Nelson Almeida / AFP - Getty Images

A municipal worker sweeps the streets by two cars destroyed the previous night by demonstrators in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 18. Rio police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with protesting youths early Tuesday, after tens of thousands rallied in major Brazilian cities against the huge costs of hosting the 2014 World Cup.

Nelson Almeida / AFP - Getty Images

Furniture vandalized by demonstrators rests in the lobby of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ), in downtown Rio de Janeiro, on June 18.

By Todd Benson, Reuters

SAO PAULO - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping the country, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance at all levels.

Speaking the morning after an estimated 200,000 Brazilians marched in more than a half-dozen cities nationwide, Rousseff said her government remains committed to social change and is listening attentively to the many grievances expressed at the demonstrations.

"Brazil woke up stronger today," Rousseff said in a televised speech in Brasilia. "The size of yesterday's demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets and the civility of our population." Read the full story.

Victor R. Caivano / AP

A protester looks at vandalized cash machines at a bank during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, on June 17. Thousands took to the streets in largely peaceful protests in at least eight cities in Brazil on June 17, demonstrations that voiced the deep frustrations Brazilians feel about carrying heavy tax burdens but receiving woeful returns in public education, health, security and transportation. Officers in Rio fired tear gas and rubber bullets when a group of protesters invaded the state legislative assembly and later vandalized and looted properties in the area.

Alex Almeida / Reuters

Demonstrators shout anti-government slogans behind a banner, which translates as "violence," in Sao Paulo on June 17.

Victor R. Caivano / AP

A military police officer pepper-sprays a protester during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, on June 17.

Nelson Antoine / AP

A demonstrator waves a Brazilian flag during a protest in Sao Paulo, on June 17.

Felipe Dana / AP

Protesters are reflected on the glass of a building, left, as they march in Rio de Janeiro, on June 17. Protests in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities, set off by a 10-cent hike in public transport fares, have clearly moved beyond that issue to tap into widespread frustration in Brazil about a heavy tax burden, politicians widely viewed as corrupt and woeful public education, health and transport systems and come as the nation hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament and prepares for next month's papal visit.

Vassil Donev / EPA

Erdem Gunduz, center, stands on Taksim Square during a protest that was quickly dubbed "duranadam" or "standing man", in Istanbul, Turkey, early on June 18, 2013. Gunduz was briefly searched and questioned by police, media reports said.

A Turkish man has staged an eight-hour silent vigil on Istanbul's Taksim Square, scene of violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters in recent weeks, inspiring hundreds of others to follow his lead.

Erdem Gunduz said he wanted to take a stand against police stopping demonstrations near the square, Dogan news agency reported.

He stood silently, facing the Ataturk Cultural Center, which was draped in Turkish flags and a portrait of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, from 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) on Monday.

Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

Erdem Gunduz stood for several hours unnoticed before his presence on the flashpoint square went viral on the social network Twitter. He was then joined by hundreds of others. Turkish police intervened, clearing the square and arresting several demonstrators.

By 2 a.m. (7 p.m. ET), when the police moved in, about 300 people had joined him. Ten people who refused to be moved on by police were detained.

Gunduz, swiftly dubbed "Standing Man" on social media in Turkey, inspired similar protests elsewhere in Istanbul as well as in the capital Ankara and the city of Izmir on the Aegean coast. Read the full story.

Related: Woman in red sprayed with teargas becomes symbol of Turkey protests

Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

A man emulating Erdem Gunduz by standing on Taksim Square is arrested by police on June 18, 2013.

Sedat Suna / EPA

By Tuesday morning, others had begun to mimic Gunduz' protest in Taksim Square.

Sedat Suna / EPA

A protester stands on Taksim Square on June 18, 2013.

Sedat Suna / EPA

A protester reads a book (Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis") during a 'duranadam' protest in Istanbul on June 18, 2013.

Sedat Suna / EPA

Protesters stand on Taksim Square during a 'duranadam' protest on June 18, 2013.

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

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Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Launch slideshow

Tasso Marcelo / AFP - Getty Images

Two demonstrators hug each other tightly as they are surrounded by riot police using tear gas during a student protest in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Brazil's two biggest cities to protest 10-cent hikes in bus and subway fares.

-- Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press

Nicolas Tanner / AP

People protest the increase in bus and subway fares in Rio de Janeiro on June 13, 2013.

Nelson Antoine / AP

Police fire rubber bullets at demonstrators protesting a price increase for public transportation in Sao Paulo on June 13, 2013.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Amorous protesters, lost in the heat of Vancouver riots

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Part-time photographer Charles Emir Richards posted this and dozens of other photos from protests in Besiktas on June 2 on his Facebook page, with the message, "You don't need my permission to share the photos. I think it is especially important that people outside of Turkey share them to let it be known what is going on here."

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Taksim, Istanbul on June 4

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Besiktas, Istanbul on June 2

Charles Emir Richards, an American living in Turkey, took to the streets of Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 1-4 not to join protesters, but to document the events between demonstrators and police in what he describes as a "war zone." The images in this blog post come from Richards’ Facebook page and are used with permission. NBC News’s Director of Photography, Jim Collins, contacted Richards via email to collect first-person reaction to his photos and the events that are occurring in his backyard.

Do you live in Istanbul full-time and is the area where you’ve been shooting near to where you live?
Yes, I do. I am half-Turkish and have been living here on and off for the past 15 years. Taksim is about a kilometer southeast from where I live. Akaretler, Besiktas a little less than a kilometer northeast. I am at a vortex of a triangle.

Are you a photographer?
I am a part-time photographer. It is my hobby gone crazy. I started shooting celebrity portraits for Rolling Stone over here and then, more recently, for Vogue and GQ. I don't take photographs as much as I should. Shooting the protests here for the past few days has convinced me that I was just wasting time, eating cake.

Would you consider yourself a protester?
 I wish I was brave enough to be a protester, but I am not. I agree with what they are fighting for and felt it was important to document it.

Are you concerned that the disturbances may threaten your home, property or safety in general?
Right now it is impossible to say what is going to happen. The prime minister is not bending, nor are the protesters. Everyone is meeting again in Gezi Park tonight (Editor's note: Friday). If (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan had made even minor concessions I think a lot of people were ready to declare a victory for democracy, and go home. Now I don't know, I think the weekend will tell what direction things will take.

One thing I can say is that the protesters, even the most violent, have been extremely careful not to harm anyone's personal property. At any point they could have blocked the roads with private citizen's cars and burned them to block the police. They did not, and they did not entertain the idea of raiding or looting. If a store owner wanted to open shop and help they appreciated it, if not, fine.

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Taksim, Istanbul on June 4

For my personal safety, I have very practical concerns, the top of the list being hyperventilating in my gas mask and it fogging up. Not seeing anything during a police raid is the worst thing I can imagine right now. I have been detained by the police twice already. I got shot twice by projectile gas canisters, which brought tears to my eyes, but is actually OK because adrenaline doesn't let you feel more than a sting until hours later. One girl I talked to (said) she was hit by a plastic bullet, and that it hurts so much that you can't move. I find that both very disturbing and threatening.

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Charles Emir Richards posted this image on his Facebook page on June 3 with the following comment: "The police brutally beat this man with a baton and shield. I don't know what happened to him as I was detained and released by the police soon after I took this photograph. Akaretler was a war zone tonight."

What are the latest developments that you see on the streets there? Are the protests intensifying?
Last night, the crowd was ready to greet the prime minister with a wave of hostility on his flight back from Tunisia. People were really keyed up where I was last night. There were professional protesters in the crowd from Palestine handing out double-sided photocopies of safety guidelines for gas attacks by the barricades. Everyone was on the lookout for police provocateurs in the crowd.

The people at the barricades are growing in numbers and they are ready to fight. Inside Gezi Park, people are even more determined to continue peaceful protest.

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Charles Emir Richards posted this photo from Taskim, Istanbul on June 4 with the following comment: "The sad thing is that the evening started like this."

There were reports of massive police movement all last night and rumors that police reinforcements were being bused in from other cities. Despite this, I never saw a single officer the entire night.

What have you been doing with your photographs besides posting them to Facebook?
Nothing. I have been posting them on Facebook as it has been the only means to get the word out about what is going on here recently. The news media here went blank on the issue, that's when I thought I should go out and shoot and post on Facebook, I felt that a document should get out from somewhere, anywhere. Until yesterday, the local media pretended that nothing was going on. On June 2, when everyone was on the streets engaging the police, CNN Turk was broadcasting a documentary about penguins.

People went and protested in front of media buildings and pasted money on their walls and doors saying if you love money that much here it is, now do your jobs. Even after that they are reporting a very light version of the protests.

Editor's Note: This interview has been edited and condensed.

Charles Emir Richards via Facebook

Besiktas, Istanbul on June 1

Aris Messinis/AFP - Getty Images

Demonstrators waving Turkish flags shout slogans against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a protest on Taksim Square in Istanbul Thursday.

TUNIS/ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday denounced those behind a week of violent demonstrations, saying he would not allow people to "burn and destroy."

Speaking during a visit to Tunisia, Erdogan vowed to press ahead with plans for construction in an Istanbul park which triggered the unrest across the country.

Three people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in demonstrations that have seen police fire tear gas at angry crowds.

Erdogan, out of the country for days on a tour of North Africa but due to return late Thursday, has consistently maintained a hard line in public comments since the unrest began, which the protesters say has poured fuel on the fire.

In Thursday's remarks, he said "terror groups" - including one that claimed responsibility for a February 1 bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara - were manipulating the crowds. Seven foreigners were among those arrested, he said.

"If you say: 'I will hold a meeting and burn and destroy,' we will not allow that," he told reporters after meeting his Tunisian counterpart. "We are against the majority dominating the minority and we cannot tolerate the opposite."

Nevertheless, by confining his comments to a group of protesters, Erdogan sounded arguably softer in tone than before he left for North Africa at the start of the week, when he described the demonstrators in blanket terms as looters.

What began as a campaign against the redevelopment of a leafy Istanbul park has grown into an unprecedented show of defiance against the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.

Police backed by armored vehicles have clashed with the protesters night after night, while thousands have massed peacefully in recent days on Taksim Square and the adjoining Gezi Park, where the demonstrations first began.

A policeman who fell from a bridge in the southern city of Adana while chasing protesters died of his injuries, Turkish television stations reported -- the third death in the protests.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik called on members not to welcome Erdogan home at Istanbul airport to avoid stirring trouble. "The prime minister does not need a show of strength," Celik said in a television interview.

At Taksim, protesters remained defiant. "We have the momentum, with people like me going to work every day and coming back to attend the protests," said Cetin, a 29-year-old civil engineer who declined to give his surname because he works for a company close to the government.

"We should keep coming here to protest until we really feel we've achieved something," he said, one of thousands gathered on Taksim Square until late into the night.

Protesters are of a variety of political stripes, including far leftists, soft nationalists, environmentalists and secular Turks, and their numbers at Taksim have swollen at points to more than an estimated 100,000.

Erdogan said they included the outlawed organization behind the U.S. Embassy suicide bombing that also killed a Turkish security guard. The outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, said it was behind the U.S. Embassy bombing earlier this year.

Related:

• Taksim Square and the battle for Turkey – What's next?
• Biden urges Turkey's government to respect dissent as protests rage on
• Turkey's deputy PM apologizes for police crackdown as second protester dies

ISTANBUL - War-torn Syria has warned its citizens not to travel to neighbor Turkey, Reuters reported Monday as Istanbul prepared for a fourth day of violent public demonstrations in which more than 1,000 have been injured.

Syria's Foreign Ministry said it advised Syrians "against travel to Turkey for the time being for their own safety, because of the deteriorating security situation in several Turkish cities...and the violence of (Prime Minister Tayyip) Erdogan's government against peaceful protesters," according to Reuters.

Reuters

Anti-government protesters behind barricades clash with riot police on Istanbul, early Monday.

In Istanbul, hundreds of young men and women gathered on Ä°stiklal Avenue, one of the city's main streets, early Monday. The crowds, which clapped and whistled as they headed toward the city's main Taksim Square, were smaller than those seen over the weekend.

The private Dogan news agency said police fired tear gas at the group in an area close to Erdogan's Istanbul offices. The protesters responded by hurling stones, it reported.

The government of Syria is fighting a two-year uprising in which an estimated 80,000 people have died. In Turkey, more than 1,000 people have been hurt in its largest city Istanbul, capital Ankara and other cities after protesters clashed with police over the last three days.  

