The top photos of the week by AP's photojournalists

June 13-19, 2025

This photo gallery, curated by photo editor Anne Marie Belgrave, highlights some of the most compelling images worldwide published by The Associated Press in the past week.

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A member of a band plays during a Juneteenth parade Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Porto's Ze Pedro, right, tangled with Inter Miami's Lionel Messi during the Club World Cup group A soccer match between Inter Miami and FC Porto in Atlanta, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

A boy sells balloons as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fan sleeps in the stands during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Sunday, June 15, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Rescue workers put out a fire of cars destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

A woman is reflected on a panel of a display board depicting a forest at a construction site, in Beijing, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A man carries a child covering their heads with a cloth to protect from the heat in Jammu, India, Sunday, June 15, 2025.(AP Photo/ Channi Anand)

Director Danny Boyle adjusts his sunglasses as he poses for photographers upon arrival to the photo call for the film '28 Years Later' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

The Valley Grove Assembly of God, twisted and moved from its foundation by floodwaters, is seen Monday, June 16, 2025, in Valley Grove, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Bullet holes mark the front door of the house of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife who were shot earlier in the day, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Champlin, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Women mourn over the body of Mohammadi Javad Naseri, who was reportedly killed in Israeli strikes in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matin Hashemi)

Palestinians children mourn over the body of their father, Mohammed Ghaben, who was killed while heading to an aid distribution hub, at the morgue of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Protesters gesture in-front of a burning motorcycle during a demonstration over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An injured man is assisted in the street after an explosion in downtown Tehran, amid Israel's three-day campaign of strikes against Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Amir Kholousi/ISNA)

Demonstrators carry posters of top Iranian commanders killed in Friday's Israeli strikes on Tehran, during the Muslim Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, which commemorates the Prophet Muhammad naming Ali, revered as the first Shiite imam, as his successor, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Britain's Jack Draper hits a return to Australia's Alexei Popyrin during their men's singles match at the Queens Club grass court tennis championships in London, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

Inter Miami's Tadeo Allende and Al Ahly's Wessam Abou Ali compete for the ball during the Club World Cup group A soccer match between Al Ahly and Inter Miami in Miami, Fla., Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, leaves federal court during the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs in New York, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)

A supporter of Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez uses a boom to paste a photo of her on the wall outside her home after the nation's Supreme Court upheld Fernandez's corruption conviction in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Karen Read embraces a supporter as she leaves the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in her trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A demonstrator holds a phone in front of Los Angeles County Sheriffs on horseback during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Calgary International Airport, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Calgary, Canada, ahead of the G7 Summit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

From the left, Britain's Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Prince Louis, Prince William, Prince George, Kate, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte, look up as they watch the flypast by the Red Arrows from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour in London, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

People holding umbrellas reading "save democracy" take part in the "No Kings" protest in Paris, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

President Donald Trump salutes as attends a military parade commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary, coinciding with his 79th birthday, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and first lady Melania Trump, watch. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A resident reacts after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment during Russia's combined missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia's massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A baby is evacuated from the site of a direct hit from an Iranian missile strike in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli soldiers search through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam, central Israel, on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Family members and relatives of Akash Patni, victim of the Air India plane crash, grieve during his funeral procession in Ahmedabad, India, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People evacuate after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

The latest:

Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.

As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.

Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.

Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”

As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.

Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.

Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.

“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.

At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.

Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.

The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.

Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.

The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.

Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”

The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”

The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.

Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”

Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.

“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.

He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”

Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.

December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.

The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)