World in pictures, August 19, 2026

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by The Age picture editors.August 19, 2026 — 7:23pm1/15A worker cools off in a cascading river on a torrid day, outside Bragadiru, Romania.Credit:AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru2/15Jinny Lu the pug, prepares to compete in the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, California.Credit:AP Photo/Noah Berger3/15A couple kissees during a partial solar eclipse at the former airport Tempelhof in Berlin, Germany.Credit:AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi4/15Members of a shooting party walk in the hills of the Angus Glens on the opening day of the grouse shooting season in Kirriemuir, Scotland.Credit:Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images5/15Firefighters work to extinguish wildfires at Hautes Fagnes near Waimes, BelgiumCredit:AP Photo/Valentin Bianchi6/15Police personnel stand in formation during Independence Day celebrations in Lucknow, India.Credit:AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh7/15Participants carry a mikoshi, or portable shrine, during the Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri in Tokyo, Japan.Credit:Louise Delmotte/Getty Images8/15A parade of buses leaves the abandoned village of Imber on the Ministry of Defence training area in Salisbury Plain in Imber, England.Credit:Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images9/15 Count Binface, waits with other candidates for the declaration of the Clacton-on-Sea by-election.Credit:Dan Kitwood/Getty Images10/15Makenson Gletty fails an attempt in the decathlon pole vault at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England.Credit:AP Photo/Matthias Schrader11/15A man walks along the shore of the Gulf of Finland during a storm in St. Petersburg, Russia.Credit:AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky12/15Workers carry bamboo beside a sea of garbage that was washed ashore due to intense monsoon rains in Pasay city, Metro Manila, Philippines.Credit:AP Photo/Aaron Favila13/15A wildfire approaches a beach on the Adriatic coast near Omis, southern Croatia.Credit:AP Photo/Tom Dubravec14/15Indonesian special forces skydivers perform during a flag hoisting ceremony commemorating the country’s 81st anniversary of independence at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia.Credit:AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana15/15A student walks past a wall painting of Mariama Ba at the Mariama Ba school in Goree Island, Senegal.Credit:AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly