Russian MPs have approved draft legislation of a controversial bill that critics claim could lead to widespread internet censorship in the country.
The lower house of the Russian parliament passed a second reading of the Digital Economy National Program legislation, which seeks to route Russian web traffic and data through exchange points controlled by the state.
Thousands of people in Moscow and other Russian cities protested the legislation last month, chanting slogans like “hands off the internet” and “stop breaking the Russian internet.”
They argued that the bill will create an internet firewall similar to China, which severely restricts people’s access to the internet. It is unclear what the full impact of the new bill will have on Russian citizens and businesses.
Before coming into effect the bill still needs to be signed by the upper house of the parliament and then by President Vladimir Putin. The second reading of the bill passed by 322-15.
1/50 11 April 2019
Voters line up to cast their votes outside a polling station during the first phase of general election in Alipurduar district in the eastern state of West Bengal, India
Reuters
2/50 10 April 2019
The first ever photo a black hole, taken using a global network of telescopes, conducted by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, to gain insight into celestial objects with gravitational fields so strong no mater or light can escape
Event Horizon Telescope/National Science Foundation/Reuters
3/50 9 April 2019
Sudanese protesters chant slogans as they rally in front of the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum. Sudan’s police ordered its forces to avoid intervening against protesters as three Western nations threw their weight behind demonstrators’ demands for a political transition plan in the country
AFP/Getty
4/50 8 April 2019
German Chancellor Angela Merkel plays with a handball given to her by the German Handball Federation’s president as she received the German national handball team at the Chancellery in Berlin
AFP/Getty
5/50 7 April 2019
People hold candles as they attend a night vigil and prayer at the Amahoro Stadium as part of the 25th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide, in Kigali, Rwanda. April 7 begins 100 days of mourning for more than 800,000 people who were slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world, a quarter of a century on from the day it began
AFP/Getty
6/50 6 April 2019
A portion of the field of 1,500 participants begins the trek to the highest point over the Florida Keys Overseas Highway’s longest span during the Seven Mile Bridge Run Saturday. The event features entrants running a course over the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and helps to raise funds for local youth athletic programs
AFP/Getty
7/50 5 April 2019
A refugee father and son lie on railway tracks to prevent a train from leaving a station during a protest in Athens, Greece. Dozens of migrants staged a protest in Athens central train station disrupting all railway services in the hope they will be transported to the Greek border and join other refugees attempting to follow a 2016 migration route towards northern Europe
Getty
8/50 4 April 2019
Security agents and police officers hold back migrants during the evacuation of a makeshift camp at Porte de la Chapelle, in the north of Paris. More than 300 migrants and refugees were evacuated on early April 4 from a makeshift camp to accomodation structures
AFP/Getty
9/50 3 April 2019
An Alexandra township resident gestures and they part is clashes with the Johannesburg Metro Police, South Africa during a total shutdown of the township due to protest against the lack of service delivery or basic necessities such as access to water and electricity, housing difficulties and lack of public road maintenance
AFP/Getty
10/50 2 April 2019
Children eat next to the debris of damaged homes at Purainiya village in Nepal’s southern Bara district near Birgunj, following a rare spring storm. The freak storm tore down houses and overturned cars and trucks as it swept across southern Nepal killing at least 27 people and leaving more than 600 injured
AFP/Getty
11/50 1 April 2019
A forensic expert works next to the remains of a small plane that crashed near Erzhausen, Germany. Natalia Fileva, chairwoman and co-owner of Russia’s second largest airline S7, died when a private jet she was in crashed near Frankfurt on Sunday, the company said
Reuters
12/50 31 March 2019
Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivers a speech following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine
Reuters
13/50 30 March 2019
Catalan pro-independence protesters throw rocks during a counter-demonstration against a protest called by Spanish far-right party Vox against the Catalan independence push in Barcelona. Polls suggest Vox, which campaigns against illegal immigration and “radical” feminism, will become the first far-right party to win seats in the Spanish parliament since the late 70s and could emerge as a kingmaker in Spain’s increasingly fragmented political landscape
AFP/Getty
14/50 29 March 2019
Protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika continue in Algeria despite the announcement on 11 March that he will not run for a fifth Presidential term and postponement of presidential elections previously scheduled for 18 April 2019 until further notice
EPA
15/50 28 March 2019
Firefighters on ladders work to extinguish a blaze in an office building in Dhaka after a huge fire tore through it, killing at least five people with many others feared trapped in the latest major fire to hit the Bangladesh capital
AFP/Getty
16/50 27 March 2019
