A wild encounter in Scotland, a lunar landing made by China, the 116th Congress begins in the U.S., Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is sworn in, New Year celebrations in Australia, surfing in Hawaii, snow on the Grand Canyon, ice castles in Utah, and much more
Photos of the Week: Space Snowman, Chilean Puma, Frozen Beak
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The new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, holds the gavel during the opening session of the 116th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019. #
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty -
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Midway Ice Castles take shape as artisans construct the popular winter attraction in Midway, Utah, on January 2, 2019. Artisans have spent the last five weeks growing, harvesting, and hand-placing icicles to create the life-size winter playground. #
Rick Bowmer / AP -
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Lenticular clouds cap Mount Rainier as a jet passes by at dusk on December 31, 2018, as seen from Seattle, Washington. Lenticular clouds, sometimes called "cap clouds," form over mountain peaks when moisture begins to increase in the upper levels of the atmosphere. They develop when fast-moving air is forced up over a physical obstacle, such as a mountain range or volcano. #
Elaine Thompson / AP -
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Still more abandoned shared bikes piled up in China: an aerial view of shared bicycles lined up in an enclosed space on the outskirts of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on January 2, 2019 #
Yang Bo / China News Service / VCG via Getty -
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This picture, taken on January 3, 2019, and received on January 4 from the China National Space Administration via the China News Service, shows a robotic lunar rover on the far side of the moon. A Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon on January 3, in a global first that boosts Beijing's ambitions to become a space superpower. #
China National Space Administration / AFP / Getty -
An off-road vehicle with a U.S. flag drives near the U.S.-Mexico border fence in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area east of Calexico, California, on December 30, 2018. #
Apu Gomes / AFP / Getty -
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A U.S. Border Protection officer stands in the rain as he watches the U.S.-Mexico border fence, from Tijuana, Mexico, on January 1, 2019. Discouraged by the long wait to apply for asylum through official ports of entry, many migrants from recent caravans are choosing to cross the U.S. border and hand themselves in to border-patrol agents. #
Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP -
Fireworks explode over The London Eye and Elizabeth Tower near Parliament as thousands of revelers gather along the banks of the River Thames to ring in the New Year on January 1, 2019, in London, England. #
Dan Kitwood / Getty -
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People jump into the Atlantic Ocean during the annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year's Day on Coney Island January 1, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The 115th Annual Coney Island Polar Bear Club Plunge is hosted by the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, the oldest winter bathing club in the United States, founded in 1903. #
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The Congolese opposition presidential candidate Martin Fayulu is mobbed by media crews as he leaves a meeting with other candidates, CENI, and SADC in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 29, 2018. Congolese people headed to the polls on December 30 for a presidential race plagued by years of delay and persistent rumors of lack of preparation. #
Jerome Delay / AP -
Flanked by the first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro waves to the crowd as he rides in an open car after his swearing-in ceremony, in Brasilia, Brazil, on January 1, 2019. #
Silvia Izquierdo / AP -
From left, Representative Ann McLane Kuster, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative Barbara Lee, and Representative Jahana Hayes turn to the gallery to pose for photographs at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, on the first day of the 116th Congress. #
Carolyn Kaster / AP -
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The statue of Sir Stamford Raffles is painted to blend into the central business district as part of the bicentennial commemorations of Raffles's arrival, in Singapore on January 2, 2019. #
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Ultima Thule—a 20-mile-long (32-km-long) Kuiper Belt object imaged by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on January 1, 2019, just 30 minutes before closest approach, from a range of 18,000 miles (28,000 km)—is shown in this image released by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, U.S., on January 2, 2019. #
NASA / Reuters -
Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican on January 2, 2019. #
Andrew Medichini / AP -
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An encounter is photographed as members of the public feed red deer in Glen Etive, Scotland, on January 4, 2019. The red deer are Britain’s largest wild animal, and they roam open moorlands around the country during the summer and move to lower ground for shelter during the harsh Scottish winters. #
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty
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