Friday, June 19, 2026
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Photos of the Week: Basilica Blessing, Tree Tunnel, Parrot Prediction

Scenes from the French Open in Paris; a pro-wrestling match at a public library in California; celebrations in Brazil for the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup; a congressional baseball game in Washington, D.C.; and much more

This article was originally published by The Atlantic and is republished here under license.
New York Knicks fans cheer at a watch party in a park.
Ryan Murphy / AP
New York Knicks fans cheer at a watch party during Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, on June 8, 2026, in New York City.
Niagara Falls, seen at night, lit up in blue and yellow colors
Lindsay Dedario / Reuters
Niagara Falls is illuminated as part of the lighting-up of 11 state landmarks announced by New York Governor Kathy Hochul for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, in Niagara Falls, New York, on June 8, 2026.
Lightning strikes above tall residential buildings.
Philip Fong / AFP / Getty
Lightning strikes above a residential estate in the Tsuen Wan district of the New Territories in Hong Kong on June 6, 2026.
People walk inside a dimly-lit cathedral with many candles set up all around on the floor.
Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters
Visitors attend the Museums by Candlelight event, an evening of candlelit heritage sites, at St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, on June 6, 2026.
Smoke and fireworks erupt from the top of an ornate cathedral tower.
Dan Kitwood / Getty
Fireworks erupt during the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ by Pope Leo XIV at the Basilica of the Sagrada Família on June 10, 2026, in Barcelona.
Priests in ceremonial gear gather during a ceremony, with one holding a cell phone that displays a photograph of a cathedral.
Emilio Morenatti / AP
Priests gather around Antoni Gaudí’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família as Pope Leo XIV blesses the newly completed central Tower of Jesus Christ on June 10, 2026.
Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment carry the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola.
Jospin Mwisha / AFP / Getty
Members of a Congolese Red Cross team wearing personal protective equipment carry the coffin of a woman suspected of having died from Ebola, ahead of her safe burial at her home in Bunia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on June 7, 2026.
Emergency workers wearing multicolored hazmat suits, attend to people pretending to be victims of an attack on a train, during a drill.
Ulises Ruiz / AFP / Getty
Emergency personnel check simulated victims during an interagency drill on a train staged as a weapons-of-mass-destruction attack, as part of security preparations for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, on June 6, 2026.
A person carries a rescue dog while conducting search-and-rescue operations in a collapsed building.
Jam Sta Rosa / AFP / Getty
A responder carries a rescue dog while conducting search-and-rescue operations in a collapsed building after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in General Santos City, Philippines, on June 9, 2026. The earthquake on June 8 killed at least 35 people, according to provincial authorities, after toppling buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region.
A pro wrestler flings his head back after being struck by another wrestler holding an astronaut helmet.
Jeff Chiu / AP
The wrestler Victor Von Richter, left, reacts after being hit by Astro Knox, right, in a Lucha Libro pro-wrestling match at the San Jose Public Library Educational Park Branch in San Jose, California.
A race car driver makes a splash after jumping into a harbor in celebration, as others take photographs.
Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images / Getty
The F1 Grand Prix of Monaco winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli celebrates by jumping into the sea with his team, at Circuit de Monaco on June 7, 2026, in Monte Carlo.
A trimaran, at sail, with a distant rock formation in the background
Lou Benoist / AFP / Getty
The French skipper Thibaut Vauchel-Camus sails his Ocean Fifty multihull Solidaires en Peloton from Saint-Malo, Brittany, to Fécamp, Normandy, as part of his preparation for the Route du Rhum solo-transatlantic-sailing race, on June 10, 2026.
Contractors drive a small vehicle in the partially-filled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Kent Nishimura / AFP / Getty
Contractors drive a vehicle in the partially filled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during renovation work at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 2026.
The interior of a temporary fighting arena constructed on the south lawn of the White House
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Construction continues on the Ultimate Fighting Championship “Claw” and the octagon fighting ring on the South Lawn of the White House on June 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
A view looking down a path surrounded on all sides by trees that have been trained to grow over the top of the path, forming a tunnel of leaves and branches
Thierry Monasse / Getty
Charmille of Haut-Marêt, a hornbeam-tree tunnel, during a rainy spring afternoon on June 5, 2026, in La Reid, Theux, Belgium. The path is a historic 573-meter-long tree tunnel made from about 4,700 hornbeams trained over a metal framework to form an arched walkway.
An owl, in flight, carrying a rodent in one of its talons
Ian Forsyth / Getty
An owl returns to its young after hunting over fields in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England, on June 10, 2026.
A person wearing a baseball uniform, upside down, tumbling after a ball
Kevin Dietsch / Getty
U.S. Representative Pete Aguilar misses a catch during the Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park on June 10, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The annual game that began in 1901 pits Republican and Democratic members of Congress against one another while raising money for charity.
Farmers spray water in a burned agricultural field next to a fallen missile that sticks out of the ground, fins up.
Ghaith Alsayed / AP
Farmers spray water in a burned agricultural field next to a fallen projectile near the town of Najha, Syria, on June 8, 2026, after debris from Iranian missiles fell in the area.
Two people embrace, standing on a beach, looking toward boats that are fully engulfed in flames in the distance.
Ariel Ochoa / AP
Fishing boats burn in Manta, Ecuador, after a fire broke out at the Port of Manta on June 6, 2026.
Gas flares burn at an oil field as an armed police officer stands nearby.
Essam Al-Sudani / Reuters
Gas flares burn at the Rumaila Oil Field as an Iraqi Energy Police officer secures the area in Basra, Iraq, on June 8, 2026.
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush play guitars, performing on stage.
Michael Tullberg / Getty
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush perform during the opening night of their first American tour in 11 years at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on June 7, 2026.
A tight group of journalists surround a lawyer, crowded against the outside wall of a building.
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty
Journalists surround a lawyer in Sion, Switzerland, on June 5, 2026, prior to a hearing regarding a deadly New Year’s Eve fire in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. The blaze broke out in the early hours of January 1 at a bar called Le Constellation, killing 41 people, mostly teenagers, and injuring 115 others.
People look on as others stand up a tall cutout of Lionel Messi in a soccer uniform.
CK Thanseer / Reuters
Supporters look on as others stand up a cutout of Argentina’s Lionel Messi ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in Kozhikode, India, on June 9, 2026.
An aerial view of a street painting depicting the Brazilian football star Neymar.
Pedro H. Tesch / AFP / Getty
An aerial view of a street painting depicting the Brazilian football star Neymar, designed by the Brazilian artists Rafael Jung, Nosg, Bart, Chimia, Joca, and Jefferson, in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on June 10, 2026, one day ahead of the opening of the 2026 FIFA World Cup
A tennis ball, looking slightly flattened, flies quickly away from a tennis racket after being struck.
Christophe Ena / AP
Flavio Cobolli of Italy serves to Alexander Zverev of Germany during their men’s final match at the French Open in Paris on June 7, 2026.
Two tennis players lean to kiss the handles of a trophy they have just won.
Aurelien Morissard / AP
Katerina Siniakova, of the Czech Republic (right), and Taylor Townsend, of the U.S., pose with their trophy after winning the women’s doubles final match against Anna Danilina, of Kazakhstan, and Aleksandra Krunic, of Serbia, at the French Open, in Paris on June 7, 2026.
A parrot sits in front of a video camera, biting at its microphone.
Sebastian Willnow / DPA / Getty
A blue-throated macaw sits in front of a video camera at Leipzig Zoo on June 9, 2026. In the zoo aviary, parrots were asked to act as oracles for the opening World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa, picking the winner. One ended up grabbing the ball marked “Mexico” from a box with its beak.
A sunset, seen beyond several tall distinctive towers
Yasser Al-Zayyat / AFP / Getty
The sun sets behind Kuwait City’s landmark Kuwait Towers on June 9, 2026.

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