Mexican devotees honor the folk saint Santa Muerte—a scythe-carrying skeleton—each month, though the Catholic Church links the saint to black magic and Satanism.

National Geographic explorers take a three-month adventure through ice and Arctic waters to reach the islands of Franz Josef Land north of Russia.

Galactic "tentacles" stay put, balloons take flight, tropical storm Fay fights on, and more in our selection of the week's best news photos.

A ghost festival conjures spirits, monsoons blast India, an Olympian shatters records, and more.

In northern Japan, declines in drifting Arctic sea ice are raising fears that global warming will impact wildlife and tourism at Shiretoko National Park.

China has banned dog meat from being served in designated Olympic restaurants, though it is still on the menu elsewhere.

Nicaragua celebrates its patron saint, an Amazonian volcano lets off steam, the Olympic torch reaches the Great Wall, and more of the best news photos this week.

Russians dance on the grave of an economic collapse, horses hit the water, Greece burns, and more of our favorite recent news photos.

With a reported repertoire of 32 sounds, belugas are called canaries of the sea. But in Russia some conservationists warn that the white whales may be too enticing for their own good.

An exterminator, searching for gold in the Australian outback, became stranded for more than four days and says he survived by eating termites and other insects.

The first WhiteKnightTwo plane—designed to carry a smaller craft nearly to the edge of space—was unveiled by billionaire Richard Branson.

Designed to hoist passenger planes into space, the first WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane rolled out for a champagne splash by billionaire Richard Branson.

The commercially funded WhiteKnightTwo, now the world's largest carbon-composite aircraft, should soon ferry a six-passenger spaceship beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Built in 1904, the Grand Pier in Weston Super Mare, England, was reduced to a smoldering wreck, taking with it a go-kart track, rides, and an entertainment center.

Less than two weeks before the Olympics, heavy smog in Beijing has Chinese officials blaming natural factors, such as fog. But others say athletes "have reason to be concerned."