Pictures of the week: From Zohran Mamdani’s swearing-in to the final sunset of 2025 in Dubai

Striking images from around the world

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  Zohran Mamdani stands with his wife Rama Duwaji, right, and New York Attorney General Letitia James as he is sworn in as New York's first Muslim Mayor. Reuters

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  New Year's fireworks light up the sky above the Mother of the Nation Festival, on Abu Dhabi Corniche. Victor Besa / The National

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  Swiss emergency personnel work at the scene of the deadly blaze at Le Constellation bar, where at least 40 people were killed and 115 injured. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian firefighter battles a fire at residential complex in Zaporizhzhia after it was hit by a Russian drone strike. Reuters

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  Syrian soldiers make their way through the snow in the country’s mountainous Qalamoun region, near the border with Lebanon. AFP

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  A fire rages inside the historic Vondelkerk church tower in Amsterdam on New Year's Eve. AFP

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  Buddhists pray in coffins during a resurrection ceremony, which symbolises their death and rebirth, at Wat Ta Kien temple in Nonthaburi, Thailand. AFP

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  Snow-covered Mount Etna spews hot lava near Catania on Sicily. EPA

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  Thousands of demonstrators rally on Galata Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, in support of Palestine. AFP

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  Palestinians play football at the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. AFP

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  Swimmers take part in the daily 1.5km journey from Manly Beach to Shelly Beach in Sydney, Australia, an event that began in 2008. Getty Images

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  A Sikh devotee prays while taking a dip in the holy lake at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. AFP

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  Cambodians gather in Phnom Penh to welcome soldiers released by Thailand, after the countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in deadly border clashes. AFP

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  A train bears the scars of a deadly head-on collision with another engine, on a track leading to Machu Picchu in south-eastern Peru. AFP

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  A plane fights a forest fire in San Carlos de Apoquindo in Santiago. AFP

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  Bangladeshi security forces escort the body of former prime minister Khaleda Zia during her funeral in Dhaka. Reuters

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  A person gathers to witness the first flash flood of the season surging through the Qumran riverbed in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea, West Bank, on a stormy day in the region. EPA

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  US President Donald Trump, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk inside Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. AFP

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  People ride a boat in the waters of river Yamuna on a cold and foggy winter morning in New Delhi, India. Reuters

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  Venerable Monk Bhikkhu Pannakara leads a group of Buddhist monks during their 2,300-mile peace walk in Fayetteville, Georgia, US. EPA

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  Ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls trek near the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Yeriho, overlooking the Palestinian city of Jericho, in the occupied West Bank. EPA

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  A civilian aircraft flying past the moon in Hsinchu, Taiwan. EPA

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  The traditional Rauhnacht run in the Bavarian town of Beilngries, north of Ingolstadt, Germany. Reuters

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  A pattern of a warship modelled on the Fujian aircraft carrier is drawn in the lying snow, at Harbin Engineer University in China’s north-eastern Heilongjiang province. AFP

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  Sand dunes being prepared for planting south of Samawah in Kuwait, in an effort to curb desertification. AFP

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  Joe Root of England walks off after being dismissed on Day 2 of the Fourth Ashes Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. EPA

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  A visitor explores caverns and tunnels of the Ice Castles in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. AFP

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  Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka during the 'Battle of the Sexes' press conference in Dubai. Reuters

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  Stranded vehicles as floodwaters wash out East Palmdale Boulevard in Sun Village, California. EPA

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  The sun sets over Dubai for the last time in 2025. Antonie Robertson / The National