This article is more than 2 months oldThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the worldChennai, IndiaCatholic devotees offer prayers during the Ash Wednesday mass at Santhome Cathedral Basilica in Chennai. Photograph: Seshadri Sukumar/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockEithne StauntonWed 18 Feb 2026 15.20 CETFirst published on Wed 18 Feb 2026 14.57 CETGazaA family member at the funeral of 14-year-old Mohand al-Najjar, who was killed on the first day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in an Israeli military attack, in the grounds of the Nasser hospital in Khan YounisPhotograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/GettyChennai, IndiaCatholic worshippers offer prayers during the Ash Wednesday mass at Santhome Cathedral Basilica in Chennai. A priest marks the sign of the cross with ash on the forehead of all devotees, symbolising repentance and spiritual renewalPhotograph: Seshadri Sukumar/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockSloviansk, UkraineUkrainian firefighters work at the site of a Russian airstrike on a warehouse. Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Donetsk oblast, said the strike killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen. The attack also damaged 14 homes, two high-rise buildings, warehouses, an administrative building and other infrastructurePhotograph: Tommaso Fumagalli/EPAJerusalemChristian worshippers gather for prayer at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem in the early hours of Ash Wednesday. Local and international faithful visited the historic site, believed to be the location of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, to mark the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of reflection and penance leading up to EasterPhotograph: Nir Alon/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockHerat, AfghanistanAfghans receive food aid from a local charity on the first day of Ramadan, in Injil district, Herat provincePhotograph: Mohsen Karimi/AFP/GettyKhan Younis, Gaza StripPalestinians mourn Muhannad al-Najjar, a child killed by Israeli army fire in the area designated by the army as a safe zone beyond the so-called ‘yellow line’ east of Khan YounisPhotograph: Tariq Mohammad/APAImages/ShutterstockTokyo, JapanSanae Takaichi stands after being re-elected as prime minister during a special session at the house of representativesPhotograph: Franck Robichon/EPASharjah, United Arab EmiratesWorkers suspended on steel cables clean the windows and the facade of a high-rise building in Sharjah, near DubaiPhotograph: Altaf Qadri/APLivigno, ItalyNew Zealand’s Dane Menzies practises before the men’s snowboarding Slopestyle finals at the 2026 Winter OlympicsPhotograph: Lindsey Wasson/APBeijing, ChinaPerformers on stilts prepare before their performance at Longtan Park during spring festival celebrations in Beijing. The spring festival begins with the Chinese new year, also known as the Lunar new yearPhotograph: Andrés Martínez Casares/EPAMacao, ChinaDancers from south-west China’s Guizhou province perform at a celebration of the spring festival in front of the Ruins of St Paul’sPhotograph: Xinhua/ShutterstockJebel Mobrah, United Arab EmiratesThe peloton passes in front of camels during the 8th UAE Tour 2026, Stage 3, a 183km stage from Umm al Quwain to Jebel MobrahPhotograph: Tim de Waele/GettyHong Kong, ChinaFireworks light up the sky over Victoria Harbour on the second day of the year of the horsePhotograph: Peter Parks/AFP/GettyDublin, IrelandPeople crossing Seán O’Casey Bridge in the rain. Most of the island of Ireland is under weather warnings as forecasters warn of a widespread risk of flooding. A spell of heavy rain throughout Wednesday will fall on already saturated ground with rivers close to overflowingPhotograph: Brian Lawless/PAFrankfurt, GermanyA regional train passes a railroad crossing between flooded fields in Nidderau-Eichen, near FrankfurtPhotograph: Michael Probst/APKandahar, AfghanistanStreet sellers prepare and pack traditional sweets at a market stall on the first day of RamadanPhotograph: Qudratullah Razwan/EPASrinagarKashmiri Muslims shop for Ramadan at a market in Srinagar, Indian-controlled KashmirPhotograph: Mukhtar Khan/AP