Photos from around the world: The week of Aug. 12

Deodhani festival in India, government reform protest in Spain, a court case involving a Russian punk rock group — some of the best photos from around the world.

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Aug.18, 2012

A devotee dances during the two-day-long Deodhani festival at Kamakhya temple in Gauhati, India. The festival is held to worship the serpent goddess Kamakhya. Goats and pigeons are offered as sacrifice. It is believed that by taking part in this festival, one gets superficial power from Kamakhya.

Anupam Nath / AP

Aug.18, 2012

Men shower in a traditional Turkish bath to prepare for the Eid al-Fitr festival in Sanaa, Yemen. The festival marks the end of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Aug.18, 2012

People raise their fists from a bridge in support of temporary agricultural workers and members of the Andalusian Union of Workers walking along a road on the last day of a march in Jaen, Spain. The march, led by Marinaleda's mayor and Izquierda Unida Parliamentarian Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo will continue across the region through blistering summer heat in a bid to persuade other local leaders to refuse compliance with government reforms. The march started from Jodar on Thursday.

Jon Nazca / Reuters

Aug.18, 2012

Men play soccer along the shore in the shadow of the Bandra–Worli Sea Link in Mumbai, India.

Rajanish Kakade / AP

Aug. 17, 2012

People try to calm a student who watched his friends get arrested by police as they were evicted from their all-girls high school, Liceo Carmela Carvajal, which students occupied to demand education reform in Santiago, Chile. Protesters say the education system fails families with poor quality public schools, expensive private universities, unprepared teachers and banks that make education loans at high interest rates that most Chileans can ill afford.

Luis Hidalgo / AP

Aug. 17, 2012

Kashmiri Muslims watch protesters throw rocks and bricks at Indian police men during a protest against the Indian rule after Friday prayers in Srinagar, India.

Dar Yasin / AP

Aug. 17, 2012

Visitors watch goldfish or "kingyo" swimming in a polyhedral aquarium on the opening day of the Art Aquarium Exhibition in Tokyo. The annual exhibition produced by Hidetomo Kimura was the collaboration of Japan's old Edo period atmosphere, modern technology and the kingyo, the organizer said.

Koji Sasahara / AP

Aug. 17, 2012

From left, Russian feminist punk rock band members Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow. The three women were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for their protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, an outcome supporters described as the Kremlin leader's "personal revenge."

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 17, 2012

A policeman chases a supporter of the jailed Russian female punk rock band while climbing a fence around the Turkish embassy in Moscow.

MIkhail Voskresensky / Reuters

Aug. 16, 2012

A policeman fires at protesting miners outside a South African mine in Rustenburg. South African police opened fire on Thursday against thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, leaving several bloodied corpses lying on the ground. A Reuters cameraman said he saw at least seven bodies after the shooting, which occurred when police laying out barricades of barbed wire were outflanked by some of an estimated 3,000 miners massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine 60 miles northwest of Johannesburg.

Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

Aug. 16, 2012

A supporter of Julian Assange stands outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London awaiting a decision to grant the Australian journalist and founder of WikiLeaks asylum.

Andrew Cowie / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 16, 2012

Commuters line up at the metropolitano bus station during the public transportation workers' strike in Lima, Peru. Transportation workers are protesting against Lima's Mayor Susana Villaran's new ordinance that aims to impose tighter restrictions to regulate public transportation providers. Private vehicle owners have taken advantage of the strike by providing short-distance routes and charging commuters more than what they would normally pay for public transportation.

Enrique Castro-Mendivil / Reuters

Aug. 15, 2012

A man searches for the bodies of people who were killed during a recent Syrian Air Force airstrike in Azaz.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Aug. 15, 2012

Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, center in suit, is greeted by his wife and relatives at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. Kiprotich's win marks the African nation’s first Olympic gold medal since the Munich Games in 1972. Lawmakers are considering a motion that would declare Kiprotich a national hero, and his employer has promised to promote him at work.

Stephen Wandera / AP

Aug. 15, 2012

A police vehicle takes position as miners stage a sit-in close to a South African platinum mine in Rustenburg, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Ten people were killed in clashes at the mine, which is run by leading producer Lonmin, between rival unions: the leading and decades-old National Union of Mineworkers and the smaller Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. Eight Lonmin employees died, and two of the police officers sent to quell the unrest were hacked to death in two days of violence, which started as an illegal work stoppage called by one of the unions.

/ AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2012

Indians fly kites from their rooftops while celebrating Independence Day in New Delhi, India.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev breaks his six-day fast at Ambedkar stadium in New Delhi. Ramdev was arrested and brought to the stadium on Aug. 13 as he attempted to lead a procession of thousands of supporters to Parliament. He ended a protest demanding that the government do more to repatriate illicit money that Indians have stashed in foreign accounts.

Rahul Singh / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 2012

A Pakistani youth gestures next to the national flag during a ceremony in Wagah to celebrate Pakistan's 65th anniversary of independence from British rule.

Arif Ali / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 2012

Visitors walk through concrete blocks of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial in Berlin. The memorial to the 6 million Jews killed in Europe under the Nazis was created by U.S. architect Peter Eisenman and consists of an undulating field of 2,711 stone slabs through which visitors can wander.

