International climbing competition, Purim celebrated | March 16
Competitors scramble during an international climbing competition in England, unrest continues in Iraq, the Paralympics come to a close and more in today’s daily brief.
- Indian revelers covered with colored powder pose for a photograph during celebrations for the Holi festival in Siliguri on March 16, 2014. Holi is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India and Nepal at the end of winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month. (Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)
- Gold medalist Anna Rizatdinova of Ukraine performs her exercise with ball at the individual final during the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary on March 16, 2014. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)
- Riot police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators during an anti-government protest in the Aegean port city of Izmir, Turkey, March 16, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was in Izmir to attend an election rally of his ruling AK Party. Turkey will hold municipal elections on March 30. The banner reads “Murderer Tayyip, get out of Izmir”. (Emre Tazegul/Reuters)
- An Iraqi Kurd family visits a graveyard for the victims of a gas attack by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 1988, as people mark the 26th anniversary of the attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja, 300 kms (190 miles) northeast of Baghdad on March 16, 2014. Some 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in the chemical gas attack by Saddam Hussein’s air force as part of a campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion, Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani today, signed a regional directive to promote Halabja from district status to a province. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pope Francis looks on at the end of his pastoral visit at the parish church “Santa Maria dell’Orazione” in the Setteville di Guidonia neighborhood of Rome, March 16, 2014. (Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
- Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard celebrates scoring his second penalty against Manchester United during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England, March 16, 2014. (Phil Noble/Reuters)
- An Iraqi policeman shows the palm of his hand with the word “police” written on it after the southern districts of the city of Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province, were recaptured by government forces from militants, on March 16, 2014. Anbar has been roiled in recent months by unrest that has seen anti-government fighters take control of the mainly Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah in the Anbar province, as well as shifting areas of the city of Ramadi, west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. (Azhar Shallal/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqis stand looking at a security forces convoy that patrols a street after local police took control of the Southern area of the city of Ramadi, west of the capital Baghdad in the Anbar province, on March 16, 2014. (Azher Shallal/AFP/Getty Images)
- A climber falls as he takes part in the CWIF international bouldering competition on March 16, 2014 in Sheffield, England. The ‘Climbing Works International Festival’, now in its eighth year, attracts world-class climbers from around the world to Sheffield to compete on short, challenging climbs. Bouldering is climbing without the need for ropes or harnesses on typically short, challenging routes. The Climbing Works bouldering wall has over 1000 square meters of climbing surface featuring hundreds of boulder problems. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
- Dancers perform during the annual parade for the Jewish holiday of Purim in Holon, near Tel Aviv March 16, 2014. Purim is a celebration of the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
- Dancers perform at the St Patrick’s Day parade in central London March 16, 2014. (Olivia Harris/Reuters)
- The “globe” sits on a monument decorating the Syrian town of Yabrud on March 16, 2014 after Syria’s army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah seized full control of the rebel bastion in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border. The town was once home to some 30,000 people, including a Christian minority, and had been a rebel bastion since early in the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011. (Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images)
- The pack of riders cycles after the start of the eighth and final stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice March 16, 2014. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)
- A man looks at messages of support and hope for the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 displayed in central Kuala Lumpur March 16, 2014. Police are combing through the personal, political and religious backgrounds of pilots and crew of the missing Malaysian jetliner, a senior officer said on Sunday, trying to work out why someone aboard flew the plane hundreds of miles off course. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
- A woman leaves a messages of support and hope for the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 in central Kuala Lumpur March 16, 2014. Police are combing through the personal, political and religious backgrounds of pilots and crew of the missing Malaysian jetliner, a senior officer said on Sunday, trying to work out why someone aboard flew the plane hundreds of miles off course. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
- Women toss their bras during the 5th Pink Bra Spring and Bra Toss and help Push Up the Fight Against Breast Cancer event at the Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris March 16, 2014. Pink Bra Bazaar is a charity dedicated to breast health education and supporting women diagnosed with breast cancer. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)
- Performers take part in the closing ceremony of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, March 16, 2014. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)
- South Sudanese people are seen aboard a boat on March 15, 2014 in Bor, as life come back to normal again following clashes in the recent past. South Sudan’s government has been at war with rebel groups since December 15, when a clash between troops loyal to Kiir and those loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar snowballed into full-scale fighting. Over 930,000 civilians have fled their homes since fighting began, including over quarter of million leaving for neighboring nations as refugees, according to the United Nations. (Samir Bol/AFP/Getty Images)
- Amazon chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos samples cooked cockroach at the 110th Explorers Club Annual Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. The club, which promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space featured catering by chef and exotic creator Gene Rurka. Chef Rurka prepared a variety of dishes featuring an array of insects, wildlife, animal body parts and invasive species. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
- Daniela Kittinger chews a cooked tarantula at the 110th Explorers Club Annual Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)