CAPTAIN TAREK DREAM: Memories Of March, APRIL, May 2010

LET'S MOVE TO APRIL 2010, A MONTH FULL OF HAPPENINGS WORLDWIDE

CHECK IT OUT,JUST TO REMEMBER THE OLD DAYS,ENJOY

OPENING DAY: Peter Marik scrubbed home plate before the first baseball game of the season between the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers Monday in Milwaukee.

SAVED FROM THE SWAMP: Zheng Xianyu, who is 39 years old and seven months pregnant, was rescued by firemen from a swamp on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Tuesday. Ms. Zheng had been trapped in the swamp without food and water for four days before she was rescued alive. The status of her baby was still unknown, local media reported.

SHIP RESCUED: Dutch Marines landed on the German freighter the MV Taipan, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates. The Dutch team met no resistance as they rescued the 15-man crew and captured 10 pirates.

PRAYER ON PATROL: An Afghan National Army soldier prayed during a foot patrol with unseen U.S. Marines near a poppy field in a Taliban stronghold area of Marjah, Afghanistan, Monday.

BLAST VICTIM: A Pakistani boy Anayat-ul-Haq, who was injured in the suicide bombing in Dir, lay on the bed at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday. Islamist militants attacked a U.S. consulate in northwest Pakistan with car bombs and grenades, killing three people, hours after 41 people died in a suicide attack on a political rally elsewhere in the region.

UNDER ATTACK: Interior Ministry specialists investigated the site of a bombing in Karabulak, Russia, Monday. A suicide bomber killed at least two policemen in the Ingushetia region, the latest in a spate of attacks that underscore the threat from an Islamist insurgency on Russia’s southern flank.

MOMENT OF REST: Thai riot police rested near a shopping center in Bangkok as thousands of red shirt supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra took over the streets of the city’s main shopping district Tuesday.

RIO MUDSLIDES: A firefighter carried the body of an infant who died in a landslide in the Tijuca neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday. Torrential rains have triggered landslides that killed 81 people as rising water paralyzed traffic and suspended most business.

TIGER’S RETURN: A group of police officers stood next to Tiger Woods’s golf bag while Mr. Woods was on the putting green after a practice round for the 2010 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday

WASHINGTON’S BUST: A giant bust of George Washington was carried by crane to a flatbed truck in Pearland, Texas, Tuesday. Six busts of presidents were removed because the land they were placed on is under foreclosure. The statues are being returned to their maker, local artist David Adickes.

DIGGING A GRAVE: Supporters of murdered white supremacist eader, Eugene Terreblanche, dug his grave on his farm outside Ventersdorp, South Africa. Mr. Terreblanche was murdered by two of his farm workers who then handed themselves over to police.

BAGHDAD BOMBS: Iraqi rescuers worked at the site of a bomb attack in central Baghdad Tuesday. At least 45 people were killed and 140 wounded in blasts that hit different parts of the Iraqi capital.

UNDER GUARD: A U.S. Marine guarded an Afghan detainee at the entrance of a bunker at a U.S. base in Marjah, Afghanistan, Tuesday. A single Afghan man was arrested by Marines near the site where a roadside bomb blew up early that morning. The man had a false Pakistan passport, two different Afghan identification cards, some wires wrapped on a few batteries, an old rifle and pamphlets of Taliban activities in Marjah.

KYRGYZ CHAOS: Bloodied Kyrgyz police officers huddled together for protection, as they were attacked by protestors in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Wednesday. Police opened fire on thousands of angry protesters who tried to seize the main government building amid rioting in the capital as protests spread across the Central Asian nation.

POWER OUTAGE: During a blackout in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, as it examined the causes of the collapse of major financial institutions caused by subprime lending.

TEN FINGERS: A 6-year-old boy held up his fingers after a successful surgery at Shengjing Hospital Wednesday in Shenyang, China. The boy had a total of 31 fingers and toes, which outnumbered the previous world record of 25.

BEACHED WHALE: David Morin, a marine mammal biologist, tried to loop a rope around the tail of a beached baby humpback whale in East Hampton, N.Y., Thursday.

ATTENTION SOLDIERS! Russian soldiers trained Thursday for next month’s parade to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 in Moscow.

