REWIND: The best PHOTOS of the week gone by

We bring you a presentation of some of the best photos from around the world in the last week

An attendee dressed in costume walks the Comic Con convention floor during the pop culture event in San Diego, California.

Comic Con is an annual comic book fan conevention held since 1970, and is also known as San Diego Comic-Con.

The four day even sees a gala gathering of publishers, film personalities and comic book fans, a large number of them dressed as their favourite characters.

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Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

A group of men lift a child into the stream of an open fire hydrant in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The East Coast endured triple-digit temperatures last week, as authorities issued heat warnings and urged residents to take precautions and protect themselves from the scorching weather's dangers.

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Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Riot policemen clash with student protesters as the police try to stop a protest march through the streets of Santiago city. Tens of thousands of students marched in Chile's capital demanding changes in the public state education system. 

The march, which had close to 100,000 students, was organised by student federations and the the professors alike, and consisted mainly of university and high school students, as well as some teachers and workers.

The students were demanding that the government increase its budget spending in public education, and reform the financing nsystem for low-income families.

Though Chilean President Sebastian Pinera had offered an education revitalisation plan including financial support worth $75 million to public universities, the amount was considered insufficient by students.

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Photograph: Victor Ruiz Caballero/Reuters

A giant image of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is unveiled at the Green Square in central Tripoli, Libya.

Meanwhile, North Eastern TYreaty organisation warplanes blitzed a string of military targets in Tripoli today, an official said, as embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi blamed a "colonial plot" for the conflict engulfing his country."

Gaddafi meanwhile said in an audio message broadcast on state television that the unrest that has swept his country since a popular uprising erupted mid-February was a "colonial plot."

He did not elaborate.He also denied accusations by international rights groups of a brutal suppression of dissent and allegations that his regime had killed thousands of protesters.

"They lie to you and say, 'Libya kills its people with bullets, that is why we have come to protect civilians'," Gaddafi said, referring to the NATO air campaign which was mandated by the United Nations with the aim of protecting civilians in Libya.

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Photograph: Ismail Zetouny/Reuters

Relatives of the victims of a shooting rampage on nearby Utoeya island comfort each other during a memorial service at a church in Sundvollen. Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing zealot who admitted to bomb and gun attacks in Norway that killed 92 people claims he acted alone, Norway's police said.

Breivik, 32, was detained for allegedly shooting at least 92 people dead at a youth Labour Party meeting on an island and killing seven more in a car bomb explosion which ripped through government buildings in Oslo last week.

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Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

A derailed carriage of a bullet train is removed from a bridge as workers dig through the wreckage after a high speed train crashed into a stalled train in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.

At least 32 people were killed and over 100 others injured in the mishap.

The driver of one train died after the brake handle pierced through his chest under the impact of the collusion, though he managed to apply the emergency brake at the last moment of his life.

The crash occurred on Saturday after the first train lost power due to a lightning strike and a bullet train following behind crashed into it, state television said, raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing rail network.

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Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

The scenery for the opera 'Andre Chenier' by Italian musician Umberto Giordano is seen on a giant floating stage at Lake Constance during a photo rehearsal in Bregenz.

Andrea Ch nier is a 'realistic' opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica.

It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, Andr Ch nier, who was executed during the French Revolution.

The opera, directed by British director Keith Warner, will have its premiere on July 20 at the annual Bregenz festival.

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Photograph: Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

Elementary school students scream at a mud flat as they participate in a summer military camp for civilians at the Cheongryong Self-denial Training Camp run by retired marines in Ansan, about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Seoul, South Korea.

Thirty seven students are in the three-day camp to strengthen their spirit and body.

This image is a series of similar pictures from Cheongryong Self-denial Training Camp in Ansan, about 25 miles south west of the South Korean capital Seoul.

The schoolchildren were ordered to wade through mud in hot conditions, lying on their backs before crawling on their knees.

During the relentless task, the children are seen screaming out in unison in response to their instructor's commands.

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Photograph: Dominic Jo Yong-Hak /Reuters

Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) is rolled over to the Obiter Processing Facility (OPF) shortly after landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Its landing also brought the curtain down on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 30-year space shuttle programme, considered one of the most eventful eras in the US history of manned spaceflight.

In the absence of the shuttles, NASA will rely on Russian spacecraft to carry US astronauts to the International Space Station, until private American spacecraft are ready to take over the job.

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Photograph: NASA/Bill Ingalls/Reuters

Civil War Confederate reenactor Dwight Hensley of Frankfurt, Indiana, stays hydrated as the heat wave hits Manassas, Virginia. July 21 marked the 150th anniversary of the Battle of First Manassas/Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War.

American Civil War reenactment is an effort to recreate the appearance of a particular battle or other event associated with the American Civil War by hobbyists known (in the United States) as Civil War reenactors or Civil War recreationists.

Although most common in the United States, there are also American Civil War reenactors in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Italy.

Reenacting the American Civil War began even before the real fighting had ended. Civil War veterans recreated battles as a way to remember their fallen comrades and to teach others what the war was all about.

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Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Civilians who have volunteered to join the rebel army take part in training in Geminis, Libya. They say they're united by only one mission, and that is to topple the regime of Moammar Gaddafi.

The rebels are low on ammunition, their equipment old and outdated, and the fighters are barely trained for combat. And even though they have captured tanks, airbases and army bases in their control, they still face many challenges.

Meanwhile, Germany has announced that it was making available 100 million euros in loan to the rebels for civil and humanitarian purposes.

Photograph: Esam Al-Fetori/Reuters