News in pictures

on April 22, 2025 at 5:04 pm

Today is the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, which was organized in 1970 to remember and appreciate the environment, and our responsibilities and roles within it. On such a day, I thought it would be appropriate to feature some of the remarkable work of Olivier Morin, a photographer with Agence France-Presse, who spends a great deal of time capturing beautiful images of the natural world, largely focusing on northern climates. Gathered below are some of Morin’s photos of the people, animals, and landscapes of the Earth’s arctic and subarctic regions. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. This underwater picture shows a female killer whale with scars near its dorsal fin, patrolling near Skjervøy Fjord, in northern Norway within the Arctic Circle, on November 11, 2024. Dozens of killer whales and their clans follow schools of herring gathering in the fjords of northern Norway from October to January, on the hunt. More frequent northerly sightings suggest that orcas are learning to adapt to the rapidly melting waters of the Arctic Ocean. ( Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty) […]

on April 21, 2025 at 11:00 am

Pope Francis, the first pontiff to come from the Americas, died today at the age of 88. Born in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio first joined the Catholic priesthood in 1969. He was named the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was elected pope in 2013, choosing the papal name of Francis. As the new head of the Catholic Church, Francis brought an openness to debate; a renewed focus on the dignity and rights of immigrants, the poor, and Indigenous peoples; and more accommodating views toward LGBTQ issues—though he stopped short of urging significant changes in Church doctrine. Denouncing wasteful consumption, Francis also championed a moral view on environmental issues and our responsibility to care for our planet and one another. Gathered here is a collection of images from the life of Pope Francis. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Pope Francis visits with journalists during a flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 22, 2013, just months after becoming the Catholic Church's first pontiff from the Americas. ( Luca Zennaro / AP) […]

on April 18, 2025 at 1:00 pm

A colorful tulip festival in England, the Irish World Dancing Championships in Dublin, ice climbing in Nepal, a severe dust storm in Iraq, performances from the first weekend of Coachella, piles of remaining abandoned rental bicycles in China, and much more To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Kashmiri Muslims hold burning torches outside the cave shrine of Sakhi Zain-ud-din Wali, a Sufi saint, during an annual torch festival on April 12, 2025, in Aishmuqam, south of Srinagar, India. ( Yawar Nazir / Getty) […]

on April 16, 2025 at 4:51 pm

Every April, people across Thailand celebrate Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year festival. During the weekend-long water festival, tourists and locals gather in the streets to take part in wide-ranging water fights. The splashing of water is a sign of respect and well-wishing, as revelers hope to wash away sins and bad luck. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Elephants spray water on partygoers during Songkran on April 13, 2025, in Phra Nakhon si Ayutthaya, Thailand. ( Lauren DeCicca / Getty) […]

on April 14, 2025 at 6:14 pm

The 2025 Osaka World Exposition opened over the weekend, featuring more than 150 pavilions from countries, regions, and groups around the world. The theme of Osaka Expo 2025 is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”; exhibits and features focus on technological innovation, sustainable development, and the benefits of global cooperation. Planners are expecting more than 28 million visitors over the exposition’s six-month run. Gathered below are some of the scenes from Osaka on and before opening day. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A view of a display inside the Kuwait Pavilion as it opened to the press at Yumeshima, the venue for Expo 2025 Osaka, in Japan, on April 9, 2025. ( Yukia Watanabe / The Yomiuri Shimbun / Reuters) […]

on April 11, 2025 at 1:00 pm

The Grand National horse race in Liverpool, deadly flooding in Kinshasa, racing pigeons in England, a Nepali New Year festival in Kathmandu, a stranded parachutist in France, a target-jumping competition in Poland, an anti–Elon Musk event in London, and much more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. The Monastery of Holy Trinity is pictured on a rock high above the city of Meteora, Greece, seen on April 8, 2025. ( Michael Probst / AP) […]

