The best photos from around the world this week

Russian sailors in France, a North Korean dictator watching a rocket fly, fire therapy in China, Belarusian Independence Day in Minsk - see these and many other photos in our selection of the best photos from around the world over the past week.

(Total 25 photos)

1. Russian sailors aboard the ship "Smolny" upon arrival in the port of Saint-Nazaire in western France. Two Russian crews of 400 sailors are on board the training ship, they will form the crews of the Mistral helicopter carriers. (© Sebastien Evrard / AFP)

2. An undated photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a test launch of the Korean People's Army's new strategic ballistic missile, which was developed under his personal leadership. Japan protested to North Korea over the missile launch and threatened Pyongyang with retaliation. (© AFP / CTAC / KNS)

3. A Swiss acrobat rides a cable car in the Tianmen Mountains in China. (© Reuters)

4. Graduates of the New York Police Academy. (© Reuters)

5. A man works at a vermicelli factory in Allahabad, India. (© Reuters)

6. The release of water to flush the Xiaolangdi reservoir on the Yellow River in China. (© Rex Features)

7. Israeli forces inflict air strikes on the Gaza Strip. (© AFP)

8. Lightning strikes the World Trade Center in Manhattan during sunset after a summer thunderstorm. (© Reuters)

9. Participant of the flash mob "Zombies take over Coney Island" in Brooklyn. (© Reuters)

10. A circus performer performs as part of a protest against a law banning the use of animals in circuses in Mexico City. (© Reuters)

11. Chinese children pose for a photo during graduation in a kindergarten in Henan province. (© Reuters)

12. A boy floats on a mattress along a flooded street in Asuncion, Paraguay. (© Norberto Duarte / AFP)

13. Palestinians shoot fireworks at Israeli police during a confrontation in Shuafat, the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem. (© Baz Ratner / Reuters)

14. A snapshot of the Gum 15 nebula has been published. The Gum 15 nebula is located at a distance of about 3000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sail. It is a cosmic gas-dust cloud in which hot stars are born. (© eso.org)

15. Football fan in Algeria. (© Reuters)

16. Indian police use batons to disperse workers from the youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a protest. (© Reuters)

17. Drying the suits of Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA flight engineer Kathleen Rubins and Japanese astronaut JAXA Takuya Onishi after a training landing on the water. (© AP)

18. Storm on the island of Sardinia. (© Caters / Legion-Media)

19. Chinese Qi Lijun undergoes "fire therapy" in an apartment in Beijing. (© AFP PHOTO / Greg Baker)

20. Belarusian MiG-29 fighters take part in a military parade during the celebration of Independence Day in Minsk. (© Vasily Fidosenko / Reuters)

21. Belarusian military in the form of Soviet soldiers during World War II stand in the center of Minsk during the celebration of Independence Day. (© Viktor Drachev / AFP / Getty Images)

22. An athlete pulls a 15-ton truck in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. (© Sergei Gapon / AFP Photo)

23. People stand near a poster depicting a banker in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv during a protest of Ukrainian bank borrowers. Borrowers who took loans in foreign currency to build or purchase housing protested against the policy of banks, which, they say, make huge profits at the expense of borrowers after the depreciation of the Ukrainian currency. (© Sergey Supinsky / AFP Photo)

24. Shiite volunteers who joined the Iraqi army to fight against Isis demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing field training in An-Najaf. (© Reuters)

25. Sophie McKeen competes in the shot put in Birmingham. (© Getty Images)