--- description: From India's Sufi Muslim Urs Festival and the first intercontinental flight of the Solar Impulse to a suicide bombing of military soldiers in Sana'a and the beginning of Egypt's presidential election, TIME's photo department presents the best images of the week. title: TIME Magazine's Best Pictures of the Week, May 18-25 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt378f5a3dd7530555/69879e5a8e0601bb6c45c3b5/009-17980804-filepart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pictures of the Week: May 18 — May 25 by [TIME Photo Department](/author/time-photo-department/) ## TIME Photo Department Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 25, 2012 2:30 PM CUT  May 20, 2012\. The annular eclipse is seen through binoculars, casting two images of the rarely seen ring of fire. May 20, 2012\. The annular eclipse is seen through binoculars, casting two images of the rarely seen ring of fire.Sacramento Bee / MCT / Landov by [TIME Photo Department](/author/time-photo-department/) ## TIME Photo Department Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 25, 2012 2:30 PM CUT From India’s Sufi Muslim Urs Festival and the first intercontinental flight of the Solar Impulse to a suicide bombing of military soldiers in Sana’a and the beginning of Egypt’s presidential election, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.  May 20, 2012\. A damaged tower is seen after an earthquake in Finale Emilia, Italy. Giorgio Benvenuti—Reuters  May 18, 2012\. A Palestinian boy throws stones at Israeli troops during clashes at a protest against the Jewish settlement of Qadomem, near the West Bank City of Nablus. Alaa Badarneh—EPA  May 22, 2012\. First-year Naval Academy plebes fight to hold themselves up on the Herndon Monument during the traditional climb that marks the culmination of their first year in Annapolis, Md. Andrew Harnick—The Washington Times / Landov  May 18, 2012\. A Bahraini anti-government protester tries to kick tear gas away. AF-Bahrain Revolution / Demotix / Corbis  May 18, 2012\. A Thai woman lies inside a coffin at Wat Prommanee during a rebirth ceremony in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand. Paula Bronstein—Getty Images  May 19, 2012\. Players for Bayern Munich lay on the pitch after the UEFA Champions League final football match between FC Bayern Muenchen and Chelsea FC at the Fussball Arena stadium in Munich. John MacDougall—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. An athlete with artificial limbs warms up during the BT Paralympic World Cup at Sportcity in Manchester, northwest England. Paul Ellis—AFP / Getty Images  May 20, 2012\. A tightrope walker practices between two spheres of the Atomium monument in Brussels. Sebastien Pirlet—Reuters  May 20, 2012\. The annular eclipse is seen through binoculars, casting two images of the rarely seen ring of fire. Sacramento Bee / MCT / Landov  May 22, 2012\. A man spreads rose petals, which will be used to make incense sticks, on the floor to dry in a compound in Lahore, Pakistan. Mohsin Raza—Reuters  May 19, 2012\. An asylum-seeker rests inside a tent outside the application center in Ter Apel, The Netherlands. Robin Utrecht—EPA  May 20, 2012\. An Afghan National Army soldier looks on as a boy sitting on a donkey walks past him during a joint patrol with U.S. soldiers from 3/1 AD Task Force Bulldog in a village in Kherwar district, Logar province, Afghanistan. Danish Siddiqui—Reuters  May 20, 2012\. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray next to the walls of the old city as Israelis take part in a march marking Jerusalem Day in Israel. Uriel Sinai—Getty Images  May 20, 2012\. A young girl prays before Muslim Brotherhood presidential hopeful Mohammed Morsi's electoral rally in downtown Cairo. Luca Sola—Corbis  May 21, 2012\. Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt and survived. Harry Rossetani—AP  May 21, 2012\. An injured protester holds his head during clashes between the local people and protesters during the second day of the three-day-long general strike called by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) in Kathmandu. Navesh Chitrakar—Reuters  May 21, 2012\. Self-confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik stands in the Olso courtroom with handcuffs on his belt at the start of the sixth week of his trial. Berit Roald—AFP / Getty Images  May 21, 2012\. The site of a suicide bomb attack in Sana'a that claimed the lives of at least 96 soldiers as they performed a parade drill in anticipation of Yemen's National Unity Day. Luke Somers—Demotix / Corbis  May 22, 2012\. Military cadets march during a parade marking the 22nd anniversary of Yemen's reunification in Sana'a. Khaled Abdullah—Reuters  May 22, 2012\. A girl passes by a graffiti depicting former President Hosni Mubarak and several presidential candidates at Tahrir square in Cairo. Asmaa Waguih—Reuters  May 22, 2012\. A Kosovo Albanian places a national flag on a coffin during a burial ceremony for the twelve