Pictures of the Week: March 9 — March 16

1 minute read

From the conflict in Afghanistan and a tragic bus accident in Switzerland to Purim celebrations in Israel and the one-year anniversary of the Japanese tsunami, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

Lightbox March 12, 2012
March 12, 2012. Israeli soldiers watch as a missile is launched from the Iron Dome defence system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva as a new round of violence between Gaza militants and Israel has ruptured the calm that was restored after a major flare-up last August. Menahem Kahana—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Palestinian relatives of Islamic Jihad militant Mohammed Daher, who was killed the night before along with another comrade in an Israeli air strike, mourn during his funeral in Gaza City.Mahmud Hams—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. The body of Palestinian boy Ayoub Asalya, 12, lies in the morgue of Kamal Edwan hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from strikes to 17.APA / Landov
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Afghan National Army soldiers keep watch as Afghans gather outside a U.S. base in Panjwai district Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Ahmad Nadeem—Reuters
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. The body of an Afghan child, shot by a rogue U.S. soldier, is seen with other bodies in the back of a truck in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. JANGIR / AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Armed Syrian men, members of the rebel Free Syrian Army, gather in a mountainous area of the restive Idlib province in northwestern Syria.Garcia Vilanova—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. A women cries as she recovers from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled her house in Idlib, northern Syria, killing her husband and two children. Rodrigo Abd—AP
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Syrian rebels plant a makeshift explosive device to destroy a Syrian Army tank during a day of heavy fighting with Syrian Army forces in Idlib, north Syria.Rodrigo Abd—AP
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Syrian rebels are seen amid smoke after being hit by a tank, unseen, during a day of heavy fighting with Syrian Army forces in Idlib, north Syria.Rodrigo Abd—AP
March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. Family at an open coffin during the funeral of Polish soccer player Wlodzimierz Smolarek in Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland.Grzegorz Michalowski—EPA
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Beagles sit in their kennels on the fourth and final day of Crufts at the Birmingham NEC Arena in Birmingham, England.Dan Kitwood—Getty Images
Lightbox March 12, 2012
March 12, 2012. A Volkswagen "Beetle" (R) and an "UP!" are pictured in a delivery tower at the company's headquarter in Wolfsburg, Germany. Fabian Bimmer—Reuters
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. Cars destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami are seen at a devastated area in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, Japan.Toru Hanai—Reuters
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. An 8 year old girl plays with bubbles after she and her grandmother payed their respects at the memorial to victims of the last year's tsunami at the Okawa Elementary School, near Ishinomaki, Japan.Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. A family pays their respects to the victims of the last year's tsunami at a memorial, at the Okawa Elementary School, where 74 children were killed and 4 are still missing near Ishinomaki, Japan.Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. Buddhist monks offer prayers for victims of the earthquake and tsunami at Kitaizumi beach in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, some 25 km (15 miles) from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.Yuriko Nakao—Reuters
March 14, 2012. An egret stands on a ship mooring rope in Rio de Janeiro. Ricardo Moraes—Reuters
Lightbxo March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jews from the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty stand on ladders as they follow the funeral procession of their rabbi Moshe Yhoshua Hager at a cemetery in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak.Menahem Kahana—AFP / Getty Images
March 14, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather around the body of Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, leader of the Hassidic sect Vizhnitz in Israel, at the Vizhnitz Synagogue during his funeral procession in Bnei Brak, Israel.Oded Balilty—AP
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Panelling hangs down from the Brooklyn Bridge after it was struck by a crane passing underneath in New York City.Lucas Jackson—Reuters
March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. A helicopter takes off from the entrance of a tunnel into which a foreign coach crashed in Sierre, western Switzerland. Denis Balibouse—Reuters
