Pictures of the Week: April 27 – May 4

1 minute read

From rescue operations for a capsized ferry in India and May Day protests to elections in France and preparations for the Kentucky Derby, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. Children play cricket on the demolished site of the compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Mian Khursheed—Reuters
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. First lady Michelle Obama reacts to remarks made by her husband, U.S. President Barack Obama, as he addresses a group of soldiers from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Ga.Sephen Morton—Polaris
Lightbox April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012. France's opposition Socialist Party (PS) candidate for the 2012 French Presidential election, François Hollande, arrives on stage to give a speech during a campaign meeting at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy (POPB) in Paris. Martin Bureau—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Two new Air India 787 Dreamliner aircrafts are seen at the Boeing production facilities in North Charleston, S.C.Paul J. Richards—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Argentina plays China in the women's International Invitational Hockey Tournament at the Riverbank Arena on the Olympic Park in London.Eddie Keogh—Reuters
Lightbox April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012. Filipino activists apply the finishing touches to a mural that will be used on Labor Day at their headquarters in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines.Noel Celis—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. Villagers and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel engaged in a rescue operation for a capsized boat at the Brahmaputra River in Bura-Buri village in the Goalpara district of Assam state, northeast India.EPA
Lightbox April 28, 2012
April 28, 2012. Young performers wearing costumes and make-up participate in the Bun Festival parade on Hong Kong's Cheung Chau Island.Aaron Tam—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Afghans sit on a fairground boat swing ride in Band-e-Qargha Gulestan Park in Kabul. Johannes Eisele—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Smoke billows from a fire that erupted at a tire recycling factory in the industrial zone of Dora on the northern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut.Joseph Eid—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. The Space Shuttle Enterprise, riding on the back of the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, flies between the Empire State Building, left, and One World Trade Center as it arrives in New York City.Richard Drew—AP
Lightox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. A victim of the Syrian conflict, Nawras al-Azzawi, is seen at his funeral in Daraa, Syria. Shaam News Network / HO / AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Lebanese Druze men mourn the death of Sheikh Abou Mohammad Jawad Walieddine, the head of the spiritual Druze council, at his house in Baakline village in the Chouf area, Mount Lebanon.Mohamad Azakir—Reuters
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Models rest backstage during the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition at the Beijng International Exhibition Center in Beijing.Lintao Zhang—Getty Images
Lightbox April 27, 2012
April 27, 2012. Russia's space agency ground personnel check the capsule Soyuz TMA-22 shortly after it landed near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Kirill Kudryavtsevkiri—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 28, 2012
April 28, 2012. Physicist Daniel Schildhammer wears the Aouda.X spacesuit simulator during a field test of Oesterreichisches Weltraum Forum, the Austrian space forum, inside the Eisriesenhoehle, a giant ice cave, at Dachstein mountain near the village of Obertraun, Austria.Lisi Niesner—Reuters
Lightbox April 28, 2012
April 28, 2012. Palestinian children place candles on the ground during an evening demonstration in Gaza City calling for the release of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.Mahmud Hams—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012. An armed Yemeni tribesman stands at the former headquarters of Yemenia Airways, which was damaged in 2011 by fighting between tribal fighters and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'a, Yemen.Yahya Arhab—EPA
Lightbox April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012. Ugandan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia occupy a mortar position along the frontline of a defensive box position straddling the main road on the northern edge of Maslah Town, northwest of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Stuart Price—AU-UN IST / AMISO / EPA
April 30, 2012. Ironworkers Jim Brady (L) and Billy Geoghan connect a steel beam between two columns at the top at the top of One World Trade Center to make it New York City's tallest building.Mark Lennihan—Getty Images
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. The body of a rare Sumatran elephant lies on road along a palm oil plantation in Aceh Jaya in Aceh province, Indonesia.Chaideer Mahyuddin—AFP / Getty Images
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. An Indian laborer harvests wheat produce in a wheat field at the village Pandori Ran Singh near the northern city of Amritsar, India.Raminder Pal Singh—EPA
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. Pilgrim Morris Men dance on St. Martha's Hill at dawn in Chilworth, England.Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. Supporters stand on stage during the French Far Right Party May Day demonstration in Paris.Pascal Le Segretain—Getty Images
Lightbox May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012. A young man climbs an approximately 30-m-high May pole in Petersthal, Germany. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand—DPA / ZUMA Press
May 1, 2012. A protester gets sprayed by a water canon during a May Day march in Santiago, Chile. Clashes with security forces and riots marred the rally to mark International Labor Day. Luis Hidalgo—AP
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Ernst Bromeis is pictured in the ice-cold Toma Lake, at 2,345 m above sea level, near Disentis, Switzerland. Arno Balzarini—EPA
May 2, 2012. Residents carry water collected from a nearly dried-up well in Bomfim de Feira in Bahia state, northeast Brazil.Ricardo Moraes—Reuters
May 2, 2012. A SPLA-N fighter stands with a mortar shell near Jebel Kwo village in the rebel-held territory of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, Goran Tomasevic—Reuters
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Smoke is seen after United Arab Emirates F-16 fighter jets fired missiles during joint military maneuvers with the French army in the desert of Abu Dhabi.Ben Job—Reuters
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Egyptian anti-military protesters arrest one of the rioters who attacked them, during clashes at Abbassiya Square, Cairo.Khaled Elfiqi—EPA
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi walks to take an oath at the lower house of parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.Soe Zeya Tun—Reuters
Lightbox May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Visitors take pictures of Pope Benedict XVI during his weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican.Max Rossi—Reuters
Lightbox May 3, 2012
May 3, 2012. A girl looks at the chariot of Rato Machhindranath during a festival in Lalitpur, Nepal.Navesh Chitrakar—Reuters
Lightbox May 3, 2012
May 3, 2012. Jockey Borel aboard Take Charge Indy walks down the front stretch during morning workouts at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.Jeff Haynes—Reuters
Lightbox May 3, 2012
May 3, 2012. The opening ceremonies of the new Equestrian Complex of the Civil Guard, 'Infanta Elena de Borbon,' are pictured in Valdemoro, in outskirts of Madrid.Emilio Naranjo—EFE / ZUMA Press
May 3, 2012. Researchers dressed in panda costumes carry a cage as they transfer giant panda Tao Tao to a new living environment at the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province, China.China Daily/Reuters
May 3, 2012. Women march during a demonstration demanding a trial for Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa. Khaled Abdullah—Reuters
Lightbox May 3, 2012
May 3, 2012. A police officer in riot gear raises his baton before hitting a girl during a celebration after Real Madrid won the Spanish Soccer La Liga, at a metro station in Madrid. Daniel Ochoa de Olza—AP
May 3, 2012. Real Madrid players celebrate aboard an open-top bus at Cibeles fountain during a parade after winning the Spanish first division soccer league title in Madrid.Susana Vera—Reuters
Lightbox May 3, 2012
May 3, 2012. The view from the gunner's cockpit of an Indian Air Force Mi-35 attack helicopter is pictured during the Shoor Veer military exercise near Hanumangarh, located near the India-Pakistan border.AFP / Getty Images

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