SPEAK SOFTLY: Michael Posner, U.S. assistant secretary of state, spoke in the U.S. embassy in Beijing Thursday after dubbed a ’human-rights dialogue.’ He said China had rebuffed U.S. efforts to find out the status of lawyers, political activists and others caught in a police dragnet. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)

SHATTERED: A Ugandan security officer broke the window of a car in which opposition leader Kizza Besigye was preparing to drive to work Thursday in Kampala. Police fired tear gas into his car, wounded him in the eye and arrested him during protests against high food and fuel prices. (James Akena/Reuters)

NO BUNNY EARS: The Irish Guards posed for a regimental portrait Thursday, a day before their appearance at Friday’s royal wedding. (Stephen Simpson/London News Pictures/Zuma Press)

RELIEVED: African migrant workers loaded their belongings onto a truck in Benghazi Wednesday, after being evacuated by boat from Misrata. (Yannis Bahrakis/Reuters)

MINE EFFORTS: Rescue workers rested Thursday outside the Changba Lead-Zinc Mine in Longnan, Gansu Province, northwest China. Five miners died and three remain missing after being overcome by carbon monoxide inside the mine on Wednesday morning. (Nie Jianjiang/Xinhua/Zuma Press)

FALLOUT: A soldier loyal to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara guarded prisoners accused of loyalty to ousted strongman Laurent Gbagbo in Yopougon, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Thursday. (Legnan Koula/European Pressphoto Agency)

ON SALE: Under a row of Bollywood posters seen top, a Pakistani vendor waited Thursday for customers alongside his vegetables in an alley of a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Nathalie Bardou/Associated Press)

A MOMENT’S PEACE: A Nigerian woman displaced during the violence that followed last week’s presidential election took a nap Thursday inside a military barracks where she and others sought refuge. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)

READY TO VOTE: Thousands of people gathered Thursday at an opposition rally in Singapore, where parliamentary elections will be held next week. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)

FRAGILE LOAD: A potter carried a load of earthenware water jars on his bicycle to a market in the northern Indian city of Allahabad Thursday. (Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)

‘DON’T SNEEZE’: Guinean acrobats performed at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Sierra Leone’s independence from Britain at the National Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Wednesday. (Simon Akam/Reuters)

CHILLING: Kashmiri school children ran for cover Thursday as protesters, not shown, threw stones at Indian police in Srinagar. Police in the area had arrested a top separatist leader. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press)

BUS BOMBING: Security officers sought evidence Thursday on a bus that was hit by a roadside bomb in Karachi, Pakistan. Five people died on the bus, which was taking Pakistani navy employees to work. (Athar Hussein/Reuters)

REACHING TO HEAVEN: At St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, chairs were ready to be arranged for Sunday’s ceremony to beatify Pope John Paul II. (Evandro Inetti/Zuma Press)