TEHRAN — Full military dress for a determined stance: Iranian army members march during the Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. In the parade, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend. According to some sources, Army Day, in which Army veterans, active servicemen and reservists participate, is observed annually on April 18. Army Day is held in front of the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini and gives Iran’s military the opportunity to demonstrate its new defense technologies.

The current holiday was established by the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, on April 18, 1979, about two months after the fall of the pro-Western Shah, to recognize the army’s role in the nation’s successful revolution.

VENEZUELA — Closer to a real democracy: Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is embraced by supporters during a rally where she asked them to keep the faith in San Antonio, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The Biden administration on Wednesday reimposed oil sanctions on Venezuela, admonishing President Nicolás Maduro’s attempts to consolidate his rule: actions that include blocking Machado, his main rival, from registering her candidacy or that of a designated alternative. An industrial engineer by background, Machado served as an elected member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014 and is the founder and former leader of the Venezuelan volunteer civil organization Súmate alongside Alejandro Plaz.

During the 2014 Venezuelan protests, Machado was one of the lead figures in organizing protests against Maduro’s government.

ENGLAND — Famous sculptor checks his most famous subject: Staffordshire sculptor Andy Edwards poses for a picture while fine-tuning a scale model of his statue of Queen Elizabeth II commissioned by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council to mark the borough’s 850th anniversary, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, England, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Edwards, whose previous works include the landmark Beatles statue at Liverpool’s Pier Head, is basing the sculpture on photographs of the late Queen’s visit to Newcastle-under-Lyme as part of the borough’s 800th anniversary celebrations in 1973. Newcastle-under-Lyme, in England’s West Midland region’s Staffordshire county, is a market borough town dating back to the 12th century C.E.

Among Edwards’ other notable works are his Statue of Frederick Douglass, erected in 2014 at College Park, Maryland, and “All Together Now,” completed in 2014 to commemorate the centennial of World War I’s 1914 Christmas truce between British and German soldiers.

INDIA — Watching over the crops: A Mishing tribal woman sits inside a temporary shelter to keep watch on her field at Bojai Ghat village in Dergaon, about 280km (175 miles) north-east of the state capital Guwahati, India, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The Mishing is actually part of a wider group of Tani people belonging to a Sino-Tibetan linguistic group, presently inhabiting parts of the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Mishing and other Tani people were military folk who traded swords and other metals to Tibetans in exchange for meat and wool. They used the Tibetan language for written communication.

Some of the region’s most vital crops are rice, mustard seed and tea. The region also grows wheat, Pulses, oilseeds, jute and roselle, sugarcane, potato, banana, areca nut, maize and chilies.

HOUSTON — Going for the double-play means tag the base, throw to first, then leap to avoid getting clipped by the slide: Atlanta Braves second baseman Luis Guillorme, top, jumps over Houston Astros designated hitter Yainer Diaz (21) after throwing to first base as Diaz slides into second base on Guillorme’s attempted double play during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Houston. Jeremy Pena was safe at first. The Braves beat the Astros 5-4.

The Venezuela-born Guillorme played with the NY Mets for six seasons in the majors before signing a $1.1 million contract with the Braves this past January, according to this team’s website.

MANCHESTER — A victor’s vigorous celebration: Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger celebrates at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Real Madrid, which won 4-3 on penalties, advances to the semifinals for the fourth straight year.

That first-leg semifinal game will be played against FC Bayern on Tuesday, April 30, at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

CAPITOL HILL — Trouble on campus — students as hard as cats to herd: Columbia President Nemat Shafik testifies before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism” on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

On Thursday, April 18, NYPD officers with batons and wearing helmets took dozens of Columbia University students into custody after groups protesting the war in Gaza refused to take down a two-day encampment zone, with students continuing to chant on the lawn as the arrests were underway.

HAITI — When a bus isn’t available — a healthy snapshot of a family, possibly en route to school: People ride on a motorcycle in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. This may be a rare case of someone in the community owning a motorcycle because most Haitians lack access to personal vehicles or even a municipal bus system.

Tap-tap buses, which are brightly colored share taxis, transport people around.

DUBAI — Nature’s revenge — largest desert deluge ever recorded: An abandoned vehicle stands in floodwater caused by heavy rain with the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, seen in the background, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out Thursday from the heaviest rain the desert nation has ever recorded, a deluge that flooded out Dubai International Airport and disrupted flights through the world’s busiest airfield for international travel.

More than six inches of rain in the United Arab Emirates over 24 hours, with 5.59 inches recorded in Dubai, more than what the region gets in an average year.

THE WOODLANDS — Getting out of a sand trap — it’s a beach: Angel Yin hits from the fourth green bunker during the first round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods, in The Woodlands, Texas.  The 25-year-old Yin is among professional women golfers from Scandinavia, Korea and Japan competing for the $5.2 million prize.

The Chevron Championship is a women’s tournament running through Sunday, April 21.

ENGLAND — Royal charity beginning in the kitchen: Britain’s Prince William chops celery as he helps to make a bolognese sauce during a visit to Surplus to Supper, in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The Prince visited Surplus to Supper, a surplus food redistribution charity, to learn about its work bridging the gap between food waste and food poverty across Surrey and West London. One of the primary skills that professional and amateur chefs alike learn is how to safely handle a knife and which cutlery is used for various foods.

Prince Willam is pictured holding a chef’s knife, used for chopping and dicing most firm vegetables. Lying next to the cutting board is a Japanese Santoku knife, most useful in chopping, dicing, and mincing large quantities of meat or ingredients with a high water content, such as zucchini, cucumbers or eggplant.

BELGIUM — UK biker wins one for Israel: United Kingdom’s Stephen Williams of the Israel First Tech team crosses the finish line to win the Belgian cycling classic and UCI World Tour race Fleche Wallonne (Walloon Arrow), in Huy, Belgium, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

In the women’s race, Katarzyna Niewiadoma won ahead of Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini. The weekend will see more racing in the Ardennes, with the even more prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege — one of the “monuments” of cycling — and one of the five most prestigious one-day events in the sport. The other “monuments” are the Tour of Flanders, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Lombardy.

FLORIDA — ‘You’re OUT!’: Tampa Bay Rays catcher Rene Pinto (50) tags out Los Angeles Angels’ Zach Neto at home during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, FL. The Angels beat Tampa Bay 5-4 in that game. But according to ESPN’s website, the two teams duked it out again on Thursday, April 18, in a matinee game. This time, Tampa Bay won 2-1.

The Rays’ name was changed after the 2007 MLB season from the  Devil Rays to just the Rays so that the more general name could mean both the sea animal manta ray and sunshine.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sworn in for examination of broken safety culture: From Left, Boeing Quality Engineer Sam Salehpour; Ed Pierson, Executive Director of The Foundation for Aviation Safety and a Former Boeing Engineer; Joe Jacobsen, Aerospace Engineer and Technical Advisor to the Foundation for Aviation Safety and a former FAA Engineer; and Shawn Pruchnicki, Ph.D, Professional Practice Assistant Professor for Integrated Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University are sworn in before they testify at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations hearing to examine Boeing’s broken safety culture on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Washington.

January’s Alaska Airlines incident, in which the door plug of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 flew off because the bolts were never put into place, could have been fatal; two crashes of Boeing aircraft in 2018 and 2019 together had 349 casualties.

MANHATTAN — Not happy with this kind of restrictive attention: Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings during jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York.

The jury selection became even more protracted on Thursday when two already-selected jurors expressed concerns about their ability to remain partial. They were both excused, leaving only five in place.