It’s never been easier to keep up with what’s going on in the world. The news is everywhere – in our Facebook feeds, on the morning commute, during that lazy half hour before you switch off the TV and go to bed. But the tide of global affairs is often more upsetting than uplifting and it can be tempting to bury our heads in the sand. As the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words, so to offer a different perspective we've rounded up some of the most memorable images of the week's events, captured by the best photojournalists on the planet.
A demonstrator holds his fist in the air as members of the Communist Party of India (CPI) along with trade unions demonstrate during a nationwide protest demanding a standardisation of minimum monthly wages of 18000 INR (US$283) for working labour in Chennai on 25th January 2018.
Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images
The Captain Cook statue in Catani Gardens in St Kilda is seen vandalised on 25th January 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. The vandalism comes as debate continues about changing Australia Day from January 26th with many indigenous Australians believing it to be Invasion Day. Australia Day, formerly known as Foundation Day, is the official national day of Australia and is celebrated annually on January 26th to commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet to Sydney in 1788.
Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
Women from the Michigan-based victim advocacy groups End Violent Encounters and Firecracker Foundation cheer for women as they leave the courthouse after the sentencing of the disgraced doctor Larry Nassar in Ingham County Circuit Court on 24th January 2018 in Lansing, Michigan. The former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting dozens of girls and women.
Photo by Anthony Lanzilote/Getty Images
A woman covers the face of a child as Mount Mayon spews a huge column of ash in Camalig, Albay province, Philippines, on 24th January 2018. Mount Mayon, the Philippines' most active volcano located in eastern Philippines, has been spewing fresh lava and ash for almost two weeks. More than 74,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters as authorities warn of a potentially hazardous eruption that could take place in just days.
Photo by Ezra Acayan/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The coffin of Dolores O'Riordan is carried out of St Ailbe's parish church in Ballybricken after her funeral on 23rd January 2018 in Limerick, Ireland. The Cranberries singer, aged 46, was found unresponsive in a London hotel last week. Police are not treating her death as suspicious. An inquest into O'Riordan's death was opened and adjourned until April while the coroner awaits test results. The Cranberries' debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? sold 40 million records in the early 1990s.
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
A picture taken on 22nd January 2018 shows a murmuration of starlings performing their traditional dance before landing to sleep near the southern Israeli city of Rahat, in the Negev desert.
Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
A Nepalese kid writes on the temple wall of the Goddess of Wisdom Saraswati during Basant Panchami, or Shree Panchami Festival celebrated on Monday 22nd January 2018 at Kathmandu, Nepal.
Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A woman poses with a message as hundreds of mostly female activists marched to protest repeated failures to apply laws that women must hold at least a third of government seats in Nairobi, Kenya, on 22nd January 2018. According to Kenya's 2010 constitution, women must have at least a third of seats in parliament and a third of appointed positions. The National Assembly has 349 MPs; there are only 76 women.
Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images
Palestinian schoolgirls pose for a group picture outside their classrooms at a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on 22nd January 2018, during a visit by the UNRWA Commissioner General.
Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images
A group of shamans led by Tayta (father) 'Chonta Negra' initiate the ritual of prosperity and gratitude to the 'Pacha Mama' (mother earth) with which they receive the new year, in Molinuco, Ecuador, on 22nd January 2018. A seven-months' pregnant woman is cleansed of bad energies with a guinea pig by a shaman, and the foetus is placed in position to have a normal delivery.
Photo by Franklin Jácome/Press South/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A supporter of the presidential candidate for the Honduran Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship for the past election, Salvador Nasralla, lies on the street in front of police officers during a demonstration against the contested re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernández, in Tegucigalpa on 21st January 2018. The opposition called for a 'national strike' on Saturday to focus on blocking the country's main roads ahead of the start of the president's new term in office on 27th January. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds jailed since Hernández was declared the winner of the 26th November run-off election – but only after a three-week stretch of often-interrupted ballot counting that stoked tensions and sparked accusations of fraud in the Central American country.
Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images
Orla Dean, 5, holds a placard during the Time's Up rally at Richmond Terrace, opposite Downing Street on 21st January 2018 in London, England. The Time's Up Women's March marks the one-year anniversary of the first Women's March in London and in 2018 it is inspired by the Time's Up movement against sexual abuse. The Time's Up initiative was launched at the start of January 2018 as a response to the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
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