March 15, 2012. A girl holds a rose while waiting in a bus to visit the scene of an accident in Tunnel de Sierre, in Uvrier near Sion, Switzerland.Denis Balibouse—Reuters
March 14, 2012. Annie Blagojevich, daughter of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, watches as her father is surrounded by the media in front of their home in Chicago. The 55-year-old Democrat is due to report to a prison in Colorado on Thursday to begin serving a 14-year sentence, making him the second Illinois governor in a row to go to prison for corruption.M. Spencer Green—AP
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pictured through a window as she waits for the arrival of Tunisia's Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali at the Chancellery in Berlin.Barizio Bensch—Reuters
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. German chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes the Tunisian prime minister Hamadi Jebali with military honors in Berlin.Guido Bergman—Action Press / ZUMA Press
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. A paramilitary policeman monitors with binoculars above Tiananmen Square as the sun rises before the closing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.Vincent Thian—AP
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. A Yemeni boy with colors of the Syrian revolutionary flag painted on his face attends a ceremony marking the upcoming anniversary of the Syrian revolution in Sanaa, Yemen.Hani Mohammed—AP
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. Anti-government protesters take cover in front of riot police blocking the road leading to Pearl Square in Manama, Bahrain.Hamad I Mohammed—Reuters
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. A riot police officer attempts to take cover behind a passerby—who is making a recording of the scene on his mobile phone—from protesters throwing stones during a student demonstration in Bogota.Fredy Builes—Reuters
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Relatives try to comfort a woman after she lost her husband following a ferry accident in the river bank of Meghna at Gozaria, Munshigonj, Bangladesh.Abir Abdullah—EPA
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Rescuers carry the dead body of a victim of a ferry that capsized in the Meghna River in Munshiganj district, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Dhaka, Bangladesh.Pavel Rahman—AP
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Waves break over the Italian oil tanker, submerged by waves, that ran aground near Syracuse, in southern Sicily.Marcello Paternostro—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Aroldo Juarez takes one last bath in his home before being evacuated with his family to a shelter in Mixco, a village in the outskirts of Guatemala City. Jorge Dan Lopez—Reuters
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. An anthropologist works in a mass grave in the former Regional Command headquarters of the Guatemalan Army in Coban, Guatemala. Jorge Dan Lopez—Reuters
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. A lone shoe is seen in Reda mosque near Brussels after it was the target of an arson attack in which the imam died. Yves Logghe—AP
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. The new Nissan DeltaWing experimental race car that will run at the 2012 Le Mans 24-hour race is seen as it is unveiled to the media in London.Alastair Grant—AP
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Armless professional photographer Rusidah, 44, puts on her make-up in Purworejo, Indonesia.Ulet Ifansasti—Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Unemployed Indians hand in their forms to register at the Employment Exchange Office in Allahabad, India.Rajesh Kumar Singh—AP
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. Inebriated ultra-Orthodox Jewish men revel on a street of Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, during celebrations of the joyous holiday of Purim.Abir Sultan—EPA
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. A girl is pictured dressed as a bride during Purim in Jerusalem, Israel.Loulou d'Aki—News Pictures/ABACA USA
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. An Indian woman stands outside her home a day before the mass marriage ceremony to be held in Vadia village, around 250 km (155 miles) north of Ahmedabad, India.Divyakant Solanki—EPA
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Hundreds of Sri Lankan Buddhist monks staged a protest outside the U.S. embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to denounce Washington's move to censure the island's government over alleged war crimes.Lakruwan Wanniarachchi—AFP / Getty Images
March 12, 2012. Rina Assayag as she pulls a mattress over herself and her husband Mordechai to demonstrate how she tries to find protection during a rocket alarm in Ofakim, southern Israel.Oliver Weiken—EPA
March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Baseball players belonging to the Saraperos de Saltillo team and spectators take cover during an intense shootout that broke out during a game in the parking lot of a stadium in the city of Saltillo, northern Mexico.AP
Lightbox March 12, 2012
