The Observer's 20 photographs of the week

Some of the week's best photojournalism came from the devastating bushfires in Australia. Here, in this image by Saeed Khan, a firefighter looks out at heavy smoke rising from trees as his team prepares to battle approaching flames from a bushfire near Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains, NSW Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP

Here, Melissa White and her sister, Christie Daschke, take in the scene near the remains of their home, which was destroyed by bushfires in Winmalee, Australia Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty

Participants fight during a fire-war ceremony at Dalem Temple, at Tuban, Indonesia. The annual ceremony, known locally as Siat Geni, is held to ward off bad luck and bring courage Photograph: Putu Sayoga/Getty

A youth stands on a a whale shark towed by fishermen along the coast of Surabaya in Java.. The shark will be sold to prospective buyers after getting entangled in a fishing net. Listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and banned for fishing by some countries, the species continues to be hunted in parts of Asia Photograph: Juni Kriswanto/AFP

Bulgarian Sashka Ruseva holds her son Atanas as she speaks to media outside her house in Nikolaevo. Police have identified a couple they suspect are the natural parents of a blonde girl found in Greece, and prosecutors are investigating the woman for selling her child Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

A fighter for the Committee for the Protection of the Kurdish People keeps watch from behind a fortified wall in the Kurdish town of Derik on the border with Turkey and Iraq. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Kurdish fighters are engaged in combat against the al-Qaida-affiliated groups, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front Photograph: AFP

Crystal Palace's mascot, the eagle Kayla, is photographed before the match between Crystal Palace and Fulham at Selhurst Park. Fulham won 4-1, which resulted in the departure of the Eagles' manager, Ian Holloway Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty

Lady Gaga leaves the Ritz Carlton hotel in Berlin, where she is promoting her new album 'Artpop' Photograph: Action Press/Rex

Japanese choreographer Hiroaki Umeda performs Holistic Strata during a rehearsal in Singapore. Photograph: Imago/Barcroft Media

Palestinian residents clash with Israeli forces in the village of Bilin near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel's security service had reported that Israeli forces killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant Mohamed Aatzi in the West Bank. It was believed that he was responsible for a Tel Aviv bus bombing last year Photograph: Nasser Nasser/AP

Palestinian schoolchildren sit in a vehicle after throwing flowers into the seaport of Gaza City in remembrance of the Palestinian migrants who died after their boat sank while fleeing Syria for Italy Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, arrives for a meeting of the European People's party at Meise, outside Brussels, Belgium. The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, summoned the US ambassador this week to protest at allegations that US intelligence services had monitored Merkel's mobile phone Photograph: Thierry Roge/EPA

Barack Obama looks at Karmel Allison of San Diego who began to lose her balance during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his healthcare law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Yuya Shino produces an effective way of illustrating a financial story as he photographs pedestrians standing in front of an electronic board displaying stock prices in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei share average suffered its biggest decline for three weeks, hit by the dollar's tumble against the yen on heightened expectations the Federal Reserve will keep its stimulus in place until early next year Photograph: Yuya Shino/Reuters

Members of Italy's Guardia di Finanza clash with protesters in front of the economy ministry. Thousands of people marched through Italy's capital to protest against unemployment and government cuts Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

A swan walks across the Charles Bridge in Prague Photograph: Michal Cizek/AFP

Blake Aldridge dives from a 25 metre rock at Viking Caves in the Andaman Sea at the 2013 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Phi Phi Island, Thailand Photograph: Red Bull/Getty

In this photograph by Observer 20 regular Muhammed Muheisen, a Pakistani woman walks back to her home through a brick factory carrying a bed on her head and holding a rooster on the outskirts of Islamabad Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP

Demonstrators run from teargas fired by police near the Instituto Royal laboratory in São Roque, Brazil. Clashes broke out after animal welfare activists broke into the lab and released beagle dogs being used to test for adverse effects of drugs manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry Photograph: Nelson Antoine/AP

An Indian street child plays in a dry river bed after flood waters receded in Allahabad Photograph: Sanjay Kanojia/AFP