The Best Pictures of the Week, August 19 – August 26

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This week: Man walks a high wire, Gaddafi’s regime crumbles, the Pope past and present, World Youth Day, violence and famine in Somalia, idol makers, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, roadside attacks in Israel, burning NATO tankers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, building continues at One World Trade Center, and Ramadan draws to a close.

Germany
August 20, 2011. Freddy Nock of Switzerland balances on the ropeway of a cable car leading up Germany’s 9,718-ft. Zugspitze, near the resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Nock walked the 3,264-ft. cable, breaking his own world record.Michaela Rehle—Reuters
Afghanistan
August 23, 2011. U.S. troops in Afghanistan gather near a destroyed vehicle, protecting their faces from rotor wash as a medevac helicopter airlifts their wounded comrades. Three soldiers were hurt when their vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive device.Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty images
Israel
August 19, 2011. Israeli soldiers rest on the border between Israel and Egypt following a series of coordinated roadside attacks against military and civilian targets in Eilat, Israel. The militant group Hamas welcomed the attacks but did not claim responsibility. Uriel Sinai—Getty Images
Spain
August 20, 2011. A storm illuminates the sky during a vigil in Madrid, part of World Youth Day 2011. Begun by Pope John Paul II in 1985, Catholic World Youth Day events are held every three years in a different country.David Ramos—Getty Images
Pakistan
August 19, 2011. A Pakistani girl in Rawalpindi lines up with other women to receive a donated meal during the month of Ramadan. The food is paid for by wealthy local Muslims who give money to feed the poor during Islam’s holiest month.Muhammed Muheisen—AP
India
August 22, 2011. Young Indians make a human pyramid in Mumbai in an attempt to reach and break an earthen pot filled with yogurt as they celebrate Janmashtami, which commemorates the birth of the Hindu god Krishna.Rafiq Maqbool—AP
Haiti
August 20, 2011. Girls rest during a gathering of schools from the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. A year and a half after the devastating earthquake, recovery is still lagging.Ramon Espinosa—AP
Somalia
August 22, 2011. A Somali soldier puts two former comrades to death at Iskola Bulisiya square in Mogadishu. The men had been found guilty of murder.Oma Faruk—Reuters
India
August 22, 2011. Artisans work on semi-finished clay statues of the Hindu goddess Durga in Kumartuli, a neighborhood of Kolkata famed for its clay idols. Ongoing monsoon rains have made it hard for idolmakers to finish on schedule.Dibyangshu Sarkar—AFP/Getty Images
USA
August 22, 2011. The recently finished Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall in Washington is set to be dedicated on Aug. 28. King, who was assassinated in 1968, would have been 82 this year.Charles Dharapak—AP
India
August 22, 2011. A young Indian boy peeps from behind Indian soldiers as they watch the cremation of slain Indian army officer Lt. Navdeep Singh in Gurdaspur, India. Singh was killed, Aug. 20, when Indian troops in Kashmir fought a deadly gunbattle with suspected rebels crossing the military Line of Control from Pakistani-controlled territory.Altaf Qadri—AP
Somalia
August 19, 2011. A Somali military policeman stands guard as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits a Turkish field hospital at a camp for people displaced by famine and drought in Mogadishu, Somalia. Erodogan's visit was meant to draw attention to Somalia's drought and famine. Earlier in the week, he led a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, whose members pledged $350 million in famine aid for people displaced during the crisis.John Moore—Getty Images
Pakistan
August 23, 2011. 8-year-old Sumayya, whose uncle, Imran Ali, was injured in a shootout by unidentified gunmen, looks at him as he is brought to a hospital for treatment in Karachi. Karachi faced a complete shutdown on Tuesday after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced that a day of mourning would be observed against the ongoing wave of violence that has claimed nearly 100 lives in less than a week, local media reported.Athar Hussain—Reuters
Israel
August 29, 2011. Religious Jews inside the new Light Rail electric trolley as it passes the Old City walls of Jerusalem, reflected off the glass window of sleek modern transport system, the first day the trolleys carried passengers. The electric trolley has been a decade in the making, has been way over budget and full of criticism, but on the first day of operation, at no charge, the carriages of were filled and passengers appeared to enjoy the ride. Jim Hollander—EPA
Indonesia
August 18, 2011. Balinese men carry the coffin of Anak Agung Rai Niang during the Hindu Royal cremation—also know as the Pengabenan—for the mother of Gianyar Regent, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, at Puri Ubud in Gianyar Bali in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Niang Rai died in a Denpasar hospital in May; and will involve a nine level, 24m high 'bade' or body carring tower, made by upto 100 volunteers from 14 local villages. It will be carried to the cremation by 4500 Ubud residents.Ulet Ifansasti—Getty Images