STARVING CHILD: Two-year-old Ruot Wiyual collapsed on her bed in a hospital ward in Akobo, Sudan, Thursday. Two years of drought and tribal clashes in this Sudan region bordering Ethiopia have laid foundations for a humanitarian crisis the U.N. mission dubs the “hungriest place on earth.” A recent survey found that almost 46 percent of children in the region are malnourished.

DEMARCATION: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, center left, in cowboy hat, stood during a rally in Bentiu, Sudan, Thursday. Mr. Kiir said Wednesday Khartoum was delaying demarcating the north-south border to try to retain control over oil reserves with Sudan’s elections just days away. Analysts say a failure to resolve the border issue between the former north-south foes could spark renewed conflict if the problem is not sorted before Africa’s largest country holds a January 2011 referendum on independence for the south.

NEW START: U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and his Russian counterpart,

Dmitry Medvedev, signed a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague, Thursday. Under the new pact, the two countries agreed to reduce their deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 each, or 30 percent below the current level of 2,200.

TERM LIMIT?: Police on the Comoros island of Moheli in East Africa restrained a protester outside a meeting between local political leaders and Ramtane Lamamra, the peace and security commissioner of the African Union. Hundreds of islanders demonstrated Friday against the extension of the term of the President Ahmed Sambi.

RED SHIRTS: Protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, right, scuffled with Thai soldiers as they pushed their way in to the Thaicom satellite station during a demonstration Friday in Pathum Thani province, Thailand.

FACING FARMERS: A French riot policeman faced French farmers during a protest against agricultural economic conditions in Nantes,

France, Friday.

TENSE TIMES: A boy looked at a pistol during the funeral of Afrikaner Resistance Movement leader Eugene Terre’blanche in Ventersdorp, South Africa. Thousands of followers of the murdered South African white supremacist, many wearing combat fatigues, thronged to his funeral Friday as racial tensions ran high.

MINER’S FUNERAL: The flag-draped casket of Benny Ray Willingham was carried out of Mullens Pentecostal Holiness Church in Mullens, W.Va., Friday, after a funeral service. Mr. Willingham was among those killed in an explosion at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine.
FALLING DOWN: A horse fell during the Aintree Grand National Meeting in Liverpool Thursday. A horse named “What A Friend” won. the Grade One Aintree Bowl.

SAY HI: The cabin of the space shuttle Discovery rotated to enable the station’s cameras to survey it for possible damage.

BURIED: Rescuers helped a man trapped in the debris of a Rio de Janeiro house Wednesday. As many as 200 people were buried under tons of mud and feared dead after a slum built atop a former landfill gave way in the latest deadly landslide to hit metro Rio de Janeiro.

MINER’S PRAYERS: Dangerous gases forced rescue crews to suspend the search Thursday for four coal miners missing since an explosion killed 25 colleagues. People prayed for the miners and their families at the New Life Assembly Church Wednesday in Whitesville, W. Va.

WHO’S IN CHARGE? Protesters posed in ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s cabinet room inside the government headquarters in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Thursday.

COACHING RECORD: Golden State Warriors’ coach Don Nelson celebrated with his team Wednesday after breaking the record for NBA career coaching victories. The Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-107.

ATTENTION SOLDIERS! Russian soldiers trained Thursday for next month’s parade to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 in Moscow.

REVOLUTIONARY NAP: An anti-government protester rested as rallies continued in central Bangkok Thursday.

HOT IN THE CITY: People sunbathed at the High Line, Manhattan’s newest park, Wednesday. Temperatures in the city neared the daily record of 89 degrees set in 1929.

COLORS OF GRIEF: Relatives of one of the Indian government soldiers killed in Tuesday’s rebel attack mourned him in Dalitpur village, Uttar Pradesh state, India, Thursday.

SRI LANKA VOTES: Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to reporters at a polling station after casting his vote Thursday in the first parliamentary election since the end of a quarter-century war last year.

QUAKE’S SCAR: A kid touched a crack on a wall at his damaged home in the community of Oaxaca, on the outskirts of Mexicali, Mexico, Wednesday.

STORM AHEAD: A Sudanese Dinka tribeswoman stood outside her hut as a storm gathered near her village Wednesday.

