World in focus — best photos for March 17, 2017

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  Smoke rises from clashes near Mosul’s Al Habda minaret at the Grand Mosque, where ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi declared his caliphate in 2014. Iraqi forces battle to drive out Islamic state militants from the western part of Mosul, Iraq. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters / March 17, 2017

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  Taronga Zoo’s yet-unnamed pygmy hippo calf, born on February 21, 2017, makes its public debut with mom Kambiri in Sydney, Australia on March 17, 2017. Jason Reed / Reuters

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  A young woman wears SNP stickers on her face at the Scottish National Party’s conference in Aberdeen, Scotland on March 17, 2017. Russell Cheyne / Reuters

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  A H-IIA rocket, carrying a government information gathering radar satellite, lifts off from the launching pad at Tanegashima space centre on the Japanese island of Tanegashima on March 17, 2017. Kyodo via Reuters

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  Iraqis in Mosul run for safety after clashes broke out between Iraqi forces battle and ISIL on March 17, 2017. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

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  An activist from Black Sash, a South African human-rights NGO, waits for a ruling in the hall at the constitutional Court on March 17, 2017, in Johannesburg. The court is deliberating how to resolve the social grant payment crisis in the country, two weeks before the current deal expires. Marco Longari / Agence France-Presse

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  Graffiti of a man throwing a petrol bomb in the Greek capital of Athens. Greek authorities on March 17, 2017 were trying to determine how a near-defunct militant group was able to sneak at least two parcel bombs through airport security, one of which exploded at the IMF offices in Paris earlier this week. Angelos Tzortzinis / Agence France-Presse

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  Britain’s Prince William, duke of Cambridge, left, watches his wife, Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge, attach a shamrock on wolfhound Domhnall, the regimental mascot of the Irish Guards, during a St Patrick’s Day parade visit to Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow, west London on March 17, 2017. Justin Tallis / Agence France-Presse

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  Actress Scarlett Johansson poses with fans for a selfie at a promotional event for her latest film, Ghost in the Shell, in Seoul, South Korea on March 17, 2017. The film will be released in the country on March 29. Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press

A look at the best photos from around the world today.