Snapshots of the Fortnight (February 6 - 19)

Published: Feb 22, 2013

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People prance during the Springerzug carnival parade in Herbstein, Germany on February 11. The Springerzug, literally ‘jumping parade’, is an interpretation of carnival tradition particular to Herbstein. Rose Monday is the highpoint of the annual carnival in the region between Mainz, Cologne and Dusseldorf, where this carnival has been an annual tradition since 1823 and celebrates free-spirited merrymaking before the beginning of Lent

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People shield themselves from the blowing snow as a blizzard arrives in the Back Bay neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts on February 8. Massachusetts and other states from New York to Maine are hunkered down for the major blizzard with brought in record amounts of snowfall in some areas

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People begin to dig out from the big blizzard. Two people ski along Congress Street past the Old State House in Boston, Massachusetts on February 9

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A couple mourns next to a Tunisian flag during the funeral procession for late Chokri Belaid (the secular opposition leader) in the Jebel Jelloud district of Tunis on February 8. Tens of thousands of mourners chanted anti-Islamist slogans at the funeral of Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis

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A man, whose wife was killed in a stampede in Allahabad, India, on February 10, is consoled whilst arranging the release of her body the next day. According to Indian government sources, at least 36 people died in a stampede at Allahabad station as a train was pulling up on the busiest day of the Maha Kumbh Mela, which is believed to be the largest religious gathering on earth. It is held every 12 years on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati

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Hindu devotees bathe on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India on February 9. The Kumbh Mela alternates between the cities of Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The Maha Kumbh Mela celebrated in Allahabad, is the largest and holiest and takes place over 55 days attracting over 100 million people

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Um Jaafar, a woman fighter in the Free Syrian Army, with her husband Abu Jaafar, a Sawt al-Haq (Voice of Rights) battalion commander, and her daughter Faten at their home in Aleppo, Syria on February 12. Um Jaafar was a women's hairdresser before the revolution; after being trained by her husband, she is now a member of a Sawt al-Haq battalion on the frontline of Aleppo's Sheikh Saeed neighbourhood

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A little girl is flanked by grooms as she accompanied her father (rear) to register before a mass wedding organised by the government's Home Development Mutual Fund in Quezon City, Metro Manila on February 14. More than 3,000 couples were simultaneously married nationwide

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Revellers use fire extinguishers during a flour fight at the ‘O Entroido’ festival in Spain's northwestern village of Laza on February 11

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Bratislav Stojanovic, a homeless man, holds candles in a tomb which he inhabits, in the southern Serbian town of Nis on February 9. Stojanovic, 43, a Nis-born construction worker, never had a regular job. He first lived in abandoned houses, and about 15 years ago, he settled at the old city cemetery

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An Iberia worker is arrested by a Spanish riot police officer during clashes at Madrid's Barajas Airport on February 18. Workers at the loss-making Spanish flag carrier Iberia began a five-day strike at midnight, grounding over 1,000 flights and costing the airline and a struggling national economy millions of euros

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Lightning strikes St Peter's Dome in Vatican City on February 11 as Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign as the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, with effect from February 28. He said his age prevented him from carrying out his duties — an unprecedented move in the modern history of the Catholic Church

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The trail of a falling object is seen above a residential apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, in this still image taken from a video shot on February 15. A powerful blast rocked the Russian region of the Urals early in the day, with bright objects, identified as possible meteorites, falling from the sky, emergency officials said