Russia's Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft carrying an international crew including Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio along with an unlit Olympic torch for the 2014 Sochi Games blasts off from the Russian leased Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome on Nov. 7. Two Russian astronauts will take the unlit torch on a space walk on Nov. 9 before returning on Nov. 11.
Residents stand along a sea wall as Typhoon Haiyan hits the city of Legaspi, Albay province, south of Manila, Philippines on Nov. 8. Haiyan is one of the most intense typhoons on record in the country.
Students from St. Andrew's University celebrate a tradition of covering themselves with foam to honor the 'academic family' on Nov. 4 in St. Andrews, Scotland. Every November, students celebrate the "raisin weekend," in which first-years once gave raisins but now give foam to their elders as a thank you for their guidance.
Thang Long Traditional Water Puppet Theater puppeteers relax as others perform during a show on Nov. 6, in Hanoi, Vietnam. The water puppet tradition began in the 11th century in the villages surrounding the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam.
Balinese men gather during a cockfighting ritual on Nov. 3 in Kelusa Village, Bali, Indonesia. Cockfighting in Bali, known as tajen is believed by the Hindu community to expel evil spirits and protect livestock from disease outbreaks.
A member of the French gendarmerie is seen during a fight with protesters after a demonstration against job losses and against the government's "eco-tax," a controversial environmental tax on heavy goods vehicles, on Nov. 2, in Quimper, western France.
Wearing the World War II-era white winter camouflage smocks and carrying skis, Russian soldiers march at the Red Square in Moscow, on Nov. 5, during a rehearsal of the upcoming military parade. This week Russia marks the 72nd anniversary of the Nov. 7, 1941 parade, when Red Army troops marched past the Kremlin and then went directly to the front line to fight the Nazi Germany troops at the gates of the Russian capital.
A man practices Tai Chi at the Bund, a waterfront area in Shanghai, as heavy smog engulfs the city on Nov. 7. People were advised to stay indoors as the Shanghai Environment Agency measured air pollution levels at five out of a possible six.
A man prepares a tomb to be decorated at a cemetery in Panchimalco, south of San Salvador, El Salvador on Nov. 2 for the Day of the Dead.
White buffalos (kebo bule) are shepherded during celebrations for the Islamic New Year's Eve at Kasunanan Palace on Nov. 4, in Solo City, Indonesia. Locals believe that the parade of kebo bule will bring them a better life.
An Iranian woman steps on a U.S. flag outside the former U.S. embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4 during a demonstration to mark the 34th anniversary of the 1979 U.S. embassy takeover.
Joel Kjellgren, Data Center Manager walks in one of the server rooms at the new Facebook Data Center, its first outside the United States, on Nov. 7 in Luleaa in Swedish Lapland. The company began construction on the facility in Oct. 2011 and opened on June 12.
A Balinese man runs in a trance during the Dewa Masraman Ritual, which pays homage to the gods through offerings, on Nov. 2 at Paksabali village in Klungkung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. During the ritual, a battle is held in which dozens of men carry the effigies of deities installed on palanquins, rushing around the temple in a trance-like state, crashing into each other.
Men and women cross a busy intersection in east New Delhi on Nov. 1 on the eve of Diwali, one of the most important holidays in the Hindu calendar.
A goat balances on a pole held by a Pakistani animal handler in Islamabad on Nov. 2. The handlers earn a living by training animals to perform tricks in front of crowds.
Residents gather at a local bar in front of a building that is currently home to 82 families on Nov. 3 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Residents say the building has been occupied for the past 14 years and government officials have informed the residents that they will be relocated to new housing in the North Zone of the city ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
A gay rights activist takes part in a joint opposition rally called "March Against Hatred" in St. Petersburg, Russia on Nov. 2.
A Palestinian boy plays with a cat in the grounds of an abandoned house close to his home in Gaza City, on Nov. 4.
A priest blesses a newly delivered helicopter at the Police Airport Base in Lima on Nov. 4. Peru's Interior Ministry received the first of four Eurocopter EC145 twin-engine helicopters donated by France to renew the Peruvian police's air fleet.
Andrea Justine Aliman from the Philippines gets her hair ready while fixing a contact lens backstage during the Miss International Queen 2013 transgender beauty contest on Nov. 1, in Pattaya, Thailand.
Rendile tribe members are silhouetted after a rare solar eclipse in the Sibiloi National Park in Turkana, Kenya on Nov. 3.
