The Week in Pictures: Aug. 16 - 23

Firefighters walk past trees during a wildfire in Tabuyo del Monte, southwest of Leon, Spain, Aug 21. About 500 soldiers were deployed to help battle a wildfire that authorities believe was started intentionally and has burned 30 square miles in northern Spain.

A child stands in pouring rain in the slum of Susan's Bay in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, where a cholera outbreak has caused 200 deaths, Aug, 22. Early rains together with increasing overcrowding in West Africa cities have pushed the number of reported cases caused by the water-borne bacteria close to 12,000 this year in the region, well past the previous record of 10,000 in 1994. Sierra Leone's government called the outbreak a "national emergency."

Pope Benedict XVI is obscured by a greeting nun during his weekly general audience at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, Aug. 22.


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A zookeeper sizes up a penguin during the annual weigh-in at the London Zoo, Aug. 22.

Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina, left, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage, Aug. 17 in a Moscow courtroom. A judge found the two and a third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, guilty of hooliganism in a case that has drawn widespread international condemnation as an emblem of Russia's intolerance of dissent.

An injured mother and child are treated at a hospital in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, after a roadside bomb targeting a security convoy killed at least one civilian and wounded several others, Aug. 21.

Swiss farmer Kari Gisler lifts a bundle of hay as he practices wild haying on a steep hillside on the Rophaien mountain in the Swiss village of Flueelen, Aug. 21. The tradition of wild haying in central Switzerland dates back around 200 years and is practiced from mid-July until mid-September.

A Free Syrian Army soldier carries the body of a fellow fighter during clashes, Aug. 16 in Aleppo.

Swimmers wait for the gush of a manmade tide in a salty swimming pool dubbed ‘China's Dead Sea’ in Daying County, China, Aug. 20. More than 1 million swimmers are expected at the swimming resort this summer.


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Palestinians beachgoers celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 21. Israel allowed the entry of more than 1 million Palestinians from the occupied West Bank since the beginning of Ramadan due to improved security, according to Israel's coordinator for government activities in the territories.