ESAM OMRAN AL-FETORI/REUTERS
Fireworks explode in the sky as people celebrate after polling stations closed during national election in Benghazi. Libya began its first free national election in 60 years on Saturday.
KIM KYUNG-HOON/AFP/Getty Images
A bilateral meeting takes place on the sidelines of the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan in Japan. The conference, aimed at charting a course for Afghanistan once foreign combat forces leave in 2014, ended with donor nations pledging $16bn.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Syrian refugees chant slogans during a protest at the Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay. A world meeting on Syria urged the UN to use the threat of sanctions to force change in Syria as President Bashar al-Assad was rocked by the defection of one of his most senior generals Manaf Tlas.
AHMED OUABA/AFP/Getty Images
Three of the six west African leaders participating in regional Economic Community of West African States leave a meeting in Burkina Faso's capital after calling for the International Criminal Court to investigate the destruction of shrines by Islamist group Ansar Dine in Timbuktu, Mali.
Ignat Kozlov/AP
A woman walks in a muddy street after flooding in Gelendzhik, southern Russia. Torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water in the Black Sea region on Thursday night, unleashing intense flooding that has killed more than 150 people and forced many to scramble out of their beds in search of refuge.
SASHENKA GUTIERREZ/EPA
Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador protest in Mexico City against what they consider "fraud" in presidential elections. Thousands of people marched through the city in a demonstration of opposition to President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Sudanese traditional dancers perform at a cultural festival in Juba to celebrate South Sudan's first anniversary. After breaking away from Sudan last year, South Sudan has faced a tumultuous year riddled by economic difficulty and conflict with its northern neighbour.
ANTONIO DASIPARU/EPA
Supporters of the FRETILIN party during a campaign rally in Dili, East Timor. The small island nation held parliamentary elections this week, with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's CNRT party winning the elections, but failing to reach a majority.
MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS
A Palestinian woman walks past a mural depicting late leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City. The Palestinian Authority agreed earlier in the week to exhume Arafat's body after an exclusive Al Jazeera investigation revealed that he may have been poisoned with polonium.