A playful panda — and other news in pictures

, The TimesA woman in a dark suit stands on a tall ladder reading a red book in a richly appointed library with thousands of legal books.

The Supreme Court’s library in central London, which holds more than 8,000 legal books, was not part of the original building, built in 1913. Architects gutted a former courtroom and removed its floor, creating a three-storey vertical “void” that serves as the heart of the building and is intended to symbolise the “depth” of the law

THE TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

Train tracks amid flooded fields, partially covered in snow.

A railway line is the only feature visible above flooded fields in Eichen, near Frankfurt

MATIAS BASUALDO/ALAMY

Illustration of Uranus's upper atmosphere, with a bright blue central region, surrounded by red, and faint gray rings.

An international team of astronomers has mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere for the first time. Their findings provide the most detailed portrait yet of where the planet’s auroras form, how they are influenced by its unusually tilted magnetic field and how its atmosphere has continued to cool over the past three decades

ESA/WEBB/NASA

Thousands of starlings fill the sky during a murmuration over the Somerset Levels.

Starlings mass over the Somerset Levels as they look for roosting sites in the wetland’s reed beds

ROBIN MORRISON/SWNS

Britain's Keely Hodgkinson celebrates her 800m world record in Lievin.

Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson celebrates after breaking the world record in the indoor 800-metre women’s final in Liévin, northern France, at the Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais athletics event

SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Olena Zelenska holding red memorial lamps at a monument.

President Zelensky of Ukraine and his wife, Olena Zelenska, attend a commemoration ceremony to the “Heavenly Hundred”, the people killed during pro-European Union mass demonstrations in 2014

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/REUTERS

People attending the funeral ceremony for Ukrainian soldier Alexander Krasikov at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Kyiv.

Relatives and friends mourn Alexander Krasikov, a Ukrainian soldier also known by the call sign Sambo. His funeral service was held at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Kyiv

DAN BASHAKOV/AP

Lizzie Cunningham, a dry stone waller, working on a farm.

Lizzie Cunningham repairs a wall at Goat Gap in Newby, North Yorkshire. Cunningham, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, read history at university, but trained in the ancient craft of dry stone walling while working for Natural England. On average, she builds 2.5 square metres of wall per day. About 124,000 miles of dry stone walling remain in the UK, but most is in poor condition

LORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELIAN

Long-tailed macaque sitting on a stone pillar holding a pair of sunglasses and licking the arm of the glasses, with the ocean in the background.

Long-tailed macaques hold tourists’ valuables to ransom to bargain for food. The monkeys prey upon tourists at temples and other visitor attractions in Uluwatu, Bali. The holidaymakers’ only hope of getting their belongings back is capitulating to demands or seeking help from local monkey handlers

NYIMAS LAULA/SOLENT NEWS

A folk artist performs the Huohu fire pot show, shaking an iron net with hot charcoals to create sparks.

A folk artist shakes iron nets filled with hot charcoal to generate sparks in Tongguan Kiln Ancient Town, Changsha, Hunan Province. The huohu, or fire pot, performance is a highlight of China’s Lunar New Year

YANG HUAFENG/CHINA NEWS SERVICE/VCG/GETTY IMAGES

Palestinians gather for an iftar meal at a long table amidst destroyed buildings and rubble in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.

Palestinians in Khan Yunis, Gaza, celebrate iftar, the fast-breaking meal eaten at sundown during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

ABDEL KAREEM HANA/AP

Maikos and geiko in colorful kimonos walk in a line at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto.

Geisha and their apprentices, known as maiko, make their way through Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto. They were there to pray for their dance and musical skills to improve

A crane lifts the upper arm of a cross onto the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

La Sagrada Familia, the basilica in Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudí, is one step closer to completion as the upper part of a cross is lifted on to its spire. The addition took the church to its maximum height of 172.5 metres

EMILIO MORENATTI/AP

Dragon's Breath installation by ITHACA Studio at Lincoln Castle, part of Frequency 26, Lincoln's festival of light.

