Washington, D.C ”President Obama is seen live on monitors in a deserted White House press briefing room on May 22, announcing that 10,000 American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan this year, and than 20,000 more will leave by the end of next summer. While the military impact of the decision will be immediate, the jury is still out on its political implications.” Photo by Somodevilla/Getty Images, ”Big Picture,” Boston Globe

North Dakota ”Residents of Minot, North Dakota—and their backyard lawn ornaments—had a difficult time keeping their heads above water as the Souris River crested, forcing evacuations of some neighborhoods.” Photo by Charles Rex/AP, ”Lens,” New York Times

Mexico ”Migrants from Central America are seen traveling north atop a train near Veracruz, Mexico. The transit is perilous—and not just because of the seating arrangements. On Friday at least 80 migrants were allegedly pulled from the train and kidnapped by masked gunmen.” Photo from EPA, “Lens,” New York Times

Italy ”Police officers group together for protection against flying furniture and other objects during a protest against proposed plans to build a high-speed train line and tunnel in the Italian “Val de Susa” valley, in Chiomonte, Italy.” Photo by Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse, “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

China ”Paramilitary police put gravity to use by rappelling down a building during an antiterrorism drill in Shanghai.” Photo from China Daily via Reuters, “Lens,” New York Times

Philippines ”In the remote village of Bibiclat, north of Manila, hundreds of people covered in mud and dried leaves took part in a Mass to celebrate the Feast of John the Baptist. In Romeo Ranoco’s beautiful photograph, the hands of one celebrant become a sculptural tribute to devotion.” Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters, “Lens,” New York Times

Sports, Part 1 ”Another pair of hands, these belonging to Serena Williams as she prepared to serve during a match against Simona Halep of Romania at this week’s Wimbledon tennis tournament. The tournament marked Williams’s return to the sport after a long absence caused by health issues. She beat Halep but was eliminated in the fourth round by Marion Bartoli.” Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images, “Lens,” New York Times

Sports, Part 2 ”Another American athlete took center stage this week at the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in Dresden, Germany. Hope Solo, the goalkeeper for the American team, has the kind of talent—and name—it takes to become a media darling. Winning the World Cup would help, too. She is seen here diving for a ball during a practice session. Solo and her squad won their first game on Tuesday, beating North Korea 2-0.” Photographer Not Specified, “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

Beyonce, Part 1 ”She has a new album and a new set of photos in the June issue of W taken by Patrick Demarchelier. The pictures, says the magazine, illustrate that Beyonce is both ’fierce and fearless.’ Actually, W said that Beyonce was ’fiece, fearless, and female,’ but we didn’t need Demarchelier’s shimmering images to tell us the last part.” Photos by Patrick Demarchelier, W magazine

Beyonce, Part 2 ”From all reports, Beyonce was decidedly fierce and fearless during her performance at the Glastonbury music festival on June 26. ’Following this performance,’ read one review, ’she'll be in the dreams of thousands of British music fans for a long time to come.’ Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but authorities did find a British man—identified as a close friend of British Prime Minister David Cameron—dead in one of the festival’s portable toilets on the same day Beyonce performed.” Photo by Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images, “Focus,” The Atlantic

Faces, Part 1 ”Five months after being shot during a public appearance near Tucson, Arizona, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords went public again, this time with a photograph recently posted on her Facebook page. The picture, showing Giffords smiling and with short-cropped hair, was taken on May 17, at TIRR Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston, Texas, where she was recovering from the head wound she suffered on January 8, when a deranged former college student inflamed with anti-immigration views and conservative politics opened fire in a supermarket parking lot. Six people died in the shooting, which shocked Americans across the political spectrum. The new photo represents healing in many senses.” Photo from AP, New York Post

Faces, Part 2 ”James “Whitey” Bulger was the quintessential American crime boss, with a story right out of the movies. He grew up in poverty in South Boston and took to the streets as a kid. He had a brother, William, who excelled at school and would go on to become a respected educator and politician. Whitey’s talents—he was known for his particularly savage homicidal streak—led him to become the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, which controlled crime in Irish South Boston. He was also an FBI informant. In 1994, tipped off by an agent that he was about to be indicted, Bulger and his girlfriend went into hiding and stayed there for 16 years. This week the FBI caught up with the pair in an apartment in Santa Monica, California. Bulger, now 81 years old and white bearded, faces up to 19 counts of murder. In telling the story of his arrest, newspapers across the country ran a mug shot of Bulger taken after an arrest in 1953. To understand his life, we needed to see Whitey as he looked then, in his prime.” Photographer Unknown, New York Times

Faces, Part 3 ”Capturing the graceful excitement of dance in a still photo is like trying to describe the flavor of raspberries in words. The difficulty hasn’t stopped writers from conjuring food with savory metaphors, and it hasn’t stopped photographers from shooting dancers. Ethan Levitas used multiple exposures to make this portrait of Nikolaj Hubbe, the director of the Royal Danish Ballet, for The New Yorker.” Photo by Ethan Levitas, The New Yorker

Cover Story, Part 1 ”The cover of Rolling Stone’s 2010 “Summer Double Issue” featured Lady Gaga sporting machine gun jumblies. This year, Katy Perry paired with photographer Terry Richardson to project a sweeter but no less provocative concept.” Photo by Terry Richardson, Rolling Stone

Cover Story, Part 2 ”With the new season of HBO’s vampire melodrama True Blood about to debut, Entertainment Weekly had photographer Michael Muller shoot three separate covers—one for each of the show’s leading men. (From left: Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, and Joe Manganiello.) The one constant is actress Anna Paquin, a.k.a. Snookie Stackhouse, whose subtle change of expressions provides the punch line in this American Gothic takeoff. Grant Wood might have tripled sales of his painting if he had tried this sort of thing.” Photos by Michael Muller, Entertainment Weekly