The top photos of the week by AP photojournalists

March 27 - April 2, 2026

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

See last week’s top photos of the week

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A motorist is silhouetted by the setting sun as the region hit a high temperature to tie a record for the hottest day in March in the area, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Lenexa, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

King penguins walk along the shore at Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands, known also as Islas Malvinas, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Newly enrolled pupils are welcomed by students, teachers and others during a school-opening ceremony at Kim Song Ju Primary School in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)

Iowa's Tavion Banks (6) and Illinois' Andrej Stojakovic battle for a loose ball during the first half of an Elite Eight game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

UConn players celebrate after their win against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

In this photo made with a slow shutter speed, a truck passes by gas prices that are displayed at a Chevron gas station, in downtown Los Angeles, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Police arrest a protestor dressed as the Statue of Liberty in downtown Los Angeles after the "No Kings" rally Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)

People attend a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Police officers use batons on a supporter of former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli during a protest following his arrest over deaths linked to last year September protests, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A Tamang community woman pays homage to her deceased loved ones during the Temal festival at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit inside tents used as shelters as a rainbow breaks through the rain in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Abbas, 5, who suffers from a genetic condition that prevents him from walking, speaks with his father in a hallway of a hospital converted into a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 27, 2026, after they were displaced from Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People stand near a fire during "biur chametz," a Jewish ritual where leavened food items are burned on the morning ahead of Passover, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli authorities inspect a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Haifa, Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A first responder assists an injured boy following a strike that hit a residential building amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sajad Safari)

A damaged car is slotted between other vehicles after it was relocated from the area of a residential building that was hit in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People visit a market near the Kadhimiya Shrine at sunset in the Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Racegoers dine at in the grandstand during the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Inmates perform a Stations of the Cross reenactment at Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Hooded penitents of the Franciscana de Pasion brotherhood take part during a Holy Week procession in Lucena, southern Spain, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York tossed out actor Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims Thursday against actor Justin Baldoni over their roles in the movie “It Ends With Us,” but he left intact three claims, including retaliation, that will let a jury hear many of the allegations anyway.

The written ruling by Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan came after Lively sued Baldoni last December, alleging sexual harassment among over a dozen claims against Baldoni and other parties.

A trial is scheduled for May 18.

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios had countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. The judge dismissed Baldoni’s claims last June.

In his ruling, Liman determined that Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee. On that basis, he said she was not entitled to bring sexual harassment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That law prohibits employment discrimination on various grounds, including gender.

As to retaliation claims, the judge said some evidence might enable a jury to conclude that Baldoni's production company planned not only to damage Lively's reputation but to destroy her career as there was fear she would file a discrimination claim. Lively alleges that a smear campaign has been “devastating for her reputation and career,” the judge noted.

In an analysis of the sexual harassment claims, the judge said Lively's claims had to be viewed in the context of the movie they were working on.

“Lively claims that during filming, Baldoni leaned in and gestured as if he was intending to kiss her, and that he kissed her forehead, rubbed his face and mouth against her neck, put his thumb to her mouth and flicked her lower lip, caressed her, and leaned into her neck, saying ‘it smells good,’” the judge wrote.

He said there was no question that the conduct would support a hostile work environment claim if it happened on a factory floor or in an executive suite.

However, the judge noted, Baldoni was “acting in the scene.”

“Assuming he was improvising, the conduct was not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters during a slow dancing scene such that an inference of hostile treatment on the basis of sex would arise. At least in isolation, the conduct was directed to Lively’s character rather than to Lively herself,” he wrote.

“Creative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment,” Liman added.

Despite those findings, the judge said some of Lively's claims about sexual harassment may be put to a jury to support two retaliation claims that survived the ruling, including one against It Ends With Us Movie LLC and Wayfarer Studios, and a third claim that was left intact alleging breach of a contract rider agreement against It Ends With Us Movie LLC.

The judge noted that Baldoni once said “pretty hot” after asking Lively to remove her jacket, exposing a lace bra underneath, and that when he was warned that it was inappropriate and distracting to make such comment, he allegedly rolled his eyes and responded: “Sorry, I missed the sexual harassment training.”

Liman also cited a scene in which Baldoni pushed for Lively to perform a birth scene naked and then the scene was filmed over several hours without the set being closed to nonessential personnel.

And in another instance, the judge said, it was alleged that Baldoni volunteered that he had previously been addicted to pornography and Lively said she had never seen pornography.

Liman said it “may be fair grounds for an author or a director to discuss personal experiences, including those related to sex, as part of the creative process,” but the judge wrote that Baldoni may have crossed the line when he later announced to others on set that Lively had never seen pornography.

In a statement, Lively attorney Sigrid McCawley wrote that Lively “looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it become easier to detect and fight.”

She added: “This case has always been and will remain focused on the devasting retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial.”

A lawyer for Baldoni and his production company did not immediately comment.

“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August 2024, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.

This combination of images shows Blake Lively at the London screening of the film "It 'Ends With Us" on Aug. 8, 2024, left, and Justin Baldoni at the world premiere of the film in New York on Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo)