The Thomas Fire in southern California, leopards in India and New York, unrest in the West Bank and Argentina, an FCC vote on net neutrality in the U.S., Christmas in a Brazilian prison, an upset victory by Doug Jones in a U.S. Senate election in Alabama, and much more.
Photos of the Week: Giant Skulls, Leopards, a Space Capsule Landing
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Three-year-old Josh Bedford runs through artist Ron Mueck's world-premiere installation "Mass." consisting of 100 larger-than-life human skulls each measuring 1.5m x 2m during a media preview of NGV Triennial at NGV International in Melbourne, Australia, on December 15, 2017. #
Scott Barbour / Getty -
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A man watches the Thomas Fire in the hills above Carpinteria, California, on December 11, 2017. The Thomas Fire in California's Ventura and Santa Barbara counties has consumed more than 250,000 acres, making it the fourth-largest fire in the state's history. #
Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty -
A picture taken from Vodno Mountain shows the tops of some of the city's highest buildings above clouds in an area with a high level of air pollution in Skopje,Republic of Macedonia, on December 15, 2017. #
Robert Atanasovski / AFP / Getty -
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In this long exposure shot, holiday lights reflect in the waters off Nubble Light, silhouetting photographer Michael Blanchette of Bedford, New Hampshire, on December 11, 2017, in York, Maine. The beacon on top of the lighthouse has been helping mariners navigate the coastal waters of southern Maine since 1879. #
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This combination photo shows portraits of some of the Rohingya Muslim women photographed during an interview with The Associated Press in November 2017 in Kutupalong and Gundum refugee camp in Bangladesh. They said they were raped by members of Myanmar's armed forces. The use of rape by Myanmar's armed forces has been sweeping and methodical, the AP found in interviews with 29 Rohingya Muslim women and girls now in Bangladesh. They were interviewed separately, come from a variety of villages in Myanmar and now live spread across several refugee camps in Bangladesh. The military has denied its soldiers raped any Rohingya women. #
Wong Maye-E / AP -
The Russian Soyuz MS-05 space capsule lands about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on December 14, 2017. Three astronauts on Thursday landed back on Earth after nearly six months aboard the International Space Station. #
Dmitri Lovetsky / AP -
The Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft is mounted on the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 15, 2017. The launch of the Soyuz MS-07 with the members of the International Space Station Expedition 54/55, NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled for December 17. #
Shamil Zhumatov / AFP / Getty -
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A female leopard looks up from inside a deep well that it fell into near a residential area on a hill on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, on December 13, 2017. Veterinarian and forest officials tranquilized and rescued the leopard before sending it to the state zoological park in Gauhati. #
Anupam Nath / AP -
A smoke-filled sky filters orange light around surfers as the Thomas Fire continues to grow and threaten communities from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara on December 12, 2017 in Carpinteria, California. #
David McNew / Getty -
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Japan's Akane Yamaguchi returns a shot to India's Pusarla V. Sindha (unseen) during the third day of the Dubai Badminton World Superseries Finals in Dubai on December 15, 2017. #
Mahmoud Khaled / AFP / Getty -
Balloons are released in the air above the border wall between Mexico and the United States, during the "Keep our dream alive" event, in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on December 10, 2017. Families separated by the border are reunited for three minutes through the fence that separates Ciudad Juarez Park in Mexico and Sunland in New Mexico, United States, during the event, organized by the Border Network for Human Rights on International Human Rights Day. #
Herika Martinez / AFP / Getty -
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Cellmates wearing Santa caps sit on their bunks during the 8th annual Christmas event at the Nelson Hungria Prison, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 12, 2017. Inmates who are serving time for offenses from burglary to homicide, spent weeks decking out the cell blocks with the holiday decorations they created. The inmates used materials they had access to behind bars such as plastic bottles, paper, ground-up Styrofoam and aluminum trays. #
Silvia Izquierdo / AP -
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai takes a drink from an oversized mug during introductions at an FCC meeting where they voted along party lines to repeal Obama-era net neutrality regulations in Washington, D.C., on December 14, 2017. #
Jacquelyn Martin / AP -
