7.6 C
New York
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Home Blog

Challenging Client

0



Client Challenge



JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Please enable JavaScript to proceed.

A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser
extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your
connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

Tokyo Fans Bid Farewell to Beloved Twin Pandas Before Their Departure to China

0

new video loaded: Fans in Tokyo Visit Twin Pandas Before They Head to China

Thousands of people have flocked to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to see two giant pandas before they leave for China. There were fears in Japan that the twins would not be replaced amid political disputes between the countries.

By Jake Lucas and Axel Boada

December 18, 2025

BMO reaffirms Outperform rating for Eli Lilly stock following positive weight loss data

0


Eli Lilly stock rating reiterated at Outperform by BMO on weight loss data

Farmers in Brussels Protest Mercosur Trade Deal by Blocking Roads with Tractors

0

Thousands protest as EU leaders clash over trade pact farmers fear will flood Europe with cheaper South American goods.

Hundreds of tractors have clogged the streets of Brussels as farmers converged on the Belgian capital to protest against the contentious trade agreement between the European Union and South American nations they say will destroy their livelihoods.

The demonstrations erupted on Thursday as EU leaders gathered for a summit where the fate of the Mercosur deal hung in the balance. More than 150 tractors blocked central Brussels, with an estimated 10,000 protesters expected in the European quarter, according to farm lobby Copa-Cogeca.

Recommended Stories

list of 2 itemsend of list

It made for a twin-tracked day of febrile tension outside and inside at the EU summit as leaders were perhaps more focused on a vote to determine whether they are able to use nearly $200bn in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine over the next two years.

Outside the gilded halls on the streets, farmers hurled potatoes and eggs at police, set off fireworks and firecrackers, and brought traffic to a standstill.

Authorities responded with tear gas and water cannon, setting up roadblocks and closing tunnels around the city. One tractor displayed a sign reading: “Why import sugar from the other side of the world when we produce the best right here?”

“We’re here to say no to Mercosur,” Belgian dairy farmer Maxime Mabille said, accusing European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen of trying to “force the deal through” like “Europe has become a dictatorship”.

A protester throws an object, as farmers protest against the EU-Mercosur free-trade deal in Brussels, Belgium [Yves Herman/Reuters]

Protesters fear an influx of cheaper agricultural products from Brazil and neighbouring countries would undercut European producers. Their concerns centre on beef, sugar, rice, honey and soya beans from South American competitors facing less stringent regulations, particularly on pesticides banned in the EU.

“We’ve been protesting since 2024 in France, in Belgium and elsewhere,” said Florian Poncelet of Belgian farm union FJA. “We’d like to be finally listened to.”

France and Italy now lead opposition to the deal, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring that “we are not ready” and the agreement “cannot be signed” in its current form.

France has coordinated with Poland, Belgium, Austria and Ireland to force a postponement, giving critics sufficient votes within the European Council to potentially block the pact.

However, Germany and Spain are pushing hard for approval. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that decisions “must be made now” if the EU wants to “remain credible in global trade policy”, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez argued the deal would give Europe “geo-economic and geopolitical weight” against adversaries.

The agreement, 25 years in the making, would create the world’s largest free-trade area covering 780 million people and a quarter of global gross domestic product (GDP).

Supporters say it offers a counterweight to China and would boost European exports of vehicles, machinery and wines amid rising US tariffs.

Despite provisional safeguards negotiated on Wednesday to cap sensitive imports, opposition has intensified. Von der Leyen remains determined to travel to Brazil this weekend to sign the deal, but needs backing from at least two-thirds of EU nations.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva issued an ultimatum on Wednesday, warning that Saturday represents a “now or never” moment, adding that “Brazil won’t make any more agreements while I’m president” if the deal fails.

The breaking point of IT service: Insights from a Salesforce leader on 3 tipping points

0

IT service was built to bring structure to chaos. But for many organizations today, it’s become a source of it. The ticket queues keep growing. Processes feel rigid. And employees often feel frustrated by systems that seem stuck a decade behind.

The numbers reflect this pain, with 40% of organizations either replacing or re-implementing their IT service tools in 2025. This is a clear sign that the model is cracking and needs to be reimagined. Meanwhile, 58% of organizations say their IT team spends more than five hours each week fulfilling repetitive requests. Something has to give.

Today’s businesses are agile. Customers expect instant fixes, and artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining how work gets done. The problem? Many IT processes haven’t kept up. They’re still burdened by manual, outdated workflows that slow everyone down, with a recent report citing that 45% of organizations consider repetitive tasks as their top IT service challenge in 2025. To stay relevant, IT must evolve from a back-office function into a strategic driver of business growth.

Here are the three biggest challenges holding IT service back and how forward-thinking teams can help solve them:

1. The manual workload trap

For most IT teams, the day begins and ends with manual tasks: logging incidents, assigning tickets, documenting fixes, and updating records. These repetitive processes drain time and productivity. In fact, 90% of IT leaders say manual, repetitive work contributes to low employee morale.

The impact runs deep. Skilled analysts are pulled away from strategic work. Projects stall. Employee burnout rises. And IT ends up perceived as a cost center, not an enabler.

The fix starts with automation, but not just rule-based automation. The next generation of IT service is built on intelligence, context-aware systems that can actually understand what someone needs. For example, when an employee messages IT about a problem, the system can pick up the key details, create a ticket, and send it to the right person automatically. Instead of humans chasing data, the system does it for them.

This shift doesn’t replace people; it refocuses them. Analysts can now spend time on important work like diagnosing complex issues or improving processes, not copy-pasting tickets.

2. The employee experience gap

The modern workplace runs on collaboration platforms like Slack and Teams. Yet most IT service tools still live outside of where people actually work. Employees have to leave their workflow, open a portal, fill out forms, and wait. Often, they do this without any visibility into what happens next.

The result? Low engagement. In many companies, a large number of IT issues go unreported because the process feels too painful. In fact, 62% of employees say they avoid their service desk altogether, and 58% admit they’re living with ongoing problems that IT hasn’t been able to fix, according to a recent survey.

IT analysts feel this friction, too. The conversations that matter (troubleshooting, context gathering, updates) happen in chat threads, while the official records live in a different system. That constant switching between tabs slows everything down.

Modern IT leaders are closing this gap by bringing IT service into the collaboration layer. When employees can request help and track issues directly in the places where they collaborate and work, like Slack or Teams, context stays intact and work keeps moving. With AI agents now built into these platforms, they can simply ask for what they need in natural language, just like chatting with a colleague or a ChatGPT-style interface. The result: IT becomes an active part of daily work, not a separate system to avoid.

It’s a cultural shift as much as a technical one, aligning IT with how employees actually communicate. And it pays off: 71% IT leaders believe that AI or intelligent automation will improve employee and customer satisfaction in IT service.

3. Rigid processes in a dynamic world

If there’s one phrase that frustrates every IT leader, it’s this: “This is just how the system works.”

Traditional IT service frameworks often lock teams into fixed workflows. Need to adjust an approval process for a new compliance rule? Add a custom step for a high-priority change type? Often, it takes weeks of development or costly consultants to make even minor updates.

The irony is that IT service, meant to bring flexibility to operations, has become one of the least agile systems in the enterprise stack.

What’s changing now is the rise of low-code and adaptive workflows. Platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and other modern ITSM tools let teams design and modify processes without deep coding expertise. Instead of rigid, hard-coded systems, IT can define dynamic lifecycles where each stage has its own rules, tasks, and access controls. Approvals can adapt automatically based on risk or impact. And integrated analytics help teams see what’s working and where bottlenecks form.

Rethinking IT service for what’s next

The IT service of the future won’t just manage incidents and changes. It will orchestrate intelligent workflows across the enterprise. Employees will interact with IT the same way they use any modern app — conversationally, contextually, and instantly. IT teams will focus less on maintaining systems and more on improving outcomes.