on April 9, 2025 at 5:45 pm

The first day of spring was on March 20, and the Northern Hemisphere has again begun to warm, bringing blooming flowers and trees and the return of migrating animals. Gathered here is a small collection of images from recent weeks in North America, Asia, and Europe of people enjoying sunshine, flowering fields, and spring festivals—signs of warmer days to come. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A woman dances beneath cherry blossoms at the start of cherry-blossom season in the old town of Bonn, Germany, on April, 6, 2025. ( Martin Meissner / AP) […]

on April 6, 2025 at 2:07 pm

Yesterday, more than 1,200 demonstrations were held across the country, described by organizers as a “National Day of Action,” against the policies and actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Thousands took part in these “Hands Off!” protests, gathering and marching in small towns, big cities, and state capitols. Gathered below are images from some of the demonstrations in Massachusetts, Georgia, California, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A drone view shows a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of a larger "Hands Off!" event organized nationwide against President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City on April 5, 2025. ( Jim Urquhart / Reuters) […]

on April 4, 2025 at 1:00 pm

Eid al-Fitr prayers in Indonesia and Senegal, a new volcanic eruption in southwestern Iceland, the Ogoh-ogoh festival in Indonesia, the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Myanmar, unrest at a town hall in Indiana, snowboard cross in Switzerland, and much more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A view of the spring scenery at Zizhu Temple on a sunny day in Dengqen County, Changdu City, in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on March 30, 2025 ( Huang Taiming / VCG / Getty) […]

on April 2, 2025 at 4:22 pm

When search-and-rescue teams deploy to any of the numerous natural or man-made disasters around the world, they bring along their own teams of highly trained dogs to help discover victims in need. When these dogs are not in the field, they frequently take part in training sessions simulating events such as earthquakes, wildfires, and water or avalanche rescues. Gathered below are images of some of these rescue dogs and their handlers, on the job and in training, from the past several years. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Rescuers use a sniffer dog during a search operation at the ruins of a building collapsed after an earthquake in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, on January 18, 2021. ( Daeng Mansur / AP) […]

on March 28, 2025 at 1:00 pm

A para-surfing event in Australia, an anti-Hamas protest in the Gaza Strip, Nowruz celebrations in Iraq, deadly wildfires in South Korea, a spiral in the night sky over Sweden, a sea-lion rescue in California, a rally race in Kenya, and much more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes, during a protest on the day Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul, on March 23, 2025. ( Umit Bektas / Reuters) […]

on March 27, 2025 at 1:28 pm

The winning entries of this year’s World Press Photo Contest ​have just been announced. This year, according to organizers, 59,320 images were submitted for judging, made by 3,778 photographers. World Press Photo was once more kind enough to share some of this year’s global and regional winners, gathered below. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. South America, Singles—Aircraft on Flooded Tarmac: An aircraft sits on the flooded tarmac at Porto Alegre–Salgado Filho International Airport, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on May 20, 2024. From April to June 2024, record-breaking rainfall in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, led to the worst flood in the area’s history. More than half a million people were displaced, and more than 183 died in the floods. According to scientists, climate change—driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, including those used in passenger air travel—almost certainly intensified the floods. In the larger context of the global climate crisis, this image of a plane suspended between sky and water becomes a foreboding symbol. ( Anselmo Cunha / Agence France-Presse) […]

on March 25, 2025 at 4:48 pm

This week, a team of U.S. officials are in Saudi Arabia, mediating a set of separate talks with delegations from Russia and Ukraine, working toward a possible limited cease-fire, but the outcome remains uncertain. Meanwhile, frontline fighting and missile attacks continue across Ukraine and into parts of Russia, at an enormous cost of lives, homes, and material. Gathered below are images of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and of those affected by its continued destruction, from the past several weeks. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A local 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. ( Oleksandr Gimanovoleksandr Gimanov / AFP / Getty) […]

