Photos of the week

Islay, Scotland

Scottish country dancer Mairie McGillivray,16, dances on the beach at Bridgend as she poses for a photograph on the Hebridean island of Islay, March 11, 2014. 

When Scotland's nationalist government dropped the voting age to 16 for this year's referendum on independence, it was widely seen as banking on teenage radicalism to ensure a break with the United Kingdom. 

Credit: Paul Hackett/Reuters

Bangkok, Thailand

A woman wearing a mask greets anti-government protesters marching in the city center from inside a shop in Bangkok, May 8, 2014. 

Thailand's anti-corruption agency may decide on Thursday whether to pursue charges against ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that could see her banned from politics, ending any hopes she may have of staging an electoral comeback. 

Yingluck was thrown out of office on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court for abuse of power, the latest twist of a nearly decade-long struggle for power between Thailand's royalist establishment and Yingluck's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. 

Credit: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

London, United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Body Guard of the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen muster in the Abbey cloisters before the arrival of Britain's Queen Elizabeth for a Service of the Order of the Bath at Westminster Abbey in London May 9 , 2014. 

The service is held every four years and attended by the Prince of Wales, while the Queen attends every second service.  The Queen last attended in 2006. 

Credit: Adrian Dennis/Reuters

Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets her supporters as she leaves the Permanent Secretary of Defense office in Bangkok May 7, 2014. 

A Thai court found Yingluck guilty of violating the constitution on Wednesday and said she had to step down, throwing the country into further political turmoil, although ministers not implicated in her case can remain in office. 

Credit: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Sevastopol, Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his visit to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, May 9, 2014. 

Putin's visit to Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in March, is a "flagrant violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty, authorities in Kiev said today. 

Credit: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images

Washington D.C.

U.S. President Barack Obama rubs his head as he laughs at a joke during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington May 3, 2014. 

Credit: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Pyongyang, North Korea

Soldier-builders of KPA Units 966, 462, 101, 489, who took part in building the workers' hostel of Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Textile Mill, applaud during a photo session with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), May 6, 2014. 

Credit: KCNA/Reuters

Homs, Syria

Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad play soccer at al-Hamdeya neighborhood in Homs city, May 9,2014. 

Around 270 Syrian rebels granted safe exit under a complex deal with President Bashar al-Assad's forces are being held in Homs by the army after insurgents elsewhere failed to uphold their side of the agreement, Syrian officials said on Friday.  Following a year of siege, around 1,200 rebels and residents in the Old City of Homs left the city on buses this week in exchange for the release of dozens of captives held by rebels in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Latakia. 

Credit: Khaled al-Hariri /Reuters

Donetsk, Ukraine

Pro-Russia protesters burn a Ukranian flag outside the district council building in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, May 4, 2014. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk accused Russia on Sunday of engineering clashes in Odessa that led to the deaths of more than 40 pro-Russian activists in a blazing building and pushed the country closer to civil war. 

Credit: Marko Djurica/Reuters

Moscow, Russia

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reviews the troops during the Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square, May 9, 2014.  Russia celebrates the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany during World War Two on May 9th. 

Credit: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

Uttar Pradesh, India

A Hindu holy man Mahant Narendragiri displays the indelible ink mark on his finger after casting his vote, as a cow stands beside him outside a polling station in Allahabad, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, May 7, 2014. 

The multiphase voting across the country runs until May 12, with results for the 543-seat lower house of parliament expected on May 16. 

Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A man rides his motorcycle along a street decorated in celebration of the upcoming World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, May 6, 2014. 

Rio de Janeiro is one of the host cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. 

Credit: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

Hebron, West Bank

A Palestinian man holds a Fatah flag during a rally to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in the West Bank City of Hebron, May 9, 2014. 

Israel holds some 5,000 Palestinians it accuses of committing or planning violence against it. 

Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Odessa, Syria

A man holds carnations through a broken window of a burnt trade union building, the site of recent street battles between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian supporters, in the Black Sea port of Odessa, May 4, 2014. 

Passions ran high in Odessa before local soccer team Chornomorets was due to play Kharkiv's Metalist.  Fans who joined together to sing support for Ukraine's new leaders knew they might attract some trouble in the Russian-speaking city, but no one expected the chain of events that ended in the death of over 40 people. 

Credit: Gleb Garanich/Reuters

London, United Kingdom

A sign is seen pinned to a tree during a demonstration against the kidnapping of school girls in Nigeria, outside the Nigerian Embassy in London, May 9, 2014. 

The United States is considering a request by Nigeria to provide surveillance aircraft and intelligence to find more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist militants. 

Credit: Olivia Harris/Reuters

Mariupol, Ukraine

Children run to climb on a broken armoured vehicle of Ukrainian forces as is taken away by pro-Russian militants in Mariupol, May 9, 2014. 

Ukrainian security forces killed about 20 pro-Russian rebels who tried to seize control of police headquarters in the eastern port city of Mariupol on Friday, the Interior Minister said. 

