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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

We bring you some of the best photographs from across the globe.

A view shows the explosion of gas-filled balloons during a campaign rally in the central Republic Square in Yerevan.

The explosion injured at least 144 in central Yerevan during a campaign rally by Armenia's ruling party two days before a parliamentary election, a local emergency official was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Occupy Wall Street activists, one wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, rest on a sidewalk during a May Day demonstration in New York.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Medical students run away from tear gas canisters during a protest in La Paz. Doctors and medical students were demonstrating against a decision made by the Bolivian government to increase their working hours by two hours, as well as a threat by President Morales to replace them with Cuban doctors, according to organisers. 

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

A nun films as Pope Benedict XVI leads his weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Luara Crystal, 5, who suffers from brittle bone disease, lifts a weight next to her physical therapist during a session at the Association for the Aid of Disabled Children (AACD) in Sao Paulo. 

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

A Russian communist holds placards with portraits of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin during a rally to celebrate International Workers' Day, or Labour Day in Moscow.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Men learn how to operate sewing machines at the Mashal de-radicalisation centre run by the Pakistani army in Gulibagh, Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Pakistan's military drove militants out of Swat in 2009. Mashal is in the building which used to be the headquarters of the militants from where they imposed there austere version of Islam. Military officers, trainers, moderate clerics and psychologists were chosen to run three-month courses designed to erase "radical thoughts" of  those accused of aiding the Taliban.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Artist and poet Barry Edgar Pilcher, age 69, poses for a photograph as he plays the saxaphone on the Island of Inishfree in County Donegal. Pilcher is the only inhabitant of the island on which he has lived for the past 20 years. He only leaves the island once a week to collect his pension and buy groceries on the mainland.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Researchers dressed in panda costumes carry a cage as they transfer giant panda Tao Tao to a new living environment at the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province.

Tao Tao, 21-months-old, and its mother Cao Cao are being transferred to a bigger living environment with a higher altitude and a more complicated terrain, which marks the beginning of the third phase of its training to be reintroduced to the wild. Researchers wear panda costumes to ensure that the cub's environment is devoid of human influence, according to local media.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Sun Fengqin (L), 60, participates in a pole-dancing class in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. In China, where older women are expected to lead a quiet life tending to their grandchildren, retired grandmother Sun Fengqin's hobby is unusual - she pole dances.

Swings, spins and sultry moves are all in the repertoire of the long-haired 60-year-old, who took on pole dancing in admiration of what she saw as a sexy sport despite its image in China as something associated with strip clubs.

Pole dancing has over the last few years evolved into a popular pastime and a way of staying in shape, with devotees promoting it as a legitimate form of dance and acrobatics.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Alin Nava tries a headband with her pet piglet Charlotte in her bedroom in Monterrey. Nava, 25, is dressed in the so-called "Lolita" style, a fashion subculture from Japan influenced by clothing from the Victorian or Rococo eras.

Its basic style consists of a blouse, petticoat, bloomers, bell-shaped skirt and knee-high socks. Nava is the co-founder of the "Lolitas Paradise" club in Monterrey and for members of the club, the Lolita style is not only a fashion statement but also a way to express their loyalty, friendship, tolerance and unity.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

Boxer Lavarn Harvell (R) connects to the head of Tony Pietrantonio for a knockout during their third round of light heavyweight boxing fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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PHOTOS: A nun films the pope, pole dancing class and more

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

A gang member and inmate talks to his partner inside the prison in Quetzaltepeque. Rival Salvadoran gangs announced an expansion of the terms of a truce as the Central American country grapples with a plague of violent crime that threatens to sweep the nation.

Representatives from El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha and Mara 18 gangs told the media that the country's schools will be off limits to violent clashes from inter-gang warfare.

 

 

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Last updated on: May 9, 2012 08:45 IST

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