From Pope Leo XIV's historic first visit to France to US President Donald Trump meeting China's President Xi Jinping to flooded streets in Bangkok, FRANCE 24 looks back at the week's most striking pictures.

A powerful storm unusual for this time of year intensified on Sunday over the northeastern United States, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds that cut off power to tens of thousands of people and killed one person, according to US media.

US news outlet CNN has been removed from a press pool that is accompanying President Donald Trump on a trip to Tennessee on Saturday. Last week, the Trump administration barred CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, from accessing the White House. A judge then ordered their access temporarily restored, saying the move was likely unconstitutional.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping capped a state visit to Washington on Friday with pomp and pageantry but no real breakthroughs. Trump said he discussed the Iran war with Xi during his two-day visit, with both men confirming they will meet twice more before the end of the year.     

The US Supreme Court on Friday ruled the Trump administration can use a controversial new federal database that would ostensibly verify voter citizenship in November’s elections. Critics argue the administration is exaggerating the threat of non-citizen voters – an extreme rarity in US elections – to implement policies that would disenfranchise likely Democratic voters.

Argentina’s poverty rate rose to 32.3% in the first half of 2026 from 28.2% in the previous six months, official data showed on Thursday, as incomes lagged rising prices. Extreme poverty climbed to 7.5% from 6.3%. Among children aged 14 and under, 44.5% were poor.

It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News in an interview aired Thursday. Pezeshkian took a defiant stand at the UN Wednesday, for which he travelled to New York, telling the world that Iran would not "bend at the knee" to Washington Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.  

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday by video after being denied a visa to the United States for the second year in a row. In his prerecorded speech, he denounced Israeli policies that he said threatened Palestinians with a new Nakba and vowed that his people would remain “on their land”.  

President Donald Trump hosted a lavish state dinner for China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday night that was attended by top business leaders, including tech titans. Trump hailed his “great friendship” with Xi and pulled out all the stops for a ceremony that attempted to mask the tensions between the two rival powers.

Reporters from ​Politico, CNN and MS ​NOW were allowed to enter the ​White ‌House ⁠on ‌Thursday afternoon after being barred in the morning, despite a US federal judge ordering the reinstatement of their access. The judge then issued a second order for the Trump administration to restore the journalists' access after the media outlets called for an emergency follow-up ⁠hearing. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said his country would send "military means" to protect a Saudi oil terminal from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis. Saudi Arabia has been using the Red Sea port of Yanbu to export oil after Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

US President Donald Trump personally welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping at a military airfield outside Washington on Wednesday, kicking off a lavish state visit focused on trade, artificial intelligence and Iran, as the two powers seek to preserve a fragile diplomatic and economic truce.

Leaders of some of the world's biggest AI companies urged caution at the United Nations on Wednesday, warning that increasingly autonomous systems could outpace human oversight. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pledged to slow development to ensure new AI systems are safe, while OpenAI chief Sam Altman called for "extreme care".

A former British member of parliament implied that a video filmed from a helicopter on September 11, 2001 shows that no planes actually hit the World Trade Center's south tower, but this claim would be unfounded. The plane that hit the south tower hit the other side of the building, which isn’t visible in the video.

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday in another #MeToo reckoning for sexually assaulting a former production assistant in 2006.

The current moment in artificial intelligence development "calls for extreme care", OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday following weeks of global headlines about the risk of uncontrollable AI. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for “a world built on interdependence” Tuesday as he made his final address to the annual gathering of world leaders convening to face a formidable menu of challenges, from climate change and war to inequality and the rise of artificial intelligence. 

US President Donald Trump launched a full-throated defence of the deeply unpopular US-Israeli war against Iran before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, claiming that Washington would reach a deal with Tehran after the upcoming US midterm elections. Trump also rejected the idea of global regulation of artificial intelligence, said the government of Cuba would soon "fall", and urged member countries of the International Criminal Court to "resign". 

The top five US television networks staged a revolt on Monday when they effectively boycotted coverage of President Donald Trump to protest his decision to ban three news outlets from the White House. "No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said in a joint statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the General Assembly in New York on Tuesday for the last time before his term ends on December 31. Guterres was followed at the podium by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. Read our liveblog for highlights and replays of their addresses.