Middle East in English📡 The GuardianBy Jim PowellSep 25, 2026👁 4 views

The week around the world in 20 pictures

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Twenty photographs of the week

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian strikes in Kyiv, Netanyahu in New York, floods in Japan and the Asian Games – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Young residents gather as smoke rises over a warehouse, hit by a Russian drone strike, in Kyiv. Photograph: Serhii Korovainyi/Reuters
Jim PowellFri 25 Sep 2026 14.18 EDTLast modified on Sun 27 Sep 2026 02.41 EDTShare

Gaza

Palestinian children walk to school past the rubble of a destroyed building as the academic year begins in Bureij. Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an inflammatory address to the United Nations on Thursday, decrying what he said was a global anti-Jewish conspiracy and swatting aside criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, as he faces down international isolation and a fight for political survival in upcoming elections in Israel.Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

New York City, US

Benjamin Netanyahu is seen on a television screen speaking during the UN general assembly in New York City. As planned protests erupted on the streets of the city, Netanyahu took aim at critics of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the international media, regional leaders such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leftwing commentator Hasan Piker and the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, in an address that doubled as a stump speech to ignite his rightwing base for the elections.Photograph: Ryan Murphy/Getty ImagesShare

US

Air Force One with Donald Trump onboard flies over a river en route to JFK airport in New York for the UN general assembly. On the first day of the general assembly, Trump denied that the US was running short of critical munitions (‘we have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using’), attacked the international criminal court as a ‘rogue organisation’ and claimed once again that he was close to settling the war in Ukraine.Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Washington DC, US

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, react after watching a military demonstration at the White House in Washington. At the start of his summit meeting with Trump, the Chinese president called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the ‘Thucydides trap’ that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence, trade and Taiwan.Photograph: Evan Vucci/ReutersShare

Tehran, Iran

Iranian military forces conduct street parades in Tehran. Iran’s seven-day timetable to reopen the strait of Hormuz and start talks on its nuclear programme has been pitched as a deal that could rapidly extricate Donald Trump from a political crisis but requires the US president to make difficult concessions.Photograph: ATP Images/Getty ImagesShare

Kotelniki, Russia

A woman looks at a damaged multi-storey residential building hit by what authorities described as a Ukrainian drone strike in Kotelniki. Kyiv has stepped up its campaign of long-range drone strikes against Russia in recent months, particularly against energy infrastructure, a vital source of the Kremlin’s revenue to fund its war effort.Photograph: ReutersShare

Kyiv, Ukraine

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at an office building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district following a strike by a Russian Geran-5 jet-powered attack drone. Just as Ukraine has developed its drone and missile capability to almost match Russia’s – after its cities were subject at times to hundreds of drone strikes a day – Moscow has transformed its drone arsenal with a jet-powered revolution.Photograph: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty ImagesShare

Kramatorsk, Ukraine

A priest and a resident walk at the site of a damaged Orthodox church after a Russian airstrike in Kramatorsk. Russia could launch a limited military attack against a Nato country in the coming months, Danish intelligence said this week, in one of the starkest warnings yet by western security services.Photograph: Francisco Richart/Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare

Kyiv, Ukraine

Young residents gather as smoke rises over a warehouse, which was hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv. In recent weeks, several European intelligence chiefs have warned that Russia may be preparing more assertive actions to test Nato countries’ commitment to supporting Ukraine, though officials differ over how imminent such a move may be.Photograph: Serhii Korovainyi/ReutersShare

Mediterranean Sea

Sudan, a 24-year-old migrant from South Sudan, looks out to sea as the SOS Mediterranee rescue vessel sails toward Marina di Carrara in Italy.Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/ReutersShare

Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France

Migrants try to board a smuggler’s boat off the beach of Hardelot. The body of a man was found on the beach at Neufchâtel-Hardelot shortly after an attempted departure for England.Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Madrid, Spain

Members of the Madrid tenants’ union form a barricade in front of the building where 87-year-old Maricarmen was to be evicted. Police fired rounds of teargas and made repeated baton charges as they tried to open a path for a judicial committee to carry out the eviction order, which was eventually executed.Photograph: Fernando Villar/EPAShare

Xinzo de Limia, Spain

Firefighters attempt to extinguish a forest fire near the hamlet of Baltar.Photograph: Adrian Irago/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Banjar, Indonesia

Firefighters extinguish forest and land fires in Banjar. For months, parts of Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra islands have been ablaze. The fires are sometimes lit illegally as a cheap way to clear land for plantations of oil palm, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer.Photograph: Muda Sagala/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Trishuli, Nepal

People look at a house, damaged during August’s floods at Trishuli. Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, scolded world leaders at the UN this week, saying last month’s catastrophic deadly flood was a reminder that climate change keeps hurting people who didn’t cause the crisis.Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Sakura, Japan

A car is partially submerged in floodwaters after Typhoon Dujuan brought torrential rain to Sakura.Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/ReutersShare

Tiburon, California, US

A prescribed fire practitioner uses a drip torch to ignite a burn at Angel Island state park near Tiburon.Photograph: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/APShare

Vilnius, Lithuania

People participate in fire rituals during the autumn equinox festival in Vilnius.Photograph: Mindaugas Kulbis/APShare

London, England

Fans watch the football match between Millwall and West Ham while standing on Lime bikes outside of the Den stadium in London.Photograph: Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesShare

Nagoya, Japan

Carlos Edriel Yulo of the Philippines competes on the vault during the artistic gymnastics men’s qualification at the Asian Games in Nagoya.Photograph: Yong Teck Lim/Getty ImagesShareExplore more on these topics