FRESHENING UP: A competitor made a stop Wednesday during the two-day stage of the 150-mile Marathon des Sables, or Sand Marathon south of Ouarzazate in Morocco.

DAMPENING PROTESTS: Police dispersed demonstrators during a protest in New Delhi Thursday. Hundreds protested against the Indian government over price hikes of essential food items, an official media release said.

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: People helped a woman who fainted after her house was gutted in a fire at a slum area in Ghazipur, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Thursday. The fire ravaged through about 600 dwellings, but no casualties were reported, according to the fire department.
SOCCER WARNING: A dog barked outside the farm of slain South Africa’s white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche Wednesday. Extremists are warning countries about sending their soccer teams to a “land of murder” after the Mr. Terreblanche’s killing Saturday, only 10 weeks before the World Cup.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: Police detained a paramedical staff member during a protest in Jammu, India, Wednesday. Government employees demanded regularization of daily wage and contractual workers, among other things, to mark World Health Day.

THAI UNREST: Anti-government protesters kicked a security guard outside the Parliament in Bangkok Wednesday.

SHUT OUT: The Houston Astros’ Tommy Manzella was struck by a ball pitched by San Francisco Giants’ Waldis Joaquin in the teams’ game Tuesday night. The Giants won, 3-0.

KYRGYZ PROTESTS: Kyrgyz police officers huddled together for protection amid protests in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Wednesday.

RAINING IN RIO: A woman cried over the body of a relative who died in Rio de Janeiro during torrential rains that caused flooding and chaos in the city this week. At least 81 people have died because of the floods in the Brazilian state.

ON GUARD: Indian soldiers carried the bodies of their colleagues killed in Tuesday’s Maoist attack at the airport in Lucknow, India, Wednesday. India will push ahead with an offensive against Maoist rebels despite the deaths of 76 government troops in an ambush by insurgents in the east, the country’s top security official said Wednesday.

SLOVAKIA’S VICTIMS: World War II veterans paid tribute to the war’s victims during a memorial service in Bratislava, Slovakia, Wednesday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrapped up a two-day visit to Slovakia on Tuesday, calling the EU-member state a “very convenient and open door for Russia to the European Union.”

A YEAR LATER: A man wept during a ceremony in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday to remember those who died during protests last year against the then-ruling communists. New elections were held months later.

LOSING YOUR HEAD: Jacquie Fernandes of the Connecticut Huskies put her head through the net after a 53-47 win against the Stanford Cardinals during the NCAA Women’s Final Four Championship game in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday.

SOCCER KING: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrated after scoring four goals to lift the defending Champions League champions over Arsenal 4-1 Tuesday night and advance Barcelona to the semifinals for the third straight year.

SOLAR SHADE: The solar-powered prototype aircraft “Solar Impulse” took its maiden flight at the military airport in Payerne, Switzerland, Wednesday. The project aims to circumnavigate the world with an aircraft powered only by solar energy.

DISCOVERING THE MOON: The International Space Station flew past the moon before the space shuttle Discovery launching Monday.

UNDER THE SIGN OF SCORPIONS: Scorpions fans cheered as the rock band walked into the Hollywood RockWalk in Los Angeles Tuesday.

MARCHING IN SUDAN: A supporter of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir held his photo during a rally in Yirol, South Sudan, Tuesday. Kiir’s movement said Tuesday it would boycott Sudan’s April 11 national elections.

BACK TO SCHOOL IN HAITI: A boy stopped to have his shoes polished on the way to school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday. Several hundred schools are expected to re-open this week for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake.
SHINING MOMENT: Duke’s Jon Scheyer (left) and Brian Zoubek celebrated their 61-59 victory over Butler in the NCAA National Championship college basketball game in Indianapolis Monday.

PIE IN THE EYE: Rightfielder Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers laughed after getting a post-game cream pie in his face after the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on opening day at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, Monday.

BAGHDAD BLAST: A woman cried at the scene of a blast in central Baghdad Tuesday. At least five bombs ripped through apartment buildings across the city and another struck a market, killing 49 people and wounding more than 160, authorities said.

