Pictures of the Week: Norway’s New King Takes the Oath as Ukrainians Eat McDonald’s Among the Ruins

This week’s news images capture a world marked by war, disaster, political tension and public preparedness. Helsingin Sanomat selected ten photographs, including scenes from Ukraine, Norway, Spain, Finland, Germany, the Himalayas, Thailand and Palestine.

Norway’s new king, Haakon VIII, swore his oath at the Norwegian Parliament on Tuesday. Queen Mette-Marit did not attend the ceremony because she underwent a lung transplant in June. The funeral of Harald will be held on Wednesday, September 9, at Oslo Cathedral.

In Ukraine, people have lived through a week of near-continuous air-raid sirens as Russia fired ballistic missiles toward Kyiv and other cities. One photograph shows people eating at Ukraine’s first McDonald’s, which opened in 1997. The restaurant stands in an area hit by numerous missile strikes since Russia invaded Ukraine.

In Madrid, tens of thousands protested against the Spanish government. The demonstrations followed the arrival of tens of thousands of people in the Spanish city of Ceuta, near Morocco, in late July. The movement has developed into an increasingly serious political crisis for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.

In Kuopio, more than 2,000 people took part in a large civil-defence exercise. The Luola sports centre was converted into a shelter for the first time and placed under lockdown for two hours. Germany also faced two acts of suspected sabotage targeting its power grid, in Brandenburg and Bergheim.

The roundup shows the scale of the Himalayan floods, where more than 1,000 people have died, according to Reuters. Thousands of local residents and many foreigners remain missing, including one Finn. Elsewhere, the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Pattaya after more than 250 days at sea, allowing nearly 5,000 soldiers to go ashore after a Middle East deployment. The arrival also raised concerns about sex tourism. In Palestine, children watched a cartoon shown in a mobile cinema among the ruins.