Hassan Bahsoun / EPA
A police car burns during clashes between demonstrators and police patrol in the city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, Tuesday, April 21.
EPA reports:
According to media sources, a Lebanese and a Palestinian were killed and two others injured during a clash April 21 between Lebanese security forces and residents in the southern port city of Tyre over attempts to ban illegal construction. According to police reports, the clash started when residents attacked a convoy of the security forces and set one of the military vehicles on fire.
Jorge Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images
Members of the Spanish Legion carry a statue of the Christ of the Good Death to the Santo Domingo de Guzman Church during a Holy Week procession on April 21, in Malaga, southern Spain. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
See more photos from Holy Week here.
Jens Wolf / AFP - Getty Images
Seasonal workers harvest tulips in a field near the eastern German town of Schwaneberg on Wednesday, April 21. Temperatures in Germany continue to rise in to the twenties promising a warm and sunny Easter weekend.
We are deeply saddened to hear about the death of Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros. He was killed April 20 in Misrata by a rocket-propelled grenade attack while covering the conflict in Libya.
You may not realize how great his contribution has been to the news you absorb on this site every day unless you often read the tiny credit lines that appear on our photographs. His images have appeared on countless stories and slideshows, and he's been one of the top contributors to the "The Week in Pictures" for years.
Getty Images
Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros stands in front of a burning building while on assignment on April 18, 2011, in Misrata, Libya.
We spoke with Chris about his work in 2007. He described the mental makeup required to be a war photographer, likening it to the mental toughness needed to be a doctor or firefighter. But it was also about heart for Chris, as he recalled that photographers and readers alike should recognize that behind most images are human beings. Click on the video below.
2007: Photojournalist Chris Hondros of Getty Images talks about his life behind the camera, and his award-winning pictures from Iraq to Liberia that capture the moments in war-torn countries.
Chris was born in New York City in 1970 and moved to Fayetteville, N.C., as a child. He studied English literature at North Carolina State University and got a master's degree at Ohio University School of Visual Communication. He worked as a photographer for his hometown paper, the Fayetteville Observer, and from there came to New York. He worked for the AP, freelanced and eventually became senior staff photographer at Getty Images.
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
A Liberian militia commander loyal to the government exults after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge July 20, 2003 in Monrovia, Liberia.
Chris had covered wars in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has been widely published around the world. In 2003, Chris made a picture of a Liberian government soldier with an RPG launcher that became an iconic document of that civil war. Listen to Hondros recount a funny story that resulted from this world-famous photograph.
His photographs from Liberia, and many others, won top honors in photojournalism, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal. This last award is for reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise.
See a retrospective of his work.
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
A rebel fighter celebrates as his comrades fire a rocket barrage toward the positions of troops loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi April 14, 2011 west of Ajdabiyah, Libya. Rebels exchanged artillery and rocket fire with loyalist troops west of Ajdabiyah April 14 as the confict engulfing Libya continued.
View images he photographed in Libya during the last days of his life.
Here at msnbc.com, we will miss the amazing contributions Chris Hondros made to helping us understand our world. We have deepest appreciation for the tremendous sacrifice Chris made to do this dangerous work.
Beyond his work, on a personal level, many of us knew Chris and some were lucky enough to call him a friend. As we reflect on his life, and read the Facebook pages dedicated to his memory, these words keep coming up to describe him: inspiring, brilliant, determined, caring, kind, giving, remarkable … and wonderful.
Our hearts go out to the family, friends and colleagues that Chris leaves behind.
Jonathan Woods writes: Each year around Easter, a handful of Hungarians take part in a tradition dating back to 2nd century AD. Donning traditional garb, boys and girls take to the streets for what they call the "watering of the girls."
It's a fertility ritual from a pre-Christian time in Hungarian tribes, where boys throw buckets of water of young girls running past them.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
School girls in traditional clothes of the 'Matyo' minority prepare for traditional Easter celebrations on April 21.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
Local school girls, wearing the traditional clothes of the 'Matyo' minority, react as boys throw water on them east of Budapest on Thursday, April 21. Locals from northeast Hungary celebrate Easter with the traditional "watering of the girls," a fertility ritual rooted in Hungary's tribal pre-Christian past, going as far back as the second century AD.
Bela Szandelszky / AP
A bucket of water is poured onto a Matyo minority girl dressed in traditional clothing in Mezokovesd, central Hungary on April 21.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
Boys throw water on girls in Mezokovesd, east of Budapest, Hungary, on April 21.
