The Week in Pictures: June 16 - 23, 2017 - NBC News

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1.
A storm moves in over the White Sands National Monument on June 21, 2017 near Alamogordo, N.M.

Eric Gay / AP





2.
A woman reacts during a fire in Pampilhosa da Serra, Portugal on June 18.

Official reports on Portugal's deadliest natural disaster in decades have described freak conditions that drove the wildfire that killed 64 people, while Portuguese authorities said Thursday they have contained a second fire that raged for five days close by.

More than 2,000 firefighters and some two dozen water-dropping aircraft fought the two fires for days and nights amid strong winds and temperatures above 104 Fahrenheit as the country's annual wildfire season started earlier than usual. Traditionally, emergency services gear up for major fires beginning in July.

Paulo Novais / EPA





3.
Capitol Police arrest a woman protesting against the Senate Republican's draft healthcare bill outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 22. Demonstrators with disabilities, including many in wheelchairs, jammed the hall outside McConnell's office until removed by police. Capitol Police arrested 43 people.

The bill, written largely in secret, includes big reductions to Medicaid, defunds Planned Parenthood, eliminates the Obamacare mandate requiring individuals buy insurance, and slashes taxes on the wealthy.

The details of the bill had been tightly held by Republican leaders as McConnell wrote legislation that aims to appeal to his most conservative members and the moderates in his 52-member conference.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
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4.
Tears roll down the face of a woman at a vigil on June 20 for a pregnant mother who was shot and killed by police on June 18.

Two officers, one a specialist in handling people in crisis, responded to a burglary call from Charleena Lyles. Police officers shot and killed Lyles after she, authorities said, confronted the officers with knives.

Family members say they want to know what happened and why police didn't use a non-lethal option when they knew Lyles had been struggling with her mental health. They spoke Tuesday at a vigil for Lyles outside her apartment building, calling Lyles as a good person and demanding justice.

The two officers were identified by the Seattle Police Department as 34-year-old Steven McNew and 32-year-old Jason Anderson. The officers are on paid administrative leave as the department investigates.

Elaine Thompson / AP





5.
Russian President Vladimir Putin places flowers on a monument as he takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Moscow on June 22, marking the 76th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

Alexei Druzhinin / Sputnik, Kremlin Pool via AP





6.
A young Muslim girl looks up as she attends the third Friday prayers of the fasting month of Ramadan inside a mosque in Bengaluru, India on June 16.

Abhishek N. Chinnappa / Reuters





7.
John Floyd smiles as he leaves the Hale Boggs Federal Building and Courthouse in New Orleans on June 22.

A man imprisoned for 36 years is free again after a federal judge threw out his murder conviction and life sentence for a newspaper editor's stabbing in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Floyd, now 67, was a 32-year-old "drifter" living in the French Quarter when William Hines and Rodney Robinson, a businessman, were stabbed to death. U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance said Floyd's conviction was based entirely on his statements to police investigators, who didn't uncover any physical evidence or eyewitness testimony linking Floyd to the crime scene.

Vance ruled in September that no reasonable juror would find Floyd guilty of murder based on all the evidence in the 1980 stabbing death of Hines. Floyd had confessed to killing Hines and another man, but contends he was beaten to coerce a confession. Floyd testified that a police detective, John Dillman, and another officer bought him five or six beers at the bar before his arrest.

Sophia Germer / AP





8.
Ivanka Trump plays with her daughter Arabella Rose Kushner in the Rose Garden during a Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on June 22 in Washington.

For one night, the South Lawn of the White House was decorated to resemble Central Park, as a tribute to the New Yorkers who now call the executive mansion home. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, hosted their first congressional picnic Thursday, with the president using the convivial evening to pay tribute to Rep. Steve Scalise, hospitalized after being seriously wounded in a shooting last week.

Trump also paid tribute to the spirit of "unity" that was on display the next night at the annual congressional charity baseball game and declared that more of it was needed in a nation's capital so often divided by partisan rancor.

Alex Wong / Getty Images





9.
A racegoer attends Ladies Day at the Royal Ascot horse racing meet in Ascot, west of London on June 22. The five-day meeting is one of the highlights of the horse racing calendar.