Erdogan, a former close ally of Syria's Bashar Assad, turned against Damascus after the Syrian president cracked down on mainly peaceful protests which broke out in March 2011 and have since descended into a brutal civil war.

Turkey is hosting around 370,000 Syrian refugees. It has also been a base for Assad's military and political foes, as well as a transit point for weapon supplies flowing into northern Syria.

On Saturday Syria called on Erdogan to halt what it called his violent repression of protests or step aside -- an echo of the appeals to Assad in the early days of Syria's uprising.

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

High school students chant slogans during a protest at Gezi park, Taksim square in Istanbul, Monday.

According to Reuters, Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi said:  "The demands of the Turkish people don't deserve all this violence ... If Erdogan is unable to pursue non-violent means, he should resign." 

The recent unrest in Turkey broke out when trees were torn down at a park in Taksim as part of government plans to develop the area.  The demonstrations have broadened into a show of defiance against the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan has so far stood firm on plans to remake the square, and maintained that the protests were not actually related to the redevelopment.

"It's entirely ideological," he said in an interview on Turkish television. "The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests ... This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipality elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK Party lose votes here."

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 3, 2013 6:29 AM EDT

Murad Sezer / Reuters

Anti-government protesters clash with riot police near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office in Istanbul, Turkey, June 2.

ISTANBUL/ANKARA — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey's four biggest cities on Sunday and clashed with riot police firing tear gas in the third day of the fiercest anti-government protests in years.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan blamed the main secular opposition party for inciting the crowds, whom he called "a few looters", and said the protests were aimed at depriving his ruling AK Party of votes as elections begin next year.

The unrest erupted on Friday when trees were torn down at a park in Istanbul's main Taksim Square under government plans to redevelop the area, but widened into a broad show of defiance against the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan said the plans to remake the square, long an iconic rallying point for mass demonstrations, would go ahead, including the construction of a new mosque and the rebuilding of a replica Ottoman-era barracks.

Erdogan said the protests had nothing to do with the plans.

"It's entirely ideological," he said in an interview broadcast on Turkish television.

"The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests ... This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipality elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK Party lose votes here."

Gurcan Ozturk / AFP - Getty Images

Protestors clash with riot police between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul late Saturday.

Turkey is due to hold local and presidential elections next year, in which Erdogan is expected to stand, followed by parliamentary polls in 2015.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) denied orchestrating the unrest, blaming Erdogan's policies.

"Today the people on the street across Turkey are not exclusively from the CHP, but from all ideologies and from all parties," senior party member Mehmet Akif Hamzacebi said.

"What Erdogan has to do is not to blame CHP but draw the necessary lessons from what happened," he told Reuters.

The protests, started by a small group of environmental campaigners, mushroomed when police used force to eject them from the park on Taksim Square. As word spread online, the demonstrations have drawn in a wide range of people of all ages from across the political and social spectrum.

Protests on Sunday were not as violent as the past two days but police used tear gas to try to disperse hundreds of people in Ankara's main Kizilay square. There were similar clashes in Izmir and Adana, Turkey's third and fourth biggest cities.

In Istanbul's Taksim Square, the atmosphere was more festive with some chanting for Erdogan to resign and others singing and dancing. There was little obvious police presence. But there were later clashes between police and protesters near Erdogan's office in a former Ottoman palace in the city.

FEROCITY

There were more than 90 separate demonstrations around the country on Friday and Saturday, officials said. More than 1,000 people have been injured in Istanbul and several hundred more in Ankara, according to medical staff.

The ferocity of the police response in Istanbul shocked Turks, as well as tourists caught up in the unrest in one of the world's most visited destinations. It has drawn rebukes from the United States, European Union and international rights groups.

Helicopters fired tear gas canisters into residential neighborhoods and police used teargas to try to smoke people out of buildings. Footage on YouTube showed one protester being hit by an armored police truck as it charged a barricade.

Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its once crisis-prone economy into the fastest-growing in Europe.

Erdogan remains by far the most popular politician, but critics point to what they see as his authoritarianism and religiously conservative meddling in private lives in the secular republic.

Tighter restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection in recent weeks have also provoked protests. Concern that government policy is allowing Turkey to be dragged into the conflict in neighboring Syria by the West has also led to peaceful demonstrations.

