The Week in Pictures | April 9 – April 15, 2012 - Framework - Photos and Video - Visual Storytelling from the Los Angeles Times

Tbilisi, Georgia — A young Georgian jumps over a bonfire during the Chiakokonoba folk festival in Tbilisi. According to the legend, this ritual purifies the soul of the jumper of evil spirits. Some 12 people have been taken to hospital burns units after their jumps, Georgian media reported Thursday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

Liverpool, England — Unowatimeen, ridden by Samantha Drake, center, jumps the water jump during the Fox Hunters Steeplechase during the first day of the Grand National horse racing meeting at Aintree Racecourse. The meeting culminates in the Grand National on Saturday, which is run over a distance of four miles and four furlongs (7,242 meters), and is the biggest betting race in the United Kingdom.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ANDREW YATES / AFP

Yangon, Myanmar — Burmans celebrate the Songkran festival, also known as the Water Festival. The three-day Songkran festival is celebrated with splashing water and putting powder on each others' faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NYEIN CHAN NAING / EPA

San Isidro Mazatepec, Mexico — A firefighter stands amid the disaster caused by an oil pipeline explosion.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: HECTOR GUERRERO / AFP

Jerusalem — Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theofilos III uses flowers to sprinkle worshipers with water after the Washing of the Feet ceremony outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the Crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Christians from around the world are in the Holy Land marking the solemn period of Easter.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press

New Delhi — BJP supporters ride through the streets to muster votes. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections are to be held on April 15.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images AsiaPac

Kolkata, India — Hindu devotees step over a mother and child lying on a road in a ritual celebrating the Gajan Festival. The festival falls on the last day of the Bengali calendar which also coincides with the birth of Lord Shiva, according to Hindu mythology.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP

London — Sotheby's employees pose with Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's 1895 pastel on board version of "The Scream" at Sotheby's auction house. The work is expected to fetch around $80 million when it is auctioned at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale in New York on May 2.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CARL COURT / AFP

St Petersburg, Russia — Gymnasts perform during the 23rd European Trampoline Championships.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: OLGA MALTSEVA / AFP

Banda Aceh, Indonesia — Acehnese people run shortly after a powerful earthquake hit the western coast of Sumatera in Banda Aceh. A massive earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island, U.S. and Indonesian monitors reported, prompting an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami alert.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP

Naples, Italy — Sailors of Team Artemis Racing get on their boat after they capsized during the first Fleet Race of the America's Cup World Series off Naples. The ACWS series allows teams and their sailors to prepare for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America's Cup Challenger Series and the September 2013 America's Cup Finals in San Francisco.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: MARIO LAPORTA / AFP

Lima, Peru — Rescued miners are ushered out of the Cabeza de Negro mine after being trapped underground for seven days in the Andes. President Ollanta Humala directed the final stage of the operation, which lead to the rescue of nine trapped miners.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ANDINA / AFP

Seoul — South Korean election officials count ballots for parliamentary elections at a high school gymnasium. Rival parties were neck-and-neck in the election, a key test of sentiment before December's presidential vote, according to TV exit polls.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: KIM JAE-HWAN / AFP

Ayutthaya, Thailand — Elephants splash water to celebrate Songkran or the Thai traditional New Year festival, in the ancient city of Ayutthaya. The annual elephant Songkran is held to promote the tourism industry and is celebrated prior to the three-day Songkran Festival also known as the water festival, which is held from April 13-15.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NARONG SANGNAK / EPA

Maumee, Ohio — A litter of six puppies and their mother, an English bulldog mix, at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio. A man tried to abandon the six puppies by zipping them inside a suitcase and leaving it outside an Ohio business near a trash bin with their mother. The man was charged after authorities said they found he'd left the luggage tag with his contact information attached.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Dave Zapotosky / The Blade

Woodburn, Ore. — Olivia Bellin, 4, of Salem, Ore., bounces on a ride during an annual trip with her mother to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn, Ore. The farm is open through April 30 and features more than 40 acres of flowers, rides, food and festivities.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Thomas Boyd / The Oregonian

Pyongyang, North Korea — North Korean youths react at the water slide of a pool facility at the Kim Il Sung University.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press

Singapore — A worker perched on the roof of the Esplanade Theatre carries out a routine cleaning.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wong Maye-E / Associated Press

Jerusalem — A Greek Orthodox monk walks in a light beam holding a candle at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher during the Holy Week of Easter holiday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ABIR SULTAN / EPA

Kolkata, India — An Indian artist is reflected in a mirror on the wall as he works on gold jewelry inside a workshop attached to a jewelry showroom. Jewelers in India ended their three-week strike Saturday after assurances that the government would consider scrapping a budget proposal to levy excise duty on unbranded jewelry.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP

New Delhi — A man takes cover as the branch of a tree snaps during a sudden thunderstorm. The Indian capital was engulfed by a dust storm followed by an unseasonal rainfall after days of high temperatures.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PRAKASH SINGH / AFP

Srinagar, India — Protesting Kashmiri government employees run away as Indian police spray purple-colored water to disperse a demonstration. Indian police detained dozens of employees, used water cannons and resorted to charging the employees during the protest. The employees were demanding an increase in the retirement age from 58 to 60, among other changes.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ROUF BHAT / AFP

Yauca del Rosario, Peru — Clothes used by miners dry on a rock wall outside the entrance of the Cabeza de Negro gold-and-copper mine where some miners are trapped. Authorities say nine miners trapped inside the wildcat mine since Thursday are being supplied with sports drinks, soup and food while emergency responders work to free them.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Martin Mejia / Associated Press

Calcutta — Indian young people try to get fresh air as they wear tight costumes as part of a promotional campaign by Sony India for their new products. Sony Corp. more than doubled its net loss outlook to $6.4 billion for the financial year that ended March 31, the company said.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: PIYAL ADHIKARY / EPA

Manila, Philippines — A moray eel swims as a diver performs underwater at Manila Ocean Park, the largest oceanarium in the country, to promote their special hotel rooms, which are decorated with aquariums, as they celebrate their second anniversary.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Bullit Marquez / Associated Press

Mumbai, India — An Indian youth cools off in the waters of the Arabian sea on a hot day as Mumbai endures an intense heat wave. The temperatures have already broken records in March.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: DIVYAKANT SOLANKI / EPA

Singapore — Volunteers help set up lanterns around the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands. Singapore commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic with the release of 2,228 Kong Ming lanterns signifying the number of passengers aboard the ship when she set sail.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: STEPHEN MORRISON / EPA

Tokyo — Traditional "koinobori" carp kites, some with prayers for the earthquake-hit Tohoku region, hang under the Tokyo Tower ahead of the Children's Day celebrations. Children's Day is a Japanese national holiday that takes place annually on May 5. It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: TOMOYUKI KAYA / EPA

Amritsar, India — Indian Sikh Nihang (religious Sikh warriors) raise their swords after boarding a train along with devotees to Pakistan at a railway station. Thousands of Indian Sikh pilgrims are expected in Pakistan for the Baisakh celebrations, the Sikh New Year at the Sikh Shrine of Gurudwara Panja Sahib and Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: NARINDER NANU / AFP

Dhaka, Bangladesh — Bangladeshi women use their feet to scatter rice grain spread out to dry at a rice mill on the outskirts of Dhaka.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Pavel Rahman / Associated Press

Cleebronn, Germany — Mother Orsa and her three young bears discover the open-air enclosure at the wildlife park Tripsdrill near Cleebronn, southern Germany. The cubs are 14 weeks old.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FRANZISKA KRAUFMANN / DPA

Hong Kong — Exhibition staff members display the most well-preserved baby mammoth, named Lyuba, at a media preview. The 1-month-old baby mammoth of the Ice Age died 42,000 years ago and was preserved in the ice. Lyuba was found by a reindeer herder in permafrost of the Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, on 2007. She will be exhibited in Hong Kong from April 12 to May 10.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Kin Cheung / Associated Press