles from Mexico City, in the Mexican central state of Puebla. The volcano spewed a new column of ash late Tuesday, with some of the material falling on three towns while glowing rocks landed on the towering mountain’s slope. Authorities have raised the alert level to “Yellow Phase Three,” the fifth of a seven-stage warning system, restricting access to an area of seven miles around the volcano while preparing evacuation routes and shelters.
Arturo Andrade/AFP/Getty
May 15
A handler steadies his Teeswater sheep in the ring on the first day of the Balmoral Show. The show, which runs from May 15 to 17, is Ireland’s biggest agricultural and food event, and is expected to attract more than 80,000 visitors in three days.
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters, via Landov
May 15
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrives at the Movenpick Hotel for the annual international meeting of the Consultive Group to Assist the Poor, which aims to improve worldwide access to better financial situations. The queen delivered a speech in her function as special advocate of the U.N. for Inclusive Finance.
Patrick van Katwijk/DPA, via Landov
May 13
Human remains are seen during the exhumation of a Stalinist-era mass grave in the military cemetary in the heart of the Polish capital. The grave is believed to contain the remains of about 200 victims of a postwar campaign of communist terror.
Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty
May 14, 2013
A Russian Soyuz TMA-07M space capsule lands about 90 miles southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan. The Soyuz space capsule with a three-man crew, returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station, landed safely.
Pool photo by Mikhail Metzel
May 12
An ultra-Orthodox Jew walks past a palm silhouetted on the Old City’s wall.
Dusan Vranic/AP
May 16
A living room of a home that had its roof blown off by a tornado. At least six people were killed and seven were missing after as many as 10 tornadoes ripped through north-central Texas on Wednesday evening, leaving a trail of destruction from the worst severe-storm outbreak in the United States so far this year.
Richard Rodriguez/Reuters, via Landov
May 15
Visitors gather in the new “Rain Room” installation at the Museum of Modern Art. The 5,000-square-foot installation creates a field of falling water that stops in the area where people walk through, allowing them to remain dry. The piece, created by Random International, releases a 260-gallon-per-minute shower around visitors.
Mario Tama/Getty
May 12
A video made available by NASA shows Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield performing a revised version of David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity.” As reported by CSA, for his last downlink before returning to Earth, Hadfield performed “I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)” with hundreds of students at the Ontario Science Centre and nearly a million people, mostly students from coast-to-coast Canada and around the world, performed the song in unison from their location.
NASA/CSA/EPA, via Landov
May 13
A Palestinian patient seeks alternative medication at Alaa Abu Ghali’s center, which uses fish for treating skin diseases, such as psoriasis and fungus.
Said Khatib/AFP/Getty
May 16
President Obama, accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, checks for rain during their joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Charles Dharapak/AP
May 12
Rock ’n’ roll devotees Lori Barker (left) and Yvette Hillebrandt pose as they attend the 50th Hemsby Rock ’n’ Roll Weekender as the biannual festival celebrates 25 years. Fans of rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly, rockin’ blues, and Americana gather at Seacroft Holiday Camp in Hemsby to dress up in period clothing and relive the 1940s and ’50s. Every day of the four day “weekender,” a lineup of top live bands play the music of the era and devotees hit the dance floor to hop, bop, jive, and rock ’n’ roll.
Christopher Furlong/Getty
May 15
A Palestinian sets fire to a tire during clashes between hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli soldiers outside the Ofer prison after a march marking the 65th Nakba day, or “Day of Catastrophe.”
Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty
May 14
In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H.W. Bush. It's the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult-launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. The Navy plans to have unmanned aircraft on each of its carriers to be used for surveillance and to be armed and used in combat roles.
Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian Read Castillo/U.S. Navy via Getty
May 14
Novice Buddhist monks play soccer in shallow sea ahead of the arrival of Cyclone Mahasen. The U.N. said the cyclone could swamp makeshift housing camps sheltering tens of thousands of Rohingya. Burmese state television reported on Monday that 5,158 people were relocated from low-lying camps in Rakhine state to safer shelters, but far more people are considered vulnerable.
Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP
May 12
Pilgrims attend the Rocio Romeria pilgrimage. Once every seven years, the Virgin of El Rocio travels from Almonte to El Rocio.
Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty
May 13
Syrian Army soldiers take control of the village of Western Dumayna, some four miles north of the rebel-held city of Qusayr. Syrian troops captured three villages in the strategic Qusayr area of Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP.
Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty
