Photos of the Day: A Reticulated Python and a Giant Tortoise

Moscow, Russia

A squirrel jumps through snow in a park in Moscow
Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/A

Black Sea

The view from a US EP-3 Aries aircraft being intercepted by a Russian SU-27 fighter jet (pictured) in what the US Defence ministry claims was international airspace over the Black Sea. According to some reports, the Russian fighter jet came within 5 feet of the US Navy plane. Other reports quote Russian military sources saying that their jet stayed a safe distance from the US ‘spy plane’
Photograph: EPA