The Week in Pictures: Sept. 10 - 17, 2015 - NBC News

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1. A man carries belongings through a flooded street in Oyama, Tochigi prefecture, northeast of Tokyo on Sept. 10, 2015. Heavy rain is pummeling Japan for a second straight day, overflowing rivers and causing landslides and localized flooding in the eastern part of the country.
Kyodo News via AP





2. Firefighters light a backfire while battling the Butte fire near San Andreas, Calif. on Sept. 12. The Butte fire destroyed hundreds of homes in rural Amador and Calaveras counties, where it covers an estimated 65,000 acres.
Noah Berger / Reuters





3. Workers fit an arm onto a Christ statue during preparations of the altar where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in the Plaza of the Revolution, in Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 17. When Francis arrives in Havana on Sept. 19, he'll find his church ministering to more Cubans than at any time since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.
Desmond Boylan / AP





4. Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, left, and Jeb Bush slap hands near the finish of the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, Calif.
Mark J. Terrill / AP





5. Members of a family of mountain gorillas named Amahoro, which means "peace" in the Rwandan language, rest in the dense forest on the slopes of Mount Bisoke volcano in Volcanoes National Park, northern Rwanda on Sept. 4, 2015. Deep in Rwanda's steep-sloped forest, increasing numbers of tourists are heading to see the mountain gorillas, a subspecies whose total population is an estimated 900 and who also live in neighboring Uganda and Congo, fueling an industry seen as key to the welfare of the critically endangered species as well as Rwanda's economy.

This image was released by the Associated Press on Sept. 15.
Ben Curtis / AP





6. Rain water streaks across practice courts before Roger Federer, of Switzerland, played Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, in the men's championship match of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, on Sept. 13, in New York.
Seth Wenig / AP





7. A Syrian refugee holding a baby in a lifetube swims towards the shore after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, on Sept. 13.
Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters





8. People make their way through fields at the border between Serbia and Croatia near Tovarnik, Croatia, on Sept. 16. The first groups of migrants have started arriving in Croatia - a new entry point into the European Union after Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia with massive coils of barbed wire.
Matthias Schrader / AP





9. A migrant holds his child during a clash with Hungarian riot police at the Horgos border crossing in Serbia, on Sept. 16. Hundreds of migrants remained stranded on Serbia’s border with Hungary early Wednesday as Hungary’s decision to seal its border rippled across Europe and other migrants scrambled to find alternative routes, in an effort, in most cases, to reach Germany.
Sergey Ponomarev / /The New York Times via Redux





10. Migrants sleep while waiting in a bus before being taken by Hungarian police to board a train to the Austrian border, in Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 15. With Hungary cracking down, desperate people fleeing Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere struggled to make it into the country, hoping to reach Western Europe before it was too late.
Muhammed Muheisen / AP





11. A woman and child examine a vehicle swept away during a flash flood, on Sept. 15, in Hilldale, Utah. Several people died in flash flooding that swept away vehicles on the Utah-Arizona border.
Michael Chow / The Arizona Republic via AP





12. Lawmakers crowd around Yoshitada Konoike, chairman of the upper house special committee on security, as Masahisa Sato of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's fist lands on opposition Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Hiroyuki Konishi (top) during a vote at an upper house special committee session on security-related legislation at the parliament in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 17. A panel in Japan's upper house on Thursday approved legislation for a security policy shift that would allow troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two, a ruling party lawmaker said.
Yuya Shino / Reuters





13. A Syrian woman waits inside a car near the highway on Sept. 16, on their way to the border between Turkey and Greece. Around 1,000 refugees remained stranded Wednesday in the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne, near the Greek border, after being barred by Turkish authorities from continuing their journey to Europe.
Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images





14. Marisa Ramirez Gutierrez, standing center, holds still on her symbolic throne dressed in the robe of the the "Iyawo," or bride, alongside a pregnant woman, right, who represents birth, and her mother, who represents a woman who has already given birth, inside her home as part of many initiation ceremonies marking the start of her one-year journey to become a Yoruba priestess in Havana, Cuba on Sept. 11. Ramirez's other initiation rituals include a dip in a river that symbolizes rebirth, sitting for one day with a pregnant woman who represents birth, private rituals with Yoruba priests, a celebratory dinner party with family and friends, praying to the Virgin of Charity and leaving herbal offerings at a local market.
Ramon Espinosa / AP





15. The ruins of a home that burned in the Valley Fire are seen on Sept. 15, 2015 in Middletown, Calif.
David McNew / Getty Images