The Week in Pictures: Aug. 13-20, 2020 - NBC News

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The spark...

Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2020.

Lightning storms have sparked wildfires that have swept across Northern California.

— Noah Berger / AP

...the fire

Flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires consume a home in unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Aug. 19.

California wildfires have forced thousands to flee their homes, destroyed over 100 structures, led to the evacuation of an Air Force base and covered large swaths of the Bay Area in smoke.

Photos: Wildfires rage in Northern California

— Noah Berger / AP

Ship splits in two

The MV Wakashio bulk carrier after it ran aground and broke into two parts near Blue Bay Marine Park in Mauritius on Aug. 17.

The captain of a tanker that struck a coral reef in Mauritius has been arrested after the vessel spilled oil over the nearby pristine coastline causing an environmental emergency, officials said Wednesday.

— AFP - Getty Images

Oil on the water

Iridescence appears on the shore in Petit Bel Air, Mauritius, as oil leaks from the MV Wakashio on Aug. 15.

As citizen-led rescue efforts continued, the ship broke in two, raising concerns that more oil would spill out near the coast of the Indian Ocean island.

— Fabien Dubessay / AFP - Getty Images

Golden State Killer

Joseph James DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer, looks away from the podium during the first day of victim impact statements at the courthouse in Sacramento, Calif., on Aug. 18.

In June, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges between 1975 and 1986. He also publicly admitted dozens more sexual assaults for which the statute of limitations had expired.

— Santiago Mejia / Pool via Reuters

Belarus protests

Belarusian opposition supporters wave phones and old Belarusian national flags in front of the government building in Minsk on Aug. 19.

Known as the last dictator of Europe, Alexander Lukashenko complained that encouragement from abroad has fueled daily protests demanding his resignation.

— Dmitri Lovetsky / AP

Virtual convention

Guests watch television coverage of the Democratic National Convention at a party overlooking Pittsburgh on Aug. 18.

The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

— Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

It's official

Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, watch fireworks with Sen. Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, at the end of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20 at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del.

Five decades after he entered national politics, Biden accepted his party's nomination for president Thursday on the final night of the all-virtual convention.

— Andrew Harnik / AP

Young supporter

A supporter wears a Donald Trump mask on Aug. 17 in Mankato, Minn., as the president delivered remarks on jobs and the economy.

— Kerem Yucel / AFP - Getty Images

"Flying south" for the winter

A cow is flown by helicopter from the Klausen Pass in Switzerland during the annual cattle drive on Aug. 18. Because of a slight injury, the cow wasn't able to join the herd on foot as they moved from the Alps to winter pastures in the valley.

— Urs Flueeler / Keystone via AP

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Fire by the highway

Flames from the LNU Lightning Complex Fire jump Interstate 80 in Vacaville, Calif., on Aug. 19.

The highway was closed in both directions shortly afterward. Fire crews across the region scrambled to contain dozens of wildfires sparked by lightning strikes as a statewide heat wave continues.

— Noah Berger / AP

Saving his home

Bill Nichols, 84, tries to save the home where he's lived for 77 years as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through Vacaville, Calif., on Aug. 19.

— Noah Berger / AP

Gaza power cut

A woman uses a gas lamp during a power cut in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Aug. 18.

After an escalation of cross-border violence, Israel closed its lone commercial crossing with Gaza, banned sea access and halted fuel imports into the coastal strip, causing its only power plant to shut down earlier this week.

— Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighter's funeral

The sister of 23-year-old firefighter Ralph Malahi, who was killed in the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion, reacts as his coffin is carried during his funeral on Aug. 15 in Beirut.

The explosion at Beirut's port killed over 200 people, injured thousands, and upended countless lives.

— Chris McGrath / Getty Images

Indigenous blockade

Members of the Kayapo tribe block the highway outside Novo Progresso in Brazil's Para state on Aug. 17, to protest an alleged lack of governmental support during the coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories.

— Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

Life after the coronavirus

Attendees of a music festival cool off in a swimming pool in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Aug. 15.

The water park's music festival runs every night from July 11 to Aug. 30. Attendees need to make an appointment on the WeChat app, to show that they are from a "low risk" area and register with Hubei's health authority.

— AFP - Getty Images

Peru burial

Workers bury a coffin in a massive burial ground for low-income people and unidentified victims of COVID-19 in Uchumayo in the Andes of southern Peru on Aug. 14.

Peru is one of the Latin American countries hit hardest by the coronavirus, with more than 25,000 reported deaths and over half a million cases.

— Diego Ramos / AFP - Getty Images

Saying goodbye

Romelia Navarro, 64, weeps while hugging her husband, Antonio, in his final moments in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., on July 31.

Image released on Aug. 17.

— Jae C. Hong / AP

Syrian refugee camp

A girl stands in a line of women at the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria on Aug. 18. The camp is home to more than 70,000 people, including at least 9,000 foreigners, mostly wives and children of extremist fighters.

— Delil Souleiman / AFP - Getty Images

Greased pole in Indonesia

Children climb a greased pole during a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Indonesia's independence in Medan, North Sumatra on Aug. 17.

— Binsar Bakkara / AP

Phillie Phanatic

The Phillie Phanatic shows off the foul ball he caught among the cardboard cutouts of fans during a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets on Aug. 16 in Philadelphia.

— Rich Schultz / Getty Images

Beirut kitten

Kamal Khatib, a volunteer with Animals Lebanon, removes a kitten from a cage trap after rescuing her and others on Aug. 13 from the debris of a damaged building near the site of the massive explosion at Beirut's port.

The volunteers have reunited dozens of pets with their owners but many others remain in the group's shelter, waiting for their owners to pick them up.

— Felipe Dana / AP

Mailbox left standing

An area blackened by the Lake Fire on Aug. 13 in Lake Hughes, Calif.

— Mario Tama / Getty Images