We’re already seeing the blueprint: automation reducing manual load, Slack-first collaboration improving experiences, and flexible frameworks enabling adaptation. Together, these shifts are redefining what IT service can be, turning it from a support function into a strategic partner for every department.

The challenge isn’t technology anymore. It’s the mindset. Modern IT service isn’t about keeping the lights on. It’s about lighting the way forward.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, issues apology for Burkina Faso military flight incident

0

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar has formally apologised to Burkina Faso for the unauthorised entry of a Nigerian military jet into Burkinabè airspace, an incident that led to the detention of 11 Nigerian servicemen.

Tuggar’s spokesperson told the BBC that the detained personnel had been released and were due to return to Nigeria, without saying when.

The plane was flying to Portugal when it developed a technical problem and had to land in Burkina Faso, according to the Nigerian Air Force.

The unauthorised landing sparked a diplomatic row with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) made up of Burkina Faso and its neighbours, Mali, and Niger.

In a statement, AES characterised it as an “unfriendly act” and said member states‘ respective air forces had been put on maximum alert and authorised to “neutralise any aircraft” found to violate the confederation’s airspace.

The three AES states, all run by the military, have withdrawn from the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, and moved closer to Russia, while most Ecowas members remain allied to the West.

Tuggar led a delegation to the Burkinabè capital, Ouagadougou, on Wednesday, to discuss the incident with military leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

“There were irregularities concerning the overflight authorisations, which was regrettable, and we apologise for this unfortunate incident,” Tuggar said on national TV.

It remains unclear when the military personnel, said to be in “high spirits”, and the aircraft will return to Nigeria.

According to Nigeria’s foreign ministry, both sides agreed to “sustain regular consultations and pursue practical measures to deepen bilateral cooperation and regional integration”.

Swim Coach’s Daily Workout #1066

0

By Dan Dingman on SwimSwam

SwimSwam’s daily swimming workout series is a collection of workouts written by coaches from a variety of backgrounds. All daily swimming workouts have been written using Commit Swimming. The workouts themselves are not indicative of SwimSwam’s or Commit’s views on training. They strictly reflect the opinions of the author swim coach.

Commit Swimming

Workout Context

  • Purpose: Capacity (Base) Building
  • Target age group: 13-14 years old, 15-18 years old, 9-12 years old
  • Target level: Age Group (Intermediate), Age Group (Advanced)
  • Weeks until target meet: 12 weeks
  • Team Location: United States
  • Course: 25 Yards
  • Shared workout link: Click here to view this workout on commitswimming.com

The Workout

Coach Notes

The swim coach was asked to define any shorthand he or she used in this workout. Their notes should provide some additional context to this swimming workout.

IM & Free Base Loading.


Kevin Bigham
Head Coach, Blue Springs Power Cats

SwimSwam’s daily swimming workout is powered by Commit Swimming.

Commit Swimming

Swimming news for swim coaches and swim teams, courtesy of Commit Swimming. Click here to view all daily swimming workouts on SwimSwam.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Daily Swim Coach Workout #1066

Trump administration warns Spotify and other EU companies of potential consequences for ‘discriminatory’ EU enforcement action.

0

The Trump administration warned it may impose fees and restrictions on European companies operating in the US, including Spotify, if the European Union continues enforcing “discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines, and directives” against American service providers.

The Office of the US Trade Representative issued the threat earlier this week, naming nine European companies that could face retaliation: Swedish music streaming giant Spotify, consulting firm Accenture, Madrid-based IT firm Amadeus, French IT firm Capgemini, German multinational logistics firm DHL, French AI company Mistral, French ad agency Publicis, German software company SAP and German automation company Siemens.

The USTR’s office wrote on social media: “If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter the competitiveness of US service providers through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures.”

“Should responsive measures be necessary, US law permits the assessment of fees or restrictions on foreign services, among other actions. The United States will take a similar approach to other countries that pursue an EU-style strategy in this area.”

