The world told its story through powerful imagery on Friday, 16th January 2026. The Guardian's picture editors curated a striking collection of photographs from conflict zones, environmental challenges, and human resilience across the globe.
Environmental and Urban Challenges
In Jakarta, Indonesia, a unique and poignant sight captured attention: a football pitch built on floating pontoons in a coastal fishing village. This inventive solution highlights a severe environmental crisis. Northern Jakarta is subsiding at an alarming average rate of 3.5 centimetres per year, drastically increasing flood risks and forcing communities to adapt in extraordinary ways.
Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korea, firefighters battled a blaze in Guryong village, the last remaining shantytown in the affluent Gangnam district. The incident underscored urban inequalities and housing vulnerabilities.
Conflict and Displacement
The ongoing war in Ukraine featured prominently. Near the city of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian service personnel were photographed preparing to fire rockets toward Russian positions. In the nation's capital, Kyiv, opposition figure Yulia Tymoshenko attended a hearing at an anti-corruption court. She faces allegations of organising a scheme to bribe MPs, which she firmly denies.
In the Gaza Strip, mourners gathered at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah for a funeral of people killed in Israeli strikes the previous day. The image conveyed profound grief and loss. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Mahmoud Rashideh was pictured outside his home in Ein al-Auja before leaving with his Bedouin community following violence from Israeli settlers.
Incidents and Protests Worldwide
Transport disruption struck in Tokyo, Japan, where passengers were evacuated from a stranded train on the Keihin-Tohoku line, standing on the tracks near Tamachi station. In Utrecht, Netherlands, the historic centre showed damage in Visscherssteeg a day after a massive fire and explosion.
Protests made their visual mark. In Aix-en-Provence, France, farmers gathered next to a pyramid of vegetables and straw on a roundabout, demonstrating against an EU trade deal. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, federal immigration officers detained a protester outside the Bishop Henry Whipple federal building.
Ceremonial moments included a funeral procession in Havana, Cuba, for 32 Cuban soldiers who died during a reported US incursion aimed at capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. In Beijing, China, the shadow of Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney, was cast on a screen as he spoke at a Canada-China Business Council dinner. Closer to home, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was inside a lifeboat simulator during a visit to 3T Training Services.
