Top 25 News Photos of 2025
On November 26, 2025, a tragic fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Hong Kong, has left a community in mourning and uncertainty, with 71-year-old retiree Wong at the center of the heart-wrenching story. Wong had just stepped out to pick up his granddaughter from school when he returned to find the apartment complex engulfed in flames. His wife remains unaccounted for among the 30 individuals still missing, highlighting the devastating impact of the blaze, which has already claimed more than 150 lives. This incident has not only brought grief to families like Wong’s but has also raised urgent questions about fire safety regulations and emergency response protocols in high-density residential areas. The tragedy serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by urban communities, particularly in densely populated regions where such disasters can escalate rapidly.
The fire at Wang Fuk Court is part of a broader narrative of disasters that have plagued various regions around the world in recent years. For instance, in Southern California, wildfires driven by extreme drought and fierce winds have resulted in the destruction of over 18,000 homes and numerous fatalities. Similarly, in Gaza, ongoing conflict has left many families in dire humanitarian situations, with reports of severe malnutrition among children due to blockades restricting food and aid. These incidents reflect a growing trend of environmental and man-made disasters that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. As communities grapple with the aftermath of such tragedies, the need for comprehensive disaster preparedness and effective emergency management strategies becomes increasingly critical. The stories of individuals like Wong and the broader implications of these disasters underscore the urgent need for systemic changes to ensure safety and resilience in the face of unforeseen calamities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cGmikx7iEc
Tyrone Siu / Reuters
Wong, a 71-year-old retiree, reacts after saying that his wife was trapped inside Wang Fuk Court during a major fire, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on November 26, 2025. Wong had stepped out to pick up his granddaughter from school, returning to discover the apartment complex on fire. His wife is still missing, listed among 30 others still unaccounted for. The fire has been blamed for more than 150 deaths so far.
More on this photo and event from Reuters.
Umit Bektas / Reuters
Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator who wears dervish clothes, during a protest on the day that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Ä°mamoÄźlu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul, on March 23, 2025.
Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty
An aerial view shows the wooden Kiruna Church, a 113-year-old Sami-style Lutheran church, being transferred to its new location, in Kiruna, Sweden, on August 19, 2025. The structure was relocated as part of a years-long project to move the town center away from unstable ground because of the expansion of a nearby iron-ore mine operated by the state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB.
Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Palestinians inspect ruins the day after an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, on November 20, 2025.
Bashar Taleb / AFP / Getty
People carrying sacks of flour walk along Al-Rashid Street in western Jabalia on June 17, 2025, after humanitarian aid trucks reportedly entered the northern Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Mohammed Y. M. Al-yaqoubi / Anadolu / Getty
The 5-year-old Lana Salih Juha, who fled with her family from Gaza’s Shuja’iyya neighborhood to the city center, suffers from severe malnutrition, on July 28, 2025. Her family was calling for urgent help to ensure she received proper treatment and nutrition. Israel’s blockade of most food and aid, along with distribution difficulties inside the Gaza Strip, drove many of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians to the brink of starvation.
Nichole Ayers / NASA
Green-and-red displays from the southern lights, or aurora australis, appear above the Earth, from the International Space Station orbiting south of Australia, on April 21, 2025.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty
A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County, California, on January 8, 2025. More than a dozen wildfires, driven by an extreme autumn drought and fierce Santa Ana winds, raged across Southern California for several weeks in January, killing dozens and destroying more than 18,000 homes.
Ezra Acayan / Getty
William Gregorio and his son Yamry pose for a portrait where their ancestral home used to stand, now submerged in seawater amid rising tides, on August 12, 2025, in Pugad Island, Hagonoy, Philippines. In the Philippines’ coastal communities, water has been rising for years because of climate change. But residents say the sharpest surge came because of large-scale reclamation and other man-made coastal developments, which have altered currents and forced the tide farther inland. Now even the gentlest tide can unleash deep floods, drowning streets and homes within minutes.
Allison Joyce / Reuters
Melissa Truesdale plays the fiddle before a candlelight vigil for victims of Hurricane Helene in Green Mountain, North Carolina, on February 15, 2025. Helene, which made landfall in September of 2024, was responsible for more than 250 deaths in the United States.
Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
AIREC, an AI-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a caretaking maneuver to change a diaper and prevent bedsores, with a researcher at Waseda University’s laboratory in Tokyo, on February 17, 2025.
Etienne Laurent / AFP / Getty
Protesters carry signs, flags, and a large balloon with an image of President Donald Trump during one of the nationwide “Hands Off” protests against Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, in downtown Los Angeles, on April 5, 2025.
Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.
Alex Brandon / AP
As prisoners stand, looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025.
Ryan Murphy / Getty
A person is detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents inside a fast-food restaurant under construction in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 19, 2025. The man sustained injuries to his face while agents wrestled him to the ground, after he tried to run. Federal agents were carrying out the operation “Charlotte’s Web,” an immigration-enforcement surge across the Charlotte region.
Ethan Swope / AP
Law-enforcement officers on horseback approach demonstrators during a “No Kings” protest, one of hundreds that took place across the country, on June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
A demonstrator dressed in an inflatable frog costume stands in front of law-enforcement officers during a protest outside of the ICE headquarters in the South Portland, Oregon, neighborhood on October 3, 2025.
Jim Vondruska / Reuters
Michael Woolf, a minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston, is detained by Illinois State Police during a protest against immigration actions, outside the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago, on November 14, 2025.
Patrick Smith / Getty
Pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with teammates at Rogers Center after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, on November 2, 2025, in Toronto.
Yuki Iwamura / AP
Zohran Mamdani speaks to a crowd of supporters after winning the New York City mayoral election on November 4, 2025.
Oleksandr Gimanov / AFP / Getty
A resident stands in the courtyard of his house while smoke rises from a fire following a strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, on March 11, 2025, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in February of 2022.
Roman Pilipey / AFP / Getty
Ukrainian service members of the 59th Brigade’s mobile-air-defense unit fire a Soviet-made ZU-23 anti-aircraft twin-barrel auto-cannon toward a Russian drone, during an air attack near Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on July 19, 2025.
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty
President Donald Trump speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a confrontational meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2025.
Vadim Makhorov / AP
A polar bear rests in front of an abandoned research station on Russia’s remote Kolyuchin Island, in the country’s far east, off the coast of Chukotka, on September 14, 2025.
Niranjan Shrestha / AP
Protesters take selfies and celebrate in front of the burning Singha Durbar, the main administrative building for the Nepalese government, in Kathmandu, on September 9, 2025. Anti-government protests in Nepal, which began after a ban on social-media apps was put in place, were met with deadly force by riot police. Reacting to that violence, demonstrators returned the next day, burning many government buildings and forcing the prime minister to resign.
