A statue of Jesus Christ called "Cristo Rey" is prominently located near the entrance of the Dimitrov neighborhood, which used to be so violent, people joked the Christ was being held up at gunpoint.
Juan Carlos for NPR
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These scuba divers are among the 2 million tourists who visit the Great Barrier Reef each year. They contribute about $5.6 billion to Australia's economy, according to the Queensland government.
Steve Dorsey for NPR
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud as the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, listens before a meeting at the Royal Palace in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 11.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
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Three female members of Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and an Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighter stand near the front line in Makhmur, in northern Iraq, on Aug. 9. The Turkish and Iraqi Kurds have been fighting together against the Islamic State.
Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images
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U.S. Marines board a C-130 transport plane as they withdraw from Camp Leatherneck, their huge base in southern Afghanistan. This marked the biggest handover yet to the Afghan army, which is facing a tough fight with the Taliban in Helmand province and other parts of southern Afghanistan.
Wakil Koshar/AFP/Getty Images
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Russia established the Crimean port of Sevastopol in the 18th century. After the Soviet breakup in 1991, Russia and Ukraine shared the naval base. But Russia has now taken the entire base, including Ukrainian ships.
Max Avdeev for NPR
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French riot policemen force out migrants who were hidden in a truck that was making its way to the ferry terminal in Calais in western France on Wednesday. The cross-Channel port has become the last barrier for economic and political migrants trying to enter Britain illegally.
Pascal Rossignol/Reuters/Landov
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A small solar-powered tree, invented by Israeli energy entrepreneur Michael Lasry, stands at the edge of natural greenery.
Emily Harris/NPR
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Companies from Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran were among the more than 100 Internet startups at this year's Startup Istanbul event on Sept. 30. It was Iranian entrepreneurs' first time competing on an international stage.
Courtesy of Startup Istanbul
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The site at Gobekli Tepe, or "Potbelly Hill," on the Urfa plain in southeastern Turkey is believed by some to be the world's first place of worship. This would upend the conventional thought that religion developed as a byproduct of human settlements.
Vincent J. Musi/National Geographic Society/Corbis
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Vincent J. Musi/National Geographic Society/Corbis
Iraqi policemen patrol Abu Ghraib, 25 miles west of Baghdad, in June. Islamic State militants have captured many cities and town in western Iraq this year. The government still controls Abu Ghraib, but the militants are nearby and local tribes are also restive.
Karim Kadim/AP
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Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon delivers a statement at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Jerusalem in June.
Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images
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In Mexico City on Wednesday, people march to demand justice for 43 missing students. Mexican authorities ordered the arrest of the mayor of Iguala and his wife in connection with the attack.
Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
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Passengers ride a cable car that links downtown La Paz with El Alto, Bolivia, in September. The trip costs about 40 cents and takes 10 minutes — compared with 35 cents and a half-hour by minibus.
Juan Karita/AP
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Abdul Sattar Edhi, 86, is an iconic figure in Pakistan who founded and runs the country's best-known charitable group. The Edhi Foundation was robbed of more than $1 million on Sunday, a crime that has provoked outrage.
Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images
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Peshmerga look out from a front-line outpost — a few sandbags, soldiers, and grenades perched on the brow of a hill — to the eastern Iraqi town of Jalula. The Kurdish fighters are grappling with how to combat changing ISIS tactics.
Alice Fordham/NPR
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Adi Asulin stands in the kitchen of her family's remodeled apartment north of Tel Aviv. She saved thousands of dollars by flying to China to buy furnishings and flooring directly from manufacturers.
Emily Harris/NPR
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