Pictures of the Week: March 23 – March 30

1 minute read

From student protests in Jakarta and Tibetan self-immolations in India to Pope Benedict XVI’s Cuba visit and fires in Colorado, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. A former Taliban fighter looks on after joining Afghan government forces during a ceremony in Herat province, Afghanistan.Aref Karimi—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. A Tibetan exile, identified as Jampa Yeshi, runs engulfed in flames after self-immolating during a demonstration in New Delhi.Manish Swarup—AP
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Nuns attend a mass at the Church of Charity in El Cobre, southeast of Havana.Juan Barreto—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. View of the Argentine Darwin cemetery, in the Falkland Islands, ahead of the 30th anniversary of the war between Britain and Argentina for the possession of the islands.Martin Bernetti—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. Philippine Navy personnel welcome the USS BlueRidge and its crew as it prepares to dock at the international port in Manila.Ted Aljibe—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. U.S. servicemen sit after boarding a transport plane before leaving for Afghanistan at the U.S. transit center at Manas airport near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.Vladimir Pirogov—Reuters
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. Christians preach outside the Agriculture Department near the Reason Rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.Brendan Smialowski—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. A Russian Proton rocket carrying a US Intelsat-22 satellite blasts off from Kazakhstan's Russian-leased Baikonur cosmo-drome.AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. Members of Amnesty International carry a hot air balloon with text that reads 'Housing is a Human right' through the Kibera slum in Nairobi.Carl de Souza—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. A girl wearing a ballet dress plays on the street in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.Ramon Espinosa—AP
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. A Syrian refugee is seen leaping from rock to rock at the Reyhanli refugees camp in Turkey. Alexander Roth-Grisard—MAXPPP / ZUMA Press
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Syrian Army defectors avoid normal means of transportation for security reason and struggle to resupply their forces with food and ammunition near Idlib, Syria.Sebastiano Tomada—Sipa USA
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. A Free Syrian Army member is on the lookout in Idlib, Syria. Sebastiano Tomada—Sipa USA
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A Molotov cocktail is thrown during a clash between student protesters and the government against plans to raise fuel prices in Jakarta. Beawiharta—Reuters
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Student protesters burn tires during a demonstration against the government's plans to raise fuel prices in Makassar, Indonesia.Yusuf Ahmad—Reuters
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. A Pakistani man rides his donkey cart on burning tires during a protest rally in Lahore, Pakistan, against widespread electricity shortages in the country. Arif Ali—AFP / Getty Images
March 23, 2012. A female laborer looks on as she takes a break at a coal yard on the outskirts of Jammu, India.Mukesh Gupta—Reuters
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. Indian laborers load coal onto trucks at a coal depot on the outskirts of Jammu, India.Channi Anand—AP
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. An Indian woman cleans the path near a coal depot on the outskirts of Jammu, India.Channi Anand—AP
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A Palestinian baby receives treatment at the intensive care unit at a hospital where they are using generators to maintain medical support units in Gaza City.Mohammed Abed—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. A young gymnastics student does a handstand during a training session at a gymnastics school in Shanghai.Aly Song—Reuters
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. A coach scolds a young gymnastics student during a training session in Shanghai.Aly Song—Reuters
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A girl exercises on a high bar during a gymnastics practice session at a park in Mumbai.Danish Siddiqui—Reuters
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. An exterior view shows The Titanic Belfast building, which will open to the public in April, in Belfast.David Moir—Reuters
Lightbox March 29, 2012
March 29, 2012. A Humboldt Penguin dives off a board as a heron takes a fish at London Zoo in London.Toby Melville—Reuters
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. A man stands on a visitor platform beside the Rhine Falls in the town of Neuhausen south of Schaffhausen, Switzerland.Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters
March 29, 2012. Two protesters are sprayed with water from an anti-riot vehicle at the University of Santiago de Chile, Chile.Ariel Marinkovic—EPA
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A student holds a rock during clashes with police during protests against planned fuel price hikes in Jakarta.Ulet Ifansasti—Getty Images
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. A man walks beside the site of a heavy fire engulfing the Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa, at a deep sea port located south of Yangon, Myanmar.Aung Thu—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A trail of slurry is deposited by a bomber during a run over a smoldering ridge in the Lower North Fork Wildfire burning in the foothills community of Conifer, Colo.David Zalubowski—AP
March 27, 2012. Arial images of the Lower North Fork Wildfire near Denver.Joe Amon/The Denver Post/Polaris
March 27, 2012. Arial images of the Lower North Fork Wildfire near Denver.Joe Amon/The Denver Post/Polaris
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. Workers use combines to harvest soybeans in Tangara da Serra, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil.Andre Penner—AP
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Australian Formula One racer Mark Webber, of Red Bull Racing, arrives at a pitstop during the 2012 Formula One Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Sepang International circuit, outside Kuala Lumpur.Diego Azubel—EPA
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI arrives on the popemobile at Bicentennial Park in Silao, Guanajuato State, Mexico, where he is to celebrate an open-air mass.Ronaldo Schemidt—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. Some tens of thousands of Buddhist monks arrive for a mass alms-offering ceremony in Bangkok's Chinatown.Damir Sagolj—Reuters
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. Monks show their support for the National League for Democracy party during a campaign rally ahead of this weekend's by-elections in Mayangone Township, in Yangon, Myanmar.AP
