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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Georgia Bell and Gareth Richman

Pictures of the year 2025: Powerful images that defined the past 12 months

The gallery above contains images that helped define 2025, another year of major developments across the globe.

In January wildfires tore through southern California, leaving behind a trail of devastation and killing at least 31 people.

January: Huge fires swept across the Palisades, resulting in $28 billion worth of damage (Getty Images)

Even Hollywood A-Listers couldn’t escape the destruction, with stars from Paris Hilton to Mel Gibson losing their homes.

The Gaza conflict continued to dominate headlines in 2025, with multiple rounds of peacetalks, and a ceasefire agreement agreed in October.

Over 70,000 recorded Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, according to Gaza’s health ministry while 90 per cent of Palestine’s 2.1 million population displaced were displaced.

One powerful image from January 27 captured some of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who flooded back into northern Gaza after Israel opened military checkpoints.

By July 2025, more than 28 countries called for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, including the UK, France and Canada. (AFP via Getty Images)

2025 ushered in a new era for the Vatican, with the sad death of Pope Francis in April and the election of Pope Leo XIV in May.

This historic photo of Pope leading the Regina Caeli prayer in St. Peter's Square was taken days after his election.

The new Pope, Pope Leo XIV, was elected after the death of Pope Francis on April 21 (Getty Images)

A powerful image that came out of his predecessor Pope Francis’s funeral was one of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky speaking together. The meeting in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican came before the pope’s funeral service.

It came after a fiery clash between the two men in the Oval Office over US support for Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican. (UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY/AFP v)

Iconic rocker Ozzy Osbourne died in July with heartfelt tributes flooding in for the Black Sabbath frontman across the nation.

This moving picture of his family attending his funeral in Birmingham showed the depth of the loss that was felt by those closest to the celebrated musician.

Jack Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne arrive to view tributes to the late Ozzy Osbourne from fans as his funeral (Getty Images)

Pop star Katy Perry and five other women safely returned to Earth in April after reaching space aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket.

Popstar Katy Perry took to the stars in Jeff Bezos’ first unmanned spaceflight, the Blue Origin New Shepard NS-31, in April (BLUE ORIGIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The singer was joined by Bezos's fiancée Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, who said a highlight of the flight was hearing Perry sing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". Also on board were former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

Another striking celebrity picture was of Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the Los Angeles premiere of A24's Marty Supreme.

The couple arrived in coordinated Chrome Hearts looks, with Jenner, 28, turning heads in a vivid orange, body-skimming gown with cut-out detailing, while Chalamet, 29, opted for a matching leather suit and boots. The move was a strong statement to end speculation their relationship had come to an end.

(Getty Images)

Please look in the gallery above for the rest of the images.

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