In Focus
The Week in Pictures: March 1 - 8
Buddhist blessings, a lonely rhino, Nor'easter slams East Coast, and more.
A hostess smiles in Tiananmen Square during the opening session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 5, 2018.
China's government pledged to deliver robust growth, pursue advanced technology and boost military spending while urging the public to embrace President Xi Jinping's rule as its ceremonial legislature prepared for changes to allow Xi to stay in power indefinitely.
Immigration activists chain themselves to each other as they stage an act of civil disobedience to shut down Independence Avenue in Washington's Capitol Hill on March 5.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that temporarily shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation was scheduled to end Monday but court orders have forced the Trump administration to keep issuing renewals, easing the sense of urgency.
Pedestrians walk through a snowstorm in New York on March 7. For the second time in less than a week, a storm rolled into the Northeast with wet, heavy snow, grounding flights, closing schools and bringing another round of power outages to a corner of the country still recovering from the previous blast of winter.
An Indian laborer carries a salt pan in the outskirts of the Nagaur district in Rajasthan, India, on March 7.
Women's work: Meet the female pioneers thriving in once-male domains
A man dressed as a local deity performs the "eating flowers" ritual in Baitang, China, on March 8. Working themselves into a trance, bare-chested men in eastern China lean into incandescent fountains of sparks to cleanse themselves of evil spirits and ensure a fortuitous new year.
The scene takes place annually in villages in the coastal Fujian province, which is home to an array of colorful centuries-old Lunar New Year rituals linked to ancient customs and local gods.
Jennifer Lawrence arrives for the 90th Annual Academy Awards on March 4 in Los Angeles.
Photos: Stars shine at Academy Awards as show faces scrutiny after #MeToo
State senators acknowledge the cheers of teachers and school personnel after the passage of a bill to increase pay of state employees by 5 percent at the capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 6. The lawmakers unanimously approved the pay raises for teachers and troopers, after the governor reached a deal to end a teacher walkout that shuttered the state's schools for nine days.
A young monk waits before a Monlam procession near the Rongwo Monastery in Tongren, also known as Rebkong, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on March 1. During Monlam, or the great prayer, Tibetan Buddhists will pray for a long life, peace and harmony. The thangka, a large scroll-painting, is unrolled as an offering to Buddha.
A Syrian girl receives treatment as victims of reported airstrikes are brought to a make-shift hospital in the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta on March 7. The Syrian government, determined to wrest the eastern Ghouta suburbs from the control of rebels after seven years of war, has resorted to extreme levels of shelling and bombardment to clear the way for its troops to advance on the ground. Hundreds have been killed in the past two weeks.
Photos: Bombs dropped over eastern Ghouta bring region's deadliest days since 2015
An acid attack survivor has her makeup done before a fashion show to mark International Women's Day in Thane, India, on March 7.
Photos - ‘Now we act’: Women stand together for equality on International Women’s Day
Keeper Zachariah Mutai tends to Fatu, one of only two female northern white rhinos left in the world, in the pen where she is kept for observation at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia county in Kenya on March 2.
As the health of the world's last male northern white rhino declines in Kenya, a global team of scientists and conservationists is pushing ahead with an ambitious effort to save the subspecies from extinction with the help of the two surviving females.
Participants in the project to create northern white rhino embryos through in vitro fertilization say its success depends not on the sick, elderly male named Sudan, but on his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu, whose eggs would likely have to be extracted because the rhinos can't reproduce naturally.
Police clash with demonstrators as they escort people to a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, on March 5. Spencer was granted permission to speak after suing MSU which is currently on spring break. Spencer popularized the term "alt-right" to refer to a fringe movement that's a mix of white nationalist and anti-Semitic beliefs.
An officer with the U.S. Navy greets Vo Nhat Truyen, 30, during a visit on March 7 to a Danang shelter for people suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, a chemical used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to destroy foliage. The USS Carl Vinson arrived in Vietnam on Monday in the first visit of a U.S. aircraft carrier since the war ended in 1975.
Of the 4.8 million people who were exposed to Agent Orange, some three million are still suffering from its effects, including children born with severe disabilities or other health issues years after their parents were exposed, according to the Hanoi-based Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk off Air Force One as they arrive in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 2 to attend the funeral of Reverend Billy Graham.
Photos: From hometown to U.S. Capitol, mourners honor Billy Graham
Sheep at a farm in the village of Hillltown, Northern Ireland, on March 2.
