Closeup: Best Pictures of the Week, April 8 – April 15

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This week Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo is overthrown and the country’s president assures the public that life will soon return to normal, protesters calling for the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei manipulate his installation at the Tate Modern in London, Kate Middleton steps out for a final appearance before the royal wedding, and a 13-year-old Justin Bieber fan is in the marrying mood.

See last week’s Pictures of the Week.

England
April 11, 2011. What will it take for a commoner to fill a queen’s shoes? Lots of training. Unending patience. A comfort with discomfort. And acceptance of the fact that not a square centimeter of your body will go unphotographed from this day forth and forevermore. Kate Middleton tested the spotlight one last time before her wedding, starting a girls’ track race in Lancashire, England. Some 5,000 well-wishers went to see her. Next time, she’ll be in white.—Nancy GibbsDarren Staples—Reuters
Lifesaver
April 8, 2011. U.S. Army medic Tyrone Jordan of the 101st Combat Aviation brigade, aboard a medevac helicopter in Helmand province in Afghanistan, treats a Marine wounded by a gunshot. Several soldiers were killed in early April by friendly fire in Helmand.Denis Sinyakov—Reuters
Killing Field
April 11, 2011. Dense brush covers a section of Jones Beach island in Nassau County, N.Y., which is currently being searched by police for human remains. The police have reportedly found two new bodies, bringing the total to 10 found on Long Island. Police believe a single serial killer may be working in the New York area.Spencer Platt—Getty Images
Terror Underground
April 12, 2011. A woman mourns as a bird passes by her at the entrance to the Oktyabrskaya station of the Minsk subway in Belarus. The Belarusian government said a bomb placed under a bench at the subway station exploded on April 11 as people were riding the trains during the evening rush hour. Twelve were killed. Sergei Grits—AP
The Fog of Civil War
April 9, 2011. A rebel fighter in Libya walks on top of a sand dune to view smoke rising from the town of Ajdabiyah, which was mostly under the control of pro-Gaddafi forces. Government soldiers and rebels battled in the city's streets in the most serious Gaddafi-led push against rebel forces since NATO air strikes began.Ben Curtis—AP
April 12, 2011. Defendant Vivian S. hides her face as she waits at the higher regional court in Munich, Germany. Seven men and a woman are accused of having distributed propaganda material supporting Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam from August 2006 to March 2008.Christof Stache—AFP/Getty Images
April 11, 2011. The Boeoegg, a snowman made of wadding and filled with firecrackers, explodes atop a bonfire in the Sechselaeuten square in Zurich, Switzerland. As the bells of St. Peter's church chime 6 o'clock, the bonfire below the Boeoegg, which represents winter, is set alight, and mounted guildsmen gallop around the pyre to the tune of the Sechselaeuten March. The faster it catches fire and explodes, the warmer and more beautiful the summer will be.Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters
April 8, 2011. A relative mourns over the body of 14-year-old Luiza Paula da Silveira Machado during her funeral at the Jardim da Saudade cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian families began burying the 12 children gunned down in the halls of their elementary school Thursday. Luiza is one of ten girls and two boys between the ages of 12 and 15 who were killed by 23-year-old Wellington Oliveira, who shot and killed himself after being confronted by police.Felipe Dana—AP
Unfinished Revolution
April 12, 2011. Egyptian military men clear razor wire as they reopen Tahrir Square in Cairo. Tahrir had been closed off for five days following a sit-in by protesters. The Egyptian military—seen as heroes during the initial protests—are coming under increasing criticism for their repressive actions.Khaled Desouki—AFP/Getty Images
April 9, 2011. Leaflets added by protesters calling for the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei are seen on his Sunflower Seeds installation in the main hall of the Tate Modern in central London.Carl Court—AFP/Getty Images
April 13, 2011. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, cleans his glasses during a press conference in Dublin. The Dalai Lama is on a two-day visit to Ireland. Cathal McNaughton—Reuters
April 14, 2011. A shrine rests in a wood after the recent tsunami in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture. Commentary in a top science journal said that Japan's seismologists were so entrenched in outdated beliefs about earthquakes that they became blinded to the risks of a quake the size of the one on March 11.Yasuyoshi Chiba—AFP/Getty Images
April 13, 2011. A republican forces soldier, second right, practices Tae Kwon Do moves while holding a pistol as he stands guard with other soldiers during a patrol in the Cocody neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The country's president is trying to establish order in the days after Ivory Coast's strongman was arrested, assuring the public that looting and gunfire will cease and life will soon return to normal.Rebecca Blackwell—AP
April 14, 2011. A decomposing body lies on a road in Abidjan. Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo was overthrown by Ivorians, not by foreign powers, the United Nations said on Thursday amid rising criticism of its role in the removal of the former leader.Finbarr O'Reilly—Reuters
April 12, 2011. A visitor holds a pistol during the Expo Seguridad Mexico 2011 security fair in Mexico City. The fair displays the latest in police, civil defense and security equipment.Jorge Dan Lopez—Reuters
The Waters Rise
April 11, 2011. A barn is submerged in floodwater from the Red River near Fargo, N.D. The Red River ultimately crested at 38.8 ft.—the fourth biggest flood on record—and areas north of the city are still underwater.Scott Olson—Getty Images
April 11, 2011. Migrants return to a temporary detention center on the Italian island of Lampedusa from where they had escaped. Around 26,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, including around 21,000 who said they were from Tunisia, claiming they were fleeing a grim economic situation after the political revolution in January.Filippo Monteforte—AFP/Getty Images
Palestine
April 12, 2011. Palestinians watch Israeli troops in a military operation searching for suspects during a curfew in the West Bank village of Awarta, near Nablus. The Israeli army has repeatedly invaded the village following the murder of five members of one family in a nearby Jewish settlement.Alaa Badarneh—EPA
April 14, 2011. Hallel Goldamna, 13, wears a wedding dress as she holds a sign for Canadian singer Justin Bieber ahead of his concert in Tel Aviv, Israel.Ariel Schalit—AP
April 9, 2011. A soldier is carried by his comrades after being "wounded" in a convoy attack during a mock exercise as part of the U.S.-Philippines joint military exercises in Camp Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, north of Manila. The United States has halved the number of soldiers taking part in war games in the Philippines this week due to emergency work in the disaster-hit areas of northeast Japan, officials said.Cheryl Ravelo—Reuters
April 13, 2011. Spanish KTM-rider Marc Coma, three-time winner of the Rallye Paris-Dakar, jumping over U.S. Ronnie Renner, winner of the freestyle motocross at the X-Games in the desert close to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.Joerg Mitter—EPA
Respite from War
April 8, 2011. Afghan children enjoy a playground in Kabul. The war in Afghanistan continues, with fighting heating up as the spring thaw improves conditions on the ground. Five schoolchildren were killed in a suicide bombing in northeastern Afghanistan on April 13.Hossein Fatemi—AP

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