October 26, 2012 10:30 AM EDT
F rom the start of baseball’s World Series and Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean to the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and people dressed as pandas, TIME presents the best images of the week.
Oct. 21, 2012. Women civilians lay in the back of a truck as they are removed from a hospital in the Tarik Al Bab neighborhood, after they were injured by aircraft strike on a highway in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—Polaris Oct. 21, 2012. Two Cuban girls guard a polling station in Havana. Cubans lined up at polling stations Sunday for municipal elections in the one-party Communist-run island. Alberto Roque—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 19, 2012. Mexican soldiers are backlit after a gas pipeline explosion in Zapotlanejo, Mexico. Hector Guerrero—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 22, 2012. A Palestinian worker walks behind posters of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, left, and Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, right, in preparation for the upcoming visit to Gaza at Palestine stadium in Gaza City. Adel Hana—AP Oct. 23, 2012. Members of the media photograph the Soyuz rocket as it launches in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Bill Ingalls—NASA via Getty Images Oct. 19, 2012. A Chinese opera actress is reflected in a mirror before performing outside a shrine during the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand. The festival celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. Damir Sagolj—Reuters Oct. 20, 2012. Participants competing to become a world panda ambassador take a break in Shanghai. Twelve finalists from Britain, Singapore and the U.S. will be named in November as one of three globe-trotting "pambassadors" who will visit pandas around the world to promote conservation. Peter Parks—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 22, 2012. President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney participate in the final Presidential debate with moderator Bob Schieffer on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Win McNamee—Landov/UPI Oct. 23, 2012. A jaguar swims in the water during feeding time at Taman Safari Indonesia in Bogor, Indonesia. Beawiharta—Reuters Oct. 22, 2012. Medical staff at the Rambam hospital attend to a soldier pretending to be injured following a mock earthquake exercise in Haifa, Israel. Oliver Weiken—EPA Oct. 19, 2012. A devotee of the Ban Tha Rua Chinese shrine with a gun pierced through his cheek takes part in a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand. The festival celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. Damir Sagolj—Reuters Oct. 19, 2012. Relatives comfort a wounded woman at the site of an explosion in Beirut. A huge car bomb exploded in central Beirut during rush hour killing at least two people and wounding 46, witnesses and security sources said. Hasan Shaaban—Reuters Oct. 19, 2012. Mexican youth wearing skeleton masks and standing on stilts are seen at Zocalo Square in Mexico City. Mexicans honor their deceased loved ones during Day of the Dead celebrations on November 1st. Edgard Garrido—Reuters Oct. 19, 2012. A Hindu devotee dressed as Hindu monkey god Lord Hanuman leaps through a doorway as he enters Lord Hanuman's temple during a religious procession of the Navratri festival in Amritsar, India. Raminder Pal Singh—EPA Oct. 19, 2012. Pakistani students, displaced along with their families from Pakistan's tribal areas due to fighting between militants and the army, chant a song with their teacher, not pictured, during their daily school in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad. Nathalie Bardou—AP Oct. 19, 2012. Pigeons fly over the Grand Mosque at Friday prayers during the annual hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Amr Abdallah Dalsh—Reuters Oct. 20, 2012. Chinese customers walk along the spiral steps of the newly opened Apple Store in Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing.
Feng Li—Getty Images Oct. 20, 2012. Actors dressed as Japanese military soldiers and villagers perform during a show at the Eighth Route Army Culture Park, one of two theme parks, in Wuxiang county, north China's Shanxi province. Jason Lee—Reuters Oct. 20, 2012. A cow is transported from a truck at the animal market in Kabul. Ahmad Nazar—AP Oct. 20, 2012. A wounded Syrian civilian lies in the street with a shot to his stomach as he tries to escape the line-of-fire after he was targeted by a Syrian army sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—AP Oct. 20, 2012. A Free Syrian Army fighters carry a civilian away from the line of fire after he was shot twice by a Syrian army sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—AP Oct. 21, 2012. An Indian performer disguised as the Hindu Goddess Kali performs with fire during the Navratri festival in Allahabad, India. Navratri, the festival of nine nights, is an annual Hindu festival of worship and dance. Rajesh Kumar Singh—AP Oct. 21, 2012. Sri Lankan Tamil children play on a swing in a village in the former war zone district of Mullaittivu. The United States and the UN have expressed concern over "rushed re-settlement" of thousands of Tamil civilians displaced by Sri Lanka's separatist war that ended three years ago. Ishara S.Kodikara—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 21, 2012. Indian soldiers perform Malkhamb, a traditional Indian sport in which a gymnast performs on a wooden pole, during a two day Army exhibition in Allahabad.
Anupriya Sharmastrdel—AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 21, 2012. Heavy floods closed the Roman Catholic shrine, the Grotto of Lourdes, and forced the evacuation of 450 pilgrims in Lourdes, France.