on March 21, 2025 at 1:00 pm

A rally race in Kenya, tornado damage in Mississippi, a marine ranch in China, spring sunshine in England, a Legoland resort in Shanghai, a bright-green river in Chicago, a wife-carrying race in England, and much more To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it splashed down with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the waters off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on March 18, 2025. ( Keegan Barber / NASA / Reuters) […]

on March 19, 2025 at 2:14 pm

Organizers of the 2025 British Wildlife Photography Awards just announced their collection of winners and runners-up. More than 13,000 images were submitted in 11 different categories, celebrating the wildlife and wild spaces found across the United Kingdom. Competition organizers were kind enough to share some of this year’s amazing images below. Captions were provided by the photographers. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Urban Explorer. British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 and Winner of Urban Wildlife. "For approximately three years, I had been photographing this vixen and was able to track her movements across the city. Surprisingly, she covered large distances, eventually moving over a mile away from her original parental territory. In the city, that means a lot of roads, hazards, and other fox territories to contend with. This streetwise fox was a successful mother and had a family of young mouths to feed." (© Copyright Simon Withyman / British Wildlife Photography Awards) […]

on March 17, 2025 at 6:28 pm

Greenland—the largest island in the world (that isn’t a continent) and a self-ruling Danish territory—has recently undergone a national election, seen protests seeking autonomy from Denmark, and has prominently become the target of President Donald Trump, who wants to somehow “get” the territory as part of the United States. Several news agencies recently sent photographers to the cities of Nuuk, Ilulissat, and more to cover the local population, their reactions to the larger stories, and their own moves toward independence. The winning party of the March 11 elections is described by the AP as “a pro-business party that favors a slow path to independence,” and opposes Trump’s recent efforts. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A fishing boat passes icebergs that broke off from the Jakobshavn Glacier on March 5, 2025, in Ilulissat, Greenland. ( Joe Raedle / Getty) […]

on March 14, 2025 at 1:00 pm

A train-pulling record attempt in Egypt, long-term flooding in Ecuador, a fire-walking festival in Japan, Holi celebrations in India, wild horses in Turkey, an airshow in Thailand, a pro-Ukraine demonstration in Germany, and much more To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A cheerleader entertains the crowds during the annual Moomba Festival in Melbourne, Australia, on March 9, 2025. ( William West / AFP / Getty) […]

on March 13, 2025 at 4:51 pm

In the last weeks of World War II, Harold W. Clover, a combat photographer in the S-2 Section of the U.S. Army’s 31st Combat Engineer Battalion, documented the scenes and events around him as his unit pushed from the French Alsace into Nazi Germany, then into Austria, where they served occupation duty, in 1945. Clover donated many of his film negatives to the U.S. National Archives—where I recently visited, digitizing most of these prints below for the first time. Clover’s striking photographs capture the lives of war-weary civilians as well as soldiers—sometimes in a playful light—while still depicting the ugly reality of war. A photo previously included in this story has been removed because it did not meet The Atlantic's editorial standards. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Three U.S. Army soldiers sit together in Dossenheim, France, in February of 1945, as their units prepare to move east, into Germany. From left: Private David Taub, T/5 Shigeo Takayama, and an unidentified soldier. The original caption reads: "GIs David Taub, Berlin refugee; Shigeo Takayama, Nisei; and Iowa farm boy with sniper rifle (42nd—Rainbow Division). Dossenheim, France." In 2003, Takayama, whose father was held in a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona during the war, recorded an oral history interview for the Japanese American Military History Collective, recalling his experiences. ( Harold W. Clover / U.S. Army / National Archives) […]

on March 11, 2025 at 3:03 pm

The top entries in the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition were just announced, and competition organizers have once again shared some of the winning and shortlisted photos selected from more than 419,000 submissions in 10 categories: Architecture, Creative, Landscape, Lifestyle, Motion, Natural World & Wildlife, Object, Portraiture, Street Photography, and Travel. Captions were provided by the organizers and photographers. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Fever Tree Leopard. Shortlist, Natural World & Wildlife. "Encountering a leopard is a rare and breathtaking moment. This majestic feline was photographed at Lake Nakuru, Kenya, deep within a fever tree forest. It was initially perched on a branch but then strolled elegantly along its massive bough—a true bucket-list experience for the photographer." (© Copyright Peter Delaney, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards) […]

