The Week in Photos at PublicPost

In the middle of this week, 400 years later, “Long Sausage Day” took place in Kaliningrad. The medieval Königsberg festival took place for the first time in the last 400 years.

Rio de Janeiro hosts the most famous and colorful carnival, which is considered one of the most important manifestations of folk culture. Street carnivals began in German cities as well.

Unexpectedly for everyone, on February 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced his abdication. The pontiff said that due to his health he could not “fully devote himself to the ministry entrusted to him.” Benedict XVI plans to finally leave the papacy on February 28.

Valentine's Day turned tragic for Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who shot and killed his girlfriend. According to one version, the girl decided to arrange a surprise and entered the athlete’s house, he mistook her for a robber and shot her.

Early on Friday morning, a meteorite fell near Chelyabinsk. The number of victims of falling meteorite fragments in the Chelyabinsk region has reached a thousand people. Photos of the meteorite and video footage spread all over the world.