Panoramic/ZUMAPRESS.com Oct. 21, 2012. Tapestries of Maria del Carmen and Pedro Calungsod hang on St. Peter's Basilica during a special mass to name seven new saints in St Peter's square in the Vatican City. Tiziana Fabiti—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 22, 2012. Family members of Autumn Pasquale participate in a candlelight vigil in Clayton, N.J. About 200 law enforcement officials and hundreds more volunteers searched for a southern New Jersey girl who disappeared over the weekend. Joseph Kaczmarek—AP Oct. 22, 2012. Priests carry the coffin of Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Torkom Manoogian during his funeral at the Armenian Church in Jerusalem. Ammar Awad—Reuters Oct. 22, 2012. A Sheriff holds a child that escaped harm in a triple homicide on De Soto Way in Rancho Cordova, California. Jose Luis Villegas—Sacramento Bee/Zuma Press Oct. 22, 2012. Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney is embraced by his wife Ann as members of the audience applaud after the conclusion of the final Presidential debate with President Barack Obama on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Michael Reynolds—UPI/Landov/Pool Oct. 22, 2012. Dozens of clowns from Peru, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, US and Mexico attend the International Clown Convention 2012 in Mexico City. Mario Guzman—EPA Oct. 22, 2012. Supporters of President Barack Obama listen as Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at the J. Babe Stearn Community Center in Canton, Ohio. Michael F. McElroy—The New York Times / Redux Oct. 22, 2012. DC Board of Elections worker Linda Johnson waits as voters cast their ballots on electronic voting machines during the first day of early voting in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 22, 2012. A Nepalese girl flies a kite during the Dashain festival in Katmandu. Dashain commemorates the victory of good over evil. Niranjan Shrestha—AP Oct. 23, 2012. Libyans celebrate the one year anniversary of liberation from former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, at Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya. Gaia Anderson—AP Oct. 23, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama sits aboard Marine One as it lands on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong—Getty Images Oct. 23, 2012. Nepalese devotees splash water on a water buffalo, unseen, as part of a ritual before sacrificing it, during the ninth day of the Dashain festival in Katmandu.
Niranjan Shrestha—AP Oct. 23, 2012. A man sleeps among his cattle at a livestock market before the Eid al-Adha festival in Mumbai. Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha by slaughtering sheep, goats and cows to commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail on God's command. Danish Siddiqui—Reuters Oct. 23, 2012. A refugee child walks on top of a tent in a refugee camp in Atimeh, on the Syrian-Turkish border of the Idlib Governorate, Syria. Asmaa Waguih—Reuters Oct. 23, 2012. Syrian residents carry the lifeless body of a boy killed by an artillery shell that landed near a bakery, in front of a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—AP Oct. 23, 2012. Syrian residents carry the lifeless body of a boy who was killed by an artillery shell that landed near a bakery, in front of a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—AP Oct. 24, 2012. People lay flowers during the inauguration of the "Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under National Socialism" in Berlin.
Thomas Peter—Reuters Oct. 24, 2012. Hindu devotees unload an idol of the Hindu goddess Durga for immersion into the Yamuna river during Durga Puja festivities in New Delhi, India. Altaf Qadri—AP Oct. 24, 2012. Jamaicans shelter themselves from the rain of approaching Hurricane Sandy as they walk along Sandy Park Gully in Kingston. Gilbert Bellamy—Reuters Oct. 24, 2012. A Palestinian activist is arrested by Israeli soldiers as dozens of Palestinians block the entrance of the Rami Levy supermarket opened in the Shaar Binyamin Jewish settlement close to the city of Ramallah in the Israeli occupied Palestinian West Bank. Ahmad Gharabli—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 24, 2012. A Palestinian boy watches the funeral of Hamas gunman Ismail al-Tille in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. Suhaib Salem—Reuters Oct. 24, 2012. Detroit Tigers left-fielder Delmon Young watches as the San Francisco Giants' Pablo Sandoval second home run goes over the wall in Game 1 of the World Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Jose Luis Villegas—MCT/ABACA USA Oct. 25, 2012. A Muslim pilgrim sleeps while others climb Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat in the early morning during the peak of the annual hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca. Amr Abdallah Dalsh—Reuters Oct. 23, 2012. Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba and pray in front of Station of Ibrahim "Maqam Ibrahim" at the Grand mosque during the annual haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca. Amr Abdallah Dalsh—Reuters Oct. 23, 2012. A cast member performs during the rehearsal of Thais opera by Jules Massenet as part of the Placido Domingo festival at the Maestranza theatre in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain. Marcelo del Pozo—Reuters Oct. 25, 2012. This general view shows a room where inmates can meet with visitors inside the No. 1 Detention Center during a government guided tour in Beijing. The rare visit to the facility, which has capacity for 1,000 inmates, was opened to the foreign media as Beijing prepares for the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China. Ed Jones—AFP/Getty Images Oct. 25, 2012. A model seen through a veiling curtain walks down stairs in front of a projection displaying a traditional Chinese-style painting at a fashion show by NE TIGER during the China Fashion Week in Beijing. Alexander F. Yuan—AP Oct. 25, 2012. Somalis carry a swordfish and a shark on their heads from the ocean to the market in Mogadishu, Somalia. Farah Abdi Warsameh—AP Oct. 25, 2012. President Barack Obama pauses to greet people as he leaves a campaign office. Obama came to Chicago to cast his election ballot, becoming the first sitting U.S. President to vote early. Brian Cassella—MCT/Zuma Press More Must-Reads from TIME