War, peace and the terrifying power of nature: These are the pictures that defined 2025

2025 was a year scarred by war as the illusory prospect of peace slipped in and out of focus.

Nature showed the height of its terrifying power as extreme weather baked, flooded and pounded major cities, robbing the resources that fuel them.

Meanwhile sporting stars triumphed, a singer orbited, a prince felt the depth of his disgrace, and a new pope emerged.

These are the images that defined 2025.

Donald Trump greets Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, 15 August.

People embrace after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment block in Kyiv, Ukraine, 17 June.

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity food kitchen after a global hunger monitor said Gaza City and the surrounding areas were officially suffering from a famine, 28 August.

Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, 17 September.

Israel's Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, 13 June.

People attend the funeral mass of Pope Francis at the Vatican, 26 April.

Pope Leo XIV appears on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican after his election, 8 May.

England's Zoe Aldcroft lifts the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 trophy after winning the final, 27 September.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then Prince Andrew, stands next to the Prince and Princess of Wales as they leave Westminster Cathedral in London at the end of the Requiem Mass on the day of the funeral of the Duchess of Kent, 16 September.

Katy Perry (second left) prepares to sing in space, as she and five other women get ready for a mission on board Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket, 14 April.

A migrant swims to board an inflatable dinghy in an attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain from Calais, France, 25 August.

A protester raises his fist during a demonstration near the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris as part of a protest movement called Bloquons Tout (Let's Block Everything), 10 September.

Chief Executive of Astronomer Andy Byron and the company's head of human relations, Kristin Cabot, are caught embracing each other on a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert, 16 July.

Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes during a protest on the day Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed, in Istanbul, Turkey, 23 March.

Burned buildings in Malibu in the aftermath of the Palisades fire in Los Angeles, California, 8 January.

A low-flying tanker drops retardant during the Great Fire in the Sierra National Forest, California, 26 August.

Smoke rises from a wildfire over fields surrounding the village of Torrefeta i Florejacs, near Lleida, Spain, 1 July.

Large waves as Storm Eowyn arrives in Porthcawl, Wales, 24 January.

Donald Trump is sworn in by chief justice John Roberts during his inauguration as the 47th president of the US, 20 January - the first time the event takes place inside since 1985.

The Woodhead Reservoir near Tintwistle in Derbyshire was left dry after a prolonged period without rain, 16 June.

Water from the overflowing Tawi River flooded a temple of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh following heavy rain in Jammu, in the Indian controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir, 26 August.

A damaged church after Hurricane Melissa in Lacovia, Jamaica, 31 October.

Dolphins swim past as teams work around the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, 18 March.

Well-wishers add balloons to a makeshift memorial after the shooting of Charlie Kirk on 10 September.

The rear of an Air India plane after it crashed in Ahmedabad, India, 12 June.

A bus and a car stuck in a huge hole that opened in a road following unprecedented rainfall in Odesa, Ukraine, 1 October.

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney became Canada's new prime minister on 14 March, he would go on to win a general election.

Diana Loginova, an 18-year-old street musician performing under the name Naoko, who was detained after publicly singing a song banned by the Russian government as "extremist", 16 October.

A protester is carried away during a Palestine Action march in Parliament Square, London. The group was this year proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK.

A damaged Buddhist statue lies inside a pagoda following an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, 3 April.

A menorah is projected on to the Sydney Opera House sails on 15 December after a shooting during a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach killed 15 people.

By Daniel Daukes, picture editor, and Samuel Osborne, news reporter