World News in Pictures

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Sochi 2014: day 13 of the Winter Olympics – in pictures

The best images from Sochi on a day packed with action including medals in curling, women’s ice hockey and women’s free skating



Winner Maddie Bowman of the US is clearly thrilled to have won gold in the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe



Sweden's Victor Oehling Norberg, is the front runner hotly pursued by Russia's Igor Korotkov, Finland's Jouni Pellinen, and Switzerland's Armin Niederer during the men's ski cross quarterfinal at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park



Anna Sloan of Great Britain has her eye on a bronze medal as she sets up the stone in the Women's Curling competition in the Ice Cube Curling Center

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All for one and one for all: The Dutch team of Sven Kramer, Koen Verweij, Jan Blokhuijsen and Jorrit Bergsma (front to back) complete a practice run ahead of the Team Pursuit heats



Russia's gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova celebrates her win in the Women's Figure Skating Flower Ceremony



Gold medalists Magnus Hovdal Moan, Haavard Klemetsen, Magnus Krog and Joergen Graabak of Norway celebrate after the Nordic Combined Men's Team 4 x 5 km

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Marie-Philip Poulin of Canada jumps for joy after scoring past US goalkeeper Jessie Vetter. The Canadian women's hockey team went on to win gold against the US in a final score of 3:2



A patriotic hair style from Magnus Krog, a member of the Norwegian team which won gold medal in the team Gundersen large hill Nordic combined competition



Eve Muirhead and Vicki Adams of Great Britain celebrate as they win the bronze medal in the Women's Curling

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Ukrainian riot police stand in front of a ring of fire around Kiev's Independence Square during the ongoing protests in Ukraine, on Feb. 19, 2014. Ukrainian riot police launched a massive assault on thousands of anti-government protesters in central Kiev on Tuesday, with clashes killing at least 67 people this week and shattering hopes of a peaceful end to a crisis that erupted in November



A worker looks down while perched on the shoulder of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue was damaged by multiple lightning strikes recently and crews are beginning to repair the damage while adding more lightning rods to the famed statue



Thai riot police officers assist a colleague after an explosion during clashes with anti-government protesters near the Government House in Bangkok on Feb. 18. A Thai police officer was killed and dozens of protesters and police were wounded in gun battles and clashes in Bangkok on Tuesday



A priest holds a cross and shield during clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20. Ukraine's brittle truce shattered on Thursday in fierce clashes between baton-wielding protesters and riot police just as EU envoys were holding crisis talks with the embattled president

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Heartbreaking Reunion: Korean Families Meet Again After 60 Years

Dozens of elderly North and South Koreans separated for six decades reunited Thursday, weeping and embracing in a rush of words and emotion




A South Korean man who was offered the chance to reunite with relatives in the North sits in the lobby of a hotel in the city of Sokcho on Feb. 20, as he prepares to depart for the North Korean border.

A group of 82 elderly, frail South Koreans, two of them in ambulances, left for the North Korean border to attend the first reunion in more than three years for families divided by the 1953 Korean War



Kim Se-rin, right, and his wife Baek Hee-kyung prepare gifts for his family members in North Korea, at his house in Bucheon, South Korea, on Feb. 14. Kim was waiting to reunite with a sister he hasn't seen in six decades.

Both governments ban their citizens from visiting each other or even exchanging letters, phone calls and emails



Kim Sun-kyum, 91, is transported on a stretcher as he sets out to take part in the family reunion, at a hotel in Sokcho, South Korea, on Wednesday

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Ten coaches, with half a dozen police vehicles as escorts, made their way to the heavily-militarized border on Thursday.

These meetings — the first in more than three years because of high tensions — are a vivid reminder that despite 60 years of animosity, misunderstanding, threats and occasional artillery exchanges, the world's most heavily armed border divides a single people



Yoo Youn-sik, 92, dances as he attends a welcome dinner with his North Korean family members during their reunion at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea on Thursday



Kim Seong-yun, left, a 96-year-old South Korean woman, meets with her sister Kim Seok-Rye, center, and other relatives living in the North



Ryu Young-Shik, left, 92, meets with his North Korean relatives



84-year-old Ri Jong Sil, left, meets with her South Korean sister Lee Young-sil, 87.

"Sister, why can't you hear me?" Ri asked her older sibling, who has difficulty recognizing people because of Alzheimer's disease. Tears flowed down Ri's deeply wrinkled face as Lee's daughter began sobbing, telling her mother: "Mom, it's my aunt. It's my aunt. She's your sister''

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Lee Young-sil, 87, left, and her North Korean daughter Dong Myung-sook, 66, give food to each other at a dinner during the reunion.

These Koreans are the lucky few. Millions have been separated from loved ones by the tumult and bloodshed of the three-year war that ended in 1953. During a previous period of inter-Korean rapprochement, about 22,000 Koreans had brief reunions — 18,000 in person and the others by video. None got a second chance to reunite, Seoul says.

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See the most stunning images from the thirteenth day of competition in the Sochi Winter Olympics

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Ukraine truce collapses

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The protests first erupted in November when President Yanukovych rejected an association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia. Since then, the protests have spread across Ukraine, with demonstrators' main demand being snap presidential and parliamentary elections

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Staff at the California Drought Task Force State Operations Center, in Mather, are seen at work after state politicians announced a $687m (£412m) plan to provide immediate assistance to communities affected by the current drought.



People throw bottles at Burmese riot policemen during a training session under the European Union's programme to support reform of the country's police force.



UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (left) and Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway chief executive Jay Walder ride in an underground train in Hong Kong. Mr Osborne will attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Australia later in the week.

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Casualties in Kiev




WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT A man holds the hand of his dead son during the transfer of over a dozen of corpses from a hotel lobby to a local hospital following clashes with riot police at Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014


People pray near the bodies of anti-government protesters killed during clashes with riot police in Kiev February 20, 2014

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An anti-government protester reacts in front of dead bodies covered with blankets after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014

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Portraits from a protest




Anatoli, a 19-year-old student from the town of Dnepropetrovsk, poses for a picture at the barricades in Kiev, February 10, 2014. "I'm against the current rule, we are protecting our rights. I've been here for 2 weeks already. I will achieve the resignation of the authorities, in order for life to settle and justice to work for all," Anatoli said to Reuters

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