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1/18
Dangerous ice splendor:
Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada, is one of the regions in the north of the Americas that has been swept by a violent snowstorm.
An arctic cold front with temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Celsius caused chaos.
Dozens of people died.
See all the pictures of the week on our topic page.
Photo: Cole Burston/AFP
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2 / 18
Swimming supervision:
mirrored small and large - a duckling swims over the reflection of a gray heron.
A cold winter day in Seoul, South Korea, the Han River is partially frozen.
Photo: Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS
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3/18
No New Year's Eve fireworks:
The Bolivian riot police confronted supporters of right-wing opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho after his arrest in Santa Cruz last December 28th.
Camacho is governor of the economically strong region of Santa Cruz and is considered a key figure in the opposition.
After the arrest, the government did not disclose the charges.
Camacho was under investigation for multiple allegations, including an alleged role in the resignation of leftist President Evo Morales in 2019 and allegedly fueling protests in Santa Cruz that year.
Photo: Rodrigo Urzagasti / AFP
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4/18
Zero tolerance:
Chilean military stand in front of a mountain of scrap weapons in the capital Santiago.
Under leftist President Gabriel Boric, Chile currently has a zero-tolerance policy on guns.
More than 1,700 weapons were destroyed this year, Boric said on Twitter.
Photo: Javier Salvo / Aton Chile / IMAGO
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5/18
In God's service:
In many Christian countries, December 28th commemorates a massacre that the Bible tells about: King Herod is said to have arranged for the murder of all young male children in order to kill the newborn king, Jesus of Nazareth - which is not succeeded.
The day is celebrated as Holy Innocents Day, which roughly translates to "Day of the Holy Innocents" in German.
People celebrate the day with different customs and dress up accordingly.
Here, in Caucagua, Venezuela, a woman poses in an old police uniform.
Photo: Federico Parra / AFP
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6 / 18
Remembrance:
A flash mob on St. Sophia Square in Kiev is intended to commemorate the soldiers of the Azov regiment who have been in Russian captivity for six months.
The action was organized by relatives of the soldiers.
Photo: Carlo Cozzoli / Independent Photo Agency Int.
/ IMAGO
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7/18
Pink before gray:
Eight-year-old Lisa Shtanko looks into the camera while military vehicles drive by in front of her house.
Her hometown of Lyman is in the Donbas, and there has been fierce fighting there for months.
In early October, the Ukrainian army regained control of the small town.
Photo: Ionut Iordachescu / AFP
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8 / 18
Santa Claus:
Just before Christmas Eve, an elderly man distributes Christmas trees in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Even though the majority of people in Israel are Jewish, Christmas is celebrated in many places there.
Photo: Maya Alleruzzo/AP
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9/18
Photobomb:
An oversized Christmas tree lights up December 25 in Hong Kong's West Kowloon borough.
Many people hold up their smartphones to snap a photo of the famous beauty.
Photo: Yan Zhao / AFP
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10/18
Black and white thinking:
A believer from the Legio Maria African Church Mission lights a candle in front of the altar in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
Legio Maria is an independent religious movement in Africa.
It had developed in the 1960s from a group of followers of the Catholic Church.
Their belief is guided by the idea of the repeated appearance of a woman who is said to have reported seeing a black man who was the incarnation of God's Son.
In the Catholic and Protestant churches, Jesus is usually depicted as white.
Photo: Luis Tato / AFP
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11/18
Some warmth:
Migrants warm up by a fire after spending a night at the Mexico-US border.
They hoped for the end of a Trump-era law that allowed blanket deportation of migrants at the border.
However, the Supreme Court decided to uphold the rule for the time being.
Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
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12/18
Children
's delights : Mohamed Maarouf, dressed as Santa Claus, hands out gifts to children in an Iraqi slum on December 24.
There are around 700 informal settlements in the southern Iraqi city of Basra alone.
Around 3.5 million people live in slums throughout Iraq.
Photo: Hussein Faleh / AFP
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13/18
Divided:
A woman walks near a roadblock in the city of Mitrovica, Kosovo.
Both Albanians and Serbs live in Mitrovica.
The blocked road connects the Serb-majority part of the city with the Albanian-majority part.
Photo: Florion Goga / REUTERS
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14 / 18
Ciao 2022
: Workers install scaffolding in preparation for the New Year's fireworks display on the Museumplein in Amsterdam - the New Year's celebrations after all.
Photo: Robin van Lonkhuijsen / AFP
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15/18
In the loneliest place in the world
This image shows two Galileo antennas on the Desolation Islands of an archipelago in sub-Antarctica.
They are among the most isolated places on earth and are more than 3,300 kilometers from Madagascar.
There are no local residents, but France maintains a permanent presence of between 45 and 100 soldiers, scientists, engineers and researchers.
Photo: Patrick Hertzog / AFP
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16 / 18
Walking instead of skiing:
Hikers go for a walk in the Le Semnoz ski area near Annecy, because the ski area had to be temporarily closed due to a lack of snow.
The mild weather of the last few days in the French Alps and the Pyrenees has severely affected operations in the alpine ski areas.
In France, it has led to the closure of half the slopes.
Photo: Jeff Pachoud / AFP
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17/18
Fishing in murky waters:
emergency services observe how around 20 police divers in Berlin are looking for evidence in the case of the spectacular theft of jewels from the Green Vault in Dresden.
Around three years after the burglary in the treasury, most of the loot turned up again shortly before Christmas.
At that time, pieces of jewelry with a total of 4,300 diamonds and brilliants with a total value of over 113 million euros were stolen.
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
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18 / 18
Hardening since 1864:
At Christmas, people plunge into an ice-cold lake in London's Hyde Park.
They compete in the so-called Peter Pan swimming competition.
The picture shows the daring ones just before jumping into the water.
The custom dates back to 1864.
See all the pictures of the week on our topic page.
Photo:
Andy Rain/EPA