The Observer's 20 photographs of the week

A migrant woman hides her face as she walks outside a temporary refugee camp on the island of Lampedusa. Over 300 African asylum seekers were feared dead after a ship carrying migrants towards Italy caught fire and capsized off the Sicilian island Photograph: Roberto Salomone/AFP

Some diverse and potent photojournalism from the effects of the civil war in Syria this week. In this uncredited photograph Syrian children attend the public school in Madaya village as classes begin in the countryside of Idlib province. Millions of Syrian children, most of them in government-controlled areas, have returned to school in the past two weeks, despite the conflict that according to Unicef has left 4,000 Syrian schools or one in five damaged, destroyed or sheltering displaced families Photograph: Uncredited/AP

Um Radwan, a female fighter in the Free Syrian Army, looks through a curtain in Aleppo's Bustan al-Basha district. Um Radwan joined the Free Syrian Army after the death of her husband, who was also a Free Syrian Army fighter Photograph: Muzaffar Salman/Reuters

Photographer Damir Sagolj filed a compelling set of images from inside the exclusion zone near Minamisoma in Fukushima, Japan. Here, a vending machine is seen in a abandoned rice field after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant, resulting in a meltdown that became the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

From the same set, wild flowers and other vegetation grow over a train line in the evacuated town of Namie. More than 20,000 former residents can visit their homes once a month with special permissions but are not allowed to stay overnight inside the exclusion zone. A total of 160,000 people were ordered to leave their homes around Daiichi plant after the government announced the evacuation following the nuclear disaster in March 2011 Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Models walk down the catwalk during the Louis Vuitton show at Le Carre du Louvre during the Paris Fashion Week Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

A decorated elephant stands at the Nandankanan Zoological park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, India Photograph: Biswaranjan Rout/AP

Fans watch Spain's Rafael Nadal change his shirt after he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in Beijing Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

A street performer is photographed by Yasuyoshi Chiba during a protest by teachers against corruption in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The country has seen large street protests since last June directed towards the country's ruling elite demanding better public services and an end to political corruption Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP

Silvio Berlusconi talks with senators after Italy's prime minister Enrico Letta's call for a confidence vote in Rome. Letta said that the government's survival must be separated from the legal troubles of the centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi and that its collapse could be 'fatal' for the country Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters

Spencer Platt shows an effective visual approach to the US government shutdown this week in this photograph of people on the Staten Island ferry. One of the results of the goverment shutdown has been the closing of all national parks including Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty

Reuters photographer Minzayar documented Burma's Jade Empire. Here, a hand-picker washes after searching for jade in rubble dumped by mining companies in Hpakant township, Kachin State Photograph: Minzayar/Reuters

And here hand-pickers search for jade at the mine in Hpakant township Photograph: Minzayar/Reuters

Hawthorn Hawks players arrive for the post match party at Melbourne Cricket Ground after defeating the Fremantle Dockers in the AFL Grand Final Photograph: Robert Prezioso/Getty

Priests attend a mass with Catechists led by Pope Francis in St Peter's Square at the Vatican Photograph: Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis

Palestinian security forces arrive at the West Bank city of Jenin. Officials said that hundreds of Palestinian troops have been deployed there reinforcing the security presence in the increasingly restive former militant stronghold Photograph: Mohammed Ballas/AP

A woman rope jumps from a 44m high waterpipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk in Russia Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

A Pakistani man carrying a child rushes away from the site of a blast shortly after a car bomb exploded in Peshawar, Pakistan Photograph: Mohammad Sajjad/AP

A Roma family of Turkish origin sit under an improvised shelter to protect themselves from heavy rain in Eforie Sud, Romania. Authorities evicted around 100 Roma from a town near the Black Sea coast without providing them with alternative housing Photograph: Mugur Varzariu/AFP

Members of CHF 2,500 Monthly for Everyone open rolls of 5 cent coins in the vault of the old Schweizerische Volksbank. The committee dumped 8 million 5c coins in Basel's Federal Square to launch their campaign for all adults to receive an unconditional state income of CHF 2,500 a month Photograph: Ruben Sprich/Reuters