GOODWILL MISSION: Actress and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ambassador Angelina Jolie smiled with Babic Lena and her sister during a visit to Rogatica, Bosnia, Tuesday.

TEA PARTY EXPRESS: Sharon Baur, of the Menard Co. 9-12ers group, waved an American flag as she cheered on the speakers during the Tea Party Express

national bus tour rally at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill., Monday.

FACE-OFF: A supporter (right) of slain white supremacist leader Eugene Terre’blanche talked to people outside the courthouse in Ventersdorp, South Africa, Tuesday. Whites and blacks faced off angrily in front of the heavily guarded courthouse where a teenager and another farm worker who reportedly confessed to killing Mr. Terre’blanche were charged with murder.

TYCOON ON TRIAL: Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky stood before a court session began in Moscow Tuesday. The imprisoned oil tycoon presented Russian prosecutors with a jar of crude oil and demanded to know how anyone could siphon off 350 million tons of the stuff, as he has been accused of doing in a politically charged trial.

TRADING MASSEY: Specialist Evan Solomon, left, directed trading in shares of Massey Energy Co. on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. After an explosion at the company’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 25 Monday, shares of Massey were down 10% at $48.94 in afternoon trading Tuesday.

STANDING GUARD: Police officers stood guard outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters took over sections of Thailand’s capital Tuesday, pelting police with eggs and dancing in the streets as they pushed through barricades to press the prime minister to call new elections.

SOLDIERS’ SCHOOL: Afghan National Army soldiers marched during the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the National Military Academy of Afghanistan in Kabul Tuesday.

SWAMP RESCUE: Zheng Xianyu, who is 39 years old and seven months pregnant, was rescued by firemen from a swamp on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Tuesday. Ms. Zheng had been trapped in the swamp without food and water for four days before she was rescued alive. The status of her baby was unknown, local media reported.

EARTHQUAKE REMEMBRANCE: People took part in a procession Monday to remember the 308 people killed in the earthquake that devastated L’Aquila, Italy, a year ago.

SHIP RESCUED: Dutch Marines landed on the German freighter the MV Taipan, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates. The Dutch team met no resistance as they rescued the 15-man crew and captured 10 pirates.

VICTIMS HONORED: People paid their respects to victims of the 2008 Sichuan, China, earthquake at the Water Releasing Festival in Dujiangyan.

GEARING UP: Spectators watched near a pond on the 16th hole during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday.

ALL ABOARD: Annabel Goldie, a member of Scottish Parliament, (right) was joined on an election campaign bus by Liam Fox (left) and Jason Rust, (second left) Scottish Conservative candidate for Edinburgh South, Tuesday in Edinburgh. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Tuesday that Britain will go to the polls on May 6.
FOOTBALL ACTION: Barnsley Football Club’s Iain Hume played in a 2-2 tie game against Peterborough at Oakwell Stadium in South Yorkshire, England.

BLAST-OFF: The shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, as seen from across the Pineda Causeway in Melbourne. Seven astronauts were headed for a rendezvous with the International Space Station on one of the last missions for NASA’s shuttle program.

PINK WATER: Indian police used colored water cannons to disperse refugees who were protesting for more rights in Jammu, India, Monday.

FLYING FLORA: Nuns threw flowers during a Holy Week procession in Cordoba, Spain, Sunday.

OPENING DAY: Fireworks soared over Fenway Park before the opening game of the baseball season between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees Sunday in Boston. Boston won 9-7.

MINE RESCUE: A survivor was rescued from the flooded Wangjialing Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, China, Monday. Rescue teams pulled to safety 115 miners who had been trapped in the mine for more than a week and who survived by strapping themselves to the walls to avoid drowning in their sleep and eating bark from wooden support beams.

QUAKE AFTERMATH: A car passed over a crack in the Mexicali-Tijuana highway in Mexicali, Mexico, Sunday, after a 7.2-magnitude eathquake.

UP AND OVER: Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, riding Casall La Silla, competed during the International Jumping Competition Sunday at The Grand Palais in Paris. Mr. Bengtsson finished 2nd and German Marcus Ehning won the event.

WATER FUN: A visitor lay in the Tikibath, an attraction at the Duinrell amusement park, in Wassenaar, Netherlands, Monday.

