Beer high at Munich Oktoberfest, American and Soviet cosmonauts on higher ground, and highly improbable non-human: Eye-catching photos of this week

Image: Christof STACHE / AFP
A waitress conveys a bunch of one-litre beer mugs deftly to a table during the opening of the Oktoberfest 2023, Munich's annual beer festival, on September 16, 2023. The world's biggest Beer festival kicked off with the mayor tapping the first keg at noon and will be open until October 3, 2023, at Munich's Theresienwiese.

Image: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub blasts off on a three-hour flight to the International Space Station (ISS) from its launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on September 15, 2023. The latest mission is a joint US-Russia venture in space despite hostilities between the countries reaching an all-time high over the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

Image: Bulent Kilic / AFP
Survivors of Morocco's devastating earthquake, villagers transport a reluctant lamb donated to them near Amizmiz, Morocco, on September 13, 2023. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake caused rocks to block mountain roads,  making it impassable for rescue teams to reach remote mountain villages that were devastated.

Image: Rajesh Jantilal / AFP
Zulu regiments sing and chant praises in front of a convoy carrying the coffin of veteran South African politician and Zulu chief Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi to his family's rural home at Kwa-Phindangene, in Ulundi, South Africa, on September 15, 2023. Buthelezi founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975, which was responsible for some of the worst political violence seen in the country in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Image: Henry Romero / Reuters
A small figure in a box described by journalist and UFO researcher Jamie Maussan as "non-human" beings found almost a decade earlier in Peru are presented at a hearing in the Mexican Congress' Chamber of Deputies on September 12, 2023. Many scientists express scepticism, saying many details about the figures "made no sense". In 2017, Maussan made similar claims, which were found later to be "recently manufactured dolls, which have been covered with a mixture of paper and synthetic glue to simulate the presence of skin."

Image: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Rapper NLE Choppa attends the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., September 12, 2023. Choppa had to deal with a backlash from fans after he performed his version of Nelly's 2009 classic "Hot In Herre" at the Awards. Firing back, Choppa said his version of "It's Getting Hot" has 30 million streams on Spotify.

Image: Narinder NANU / AFP
A Sikh man performs martial art known as 'Gatka' during a procession at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on September 16, 2023, on the occasion of the 419th anniversary of the installation of the holy book 'Guru Granth Sahib'. The recent announcement by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to include gatka in the 37th National Games has sparked joy among city residents and gatka enthusiasts.

Image: SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP
A US Customs and Border Patrol agent patrols the US-Mexico border fence in San Ysidro, California, on September 14, 2023. As the number of migrants attempting to cross the southern US border rises, Border Patrol agents have begun releasing them on US streets shortly after they cross from Mexico into California.

Image: Alfredo ESTRELLA / AFP
A soldier of the Mexican Army takes part in the military parade for the 213th anniversary of independence at Zocalo Square in Mexico City on September 16, 2023. Celebrating their nation's hard-won independence from Spain, families across the country were serenaded by mariachi bands, partaking in rich cultural performances, parades, and traditional food

Image: Money SHARMA / AFP
A worker polishes leather cricket balls at a Meerut, Uttar Pradesh workshop on September 14, 2023. As working with animal leather is condoned by some Hindu communities, those on the lower rungs of India's traditional caste hierarchy have taken on the crucial trade of making cricket balls.

Image: REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado / Reuters
An archival photograph of a protest against Pinochet's dictatorship in downtown Santiago, Chile, in 1986 ( provided by Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicarage of Solidarity) is superimposed on a photograph of the same location as seen today, September 10, 2023.

Image: Carlos Barria / Reuters
Getty Images photographer John Moore gets hit by a water cannon during clashes with riot police at a rally-march ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Chilean military coup in Santiago, Chile, September 10, 2023. Chile's President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a violent military coup and ushered in seventeen years of brutal dictatorship and harsh economic policies that enriched the few and increased poverty dramatically.