Today in photos

A child reacts near sharks resting on the bottom of an aquarium at the ocean park zoo in Beijing, China. New Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor smiles as President Barack Obama applauds during a reception in her honor. And investigators examine the wreckage of an airplane that sits on a pier next to the the wreckage of a helicopter in Hoboken, N.J. View a slideshow of these images and more.

Section:Gallery

Wed., Aug. 12, 2009

A child reacts near sharks resting on the bottom of an aquarium at the ocean park zoo in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009.

Ng Guan Associated Press
A king penguin (aptenodytes patagonicus), seen with a penguin chick, at the zoo in Basel, Switzerland, Wednesday Aug. 12, 2009.

Georgios Kefalas Associated Press
A tourist views photos of former Khmer Rouge prisoners at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, formerly the regime's notorious S-21 prison, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. Under the command of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the prison, up to 16,000 people were tortured and later taken away to be killed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. The chief of the Khmer Rouge's main torture center, being tried by a U.N.-backed tribunal on genocide charges, asked the Cambodian people Wednesday to give him "the harshest punishment."

Heng Sinith Associated Press
New Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor smiles as President Barack Obama applauds during a reception in her honor, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Alex Brandon Associated Press
New Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor hugs her mother Celina Sotomayor at the end of a reception in her honor, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Alex Brandon Associated Press
A nurse makes phone calls at an emergency rescue landing zone for victims of Typhoon Morakot in Cishan, Taiwan, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. Police said Wednesday that there is no way to know for sure how many people remain buried in the catastrophic mudslide that struck a remote mountain village in Taiwan over the weekend when the typhoon lashed the region.

Wally Santana Associated Press
A rescuer glides on a rope to cross a river in the flooded village of Liugui following Typhoon Morakot, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan. Police said Wednesday that there is no way to know for sure how many people remain buried in the catastrophic mudslide that struck a remote mountain village in Taiwan over the weekend when the typhoon lashed the region.
A female supporter of Afghan presidential candidate and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai hold her child as she attends his election campaign in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect the new president.

Rafiq Maqbool Associated Press
After an eight-hour firefight against Taliban forces, US. Marines rest in the room of a home that they turned into a command center, in the village of Dahaneh Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Operation Eastern Resolve launched early Wednesday morning with 500 combined Marine and Afghan National Army forces fighting to take control of the city from the Taliban.

Julie Jacobson Associated Press
Investigators examine the wreckage of an airplane, right, that sits on a pier next to the the wreckage of a helicopter Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Hoboken, N.J. The two aircraft collided and fell into the Hudson River on Saturday killing nine people, including three members of a Pennsylvania family in the private plane. Five Italian tourists and a pilot from New Jersey were in the helicopter.

Mel Evans Associated Press
Mourners watch as the caskets are carried to hearses outside the funeral home, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 in New York City. The five tourists from Italy were killed in the Saturday, Aug. 8 crash which also took the lives of the helicopter pilot and the three people on a small plane.

Stephen Chernin Associated Press