Dragon’s Breath, an installation by ITHACA Studio, lights up Lincoln Castle. The heritage site is taking part in Frequency 26, described as a festival of light, play and discovery

Hasan Tatari, a vet and head of an animal shelter, sitting on the ground surrounded by the dog Sophia and her eight puppies, all rescued from Ukraine.

Dr Hasan Tatari, a vet who runs an animal sanctuary, cares for Sophia and her eight puppies, which were found in an air raid shelter in Ukraine. The “Rendez-vous mit Tieren” refuge, in a forest setting 30 miles from Berlin, is a haven for dogs and cats rescued from the war-torn country

PATRICK PLEUL/AVALON

Matthew Kelly as Estragon and George Costigan as Vladimir on stage during rehearsals for Waiting for Godot.

Matthew Kelly, right, and George Costigan rehearse their roles as Estragon and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. The new production of the Samuel Beckett play has opened at Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, and will run until March 14 before touring to Liverpool and Bolton

JANE BARLOW/PA

A honey bee flies near a yellow and red Gazania flower at a flower show.

A honey bee flies near a gazania at Noida Flower Show, on the outskirts of Delhi, India

HARISH TYAGI/EPA

Silhouette of a family watching the sunset in Havana.

A family watches the sun set in Havana, Cuba

YAMIL LAGE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Drone view of security forces guarding large packages of seized cocaine on a vessel.

Security officers stand guard over packages of cocaine, part of a seizure weighing 6.6 tonnes, on board the Tanzanian-flagged FMS Eagle. The ship was intercepted near a naval base southwest of El Salvador

CAMILO FREEDMAN/REUTERS

Verger Rob Bond dusting the John Piper tapestry at Chichester Cathedral.

Verger Rob Bond prepares the high altar of Chichester Cathedral for visitors to Glowing + Alive, a show in which a seven-metre tapestry will be celebrated with stories, pictures and artefacts telling of its creation by John Piper, a printmaker. Piper said the 35-metre square tapestry, unveiled in 1966, “was the most frightening commission of his career”. It will form part of a show until November 15

RUSSELL SACH

A visitor services assistant walks on a suspended walkway inside the 'Box' surrounding Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House.

Work to dry out the Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece Hill House, in Helensburgh, has reached a critical juncture with the removal of cement render that had contributed towards water damage. The building is surrounded by a “Box” of chainmail mesh over a steel frame to protect it from the elements

ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA

Biathletes skiing during the men's 15km mass start event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The men’s biathlon 15km mass start event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Anterselva

ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Three female freestyle skiers racing, one airborne and two close behind.

The freestyle skiers Talina Gantenbein of Switzerland, Jade Grillet Aubert of France and Sixtine Cousin of Switzerland compete in the women’s Olympic ski cross small final at Livigno snow park, Italy. It was won by Daniela Maier of Germany

DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS

Niina Petrokina of Estonia competing in the women's figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Niina Petrokina of Estonia in the women’s figure skating free programme at the 2026 Winter Olympics

FRANCISCO SECO/AP

Ukraine's Maksym Kuznietsov crashes during men's freestyle skiing aerials qualifications, surrounded by a cloud of snow and debris.

Ukraine’s Maksym Kuznietsov crashes during the men’s Olympic freestyle skiing aerials qualifications in Livigno, Italy

ABBIE PARR/AP

The U.S. women's ice hockey team celebrates with gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The United States’ women’s ice hockey team celebrate their Winter Olympics victory

HASSAN AMMAR/AP

Kaori Sakamoto, Alysa Liu, and Ami Nakai celebrating on the podium after the women's free skate program at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Olympic figure skaters Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, America’s Alysa Liu and Ami Nakai, also of Japan, celebrate winning the silver, gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the women’s free skate programme in Milan

FRANCISCO SECO/AP

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