The Observer's 20 photographs of the week

A dancer performs with sand during Gideon Oberson's show at Tel Aviv fashion week, in Israel Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Not dissimilar to Omar Feisal's World Press winning shot, but still a strong image.
A fisherman carries a swordfish on his back from the Indian Ocean waters to the market in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu Photograph: Ismail Taxta/Reuters

When photographers are invited to work in North Korea, the sheer otherworldliness of the place leads to captivating imagery.
Here, girls dance during a performance at a nursery school in the border town of Siniuju Photograph: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

A traffic co-ordinator stands on a roadside near portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il during a foggy morning in Kim Il-sung Square, in Pyongyang Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

Fans of Corinthians football club in Sao Paulo, Brazil watch a big screen showing the Club World Cup final match against Chelsea, which took place in Japan. Corinthians won 1-0 Photograph: Joao Castellano/Reuters

Richard Peters captured the stunning sight of thousands of Knots taking to the skies from the mud flats at Snettisham, on the Norfolk coast. Large numbers of birds visit the UK in winter from their Arctic breeding grounds Photograph: Richard Peters/Rex Features

Brendan Dolan throws a dart during day three of the 2013 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London, UK Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images

A girl looks out from the entrance of a temple as her mother offers daily prayers inside, in Lalitpur, Nepal Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

The Queen poses with members of the cabinet for a picture at No 10 Downing Street.
A great photo by Jeremy Selwyn who wouldn't say how the moment came about but a source has now revealed that the Queen cracked a joke and kept a straight face knowing the session wasn't over Photograph: Jeremy Selwyn/AFP/Getty Images

AP photographer Manu Brabo produced a very harrowing set from inside Dar al-Ajaza psychiatric institution in Aleppo, documenting some forgotten victims of the conflict.
Situated in the Old City district of Aleppo, between Free Syrian Army and the Syrian army positions, nearly 60 patients live in squalid conditions at the institute. Doctors who used to take care of them ran away when the war reached the city and there is a lack of food, power and medicine. Today, only three staff remain to care for the patients, who subsist on meagre donations Photograph: Manu Brabo/AP

A photograph released to Time magazine shows that Barack Obama survived an ambush by a mini-Spiderman, the son of a White House staff member, two weeks before his re-election Photograph: Twitter

A woman types on her laptop prior to the start of a demonstration opposing President Mohammed Morsi, at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

A horse shelters alongside a barn as snow falls in Kingston, Wisconsin, USA Photograph: Jeffrey Phelps/EPA

Twenty-seven wooden angel figures placed in a wooded area beside the road in Sandy Hook after the mass shootings at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, USA Photograph: Tim Clayton/Corbis

Mourners listen to a memorial service over a loudspeaker outside Newtown high school for the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting Photograph: David Goldman/AP

Reuters photographer Bernadett Szabo has been documenting daily life for Jews in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to highlight the injustice of growing anti-Semitism.
Here Sarah Nogradi prepares the dinner for the sabbath in her home Photograph: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters

A rodeo performer performs rope tricks at the end of the 10th go-round of the National Finals Rodeo, in Las Vegas, USA Photograph: Julie Jacobson/AP

Young Maasai warriors, or Morans, celebrate by dancing as they arrive at Mount Suswa in Kenya. Every 10 years Maasai from all over Kenya gather to witness the coming of age ceremony for the Morans at this sacred location Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

20 Photos regular Marco Longari was this week awarded the best photographer on the wires 2012 award by Time magazine for his work in the Middle East.
Here, an Egyptian opposition supporter is pictured through green laser lights as he takes part in a demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace, Cairo Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

Nasa's Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. In addition to the visual splendor, this special, very-high-phase viewing geometry lets scientists study ring and atmosphere phenomena not easily seen at a lower phase Photograph: NASA/AP