Undercover Israeli security personnel detain a Palestinian demonstrator during clashes at a protest against President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, on December 13, 2017. Photographer Mohamad Torokman was on assignment near the Jewish settlement, close to the Palestinian hub city of Ramallah, where protests were underway. Hundreds turned out, as they had done for days following Trump's announcement. Some burned tires, others hurled stones at Israeli troops, all oblivious to the surprise military move that awaited them. "The undercover personnel were posing as Palestinian protesters and were standing behind the stone-throwers," said Torokman, who has covered clashes in the region for nearly two decades. "All of a sudden, they started to fire their pistols into the air and throw sound grenades at the same time." The din of the grenades and guns caused panic among the protesters. Torokman saw eight Israeli personnel, wearing masks fashioned from Arab headdresses or the Palestinian flag, leap into action and detain protesters. He kept photographing, capturing this moment as an undercover agent grappling with a protester swung around, briefly pointing his gun directly at Torokman. "He shouted at me and told me to go away," said Torokman, who described the atmosphere as terrifying. "I heeded his order for my own safety and I quickly moved away." #
Mohamad Torokman / Reuters -
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Fans of Brazil's Flamengo soccer team light flares in the stands during a Copa Sudamericana final championship soccer match against Argentina's Independiente at Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 13, 2017 #
Silvia Izquierdo / AP -
People walk past a sculpture titled "Empty Bundle" by the artist Yang Tao, as a ray of sunlight hits it at an upscale shopping mall in Beijing, on December 13, 2017. #
Mark Schiefelbein / AP -
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Twenty Bosnian children play "Galop Marche", a classical piece by Albert Lavignac, in an attempt to set a Guinness world record for the largest number of people performing a single composition on a piano, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on December 12, 2017. #
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HUBO, a multifunctional walking humanoid robot, gets help as it loses its balance while carrying the Olympic torch at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea, on December 11, 2017. #
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A Nepalese worker takes rest while working on the construction site of Bajrayogini Hindu temple which was damaged in the 2015 earthquake in Sankhu, Kathmandu, Nepal, on December 14, 2017. #
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President Donald Trump holds a toy astronaut as he participates in a signing ceremony for Space Policy Directive at the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 11, 2017. #
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A sepak takraw player from Thailand roll spikes the ball over the net against Singapore during the King's Cup Sepak Takraw World Championship in Bangkok on December 14, 2017. #
Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP / Getty -
Villagers hold torches to represent light and vision during the Divina Pastora procession, as part of a festival to honor the Virgin of Los Rondeles, on the eve of St Lucia's Day, in Casarabonela, near Malaga, Spain, on December 12, 2017. #
Jon Nazca / Reuters -
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Democratic U.S. Senator elect Doug Jones greets supporters during his election night gathering the Sheraton Hotel on December 12, 2017 in Birmingham, Alabama. Doug Jones defeated his republican challenger Roy Moore to claim Alabama's U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by attorney general Jeff Sessions. #
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Workers carve the main sculpture Snow Song Winter Olympics for the 30th Harbin Sun Island international Snow Sculpture Art Exposition on December 12, 2017 in Harbin, China. The 30th Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Exposition runs from December 20, 2017 through February 28, 2018. #
Tao Zhang / Getty -
Members of the cast perform during the dress rehearsal of The Wintershall Nativity, the annual nativity play performed in a barn on the Wintershall Estate, near Guildford, England, on December 12, 2017. The Wintershall Nativity play, written by Peter Hutley and initially performed by family and friends, was first presented in 1990 in a barn on his 1,000-acre estate before an audience of 30 people seated on hay bales. The Nativity play tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, and is now performed annually over Christmas by the Wintershall players and features real farmyard animals. More than two decades later, more than 6,000 people will watch the performances in the run up to Christmas. / #
Adrian Dennis / AFP / Getty -
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Police launch tear gas canisters at stick-wielding protesters who hauled rocks and torched several garbage bins outside the Congress building and in nearby streets, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 14, 2017. Argentine police clashed Thursday with demonstrators protesting reforms to the retirement and pension system. #
Natacha Pisarenko / AP -
Clowns pose for a photo as they pay homage to Mexico's patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico, on December 13, 2017. #
Edgard Garrido / Reuters -
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