IRAQ ATTACKS: Munther Muhsen grieved over the body of his brother Wessam Muhsen, 28, during his funeral in Najaf, Iraq, Monday. At least 30 people were killed Sunday when three car bombs detonated in Baghdad.

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: A crowd of more than 100 people watched from Glenmaura National Boulevard in Moosic, Pa., as fire raged on Scranton’s East Mountain Sunday.

PESHAWAR BOMBING: A man injured during an attack targeting the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, was treated at Lady Reading hospital Monday. Islamist militants unleashed a car bomb and grenade attack against the consulate, killing four people

COMING CLOSE: Matador Miguel Angel Perera performed a pass to a bull during a bullfight in the Maestranza bullring in Seville, Spain, Sunday.

CONTINUING PROTESTS: Protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra celebrated after pushing their way into the building where the Election Commission office is located in Bangkok Monday. Demonstrators accuse the Election Commission of dragging its feet on an investigation into opposition allegations that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrat Party accepted illegal campaign contributions.

UPHILL RIDE: Belgian Tom Boonen of the Quick Step team climbed the cobble-stoned Wall of Geraardsbergen during the Tour of Flanders in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, Sunday. Mr. Boonen finished second after Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara.

BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS: Spectators took photos of Tiger Woods during his practice round for the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., Monday. While acknowledging he made some “incredibly poor decisions” in his personal life, Mr. Woods said during a news conference that he still thinks he can win the tournament, which begins Thursday.

LIVING AMID THE FIRES
Miners returned home after a long day of working in the coal mines in the village of Bokapahari, India.

Coal fires rage just below the surface of the ground, making it too hot to walk barefoot. Noxious gases spew from fissures in and around houses.

Children dug out coal from a mine on a recent day. The central government has spent $5 million to build 2,400 new apartments to house residents of Bokapahari. But residents say they have no way of earning a living if they move eight miles away to the new complex.

What’s more, residents complain that the new apartments, nine- by 11-foot rooms with an adjoining bathroom and kitchen, are too small to fit families that often include six to 10 people. At left, residents dug out coal from the mines.

The government has made revitalizing rural India a priority. It has poured billions of dollars into economic-development and jobs programs to improve the grim circumstances of hundreds of millions of its citizens. But many of the government’s more ambitious plans to help its most vulnerable citizens are failing because they are poorly conceived and executed. India continues to struggle in helping individuals at the bottom of the heap. Right, Jalo Bhuia, who works in the Jharia mines.

Residents carried baskets of coal back to their village. Bharat Coking Coal officials say the coal pickers are trespassing and endangering their lives.

The Bokapahari coal pickers say the real reason the government wants to move them is so that it can mine the coal below where they currently live. At left, residents talked about problems with dust and pollution in Kujama Basti, a village a few miles away from Bokapahari.

Government officials insist safety is their first concern, even as they acknowledge that they do plan to mine the million tons of coal under Bokapahari.

People gathered to distribute a recent day’s wage. Jharia and the nearby village of Bokapahari lie in the 450-square-kilometer, turtle-shaped coalfield that is one of the largest coal reserves in India.

Today, more than 70% of India’s power supply is derived from coal. Faced with a desperate shortage of power to fuel its factories and produce electricity for its growing cities, the government is trying to increase its coal production.

The Indian government began to move villagers from the danger zones after a series of accidents in which people, houses and sections of roadway suddenly disappeared under the earth. In 1996, several houses in the area collapsed into the ground within two hours.

By 1999, local and national government officials had developed a plan to move the people, roads and railway lines endangered by the fires. At left, a villager sat on coal.

It wasn’t until 2007 that construction began on the first apartment complex for the villagers. The 2,400 apartments ready a year ago were the first of five townships planned as resettlement areas. Last year, the federal government appropriated nearly $2 billion for moving the 97,000 families who live on the edges of the blazing mines. Railway lines and roads are to be shifted, and the fires in the area extinguished once and for all. Govinda Bhuia, left, and Arbeen Bhuia, right, work in the Jharia mines.