March 12, 2012. Children from Pakistan's Mohmand tribal region take shelter from a sandstorm on the outskirts of Islamabad.Anjum Naveed—AP
Lightbox March 12, 2012
March 12, 2012. Italian gymnast Vanessa Ferrari attends a training session to prepare for the Olympics in Brescia, Italy.Alessandro Bianchi—Reuters
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. Chaunte Lowe of the U.S. celebrates her gold medal at the women's high jump final during the world indoor athletics championships at the Atakoy Athletics Arena in Istanbul.Kai Pfaffenbach—Reuters
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Crowds await the arrival of British Prime Minister David Cameron at the official arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.Mark Wilson—Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. The tour bus of Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waits for his return outside a campaign event in Vestavia Hills, Ala.David Goldman—AP
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. Cross country skiers race over the frozen Lake Sils during the Engadin Ski Marathon near Sils, Switzerland. Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. Three U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters with 10th Combat Aviation Brigade's 6-6 Cavalry fly past the skyline of New York City.Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. A U.S. Marine watches as an Osprey carrying U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta arrives at Forward Operating Base Shukvani, Afghanistan.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Indian and U.S. army soldiers participate in a drill during a joint military exercise in the desert near Bikaner, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.Dinesh Gupta—AP
March 15, 2012. The mission control room is seen during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, New Mexico. Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of the earths atmosphere, whereupon reaching altitude of 120,000 feet by helium baloon, pilot and basejumper Felix Baumgartner will then freefall to the ground in an attempt to break the speed of sound. Stefan Aufschnaiter—Red Bull/Getty Images
March 15, 2012. Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen before his jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos, based in Roswell, New Mexico.Jay Nemeth—Red Bull/Getty Images
Lightbox March 12, 2012
March 12, 2012. Princess Charlene Wittstock of Monaco inspects a shower room during a visit to the Shanghai Pudong Special Education School in Shanghai.Aly Song—Reuters
Lightbox March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012. A member of Crystal Palace diving club dives while coach Xiang Yan Kong watches during a training session in London.Stefan Wermuth—Reuters
Lightbox March 10, 2012
March 10, 2012. A gaucho rides an unbroken horse during the Patria Gaucha Festival in Tacuarembo, Uruguay. Andres Stapff—Reuters
March 14, 2012. A racegoer does an Irish jig in the Guinness Village at the Cheltenham Festival horse racing meet in Gloucestershire, western England.Eddie Keogh—Reuters
March 15, 2012. An East Timorese child runs as sea water hits the wall on Dili beach, Indonesia. Beawiharta—Reuters
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Men stand by an abandoned ship that lays beached near Takwa Bay just off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria.Jon Gambrell—AP
Lightbox March 11, 2012
March 11, 2012. A house is destroyed in the city of Rastan, Syria, which has been bombed intermittently by Syrian army forces.STR / AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Syrian children hide behind sand bags on the street in the central town of Rastan, near Homs, Syria.STR / AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 15, 2012
March 15, 2012. Syrian refugees carrying their children stage a demonstration against the Syrian president at the Reyhanli refugee Camp in Antakya. Blent Kilic—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. Syrian refugees walk across a field on the Syrian side of the border before crossing into Turkey at Reyhanli in Antakya. Bulent Kilic—AFP / Getty Images
March 15, 2012. Ethiopian migrants hold their travelling numbers as they wait to be repatriated at a transit center run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the western Yemeni town of Haradh, at the border of Saudi Arabia.Khaled Abdullah—Reuters
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Residents watch the premiere of "Kony 2012," a 30-minute YouTube film created by the nonprofit group Invisible Children, in Lira district located 376 km (234 miles) north of Uganda's capital Kampala.James Akena—Reuters
Lightbox March 13, 2012
March 13, 2012. Human skeletons still lie scattered above ground weeks after an attack took place in Likwongole, South Sudan.Alan Boswell—MCT / ZUMA Press
Lightbox March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012. A Chinese paramilitary policeman is silhouetted against the sunrise as he stands guard near the Great Hall of the People before the closing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing.Andy Wong—AP

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