Fortnight in pictures: (September 17 – October 7)

Published: Oct 12, 2015

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a community reception at the SAP Center in San Jose, Californ

Image by : Stephen Lam / Reuters

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a community reception at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on September 27, 2015. The reception was the final event of Modi’s Silicon Valley tour, aimed at persuading big technology companies to bring more investment and jobs to India

US President Barack Obama (left) stands with Pope Francis during a welcome ceremony for the pope at

Image by : Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

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US President Barack Obama (left) stands with Pope Francis during a welcome ceremony for the pope at the White House in Washington on September 23, 2015. In his first papal visit to the US, the pontiff addressed the United Nations General assembly and the Congress

Opposition lawmakers crowd around Masahisa Sato (2nd L), deputation chairman of the upper house spec

Image by : Toru Hanai / Reuters

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Opposition lawmakers crowd around Masahisa Sato (2nd L), deputation chairman of the upper house special committee on security, at a special session on security-related legislation on September 17, 2015. Crowds of protesters rallied as Japan's parliament passed bills that allow troops to fight on foreign soil for the first time since World War II

A shirtless Xavier Broseta (2nd Left), executive vice president for human resources and labour relat

Image by : Jacky Naegelen / Reuters

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A shirtless Xavier Broseta (2nd Left), executive vice president for human resources and labour relations at Air France, is evacuated by security personnel after employees interrupted a meeting with representatives staff at the airline’s headquarters at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris on October 5, 2015. Air France has confirmed that it plans to cut 2,900 jobs by 2017 and shed 14 aircraft from its long-haul fleet as part of efforts to lower costs

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) addresses the European Parliament as French President Francoi

Image by : Vincent Kessler / Reuters

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) addresses the European Parliament as French President Francois Hollande (right) listens during a debate on the way forward on migration and economic policies, in Strasbourg, France on October 7, 2015. Merkel and Hollande addressed the European Parliament hoping to bolster EU cohesion to face interlocking crises in an echo of Franco-German unity in the days after the fall of the Berlin Wall

Satoshi Omura, professor at Kitasato University, reacts as he attends a news conference in Tokyo on

Image by : Issei Kato / Reuters

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Satoshi Omura, professor at Kitasato University, reacts as he attends a news conference in Tokyo on October 5, 2015. Three scientists from Japan, China and Ireland whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases such as malaria and elephantiasis were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine. Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis

Logos of Volkswagen (right) and Audi are seen on the wheel of a car at a used-car dealership in Seou

Image by : Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

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Logos of Volkswagen (right) and Audi are seen on the wheel of a car at a used-car dealership in Seoul, South Korea on October 2, 2015. German carmaker Volkswagen, rocked by a diesel emissions scandal that erupted on September 18, saw its sales in South Korea slide 7.8 percent in September from a month earlier, according to industry data

Traders buy the newly-released Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones from people who bought

Image by : Bobby Yip / Reuters

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Traders buy the newly-released Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones from people who bought the phones from an Apple Store, at Mongkok shopping district in Hong Kong, China on September 25, 2015. Apple sold a record 13 million iPhones during the debut weekend of its latest handsets, boosted by demand from China

Inflatable ducks are seen in front of the National Congress during a protest against tax increases i

Image by : Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

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Inflatable ducks are seen in front of the National Congress during a protest against tax increases in Brasilia, Brazil on October 1, 2015. The campaign ‘I will not pay the Duck’ is organised by the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo (FIESP) and uses the duck symbol in reference to industries that pay high taxes

A businessman crosses a road at Tokyo's business district on October 1, 2015. Japanese big manuf

Image by : Toru Hanai / Reuters

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A businessman crosses a road at Tokyo's business district on October 1, 2015. Japanese big manufacturers' confidence worsened in the three months ended September and companies were cautious on the outlook, a central bank survey showed, as they felt the pinch from volatile financial markets and slumping shipments to China

Dark, narrow, 100-meter-long streaks on Mars inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing wa

Image by : NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Handout/ Reuters

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Dark, narrow, 100-meter-long streaks on Mars inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water are seen in an image produced by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the University of Arizona. Scientists have found the first evidence that briny water may flow on the surface of the Red Planet during its summer months

Indonesian police spray water on a peatland fire in Kampar, Riau province on the Indonesian island o

Image by : Antara Foto/ Reuters

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Indonesian police spray water on a peatland fire in Kampar, Riau province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on September 20, 2015. Indonesia has ordered four companies to suspend operations for allegedly causing forest fires that have sent smoke across a swathe of Southeast Asia

A view of the supermoon near Agbar tower after the lunar eclipse in Barcelona, Spain on September 28

Image by : Gustau Nacarino/ Reuters

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A view of the supermoon near Agbar tower after the lunar eclipse in Barcelona, Spain on September 28, 2015. This larger-than-average full moon was the result of a rare combination of an eclipse with the closest full moon of the year

Peruvian shamans holding a figure of a Nino Jesus (Child Jesus) and a snake perform a ritual at the

Image by : Mariana Bazo / Reuters

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Peruvian shamans holding a figure of a Nino Jesus (Child Jesus) and a snake perform a ritual at the Rimac river to fight the negative effects of the Nino weather phenomena over nature in Lima on October 1, 2015

Devotees carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, into the Arabian Sea on the

Image by : Danish Siddiqui/ Reuters

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Devotees carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, into the Arabian Sea on the fifth day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 21, 2015. Ganesh idols are taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, and later immersed in a river or the sea in a ritualistic seeing-off of his journey towards his abode