A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Reuters
17/50 26 March 2019
Palestinians sisters girls look at a destroyed Hamas site close their family’s destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. According to reports, Israel continued to launch air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight after a rocket allegedly fired hit a house near Tel Aviv in central Israel injuring at least seven people
EPA
18/50 25 March 2019
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold up a proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights as Netanyahu exits the White House
Reuters
19/50 24 March 2019
Abounded vessel Hagland Captain in anchor in the same area as the cruise ship Viking Sky, which had problems on March 23 during the storm over the west coast of Norway at Hustadvika near Romsdal
AFP/Getty
20/50 23 March 2019
Chris Pratt gets slimed while accepting the Best Butt-Kicker award for “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom” at the Kids Choice Awards
Reuters
21/50 22 March 2019
An aerial view shows damaged buildings after an explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered local governments to prevent any more industrial disasters after a chemical plant blast left 47 people dead, injured hundreds and flattened an industrial park in the latest such catastrophe to hit the country
AFP/Getty
22/50 21 March 2019
A child is transported on a fridge during floods after Cyclone Idai, in Buzi, outside Beira, Mozambique
Reuters
23/50 20 March 2019
Indian Hindu devotees are sprayed with coloured water as they celebrate the Holi festival at the Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple, in Ahmedabad. Holi, the popular Hindu spring festival of colours is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month
AFP/Getty
24/50 19 March 2019
Shards of ice pile up on Lake Michigan along the South Haven Pier
Kalamazoo Gazette/AP
25/50 18 March 2019
Emergency services stand at the 24 Oktoberplace in Utrecht where a shooting took place. Several people were wounded on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, with local media reporting counter-terrorism police at the scene. “Shooting incident… Several injured people reported. Assistance started,” the Utrecht police Twitter account said. “It is a shooting incident in a tram. Several trauma helicopters have been deployed to provide help.”
AFP/Getty
26/50 17 March 2019
Coffins of victims of the crashed accident of Ethiopian Airlines are gathered during the mass funeral at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The crash of Flight ET 302 minutes into its flight to Nairobi on March 10 killed 157 people onboard and caused the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft model involved in the disaster
AFP/Getty Images
27/50 16 March 2019
Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in relation to the Christchurch massacre, makes a sign to the camera during his appearance in the Christchurch District Court. A right-wing extremist who filmed himself rampaging through two mosques in the quiet New Zealand city of Christchurch killing 49 worshippers appeared in court on a murder charge. Australian-born 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant appeared in the dock wearing handcuffs and a white prison shirt, sitting impassively as the judge read a single murder charge against him. A raft of further charges are expected
AFP/Getty
28/50 15 March 2019
An injured person is loaded into an ambulance following a shooting at the Al Noor mosque in New Zealand. At least 49 people have been killed and dozens more are seriously injured after shootings took place at two mosques in Christchurch. Police have arrested an Australian citizen – a 28-year-old man – and another three people, following the second shooting
Reuters
29/50 14 March 2019
Relatives of crash victims mourn and grieve at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, south-east of Addis Ababa. The French air accident investigation authority said that it will handle the analysis of the black boxes retrieved from the crash site and they have already arrived in France but gave no time frame on how long the analysis could take
AP
30/50 13 March 2019
Men carry a child who was rescued at the site of a collapsed building containing a school in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
31/50 12 March 2019
A crab stuck in plastic in Verde Island Passage, Philippines. According to data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Filipinos dispose 163 million pieces of single-use plastic sachets daily. An underwater exploration conducted by Greenpeace in Batangas, found single-use plastic sachets between, beneath, and on the corals and seabed of Verde Island Passage, the epicenter of marine biodiversity in the world
EPA
32/50 11 March 2019
Representatives of bereaved families from the affected prefecture offer flowers at an altar for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during the 8th national memorial service in Tokyo on. On March 11, 2011 a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
AFP/Getty
33/50 10 March 2019
South Sudanese Catholic faithful believers attend a church service in Udier town
AFP/Getty
34/50 9 March 2019
Activists of Ukrainian nationalist parties scuffle with police officers during a rally to demand an investigation into the corruption of Ukraine’s armed forces officials, in Kiev
Reuters
35/50 8 March 2019
Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president’s bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers
AFP/Getty
36/50 7 March 2019
French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. – The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.
AFP/Getty
37/50 6 March 2019
Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as “Perang Api” or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the “Day of Silence” on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar
AFP/Getty
38/50 5 March 2019
Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city’s harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned
Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP
39/50 4 March 2019
Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio’s Carnival at the Sambadrome
AFP/Getty
40/50 3 March 2019
The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station’s Harmony module. SpaceX’s new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day
Nasa/AP
41/50 2 March 2019
US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
AFP/Getty
42/50 1 March 2019
Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby
EPA
43/50 28 February 2019
Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to “stand as a wall” with anger boiling over Pakistan’s capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite “as the enemy seeks to destabilise India
AFP/Getty
44/50 27 February 2019
US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi
AFP/Getty
45/50 26 February 2019
An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers
AP
46/50 25 February 2019
US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation’s Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un
EPA
47/50 24 February 2019
Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for ‘The Favourite,’ Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for ‘Green Book,’ and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood
EPA
48/50 23 February 2019
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade
AFP/Getty
49/50 22 February 2019
A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh
AFP/Getty
50/50 21 February 2019
Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said
AFP/Getty
1/50 11 April 2019
Voters line up to cast their votes outside a polling station during the first phase of general election in Alipurduar district in the eastern state of West Bengal, India
Reuters
2/50 10 April 2019
The first ever photo a black hole, taken using a global network of telescopes, conducted by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, to gain insight into celestial objects with gravitational fields so strong no mater or light can escape
Event Horizon Telescope/National Science Foundation/Reuters
3/50 9 April 2019
Sudanese protesters chant slogans as they rally in front of the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum. Sudan’s police ordered its forces to avoid intervening against protesters as three Western nations threw their weight behind demonstrators’ demands for a political transition plan in the country
AFP/Getty
4/50 8 April 2019
German Chancellor Angela Merkel plays with a handball given to her by the German Handball Federation’s president as she received the German national handball team at the Chancellery in Berlin
AFP/Getty
5/50 7 April 2019
People hold candles as they attend a night vigil and prayer at the Amahoro Stadium as part of the 25th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide, in Kigali, Rwanda. April 7 begins 100 days of mourning for more than 800,000 people who were slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world, a quarter of a century on from the day it began
AFP/Getty
6/50 6 April 2019
A portion of the field of 1,500 participants begins the trek to the highest point over the Florida Keys Overseas Highway’s longest span during the Seven Mile Bridge Run Saturday. The event features entrants running a course over the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and helps to raise funds for local youth athletic programs
AFP/Getty
7/50 5 April 2019
A refugee father and son lie on railway tracks to prevent a train from leaving a station during a protest in Athens, Greece. Dozens of migrants staged a protest in Athens central train station disrupting all railway services in the hope they will be transported to the Greek border and join other refugees attempting to follow a 2016 migration route towards northern Europe
Getty
8/50 4 April 2019
Security agents and police officers hold back migrants during the evacuation of a makeshift camp at Porte de la Chapelle, in the north of Paris. More than 300 migrants and refugees were evacuated on early April 4 from a makeshift camp to accomodation structures
AFP/Getty
9/50 3 April 2019
