Week in Pictures: 18-24 January

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A selection of striking news photographs from around the world this week.

This aerial photo shows excavators at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province.Image source, AFP
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This aerial photo shows excavators at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients following an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan in China's Hubei province. China is rushing to build a new hospital in 10 days to treat patients in the city, which is at the centre of the outbreak.

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A woman and a boy wearing protective masks take a selfie in front of a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.Image source, Nicolas Asfouri / AFP
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A woman and a boy wearing protective masks take a selfie in front of a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Large-scale Lunar New Year events in the city have been cancelled as part of national efforts to control the spread of the new SARS-like virus that has appeared in China.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the stand of a company that converts footsteps into energy, at the Innovation Zone during the UK-Africa Investment Summit in LondonImage source, Leon Neal / REUTERS
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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a corporate stand for products that convert footsteps into energy at the Innovation Zone during the UK-Africa Investment Summit. The summit was held in London with the aim of encouraging new international investment and trade.

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Farmer burns a sugar cane field at night as local growers try to avoid arrest by authorities who banned on the practice to curb smog in Suphan Buri provinceImage source, Chalinee Thirasupa / Reuters
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A farmer burns a sugar cane field in Suphan Buri province, Thailand. Local growers burn the cane at night, to try to avoid arrest by authorities who banned the practice to curb smog.

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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg attends a session at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.Image source, Fabrice Coffrini / AFP
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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who's been named Time magazine Person of the Year, attends a session at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. Switzerland. In her speech, she admonished world leaders for not doing enough to limit carbon emissions.

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Women and children stand outside accommodation made available by the community for Internally Displaced People (IDP) from northern Burkina Faso in Kaya, on 22 January 2019.Image source, Olympia de Maismont / AFP
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Women and children stand outside accommodation in Kaya made available for internally displaced people from northern Burkina Faso. Since the attack on Nagraogo market and on the village of Alamou on Monday, hundreds of people have fled to the camp.

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A large crowd gathers on a Gun Lobby Day in front of the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond.Image source, Stephanie Keith / Reuters
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A large crowd gathers in front of the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond, USA. Thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest against gun-control legislation such as universal background checks and a military-style weapons ban being enacted by state legislators. The Democratic Party won control of Virginia's state government in November.

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The peloton rides through a bushfire-damaged area in the Adelaide Hills during stage two of the Tour Down Under from Woodside to Stirling in South Australia.Image source, David Mariuz / EPA
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The peloton rides through a bushfire-damaged area in the Adelaide Hills during stage two of the Tour Down Under, from Woodside to Stirling in South Australia. Though less affected by fire than other regions in eastern Australia, major bushfires hit the area in December and are thought to have destroyed up to a third of the vines that provide grapes for the Adelaide Hills wine industry.

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National Police Air Service picture of fog on Tuesday over the Prince of Wales Bridge - the second Severn crossing - which carries the M4 motorway between England and Wales.Image source, National Police Air Service via PA Media
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The National Police Air Service took this image of fog over the Prince of Wales Bridge. Crossing the River Severn, the bridge carries the M4 motorway between England and Wales.

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Ray Terry, a furnace man at the foundry where the castings of the iconic British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) masks are made, poses with a finished mask, ahead of the annual awards ceremony, London.Image source, Toby Melville / Reuters
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Ray Terry, a furnace man, poses with a British Academy of Film and Television Awards mask at the foundry where they are made. The BAFTA annual awards ceremony will be held in London on 2 February.

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All photographs belong to the copyright holders as marked.