The Week in Pictures

Supporters of the “tea party” movement hold a sign outside the U.S. Capitol during a rally against the healthcare bill. Full story  (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

Cars driven by Mark Martin (5), Marcos Ambrose (47) and Juan Pablo Montoya (42) crash Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Food City 500 race. Jimmie Johnson won the event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.  (Wade Payne / Associated Press)

A woman fills a vessel with water from the River Ganges for a ritual on the eve of World Water Day.  (Gurinder Osan / Associated Press)

A man prepares to anchor his boat after a day’s work on the River Ganges.  (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

Afghan police, left, stand on a wall as a crowd packs a road during the celebration of Nowruz, the start of spring and the traditional New Year celebrated in Afghanistan and other countries in the region.  (Musadeq Sadeq / Associated Press)

A boy washes his face at a displacement camp on the outskirts of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.  (Rafiq Maqbool / AP Photo)

A Palestinian man inspects the rubble of a building after an Israeli air strike Friday in Rafah, in southern Gaza. The missiles hit the defunct international airport and tunnels near the border with Israel. Officials said at least 12 people were wounded.  (Eyad Baba / AP Photo)

One of seven lanterns representing Earth’s seven continents is readied for release over Sydney Harbour in Australia to launch the 1-week countdown to Earth Hour, a global initiative in which people are invited to switch off their lights for one hour March 27 at 8.30 p.m. to show their support for action on climate change.  (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images for WWF)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) told reporters at the Capitol that there were still issues to be resolved, but she predicted that Democrats would have the votes they need on Sunday to pass a historic healthcare overhaul that would extend coverage to 32 million Americans who lack insurance.  (Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images)

Turkish demonstrators burn Israeli flags at Beyazit Square after Friday prayers in Istanbul.  (Mustafa Ozer / AFP / Getty Images)

The world’s tallest horse, Luscombe Nodram, or “Noddy,” stands with its owner, Jane Greenman, before they depart on a tour that will include appearances at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and in Brisbane. The Shire horse is 7 years old, stands 20.2 hands high (nearly 6 feet, 9 inches), and at more than 3,300 pounds, weighs three times more than the average thoroughbred racehorse. The Shire horse is now endangered, with approximately 2,000 left in the world, with very few of them being gray.  (William West / AFP / Getty Images)

A falla, or figure, burns in a fire during the traditional Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain. Every year the city celebrates the ancient fiesta, a noisy week full of fireworks and processions in honor of St. Joseph that ends in the midnight burning of papier-mache satirical figures displayed along streets.  (Alberto Saiz / Associated Press)

Amid clashes with Israeli troops, masked Palestinian demonstrators run down a street in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh. Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank lobbed rocks at Israeli security forces, set garbage bins and tires ablaze and torched an Israeli flag in a new outbreak of violence over contested Jerusalem building plans and unsubstantiated rumors about threats to the city’s holiest Muslim shrine.  (Dan Balilty / Associated Press)

A jaguar strolls through its outdoor enclosure at the Schoenbrunn zoo on a springlike day in Vienna.  (Hans Punz / Associated Press)

Members of the Sabean Mandaeans, a pre-Christian sect that follows the teachings of John the Baptist, practice rituals on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad on a 5-day holiday marking the creation of the world.  (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press)

Israeli police stand guard as Palestinian Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers outside Jerusalem’s Old City after they were banned from entering the Al Aqsa mosque compound because of police age restrictions on men under 50 years old. Israel sealed off the West Bank amid continuing tension over the government’s plan to build new homes in Arab East Jerusalem.  (Abir Sultan / EPA)

After Friday prayers, Muslim worshippers march through the Old City of Jerusalem in reaction to new security restrictions. The Israeli government has increased security in the Old City and allowed only worshippers over 50 years old to participate in the Friday prayers as a way to prevent clashes. Tensions have increased over the government’s plan to build new homes in Arab East Jerusalem.  (Oliver Weiken / EPA)

Palestinian Hamas supporters attend a rally in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, protesting Israel’s planned renovation of a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City and its plans to build new settlements.  (Mohammed Abed / AFP/Getty Images)

France’s Pierre Vaultier, second right, competes to win the men’s World Cup snowboard cross. Australia’s Alex Pullin, right, finished second. Patrick Holland of the United States, left, was third, and Italy’s Alberto Schiavon, second left, was fourth.  (Manu Fernandez / Associated Press)

Jenyne Butterfy of Los Angeles practices her routine for the U.S. Pole Dance National Championships.  (Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images)