An Alexandra township resident gestures and they part is clashes with the Johannesburg Metro Police, South Africa during a total shutdown of the township due to protest against the lack of service delivery or basic necessities such as access to water and electricity, housing difficulties and lack of public road maintenance
AFP/Getty
10/50 2 April 2019
Children eat next to the debris of damaged homes at Purainiya village in Nepal’s southern Bara district near Birgunj, following a rare spring storm. The freak storm tore down houses and overturned cars and trucks as it swept across southern Nepal killing at least 27 people and leaving more than 600 injured
AFP/Getty
11/50 1 April 2019
A forensic expert works next to the remains of a small plane that crashed near Erzhausen, Germany. Natalia Fileva, chairwoman and co-owner of Russia’s second largest airline S7, died when a private jet she was in crashed near Frankfurt on Sunday, the company said
Reuters
12/50 31 March 2019
Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivers a speech following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine
Reuters
13/50 30 March 2019
Catalan pro-independence protesters throw rocks during a counter-demonstration against a protest called by Spanish far-right party Vox against the Catalan independence push in Barcelona. Polls suggest Vox, which campaigns against illegal immigration and “radical” feminism, will become the first far-right party to win seats in the Spanish parliament since the late 70s and could emerge as a kingmaker in Spain’s increasingly fragmented political landscape
AFP/Getty
14/50 29 March 2019
Protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika continue in Algeria despite the announcement on 11 March that he will not run for a fifth Presidential term and postponement of presidential elections previously scheduled for 18 April 2019 until further notice
EPA
15/50 28 March 2019
Firefighters on ladders work to extinguish a blaze in an office building in Dhaka after a huge fire tore through it, killing at least five people with many others feared trapped in the latest major fire to hit the Bangladesh capital
AFP/Getty
16/50 27 March 2019
A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Reuters
17/50 26 March 2019
Palestinians sisters girls look at a destroyed Hamas site close their family’s destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. According to reports, Israel continued to launch air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight after a rocket allegedly fired hit a house near Tel Aviv in central Israel injuring at least seven people
EPA
18/50 25 March 2019
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold up a proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights as Netanyahu exits the White House
Reuters
19/50 24 March 2019
Abounded vessel Hagland Captain in anchor in the same area as the cruise ship Viking Sky, which had problems on March 23 during the storm over the west coast of Norway at Hustadvika near Romsdal
AFP/Getty
20/50 23 March 2019
Chris Pratt gets slimed while accepting the Best Butt-Kicker award for “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom” at the Kids Choice Awards
Reuters
21/50 22 March 2019
An aerial view shows damaged buildings after an explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered local governments to prevent any more industrial disasters after a chemical plant blast left 47 people dead, injured hundreds and flattened an industrial park in the latest such catastrophe to hit the country
AFP/Getty
22/50 21 March 2019
A child is transported on a fridge during floods after Cyclone Idai, in Buzi, outside Beira, Mozambique
Reuters
23/50 20 March 2019
Indian Hindu devotees are sprayed with coloured water as they celebrate the Holi festival at the Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple, in Ahmedabad. Holi, the popular Hindu spring festival of colours is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month
AFP/Getty
24/50 19 March 2019
Shards of ice pile up on Lake Michigan along the South Haven Pier
Kalamazoo Gazette/AP
25/50 18 March 2019
Emergency services stand at the 24 Oktoberplace in Utrecht where a shooting took place. Several people were wounded on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, with local media reporting counter-terrorism police at the scene. “Shooting incident… Several injured people reported. Assistance started,” the Utrecht police Twitter account said. “It is a shooting incident in a tram. Several trauma helicopters have been deployed to provide help.”
