The Week in Pictures: Polar bear hotel and a border surge

Specators watch a wooden castle burn as part of Maslenitsa, or Shrovetide, in Nikola-Lenivets, Russia, on March 13, 2021.

Maslenitsa is an Orthodox Christian holiday celebrated in the last week before the Orthodox Lent.

A commuter holds down her hat during a sandstorm on March 15 in Beijing.

China’s capital and a wide swath of the country's north were enveloped Monday in the worst sandstorm in a decade, forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights.

Crime scene tape surrounds Gold Spa after deadly shootings at spas in the Atlanta area on March 16. 

The attacks began around 5 p.m. Tuesday, when four people were killed in Cherokee County. Less than an hour later, four more were killed in two shootings in Atlanta.

A body is carried out on a stretcher from a spa where three people were shot and killed on March 16 in Atlanta.

Undocumented immigrants climb up an embankment after they ran across the shallow Rio Grande separating Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, from El Paso, Texas, on March 17.

The number of immigrants crossing into the U.S. is surging along the southwest border with Mexico.

Asylum seekers at a camp wait for U.S. authorities to allow them to start their immigration process outside El Chaparral crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico on March 17.

President Biden's pledge of a more humane approach has sparked a new rush to the border, threatening to become a huge political liability. 

The number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border this year is on pace to be the highest in 20 years, one of President Joe Biden's top officials said this week, a rise that includes an increase in unaccompanied children.

A bus driver verifies the names of students on their first day back to school after Covid-19 restrictions were adjusted in Louisville, Ky., on March 17.

Snow falls onto pigs in a courtyard as a man removes snow from a roof in Bobrovka, Russia, on March 18. 

Mourners hold up their phone lights at a vigil to honor murder victim Sarah Everard on Clapham Common, south London, on March 13.

Everard's disappearance as she walked home on the evening of March 3 had led to a wave of accounts from women about the dangers of walking streets alone at night, and dismay at the failure of police and wider society to tackle the problem.

Police detain a woman during a memorial for Sarah Everard in London on March 13. 

Police in London clashed with mourners and protesters after more than a thousand people gathered to mark the killing of the 33-year-old woman, hours after the police officer charged with her murder appeared in court.

London's Metropolitan Police said people should not gather due to coronavirus restrictions.

Images of New Yorkers who died of Covid-19 are projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge on March 14.

The city marked a year since they learned of the state’s first Covid-19 fatalities.

Health care workers help move a patient from an overwhelmed hospital in Ceska Lipa to the hospital in Semily, Czech Republic, on March 18.

The country suffered one of Europe's worst Covid-19 waves in October and again in January and February, with daily deaths around 200 in recent weeks and a number of hospitals running out of beds and personnel.

Adam Scott of Australia plays his shot from the tenth tee during the first round of The Honda Classic on March 18 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Toure, a Gambian salt harvester, holds a basket filled with salt collected from the crust of the bottom of Lake Retba, or Pink Lake, in Senegal on March 16.

The lake, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow corridor of dunes, owes its name to the pink waters caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and is known for its high salt content, up to 40% in some areas.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo walks on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Albany on March 12. 

Several women have accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior, prompting calls for him to resign. Cuomo has denied touching anyone inappropriately, but he has acknowledged that he acted in ways that made people feel uncomfortable. He said that was unintentional, and he apologized.

Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, leaves King Edward VII's Hospital in central London on March 16.

Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, left the hospital after a four-week stay for treatment for an infection and a heart procedure.

A security guard restrains a cameraman from the St. Bonaventure University athletic department at UD Arena during an A-10 tournament title basketball game in Dayton, Ohio, on March 14.

The cameraman was allowed back on the court to shoot the trophy ceremony after players and Bonaventure staff members spoke with security to inform them that he was part of the athletic department, The Buffalo News reported.

Kathy Gomez shovels her sidewalk on March 14 in Denver. 

A powerful late winter snowstorm intensified over the central Rocky Mountains with heavy snow and wind leading to airport and road closures, power outages and avalanche warnings in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

A man climbs a pole during celebrations of Maslenitsa in Nikola-Lenivets, Russia, on March 13. 

Maslenitsa is an ancient farewell ceremony to winter, traditionally celebrated in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. 

Polar bears wander inside an enclosure at the newly-opened Polar Bear Hotel, part of the Harbin Polarland theme park, in Harbin, China, on March 12. 

The hotel promises round-the-clock polar bear viewing from all 21 guest rooms. 

Conservationists criticized the hotel. "Polar bears belong in the Arctic, not in zoos or glass boxes in aquariums – and certainly not in hotels," Jason Baker, senior vice president at animal rights group PETA told Reuters. "Polar bears are active for up to 18 hours a day in nature, roaming home ranges that can span thousands of miles, where they enjoy a real life."

Hindu devotees light oil lamps during Lakshadeepotsava, the festival of a hundred thousand lamps, at the Basavanna Temple on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, on March 11. 

Last week's gallery: An ambulance wedding and vaccine Superman