on March 7, 2025 at 2:00 pm

A caretaking humanoid robot in Japan, prayers for Pope Francis in Brazil, the Royal Shrovetide Football Match in England, a polar-bear-plunge record attempt in the Czech Republic, a performance at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, a skijoring competition in Colorado, and much more To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Revelers watch a giant wooden installation depicting a mill tower burn during the annual celebration of Maslenitsa at the Nikola-Lenivets art park in Moscow's Kaluga region, Russia, on March 1, 2025. The cherished Russian folk festival has its origins in an ancient Slavic holiday marking the end of winter and spring's arrival. ( Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters) […]

on March 4, 2025 at 6:50 pm

The 2025 Carnival season is under way across Europe and the Americas. These pre-Lent festivals, often a blend of local pagan and Catholic traditions, usher out winter and welcome the coming spring. Gathered below are images from the past week of Carnival celebrations around the world, including photos from Bolivia, Angola, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Italy, the United States, and more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. A reveler of the Salgueiro samba school performs during the second night of Carnival at the Marquês de Sapucaí Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on March 4, 2025. ( Mauro Pimentel / AFP / Getty) […]

on February 25, 2025 at 2:00 pm

The winning entries in this year’s Underwater Photographer of the Year contest were recently announced, and Alvaro Herrero (a.k.a. Mekan) was named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 for an image of a mother humpback whale swimming with its calf. Prizes and commendations were handed out in categories including Wide Angle, Macro, Wrecks, Behavior, Portrait, Black & White, Compact, Up & Coming, and more. Contest organizers were once again kind enough to share with us a selection of this year’s honorees, with captions written by the photographers. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Ethereal Moonscape. Runner-up, Wide Angle. "A diver using a rebreather glides through one of my favorite caves in the Yucatán Peninsula. The rebreather was a critical piece of equipment for this shot. Using rebreathers in the caves allows us to spend much more time exploring their depths, and enhances my photos as it gives us the opportunity to precisely illuminate the scene." (© Copyright Alvaro Herrero (Mekan) / UPY2025) […]

on February 22, 2025 at 5:01 am

The winning images and photographers of this year’s World Nature Photography Awards have just been announced. Contest organizers have once more shared some of the winning images, shown below, from their 14 categories. Captions were provided by the photographers and have been lightly edited for style and clarity. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Third Place, Behavior, Mammals. A fox kit leaps across a gap between logs in a pile, in Lac La Biche, Alberta, Canada. (© Copyright Donna Feledichuk / World Nature Photography Awards) […]

on February 21, 2025 at 2:00 pm

Widespread flooding in Kentucky, a Russian drone attack at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, icebergs in Greenland, a lava flow atop Mount Etna, a mask festival in Latvia, blooming trees in Spain, Carnival costumes in Venice, and much more. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. Melissa Truesdale plays the fiddle before a candlelight vigil for victims of Hurricane Helene in Green Mountain, North Carolina, on February 15, 2025. ( Allison Joyce / Reuters) […]

on February 18, 2025 at 6:09 pm

Protesters rallied in cities across the United States yesterday, Presidents’ Day, demonstrating against President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and what organizers call “the antidemocratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.” This “No Kings Day” protest was the second set of rallies organized by the 50501 movement (“50 protests, 50 states, one movement”), with more planned in the future. Gathered below are images of some of these rallies, ranging from Alaska and California to Massachusetts and Florida. An American flag is flown upside-down during a "No Kings Day" protest on Presidents' Day in Washington, D.C., in support of federal workers and against recent actions by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, on February 17, 2025, near the U.S. Capitol Building. ( Jacquelyn Martin / AP) […]