This weekend, we see photographs from around the world depict the plight of women, the aftermath of violence and the beautiful contrasts of cultures and people on planet Earth.
Two young women were gang raped and hanged in India only days after a pregnant 25-year-old Pakistani woman was beaten to death by members of her family for marrying the man she loved. Health problems in rural areas threaten women as well, as we see in the Central African Republic.
The Turkish government hopes to quell increasing dissatisfaction with censorship and violence, but protesters are not willing to forget the massive protests that brought the country to the center stage last year.
Violence in the Ukraine has not let up. Six more separatist militants were killed trying to retrieve the bodies of as many as 100 fallen comrades following a battle with the Ukrainian Army in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
Despite this, in other parts of the world, life carries on. In the face of mounting protests, Brazil continues to prepare for the World Cup and refuses to be deterred in holding a successful iteration of the biggest tournament in the world. A man in Xinjiang, China rides across desert sand dunes days after 55 people were sentenced for terrorism separatism and murder in a mass sentencing in that region. Lastly we see a woman participating in a Spanish festival celebrating one village's ragtag and rebellious past.
The veiled mother of one of the two teenage girls, who were raped and hanged from a tree, sits inside her house at Budaun district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh May 31, 2014. India's new Home Minister Rajnath Singh weighed in on Friday as public anger and political controversy over the attack gain momentum.REUTERS/Anindito MukherjeePlainclothes police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest in central Istanbul May 31, 2014. Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Saturday to disperse protesters in central Istanbul who sought to mark the one-year anniversary of the country's biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades.REUTERS/Yagiz KarahanA sick girl from Puel tribe stands in a village outside Bambari May 30, 2014. Puel cattle herder tribes are Muslims and are often attacked by Anti-Balaka Christian militia.
REUTERS/Goran TomasevicPro-Russian separatists fire a salute during the funeral of Vasily Burov, 46, at a cemetery in Makievka, eastern Ukraine, May 31, 2014. Burov was killed in clashes with the Ukrainian army in the village of Gorlovka in the Donetsk region on May 29. REUTERS/Maxim ZmeyevA woman with her mouth taped over with adhesive reading "education", protests against the money spent on preparations of the upcoming World Cup, in downtown Rio de Janeiro May 30, 2014. The 2014 World Cup will be held in 12 cities in Brazil from June 12 till July 13. REUTERS/Ana Carolina FernandesA soldier takes up position in front of a large screen at the Victory Monument, where anti-coup protestersgathered on previous days, in Bangkok May 30, 2014. Thailand's military said on Friday it will set up "reconciliation centers" across the country aimed at healing a decade of political division that has often spilled into violence. REUTERS/Damir SagoljEngland's Gary Cahill (2nd L) challenges Peru's goalkeeper Raul Fernandez (2nd R) for an aerial ball during their international friendly soccer match at Wembley Stadium in London May 30, 2014. REUTERS/Dylan MartinezU.S. President Barack Obama walks arm-in-arm with Jami Bergdahl (L) and Bob Bergdahl (R) after delivering a statement about the release of their son, prisoner of war U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington May 31, 2014. Obama, flanked by the parents of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who is being released after being held for nearly five years by the Taliban, said in the White House Rose Garden on Saturday that the United States has an "ironclad commitment" to bring home its prisoners of war. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWang Yirong of Hebei province rides his motorcycle in a desert during the China Taklimakan Rally and CCR Xinjiang Station, in Shanshan, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region May 31, 2014. REUTERS/China DailyElisa Garcia, 28, poses for a photo, wearing a costume from the era of 18th century painter Francisco Goya, while a horse-drawn carriage passes along the "Puente Nuevo" (New Bridge) during the second edition of "Ronda Romantica" (Romantic Ronda) in Ronda, near Malaga, southern Spain, late May 31, 2014. Ronda Romantica is a cultural, historical and tourist event during the three days where thousands of people of Ronda and about fifty towns around of "Serrania de Ronda" (Ronda Mountain Ranges), dressed in traditional costumes, recreate the era of the bandits, drovers and romantic travelers in the nineteenth century. They also recreate the war of Spanish Independence which started in 1808 with the invasion by French Napoleonic troops and lasted until 1814, when the French were defeated and expelled from the country. Picture taken May 31, 2014. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
