Best photos of the week: from Argentina triumph to Santa paddle-boarding

Striking pictures from around the world

Kaylee McKeown of Australia at the 2022 Fina World Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Getty Images

Clothes put out to dry on the banks of the River Yamuna seen from a railway bridge near Agra, India. AP

Piotr Zyla of Poland at the men's FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Engelberg, Switzerland. EPA

Argentina fans celebrate in Madrid during the World Cup final between Argentina and France in Qatar. AP

A vigil honouring Iranians killed by their government at the National Mall in Washington. AP

Lightning over Tirana, Albania. Reuters

Gondoliers dressed as Father Christmas during a Christmas regatta on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Reuters

The face of Lionel Messi projected on to the obelisk in central Buenos Aires as fans celebrate Argentina's World Cup victory. AP

The Thai warship HTMS Sukhotha before sinking in the Gulf of Thailand. At least 31 Royal Thai Navy personnel were reported missing after the vessel floundered. AFP

Sikh boys take a selfie at a turban-tying event at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. AFP

A social worker protests in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, against a new government human resource policy. EPA

Forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun arranges the skeletal remains of drugs war victims for autopsy in a laboratory in Manila. AFP

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. AFP

Protesters in Khartoum mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the uprising that ousted autocrat Omar Al Bashir in April 2019. AFP

The Year of the Rabbit is approaching, as the Seoul Lantern Festival in the South Korean capital's Gwanghwamun Square makes clear. AFP

A man rowing on Dal Lake on a cold morning in Srinagar. EPA

A woman dressed as Santa Claus paddleboards off Mare e Sole beach on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. AFP

Destruction in the village of Bohorodychne, in eastern Ukraine. AFP

Muizenberg beach in Cape Town, South Africa. EPA

Flooding in Matangkuli, Indonesia. AFP

A motorbike ambulance, a two-wheeler with a sidecar, on its way to a pregnant woman in the remote village of Kodoli, in India's Chhattisgarh state. AP Photo

Thousands of penguins on Desolation Island, part of the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a joint meeting of Congress in Washington. AP

Indian Navy soldiers rehearse for a republic day parade in New Delhi. AP

Red lanterns for New Year's Day in Danzhai, China. AFP

Firefighters on the way to extinguish a blaze at a hydrocarbon storage area of Bravo Petroleum company in Barranquilla, Colombia. Reuters

Russian Communist party supporters on the way to lay flowers at the tomb of Joseph Stalin, marking the 143rd anniversary of his birth, in Red Square, Moscow. AFP

Winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, near Amesbury, southern England. Reuters

A man in the entrance of a mudhif reed house in the southern Chibayish marshes of Dhi Qar province, Iraq. AFP

Birds over the dried-up Lake Penuelas in Valparaiso, Chile. AP

More from The National:

Friday's best photos: from Biden among Christmas trees to winter solstice at Stonehenge

Thursday's best photos: from nuns in the Vatican to Zelenskyy in Congress

Wednesday's best photos: from penguins in the Antarctic to Santa in Corsica

Tuesday's best photos: from vast snow sculptures to ferocious waves

Monday's best photos: from Sikhs at the Golden Temple to football fans in Buenos Aires

Sunday's best photos: from the World Cup final to Santas on gondolas in Venice

Saturday's best photos: from ski jumping in Switzerland to lightning in Albania