Photos Of The Week - July 24-30

An old woman cries as Belarusian riot police detain opposition activists during a rally in Minsk on July 27 to mark the 20th anniversary of Belarus's declaration of sovereignty.

Photo by Victor Drachev for AFP

People walk along Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral seen through heavy smog caused by peat fires outside Moscow on July 26.

Photo by Sergei Karpukhin for Reuters

A Russian man rests while behind him a house burns outside the town of Vyksa, southwest of the Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod, on July 29. Five people died and hundreds lost their homes as a wave of forest fires spread through central Russia, fueled by strong winds and record temperatures.

Photo by Mikhail Voskresensky for Reuters

Iraqis light candles as they take part in a Shi'ite ritual in Karbala, south of Baghdad, on July 27. Thousands of pilgrims commemorated the birth of the 12th Imam Al-Mahdi, a Messiah-like figure revered by Shi'ite Muslims, who believe he disappeared centuries ago but never died.

Photo by Mushtaq Muhammad for Reuters

Residents cling to a rope as they walk through flood waters while evacuating the area after heavy rain in Pakistan's Baluchistan Province. Fifty people were killed when torrential rains unleashed flash floods in different parts of eastern Baluchistan.

Photo by Reuters

An Afghan boy tries to get a peek through the viewfinder of a journalist's video camera in the village of Saidon Kalacheh, north of Kandahar, on July 28.

Photo by Bob Strong for Reuters

Activists trying to protect the Khimki forest in northwest Moscow from destruction are attacked by unidentified assailants on July 26.

Photo by Igor Podgorny for Reuters

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a Harley Davidson at a large motorcycle show in Sevastopol, Ukraine.

Photo by Alexei Pavlishak for ITAR-TASS

Afghan boys scuffle as they play football in a street in Kabul on July 28.

Photo by Yuri Cortez for AFP

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, releases a dove during a prayer service in Kyiv on July 27 during a nine-day pastoral visit.

Photo by Sergey Dolzenko for epa

Police officers detain a member of the Svoboda (Freedom) Ukrainian nationalist party as he tries to take part in a rally to protest the visit of Russian Patriarch Kirill to Kyiv on July 26. The activist is holding a portrait of Kirill.

Photo by Konstantin Chernichkin for Reuters

U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division shield themselves as a medivac helicopter takes off in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar on July 30. One soldier lost his leg and another was hit by shrapnel after an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up during a patrol near the base.

Photo by Bob Strong for Reuters

A search-and-rescue dog leaps through the arms of his trainer from the Engineering Regiment of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during a demonstration on July 30 on the outskirts of Beijing.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown for AFP

An Orthodox priest baptizes a child in a river during a ceremony marking the adoption of Christianity, outside the Russian city of Nazarovo, some 200 kilometers west of Krasnoyarsk. On July 28, Russia officially celebrated a new holiday marking its conversion to Christianity in 988.

Photo by Ilya Naymushin for Reuters

An activist from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) mimics the contents of a typical meat package in Times Square in New York on July 27. The oversized package featured a price sticker warning, "Billions of Animals Are Abused and Violently Killed Because You Eat Meat."

Photo by Timothy A. Clary for AFP