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BRINGING HOME THE Bacon, a head count of a billion or more, naked festivals… and an elephant in the room (thanks to @janetravers and her 9-year-old daughter for that one): This is the week that was, in pictures.
A crowd of men in "fundoshi'' loincloth scramble for good luck amulets at a 1000-year-old traditional naked matsuri festival, held in early February every year to wish for good harvest and health in Oshu, Japan.Source: PA Images/Miho Ikeya
Far from resigned
Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak this evening after weeks of protest against 30 years of emergency rule.Source: PA Images/Tara Todras-Whitehill
Tutankhamun comes to town
A curator examines one of the replica sarcophagus at the Tutankhamun: His Tomb and Treasures show which opens at the RDS Dublin next week.Source: PA Images/Julien Behal
Reflective mood
British Trials Champion Gary MacDonald is pictured reflected in Loch Linnhe near Fort William in Scotland, during the launch of the tenth Fort William Mountain Festival.Source: PA Images/Danny Lawson
Bringing home the bacon
Three studies for a portrait of Lucian Freud by Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon sold for €27m at Sotheby's, London yesterday.Source: PA Images/Anthony Devlin
Billion-plus head count
Census workers take details of a Kashmiri family on the outskirts of Srinagar, India - the country has begun a mammoth effort to document every citizen in three weeks.Source: PA Images/Mukhtar Khan
Cork plane crash
A lone investigator surveys the destruction at the scene of yesterday's plane crash at Cork Airport in which six people died.Source: PA Images/Niall Carson
Spring sunrise
Trees are silhouetted against the early morning Kansas sky in the US - although the temperatures there are still sub-zero.Source: AP Photo/The Salina Journal, Tom Dorsey
Don't I know you?
Aimee Hall lays out heads on sticks marking the seating plan for Sunday night's BAFTAs in London.Source: PA Images/Dominic Lipinski
Elephant in the room?
As the political parties contesting General Election 2011 continued to argue over bank guarantees, budget cuts and the fiscal future of Ireland, the 9-year-old daughter of TheJournal.ie reader Jane Travers from Kildare paints it as it is...Source: @janetravers via Twitter
Slingshot hotshots
Afghan men fight each other with slings in a traditional game in a park in the centre of Kandahar.Source: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus
Yes, we're all looking at you
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured centre-stage here making a speech last month, had to apologise this week for making jokes about "inebriated" Irish people. Source: PA Images/Seth Wenig
Grand, no more
The grand hall of a 1000-year-old temple in Fuzhou city, China was gutted by fire this week. A 1,000-year-old building is believed to have been destroyed in a fire at a Buddhist temple in Fuzhou, capital of east Chinas Fujian Province, Monday (7 February 2011). Local authorities confirmed the fire engulfed the grand hall and one of the wooden chambers of the Fahai Temple in downtown Fuzhou at 3:12 a.m. and burnt for an hour, but they have yet to assess the damage. The fire prevention arm of Fuzhous public security bureau sent 21 fire engines and 147 firefighters to the scene, and the flames were put out at 4:11 a.m., a spokesman of the bureau said. He said no casualties were reported and all the temples cultural relics were unharmed. The Fahai Temple was built in 945 and houses a large number of ancient Buddhist scriptures that are recognized as national treasures.Source: PA Images/Zhang bin fj
Oh, the weather outside...
A mountain cow looks out from her stable during a snowfall at the Skansen open air museum in central Stockholm, Sweden.Source: AP Photo/Fredrik Persson
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Source: PA Images/Miho Ikeya" title="">
Source: PA Images/Tara Todras-Whitehill" title="">
Source: PA Images/Julien Behal" title="">
Source: PA Images/Danny Lawson" title="">
Source: PA Images/Anthony Devlin" title="">
Source: PA Images/Mukhtar Khan" title="">
Source: PA Images/Niall Carson" title="">
Source: AP Photo/The Salina Journal, Tom Dorsey" title="">
Source: PA Images/Dominic Lipinski" title="">
Source: @janetravers via Twitter" title="">
Source: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus" title="">
Source: PA Images/Seth Wenig" title="">
Source: PA Images/Zhang bin fj" title="">
Source: AP Photo/Fredrik Persson" title="">
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