Mother Nature bared her teeth this week, as deadly storms tore through the American south, flattening homes and taking lives in Arkansas and Mississippi, two of the hardest hit states.
As of Friday morning, a deadly car bomb in the capital of Nigeria had killed at least 19 only days after militants kidnapped about 230 girls from a school in the town of Chibok, in the far northeast of the country. A deadly bombing outside a polling station shook the heavily Kurdish Iraqi city of Kirkuk, as Iraqis prepared to cast their ballots in the country's parliamentary elections.
President Obama completed his Asia tour, reiterating America's commitment to maintaining stability in the region, as pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk shot down two Ukrainian military helicopters on Thursday, threatening acute military conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
May Day celebrations across the globe and labor kicked off the month, as the 140th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs rounds off the week.