Ajay Singh, who, as managing director of the Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority is in charge of the relocation plan, says trying to relocate the villagers is the toughest job he’s had in his 15-year career as an Indian administration officer.
FLOWERS IN MEMORY: A train passed by flowers laying on the platform at Moscow’s Lubyanka metro station, which was hit by an explosion Monday. Two explosions blasted Moscow’s subway system Monday morning during rush hour, killing at least 38 people.

PASSOVER PREPARATIONS: Orthodox Jews collected water at an ancient Roman natural spring on the outskirts of Jerusalem for the Mayim Shelanu ritual to be used the following day to make matza, the unleavened bread eaten in the Jewish holiday of Passover. The week-long festival, which began Monday night, commemorates the hasty flight of the Jews from ancient Egypt as described in the biblical book of Exodus.

PEACEFULLY PROTESTING: Russian police surrounded an opposition party supporter while detaining him during a protest rally in Moscow on Wednesday. Supporters of various opposition parties gathered for a rally to defend article 31 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which says “citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets.”

TO THE RESCUE: A Belarusian emergency worker carried an old woman from her house in the flooded-out village of Talka, Russia, on Tuesday. Around 200 homes were affected when river Svisloch burst its springtime banks.

REMEMBERING THE DEAD: An elderly woman leaned on a cross during a Palm Sunday memorial for the departed in Frumusani, southern Romania, on Sunday. Orthodox believers in the village gathered at midnight, lit fires at the graves and shared food in memory of their dead relatives.

PILES OF BILLS: Budget bills are piled on legislators’ desks in the Assembly in Albany, N.Y., on Monday.

PRESIDENT PUMPS UP TROOPS: President Barack Obama rallied troops and military personnel at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Sunday.

UNDER MY UMBRELLA: Pedestrians made their way through New York’s Times Square in the rain on Monday.

PATCHING TOGETHER A COMMUNITY: Workers joined together pieces of a prefabricated building, which was donated to replace a school, destroyed by the February earthquake and tsunami in Tumbes, Chile, on Wednesday.

WAITING GAME: Workers waited outside the entrance to the Wanjialing coal mine as rescuers tried to find more than 150 workers trapped in the flooded coal mine being built in northern China’s Shanxi province Tuesday. Workers accused their bosses of ignoring warning signs of danger as anger built over the accident after workers said water was noticed leaking into the pit days before.

REMAINING GREEN WATER: A Chinese villager collected water from the last remaining well in the village of Qujing, China, on Sunday. Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands in the huge areas of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan provinces.

SWIMMING STRETCHES: Palestinian swimmers, Abdul Rahman, left, and Shahdi el-Masry, performed warm-up stretches before training at the Nama’a Sports Club in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip. Mr. el-Masry’s leg was amputated after an Israeli jeep ran over it when he was 2 years old. The handicapped swimmers hope to travel to Germany in May to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics. Gaza has few adequate training facilities for professional athletes, many of whom have great difficulty leaving the blockaded territory to compete internationally.

OIL COLORED WATER: An oil slick spread from a car in a flooded parking lot of an office complex in Cranston, R.I., on Wednesday. Rhode Island rivers overflowed, causing flooding and road closures after three days of record breaking rains.

IN BLOOM: Cherry blossoms were reflected in the waters of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C, Thursday during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

BOWED HEADS: Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers prayed before the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony at the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City Thursday.

INDIAN CENSUS: Indian passengers queued up to board a train at the New Delhi railway station Thursday. India began counting its billion-plus population, with 2.5 million census-takers fanning out across the country to photograph and fingerprint citizens for a new a database that will be used to issue its first national identity cards.

FOOD FOR PEACE: U.S. Marines took care of a detained Afghan before giving him dinner at their combat outpost during a 48-hour operation to fight insurgents in a Taliban stronghold in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Thursday.

PENITENCE: A member of “La Sed” brotherhood walked to a church to take part in a procession in Seville, Spain, Wednesday.

POLISHED: New employees of Japanese shoe products company Columbus Co. took off their shoes for a shoe polishing instruction on their first day of work in Tokyo Thursday.

SHIELDS UP: Riot police took cover behind their shields as they clashed with Turkish workers of the state tobacco company TEKEL, who were protesting layoffs and the government’s labor policy for second day in Ankara Friday. More than 5,000 riot police have been deployed in the center of Turkish capital to police the demonstration by some hundreds of workers.