Credit: Marko Djurica/Reuters

Cairo, Egypt

People walk under a poster of former Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in El Gamaliya district, where he spent his childhood in the old Islamic area of Cairo, May 9, 2014. 

As the Egyptian state presses its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the man expected to become president has deployed a new weapon in the battle with the Islamists: his own vision of Islam.  Al-Sisi, the former army chief who deposed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi and is expected to be elected president later this month, has cast himself as a defender of religion and taken aim at the doctrinal foundations of Islamist groups the state is seeking to crush. The poster reads "The people are with you.  Sweet tribute to the great army of Egypt." 

Credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

Soweto, South Africa

Supporters of South Africa's President Jacob Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC) listen to speakers during their party's final election rally in Soweto, May 4, 2014. 

South Africa goes to the polls on Wednesday in elections which are expected to keep the ANC in power. 

Credit: Mike Hutchings/Reuters

Odessa, Ukraine

A pro-Russian activist aims a pistol at supporters of the Kiev government during clashes in the streets of Odessa, May 2, 2014. 

Police said a man was shot dead in clashes between a crowd backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists in the largely Russian-speaking southern port of Odessa, which lies west of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in March. 

Credit: Yevgeny Volokin/Reuters

Florida, U.S.A.

Tyron Charles makes his way to a friend's house in the Kelly Ave Basin area in Pensacola, Florida, May 2, 2014. 

A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday in Pensacola's Escambia County after being inundated by as much as two feet of relentless rain over a 24-hour period, as severe thunderstorms raced across the northern part of the state.  Emergency officials fought to save motorists stranded by flood waters. 

Geneva, Switzerland

A cloisonne enamel Rolex watch is displayed on the sales catalog during an auction preview for Christie's in Geneva, May 9, 2014. 

The enamel of the watch was made by Marguerite Koch in 1949 and is expected to reach between USD 560,000 to 1,100,000 when it goes on sale at an upcoming Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva. 

Credit: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Madrid, Spain

Maria Sharapova of Russia returns the ball to Li Na of China during their women's singles quarter-final match at the Madrid Open tennis tournament, May 9, 2014.  Sharapova won in three sets. 

Credit: Andrea Comas/Reuters

Paris, France

Members of the French Republican Guard ride horses up the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris prior to a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, May 8, 2014. 

Credit: Remy De La Mauviniere/AFP/Getty Images

Tel Aviv, Israel

Zoo staff stand beside Mango, a 19-year-old Syrian brown bear, during preparations before his surgery at the Ramat Gan Safari near Tel Aviv, May 7, 2014. 

Mango suffers from a slipped disk, impairing his mobility and causing pain and will on Wednesday undergo complicated and unprecedented surgery on his spine in the hope of improving his quality of life, a zoo spokesperson said

Credit: Nir Elias/Reuters

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

A Meercat at Zoo Frankfurt in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, May 8, 2014. 

The Zoo in Frankfurt is the 2nd oldest in Germany and holds about 4500 individuals from about 500 animals species. 

Credit: Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images

Denby, England

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks as part of the Conservative Party's European and Local Election campaign at HL Plastics in Denby, central England, May 9, 2014. 

Credit: Darren Staples/Reuters

Walsrode, Germany

Two caracara chicks beg for food as they sit in a basket at the Walsrode birds park in Walsrode, northwestern Germany, May 7, 2014. 

In the wild, the birds of pray from the Falconidae family occur in an area ranging from southern North America to Tierra del Fuego. 

Credit: Holger Hollemann/AFP/Getty Images

Ladakh, India

Indian security force soldiers on election duty unload equipment off a bus as they leave a central collection point to head for a polling station, May 6, 2014. 

India is in the midst of a nine phase election that began on April 7th and ends on May 12th.  Ladakh voters will vote on May 7th. 

Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Tulcea county, Romania

A US Marine is pictured during "Platinum Eagle" military exercise at Babadag training area, southeast Romania, May 8, 2014. 

Platinum Eagle involves basic infantry tactics, advanced marksmanship, company-level command and control familiarization, both static and squad/platoon live fires with their counterparts from Romania, Bulgaria and Armenia. 

Credit: Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images

Florida, U.S.A.

Robots from the University of Miami, College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Computer Science play a game of soccer at the eMerge Americas Techweek held in the Miami Beach Convention Center, May 6, 2014. 

The eMerge conference brought together more than 100 speakers from large technology companies and emerging ventures throughout South Florida and Latin America as well as gave people hands on experience with robots, video games and other high tech ventures. 

Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Jammu, India

A domesticated elephant eats cucumbers near resting Hindu holy men on a hot summer day, May 7, 2014. 

The elephant is used for blessing devotees in return for alms. 

Credit: Channi Anand/AP

Guizhou, China

A swallow feeds her babies in their nest under the ceiling of a residential house in Dongfeng township of Guiyang, Guizhou province, May 5, 2014.