Here's your weekly digest of photographs that prove that it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there!
German Michael Sturm fails to set a new world record in carrying one liter beer mugs over a distance of 40 m (131 ft 3 in) in Abensberg. Compatriot Oliver Struempfl carried 27 mugs over 40 meters to set a new record for the Guinness book of records. Photograph: Michael Dalder / Reuters
A zombie charges at survivors in the "Survival Zombie" competition in Collado Villalba, outside Madrid. According to the back-story of the "Survival Zombie" contest, participants, who signed up as survivors, are trapped for a night in a city that has been infected with a virus that causes humans to turn into zombies.
The objective of the game is for the survivors to stay alive until morning by avoiding getting touched by a zombie. In order to do so, the contestants need to find clues that will help them reach a safe haven, the end point of the contest. Survivors are not allowed to attack the zombies, a role made up of other players as well as members of the contest organization, so their only means of survival is by avoiding them.
A single touch of a zombie eliminates the player, but they can return as zombies after getting made up, so that they can continue playing. A group of actors dressed as soldiers are also involved in the game, helping some players against the zombies or making it harder for others to solve the clues to survive. Photograph: Susana Vera / Reuters
Resident Chris Roland walks his pet turtles Cindy (left) and Kuka up Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York. Roland has had the turtles for years and walks them daily. Photograph: Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A 12-year-old boy sits outside a window of his 11th-floor apartment as his relatives try to ask him to come back back inside, in Yibin, Sichuan province. The boy was afraid of being punished by his mother for not finishing his homework on time. After a two-hour standoff, he was persuaded by police and family members to come inside. Photograph: Reuters
Three-years-old dog Hope runs using a wheelchair in Vienna. Hope was found with cut-off back legs in the countryside and brought to an animal asylum when it was four-month-old. The dog was taken home two months later by Regine Grosinger who had a wheelchair manufactured for it. Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters
Folk artist Yu Guangjun attaches the legs from a cicada slough onto a magnolia bud as he makes a "Maohou" in his house in Beijing. "Maohou", which means hairy monkey in Chinese, is a traditional art form in Beijing that dates back to the Qing Dynasty and requires only the use of cicada slough and magnolia buds to form miniature sculptures. Yu has been using Maohou figures in his miniatures to depict scenes from Beijing during the 1960-70s period. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
The art installation Pulse & Bloom is seen during the Burning Man 2014 "Caravansary" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Over 65,000 people from all over the world gathered at the sold out festival to spend a week in the remote desert cut off from much of the outside world to experience art, music and the unique community that develops. Photograph: Jim Urquhart / Reuters
Participants run through the "Electroshock Therapy" obstacle made of hanging electrical wire holding some 10,000 volts in the finish of the "Tough Mudder" endurance event series in Arnsberg. Competitors who took part in the endurance event saw themselves having to overcome various military style obstacles. Photograph: Ina Fassbender / Reuters
A participant jumps into the mud at the "Tough Mudder" endurance event series in Arnsberg. Competitors who took part in the endurance event saw themselves having to overcome various military style obstacles. Photograph: Ina Fassbender / Reuters
Competitors slide during the Brutal Run extreme obstacle course race in Budapest. Photograph: Laszlo Balogh / Reuters
An orangutan holds a paper bag over its head under the hot sun at the National Zoo in Washington. After a mild summer, the United States capital has been experiencing late season heat wave with temperatures up to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
A man dressed as the character "Papa Smurf", who makes a living having his picture taken with tourists, peeps inside a closed bar in Madrid. Photograph: Susana Vera / Reuters
