Week in Pictures
The Week in Pictures: July 30 - Aug. 6
A cataclysmic explosion in Beirut, a destructive storm on the East Coast, raging wildfires in California, and more.
Isaias hits
A Philadelphia police officer rushes to help a stranded motorist on Aug. 4, 2020, in Philadelphia.
Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain during an inland march up the East Coast after making landfall as a hurricane along the North Carolina coast.
Beirut explosion
A giant mushroom cloud rises in Beirut on Aug. 4.
Two huge explosions rocked the Lebanese capital, wounding thousands of people, flattening much of a port, and shaking buildings across Beirut.
Helping the wounded
People evacuate the wounded after the explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4.
The scene of the explosion
A helicopter battles the fire at the port of Beirut on Aug. 4.
More than 150 people were killed by the explosion, according to the Ministry of Health, with 5,000 injured and some 250,000 homeless.
Hiroshima anniversary
A mother and her daughters pray at the Students Peace Monument on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing on Aug. 6.
The atomic bomb instantly killed an estimated 70,000 people and thousands more in coming years from radiation effects. Three days later the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki which ended World War II.
Dragon returns
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft lands with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on board in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., on Aug. 2.
The Demo-2 test flight for NASA's Commercial Crew Program is the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them to Earth on board a commercially built and operated spacecraft.
Behnken and Hurley are returning after spending 64 days in space.
California wildfire
A firefighter watches a brush fire at the Apple Fire in Cherry Valley, Calif., on Aug. 1.
The Apple fire in Riverside County, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, began July 31 and had forced around 8,000 people to evacuate, with more orders expected.
"SOS"
An Australian Army ARH-90 Tiger Helicopter lands on uninhabited Pikelot Island in the Micronesia archipelago where three missing men were rescued on Aug. 2.
The three men, who had been missing for three days, were rescued after writing a giant SOS sign in the sand that was spotted from above, authorities say.
Finish line crash
Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen, center, crashes near the end of opening stage of the Tour of Poland race in Katowice on Aug. 5.
Groenewegen collided with fellow Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen, not pictured, sending Jakobsen into the side barriers while sprinting for the finish line. Jakobsen was declared winner of the stage while Groenewegen has been disqualified.
Jakobsen, who was put in a medically-induced coma after the crash, is awake and in good condition, tour organizers said on Aug. 7.
A mosque once again
Muslims gather for Eid al-Adha prayers inside Hagia Sophia, recently converted back to a mosque, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul on July 31.
Hagia Sophia was the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral before it was changed into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. Under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic in the 20th century, it was turned into a museum that attracts millions of tourists each year.
El Paso shooting anniversary
Twenty three lights shine as people in cars attend a drive-through luminaria remembrance on Aug. 2, the eve of the one year anniversary of the shootings at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
The shootings, which targeted Latinos, left 23 people dead.
Philippines testing
A medical worker interviews a child queuing for free COVID-19 swab testing at a basketball court on Aug. 6 in Navotas city, Metro Manila, Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte reimposed a strict lockdown in the capital Manila and surrounding provinces as the country continues to struggle with rising coronavirus infections.
Duterte's move came after nearly 100 medical organizations representing 80,000 doctors and a million nurses called for tighter controls and warned that the country's health systems has been overwhelmed by the surge of cases and are close to collapsing as health workers fall ill or resign out of fear and exhaustion.
Blast aftermath
Damaged grain silos at Beirut port on Aug. 5.
Rescuers searched for survivors in Beirut in the morning after a cataclysmic explosion at the port sowed devastation across entire neighborhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and plunging Lebanon deeper into crisis.
See last week's Gallery: The Week in Pictures: July 23- 30