Photos Of The Week -- January 15-21

A demonstrator reacts as security forces use water cannon to disperse protesters in downtown Tunis on January 17. Tunisian security forces used water cannon, tear gas, and fired shots in the air as demonstrators took to the streets  demanding that the ruling party of the ousted president give up power .

Photo by Reuters

A Russian Orthodox believer plunges into icy waters in celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Kolpino, close to St. Petersburg, on January 19. Thousands of Russians jumped into holes cut in ice, braving freezing temperatures, on January 18 and early on January 19 to mark the Epiphany, when Russian Orthodox believers take part in a baptism ceremony.

Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev for AFP

Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims walk on a main highway linking Baghdad to the central shrine city of Karbala, 120 kilometers south of the capital, on January 20 on their way to attend the upcoming Arbain religious festival marking the 40th day after Ashura, which commemorates the killing of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, the Imam Hussein, in the seventh century.

Photo by Ali al-Saadi for AFP

A handicapped Shi'ite pilgrim is pushed on a wheelchair on a highway linking Baghdad to Karbala on January 20 as Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims continued to walk toward the central shrine city where they will attend next week the upcoming Arbain religious festival.

Photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye for AFP

A homeless man warms his foot on a fire in Kabul January 20.

Photo by Ahmad Masud for Reuters

Demonstrators  commemorate the second anniversary  of the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova during a march in Moscow's Tverskoi Boulevard. Markelov, formerly Anna Politkovskaya's lawyer, was shot dead in the street in January 2009, shortly after a press conference where he spoke out against the early release of Colonel Yury Budanov, who had been convicted of murdering Elza Kungayeva.

Photo by Aleksei Filippov for ITAR-TASS

Zukhro, an employee of the city zoo, walks with Vadik, an 18-month-old male lion, on the territory of the zoo in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on January 20. Employees take the lion from its cage for a walk two times a week while holding a piece of meat to attract Vadik's attention so he walks nearby.

Photo by Nozim Kalandarov for Reuters

A Russian Orthodox priest looks at a silhouette made of snow on the wall of the St. Peter and Paul fortress in central St. Petersburg on January 20.

Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev for AFP

Afghan women carry cans of drinking water in Kabul on January 17. Many years of conflict and several seasons of severe drought have damaged the water-supply network and dried out dams and walls in Kabul and in many other parts of Afghanistan, leaving large sections of the population without access to clean water.

Photo by Sayaed Jan Sabawoon for RFE/RL