
NEW YORK CITY — More ice forms in the freshwater as it mixes with seawater in NY Harbor: A person takes a photo of the Hudson River covered by ice, Jan. 23, 2025.
The Hudson River froze and remained frozen for 43 days during the winter of 1917-18 and again in 1934. The historic river’s current freeze has made international news with photo coverage in the UK-based newspaper The Mirror.
TOKYO — Caught in a bout, hook it out: Japanese champion Naoya Inoue, right, punches South Korean challenger Ye Joon Kim in the fourth round of a boxing match for the unified WBC IBF and WBO super bantamweight world title at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
Super bantamweight sounds heavier than it is. Boxers in this category weigh only 118-122 lbs and are also known as junior featherweights. The heaviest category is super heavyweight, for those above 201 lbs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A welcome debut that is not political — or is it? Giant panda Qing Bao sits by bamboo during his public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Jan. 24, 2025. The Chinese word for panda, transliterated into the Western alphabet, is Xióngmāo, which literally means “bear cat.”
Ceremonies on Friday morning included visiting schoolchildren from the Yu Ying Public Charter School, a dual Chinese and English campus in Northeast Washington. Pandas have been viewed as a unifying force amid the tensions between China and the U.S.
CANADIAN BORDER — Are these footprints going or coming? Footprints in the snow emerge from the wooded border area into Christopher Parent’s property, right on the Canada-U.S. border in Churubusco, New York, Jan. 23, 2025. Living along this remote stretch of the border, Parent says he has seen the U.S. Border Patrol chasing migrants and also regularly sees fresh tracks in the snow emerging from the wooded border area, which he takes as evidence that migrants are moving both north and south across the border.
One government body reports that the United States’ northern neighbor has experienced an influx of individuals crossing the border between ports of entry, known colloquially as “irregular border crossings.”
WALES — Unique perspective of the power of a north sea storm: A person views large waves as Storm Éowyn arrives in Porthcawl, United Kingdom, on Jan. 24, 2025. The BBC reported Friday evening that one person died when a tree fell on his car in Ireland, and hundreds of thousands of homes are without power in the UK as Storm Éowyn brought record-breaking wind gusts greater than 100 mph.
Wales, part of the English landmass but a separate country, and the parts of Ireland closest to the Irish Sea separating the two nations got the brunt of the storm.
TAIPEI — Where snakes are welcomed into the home: Luo Chih-yu, 42, the owner of Pythonism, a pet store, holds a snake while a customer looks on, in Taiwan, Jan. 23, 2025. The upcoming Lunar New Year, which begins on Jan. 29, will usher in the Year of the Snake.
The symbolism of the snake is more complex in Asia than in the West, where Biblical stories connote the slithering animal with deceit, cunning and even evil. China and other regions of Asia associate the snake with harvest, procreation, spirituality and good fortune.
MELBOURNE — Womp womp womp: Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts at a press conference after retiring in his semifinal match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at the Australian Open tennis championship on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Zverev took the semifinal and will compete against Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final match. Djokovic suffered a torn leg muscle and was booed as he walked off the court after losing the first set to Zverev.
Sinner won his semifinal against American star Ben Shelton on Friday.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Peering eyes … looking for people who can explain “crypto”: President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order regarding cryptocurrency in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 23, 2025. President Trump ordered a new working group to formulate some long-awaited crypto regulations. The order also calls for exploring the creation of a U.S. cryptocurrency stockpile.
Bitcoin has been broadly steady in markets since Trump took office on Monday, pushing the world’s biggest cryptocurrency to a fresh record of $109,071.