The Observer's 20 photographs of the week

The best photographs in news and culture from around the world over the past seven days. The roundup includes a trio of Doctor Who actors, Alien, Darth Vader and, more seriously, trouble in Cairo and Bahrain

  • Shanghai-based artist Maleonn has travelled around 25 Chinese provinces, photographing 200,000 people in a mobile photo studio.Feast your eyes on more photographs and read more about the project by visiting the gallery
    20 photos: Fighter plane

  • A flagger is chased by a bull during a traditional "corraleja" (bullfight) in Arjona, Bolivar, Colombia. Two men were killed and at least 15 injured at the event in which people are allowed to run inside the bullring
    20 photos: A flagger is chased by a bull

  • Women in traditional mantilla dresses smoke outside church before taking part in the Brotherhood procession of "Los Estudiantes" (The Students) at the start of Holy Week in Oviedo, northern Spain
    20 photos: Women wearing traditional mantilla dresses smoke

  • The landing and anti-landing drills of the Korean People's Army at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast. This image was distributed by the official Korean Central News Agency on 26 March and was subsequently found to be manipulated. Several hovercraft appear to have been digitally added to the original, presumably to make the military look more impressive. Read Justin McCurry's article on how the image was doctored
    20 photos: North Korean army

  • A Hindu devotee, face smeared with coloured powder, leaves the Banke Bihari temple during Holi celebrations in Vrindavan, India
    20 photos: A Hindu devotee

  • A man holds up an extremely rare and complete sub-fossilised elephant bird egg at Christie's auction house in London. The egg which is more than 100 times llarger than an average chicken egg is native to Madagascar and the bird that laid it was largest bird ever to have lived. Resembling a heavily built ostrich it grew to more than three meters high
    20 photos: Extremely Rare Complete Elephant Bird Egg

  • Modelling the MGPIN Collection during China fashion week in Beijing
    20 photos: A model on the MGPIN Collection catwalk

  • Street performers in Rome
    20 photos: Street performers in Rome

  • Brazilian brides pose for photos before their mass wedding ceremony at the Museum of the Republic in Brasilia
    20 photos: Brides pose for photos

  • Ultra-Orthodox Jews burn leavened items in final preparation for the Passover holiday in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv
    20 photos: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men burn leavened items

  • Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Paul McGann with the Royal Mail's special Doctor Who stamps which went on sale this week. The stamps mark the 50th anniversary of the BBC's sci-fi series
    20 photos: Doctor Who stamps

  • Farmer Donald O'Reilly, with three sheep rescued from a snow drift, searches for more in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland
    20 photos: Donald O'Reilly searches for sheep

  • Pakistani schoolchildren attend their daily classes in a makeshift school on the outskirts of Islamabad
    20 photos: schoolchildren attend their daily classes

  • Egyptian anti-government protesters pick their way through a dust storm en route to a demonstration outside the Muslim Brotherhood HQ in Cairo's Mokattam district
    20 photos: Egypt

  • Penitents of "San Esteban" brotherhood embrace next to a church during Holy Week in the Andalusian capital of Seville
    20 photos: Penitents of "San Esteban" brotherhood

  • Girls competing in the World Irish Dancing Championships wait for their spray tans to dry in Boston, Massachusetts
    20 photos: The World Irish Dancing Championships

  • The shadow of a Bahraini protester is seen over graffiti which reads in Arabic 'steadfast' during clashes with riot police after the funeral of a man who died, say relatives, after inhaling poisonous tear gas at an earlier demonstration
    20 photos: The shadow of a Bahraini protester

  • A homeless man sits covered in snow early in the morning in Washington DC
    20 photos: A homeless man sits covered in Washington

  • A boy poses with Predator, Alien and Darth Vader during the Canaan fair, part of the Holy Week events in Ayacucho, Peru
    20 photos: Holy week in Peru

  • Children watch from the rear window of a car in Sanaa as marchers go past demanding Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh be stripped of his immunity and stand trial for the killings of protesters
    20 photos: Yemeni children watch protest
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