By Leaps and Bounds: Eyecatching photos of the week

Image: Loic Venance / AFP

French skipper Charles Caudrelier holds burning flares as he sails into port after winning the Arkea Ultim challenge round-the-world solo sailing race onboard his Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, in Brest, western France, on February 27, 2024. Caudrelier won the first ever solo multihull race around the world in 50 days 19 hours 7 minutes 42 seconds, sailed in giant 32m long ULTIM class trimarans

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Members of the engineering team behind HS2's longest tunnel celebrate after the giant boring machine ''Florence'' broke through after her 10-mile journey beneath Chiltern Hills on February 27, 2024, in Great Missenden, England. The 2,000-tonne boring machine took two years and nine months to finish the 10-mile dig. ''Florence'' is one of 10 machines digging over 32 miles of tunnel between London Euston and Birmingham.

Image: Feisal Omar / Reuters

A boy plays football in the Indian Ocean waters at the Liido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia, on February 23, 2024. A spectacular white sand beach, once swarming with Italian colonialists, this beach is the most popular in Somalia.

Image: Thomas Coex / AFP

The cover of the Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca on February 20, 2024, features Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Kylian Mbappe amid a combination of several Marca's covers. 25-year-old Mbappe has told the French side he will leave at the end of the season, a source close to PSG told AFP. Superstar striker Mbappe is heavily linked with Real Madrid, who have tried to sign him multiple times in the past few years and may finally get their man.

Image: Doaa Ruqqa / Reuters

Palestinian Warda Mattar feeds her newborn dates, instead of milk, amidst food scarcity and lack of milk, at a school where they shelter in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on February 25, 2024.

Image: Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters

A decorated elephant eyes the crowd at the annual Nawam Maha Perahera of Gangaramaya Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 23, 2024. One of Sri Lanka's most colourful and prestigious Buddhist cultural pageants, it features over 90 elephants and 5,000 artistes with dancers, acrobats, drummers, torch bearers and more.

Image: Mohammed Huwais / AFP

Fabric-covered vehicles carry the coffins of Yemeni Houthi rebels killed in recent US-led strikes during a funeral ceremony near Sanaa's Al-Saleh mosque on February 10, 2024. The United States military had conducted multiple strikes against Houthi missile systems in retaliation as the Yemen-based rebel group prepared to launch attacks that threatened the US Navy and merchant ships.

Image: VCG/VCG via Getty Images

An eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft, Prosperity, prepares to take off at Shekou Cruise Homeport on February 27, 2024, in Shenzhen, China. Developed by Shanghai-based company AutoFlight, the 5-seat aircraft successfully completed its first inter-city air-taxi demonstration flight from Shekou in Shenzhen to Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai.

Image: Roman Pilpey / AFP

23-year-old Vadym Hilchuk, a Ukrainian amputee military veteran who lost his legs during shelling in February 2023 near Bakhmut, takes part in archery training ahead of his participation in the United States Air Force & Marine Corps Trials in Kyiv on February 27, 2024. Amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thirty Ukrainian servicemen and veterans will take part in the paralympic-style competitive event, which will be held in March in the US state of Nevada.

Image: Julien De Rosa / AFP

A model presents a creation by the IFM Master of Arts graduate show as part of the Women Ready-To-Wear Fall-Winter 2024/2025 Paris Fashion Week at the Institut Francais de la Mode (IFM) in Paris on February 26, 2024.

Image: Ian Langsdon / AFP

An influencer poses outside, ahead of Christian Dior's presentation for the Women Ready-to-wear Fall-Winter 2024/2025 collection as part of the Paris Fashion Week in Paris on February 27, 2024.

Image: Gongga Laisong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

Monks debate animatedly for the degree of Geshe Lharampa at the Jokhang Temple on February 28, 2024, in Lhasa, Tibet, Autonomous Region of China. Twelve monks obtained the degree of Geshe Lharampa following a sutra debate. Geshe Lharampa is the highest degree in the esoteric teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, equivalent to a doctoral degree in modern education.