Indian Ocean

Bullet-pocked walls and overturned chairs mark the reception area of a prominent hotel in the Somali capital following an attack that killed at least 21, including six attackers Blood spattered utensils, bullet-pocked walls and overturned chairs mark the reception area of a prominent hotel in the Somali capital following an attack by Islamic extremists that killed at least 21, including

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an arrived in war-torn Somalia on Jan. 25 amid tight security, a rare visit by a foreign leader to the war-torn nation.
      
Hundreds of soldiers and police officers had shut down much of the capital's streets, where on Jan. 22 five people were killed in a suicide attack on a hotel housing the Turkish delegation in Mogadishu.
      

Foreign leaders gathered in a cavernous mosque in the Saudi Arabian capital on Jan. 23 for the funeral of King Abdullah.
      
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the leaders of Sudan and Ethiopia joined Gulf rulers for the funeral prayer at Riyadh's Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque.

Preparations are continuing for President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s scheduled visit to Somalia, despite the Jan. 22 suicide attack in Mogadishu, Turkish Ambassador to Mogadishu Olgan Bekar has said.

No causalities are reported from the Turkish delegation, but one Turkish official was slightly wounded in the explosion, Bekar told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Bulgarian folk costumes were worn for the first time in the 2014 Seychelles International Carnival of Victoria.

PR expert Maxim Behar, Honorary Consul of Republic of Seychelles to Bulgaria, and two Seychelles children wore Bulgarian folk costumes during a parade before a crowd of some  25 000 people.