Twenty photographs of the week

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The Middle East crisis, Russian drone attacks in Kyiv, Hurricane Helene and Paris fashion week: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

North Carolina, US

A person in Boone helps free a car stranded in a stretch of flooded road as Tropical Storm Helene struck North Carolina.

Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters

Michoacán, Mexico

A member of the national guard walks close to smoke rising from a burnt out car at an illegal blockade on a highway in Michoacán. At least eight vehicles in five municipalities were set on fire by members of organised crime gangs, who were alleged to be reacting to a local operation led by the attorney general’s office which ended in a shootout

Photograph: Enrique Castro/AFP/Getty Images

Quito, Ecuador

People try to extinguish a fire with buckets of water in Quito, where several wildfires in the area surrounding the city have covered it with a thick layer of smoke, prompting the authorities to issue an alert for poor air quality

Photograph: Santiago Fernández/EPA

Lajas Blancas, Panama

Panamanian police inspect the luggage of Francismar Acosta, from Venezuela, in Lajas Blancas after she trekked across the Darién Gap from Colombia with her daughter, Adhara Figueroa

Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

Gaza

People cry after an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians near the Jabalia refugee camp

Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images

Khan Younis, Gaza

Displaced Palestinians shelter in a school building damaged during Israel’s military offensive in Khan Younis

Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters

Jabal Al-Rehan, Lebanon

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike in Jabal Al-Rehan, in the southern Lebanese district of Jezzine. Optimism that a three-week ceasefire could be reached between Hezbollah and Israel appeared to recede as Benjamin Netanyahu issued a pair of contradictory statements on the proposal within hours of each other

Photograph: Rabih Daher/AFP/Getty Images

Sidon, Lebanon

Lebanese citizens who fled Israeli airstrikes in southern towns and villages sit in heavy traffic in the southern port city of Sidon. Tens of thousands of people fled towards the capital, Beirut, in Israel’s most intense barrage in nearly a year of cross-border clashes

Photograph: Mohammad Zaatari/AP

Tyre, Lebanon

People walk on a beach in Tyre in Lebanon as cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces continued

Photograph: Aziz Taher/Reuters

Wajima, Japan

A scooter lies in mud at temporary housing that was built for people who lost their homes during the earthquake at the start of the year. At least six people died and 10 others were missing after heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides along a peninsula in Japan

Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images

Wajima, Japan

Driftwood caught under a bridge after heavy rains caused flooding in Wajima. Heavy rain pounded the prefecture of Ishikawa this week, with more than 540mm (21in) recorded in the city of Wajima over 72 hours, the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available

Photograph: JIJI/AFP/Getty Images

Suzu, Japan

People look at a car trapped in a road that was destroyed by heavy rainfall in Suzu

Photograph: Jiji Press/EPA

Stronie Śląskie, Poland

A woman walks with a boy and a pushchair in front of a destroyed building in the aftermath of flooding

Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Kyiv, Ukraine

A woman surveys the damage to a residential building damaged after a Russian drone attack in Kyiv. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN this week that Russia is planning to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants as he repeated his calls for unity from world leaders

Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

Florida, US

An American flag sits in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the Shore Acres neighbourhood of St Petersburg. Helene has reportedly killed at least 20 people and inflicted more than 4m power outages across the south-eastern US after crashing ashore in north-western Florida late on Thursday as a potent category 4 hurricane, according to officials.

Photograph: Mike Carlson/AP

Helsinki, Finland

The pillars on Parliament House splattered with red paint in Helsinki. Environmental protesters sprayed the pillars to draw attention to the use of ‘disastrous’ peat mines in Sweden run by the Finnish state-owned company Neova

Photograph: Kimmo Brandt/EPA

Paris, France

A model on the runway for the Spanish designer Luis de Javier as part of the label’s spring/summer 2025 womenswear collection

Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

London, UK

Daniel Dubois knocks out Anthony Joshua during the International Boxing Federation world heavyweight title fight at Wembley stadium. It turned out to be a crushing defeat for Joshua who was knocked down in the first round and then utterly dominated

Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Lianyungang, China

Sunlight shines through the morning mist above residential buildings in Lianyungang

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Vienna, Austria

Annika and Moritz embrace as people walk by in Vienna. Austrians head to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections that polling suggests are likely to be won, for the first time in the country’s postwar history, by the far-right, anti-immigration Freedom party

Photograph: Andreea Alexandru/AP