内容摘要：Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are seen beyond a sunflower field on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are seen beyond a sunflower field on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

started with a madcap sprint as competitive teams galloped to the front of the pack, and other burros instinctively attempted to keep pace.Runners can’t ride the burro but can push, pull and coax the animal as long as they don’t abuse it. Some racers swing a rope in circles — like a lasso — to encourage movement. Others on the trail cry out, “Hup, hup!”

Joe Polonsky of Monument, Colorado, took up burro racing in 2018. He described himself as a mediocre ultramarathon runner, but in burro racing he is a top contender.“I am fortunate because Jake does like to be up front at the start of the race,” Polonsky said about his four-legged partner. “So I will let him pull me.”Burros wear a halter, which is less restrictive than a horse’s bridle and bit, attached to a 15-foot (4.5-meter) rope held by the runner. Some racers tether the rope to their waist and draft off the burro.

Pack burros and their human companions race through the streets of a former mining town and across backcountry desert trails in Cerrillos, N.M., on Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)Pack burros and their human companions race through the streets of a former mining town and across backcountry desert trails in Cerrillos, N.M., on Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

Marvin Sandoval of Leadville, Colorado, and his mini burro named Buttercup finished first Saturday, completing the longer course in just over 49 minutes. Hundreds of cheering spectators lined the street, and the nearest competitors were out of sight.

The secret to his racing success, Sandoval likened Buttercup to a unicorn: “She wants to be out front, she climbs really well.”This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Protests in Panama have entered their third week, challenging several recent actions byDemonstrators are opposing a recently enacted law that overhauled the country’s pension system, a security memorandum of understanding

that critics say undermines Panama’s sovereignty over the canal, and plans to build a new reservoir on the Indio River to supply water for the Panama Canal’s locks.Demonstrators travel by river to the mouth of the Rio Indio on Panama’s Caribbean coast to protest against a planned reservoir for the Panama Canal and to protest against Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)