The week in pictures: US strikes on Nigerian jihadists, AFCON 2025 and the death of Brigitte Bardot

Posted by KingFadray December 29, 2025


Morocco hosted the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital with more than 650 drones just two days before Christmas, the US carried out strikes against militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in Nigeria, and the cinema world paused to remember Brigitte Bardot: FRANCE 24 looks back at the week’s most striking images.

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2 min Reading time

A Mali soccer fan waits for the start of the African Cup of Nations Group A soccer match between Morocco and Mali in Rabat, December 26, 2025
A Mali football fan waits for the start of the African Cup of Nations Group A match between Morocco and Mali in Rabat on December 26, 2025. © Mosa’ab Elshamy, AP

Libya's army chief of staff Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad (left) is pictured with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler in Ankara, on December 23, 2025
Libya’s army chief of staff Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad (left) is pictured with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler in Ankara on December 23, 2025. © Turkish defence ministry via Reuters

An injured elderly woman looks out of her broken window as an apartment building was hit by a Russian drone during an aerial attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 23, 2025
An injured elderly woman looks out of her broken window after her apartment building was hit by a Russian drone during an aerial attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, December 23, 2025. © Efrem Lukatsky, AP

Displaced Palestinian Salah al-Mabhouh, 40, sits by the fire with his son Abdul-Razzaq 8, next to their tent in al-Bureij camp, central Gaza Strip, December 24, 2025
Displaced Palestinian Salah al-Mabhouh, 40, sits by the fire with his son Abdul-Razzaq, 8, next to their tent in al-Bureij camp, central Gaza Strip, December 24, 2025. © Abdel Kareem Hana, AP

President Donald Trump, speaks accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, during a NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Tracks Santa Operation call at his Mar-a-Lago club, December 24, 2025
US President Donald Trump speaks accompanied by first lady Melania Trump during a “North American Aerospace Defense Command Tracks Santa Operation” call at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 24, 2025. © Alex Brandon, AP

Pope Leo XIV waves after delivering the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for 'To the city and to the world' ) Christmas Day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
Pope Leo XIV waves after delivering the “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “To the city and to the world” ) Christmas Day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on December 25, 2025. © Gregorio Borgia, AP

People take to the sea at Helen's Bay, Northern Ireland, for the annual Christmas Eve swim in the cold waters in Belfast Lough to raise money for Dementia NI & Air Ambulance NI, December 24, 2025
People take to the sea at Helen’s Bay, Northern Ireland, for the annual Christmas Eve swim in the cold waters in Belfast Lough to raise money for Dementia NI & Air Ambulance NI, December 24, 2025. © Peter Morrison, AP

File - Brigitte Bardot poses for photographers in Venice, Italy, in September 1958. The French cinema icon has died at 91, the Bardot foundation announced on December 28, 2025
French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot poses for photographers in Venice, Italy, in September 1958. The Bardot foundation announced Bardot’s death on December 28, 2025. © Walter Attenni, AP

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