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. Buddhist monks hold the party flag as they rest outside a house during the election campaign for the NLD party in Yangon, Myanmar.Reuters
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. Children, holding flags of the National League for Democracy, react to the camera during a campaign rally for the April 1 by-election on Eight Mile Junction in Yangon, Myanmar.AP
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 27, 2012. Tibetan exiles offer prayers at their refugee colony of Majnu Ka Tilla in New Delhi for Tibetan exile Janphel Yeshi, who set himself on fire.Manan Vatsyayana—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. Indian police detain Tibetan exiles participating in an illegal protest against the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao outside the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi.Pankaj Nangia—AP
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. A Tibetan exile is detained by police during a protest against the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, outside the hotel where Hu is staying, in New Delhi.Adnan Abidi—Reuters
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. Syrians carry the coffin of 13-year-old Ahmad bin Muhsin Qarush, who was killed in a shelling by regime forces in the northwestern city of Sermin.Ricardo Garcia Vilanova—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. A Somali police officer, right, arrests a suspected rebel member of the Al Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab, left, among beach goers at the Lido beach north of Somalia's capital Mogadishu.Feisal Omar—Reuters
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. Staffers of the Judicial Police of Colombia unload from a helicopter the corpse of one of the 36 members of the FARC guerrillas killed after a joint operation of the army, air force and police, at the Apiay air base in Villavicencio, Colombia.Guillermo Legaria—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. A masked French special unit policeman looks out of a windows where special forces staged an assault on gunman Merah, in Toulouse, France.Jean-Paul Pelissier—Reuters
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Jajuan Kelley of Atlanta wears a Skittles wrapper over his mouth during a rally in memory of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old who was killed by a Florida neighborhood watch captain while returning from a convenience store with a bag of Skittles and an iced tea.David Goldman—AP
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Trayvon Martin supporters march before the start of a town hall meeting about his death in Sanford, Fla.Mario Tama—Getty Images
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Palestinian stone-throwers run away from tear gas during clashes with Israeli soldiers at Bitwonia crossing outside the Israeli military prison of Ofer, during a protest in support of the Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi.Atef Safadi—EPA
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. Palestinian runner Worood Maslaha, 20, trains in the West Bank village of Asira Ash-Shamaliya near Nablus.Ammar Awad—Reuters
Lightbox March 23, 2012
March 23, 2012. Afghan men compete with horses during the traditional Afghan sport Buzkashi in Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan. Johannes Eisele—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Stepanek of the Czech Republic throws his towel over his head after losing a challenge to Nadal of Spain during their men's singles match at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla.Andrew Innerarity—Reuters
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama covers the microphone as he arrives at the plenary session of the Nuclear Security Summit at the Coex Center in Seoul.Susan Walsh—AP
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. Supporters listen to Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum speak at Ledgeview Center in the Ledgeview Bowling Lanes in Fond du Lac, Wis.Darren Hauck—Reuters
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Laura Fabar-Equels is overcome with emotion as she visits the original statue of Our Lady of Charity, located in the Sanctuary of El Cobre prior to a mass by Pope Benedict XVI in the Plaza de la Revolucion Antonio Maceo in Santiago, Cuba.Patrick Farrell—Miami Herald / MCT / Landov
Lightbox March 25, 2012
March 25, 2012. A North Korean flag is hung at half-mast at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in this photo taken from Observation Post Ouellette after U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, north of Seoul.Yuriko Nakao—Reuters
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang attend a mass held at the Ciudad Barrios jail, in Ciudad Barrios, east of San Salvador.Jose Cabezas—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. A bride, center, attends a mass wedding ceremony of the Unification Church as a portrait of her bridegroom, who could not attend the ceremony, is seen next to her on a chair in Gapyeong, about 60 km (37 miles) northeast of Seoul.Lee Jae-Won—Reuters
Lightbox March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012. A woman knits inside her tent in a Syrian refugee camp 25 km from Antakya, in southern Turkey near the border of Syria.Tara Todras-Whitehill—Polaris
Tara Todras-Whitehill—Polaris
March 29, 2012. Satellite dishes are seen outside of tents at an old cigar factory that was converted into a Syrian refugee camp near Antakya in southern Turkey near the border with Syria.Tara Todras-Whitehill—Polaris
Lightbox March 26, 2012
March 26, 2012. Cleaners on suspended platforms prepare to wipe the glass exterior of the 492-meter-tall Shanghai World Financial Center in Shanghai.Barcroft Media / Landov
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. U.S. platform diver Haley Ishimatsu dives as she trains for the London 2012 Olympics in Los Angeles.Lucy Nicholson—Reuters
Lightbox March 28, 2012
March 28, 2012. U.S platform diver Haley Ishimatsu stretches her feet as she trains for the London 2012 Olympics in Los Angeles.Lucy Nicholson—Reuters
March 30, 2012. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar democracy campaigner, speaks to the media at her final media conference ahead of parliamentary by-elections in the gardens of her house in Yangon, Myanmar.Barbara Walton—EPA
March 30, 2012. Tibetan exiles offer prayers near the burning funeral pyre of 27-year-old Jamphel Yeshi, who passed away Wednesday morning two days after he immolated himself in New Delhi, in Dharmsala, India.Dar Yasin—AP
Lightbox March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012. A man holds up a kite as he helps to fly it at a demolition site near residential areas in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, China.Pillar Lee—Reuters

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com