Lionel Messi celebrates as Argentina win the World Cup, Russian attacks continue in Ukraine, migrants at the US-Mexico border and the winter solstice at Stonehenge – the most striking images this week

  • Asylum seekers use an air mattress to cross the Rio Grande into Brownsville the day after Title 42 had been expected to be lifted but the decision has now been postponed until 27 December. The US supreme court this week said Covid-era restrictions at the US-Mexico border that were set to end on 21 December should stay in place, at least temporarily, as a Republican legal challenge moves forward.

    Photograph: Veronica G Cardenas/AFP/Getty Images

    Asylum seekers get on an air mattress to cross the Rio Grande into Brownsville the day after Title 42 had been expected to be lifted but the decision has now been postponed until 27 December

  • Kharkiv, Ukraine

    After Russian forces had retreated from the area and destroyed the reservoir bridge, residents carry a washing machine across the water by a free small taxi boat in Staryi Saltiv. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, was left without power for hours after the latest attack by Russia this week on the region’s energy infrastructure. The city’s mayor said it suffered ‘colossal’ damage in the attack.

    Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

    After Russian forces had retreated from the area and destroyed the reservoir bridge, residents carry a washing machine across the water by a free small taxi boat in Staryi Saltiv

  • Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A couple kiss as fans celebrate Argentina’s victory over France in the World Cup final in Buenos Aires. After a dramatic penalty shootout, there was delight in Buenos Aires that Argentina would be bringing home football’s most coveted trophy.

    Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

    A couple kiss as fans celebrate Argentina’s victory over France in the World Cup final in Buenos Aires

  • Paris, France

    The local community watch in shock at the scene of a shooting in the multicultural neighbourhood of Strasbourg-Saint Denis in Paris, which left three dead and several people injured. The attack at a Kurdish cultural centre led to clashes in the city. The French government said the shooting appeared to have been racially motivated.

    Photograph: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

    The local community watch in shock at the scene of a fatal shooting in the multi-cultural neighbourhood of Strasbourg-Saint Denis in Paris which left three dead and several people injured

  • Lusail stadium, Qatar

    France’s Kylian Mbappé reacts after losing the penalty shoot-out of the World Cup final against Argentina at Lusail stadium. The match will go down as surely the finest World Cup final of all time because of how Mbappé hauled France up off the canvas towards the end of normal time.

    Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

    France’s Kylian Mbappé reacts after losing the penalty shoot-out of the World Cup final against Argentina at Lusail Stadium

  • Raqa, Syria

    A girl stands next to a child sitting by a cooking pot at a camp for those displaced by conflict in the countryside near Syria’s northern city of Raqa.

    Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images

    A girl stands next to a child sitting by a cooking pot at a camp for those displaced by conflict in the countryside near Syria’s northern city of Raqa

  • Soledar, Ukraine

    Anna sits with her daughter Nastya in a basement as Russian attacks continue nearby in Soledar. Ukraine was working to restore electricity this week to hospitals, heating systems and other critical infrastructure in major cities after Russia’s latest wave of attacks on the power grid prompted accusations of war crimes.

    Photograph: Libkos/AP

    Anna sits with her daughter Nastya in a basement as Russian attacks continue nearby in Soledar

  • Hebron, West Bank

    Israeli border guards advance with riot shields as they clash with Palestinian youths following a protest against the death of Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hamed in an Israeli prison in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. A senior Fatah figure, Nasser Abu Hamid, died from cancer on 20 December while in Israeli custody. He was serving a life sentence for his participation in deadly attacks during the second intifada.

    Photograph: Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images

    Israeli border guards advance with riot shields amidst clashes with Palestinian youths following a protest against the death of Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hamed in an Israeli prison in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank

  • Banda Aceh, Indonesia

    A woman is caned by a sharia policeman as a punishment for being caught in close proximity with a man in Banda Aceh.

