The week around the world in 20 pictures
Students win the election in Serbia, Flávio Bolsonaro flees Brazil, a train crash in Spain and Obama on the midterm campaign trail – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing
Fri 30 Oct 2026 16.10 EDT
First published on Fri 30 Oct 2026 14.26 EDT
Urda, Spain
Cranes lift wrecked train carriages as rescuers search for victims after a crash between two trains. Spain began three days of mourning on Thursday for at least 69 people who died in the crash, as dozens of injured passengers remained in hospital. Train drivers went on strike to urge more investment in railway safetyPhotograph: Manu Fernández/AP
Kyiv, Ukraine
Rescuers clear fallen trees near a destroyed car on a road in Kyiv after a Russian missile strike. Russian strikes damaged a university campus and Kyiv’s important Southern Bridge on Tuesday night, in what Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as ‘a serious escalation’ against Ukrainian infrastructurePhotograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
Kharkiv, Ukraine
A firefighter at the site of a Russian strike in a residential area of Kharkiv amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, and Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, held what they described as a ‘frank and substantive’ phone call with Vladimir Putin this week about efforts to end the warPhotograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
Belgrade, Serbia
Supporters of the Student List celebrate after Aleksandar Vučić, the long-serving leader of Serbia, conceded defeat in the election. The concession ushered in a seismic political shift after a historic election that saw the increasingly authoritarian leader pitted against a student-led movement that had spent two years protesting against his governmentPhotograph: Uros Arsic/Reuters
Belgrade, Serbia
People celebrate after Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in the election. The high turnout, along with the estimated 150,000 people who flocked to the students’ final pre-election rally last week in Belgrade, fuelled early speculation that the students may have gained enough support to launch a new political era in the Balkan countryPhotograph: Marko Drobnjaković/AP
Orléans, France
A security guard removes a protester from a launch rally for Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign during the Rassemblement National party convention. Le Pen, who has lodged an appeal to France’s highest court over her conviction for embezzlement of European parliament funds, promised to ‘bring back order to France’Photograph: Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images
Brasília, Brazil
A supporter of the rightwing Liberal party presidential candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, reacts while watching the results during the vote count. The astonishing comeback victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva brought rapturous supporters on to the streets, while also thrilling conservationists, climate activists and social justice campaigners across the worldPhotograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images
Miami, Florida, US
The Brazilian presidential candidate Flàvio Bolsonaro arrives at Miami-Opa Locka airport with his family. Bolsonaro declared himself the ‘true president’ of Brazil after losing the presidential election and fleeing to the US, even though his own party has recognised the legitimate victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as have all of Brazil’s institutions and international observers who monitored the votePhotograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Detroit, Michigan, US
Supporters of the Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed applaud during a speech by the former president Barack Obama, during a campaign rally at Cass technical high school in Detroit. Obama said El-Sayed was ‘fighting for change, real change, that will get money out of politics and put money in your pocket’, as he threw his weight behind the Democratic candidatePhotograph: Paul Sancya/AP
Maracay, Venezuela
The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, greets supporters on her return to the country after nearly a year abroad. The Trump administration had reportedly opposed Machado’s return, believing her presence would complicate the cosy relationship it has struck up with the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, since abducting the former leader Nicolás Maduro in JanuaryPhotograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
Hebron, West Bank
An Israeli border police officer casts his ballot at a polling station in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron during Israel’s legislative election. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition lost its majority in the election after four years in power. The main Jewish opposition bloc also fell short, however, leaving two Arab Israeli parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, holding the balance of powerPhotograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
Jerusalem
An Arab woman walks with a child in Jerusalem past a torn Likud party campaign ad featuring Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, with a Hebrew message reading ‘We have one opportunity to win’. Netanyahu has been accused of using smear tactics to cling to power, after he claimed Arab Israeli parties had used foreign backing to ‘steal’ Tuesday’s electionPhotograph: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Gaza
Children react as people take cover from a reported drone strike while queueing at a charity kitchen in the Jabaliya camp. Most people in Gaza were too preoccupied by the struggle to find food and water to follow the Israeli election campaign. Fears of renewed hunger are mounting as markets run short of fresh produce and other essentialsPhotograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
Alalak, Indonesia
Pupils were sent home early from this primary school as thick smoke from a land fire behind it engulfed the area. Almost 2m hectares have gone up in smoke in Indonesia’s worst fire season in a decade, enveloping the region in a thick dystopian hazePhotograph: Muda Sagala/AFP/Getty Images
Tirana, Albania
People wave a flag as demonstrators gather at Skanderbeg Square during an anti-government protest by students in Tirana. Albania has introduced fines of more than $6,000 for demonstrators who participate in a protest that turns violent, even if they don’t personally commit violent acts, as the government tries to clamp down on the rallies calling for the prime minister’s resignationPhotograph: Valdrin Xhemaj/Reuters
Paris, France
Gendarmes walk through teargas during clashes with protesters at an authorised demonstration organised by labour unions in Paris. Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France last Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as presidentPhotograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
Paris, France
Police in riot gear face protesters during a demonstration in favour of protecting public services, and fiscal and social justice. Emmanuel Macron has been accused by trade unions of trying to curb the fundamental French right to protest as the government fast-tracks a bill to make protesters pay for damage caused by vandalism, even if they did not directly cause it themselvesPhotograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images
Hardelot, France
Migrants stand in shallow water after a failed attempt to board a small boat to cross the Channel to EnglandPhotograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Huntington Beach, California, US
James Hays paddles with his dog Flynn in high-tide flooding along the Pacific Coast Highway. Historic high tides have caused chaos up and down the California coast this weekPhotograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Fleetwood, England
Fleetwood Town players celebrate winning a penalty shootout against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup fourth round. Fleetwood’s manager, Matt Lawlor, hailed the club’s victory as one for all football after his side shocked the Premier League champions on penalties. The side, currently 18th in League Two, held their nerve in the shootout, with Conor Haughey hitting the winner to reach the quarter-finalsPhotograph: Jon Super/ReutersExplore more on these topics