Gero Breloer / AP

Aug. 13, 2012

Flood-displaced people line up at a church for food distributed by the Red Cross in Valenzuela, on the outskirts of Manila. Authorities warned that an intensifying storm could bring more misery to the flood-battered capital and surrounding areas, where nearly half a million people were in evacuation centers.

Nicolas Asfouri / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 12, 2012

A Sarayaku Indian girl shades herself with a large leaf as she watches a celebration in a village in Ecuador. The Sarayaku people were gathering to celebrate a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a 2003 lawsuit against oil exploration on their ancestral Amazon lands.The court ruled that Ecuador violated the Sarayaku's property rights by not consulting them before signing a contract with an oil company.The state must pay the Sarayaku $1.4 million for property damage.

Dolores Ochoa / AP

Aug. 13, 2012

Mothers supporting student protesters are detained by riot police during a demonstration against the government's plans to change the public education system in Santiago, Chile. Students have been protesting what they say is profiteering in the state education system.

Stringer / Reuters

Aug. 12, 2012

In this image released by the U.S. Navy, a guided-missile destroyer is seen after it collided with a Japanese-owned oil tanker outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The collision left a gaping hole in the starboard side of the USS Porter, but no one was injured on either vessel, the Navy said in a statement.

Jonathan Sunderman / AP

Aug. 12, 2012

Outside the home of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, an Israeli in a Batman costume takes part in a protest against a possible war with Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that most threats to Israel’s security were “dwarfed” by the prospect of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. The placard, in Hebrew, says “Bibi, Ehud — leave the blasts and the effects to real superheros! Go home!”

Nir Elias / Reuters

Aug. 12, 2012

In a low-lying part of Manila that is covered in mud after floods, a baby sleeps in a hammock made from a sheet. Another low-pressure system was expected to bring rain and more flooding to the region in the next 24 to 48 hours. According to the Office of Civil Defense, the floods affected as many as 2.7 million people in Manila and surrounding provinces, with more than 440,000 fleeing to evacuation centers.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Aug. 12, 2012

Villagers watch a wildfire burning between the villages of Chirokitia and Kato Dris in the island nation of Cyprus. Cypriot authorities ordered the evacuation of a small, hillside village near the island’s southern coast as a large brushfire continud to rage out of control nearby.

Petros Karadjias / AP

Aug. 12, 2012

The Red Arrows, the aerobatic team of Britain’s Royal Air Force, perform during a celebration outside Moscow, marking the Russian air force's 100th anniversary.

Mikhail Metzel / AP

Navy personnel survey the damage done to the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter after it collided with the Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan in the Strait of Hormuz. No injuries were reported after the collision, and shipping traffic in the waterway, through which 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil exports pass, was not affected, officials said.

Navy photo / Reuters

Aug. 12, 2012

A woman grieves for loved ones who died in an earthquake that hit the previous day in the village of Bajebaj near the city of Varzaqan in northwestern Iran. Twin earthquakes in Iran killed at least 250 people and injured more than 2,000, Iranian state television said Sunday. Thousands spent the night outdoors after their villages were leveled and homes damaged in the country's northwest. Iran is located on seismic fault lines and experiences at least one earthquake every day on average, although the vast majority are to small to be noticed.

Arash Khamoushi / AP

Aug. 12, 2012

Matador Juan Jose Padilla, center, concentrates in preparation for a corrida at the Malagueta Bullring in Malaga, Spain.

Jorge Guerrero / AFP/Getty Images

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

A protestor in a Guy Fawkes mask walks past razor wire outside a security perimeter of the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. The summit is taking place under heavy security, with some 7,000 police lining roads and checking vehicles. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Photos of the day

G-8 summit, massive protests rock Brazil, Britain’s Royal Ascot and more.

Two-year old male rat named Dyatlik wears a costume during a rodent exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Animal views

Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

U.S. actress Sandra Bullock poses for the media during a photocall to promote her latest move 'The Heat' in Berlin June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

Eye on entertainment

Sandra Bullock, Jessica Sanchez, Snooki, Billy Porter, Billy Crystal, Sean Hayes, Gwen Stefani and other celebrities.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 16: Reenactors dressed as knights stage a medieval jousting competition at Eltham Palace on June 16, 2013 in Eltham, England. The 'Grand Medieval Joust' event at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property which was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to give a great insight into life at the palace during the medieval period. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

The Grand Medieval Joust

The Grand Medieval Joust at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property that was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to lend insight through reenactment into life at the palace...

In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brazil’s other soccer fields

With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 16: John F. Tatum Sr. hugs his grandson John F. Tatum III during his annual Father's Day block party on Sunday, June 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Father’s Day picnic in Northeast D.C.

A decades-old backyard barbecue in Northeast Washington draws hundreds in honor of dads everywhere. “It’s off-the-chain fun,” says Butch McNair, who has worked one...

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 16: Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady reacts after being crowned Miss USA during the 2013 Miss USA pageant at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 16, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Miss USA 2013

Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady is crowned Miss USA 2013 in Las Vegas.

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