July 3, 2008: Today in Pictures

News

July 3, 2008: Today in Pictures

Today's best photos: around the world in pictures is a daily look at photos from Atlanta, national and world news, entertainment, sports and celebrities through the eyes of photographers from ajc.com and other sources.

Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt (left) embraces her daughter Melanie upon their arrival at a military base in Bogota, Colombia on Thursday. Betancourt hugged her children for the first time in six years, saying the thought of them helped her stay alive until a daring rescue plucked her and 14 other hostages from the jungle yesterday.

City of Marietta employee Jerry Smith helps place colorful banners on the performance stage at Glover Park in downtown Marietta on Thursday morning to ready for July 4th holiday festivities. Smith is seen through the banner he is hanging.

On Thursday workers scavenge through the remains of their workplace at the Palace of Culture two days after protesters ransacked the building and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

Employees and concerned parties at wait at the back door of the Krystal restaurant at Stockbridge's Mount Zion Road and Highway 138 location Thursday morning where a gunman slipped into the restaurant through an open door and shot the manager. A manhunt for the suspect was followed by a second shooting incident with a Clayton County police officer.

In Paris, Janet Jackson looks on as a model presents a crystal-beaded silk blouse and pleated skirt by Christian Lacroix.

Luetta Tucker, 79, thoroughly enjoys herself Thursday as she competes in a hat contest at the Hi-Steppers Senior Club's monthly meeting. Although Tucker didn't win anything she certainly was in the spirit of Independence Day.

A man pushes a cart past a poster of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, on Thursday.

With Atlanta's Oglethorpe University in the background, Blythe Jeffers (right) laughs with friends as they sip wine and eat cheese on the patio at the Conant Performing Arts Center at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival on Wednesday.

This golden deep-sea crab (Chaceon fenneri), a commercially important species, is photographed off the North Carolina coast from a deep sea submersible.

Chinese military officers clean up a beach covered with blue green algae in Qingdao, China, on Thursday. China's latest Olympics nightmare is a vast algae bloom that covers one third of the sea where the world's best sailors are supposed to be competing in just over a month.

Hydrologist Tim Pojunas uses a velocity meter to measure both speed and depth of the outflow from Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in Buford as morning fog lifts from the surface. The United States Geological Survey maintains about a dozen stream gauges on the river measuring the amount of water.

Belarusian sportsmen perform during a parade marking Independence Day in Minsk, Belarus, on Thursday.

Earlier in the week state and federal wildlife specialists removed a piece of rubber wrapped around the head of a juvenile bottlenose dolphin in the Wilmington River, near Savannah. After a veterinarian checked her out (she was OK), they released her. Eric Zolman, Stephen McCulloch (center) and Brian Balmer (right) cradle the mammal before letting her swim away.

A mannequin explodes during a demonstration by fire officials of an illegal M80 firework during a news conference in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday.

Brendan Hansen swims in the men's 200-meter breaststroke semifinals at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., on Wednesday.

Lightning flashes across the downtown skyline above the First Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Wednesday.

1/16

Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt (left) embraces her daughter Melanie upon their arrival at a military base in Bogota, Colombia on Thursday. Betancourt hugged her children for the first time in six years, saying the thought of them helped her stay alive until a daring rescue plucked her and 14 other hostages from the jungle yesterday.

Today's Gallery Headlines

cedar grove, cairo

Photos: Cedar Grove defeats Cairo in first round of state tournament

Salem Campground Covington

PHOTOS: See the 'Places in Peril' across Georgia for 2026

Autotrader 400

PHOTOS: Tyler Reddick wins again at Autotrader 400

Allyson Phillips (center), Laken Riley’s mother, prays at UGA’s Tate Plaza on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, during a memorial service for her daughter. Riley was attacked on Feb. 22, 2024 while running in Oconee Forest Park on the UGA campus and killed. (C.J. Bartunek for the AJC)

PHOTOS: Hundreds honor Laken Riley with 5K, memorial on UGA campus

More Galleries

Ice storm warning

PHOTOS: Scenes from icy winter storm in Metro Atlanta

As storm inches closer to Georgia, metro Atlanta braces for ice threat

PHOTOS: Georgia readies for incoming ice storm

01202026 day of protests

PHOTOS: Metro Atlanta ICE protest join national effort

PHOTOS: Georgia's first snowfall of the year

PHOTOS: Georgia's first snowfall of the year