From escalating violence in the Gaza Strip and austerity riots in Europe to the flooding of Venice and murmurations of starlings in Scotland, TIME presents the best images of the week.
Nov. 11, 2012. A murmuration of starlings put on an a display over the town of Gretna, Scotland.PA Photos / LandovNov. 11, 2012. Police secure the area during clashes at the March of Independence marking Poland's Independence Day, in Warsaw.Czarek Sokolowski—APNov. 12, 2012. Israeli tanks stand in position overlooking a Syrian village from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.Avihu Shapira—ReutersNov. 11, 2012. Christian worshippers pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City.Ammar Awad—ReutersNov. 11, 2012. A team of Libyan experts and military engineers dump fuel from expired SA-2 missiles, under the supervision of the United Nations, in Tripoli.Ismail Zitouny—ReutersNov. 12, 2012. Injured people are treated outside a damaged hospital in Thabeik Kyin township, Myanmar.Soe Zeya Tun—ReutersNov. 11, 2012. A view of St. Mark's Basin during covered by exceptionally high water in Venice.Marco Secchi—Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. A man holds a flare as thousands of people from France and Belgium demonstrate during an anti-austerity protest in Lille, France.Philippe Huguen—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 9, 2012. The Ohio State Buckeyes bring the ball up court against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, during the Carrier Classic college basketball game played on board the U.S.S. Yorktown in Charleston, S.C.Chris Keane—ReutersNov. 15, 2012. A pig dives into the water in Ningxiang county, Hunan province, China. Villager Huang Demin drives his pigs to dive into the water from a 3-metre-high platform at least once a day, believing that the diving exercises would improve the quality and taste of the meat. ReutersNov. 9, 2012. An Afghan boy chases his friend riding a horse at the Qargha Lake in Kabul.Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesNov. 9, 2012. Strong winds and waves ripped several homes from their foundation, like this one in the Oakwood neighborhood of Staten Island, N.Y.
Stephen Wilkes for TIMENov. 9. 2012. The sister of 11-year-old Ahmed Abu Dagah cries during the funeral of her brother in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPANov. 9, 2012. An injured inmate lies on the ground, wounded by gunfire after a riot in the Welikada prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka as soldiers look on.S.Kodikara Ishara—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 9, 2012. A Japanese high school student holds a rose as he attends a ceremony to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall 23 years ago at the memorial site Bernauer Strasse in Berlin.Markus Schreiber—APNov. 9, 2012. A Colombian Air Force soldier attends a ceremony to mark the 93rd anniversary of the Air Force at the military base in Bogota.John Vizcaino—ReutersNov. 10, 2012. People gather at the site of a firecracker market that was destroyed in a fire in Vadodara, India.APNov. 10, 2012. Pakistani students pray for the health of 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai during a ceremony at their school in Mingora, Pakistan. Hundreds of Pakistani students and human right activists observed a day of appreciation for Yousufzai, who is being treated in Britain after being shot by the Taliban.Naveed Ali—APNov. 10, 2012. Kingsley Ihim, 12, Markeya Ihim, 15 mos., Jazzamia Ihim, 7, Martin Ihim, 4, and Shaun Ihim, 5, watch as Kebion, 6, practices his karate moves in the family’s 4th floor kitchen in the Redfern Houses of Rockaway, N.Y.Finlay MacKay for TIMENov. 11, 2012. Security cameras on a pole in front of a giant portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.David Gray—ReutersNov. 11, 2012. Two homes were leveled and numerous neighboring homes were damaged by a massive explosion that sparked a huge fire and killed two people in Indianapolis.Matt Kryger—The Indianapolis Star/APNov. 11, 2012. An injured person sits in a chair outside Kyauk Myaung hospital following a powerful earthquake that hit Myanmar, killing at least 13 people.Soe Than Win—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 11, 2012. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II stands by a cross bearing a poppy, during the service of remembrance, at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London.Kirsty Wigglesworth—APNov. 12, 2012. A woman carries her dog while walking through charred homes in Breezy Point, Queens, N.Y. which were left devastated by Hurricane Sandy.Adrees Latif—ReutersNov. 12, 2012. The family of a 5-year-old Afghan girl allegedly raped by a 22-year-old man, look on as she lies in a hospital bed in the Kaldar district of Balk Province, Mazar-i-Sharif.Qais Usyan—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 12, 2012. A girl lights earthen lamps in a formation to form the shape of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, on the eve of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.Ajay Verma—ReutersNov. 