Kosovo Albanians who were killed by Serbian security forces in the 1999 war and whose remains were recently identified. Armend Nimani—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. A boy slides into a swimming pool in the northern German city of Hameln as temperatures rose to up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Julian Stratenschulte—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. Ultra-Orthodox Jews harvest wheat with a hand sickle in accordance with an ancient biblical command near the West Bank settlement of Mevo Horon. Uriel Sinai—Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. The view of a plume of ash during the activity of the Mexican volcano Popocatepetl seen from Puebla City, Mexico. Francisco Guasco—EPA  May 22, 2012\. Detained protesters look through a window of a police bus, which reflects Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, a site of an unauthorized protest against a proposed new bill that would steeply increase fines for illegal protest activity, in Moscow. Natalia Kolesnikova—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. The Tokyo Skytree on opening day. It is now the world's tallest broadcasting tower at 634 m tall. Kyodo / Landov  May 22, 2012\. A U.S. Army soldier uses his night vision equipment before an early morning joint patrol with Afghan soldiers in a village in Kherwar district, Afghanistan. Danish Siddiqui—Reuters  May 22, 2012\. Soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia take up a defensive position during a firefight. Stuart Price—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into space from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. SpaceX is the first private company to build a rocket for a mission to the International Space Station. Alan Ault—ZUMA Press  May 22, 2012\. A goat stands on its hind legs inside of a barber shop on a road leading to the 'dargah' or shrine of Sufi saint Muhammad Moin-ud-din Chisti in Ajmer, India. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. An Iraqi woman walks down a Baghdad street in a yellow haze from the heavy dust storm that shut down the capital's airport. Sabah Ararsabah—AFP / Getty Images  May 22, 2012\. A dog bites meat drying outside a house in Ahuas, Honduras. Rodrigo Abd—AP  May 23, 2012\. Tibetan exiles shout slogans during a protest against Chinese rule over Tibet, in New Delhi. Tsering Topgyal—AP  May 23, 2012\. Indian Sufi Muslim devotees walk together while visiting the Ajmer Sharif shrine during the Urs Festival in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. Kevin Frayer—AP  May 23, 2012\. Members of a Congolese Women's Association, who have been widowed by conflict, are reflected in a window during their meeting in the town of Rutshuru in North Kivu, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Siegfried Modola—Reuters  May 23, 2012\. A woman carries baked bricks to be stacked at a brick-making facility in a village near Jaipur, India. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images  May 23, 2012\. A new waxwork figure of Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal is unveiled at a photo call in Regents Park in central London. Andrew Cowie—AFP / Getty Images  May 23, 2012\. Soldiers form a security cordon for U.S. President Obama's visit to the Air Force Academy commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo. Kevin Lamarque—Reuters  May 23, 2012\. A soldier from Charlie Company 5/2 of the U.S. Army tests a metal detector as he prepares for a mission at Forward Operating Base Apache in Afghanistan's Zabul Province. Tim Wimborne—Reuters  May 23, 2012\. The stairway leading from Air Force One is readied for the arrival of President Barack Obama at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. Bryan Oller—AP  May 24, 2012\. The flight suit of pilot Andre Borschberg is placed on a chair before takeoff in Payerne, Switzerland, on its first attempted intercontinental flight to Morocco. Fabrice Coffrini—AFP / Getty Images  May 23, 2012\. A Cal Fire aircraft drops flame retardant on the Topaz Ranch Estates Fire in Wellington, Nev. James Glover—Reuters  May 24, 2012\. Visitors check revolvers at a police equipment exhibition in Beijing. Alexander F. Yuan—AP  May 24, 2012\. A member of the U.S. Army Old Guard places a flag at one of the more than 220,000 graves of fallen U.S. military service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial Day will be commemorated this weekend across the United States. Jason Reed—Reuters  May 23, 2011\. A police officer shows a poppy flower during an operation to destroy a plantation in Tuinima village, 315 km northeast of Guatemala City. Johan Ordonez—AFP/Getty Images  May 25, 2012\. Nepalese teenage climber Nima Chemji Sherpa, 16, is welcomed by friends and family at Domestic airport in Kathmandu. Nima reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 19 and claims she is the youngest woman ever to scale Mount Everest. 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