Our world in photos: January 17
Brooklyn Eagle Staff
January 17, 2025
MALIBU — Nature’s revenge — sadly, this tree will soon be lit by something more powerful than these decorative lights: Firefighters monitor the Franklin Fire approaching Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Students watched in alarm as flames raced down hillsides and the sky turned red. On Tuesday, authorities issued evacuation orders for thousands of Southern California residents. The fire erupted shortly before 11 p.m. Monday and pushed southward, jumping over the famous Pacific Coast Highway and extending to the ocean.
One factor in the Franklin Fire’s spread is the Santa Ana Winds, which push from inland toward the coast, particularly in dry conditions.
BUDAPEST — U.S. of A. still producing top-level swimmers: Gretchen Walsh of the U.S. reacts after breaking the world record in the Women’s 50-meter Butterfly on day one of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Walsh was one of 100 swimmers who earned prize money on the first day of the 2024 Short Course World Championships, earning $58,750 in less than two minutes, thanks to World Record bonuses.
The 21-year-old Walsh stands at 6 ‘1″, making it no wonder she’s also a swimsuit model and a world-record holder in several women’s and mixed aquatic events, including medley relays.
TEL AVIV — Facing terrorists, facing judges in court … Oy: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives to attend a hearing at the district court for his long-running trial for alleged corruption, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Netanyahu, who has become the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant, faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and, in three separate cases, of accepting bribes. The 75-year-old embattled prime minister also faces an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s trial took place under tight security. Outside the courthouse, dozens of protesters gathered, both supporters of Netanyahu and his opponents, including some families of the hostages held in Gaza.
MASSACHUSETTS — Aftermath of an oil spill, indeed all oil spills: Katie Handler, a veterinary technician with the New England Wildlife Center, reaches to try to capture an oil-covered goose along the Muddy River, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as wildlife rescuers tended to dozens of birds that were soaked in oil after an apparent spill. The spill was traced to heating oil from a storm drain under a nearby condominium complex.
The oil is dangerous to the birds because it damages their natural waterproofing, meaning that water can saturate them and interfere with their natural thermal defenses. Wildlife experts usually stabilize the birds before washing off the oil, according to International Bird Rescue, which has used Dawn dish detergent to wash the ducks and geese.
OSLO — Confederation of those who suffered most: Chairman of the Nobel Committee Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Terumi Tanaka, Shigemitsu Tanaka and Toshiyuki Mimaki, from left, representatives of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. The organization, which collectively received the Nobel Prize, is a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who experienced the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki. During Tuesday’s ceremony, one 92-year-old survivor described on Tuesday the agony and grief he witnessed in 1945 during his acceptance speech.
Nihon has worked for 70 years to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons. Even though nuclear weapons were used only on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days apart in August 1945, they have proliferated exponentially since that time.
HOUSTON — Just as pretty as outer space, and here there’s air to breathe: Two children react to space-themed holiday lights at Space Center Houston on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. The Galaxy Light Show, which runs through Jan. 5, gives visitors an entrée into a “journey through the solar system in our Deep Space Backyard. Wander beneath a canopy of twinkling stars and capture larger-than-life displays in the backdrop of the cosmos,” reads a description on Space Center Houston’s website.
The exhibit also features crystal fireworks, a cascading display, kinetic light shows and the original film, “Holidays in Space,” all with corporate sponsorship.
PENNSYLVANIA — The face of an alleged crusading felon, spotted having a Big Mac: This booking photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On Tuesday, Mangione reportedly resisted arrest virulently. Writings of his that law enforcement is examining have indicated anger at corporate America, particularly the health insurance industry.
Mangione is expected to be extradited to New York City in the coming days.
SYRIA — In the conflict of an uprising, guns are part of the fare that sit on coffee shop tabletops: Opposition fighters sit at a restaurant at the Al-Hamidiyeh market inside the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned earlier on Tuesday that Syria is in danger of a violent collapse, as happened in neighboring countries of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan unless its territorial integrity and the rights of minorities are protected.
“It is crucial to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and to respect its independence, its sovereignty, as well as the state institutions,” said Kallas.
