Photos of the week
A rescued sea lion rests in a holding pen at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California, March 30, 2015.
Record numbers of starving baby sea lions continue to wash ashore in California, and the problem has shown no sign of abating. Experts suspect that unusually warm waters are causing food to become scarce. The pups become sick and emaciated, swimming to shore to prevent themselves from drowning.
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A man uses a stick to whip a penitent man in front of a chapel during a Holy Week ritual in Angeles city, Pampanga, in northern Philippines, April 2, 2015.
Flagellation is a form of religious discipline observed every lenten season by Catholic devotees in the Philippines.
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A boy carries his belongings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria President Bashar Assad in Aleppo's al-Fardous district April 2, 2015.
Photos of the week
A man walks during a sand storm in Dubai April 2, 2015.
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Supporters of presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressive Congress hit another supporter with a motorbike during celebrations in Kano March 31, 2015.
Nigeria's opposition APC declared an election victory for former military ruler Buhari and said Africa's most populous nation was witnessing history with its first democratic transfer of power.
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A Tai Yai boy waits for a ceremony to begin during the Poy Sang Long Festival April 1, 2015, in Mae Hong Son, Thailand.
Poy Sang Long is a Buddhist novice ordination ceremony of the Shan people, or Tai Yai, an ethnic group of Shan State in Myanmar and northern Thailand. Young boys aged between 7 and 14 are ordained as novices to learn the Buddhist doctrines.
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A woman takes advantage of warm spring weather temperatures on the beach in Nice, France, March 31, 2015.
Photos of the week
A close-up detail is seen of the destroyed computer used by Guardian journalists to store documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London April 1, 2015.
The display forms part of the exhibition "All of this Belongs To You," which will run until July 19.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif talks to members of the media while walking through a courtyard at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel during an extended round of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 1, 2015.
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A 2016 aluminum Jaguar XF is shown at the 2015 New York International Auto Show in New York City April 1, 2015.
Photos of the week
Flat landlord Yoshie Fukuhara, 77, lays flowers as she prays where the body of an 85-year-old man was left for over a month, after the special cleaning of the flat in Tokyo March 21, 2015.
Specialist clean-up crews are on hand to cleanse "lonely death" apartments once their passing is spotted, including placing incense and flowers.
The body of the man in his 80s was found on the floor of his apartment. The family didn't visit, and the only reason for the body's discovery was the slight smell that troubled the downstairs neighbor. In a country where around 5 million elderly people live alone, the number of decaying bodies found in empty homes is expected to soar.
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The Global Stars aerobatic team performs as birds fly during the four-day-long Gujarat Aero Conclave in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad April 1, 2015.
Photos of the week
A couple embraces while sitting in the pews of a cathedral in Guatemala City April 1, 2015.
Photos of the week
A general view shows solar panels to produce renewable energy at the photovoltaic park in Les Mees, in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, southern France, March 31, 2015.
The solar farm of the Colle des Mees, the biggest in France, consists of 112,780 solar modules covering an area of 200 hectares of land and representing 100 megawatts of power.
Photos of the week
Flaming torches and candles fill the square in front of St. Nicholas' Church in the village of Siggiewi, southwest of Valletta, Malta, April 2, 2015.
Every year on Holy Thursday, thousands of people on the staunchly Catholic island make their way up a nearby hill, the highest point on the Maltese islands, on a Seven Churches Visitation pilgrimage. Several Easter processions take place around Malta between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday, drawing thousands of visitors. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter.
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Rubbish covers the banks of Cunha channel, which flows into Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro March 31, 2015.
As part of its Olympic bid, Rio promised to clean up 80 percent of the bay for the games, which will host the sailing event. But local government officials have already admitted that a cleanup by 2016 is not achievable.
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The mud-covered feet of a victim, who died after a hillside collapsed onto a house, is pictured at Ledhan village, west of Srinagar, India, March 31, 2015.
Heavy rains and a landslide in the Himalayan region of Kashmir killed 17 people, police said, as Indian authorities continued working to rescue stranded villagers, with unseasonal rains raising fears of flash floods in the mountainous north.
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Alba Jimenez, 19, wearing a traditional mantilla dress, looks on as she takes part as a penitent in the procession of the "Gitanos" brotherhood during Holy Week in Malaga, southern Spain, March 30, 2015.
Hundreds of Easter processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors.
Photos of the week
A child model presents a creation from the Sun Tomorrow Children's Collection during China Fashion Week in Beijing March 31, 2015.
Photos of the week
Residents evacuate an injured boy after the Islamist group al-Shabaab attacked Maka Al-Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, March 27, 2015.
Islamist militants blasted their way into a popular hotel in the Somali capital, killing at least seven people and trapping government officials inside, police and witnesses said.
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A man pulls his camel as he sits in an auto rickshaw during a dust storm in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 29, 2015.
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Wreckage of an Airbus A320 is seen at the site of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps March 26, 2015.
A young German co-pilot locked himself alone in the cockpit and set it on course to crash into an Alpine mountain, killing all 150 people on board, including himself, prosecutors said.
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A dog jumps into the swimming pool at the Dog Resort in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 25, 2015.
City dwellers in the South American concrete jungle of Sao Paulo are increasingly living on their own in high rise apartment blocks, turning to pets for company rather than traditional family cohabitation. Care centers, such as this, which look after the animals during the working hours of the day, are becoming increasingly popular.
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Twin sisters Araneidis Sanchez, 7, left, and Araneisi Sanchez pose for a picture during the International Livestock Fair Show in Havana March 21, 2015.
Around 200,000 people attend the fair, according to its organizers.
Photos of the week
Laborers work on scaffolding near a full-scale replica of the Sphinx at an unfinished movie and animation tourism theme park in Chuzhou, Anhui province, China, March 27, 2015.