Nick Ut / AP
A thick band of haze shrouds downtown Los Angeles on Monday. Forecasters warned that heat, combined with very low humidity levels, will elevate the fire danger. Dry lightning will add to fire worries as a flow of monsoonal moisture arrives from the southeast later in the week, affecting Southern California and the southern Sierra Nevada.
AFP - Getty Images
A Chinese woman covers her mouth as she makes her way along a busy intersection in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on Monday. The Chinese metropolis of Wuhan was blanketed by thick yellowish cloud, raising fears of pollution among its nine million inhabitants, as air pollution is increasingly acute in major Chinese cities and authorities are frequently accused of underestimating the severity of the problem in urban areas, especially in Beijing.
AFP - Getty Images
A thick yellow cloud covers a busy intersection in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, on Monday.
Darley Shen / Reuters
A woman wears a mask as she walks along a street in front of a Chinese temple during a hazy day in Wuhan, Hubei province on Monday. China's carbon emissions could be nearly 20 percent higher than previously thought, a new analysis of official Chinese data showed on Sunday, suggesting the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted.
See more images of pollution in China.
AFP - Getty Images
The new China Central Television (CCTV) tower hardly visible as fog covers most of Beijing on Saturday. More than 400 flights to and from Beijing airport, including around 35 international services, were cancelled or delayed due to thick fog and strong air pollution covering the city, which the US embassy own measuring system, said pollution in Beijing had reached the "hazardous" level early March 17, before dropping one notch to "very unhealthy" later.
AFP - Getty Images
Vehicles make their way along a highway as fog covers most of Beijing on Saturday.
AFP - Getty Images
Passengers wait for their flights as almost 250 flights were cancelled, including some 15 international services, while more than 180 flights were delayed, including about 20 international services at the Beijing Capital International airport as visibility was at less than 200 metres (650 feet), official state news agency Xinhua said, blaming "widespread fog" for the disruption, in Beijing on Saturday.
Rolex Dela Pena / EPA
Character-themed hot air balloons take flight from an open field in Clarkfield, Pampanga province, north of Manila, Philippines, Feb. 10, 2011. The 16th Hot Air Balloon Festival kicked off with 27 participating teams, as part of efforts in tourism and aviation sports promotion in the Philippines.
Bullit Marquez / AP
Performers carry their props as hot air balloons dot the sky for the four-day 16th Hot Air Balloon festival at Clark Economic Zone at Clark Field, Pampanga province north of Manila, Philippines, Feb. 10, 2011.
Bullit Marquez / AP
A bird-costumed performer takes a break as a character-themed hot air balloon gets prepared to take off in background at the start of the four-day 16th Hot Air Balloon festival at Clark Economic Zone at Clark Field, Pampanga province north of Manila, Philippines Thursday Feb. 10, 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena / EPA
Character-themed hot air balloons take flight from an open field in Clarkfield, Pampanga province, north of Manila, Philippines, Feb. 10, 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena / EPA
A motor paragliding expert approaches a hot air balloon taking flight at an open field in Clarkfield, Pampanga province, north of Manila, Philippines, Feb. 10, 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena / EPA
A Filipino couple are silhouetted behind a hot air balloon being inflated at an open field in Clarkfield, Pampanga province, north of Manila, Philippines, Feb. 10, 2011.
Find out more about this interesting hot air balloon fiesta.
Karim Sahib / AFP - Getty Images
The Skip Stewart Team of the U.S. performs during the Al-Ain International Aerobatics Show in United Arab Emirates on Friday, Feb. 4.
Karim Sahib / AFP - Getty Images
A motorcycle flies through the air as a stunt plane soars behind it on Friday.
Karim Sahib / AFP - Getty Images
The Royal Saudi Hawks perform during the Al-Ain International Aerobatics Show on Friday.
I love a good adrenaline rush as much as the next person, but my hands got sweaty looking at these images. Looks like a fun event to photograph.
David Guttenfelder / AP
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen ride in the back of their medivac helicopter with the American flag-draped bodies of U.S. soldiers who were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Oct. 10, 2010. The pararescuemen and pilots from the 46th and 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadrons responded to the attack which killed two American soldiers and wounded three others.
AP photographer David Guttenfelder was aboard an Air Force Expeditionary Rescue Squadron helicopter that responded to a call about a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle that had been struck by an IED in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Two of the American soldiers aboard the armored vehicle were killed, and three had been seriously injured.
Guttenfelder describes the scene: “We landed in a huge marijuana field, which is growing everywhere in the area, and I could see as we were coming in that the vehicle was completely destroyed; there was nothing left of it and the soldiers were kneeling by the side of the road with their two fallen colleagues, waiting for the helicopter to land.
“On the flight back, they took two flags out of the back of the helicopter and unfolded them and carefully took the bodies of the soldiers and placed them in bags and then wrapped them in American flags in the back of the helicopter. And the helicopter is flying at 150 miles an hour, very low, tactical flying because they’re taking contact often from the enemy.
“When the pararescue guys were covering the bodies in the back of the helicopter, they had only two flags with them. The wind was whipping through the open window … A medic was unfolding one of the flags and handed it to me to free his hands when
the wind caught it and it blew out the window and they lost it. So they only had one flag.
"They were talking to each other on the radios, ‘What are we gonna do?’ One of the pilots had a flag that he kept inside, behind the plate of his flak jacket that he’d kept with him for every deployment he’d ever done – in Iraq, and Afghanistan, he flew over Washington D.C. with it, his children had kissed it and his friends had signed it and he carried it in his flak jacket since he started in the Air Force. He took it out and passed it to the back of the helicopter and that was one of the flags that they used to cover one of the guys.”
When asked how the soldiers reacted to him shooting pictures during such a personal, sensitive moment, Guttenfelder said, “The soldiers were as respectful of me as I was of them.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it was important, because it’s not an easy thing to do.”
Guttenfelder has been covering the war in Afghanistan for nine years.
David Guttenfelder / AP
U.S. soldiers carry the body of one of the two American soldiers killed to a medical evacuation helicopter.
David Guttenfelder / AP
Soldiers carry the bodies of fellow soldiers toward the helicopter.
David Guttenfelder / AP
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen place the bodies of U.S. soldiers into body bags in the back of their medivac helicopter.
David Guttenfelder / AP
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen pass an American flag to one another in the back of their medivac helicopter as they prepare to wrap the bodies.
David Guttenfelder / AP
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen wait in the back of the medivac helicopter while the door gunner mans the .50 caliber machine gun.
BAE Systems / Reuters
A prototype unmanned combat aircraft, called Taranis, is seen in this handout photograph received in London on July 14, 2010. The prototype demonstrator, unveiled by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), will test the possibility of developing an autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that could strike targets at long range, and be under the control of military crews on the ground.
One step closer to Skynet?
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