Pakistan
August 22, 2011. Local residents watch the burning NATO supply oil tankers following an attack by gunmen on the main highway at Kolpur village, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province. Gunmen on motorbikes in southwestern Pakistan set ablaze at least 19 oil tankers carrying fuel for US-led NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.Banaras Khan—AFP/Getty Images
Pakistan
August 19, 2011. Local residents clean a mosque after a suicide bomb attack in the town of Jamrud, 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Peshawar. A suicide bomber hit a Pakistani mosque during Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people and wounding more than 100 others in the tribal district of Khyber, officials said. The Khyber bomb exploded after more than 500 people had packed into the mosque in the town of Jamrud, 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Peshawar, the main city in the northwest where most of the violence in Pakistan is concentrated.A. Majeed—AFP/Getty Images
Australia
August 24, 2011. A man watches an Australian Army Blackhawk popping up between buildings during counter terrorism exercises over the Central Business District in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday.Rob Griffith—AP
Japan
August 23, 2011. Japan Ground Self-Defense Force armed tanks fire during a fire exercise at the foot of the Mount Fuji in Gotenba, Japan. About 2,400 Ground Self-Defense personnel, 80 armed truck and tanks took part in the exercise.Junko Kimura—Jana Press/Zuma Press
August 25, 2011. A man checks the quality of dried noodles at a local factory in eastern Pakistan's Lahore. Many Pakistani people buy noodles for an early morning meal before they start fasting during the Muslims fasting month of Ramadan. Yslb Pak—XinHua/Xinhua Press/Corbis
August 25, 2011. Three captured Taliban insurgents are presented to the media in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.Mustafa Andaleb—Reuters
Colombia
August 20, 2011. Brazilian players celebrate at the end of the FIFA 2011 Under-20 World Cup final match against Portugal in Bogota, Columbia. Brazil won 3-2 in overtime.Luis Acosta—AFP/Getty Images
Spain
August 18, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI during the Holy Mass at Cuatro Vientos aerodrome to close the 26th World Youth Day festival, in Madrid, Spain. The Pontiff arrived on Aug. 18, to Madrid to chair the Catholic World Youth Day festival, which is expected to gather more than one million pilgrims from August 16-21, 2011.Claudio Onorati—EPA
August 25, 2011. A rebel fighter crouches down during an intense gun-battle outside the Corinthia hotel where many foreign journalists are staying in Tripoli, LIbya. Libya's rebel leadership has offered a $2 million bounty on Gadhafi's head, but the autocrat has refused to surrender as his 42-year regime crumbles, fleeing to an unknown destination. Speaking to a local television channel Wednesday, apparently by phone, Gadhafi vowed from hiding to fight on "until victory or martyrdom." Sergey Ponomarev—AP
Libya
August 23, 2011. People carry a portrait of Moammar Gadhafi inside a hotel in Tripoli, Libya. Libyan rebels stormed Moammar Gadhafi's main military compound in Tripoli Tuesday after fierce fighting with forces loyal to his regime that rocked the capital as the longtime leader refused to surrender despite the stunning advances by opposition forces.Sergey Ponomarev—AP
Libya
August 23, 2011. An armed rebel fighter kicks a volleyball near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound as its engulfed in flames. Libyan rebels captured the palace after days of fighting for control of Tripoli.Maxppp/Zuma Press
August 24, 2011. Libyan rebels patrol an area in Tripoli as a dead body floats in the sea on Fighting raged near Moamer Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound a day after it was captured by rebels, as loyalist troops staged a counteroffensive. Patick Baz—AFP/Getty Images
August 24, 2011. The body of a gunman lies in the woods after a shootout with soldiers in Zirahuen near Morelia, Mexico. One gunman, a suspected member of the Caballeros Templarios, a new spin-off cartel in Michoacan state linked to the Gulf Cartel, and a soldier were killed after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of patrolling soldiers, according to local media. Leovigildo Gonzalez—Reuters
August 25, 2011. A woman kisses the glass box carrying the relics of former Pope John Paul II during a Mass at the Basilica of Guadalupe, in Mexico City. The relics will be in Mexico City for four days. Ronaldo Schemidt—AFP/Getty Images
August 24, 2011. A welder works on an upper floor of One World Trade Center, New York. The tower is now built up to the 80th floor. Mark Lennihan—AP
August 24, 2011. An aerial view of Seyidka, a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Berkulan, close to the capital of Mogadishu, Somalia.Ismail Taxta—Reuters

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