Matador Cayetano Rivera makes a pass with the red cape as a bull charges during the Las Fallas Festival.  (Manuel Bruque / EPA)

Gerd Schonfelder of Germany competes in the men’s standing downhill event on Thursday at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics.  (Jamie McDonald / Getty Images)

Fans of Uruguay’s Cerro show their enthusiasm before a Copa Libertadores soccer match against Brazil’s Internacional on Thursday. The match ended in a scoreless tie.  (Matilde Campodonico / Associated Press)

Samantha Stosur of Australia, en route to a 6-3, 7-6 (7) victory, serves to Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.  (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

A visitor walks by a piece of art during a preview of an Asian art auction.  (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

Soldiers stand in line during the burning of more than two tons of seized marijuana and cocaine in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Full coverage  (Miguel Tovar / Associated Press)

An olive ridley sea turtle lays its eggs on Rushikulya beach in India’s Orissa state, about 90 miles down the coast from Bhubaneshwar. Thousands of the turtles have come ashore from the Bay of Bengal to lay eggs at Rushikulya, one of three mass nesting sites in the area.  (Deshakalyan Chowdhury / AFP/Getty Images)

Thai riot police officers stand in a puddle of blood after anti-government protesters spilled containers of their own blood at the gates of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s residence in Bangkok.  (Christophe Archambault / AFP/Getty Images)

Performers wearing Aztec costumes approach the soccer stadium in Torreon, Mexico, before a match between Mexico and North Korea.  (Guillermo Arias / Associated Press)

Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of the Impressionist and Modern Art Department for Christie’s, walks past Picasso’s “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto” at the auction house in London. The proceeds from the June auction of the 1903 painting will go to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, which owns the work. It is expected to fetch as much as $60 million.  (Oli Scarff / Getty Images)

Rafael Nadal serves to John Isner during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif. Nadal, the tournament’s defending champion, won the match, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, to advance.  (Gabriel Bouys / AFP/Getty Images)

Demonstrators in Rio de Janiero protest changes in the distribution of oil royalties adopted by Brazil’s lower house of Congress.  (Felipe Dana / Associated Press)

British Airways airplanes are lined up at London City Airport.  (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

Tommy O’Farell, left, and Kathleen Merideth get into the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day at L.A. Live on Wednesday.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Parade performers kick off St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin. Hundreds of thousands of people will mark the national day at more than 180 events in towns and villages across the country.  (Julien Behal / Associated Press)

Attendees at Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day parade show their colors.  (Julien Behal / Associated Press)

“Paddy,” flown by Orlando Balloon Rides, floats above a private golf resort in Kissimmee.  (Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel)

An unidentified rider takes part in a training session ahead of the Snowboard World Cup, being held March 17 to 21 at La Molina Ski Resort, in northeastern Spain’s Pyrenees Mountains.  (Pedro Armestre / AFP / Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) speaks at a news conference to announce his vote on healthcare reform. Kucinich said he would vote in favor of the overhaul.  (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

A view of the Patek Philippe booth at the world watch and jewelry trade show “Baselworld,” where hundreds of exhibitors show their latest collections.  (Georgios Kefalas / Associated Press)

A Palestinian youth jumps over a burning tire during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem’s holiest shrine on March 17 and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.  (Abed Al Haslamoun / EPA)

Supporters of Ronald Mwenda Mutebi II, ruler of the powerful southern Ugandan tribe the Baganda, watch the Kasubi tombs go up in flames near Kampala, Uganda. The tombs are where four former kabakas, or kings, of Buganda -- the homeland of the Baganda tribe -- are buried. Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Buganda’s Mutebi have been at odds since riots last year. The president was blocked by protesters Wednesday from visiting the site of the tombs, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  (AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinians hurl stones at Israeli troops during a clash in East Jerusalem.  (Oded Balilty / Associated Press)

Riders guide their horses over a water jump during the Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival in Cheltenham, England.  (Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images)

Elephants from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus parade past Capitol Hill during the annual Pachyderm Parade to promote their upcoming shows in the D.C. area.  (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters burn fliers with images of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other officials during a rally in Jakarta, the capital, to draw attention to claims of government corruption.  (Bay Ismoyo / AFP/Getty Images)

A man watches the sun set on Kuta beach during Silence Day. Hindus in the world’s most populous Muslim country celebrate their new year by observing a day of silence, in which they have to stay inside their homes and meditate in silence and darkness.  (Firdia Lisnawati / Associated Press)