In response to a comment below from Cassandra we took time to dig up some additional information on the Matyo people.
The most in-depth information we found was via a Hungarian folk art site.
Although the "watering of the girls" celebrations don't appear to be confined to one geographic region, The Matyo are said to be located in Northern Hungary in the settlements of Mezökövesd, and two smaller villages, Szentistván and Tard.
Folk Art Hungary says "The Matyo area is united and distinguished from the other settlements of the region by the colourful costumes and famous folklore art... Their lives are tightly interwoven with tradition... Mezökövesd earned its nationwide reputation based on its unique costumes and free-hand embroidery style."
Bela Szandelszky / AP
Matyo minority boys dressed in traditional clothing prepare for a Hungarian Easter tradition, when boys pour buckets of water on girls in Mezokovesd, central Hungary.
Adek Berry / AFP - Getty Images
An Indonesian groom kisses his bride during a sponsored mass wedding ceremony in Jakarta on April 21. Around 200 couples coming from the poorer areas of Jakarta took part in the mass wedding sponsored by a state company.
Adek Berry / AFP - Getty Images
An Indonesian bride falls asleep on her groom's shoulder at a sponsored mass wedding ceremony in Jakarta on April 21.
Ilya Naymushin / Reuters
Dry grass, bushes and trees burn on the bank of the Yenisei River in Taiga district, near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on April 21. Russia faces a danger of forest fires in Siberia and its far east, following blazes that ravaged thousands of hectares of land last years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
Don Seabrook / The Wenatchee World via AP
Sprinklers spray water over fruit tree blossoms west of Palisades, Wash. on April 20. Some orchardists use water, turning to ice, to keep the blossoms from getting too cold - colder than the temperature of ice - which could affect the fruit's growth.
SYDNEY — Asylum seekers and other detainees at an Australian immigration center set fire to several buildings, climbed onto rooftops and hurled tiles at officials who were scrambling on Thursday to bring the chaotic protest to an end.
Rick Rycroft / AP
Fellow detainees grab onto a man, second left, and remove a wire he had around his neck that is tied to a vent, after he threatened to jump from a rooftop at the Villawood Detention Center in Sydney, Australia on April 21.
Brami Jegan / EPA
Burning buildings at the Villawood Detention Centre, set alight during a protest by up to 100 immigration detainees in the early hours of the morning. The riot began on 20 April, when asylum seekers took to a building's roof reportedly in protest to the department denying their visa applications.
Tim Wimborne / Reuters
Detainees hold a protest sign atop a building at Villawood detention centre on April 21. Angry asylum-seekers torched an immigration detention centre in Sydney on Thursday, burning part of it to the ground after Australian authorities denied some of their requests for refuge, local media reported.
Up to 100 people being held at Sydney's Villawood Detention Center were involved in the riots, which began Wednesday night when two detainees climbed onto a roof,
Protesters set an oxygen cylinder alight, which led to an explosion, and nine buildings — including a medical center and dining hall — were gutted by fire. Firefighters brought the blaze under control early Thursday and no one was injured. Continue reading.
Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP - Getty Images
A vendor of fried insects handing over a plate of fried crickets at a local market in Vientiane. Raising crikets for foods is seen as a solution to the malnutrition in the poor landlock country where a great number of people, especially children, suffer from.
Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP - Getty Images
Thai entomologist Yupa Hamboosong and her Lao student Khammoi Phommavong inspecting crickets being raised in bassins at a lab-farm of Lao National University in Vientiane.
Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP - Getty Images
Students inspecting crickets being raised in bassins at a lab-farm of Lao National University in Vientiane.
Would you eat bugs and insects?
Patrick Semansky / AP
Betty Doud lights candles in front of crosses representing the 11 victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion before a vigil to mark the first anniversary of the BP PLC oil spill on a beach in Grand Isle, La., Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
See the most compelling images from the oil spill one year ago.
Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepare to leave after participating in "Conversations on Diplomacy, Moderated by Charlie Rose, at the Department of State in Washington, DC, on April 20.
It's nice to see the respect and warmth between Dr. Kissinger and Secretary Clinton. We don't see too much of that in Washington these days.
Zurab Kurtskidze / EPA
A Georgian boy jumps over a fire during the folk festival called 'Chiakokonoba' in Tbilisi, Georgia April 20. Chiakokonoba is a famous ritual among Georgian kids. They gather woods start a fire and jump over it. According to the legend by jumping over the fire once purifies them from evil souls.
