After Abbottabad, Part 1. ”The week following the successful operation against Osama bin Laden, President Obama’s approval rating in one poll climbed dramatically. Last month, 46 percent of Americans said they approved on his overall job performance; this week, 57 percent gave him thumbs up. Stephen Crowley of the New York Times snapped this behind-the-scenes shot of the president after he finished speaking to troops at Fort Campbell, Kentucky this week. The last lines of his speech remain on his teleprompter.” Photo by Stephen Crowley, New York Times

After Abbottabad, Part 2. ”The compound in which Bin Laden lived, and died, drew photographers of all kinds. Here, a woman photographs her daughter at the gate of Abbottabad’s best known tourist attraction.” Photo by Aqeel Ahmed/AP, ”Lens”, New York Times

Afghanistan, Part 1. ”Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of opium poppy, despite U.S. efforts to halt the drug trade, and from 2005 to 2009 the number of heroin addicts within the country has grown by 140 percent. James Nachtwey’s photo essay, titled “The Lost Souls of Kabul,” depicted the problem in haunting human terms. He photographed this group of addicts huddled inside one of the city’s bomb-blasted ruins.” Photo by James Nachtwey, ”LightBox”, Time

Afghanistan, Part 2. ”In the wake of bin Laden’s death, New Yorker writer Jon Lee Anderson’s dispatch from Khost Province came with a question: Is it time for the U.S. to leave Afghanistan? Photographer Larry Towell provided the imagery, including this photograph of U.S. soldiers arresting men suspected of helping to supply the Taliban with bombs.” Photo by Larry Towell, The New Yorker

Yemen, Part 1. ”The scene here has become the great visual cliché of the Arab Spring uprisings—angry demonstrators in crowded streets, fierce faces and fists raised for photojournalists’ lenses. The dynamism and expression of this Yemeni boy, photographed during a demonstration in Sana, makes Hani Mohammed’s picture a standout.” Photo by Hani Mohammed/AP, ”Lens”, New York Times

Yemen, Part 2. ”In this shot, there are no crowds, only disorder as demonstrators block a road in Taiz during clashes with Yemeni security forces. The New York Times reported that the security forces opened fire in an effort to break up the demonstration, killing two protesters.” Photo from Yemen Lens/AP, ”Lens”, New York Times

Uganda. ”Police in Kampala created a striking visual by firing water colored with dye at a group of demonstrators in Kampala. Note to all security forces: Spraying purple water is an almost certain way to get the world to focus on your methods of crowd control.” Photo by Marc Hoffer/AFP/Getty Images, USA Today

Ukraine. ”What looks like a movie scene is very real: An unidentified man waved his pistol as Ukrainian nationalists and a pro-Russian groups tangled in Lviv during a commemoration of Germany’s surrender in World War II.” Photo by Pavlo Palamarchuk/AP, ”Lens”, New York Times

Missouri. ”In the U.S., weather remained a top story of the week, as the swollen Mississippi River crested at near-record high levels. To lower water levels upstream, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spectacularly blew a giant hole in levee in Mississippi County, Missouri, allowing water to spill into a flood plane.” Photo by David Carson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Kentucky. ”The Kentucky Derby comes with abundant tradition, like mint juleps and very strange hats. The event’s most honored visual tradition is the shot of horses racing toward the finish line, shot from inside the rail with the landmark spires of the Churchill Downs in the background. The addition of looming grandstands on either side of the older building has spoiled the gracefulness of the view, but John Gress captured the excitement of the moment as this year’s winner, Animal Kingdom, thundered past, leading the pack by two-and-a-half lengths.” Photo by John Gress/Reuters, Sports Illustrated

Portaits. ”The deaths of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros focused attention of the dangers that war photographers face. Christopher Anderson, a veteran combat photographer himself, made portraits of a number of his colleagues, who appear as apparitions in a half-world away from guns and bombs. From left: Yuri Kozyrev; Tyler Hicks; Michael Kamber; Lynsey Addario, Ashley Gilbertson; and Alan Chin.” Photo by Christopher Anderson, New York

Cover Story, Part 1. ”One of the more controversial images of the week appeared on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. It shows Illinois congressman Aaron Schock shockingly exposed in an unbuttoned shirt. The magazine dubbed Schock, who is a Republican, as “America’s Fittest Congressman,” which is nonetheless not as lofty a political pedigree as that of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, another Republican, who was once named “America’s Sexiest Man” by Cosmopolitan magazine, in which he posed nude. It is a better fate, however, than that of former Republican Congressman Chris Lee, who resigned after sending a topless picture of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist. America’s right wing is pumped.” Photo by Men’s Health, Martin Schoeller

Cover Story, Part 2. ”Curvy singer Katy Perry covers the June issue of Vanity Fair. Some viewers saw a resemblance between Leibovitz’s photo and a lingerie advertisement featuring striptease artist Dita Von Teese, but the photographer denied any copying.” Photo by Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair