”The United States joined other countries that in recent months have seen large street demonstrations provoked by an ongoing financial crisis. Protestors have converged on New York City’s financial district over the past several weeks. The focus of the demonstrator’s ire includes the influence of corporate money in politics. For the most part, the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have been peaceful, but over the weekend some 700 people were arrested when they marched onto the Brooklyn Bridge. Is the stage set for a populist uprising? Isn’t that what the Tea Party is supposed to be all about?” Photo by Frank Franklin II/AP, “In Focus,” The Atlantic

”The “Occupy Wall Street” protest spread to Los Angeles, where it took on local flavor. Activists looking some media coverage showed up outside the courthouse where Michael Jackson’s former doctor is on trial for involuntary manslaughter.” Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP, “Lens,” New York Times

”Not every protest this week had to do with the international financial mess. New York hosted a ’Slutwalk’ protest against sexual violence toward women. The essential theme of the protest was captured by the sign seen in the photo at right: ’We Are Souls, Not Holes’.” Photos by David Shankbone via Flickr, The Huffington Post

”Austerity measures continue to provoke street protests in Greece. Here, high school students in Athens confront riot police.” Photo by John Kolesidis/Reuters, “Framework,” The Los Angeles Times

”Inside an unused billboard in Sanaa, Yemen, protestors demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh took a break from demonstrating in order to pray.” Photo by Hani Mohammed “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

”The monsoon season again brought flooding and desperation to Pakistan. Here, Pakistani villagers displaced by floods showed identity cards at a relief station near Hyderabad.” Photo by Pervez Masih/AP, “Lens,” New York Times

”Monsoons mixed with tropical storms to create watery misery throughout parts of China and Southeast Asia. In Thailand, floods and mudslides have killed at least 84 people since late July. The weather did not dampen the entrepreneurial spirit of this food vender plying his trade on a flooded street in the town of Sena, in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand.” Photo by Sukree Sukplang/Reuters, “Big Picture,” Boston Globe

”In Libya, the surreal rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi seems to be coming to a surreal end, if this photo of a stairway to heaven is any indication. The abandoned V.I.P. stairway is seen on a road leading to the airport in Surt, the tribal hometown of Col. Qaddafi.” Photo by Anis Milli/Reuters, “Lens,” New York Times

”In Phuket Island, Thailand, devotees to the Chinese shrine of Jui Tui shield themselves as fireworks explode around them. The scene took place during the annual Vegetarian Festival, traditionally held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.” Photo by David Longstreath/EPA, “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

”Members of the Preobrazhensky cadet school snack down after a ceremony marking the Moscow boarding school’s 10 anniversary.” Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA, “Lens,” New York Times

”Sitting in my office on a rainy day in New York, I saw this picture and thought of the words from a favorite Bob Seger song: ’If I ever get out of here, I’m going to Kathmandu.’ Photographer Navesh Chitrakar snapped this perfect rainbow as it appeared over the city’s Bashantapur Durbar Square.” Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters, “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

”Meanwhile, back to the financial crisis: Gyrating stock markets didn’t stop European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel from enjoying a jovial moment on September 28. Do images like this make us any more confident in our leaders? More inspiring was the $590 billion approved by the German parliament to help bail out its indebted European neighbors.” Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters-Landov, Newsweek

”Does it matter that families eat together? Yes, according to the New York Times Magazine, which pointed out this week that children who regularly eat with their families have better vocabularies, do better in school, and are less likely to suffer from obesity. The trouble is that modern life and habits are making family meals rare occasions. Photographer Stephanie Sinclair was sent out to shoot portraits of families who still manage to eat together, at least some of the time. In this well constructed shot we see the Peay-Jenkins family of Easton, Pennsylvania.” Photo by Stephanie Sinclair, The New York Times Magazine

”Finnish photographer Sanna Kannisto has spent the past 14 years exploring how art and science portray nature. She lived at research stations in Brazil, Costa Rica, and French Guiana, developing field skills by assisting scientists. Now she has collected her photography in a new book titled Fieldwork (Aperture), which is excerpted in the September/October issue of Audubon magazine. Kannisto rigorously photographs flora and fauna as scientific specimens, shooting them against white backgrounds fringed by black curtains. At left: Oporornis formosus (Kentucky warbler); at right: Leptophis ahaetulla (Parrot Snake).” Photos by Sanna Kannisto, Audubon

”After the death of Ansel Adams in 1984, the U.S. Congress created the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains—the location of many of the photographer’s most revered images. The October issue of National Geographic pays tribute to the photographer and the wilderness that now bears his name with a portfolio of images by Peter Essick.” Photos by Peter Essick, National Geographic