Oct. 23 Photo Brief: Kungfu students, animal sacrifices, brothel-sponsored soccer and gay marriage
Kungfu students perform during the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival, Hindu devotees sacrifice animals and burn effigies during Dussehra, hard economic times brings unorthodox sponsors to Greek soccer, French activists demonstrate against the upcoming law authorizing gay marriage and adoption and more in today’s daily brief.
- Turkish boys look through a shattered window after an anti-aircraft shell fired from Syria hit a health centre across the border in the Reyhanli district of Turkey’s Hatay province. (Osman Orsal/Reuters)
- A child searches for her toys among debris in Aleppo, Syria. (Zain Karam/Reuters)
- A jaguar swims towards his food that was dropped in the water during feeding time at Taman Safari Indonesia in Bogor, Indonesia West Java province. (Beawiharta/Reuters)
- A white tiger jumps up for his food at Taman Safari Indonesia in Bogor, Indonesia West Java province. 800 kilograms of meat are given to around 200 animals everyday, said a spokesperson for Taman Safari. (Beawiharta/Reuters)
- Nepalese bystanders watch as other devotees splash water on a buffalo to be sacrificed during the ninth day of the Hindu Dashain Festival in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese calendar and celebrates the triumph of good over evil. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
- Nepalese children cover their eyes and ears as soldiers prepare to sacrifice a goat on the ninth day of the Hindu Dashain Festival in Kathmandu. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese calendar and celebrates the triumph of good over evil with many victory stories told including the Ramayan, where the lord Ram after a big struggle slaughtered Ravana, the fiendish king of demons and Durga slaying the terrible demon Mahisasur, who terrorised the earth in the guise of a brutal water buffalo. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
- Hindu devotees prepare to sacrifice a buffalo calf as part of a ritual during the Durga Puja festival in Agartala, capital of the northeastern state of Tripura. The festival is one of the most popular for Bengali Hindus, who believe that the goddess Durga symbolises power and the triumph of good over evil. (STR/AFP/Getty Images
- Servicemen from the Interior Ministry’s special unit take part in a test near the village of Gorany, some 32 km (20 miles) west of Minsk. Servicemen have to pass several tough tests before being awarded entry to the ministry’s elite ‘Red Beret’ unit, according to the ministry. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)
- Muslim pilgrims wait for the start of prayers at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on October 22, 2012. Muslim pilgrims are descending in droves on Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest annual gathering which Saudi Arabia insists will not be affected by instability rocking the region. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)
- Players of the local Voukefalas soccer team wearing T-shirts displaying the logos of their sponsors, luxury brothels owned by Soula Alevridou, pose in the city of Larissa about 320 km (200 miles) north of Athens October 20, 2012. A brothel and a funeral home have become the newest benefactors of two cash-strapped Greek soccer clubs struggling to survive the country’s economic crisis. (John Kolesidis/Reuters)
- Soula Alevridou, whose brothels sponsor the local Voukefalas soccer team, sits on a couch as she poses inside her luxury brothel ‘Soula,’ in the city of Larissa, about 320 km (200 miles) north of Athens October 20, 2012. (John Kolesidis/Reuters)
- Fog covers the Inntal valley as the famous Nordkette mountains are seen on a sunny autumn day in the western Austrian province of Tyrol. (Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)
- An Indian vendor girl poses with effigies of the Hindu demon King Ravana at a roadside stand in Amritsar, on the eve of the Hindu festival of Dussehra. On the night of Dussehra, fire-crackers and stuffed effigies of Ravana are set alight in open grounds across the country. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Indian artist performs during a Dussehra festival procession in Allahabad on late October 22, 2012. The Hindu festival of Dussehra, during which a giant effigy of Ravana is burnt and which celebrates the victory of good over evil, culminates on October 24. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
- Fastest person ever, Jamaican Usain Bolt, poses under the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)
- People stand under a banner reading ‘A dad, a mum, we don’t lie to children’ take part in a demonstration called by the ‘Alliance VITA’ association against gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in Marseille, southeastern France. France on October 10 named October 31 as the date when a draft law authorising gay marriage will be approved by government ministers, amid mounting opposition to the proposed legislation. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)
- A lesbian couple kiss in front of people taking part in a demonstration called by the ‘Alliance VITA’ association against gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in Marseille, southeastern France. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)
- This picture taken on October 22, 2012 shows kungfu students performing at a Shaolin Temple to welcome guests during the 9th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province. More than 1500 athletes from 73 countries and regions took part in the 5-day festival. (AFP/Getty Images)
- This picture taken on October 22, 2012 shows kungfu students performing at a Shaolin Temple to welcome guests during the 9th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province. (AFP/Getty Images)
- This picture taken on October 22, 2012 shows kungfu students performing on the way to the Shaolin Temple to welcome guests at the 9th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province. (AFP/Getty Images)
- This picture taken on October 22, 2012 shows kungfu students performing on the way to the Shaolin Temple to welcome guests at the 9th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province. (AFP/Getty Images)
- Jockey Corey Brown (L) riding Rangirandoo and Hugh Bowman riding Shoot Out during trackwork at Breakfast With The Best at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. (Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)