Sting operation

A honeybee gathers nectar from a flower at a farm in the western Austrian village of Seefeld. The European Union's food safety regulator has added a BASF insecticide to the list of crop chemicals it suspects of playing a role in declining bee populations. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that BASF's fipronil poses an "acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize", citing dust drift in particular. The EU last month moved to ban three of the world's most widely used pesticides for two years because of fears that they are linked to a plunge in the population of bees critical to the production of crops. 
Photo: Reuters/ Dominic Ebenbichler

Eagle eye

S.S. Lazio's mascot, a white-headed eagle called Olimpia, stands on the Italian Cup trophy. The club won the Italian Cup final soccer match against AS Roma at the Olympic stadium in Rome recently. 
Photo: Reuters /Giampiero Sposito

Early bird

A hummingbird flies next to a flower in Panama City. Photo: Reuters / Carlos Jasso