Horse racing has been held at the famous Berkshire course since 1711 and tradition is a hallmark of the meeting. Top hats and tails remain compulsory in parts of the course, while a daily procession of horse-drawn carriages brings the Queen to the course.

Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP - Getty Images





10.
Philando Castile’s car is surrounded by police vehicles in a photo taken after he was fatally shot by St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in July 2016. Authorities released the evidence photo this week, along with a dashboard video made public for the first time.

The Minnesota police officer was cleared last week in the fatal shooting of Castile, a black motorist whose death captured national attention when his girlfriend streamed the grim aftermath on Facebook.

The case is among several across the United States in recent years that have increased debate about race and policing.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal App / Reuters

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11.
A woman cries as Democratic candidate for 6th Congressional District Jon Ossoff concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta on June 20.

Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Donald Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Returns showed Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, winning about 52 percent of the vote over Ossoff, who won nearly 48 percent in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.

Tuesday night's outcome in a special House race was a triumph for the GOP, and the most recent and devastating illustration of the Democrats' problems — from a weak bench and recruiting problems to divisions about what the party stands for today.

David Goldman / AP





12.
A woman's dead body floats in the Mediterranean sea, north of Zuwarah, Libya, on June 21. Aid organizations found at least three bodies with signs of decomposition on Wednesday, apparently from a boat that recently sank carrying people who were attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe from Libya.

The number of people fleeing conflict-ravaged Libya for better lives in Europe continues to rise. The U.N.'s migration agency calculates that around 70,000 people have arrived in Italy from Libya so far this year, compared with around 56,000 for the same period last year. Almost 1,900 have died trying to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing in 2017.

Emilio Morenatti / AP





13.
A worker carries flotation devices to support panels used for a large floating solar farm project on a lake created by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 12 in Huainan, Anhui province, China.

The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which will convert sunlight to energy.

China's government says it will spend over $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planet's top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the world's total coal consumption.

This image was released by Getty Images this week.

Kevin Frayer / Getty Images





14.
The damaged guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald is berthed at its mother port in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, on June 18.

The ACX Crystal collided with the USS Fitzgerald off Japan's coast, killing seven of the destroyer's crew of nearly 300. The ships collided early Saturday morning, when the Navy said most of the 300 sailors on board would have been sleeping.

Among the seven U.S. Navy sailors who died in the Saturday collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship off Japan were an Ohio man expecting to retire soon, a Maryland man who was his father's best friend and a former volunteer firefighter in his Virginia hometown.

Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP - Getty Images





15.
Bill Cosby exits the Montgomery County Courthouse after a mistrial in his sexual assault case in Norristown, Pa. on June 17.

Cosby, the comedian once known as "America's Dad" for his TV role as paternal Dr. Cliff Huxtable, declared victory after a jury deliberated 52 hours without reaching consensus on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004.

By sowing doubt among one or more jurors, Cosby's lawyers managed to overcome two years of unrelenting bad publicity for their client after the public release of his damaging testimony about drugs and sex, as well as a barrage of accusations from 60 women who came forward to accuse him of sexual assault.

Matt Rourke / AP





16.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the "Golden Dragons" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 192 conducts a high-speed flyby during an air-power demonstration in the western Pacific on June 12. The U.S. Navy has patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific routinely for more than 70 years promoting regional peace and security.

This image was released by the U.S. Navy this week.

Matthew Granito / AFP - Getty Images





17.
A man searches for items buried in the sand on June 21 in Rio de Janeiro. He says he discovers lost coins, jewelry, cell phones, and a host of other items. On an average day, he will earn about $12 and on a 'lucky' day he could find valuables worth up to $300.

Mario Tama / Getty Images





18.
Protesters march from Kensington on June 16 towards Grenfell Tower, a 24-story apartment block in North Kensington, London that was destroyed by a deadly fire last week.

While the deadly blaze at the Grenfell Tower has prompted an outpouring of generosity, it has also unleashed rage at the authorities as the charred tower was cast as a deadly symbol of a divided society. On the streets around the charred carcass of the tower on Thursday there was palpable anger as people accused the local authority of neglecting the safety and wellbeing of the poor in favor of policies favoring the interests of the rich.

Scuffles broke out near the Kensington and Chelsea town hall offices as demonstrators chanting "We want justice!" surged toward the doors. London has a chronic housing shortage even in the best of times, and those left homeless by the fire — already angry over what they see as government inequity and incompetence — fear being forced out of the British capital.

