Closeup: Best Pictures of the Week, April 1 – April 8

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This week Afghanistan protestors react to a U.S. pastor’s burning of the Quran, the Libyan conflict continues, UN peacekeepers provide security in Ivory Coast, and, as the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space mission approaches, Russia’s Soyuez space ship carries a new crew to the International Space Station.

See last week’s Pictures of the Week.

Afghanistan
April 4, 2011. Florida preacher Terry Jones’ public burning of a Koran on March 20 was ignored by most. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s condemnation of the act sparked protests across ­Afghanistan that left at least 20 people dead, including seven U.N. workers. Thousands of men waving Taliban flags rioted in Kandahar, and these protesters in Nangarhar province burned the pastor in effigy.Rahmut Gul—AP
April 3, 2011. A woman from the Israeli Ethiopian community brandishes photos of her far-flung family during a demonstration outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem. The protesters petitioned the government to allow their relatives to join the 120,000 Ethiopian Jews already in Israel.Menahem Kanaha—AFP/Getty Images
April 3, 2011. A wounded man from Misratah, Libya, peers out a window of the Turkish ship Ankara as it docks in Benghazi. On an international mission of mercy, the Ankara is transporting hundreds of disabled survivors of Libya’s civil war to safe port in Turkey. Sebastian Meyer—Polaris
April 2, 2011. National policemen use their shields in Managua during a demonstration against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s bid for re-election in November. In 2009 the Nicaraguan Supreme Court overturned a section of the constitution that prohibited Ortega from seeking a third term.Esteban Felix—AP
April 1, 2011. Supporters of Yemen’s embattled President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, stand on pillars during a rally in Sana‘a. Saleh told his followers that he would sacrifice everything for his country—everything, it seems, but the office he holds, as his opponents demand.Khaled Abdullah—Reuters
April 4, 2011. Anti-government protestors display their arms and hands during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa,Yemen. Yemeni troops opened fire on crowds of protesters, killing at least six and wounding more than 30 others on Monday, according to various witnesses and medical officials. Arabic reads from right, " Our blood for our country", "Victory, Leave, Or we die, Murderer". Muhammed Muheisen—AP
April 5, 2011. A Chinese man repaints the characters on a tomb of his relative at a cemetery on the Qingming Festival in Beijing, China. The festival, also known as the Grave Sweeping Day is a day when Chinese around the world remember the dead and take time off to clean up the tombs and place flowers and offerings. Andy Wong—AP
April 3, 2011. A paper replica of Mercedez Benz is burnt as an offering to the dead during Chinese Qingming Festival or Ancestors Day at a cemetery in Petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. April 3, 2011. Bazuki Muhammad—Reuters
April 2, 2011. A Haitian man carries a piece of beef purchased from the cattle market in Mariani, which is located south of the capital Port au Prince. A cow is worth 30,000 Gourdes, or equivalent to 750 US dollars in Haiti. Hector Retamal—AFP/Getty Images
April 2, 2011. At a “princess prep” in central London, girls balance books on their heads to achieve that all-important Kate Middleton posture in a workshop called Regal Rules: An Introduction to Royal Manners & Behavior. Carl Court—AFP/Getty Images
April 1, 2011. Prince William greets Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh during a visit to RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales. Christopher Furlong—AFP/Getty Images
April 5, 2011. A time-lapse photo shows Russia’s Soyuz-FG rocket booster and TMA-21 spaceship after their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ship will carry its three-man crew—two cosmonauts and U.S. astronaut Ron Garan—to the International Space Station, the largest artificial satellite to have orbited earth.Dmitry Lovetsky—AP
April 2, 2011. A child's toy is seen in a pile of concrete blocks inside the abandoned and decaying Packard Motor Car Manufacturing Plant in Detroit, Michigan. Eric Thayer—Reuters
April 2, 2011. A man walks as crude oil spills from a pipeline in Dadabili, Niger state. Nigeria postponed parliamentary elections nationwide until Monday after voting materials failed to arrive in many areas, a major blow to hopes of a break with a history of chaotic polls in Africa's most populous nation. Afolabi Sotunde—Reuters
April 5, 2011. A Jordanian U.N. peacekeeper patrols the bloody streets of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Laurent Gbagbo, the nation’s President for 10 years, refused to leave office after he was defeated in a November 2010 election. Anarchy ensued, and on April 5, French and U.N. forces bombed military bases under Gbagbo’s control. The dictator’s reign seemed near its end.Jane Hahn—AP
April 4, 2011. A relative tries to comfort ten-year-old Braa Mabrok from Brega as she has shrapnel wounds to her legs dressed by medical staff at Ajdabiyah hospital in Libya. Relatives said that Braa was injured the previous night while asleep when her home was hit. Andrew Winning—Reuters
April 2, 2011. A Libyan rebel buries the charred remains of his fellow rebels who were allegedly killed in NATO coalition airstrike overnight the front line near Brega, Libya. NATO said that it was investigating Libyan rebel reports that a coalition warplane had struck a rebel position that was firing into the air near the eastern front line of the battle with Gadhafi's forces. Altaf Qadri—AP
April 5, 2011. Saudi border guards demonstrate their skills during their graduation ceremony near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fahad Shadeed—Reuters
April 3, 2011. The children of Somali refugees play at the Dadaab refugee camp— the world’s largest—in northeastern Kenya. Security concerns have stalled plans to expand the camp, home to hundreds of thousands of Somalis.Tony Karumba— AFP/Getty Images
Fever Rises in Paraguay
April 5, 2011. A pregnant woman suffering from symptoms of dengue fever lies in a bed draped with a mosquito net at Barrio Obrero Public Hospital in Asunción, Paraguay. Noting that this tropical disease has infected at least 10,000 Paraguayans, leaving 22 dead this year, the government launched a campaign to contain the epidemic.Jorge Saenz—AP
April 5, 2011. The shadows from a U.S. Army medic and his medevac helicopter fall on the wall of a hospital at Camp Dwyer, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.Denis Sinyakov—Reuters

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