Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the first week of 2013. (38 PHOTOS)
Photos Of The Week #1
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Muscovites celebrate the new year in Red Square. (ITAR-TASS)
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A scene from the Arbaeen religious festival marking the 40th day after Ashura commemorating the seventh-century killing of Prophet Muhammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, in the shrine city of Karbala. (AFP/Mohammed Sawaf)
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Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Vespers and Te Deum prayers in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on New Year's Eve. (AFP/ Andreas Solaro)
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Pakistani pedestrians watch the last sunset of 2012 at a lakeview point in Islamabad. (AFP/Aamir Qureshi)
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Palestinians hold torches as they celebrate the 48th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement in Gaza City. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem)
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Fireworks explode over Victoria harbor to celebrate the new year in Hong Kong. (AFP/Antony Dickson)
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Fireworks are launched over Jakarta's main business road to mark the new year in Jakarta. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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Fireworks explode over and around the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during New Year's celebrations on January 1, 2013. (Reuters/David Gray)
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Father Frost and his granddaughter take part in a New Year's parade in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. (epa/Igor Kovalenko)
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A tray with marzipan pigs is pictured in Villingen-Schwenningen in southern Germany. Marzipan figures are often used for decorating the New Year's Eve menu in Germany. (AFP/Patrick Seeger)
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Shinto priests bow during a ritual end-of-the-year purification ceremony to prepare for New Year's Day at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Millions of Japanese people will visit shrines and temples across the country to celebrate New Year's Day, one of the most important holiday periods of the year. (AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)
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Afghan residents speak with border guards as they wait at the main border crossing at Torkham, between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Torkham was closed by Pakistani authorities. Hundreds of Afghans, including, women, children, the elderly, and people who were going from Afghanistan to Pakistan for treatment have been waiting for the border to open for several days. (AFP/Noorullah Shirzada)