The public housing block is located in a neighborhood that ranks among England's most-deprived areas — in the lowest 10 percent, according to government data for 2015.

Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA





19.
A train passes by the remains of Grenfell Tower on June 16 in London.

Police are considering filing manslaughter charges related to the fire at a west London apartment tower that killed at least 79 people.

In its most detailed briefing yet on the criminal investigation, the Metropolitan Police on Friday confirmed residents' suspicions that the June 14 inferno at Grenfell Tower was touched off by a refrigerator fire. The government has ordered an immediate examination of the refrigerator model that started the blaze, which not been subject to any product recalls before the fire.

Police and fire officials are also trying to determine whether the aluminum composite panels contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, which engulfed the 24-story building in less than an hour.

Some 600 buildings in England could have been fitted with flammable external panels like the ones believed to have contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire, Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing Street office said.

PHOTOS: Fire Rages Through Apartment Tower in London

Carl Court / Getty Images





20.
Luis Garcia bathes his son in Mexico City on June 17. As Mexico celebrates Father's Day, Garcia has has embraced a more hands-on approach to paternity as his wife holds down a job at a local company. Despite roadblocks in the wage gap, sexism and cultural mores many Latin American men are adopting new paternal roles, according to the 'State of Paternity Report in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017.

Sashenka Gutierrez / EPA

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21.
Yogis celebrate the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, in the middle of Times Square on June 21 in New York. The event marked the international day of yoga.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images





22.
Patrick Drahi, the founder of Altice, smiles during the initial public offering of Altice USA, a cable and telecommunications company, while on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on June 22.

Justin Lane / EPA





23.
Iraqi Army personnel drop leaflets over the old city of Mosul, Iraq on June 18.

The eight-month old U.S.-backed campaign to capture Mosul, Islamic State's de-facto capital in Iraq, reached its deadliest phase just as the holy Muslim month started at the end of May, when militants became squeezed in and around the densely populated Old City. Up to 200,000 people are trapped behind their lines, half of them children, according to the United Nations.

PHOTOS: Iraqi Forces Storm ISIS-Held Old City Of Mosul

Ahmed Saad / Reuters





24.
Azure damselflies mate near a pond on June 18 in Tunbridge Wells, England. Many dragonfly species in the U.K. are in decline, largely due to habitat loss.

Dan Kitwood / Getty Images





25.
Police lift a woman on her bicycle into a paddy wagon during a protest march demanding the government to overhaul the education funding system that would include canceling their student loan debt, in Santiago, Chile on June 21.

Esteban Felix / AP





26.
Syrian residents of the rebel-held town of Doumas break their fast with the "iftar" meal on a heavily damaged street on June 18 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The evening meal held at the end of each day's Ramadan fast at sunset, Iftar, was organized by the Adaleh Foundation, a Syrian humanitarian organization created in 2012 to assist Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold to the east of the capital Damascus.

Hamza Al-Ajweh / AFP - Getty Images





27.
A demonstrator hit by a rubber bullet shot by riot police is carried away by volunteer medics as opposition activists and riot police clash during an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela on June 22.

Federico Parra / AFP - Getty Images





28.
Residents hoping to evacuate from their homes wait for a vehicle after Islamist militants, who had holed up in a primary school, retreated after a gun battle with troops, but were holding some civilians hostage in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, Philippines on June 21.

Marconi Navales / Reuters





29.
A television set shows President Donald Trump announcing his new Cuba policy in a living room decorated with images of Cuban leaders at a house in Havana, Cuba on June 16.

Pressing "pause" on a historic detente, President Donald Trump thrust the U.S. and Cuba back on a path toward open hostility Friday with a blistering denunciation of the island's communist government. He clamped down on some commerce and travel but left intact many new avenues President Barack Obama had opened.

The Cuban government responded Friday evening by rejecting what it called Trump's "hostile rhetoric." Still, Cuba said it is willing to continue "respectful dialogue" with on topics of mutual interest.

Ramon Espinosa / AP





30.
Tourists visit the rock "Trolltunga" in the county Hordaland in the western part of Norway on June 21. Thousands of tourists are expected to visit the spectacular mountain area this summer.

Tore Meek / AFP - Getty Images