Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond. (31 PHOTOS)
Photos Of The Week #45
1
The family of a 5-year-old Afghan girl who was allegedly raped by a 22-year-old man looks on as she lies in a hospital bed in Mazar-e Sharif. The alleged rapist was detained by police. (AFP/Qais Usyan)
2
A Russian female traffic police officer dressed as an angel talks to a car driver in central Kaliningrad on the international day to commemorate traffic-accident victims on November 14. (ITAR-TASS/Yelena Nagornykh)
3
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi scatters rose petals at the memorial of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in New Delhi on November 14. Suu Kyi is on a six-day visit to India. (Reuters/Ravi Choudhary)
4
A passenger passes a line of police at Atocha rail station during a 24-hour nationwide general strike in Madrid. Spanish and Portuguese workers staged the first coordinated strike across the Iberian peninsula on November 14, shutting down transport, grounding flights, and closing schools to protest austerity measures and tax hikes. (Reuters/Paul Hanna)
5
The 76-carat "Archduke Joseph" diamond was sold at auction in Geneva on November 13 for more than $21 million -- a world-record price per carat for a colorless diamond. Once part of the collection of Archduke Joseph of Austria (1872-1962), the diamond was mined at the legendary Indian Golkonda mine. (AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
6
Delegates clap after a speech by outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao during the closing ceremony of the Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (AFP/Mark Ralston)
7
A Pakistani Hindu carries oil lamps on the occasion of Diwali in Lahore. Diwali, the festival of lights, is one of the biggest Hindu festivals. People decorate their homes with flowers and earthen lamps to celebrate the homecoming of the God Ram after vanquishing the demon king Ravana and honor the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. (AFP/Arif Ali)
8
Couples take part in a mass wedding ceremony in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Thirty-five couples took part in the mass wedding sponsored by a state company. (AFP/Vyacheslav Oseledko)
10
A woman stands on a bench above a flooded street during a period of seasonal high water in Venice, Italy. The water level in the canal city rose to 149 centimeters above normal. (Reuters/Manuel Silvestri)
11
A man carries luggage across a flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice. Rain and wind hit the north of Italy on November 11, sparking flooding that reached 150 centimeters in the ancient city. (AFP/Marco Sabadin)
12
Afghan patients eat inside a Red Cross mental health shelter on the outskirts of Herat. The shelter is run by the Red Crescent and currently treats more than 150 men and 20 women, providing food, sleeping facilities, and other health-care needs. (AFP/Aref Karimi)
13
Armenian troops mark the 20th anniversary of the formation of the reconnaissance troops of the RA Armed Forces at Qanaqer military unit in Yerevan.
14
People reenact a historic march wearing World War I-era French military uniforms during Armistice Day ceremonies at France's World War I military cemetery in Notre Dame de Lorette, Ablain Saint Nazaire, France. (Reuters/Pascal Rosssignol)
15
A Serbian man inspects donkey cheese in the village of Kukujevci near a farm in Zasavica Resort, some 80 kilometers west of Belgrade. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)
16
An antigovernment protester gestures as he stands in tear gas fired by riot police near the village of Diraz, west of Manama, Bahrain. (Reuters)
17
The coffin of 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe lies on a red carpet after archaeologists lifted it from his grave at the Church of Our Lady in Prague. Brahe died suddenly in 1601 at the age of 54 of what was believed to be a bladder infection. But some speculated that he may have been poisoned with mercury, possibly at the hands of a king or a rival astronomer. Danish scientists took samples from Brahe's body. They said on November 15 that "mercury concentrations were not sufficiently high" to cause the death. Brahe is credited with celestial observations which helped lay the groundwork for modern astronomy. (AFP/Michal Cizek)
18
Volunteers pose as they make 140 tons of kimchi, a traditional dish of spicy fermented cabbage and radishes, in a park in Seoul, South Korea. City officials will hand out kimchi to about 14,000 poor households in an event marking the start of the winter season. (AFP/Jung Yeon-Je)
19
Lasha Pataraya pulls an eight-ton truck with his ear in Rustavi, outside Tbilisi, Georgia. The 32-year-old sportsman will attempt to break a record registered by the Guinness Book of World Records by the end of the month, according to organizers. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)
20
Visitors toast the 2012 Beaujolais Nouveau wine while enjoying the wine spa at the Hakone Yunessun spa resort facilities, some 100 kilometers west of Tokyo. As the new vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau is officially uncorked, Hakone Yunessun started its annual 16-day Beaujolais Nouveau spa to attract visitors. (AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)
21
The Israeli military launches a missile from the Iron Dome missile system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva into the Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council held a late-night emergency meeting on the escalating tensions after Israel carried out more than 20 air strikes and sea artillery attacks on Gaza, killing the military commander for Hamas. (AFP/Menahem Kahana)
22
A Palestinian man sits inside a damaged house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City. Israel exchanged the fiercest fire with Hamas in years after assassinating its military mastermind and threatening a wider offensive in the Gaza Strip to stem Palestinian rocket salvoes. (Reuters/Suhaib Salem)
23
A novice Buddhist monk studies at the Kyat Khat Wine monastery in Bago, Burma (also known as Myanmar). Burma's government has said it "warmly welcomes" the historic visit of U.S. President Barack Obama later this month, expressing hope his trip will bolster the nation's political reform drive. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
24
A 15-year-old girl works on a carpet at her home in Jowzjan, in Afghanistan's Sheberghan Province. (AFP/Qais Usyan)
25
A man feeds a sparrow in the garden of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. (AFP/Dominique Faget)
26
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is seen through a damaged car window after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)