On Sunday, Erdogan appeared on television for the fourth time in less than 36 hours, and justified the restrictions on alcohol as for the good of people's health.

"I want them to know that I want these (restrictions) for the sake of their health ... Whoever drinks alcohol is an alcoholic," he said.

This story was originally published on Sun Jun 2, 2013 2:15 PM EDT

Gurcan Ozturk / AFP - Getty Images

Protestors run from tear gas at the Taksim Gezi park in Istanbul, Turkey, after clashes with riot police, June 1.

ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan made a defiant call for an end to the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years on Saturday as authorities arrested almost a thousand people in protests across the country. 

Riot police backed by armored vehicles and helicopters fired tear gas and water cannons in Istanbul and Ankara for a second day. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said 939 arrests had been made in more than 90 separate demonstrations. 

The unrest was triggered by government plans for a replica Ottoman-era barracks housing shops or apartments in Istanbul's Taksim Square, long a venue for political protest, but has widened into a broader show of defiance against Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

Crowds of protesters chanting "shoulder to shoulder against fascism" and "government resign" marched on Taksim, where hundreds were injured in clashes the day before. Broken glass, rocks and an overturned car littered the square as night fell. 

A helicopter buzzed overhead as groups of mostly young men and women, bandanas or surgical masks tied around their mouths, used Facebook and Twitter on mobile phones to try to organize and regroup in side streets. Police clashed with protesters who lit fires in the streets leading to Erdogan's Istanbul office. 

"If this is about holding meetings, if this is a social movement, where they gather 20, I will get up and gather 200,000 people. Where they gather 100,000, I will bring together one million from my party," Erdogan said in a televised speech. 

"Every four years we hold elections and this nation makes its choice," he said. "Those who have a problem with government's policies can express their opinions within the framework of law and democracy." 

Earlier, police pulled back from Gezi Park in Taksim, where the demonstration started peacefully on Monday with people pitching tents in protest at trees being torn up for the redevelopment. 

Waiters scurried out of luxury hotels lining the square, on what should be a busy weekend for tourists in one of the world's most visited cities, ferrying lemons to protesters, who squirted the juice in their eyes to mitigate the effects of tear gas. 

"People from different backgrounds are coming together. This has become a protest against the government, against Erdogan taking decisions like a king," said Oral Goktas, a 31-year old architect among a peaceful crowd walking towards Taksim. 

This story was originally published on Sat Jun 1, 2013 5:58 AM EDT

Thibault Camus / AP

An anti gay marriage activist holds flags during a demonstation against French President Francois Hollande's social reform on gay marriage and adoption, in Paris, on Sunday.

Several hundred thousand opponents of same-sex marriage marched in central Paris on Sunday against a reform the unpopular French government passed last month at the price of deepening political polarization. 

Large park grounds around Les Invalides monument were full of protesters waving pink and blue flags, while far-right activists hung a banner on the ruling Socialist Party headquarters urging President Francois Hollande to quit. 

The protests, which began as a grass roots campaign strongly backed by the Roman Catholic Church, have morphed into a wider movement with opposition politicians and far-right militants airing their discontent with Hollande. 

Although they have failed to block gay marriage, the protesters hope their renewed show of force will help stop or slow down further laws some Socialists want allowing assisted procreation and surrogate motherhood for gay couples. 

Thibault Camus / AP

Anti gay marriage activists hold flags during a demonstation against French President Francois Hollande's social reform on gay marriage and adoption, in Paris on Sunday.

Jean-Francois Cope, leader of the opposition UMP party, marched in the demonstration and urged young protesters to join his party to keep up pressure on the left-wing government. 

"The next rendezvous should be at the ballot boxes for the municipal elections," he said, referring to local polls due next year where conservatives hope to profit from the protest movement's unexpectedly strong mobilization. 

While the rally was peaceful throughout much of the day, police said they arrested 96 hardline opponents to the gay marriage law later on for refusing to disperse or occupying private property. 

Once the bulk of protesters had gone home, clashes erupted between hardliners wielding sticks and riot police, filling the Invalides Esplanade with tear gas. The violence was less severe than at the end of previous demonstrations, however. 

