2009: The Year In Photos
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Serbia -- A man kisses the hand of Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle during a memorial service at the Congregational church, in Belgrade, 15Nov2009 - epa01934797 A man kisses the hand of Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle during a memorial service at the Congregational church, in Belgrade, Serbia, 15 November 2009. Patriarch Pavle, who led Serbia's Christian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, died on 15 November 2009 at the age of 95. POTW47
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Photo by epa/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC
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Czech Republic - Czech people watch a symbolic iron curtain falling on Narodni trida in Prague in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, on 17Nov2009 - CZECH REPUBLIC, Prague : Czech people watch a symbolic iron curtain falling on Narodni trida in Prague in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, on November 17, 2009. Thousands of Czech citizens followed the same route taken by student demonstrators in 1989 until a violent intervention by riot police took place in what was then communist Czechoslovakia. The event in 1989 sparked a series of much larger protests and strikes that ended with in the relinquishing of power by the communist authorities in December of 1989, paving the way for the democratic election of a post-communist government under the leadership of then-President Vaclav Havel. AFP PHOTO/ JOE KLAMAR
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Saudi Arabia -- Muslim pilgrims arrive gather at Mount Arafat, southeast of the city of Mecca, 26Nov2009 - SAUDI ARABIA, ARAFAT : Muslim pilgrims gather at Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi city of Mecca on November 26, 2009. Some 2.5 million Muslims from more than 160 countries converge annually on the Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS
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Russia -- Workers inspect a damaged railway carriage, 28Nov2009 - RUSSIAN FEDERATION, UGLOVKA : Workers inspect a damaged railway carriage not far from the village of Uglovka in Russia's Novgorod region on November 28, 2009, as it travelled between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Rescue workers searched for bodies on November 28, 2009 and investigators opened a terrorism probe after a Russian passenger train derailed overnight, reportedly killing 39 people and injuring nearly 100 more. AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV
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