Talk about cultural differences. Here in the U.S., we teach our kids not to play with matches.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
President Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg greet the audience during a town hall style meeting at Facebook headquarters on April 20 in Palo Alto, California. Obama held the Facebook town hall to answer questions about the deficit and the economy.
This is a nice moment from what usually is a highly scripted event. Full story.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of the Army John McHugh kneels while expressing his sympathies to the family of U.S. Army Corporal Justin Ross during his burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery April 20 in Arlington, Virginia. Ross, 22, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve 863rd Engineer Battalion and died March 26 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked by small-arms fire.
We've seen a lot of very emotional photos from Arlington National Cemetery, and today's ceremony for Justin Ross produced another one.
Andrew Veselov, World Team / AP
185 skydivers from 24 nations fly in the phoenix formation above DeLand, Fla.
I wonder if this image was shot by a skydiver.
Jessica Cooley / AP
Claudia Holland 71, posted this sign outside her Hudson, Texas home. Holland was unharmed earlier this month when someone kicked in her front door. She thinks her barking dogs scared off the late-night intruder.
Anyone want to take a guess where this sign is? Hint: Texas
Reuters
Photojournalist Tim Hetherington is seen in this undated handout image during an assignment for Vanity Fair Magazine at 'Restrepo' outpost in Afghanistan. Hetherington, the co-director of Oscar-nominated war documentary "Restrepo," died in the besieged Libyan town of Misrata on April 20, 2011, doctors said. He was among a group caught by mortar fire on Tripoli Street, the main thoroughfare leading into the centre of Misrata, the only major rebel-held town in western Libya and besieged by Muammar Gaddafi's forces for more than seven weeks.
Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images
Tim Hetherington, center, is assisted by Libyan rebels as he climbs down from a building after gunshots rang out from loyalist forces inside in the besieged city of Misrata on April 20, hours before he was killed in the city while covering the conflict.
Tim Hetherington / Panos Pictures
Sekou, a young LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) rebel sits in an abandoned classroom in Liberia in 2003. The infrastructure of the country collapsed during the four-year civil war which forced Charles Taylor, the President and indicted war criminal, to step down from office.
2007: Photojournalist Chris Hondros of Getty Images talks about his life behind the camera, and his award-winning pictures from Iraq to Liberia that capture the moments in war-torn countries.
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Samar Hassan, 5, screams after her parents were killed by U.S. Soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division in a shooting January 18, 2005 in Tal Afar, Iraq. The troops fired on the Hassan family car when it unwittingly approached them during a dusk patrol in the tense northern Iraqi town. Parents Hussein and Camila Hassan were killed instantly, and a son Racan, 11, was seriously wounded in the abdomen. Racan, paralyzed from the waist down, was treated later in the U.S.
NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
This image of a pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273 was released to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. The distorted shape of the larger of the two galaxies shows signs of tidal interactions with the smaller of the two. It is thought that the smaller galaxy has actually passed through the larger one.
After 21 years, the Hubble Space Telescope continues to wow the world with mind-bending views of the universe. In celebration of its anniversary, the wonder continues with this gift of a galactic rose formed by a group of interacting galaxies roughly 300 million light years away from Earth.
In the group, known as Arp 273, the upper, larger of the spiral galaxies, UGC 1810, has a disc that is tidally distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813, according to an image advisory.
Other notable features in the image include:
The larger galaxy in the UGC 1810-UGC 1813 pair has a mass that is about five times that of the smaller galaxy. In unequal pairs such as this, the relatively rapid passage of the companion galaxy produces the lopsided structure in the main spiral.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched from space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. It circles the Earth once every 97 minutes. Though its digital postcards routinely wow the world, it hasn't always been smooth sailing, as noted in this photo trip through the telescope's highs and lows.
NASA astronauts successfully performed a final servicing of the telescope in 2009 that should keep it sending back images for years to come. Meanwhile, the space agency is preparing Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, currently scheduled for launch in 2014. For now, though, let's wish Hubble a happy anniversary and thank it for the galactic rose.
More stunners from Hubble:
Photographers Phil Moore and Chris Hondros, who have been reporting from inside the besieged Libyan city of Misrata for the past several days, today followed rebel fighters into a house where pro-Gadhafi forces had been holed up.
Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images
Rebels fighters escape from a building they had entered on Tripoli Street in the city of Misrata, believing they had already captured it from troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, on April 20. Rebels entered the building, but were fired upon by several gunmen still inside.