Police said 150,000 marched on Sunday while protest organizers said a million people took part. 

A survey published on Sunday showed 53 percent of those polled support gay marriage and adoption, indicating a slide of about 10 points since the protests began last November. It said 72 percent thought the protests should stop now. 

Plagued by economic recession, unemployment at more than 10 percent and pressure to reduce the public deficit, Hollande got some respite on Sunday from another poll showing his record low popularity had inched up four points to 29 percent this month. 

While leaders of Hollande's Socialist Party denounced the protest against a law already passed in parliament and validated by the Constitutional Council, the conservative UMP party was split over whether to continue the rallies. 

There were fewer Catholic priests than at earlier demonstrations. Several bishops joined previous marches, but distanced themselves as protests became more openly political. 

France's first gay wedding is due to take place on Wednesday in Montpellier, France's self-proclaimed capital of gay culture. 

France, a traditionally Catholic country, followed 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. 

In the United States, Washington D.C. and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage. 

This story was originally published on Sun May 26, 2013 12:22 PM EDT

Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

Italian businessman Marcello De Finizio stands on the dome of St Peter's basilica to protest against austerity measures on May 21, 2013 at the Vatican.

A man climbed onto a ledge on the dome of St Peter's Basilica on Monday and unfurled a banner protesting against a "political horror show," an apparent reference to Italy's embattled coalition struggling with recession and high unemployment.

Identified by police as Marcello Di Finizio, the man unfurled a white banner reading "Stop this massacre!" in English, scrawled in black and red ink, with "Help us Pope Francis" in Italian.

Di Finizio, who was still on the ledge on Tuesday, has staged similar protests in the past. Last October he stayed overnight on the dome with a banner criticizing multinationals, Europe, and former Prime Minister Mario Monti. Read the full story.

Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images

Christian Veron / Reuters

Supporters of opposition leader Henrique Capriles face off against riot police as they demonstrate for a recount of the votes in Sunday's election, in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 15, 2013.

Leo Ramirez / AFP - Getty Images

Riot police with tear gas face off against opposition supporters in Caracas on April 15, 2013. Venezuela's acting president, Nicolas Maduro, was proclaimed the winner of the country's election on Monday, triggering protests as the opposition demanded a recount.

Both sides in Venezuela's political standoff will hold rival demonstrations on Tuesday after authorities rejected opposition demands for a presidential election recount and protesters clashed with police in Caracas.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles says his team's figures show he won the election on Sunday and he wants a full audit of official results that narrowly gave victory to ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro, the country's acting president.

The National Electoral Council has refused to hold a recount of the votes, and police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Monday to disperse opposition supporters who protested in a wealthy district of Caracas. Read the full story.

Related:

Major challenges face Venezuela's next leader - whoever he is

'I am the son of Chavez': Former bus driver rides high in Venezuela election

Slideshow: Venezuela mourns Hugo Chavez

Dmitry Astakhov / Ria Novosti via Reuters

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stands in his office in Moscow on April 9, 2013, before an interview with a Russian television channel.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin continued a European trip marked by protest, his successor as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was left looking rather wistful at his office back in Moscow Tuesday.

Since Putin and Medvedev swapped jobs in May last year, the latter has found himself out of the limelight and has even found time to indulge his passion for photography.

NPR's Moscow correspondent Corey Flintoff reported earlier this month that Medvedev appears increasingly isolated from the center of power and may have been the target of a campaign to wreck his reputation.

Putin, who was confronted by topless protesters in Germany on Monday, faced further demonstrations in the Netherlands, where 1,000 gay rights activists waved pink and orange balloons and blasted out dance music to condemn Russia's treatment of homosexuals. 

AFP - Getty Images, RIA Novosti via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a busy day Monday: (clockwise from top left) Sitting in a Volkswagen XL 1 Hybrid car in Hanover, Germany; laughing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel; arriving at Schiphol airport in The Netherlands; drinking a toast with Dutch Queen Beatrix at the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam.

Robin Utrecht / EPA

Demonstrators participate in a protest near the National Maritime Museum, where Putin was having dinner, in Amsterdam on April 8, 2013. The protesters were denouncing a so-called 'homosexual propaganda ban' in Russia which was enacted in January.

Previously on PhotoBlog: On holiday with Putin and Medvedev