AFP/Getty
26/50 17 March 2019
Coffins of victims of the crashed accident of Ethiopian Airlines are gathered during the mass funeral at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The crash of Flight ET 302 minutes into its flight to Nairobi on March 10 killed 157 people onboard and caused the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft model involved in the disaster
AFP/Getty Images
27/50 16 March 2019
Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in relation to the Christchurch massacre, makes a sign to the camera during his appearance in the Christchurch District Court. A right-wing extremist who filmed himself rampaging through two mosques in the quiet New Zealand city of Christchurch killing 49 worshippers appeared in court on a murder charge. Australian-born 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant appeared in the dock wearing handcuffs and a white prison shirt, sitting impassively as the judge read a single murder charge against him. A raft of further charges are expected
AFP/Getty
28/50 15 March 2019
An injured person is loaded into an ambulance following a shooting at the Al Noor mosque in New Zealand. At least 49 people have been killed and dozens more are seriously injured after shootings took place at two mosques in Christchurch. Police have arrested an Australian citizen – a 28-year-old man – and another three people, following the second shooting
Reuters
29/50 14 March 2019
Relatives of crash victims mourn and grieve at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, south-east of Addis Ababa. The French air accident investigation authority said that it will handle the analysis of the black boxes retrieved from the crash site and they have already arrived in France but gave no time frame on how long the analysis could take
AP
30/50 13 March 2019
Men carry a child who was rescued at the site of a collapsed building containing a school in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
31/50 12 March 2019
A crab stuck in plastic in Verde Island Passage, Philippines. According to data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Filipinos dispose 163 million pieces of single-use plastic sachets daily. An underwater exploration conducted by Greenpeace in Batangas, found single-use plastic sachets between, beneath, and on the corals and seabed of Verde Island Passage, the epicenter of marine biodiversity in the world
EPA
32/50 11 March 2019
Representatives of bereaved families from the affected prefecture offer flowers at an altar for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during the 8th national memorial service in Tokyo on. On March 11, 2011 a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
AFP/Getty
33/50 10 March 2019
South Sudanese Catholic faithful believers attend a church service in Udier town
AFP/Getty
34/50 9 March 2019
Activists of Ukrainian nationalist parties scuffle with police officers during a rally to demand an investigation into the corruption of Ukraine’s armed forces officials, in Kiev
Reuters
35/50 8 March 2019
Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president’s bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers
AFP/Getty
36/50 7 March 2019
French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. – The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.
AFP/Getty
37/50 6 March 2019
Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as “Perang Api” or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the “Day of Silence” on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar
AFP/Getty
38/50 5 March 2019
Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city’s harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned
Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP
39/50 4 March 2019
Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio’s Carnival at the Sambadrome
AFP/Getty
40/50 3 March 2019
The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station’s Harmony module. SpaceX’s new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day
Nasa/AP
41/50 2 March 2019
US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
AFP/Getty
42/50 1 March 2019
Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby
EPA
43/50 28 February 2019
Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to “stand as a wall” with anger boiling over Pakistan’s capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite “as the enemy seeks to destabilise India
AFP/Getty
44/50 27 February 2019
US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi
AFP/Getty
45/50 26 February 2019
An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers
AP
46/50 25 February 2019
US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation’s Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un
EPA
47/50 24 February 2019
Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for ‘The Favourite,’ Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for ‘Green Book,’ and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood
EPA
48/50 23 February 2019
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade
AFP/Getty
49/50 22 February 2019
A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh
AFP/Getty
50/50 21 February 2019
Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said
AFP/Getty
Supporters of the bill claim it is necessary in order to protect the country from state-backed cyber attacks and to ensure Russia can still use the internet even in the event of being cut off from foreign infrastructure.
Earlier this year, Russia announced plans to disconnect itself from the internet for a brief period to test the logistics of separating the local internet, known as the Runet, from the wider internet.
Once separated, the Runet would be entirely under the control of Russia’s telecommunications regulator Roskomnazor. The self-contained system would be immune from any attempts to sever or disrupt it through a cyber attack.
The UK National Cyber Security Centre and other Western agencies have consistently accused Russia of being behind cyber attacks on Western countries. In response, Nato called for an “offensive defence” approach to Russian-backed attacks last year – a proposal backed by UK Foreign Sevretary Jeremy Hunt.
“These cyber attacks serve no legitimate national security interest, instead impacting the ability of people around the world to go about their daily lives free from interference, and even their ability to enjoy sport,” Hunt said in October.
“Our message is clear: together with our allies, we will expose and respond to the GRU’s attempts to undermine international stability.”
Russia’s parliament has also faced criticism for another internet related law, which imposes fines of up to 100,000 roubles (£1,150) to people who show “blatant disrespect” for the state online.
The bill, which Putin signed into law in March, is designed to combat fake news and abusive online comments, however human rights activists have labelled it a declaration against free speech.