DRYING OUT: Ron Chopoorian, a volunteer at Cranston League for Cranston’s Future, a boys and girls youth organization, swept water out of the gymnasium, Friday in Cranston, R.I. The gymnasium had floodwater from the Pawtuxet River 4 feet high.

BEACH REENACTMENT: Beachgoers watched as people taking part in the “Cristo Salvador y del Amparo ” brotherhood procession passed by on Good Friday on a beach in Valencia.

BOWLS OF PROTEST: Toilet bowls with crosses symbolizing job cuts were displayed in front French bathroom furnishing company Jacob Delafon during a protest against the group Kohler France’s decision to close the site in Brive-la-Gaillarde.

BRIEF NAP: Paramilitary policemen took a break at the site of a coal mine explosion in Yichuan county, Henan province, China Friday. A gas explosion at a coal mine in central China killed 12 people and left 32 missing, Xinhua news agency said Thursday, even as rescuers worked to save 153 workers at a different mine in Shanxi province.

LAVA FLOWS: Fimmvoerduhals Volcano in Iceland spewed lava Thursday. The volcano, which had been lying dormant for 200 years, has been attracting scientists, tourists and photographers from all over the world since it started erupting on March 21, 2010.
FLOWERS IN MEMORY: A train passed by flowers laying on the platform at Moscow’s Lubyanka metro station, which was hit by an explosion Monday. Two explosions blasted Moscow’s subway system Monday morning during rush hour, killing at least 38 people.

PASSOVER PREPARATIONS: Orthodox Jews collected water at an ancient Roman natural spring on the outskirts of Jerusalem for the Mayim Shelanu ritual to be used the following day to make matza, the unleavened bread eaten in the Jewish holiday of Passover. The week-long festival, which began Monday night, commemorates the hasty flight of the Jews from ancient Egypt as described in the biblical book of Exodus.

PEACEFULLY PROTESTING: Russian police surrounded an opposition party supporter while detaining him during a protest rally in Moscow on Wednesday. Supporters of various opposition parties gathered for a rally to defend article 31 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which says “citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets.”

TO THE RESCUE: A Belarusian emergency worker carried an old woman from her house in the flooded-out village of Talka, Russia, on Tuesday. Around 200 homes were affected when river Svisloch burst its springtime banks.

REMEMBERING THE DEAD: An elderly woman leaned on a cross during a Palm Sunday memorial for the departed in Frumusani, southern Romania, on Sunday. Orthodox believers in the village gathered at midnight, lit fires at the graves and shared food in memory of their dead relatives.

PILES OF BILLS: Budget bills are piled on legislators’ desks in the Assembly in Albany, N.Y., on Monday.

PRESIDENT PUMPS UP TROOPS: President Barack Obama rallied troops and military personnel at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Sunday.

UNDER MY UMBRELLA: Pedestrians made their way through New York’s Times Square in the rain on Monday.

PATCHING TOGETHER A COMMUNITY: Workers joined together pieces of a prefabricated building, which was donated to replace a school, destroyed by the February earthquake and tsunami in Tumbes, Chile, on Wednesday.

WAITING GAME: Workers waited outside the entrance to the Wanjialing coal mine as rescuers tried to find more than 150 workers trapped in the flooded coal mine being built in northern China’s Shanxi province Tuesday. Workers accused their bosses of ignoring warning signs of danger as anger built over the accident after workers said water was noticed leaking into the pit days before.

REMAINING GREEN WATER: A Chinese villager collected water from the last remaining well in the village of Qujing, China, on Sunday. Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands in the huge areas of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan provinces.

SWIMMING STRETCHES: Palestinian swimmers, Abdul Rahman, left, and Shahdi el-Masry, performed warm-up stretches before training at the Nama’a Sports Club in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip. Mr. el-Masry’s leg was amputated after an Israeli jeep ran over it when he was 2 years old. The handicapped swimmers hope to travel to Germany in May to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics. Gaza has few adequate training facilities for professional athletes, many of whom have great difficulty leaving the blockaded territory to compete internationally.