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Rebel fighters discuss how to dislodge a number of ensconced troops, loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, who were firing on them from the next room during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata on April 20. Rebel forces assaulted downtown positions, briefly forcing them back over a key bridge and trapping several in a building.
Reuters spoke by phone to a rebel spokesman in the city who only gave his first name, Reda.
"Fighting is still going on in Tripoli Street," he said. The rebels "are now controlling 50 percent of the street. The other 50 percent is controlled by Gadhafi soldiers and snipers".
Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images
Rebel fighters storm out of a building occupied by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on Tripoli Street in Misrata on April 20.
Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Rebel fighters carry a comrade wounded during the effort to dislodge pro-Gadhafi troops who were firing on them from a building (background) during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata on April 20.
See more images of the Libyan conflict in our slideshow.
Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
Members of the Scots Guards kick up dust during the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace on April 20, 2011 in London, England. Soldiers guard Queen Elizabeth II and other royals at Buckingham Palace in a 24 hour rotation with a ceremonial hand over at 11.30 in the morning.
Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images
A member of the Scots Guards, F Company, prepares a ceremonial tunic at the Wellington Barracks in central London, on April 20, 2011. Soldiers from the Barracks will take part in various aspects of the Royal Wedding between Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton in London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.
Oli Scarff / Getty Images
A soldier of the Queen's Guard lines up in Wellington Barracks before taking part in Changing the Guard outside Buckingham Palace on April 20, 2011 in London, England. The military units involved in the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton are preparing their ceremonial duties ahead of the day.
Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images
Members of the Scots Guards, F Company, prepare for the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Wellington Barracks in central London, on April 20, 2011.
Everyone is getting ready for the royal wedding - at least it seems that way. What are you doing for the big day?
More Royals coverage here on our blog, The Windsor Knot.
And more photo coverage from our slideshows:
Preparations for the royal wedding.
Wacky royal wedding memorabilia.
The royal guestlist - who's coming to the wedding?
Kimmo Brandt / EPA
Reindeers and their jockeys during the Reindeer Cup Championship Drives 2011 in Inari, Lapland, northern Finland, on March 19 There are 51 Reindeer Herding Cooperatives in Finland of which 20 took part in the 2011 Cup. When autumn arrives reindeers are separated. Some go to the slaughterhouse, other are kept for breeding and a few males are neutered and trained as work reindeers, mainly for pulling sledges and racing. Once that has been done, local breeder cooperatives like to find out who owns the fastest and strongest reindeer. With the onset of spring, the cooperatives hold meetings to review the events of the past year.
Kimmo Brandt / EPA
Two childen on a sled watch the Reindeer Cup Championship Drives.
Kimmo Brandt / EPA
Reindeers pull their jockeys during the Reindeer Cup Championship Drives 2011 in Inari, Lapland, northern Finland, March 19.
Kimmo Brandt / EPA
A man walks in specially made shoes at the Reindeer Cup Championship Drives.
It looks like the jockeys take the sport very seriously. I wonder how fast reindeer run?
Sam Panthaky / AFP - Getty Images
A released Indian prisoner watches from a railway compartment as he arrives at the railway station in Ahmedabad, India on April 20. Some 89 Indian prisoners, mainly fishermen recently released by Pakistani authorities, were welcomed by Gujarat state agriculture minister, Dilip Sanghani at Ahmedabad railway station on their way to the Saurashtra region.
This man was among a group of 89 Indian fishermen who were released from a Pakistani jail on April 14, as we reported on PhotoBlog. Their release, described as a goodwill gesture by Pakistani prisons chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo, follows a high profile meeting between the two countries' leaders at the cricket World Cup final last month.
China Photos via Getty Images
The urban area of Wuchang is seen through a sculpture on the roof of the Gate of the Wuchang Uprising, which is under renovation, on April 19 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911 that started the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, led by Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen, which dethroned the feudal domination of the Qing Dynasty.
See images of the 1911 Wuchang Uprising on the China Defense Blog.
Carlos Jasso / Reuters
A police officer stands guard outside the La Piedad embalming building, after another 50 bodies found in a mass grave in northern Mexico arrived in Mexico City on April 19. The toll of murder victims buried in a series of mass graves in northern Mexico rose to around 150 last Friday, said the state government of Tamaulipas, where the attack occurred. Mexico's attorney general blamed the atrocity on the brutal Zetas drug cartel.
Read more about the appalling discovery in Tamaulipas and view more images on the background to Mexico's drug war in our slideshow.
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