World

The Week in Photos: November 9, 2013

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From Englishmen running with burning tar barrels on their backs to a glimpse of the rare eclipse seen from Africa, a look at the most striking images from the past seven days.

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Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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November 3, 2013

A Palestinian boy holds a candle during a protest against electricity cuts. Gaza's lone power plant shut its generators due to a fuel shortage, a move that will likely increase already long blackout hours in the impoverished territory. 

Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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November 5, 2013

A burning barrel soaked in tar is carried at the annual Ottery St Mary Tar Barrel Festival. The tradition, which stretches back more than 400 years, sees competitors (who must have been born in the town to take part) running with burning barrels on their backs through the village, until the heat becomes too unbearable or the barrel breaks down. It starts with smaller barrels carried by children and continues all evening with ever larger barrels. The event, which has been threatened with closure on previous years, raises thousands of pounds for charity and attracts spectators from around the world.

Matt Cardy/Getty
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November 6, 2013

A kitten sits on the roof of a house that is covered with debris from the eruption of Mount Sinabung. The 8,530-foot volcano has been unleashing volcanic ash high into the sky and forcing the evacuation of villagers living around its slope. 

Binsar Bakkara/AP
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November 6, 2013

Demonstrators march in the rain during a 24-hour general strike that paralyzed public services and disrupted transportation. European Union and International Monetary Fund auditors are working to finalize the recession-hit country's next budget, seeking to eliminate a fiscal shortfall that could bring more unpopular cuts. 

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty
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November 6, 2013

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye leaves 10 Downing Street in one of Queen Elizabeth II's Bentleys after a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, as part of her state visit to the United Kingdom.

Dan Kitwood/Getty
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November 5, 2013

Supporters of Seattle mayoral candidate Ed Murray look at early results as they wait for their candidate at an Election Night party. Murray challenged the incumbent mayor, Mike McGinn, in a race in which both candidates have been trying to establish themselves as the more liberal choice for voters in the Northwest's largest city.

Elaine Thompson/AP
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November 6, 2013

Kashmiri Ali Mohammad makes kangris, or fire pots, inside his home in Trajbal village. A kangri is an age-old device for keeping warm, consisting of a decoratively woven yellow wicker case housing an earthen pot for burning charcoal. Even modern heating gadgets have failed to replace it, mainly due to its portability and low cost. 

Dar Yasin/AP
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November 7, 2013

Russia's Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft, which is carrying an international crew that includes Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin,  U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, and an unlit Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, flies after blasting off. Two cosmonauts will take the unlit torch on a space walk on Nov. 9 before it returns to Earth on Nov. 11. 

Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty
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November 7, 2013

Bangladeshi mother Nazma Begum grieves at the grave of her garment-worker daughter Aakhiat, who was identified through DNA, at a Jurain graveyard. Authorities have failed to identify the final 165 victims of Dhaka's Rana Plaza factory collapse, an official said, meaning their families still cannot be compensated six months after the disaster. 

Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty
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November 5, 2013

A memorial cross and poppy lays on the floor on a blanket of fallen pine needles at the National Memorial Arboretum. The site is preparing to observe a two-minute moment of silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year, marking the exact time when guns fell silent at the end of World War I in 1918.

Christopher Furlong/Getty
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November 6, 2013

Philippines Coast Guard personnel stand in formation beside newly acquired rubber boats following a blessing ceremony. Chief Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena ordered the boats deployed to the central Philippines in preparation for the super typhoon Haiyan. The nation prepared for what meteorologists said would be the most powerful typhoon to hit the storm-ravaged country this year. 

Jay Directo/AFP/Getty
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November 6, 2013

U.S. citizen William Potts prays at his home. Nearly three decades after he forced an airliner to bring him to the communist-run island, Potts was heading back to the U.S. and an uncertain legal future. FBI agents took the 56-year-old into custody Wednesday shortly after his charter flight arrived at Miami International Airport. 

Ramon Espinosa/AP
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November 6, 2013

Shadows are reflected on a wall as Indian villager Ram Lal, 60, who was injured in the Oct. 24 gunfire from Pakistani troops, shows shell marks on his house. Indian and Pakistani troops fired machine guns and mortar shells over the border in Kashmir, wounding at least 12 people, including children. A 2003 cease-fire between the nuclear-armed neighbors has largely held for the past 10 years, although sporadic violations are common. 

Channi Anand/AP
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November 6, 2013

A Christian pilgrim from the U.S. holds on to bars and he dips into the water of the Jordan River during a ceremony at the Yardenit baptismal site. Yardenit is one of the sites along the river where it is believed Jesus was baptized. 

Nir Elias/Reuters, via Landov
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November 5, 2013

Workers clean the interior of a building under construction. Chinese leaders have ordered local officials to stop expanding industries such as steel and cement in which supply outstrips demand, a cabinet statement said Tuesday, in a sign previous orders to cut overcapacity were ignored. 

Ng Han Guan/AP
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November 7, 2013

A sculpture of a woman and a child is silhouetted against the waters of Schwedsee at the former Nazi death camp Ravensbrück, 60 miles north of Berlin. On Nov. 9, Germany remembers the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass. On Nov. 9, 1939, the Nazis coordinated a wave of attacks in Germany and Austria, smashing windows, burning synagogues, ransacking homes, and looting Jewish-owned stores. 

Markus Schreiber
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November 3, 2013

A partial view of a total hybrid eclipse is pictured in Sibiloi National Park. Astronomy enthusiasts caught a partial glimpse of the rare celestial event, which hasn't been witnessed in Africa for more than 40 years. Weather hampered a view of the complete eclipse. 

CARL DE SOUZA