A Hindu woman performs rituals after bathing in the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival. Devout Hindus bathe in the Ganges during the festival in the belief that it will cleanse them of their sins and free them from the cycle of life and rebirth.  (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

A woman walks down steps that feature a painted promotional design for an upcoming Earth Hour event at a bank. Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. local time and is a global call to turn off lights for 60 minutes in a bid to draw attention to global climate change.  (Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

Israeli border police officers arrest a Palestinian youth during clashes in the Shufat refugee camp. Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces after Israel vowed to expand Jewish settlements and a senior Hamas leader called for a new intifada.  (Marco Longari / AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters display placards during a demonstration in opposition to the healthcare reform bill being debated in the House.  (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

Several people observe a falla, an installation of papier-mache, cardboard and wooden sculptures. The fallas feast is a mass festival held in the Valencia region annually to honor St. Joseph, the patron of carpenters. The fallas are burned at the end of the festival.  (Manuel Bruque / EPA)

Children play on a trampoline at sunset.  (Muhammed Muheisen / Associated Press)

A layer of fog floats into Victoria Harbor. Warm humid air from the south mixed with a cold front from Guangdong province in mainland China to the north has produced patches of fog across the territory over the past few days.  (Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty Images)

A high-rise building is partly covered by heavy fog. In Hong Kong, fog is common in spring and can affect shipping and aviation.  (Vincent Yu / Associated Press)

Britain’s Union Jack flag flies in front of the nearly completed United Kingdom pavilion at the 2010 World Expo site in Shanghai.  (AFP / Getty Images)

A child’s-eye view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at right, who met with children’s advocates about the healthcare overhaul.  (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

An artist works on a tiny glass sculpture during the annual Transitarte Festival in Costa Rica’s capital.  (Yuri Cortez / AFP / Getty Images)

The Angels Flight funicular reopens around sunrise after being shuttered nine years because of a fatal accident.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A bee arrives to collect pollen from the stamen of a flowering crocus in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The unusually cold winter in England has delayed the flowering of many spring plants by up to one month.  (Oli Scarff / Getty Images)

President Obama speaks on healthcare reform at the Walter F. Ehrnelt Recreation and Senior Center.  (Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

An Indian laborer works at at a construction site.  (Divyakant Solanki / EPA)

An ash-smeared Hindu holy man performs rituals ahead of a procession to the River Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival. Devout Hindus bathe in the Ganges during the months-long festival with the belief that it will cleanse them of their sins and free them from the cycle of life and rebirth.  (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

Ethnic Hungarians parade during celebrations of the anniversary of the 1848 revolution against the Habsburgs. Thousands of ethnic Hungarians gathered in towns across Romania’s Transylvanian region to celebrate the Hungarian holiday.  (Vadim Ghirda / Associated Press)

People gather fish in a reservoir near Kiev on the Dnieper River. Kiev officials lowered the water level in the reservoir to prevent flooding, and the ice caused the fish to suffocate.  (Sergei Chuzavkov / Associated Press)

A tree uprooted by a heavy rainstorm smashes a car in Wantagh, in Long Island, N.Y. Strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, leaving thousands of people without power. Full story  (Chris Corradino / Associated Press)

Pope Benedict XVI leaves a Lutheran church in Rome after a visit. The Vatican denied that its celibacy requirement for priests was the root cause of a clergy sex abuse scandal that is roiling the Roman Catholic Church in Europe.  (Andreas Solaro / AFP / Getty Images)

Walkers are only partly visible through the snow as winter returned to Warsaw, Poland.  (Andrzej Rybczynski / EPA)

Fans of Aris celebrate during the soccer team’s 2-0 victory over PAOK on Sunday at Thessaloniki, Greece, in Super League play.  (Dimitri Messinis / Associated Press)

A Palestinian worshipper who was prevented from reaching the Al-Aqsa mosque prays outside Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday while Israeli forces stand guard in the background. Seeking to head off further unrest, police limited access to the city’s holiest site, and Israel’s military sealed off the West Bank for 48 hours, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel. Police allowed only men over 50 to pray Friday at the shrine at the center of the disturbances, the Jerusalem compound Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary. There were no limitations on women.  (Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

U.S. Marines work out Friday at combat outpost Khan Neshin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Marines in the spartan base set up in the ruins of an old Afghan castle improvised a gym out of plywood, pipes, sandbags and other materials found around the base, and have dubbed it their own “Venice Beach.”  (Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

Chaunte Howard Lowe of the United States competes in the women’s high jump qualifying round Friday at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships at the Aspire Dome in the Qatari capital Doha.  (Valery Hache / AFP/Getty Images)