OIL COLORED WATER: An oil slick spread from a car in a flooded parking lot of an office complex in Cranston, R.I., on Wednesday. Rhode Island rivers overflowed, causing flooding and road closures after three days of record breaking rains.

IN BLOOM: Cherry blossoms were reflected in the waters of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C, Thursday during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

BOWED HEADS: Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers prayed before the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony at the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City Thursday.

INDIAN CENSUS: Indian passengers queued up to board a train at the New Delhi railway station Thursday. India began counting its billion-plus population, with 2.5 million census-takers fanning out across the country to photograph and fingerprint citizens for a new a database that will be used to issue its first national identity cards.

FOOD FOR PEACE: U.S. Marines took care of a detained Afghan before giving him dinner at their combat outpost during a 48-hour operation to fight insurgents in a Taliban stronghold in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Thursday.

PENITENCE: A member of “La Sed” brotherhood walked to a church to take part in a procession in Seville, Spain, Wednesday.

POLISHED: New employees of Japanese shoe products company Columbus Co. took off their shoes for a shoe polishing instruction on their first day of work in Tokyo Thursday.
BRIGHT OUTLOOK: Clowns fooled around during a celebration of Laughter Day in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday.

HOLY THURSDAY: A hooded penitent wore a crown made of plastic flowers during Maundy Thursday Lenten rites in Angeles city, Philippines, Thursday. The Roman Catholic church frowns on the gory spectacle held in the Philippine villages every Holy Thursday but that does nothing to deter the faithful from emulating the suffering of Christ and taking a painful route to penitence.

CLEANSING RITES: A Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, prayed after taking a dip in the River Ganges in Haridwar, India, Thursday. Devout Hindus bathe in the Ganges during the months-long festival, expected to attract more than 10 million people, with the belief that it will cleanse them of their sins and free them from the cycle of life and rebirth.

MAYOR MURDERED: Code Enforcement Officer Gerald Smith, left, comforted John Thornton Jr. at the scene where his father, Washington Park, Ill., mayor John Thornton, was shot Thursday morning. Mr. Thornton was shot twice in the chest at close range and died at the hospital. St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone says it appears the shooting happened at the location where

Mr. Thornton’s car, background, was found crashed against a tree.

HELP WANTED: Khalifah Varnado read a postcard during the Arizona Workforce Connection Career Expo Wednesday in Phoenix.

FOUL BALL: Fans scrambled for a fourth-inning foul ball during a spring training baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday in Sarasota, Fla.

SPRING SPLASH: Residents of Mexico City enjoyed artificial beaches during the Holy Week holiday Wednesday.

FLOODED LOT: An oil slick spread from a car in a flooded parking lot of an office complex in Cranston, R.I. Wednesday. Rhode Island rivers overflowed their banks, causing flooding and road closures after three days of record-breaking rains.

FIGHTING FLAMES: Firefighters sprayed water on a house fire in Tampa Wednesday.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS: Tourists crowded the path as they walked beneath the blooming cherry trees at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., Thursday during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

PASSOVER: An orthodox Jewish woman sat with her children at a tent pitched outside the Tomb of the Patriarchs during Passover celebrations in the West Bank city of Hebron, Thursday. Hundreds of religious Jews visited the Tomb, traditionally believed to be the burial site of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and matriarchs Sara, Leah and Rebecca.

INDIAN CENSUS: Indian passengers queued up to get onto a train at the New Delhi railway station Thursday. India began counting its billion-plus population Thursday, with 2.5 million census-takers fanning out across the country to photograph and fingerprint citizens for a new a database that will be used to issue its first national identity cards.

RELEASED: Ronald Taylor, left, and George Gould, right, spoke to the media after a hearing at Rockville Superior Court in Vernon, Conn., Thursday. Messrs. Taylor and Gould were convicted of a 1993 New Haven murder. Their convictions were overturned after a star witness recanted.

PRIVATE STRUGGLE: Workers protesting against the privatization of the State Tobacco and Liqueur Company shouted as they struggled with riot police in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday.

COOPERATING NEIGHBORS: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and French Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde attended a news conference in Berlin during her visit to Germany

EASTER KISS: A Spanish legionnaire kissed a woman after taking part in the procession of the Christ of Mena during Holy Week in Malaga, Spain, Thursday. Easter processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors.