Photos Of The Week: May 15-21

Gay rights activists march in Minsk on May 15. Police broke up the parade and fined several of the activists for participating in an unsanctioned event.

Photo by RFE/RL

Afghan letter writers wait for customers in Kabul. Some two-thirds of Afghanistan's population is illiterate, and some rely on professional letter writers to communicate with relatives.

Photo by Omar Sobhani for Reuters

U.S. soldiers struggle with a sandstorm ahead of a training session with servicemen of the Afghan National Army near Herat.

Photo by Tiago Petinga for epa

Relatives grieve during the funeral of a victim of violent clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, where the interim government retook official buildings from backers of the ousted government.

Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko for AFP

Russia's Alexander Ovechkin collides with Canada's Brent Burns during the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Hockey Championships in Cologne, Germany.

Photo by Grigory Dukor for Reuters

Three U.S. hikers detained in Iran for the past 10 months on spying charges -- Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal -- sit with their mothers, who visited Tehran to see their children and plead for their release.

Photo by Atta Kenare for AFP

An Iranian girl looks on as she and her mother attend a ceremony commemorating the death of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Mohammad, in southern Tehran.

Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl for Reuters

Delegates of Turkmenistan's Council of Elders attend a congress in Dashoguz, where President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov delivered an address advocating a multiparty system.

Photo by AFP

A Crimean Tatar attends a ceremony in Simferopol, Ukraine, marking the 66th anniversary of the deportation of Tatars from the peninsula to distant parts of the Soviet Union.

Photo by Reuters

In Karachi, Pakistan, a woman wears a banner proclaiming 'There is no god but God and Mohammad is the prophet of God.' Muslims took part in a rally on May 20 against social networking service Facebook, whose users organized a divisive free-speech campaign titled 'Everybody Draw Mohammad Day.'

Photo by Athar Hussain for Reuters

A large wreath falls on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as he pays his respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kyiv.

Television screen grab