Best pictures from January 17
A man rides a horse through a bonfire in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain in honor of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals. On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, hundreds ride their horses trough the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the 'Luminarias' a traditional festival that dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires, and protect them for the year to come.Daniel Ochoa De Olza/The Associated Press
People walk through thick fog on their way to take a bath at the Bay of Bengal in Puri, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.Biswaranjan Rout/The Associated Press
A man passes by buildings destroyed by Syrian air force air strikes in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus.GORAN TOMASEVIC/Reuters
A bus wade through a flooded street in Jakarta, Indonesia. Floods regularly hit parts of Jakarta in the rainy season, but Thursday's inundation following an intense rain storm appeared especially widespread.Tatan Syuflana/The Associated Press
A resident practices Chinese martial arts on a sunny day at Ritan Park in central Beijing. Chinese leaders dazzled the world by clearing the skies as if by edict before the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. Fast forward to January 2013, and the government seems powerless against those same skies, tarnished by an opaque, toxic cloud that has smothered the city for nearly a week. Beijing will likely get some respite from the polluted air when winds sweep in on Wednesday to blow the smog away, local media reported.JASON LEE/Reuters
A pro-democracy protester displays her palms that are painted with the national colours of Syria during a demonstration in Sanaa. The demonstrators were calling for Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to make more decisions to complete the preparations for national dialogue and to demand that Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh be put on trial, according to organisers.MOHAMED AL-SAYAGHI/Reuters
Miniature portraits of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on grains of rice, created by Taiwanese artist Chen Forng-shean, are displayed on a pencil in Taipei. The grains of rice are about 0.5 cm (0.2 inches) long and 0.3cm (0.12 inches) high each.PICHI CHUANG/Reuters
Hindu priests hold oil lamps as they perform evening prayers on the banks of river Ganges during the "Kumbh Mela", or Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian city of Allahabad. During the festival, hundreds of thousands of Hindus take part in a religious gathering at the banks of the river Ganges. "Kumbh Mela" will again return to Allahabad in 12 years.JITENDRA PRAKASH/Reuters
The shadow of a helicopter is projected over KTM rider Cyril Despres of France competes in the 12th stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally from Fiambala, Argentina, to Copiapo, Chile. The race finishes in Santiago, Chile, on Jan. 20.Victor R. Caivano/The Associated Press
Young visitors run through the mirror-decorated path at a chocolate theme park in Shanghai, China.Eugene Hoshiko/The Associated Press