Thursday: The day in photos

Carmen Helasse, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, holds the U.S. flag during a naturalization ceremony conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

Sept. 16, 2014 9:24 AM PT

Serena Williams, Jie Zheng, Wimbledon, tennis

Serena Williams serves during her women’s singles semifinal match against Jie Zheng at Wimbledon, England. (Ryan Pierse / Getty Images)

Supreet Gill, right, hugs a friend in a parking lot along Highway 1 in Big Sur, as fire forced mandatory evacuations along nearly 100 miles of the road. The man on the left was using the head scarf as a shield from breathing smoke. (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, embraces her son Lorenzo, right, and daughter Melaine, upon their arrival at a military base in Bogota, Colombia. Betancourt embraced 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 on Wednesday. (Ricardo Mazalan / Associated Press)

A woman stands with some items recovered from the burned-out headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. A state of emergency continues in Mongolia’s capital two days after five people died in rioting sparked by allegations of election fraud. (Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press)

Harare, Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, election

A boy cries outside the U.S. embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. About 200 people who are reportedly victims of violence stemming from the Zimbabwe presidential elections sought refuge at the embassy. Zimbabwe’s opposition leader rejected calls to form a national unity government, saying it would not solve the country’s crisis after Robert Mugabe’s widely condemned one-man election. (Alexander Joe / AFP/Getty Images)

South Korean pastors and protesters participate in a special service as part of protests against the South Korean government’s policy toward U.S. beef imports in front of the Seoul City Hall in Seoul. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called for an end to a festering dispute over American beef imports, saying it was time for the nation to concentrate on overcoming domestic and economic difficulties. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

Minsk, Belarus, Belarus Independence Day

Belarusians perform during a parade marking the Belarus Independence Day in Minsk, which was liberated by the Red Army from Nazi invaders on July 3, 1944. (Sergei Grits / Associated Press)

A rain-soaked rickshaw driver transports passengers in Allahabad, India. The annual monsoon rains are crucial for farmers whose crops feed hundreds of millions of people, but they also bring massive destruction across the country. (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

Qingdao, Shandong, China, algae, Olympics

Chinese soldiers remove algae from a beach in Qingdao, Shandong, China. More than 10,000 people have been mobilized to clean up algae which has invaded the Olympic sailing venue. (Guang Niu / Getty Images)