Bethlehem, West Bank — Greek Orthodox clergymen clean the Church of the Nativity, believed by many Christians to be at the site of the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Nasser Shiyoukhi / Associated Press

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Abidjan, Ivory Coast — Mariame Kanfando, 10, with her father, wait outside a morgue to get the bodies of her mother and two sisters killed in a stampede on New Year's Eve. Survivors of the stampede that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a fireworks display at a stadium said Wednesday that barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Emanuel Ekra / Associated Press

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Cairo — An Egyptian woman walks past a downtown shop. The Egyptian pound slid nearly 1% Monday, bringing the exchange rate at banks to 6.42 pounds to the dollar. It marked a cumulative loss of nearly 4% this week after Egypt's central bank took steps in what bankers believe is an attempt to control the devaluation of the currency.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Khalil Hamra / Associated Press

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Herat, Afghanistan — An Afghan boy tries to hit ball with a stick during an Afghan game known as top danda.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Hoshang Hashimi / Associated Press

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=78187

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Kabul, Afghanistan — Vulnerable Afghan families threatened by the country's harsh winter weather wait to receive winter goods distributed by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says more than 2 million Afghans throughout the country are at risk from extreme weather this winter.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: S. SABAWOON / EPA

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=78188

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Srinagar, India — Kashmiri government employees shout slogans as Indian police detain them during a protest. The employees demanded regularization of their jobs and that the government compensate them for unpaid salaries.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mukhtar Khan / Associated Press

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Hong Kong — Approximately 18,000 shark fins are left out to dry on top of a roof top of an industrial building in Kennedy Town district. Shark fin traders have taken to drying freshly sliced fins from sharks on roof tops in the city since a public outcry in 2010 over them drying the fins on public sidewalks forced them to move the trade out of sight.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PAUL HILTON / EPA

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Bangkok, Thailand — Suspects in the rape of Russian tourists attend a press conference at the Royal Thai Police headquarters as a policeman shows the press an identifying feature that one of the victims reportedly recognized. Thai police arrested three suspects in the rape of two Russian tourists at Pattaya beach resort.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NARONG SANGNAK / EPA

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Gonaives, Haiti — People sing in the street during ceremonies marking Haiti's 209th year of independence from France in 1804. Haitian President Michel Martelly made a new year plea for unity, urging his countrymen to rebuild together their shattered country almost three years after a devastating earthquake.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: THONY BELIZAIRE / AFP / Getty Images

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Oakland, Md. — Water flows through a snow-covered Muddy Creek Falls at Swallow Falls State Park near Oakland. Park officials had closed off the walkway nearest the water due to potential safety hazards. At 53 feet high, Muddy Creek Falls is the highest free-falling waterfall in the state of Maryland.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Steven R.Bittner / Cumberland Times-News

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=78193

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