THE best pictures of the week from around the UK and world include a range of sporting and cultural events.

Liam Broady of Britain plays a forehand return during his first round match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne; and a runner and rider in the Happy 60th Birthday Yuff Handicap Hurdle at Catterick Bridge Racecourse.

A Burkina Faso soccer fan gestures, ahead of the African Cup of Nations 2022 group A soccer match between Cape Verde and Burkina Faso at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon; and a Hindu devotee lowers his face mask as his tongue was pierced with a metal rod during the Thaipusam festival as devotees comply with strict standard operating procedures due to the Covid-19 pandemic at Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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