12, 2012. A relative of Asitha Sanjaya Disanayake, a prison inmate who was killed in a recent prison riot, lights a lamp near his body during a burial ceremony, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.Chamila Karunarathne—APNov. 13, 2012. A Syrian child sits on a sidewalk as he sells cigarettes in the Bab Al-Nayrab neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. Narciso Contreras—APNov. 13, 2012. An Indian family lights firecrackers during the festival of Diwali in New Delhi.Kevin Frayer—APNov. 13, 2012. Officers of China's People Liberation Army (PLA) watch planes performing during the 9th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai.Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 13, 2012. A donkey collapses from the heavy weight of bricks at a brick factory in Baghdad's southeast suburb of Nahrawan. The workers work 12 hours a day for about $5.Hadi Mizban—APNov. 13, 2012. An onca pintada jaguar sits in the Jardim Zoo in Brasilia. Eraldo Peres—APNov. 13, 2012. An Afghan National Army cadet moves to capture fellow cadets dressed as Taliban during a military exercise overseen by French and Canadian soldiers at the Kabul Military Training Center.Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. The mother of Shabir Ahmed Mir, a suspected militant of Lashkar-e-Taiba, holds a glass of milk as she clings to the bed carrying the body of her son during his funeral procession in Chingam, India.Dar Yasin—APNov. 14, 2012. Demonstrators fight with riot policemen during a protest on a day of mobilization against austerity measures by workers in Rome.Filippo Monteforte—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. Lu Changshan is seen in a bus which has been converted into a dwelling for him and his wife in Hefei, China. Lu, 39, and his 36-year-old wife Zhang Dingmei have been living in a bus for more than three years, selling cement and sand as their livelihood. In order to constantly watch over their construction materials and save on rent, they chose to live in the bus. ReutersNov. 14, 2012. Fruit bins burn at a packing store in Wolesley, about 120km north of Cape Town.Rodger Bosch—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. A U.S. flag is seen in the front door of a damaged home in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, N.Y.Adrees Latif—ReutersNov. 14, 2012. Two wrestlers fight during an amateur wrestling match inside a makeshift ring built on a road junction in Kolkata.Rupak De Chowdhuri—ReutersNov. 14, 2012. An Afghan Pashtun boy, who said he was forced from the troubled province of Baglan due to threats from the Taliban, winds up his day after scavenging for recyclables at a garbage dump site in Kabul.Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. Afghan boys sit around a fire after scavenging for recyclables at a garbage dump site in Kabul.Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2012. Columns of smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City.Adel Hana—APNov. 15, 2012. The Iron Dome defense system fires to intercept incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod.Tsafrir Abayov—APNov. 15, 2012. The parents of 11-month-old Palestinian baby Ahmed Masharawi, killed in an Israeli strike, hold his body during his funeral in Gaza City.Adel Hana—APNov. 15, 2012. The brother of Palestinian boy Walid al-Abadlah, who according to hospital officials was killed in an Israeli air strike, kisses his body during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—ReutersNov. 15, 2012. Palestinians mourn next to the body of Hamas militant Mohammed al-Hams during his funeral in Gaza City.Ali Ali—EPANov. 15, 2012. An Afghan woman clad in a burqa and her daughter walk through a cemetery in Kabul.Adnan Abidi—ReutersNov. 15, 2012. Israelis react and run for cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi. Nir Elias—ReutersNov. 16, 2012. The mother of 10-month-old Palestinian girl, Hanen Tafesh, killed the day before in an Israeli air strike, is comforted by her husband and relatives as she mourns before her funeral in Gaza City. Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 16, 2012. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is seen through a damaged car window after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in the southern city of Ashdod. Israel has started drafting 16,000 reserve troops, the military said on Friday, in a sign that violence could escalate further with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Amir Cohen—ReutersNov. 16, 2012. A guard checks the vacant plenary session hall of the lower house in Tokyo. Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament for an election next month, in a political gamble widely expected to strip his center-left party of power.Toru Yamanaka—AFP/Getty ImagesNov.16, 2012. The Palestinian sister of 10-year-old Audi Naser, cries during his funeral after he was killed in an Israeli air strike, in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPA