Wednesday: The day in photos

Nine-time world champion Kelly Slater of the U.S. surfs in the quarterfinals of the Billabong Pro 2009 contest in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa. The world’s top 44 surfers competed in excellent conditions at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay, one of the longest right-hand point breaks in the world, on leg five of the 10-event World Championship Tour.  (Nic Bothma / EPA)

AG2R rider Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy and a man in costume await the start of the 11th stage, between Vatan and Saint-Fargeau, of the Tour de France.  (Nicolas Bouvy / EPA)

Iranians search through debris at the crash site of a Caspian Airlines plane, which fell into farmland near the city of Qazvin, northwest of Tehran. The Iranian airliner en route to Armenia crashed, killing all 168 people on board.  (Atta Kenare / AFP/Getty Images)

Los Angeles police officers investigate a fatal accident in which a female motorist was killed after her vehicle collided with a trash truck on West Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A French bulldog peers out from behind a stage curtain before modeling in a dog fashion show in Taipei, Taiwan.  (Wally Santana / Associated Press)

A Palestinian youth checks a water tank, one of several that supply water to this family, atop the house as the sun sets on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah.  (Muhammed Muheisen / Associated Press)

Afghan townspeople gather near a melon stand in a market in Kabul.  (Emilio Morenatti / Associated Press)