    Photograph: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images

    A woman is caned by a sharia policeman as a punishment for being caught in close proximity with a man in Banda Aceh

  • Hereford, Arizona, US

    A border wall constructed of shipping containers and topped with concertina wire built on federal land by Republican governor Doug Ducey along the border between the US and Mexico in the Coronado national forest. Arizona agreed this week to dismantle the wall that critics said was an expensive, ecologically damaging political stunt that did nothing to keep migrants out. The state’s Republican governor Doug Ducey spent $90 million of taxpayers’ money lining up rusting boxes in what he said was a bid to stem the flow of people crossing into the United States.

    Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP

    A border wall constructed of shipping containers and topped with concertina wire built on federal land by Republican governor Doug Ducey along the border between the US and Mexico in the Coronado national forest

  • Alexandria, Egypt

    Besso, 60, who has been involved in iron and aluminium foundries for 50 years, works in a foundry in Alexandria. Despite the liquidation of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company last year, smaller foundries, like these in Alexandria, continue to flourish. Foundry workshops deal in melting and reshaping metals such as cast iron, aluminium, nickel and iron, and are used in the manufacture of antiques, chandeliers, cast iron, sewage pipes and cutting machines.

    Photograph: Fadel Dawod/Getty Images

    Besso, 60, who has been involved in iron and aluminium foundries for 50 years, works in a foundry Alexandria

  • Narathiwat, Thailand

    Men throw nets as they fish in floodwaters following heavy rains in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat.

    Photograph: Madaree Tohlala/AFP/Getty Images

    Men throw nets as they fish in floodwaters following heavy rains in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat

  • Amesbury, England

    A person gestures during winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge near Amesbury.

    Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

    A person gestures during winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge near Amesbury

  • Vina del Mar, Chile

    Firefighters work to extinguish a forest fire in Vina del Mar. The National Forest Corporation reported that 15 hectares had been affected.

    Photograph: Adriana Thomasa/EFE/EPA

    Firefighters work to extinguish a forest fire in Vina del Mar

  • Kabul, Afghanistan

    Afghan women chant slogans to protest against the ban on university education for women in Kabul. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers ordered an indefinite ban on university education for the country’s women, the ministry of higher education said in a letter issued to all government and private universities. ‘You all are informed to implement the mentioned order of suspending education of females until further notice,’ said the letter signed by the minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.

    Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

    Afghan women chant slogans to protest against the ban on university education for women in Kabul

  • Lusail stadium, Qatar

    Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates with the trophy in front of the fans after winning the World Cup at the Lusail stadium. It was a consecration, the religious undertones entirely appropriate. Lionel Messi not only emulated the deity of Argentinian football, Diego Maradona, by leading the nation to World Cup glory; he finally plugged the burning gap on his CV, winning the one title that has eluded him – at the fifth time of asking, surely the last time.

    Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

    Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates with the trophy in front of the fans after winning the World Cup at the Lusail Stadium

  • Beijing, China

    Emergency health workers transport a patient to a fever clinic at a hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic in Beijing.

    Photograph: Jade Gao/AFP/Getty Images

    Emergency health workers transport a patient to a fever clinic at a hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic in Beijing

  • Eagle Pass, Texas, US

    Migrants swim across the Rio Grande as US border cities brace for an influx of asylum seekers when Covid-era Title 42 migration restrictions end in Eagle Pass.

    Photograph: Jordan Vonderhaar/Reuters

    Migrants swim across the Rio Grande as US border cities brace for an influx of asylum seekers when Covid-era Title 42 migration restrictions end in Eagle Pass

  • Crozet Islands, France

    Thousands of penguins on Desolation Island, part of the Crozet Islands, which are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. The islands are home to four species of penguins. Most abundant are the macaroni penguin, of which some 2 million pairs breed on the islands, and the king penguin, home to 700,000 breeding pairs.

    Photograph: Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images

    Thousands of penguins on Desolation Island, part of the Crozet Islands which are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean

  • Kramatorsk, Ukraine

    A man dressed as Saint Mykola (Saint Nicolas) performs for children at Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine.

    Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

    A man dressed as Saint Mykola (Saint Nicolas) performs for children at Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine