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Near the end of every year, I look back through the many thousands of news photos taken in the previous months, reevaluating them to see which images stand out as iconic—which images take your breath away, bring you close, or make an emotional impact. In a year dominated by stories of warfare, divisive politics, and natural disasters, it feels even more important to showcase the incredible work of the photojournalists who bring the reality of these situations to millions of others. Here, I present my choices for the top 25 news photos of 2024.
The Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after an attempted assassination at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Evan Vucci / AP)
Molten lava flows over the road to the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik, after the most recent volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in Iceland, on November 21, 2024. (Marco di Marco / AP)
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina reacts after getting a large wave in the fifth heat of the men’s surfing third round during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo’o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on July 29, 2024. (Jerome Brouillet / AFP / Getty)
A person throws a milkshake in the face of Nigel Farage, the newly appointed leader of Britain’s right-wing populist party, Reform UK, and the party’s parliamentary candidate for Clacton, during his election campaign launch in Clacton-on-Sea, England, on June 4, 2024. The thrower, Victoria Thomas Bowen, was later charged with assault. (Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty)
An aerial view of the cargo vessel Dali, seen after it had crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26, 2024 (Maryland National Guard / Reuters)
President Joe Biden speaks during an address to the nation about his decision to not seek reelection, in the Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., on July 24, 2024. (Evan Vucci / AFP / Getty)
The Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Minnesota Governer Tim Walz, walk out onstage together during a campaign event on August 6, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harris ended weeks of speculation about who her running mate would be, selecting the 60-year-old midwestern governor over other candidates. (Andrew Harnik / Getty)
Firefighters rescue a woman from a homeless encampment that became surrounded by floodwater in the Santa Ana River during a rainstorm in San Bernardino, California, on February 5, 2024. More than seven inches of rain fell on Los Angeles over the wettest two-day period in decades—about half of the region’s average yearly rainfall poured down in 48 hours. (Ethan Swope / AP)
An animal runs through grass while fleeing flames as the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset, California, community on July 25, 2024. (Noah Berger / AP
Vacationers play paddleball on a beach backdropped by a darkening sky caused by smoke from nearby forest fires, in Viña del Mar, Chile, on February 2, 2024. Parts of central Chile experienced unusually high temperatures and dry weather, sparking dozens of forest fires that killed more than 100 people. (Martin Thomas / Aton Chile / AP)
On the podium, both silver medalist Simone Biles and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles of Team USA playfully bow down to the gold-medal winner, Team Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, as she celebrates her win in the women’s floor exercise at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Andrade’s stellar performances earned her medals in several events earlier, but this was her first gold of 2024. (Elsa / Getty)
Paralympic athlete Santos Araujo, of Brazil, celebrates after winning the men’s 200-meter Freestyle – S2 final during the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France, on September 2, 2024. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)
Solar prominences are seen during a total solar eclipse in Dallas, Texas, on April 8, 2024. The path of the eclipse stretched across North America, from Mexico to Canada, and the event was viewed by millions. (Keegan Barber / NASA / AP)
Israeli soldiers pose for a photo on the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, with destroyed buildings in Gaza seen in the background, on February 19, 2024. (Tsafrir Abayov / AP)
Palestinian mother Buthayna Abu Jazar reacts as she holds the hand of her son Hazma, who was killed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 9, 2024. (Hatem Khaled / Reuters)
People rush toward humanitarian-aid packages dropped over the northern Gaza Strip on April 23, 2024. (Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP / Getty)
Palestinian children taking refuge in the Tel al-Sultan region due to Israeli attacks decorate their tents with Ramadan lanterns ahead of the holy Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in Rafah, Gaza, on February 29, 2024. (Belal Khaled / Anadolu / Getty)
Police arrest protesters during pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the City College Of New York on April 30, 2024, in New York City. A heavy police presence surrounded both the City College of New York and Columbia University as local law enforcement cleared tent encampments set up by pro-Palestinian protesters. (Spencer Platt / Getty)
A woman wades through floodwater in an inundated residential area in Garissa, Kenya, on May 9, 2024. Kenya grappled with one of its worst floods in recent history, the latest in a string of weather catastrophes, following weeks of extreme rainfall that scientists linked to a changing climate. More than 250 people were killed as murky waters submerged entire villages, destroyed roads, and inundated dams. (Luis Tato / AFP / Getty)
A crow perches on a fence in front of the Taj Mahal amid thick smog in Agra, India, on November 15, 2024. Starting in October, millions of people across northern India and Pakistan spent weeks under a blanket of toxic smog, enduring some of the region’s worst air quality ever recorded. (Pawan Sharma / AFP / Getty)
A drone’s-eye view of the bodies of two Russian soldiers in a field in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, photographed on May 16, 2024. Invading Russian forces slowly gained ground through much of the year, after more than 1,000 days of fighting—but at an enormous cost of lives and material. (Kostiantyn Liberov / Libkos / Getty)
A serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces 24th Mechanized Brigade, named after King Danylo, plays a piano in a damaged building during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on June 25, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk / Ukrainian Armed Forces / Reuters)
A man and his dog are rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after his sailboat became disabled during Hurricane Helene, floating approximately 25 miles off Sanibel Island, Florida, on September 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard District Seven / AP
A small tornado forms behind a DC3 during an air show in La Ferté-Alais, south of Paris, France, on May 18, 2024. (Thomas Arnoux / ABACA / Reuters)
A young boy crawls through a concertina-wire barrier at the border as migrants cross from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, on March 22, 2024. (Justin Hamel / Reuters)
