Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the first week of 2017. For more photo galleries, see our Picture This archive.
Photos Of The Week #1
1
Serbs burn dried oak branches, which symbolizes the Yule log, on Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of the St. Sava temple in Belgrade on January 6. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)
2
Ethnic Albanians take part in a protest in Pristina on January 6 in response to an international arrest warrant for a former prime minister on war crimes filed by Serbia. (AFP/Armend Nimani)
3
A horse and a rider fall in the snow during a race that followed a celebration of an Epiphany religious service in Pietrosani, Romania. (Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via Reuters)
4
An Iraqi soldier looks at a wall painted in the colors of the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants, in the village of Argub, Iraq. (Reuters/Ari Jalal)
5
A boy warms himself around a fire in the northern Syrian rebel-held town of Al-Rai. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)
6
Protesters hold a combined U.S. and Albanian flag and placards, including one reading "Do Not Insult Kosovo," during a protest by Kosovar Albanians in front of the French Embassy in Pristina after Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was arrested in France on January 4 in response to an international arrest warrant for war crimes filed by Serbia. (AFP/Armend Nimani)
7
Georgian pensioners wave after winning a talent show in Tbilisi. The contest takes place every year before Orthodox Christmas and gives elderly actors and singers a chance to show off their talents. (epa/Zurab Kurtsikidze)
8
Men drink tea at a roadside tea shop on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani)
9
Participants wearing traditional Russian head wear perform during a winter swimming festival in the town of Podolsk, south of Moscow. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)
10
Ski jumper Evgeniy Klimov of Russia in action during a trial round of the fourth stage of the Four Hills Tournament at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event on the Paul Ausserleitner Hill in Bischofshofen, Austria. (epa/Christian Bruna)
11
Men dance in the icy waters of the Tundzha River in the Bulgarian town of Kalofer as part of Epiphany Day celebrations. As a tradition, an Eastern Orthodox priest throws a cross into the river. It is believed that the one who retrieves it -- as well as all those who dance in the icy waters -- will be healthy through the year. (AFP/Nikolay Doychinov)
12
Masks are pictured on sculptures in a park during a hazy day in Puyang, Henan Province, China. (Reuters)
13
A member of the Iraqi rapid-response forces holds a flower during battle with Islamic State militants in the Mithaq district of eastern Mosul, Iraq, on January 4. (Reuters/Thaier al-Sudani)
14
Russian marines attached to the antisubmarine ship Admiral Tributs show their skills during a demonstration at a park in Manila, Philippines. (epa/Francis R. Malasig)
15
An Afghan man works at his firewood stall in Kabul. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail)
16
A woman walks a dog on a snow-covered path beside the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Reuters/Chris Wattie)
17
Fish lie piled on a boat after being harvested by fishermen at Dojran Lake, Macedonia. (Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski)
18
A Syrian man rides a motorbike past a cemetery in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, Syria. (AFP/Abd Doumany)
19
An elderly migrant worker from India warms himself by a fire at a brick factory in Lalitpur, Nepal. Indian and Nepalese seasonal migrant laborers started to arrive at brick factories around the Kathmandu valley with the beginning of the winter season. (epa/Narendra Shrestha)
20
A rebel fighter of Jaysh al-Islam is reflected in a mirror in the village of Al-Rayhan near the rebel-held Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria. (Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)
21
Samah, 11, and her brother Ibrahim transport salvaged belongings from their damaged house in the village of Doudyan in northern Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)
22
People carry the coffin of Yunus Gormek, 23, one of the victims of the Reina nightclub attack, during his funeral ceremony in Istanbul on January 2. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
23
A building appears through a thick layer of fog in Yangzhou, in China's eastern Jiangsu Province. (AFP)
24
An Emirati falconer trains his bird during the Liwa Moreeb Dune Festival in the Liwa desert, some 250 kilometers southwest of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AFP/ Karim Sahib)
25
A boy reacts as he is being administered polio vaccine drops by vaccination workers along a street in Quetta, Pakistan. (Reuters/Naseer Ahmed)