The office said European service providers have operated freely in the US for decades, and that American companies provide “free” services to EU citizens and companies, and support “millions of jobs and more than $100 billion in direct investment.”

“If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter the competitiveness of US service providers through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures.”

Office of the US Trade Representative

The USTR said Spotify and the eight other firms it singled out have “enjoyed this expansive market access” in the US for decades.

The warning comes over a week after the EU imposed a fine of EUR €120 million ($141 million) on Elon Musk’s X, citing its breaches of the bloc’s Digital Services Act. The European Commission said X’s violations include the “deceptive design” of its “blue checkmark” for verified accounts, as well as its alleged failure to provide access to public data for researchers.

Earlier this year, the European Commission also fined tech giants Apple and Meta for violations of the Digital Market Act. Apple was fined EUR €500 million ($587m) for allegedly preventing developers from informing customers of alternative offers outside the App Store, while Meta was slapped with a EUR €200 million ($235m) fine, citing the non-compliance of its “consent or pay” advertising model.

Last year, before it was notified of the fine, Apple announced a policy change in the EU, allowing app developers to communicate with their customers outside of its App Store. Previously, Apple allowed developers to use “link-outs” only, meaning apps could include a link that redirected customers to a web page where contracts could be finalized.

However, Apple’s revised compliance plan was slammed by Spotify and Fortnite developer Epic Games, arguing that it’s “confusing,” “illegal,” and ultimately fails to address the core issues raised by the landmark legislation.

“Should responsive measures be necessary, US law permits the assessment of fees or restrictions on foreign services, among other actions. The United States will take a similar approach to other countries that pursue an EU-style strategy in this area.”

Office of the US Trade Representative

Back in August, Trump signaled his intention to protect US tech firms, threatening “substantial additional tariffs” and “export restrictions” against countries that “harm or discriminate” US tech firms.

Trump’s statement came just days after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg raised concerns about the EU’s planned taxes on digital companies. Bloomberg reported in August, citing people familiar with the matter, that the Meta founder visited Trump to discuss the threat of the EU’s digital service taxes.

However, a spokesman for the European Commission rejected claims of bias in the EU’s digital regulations. Thomas Regnier told Barron’s: “As we have made clear many times, our rules apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU.”

“We will continue to enforce our rules fairly, and without discrimination,” he added.

Aside from the US tech firms, the EU has also investigated TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, over violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Following a probe that started in February of last year, the EU earlier this month said it secured TikTok’s commitment to comply with the DSA.

Music Business Worldwide

Unique 220 hp rotary superbike available for purchase

0

For anyone who ever wanted to own an insane track bike producing a whopping 220 horses courtesy of a dual-rotary 690cc engine, you’re in luck. An exclusive Crighton CR700W – one of only 25 that were ever made – is on sale … and it could be yours!

Unveiled back in November 2021, the Crighton CR700W is what many call an ultimate track weapon. It comes from the hands of Brian Crighton, one of the world’s most successful rotary-powered race bike makers.

The motorcycle available for purchase is number 15 of the 25 examples that were built. It’s hardly been ridden around, sporting a mileage of under 125 miles (200 km). The only two trackdays it has seen were at Donington Park GP, with a cumulative three hours of use, after which it was sent back to Crighton for service. This is as close to “Mint condition” as you can get.

The Crighton CR700W currently on sale was built in 2024 and is number 15 of only 25 bikes made

MSG Racing Suzuki

It’s an insane machine, producing almost 319 hp per liter. In comparison, high-performance superbikes like the Ducati Panigale V4 produce around 210–220 hp per liter. MotoGP bikes produce about 300 hp per liter, while the likes of Ferrari F2004, one of the most potent naturally aspirated F1 cars of recent times, produces 309 hp per liter.

The entire engine and transmission unit weighs just 101 lb (46 kg), and that’s including the six-speed gearbox and slipper clutch. Combine its 220 horsepower and 105 lb.ft (152 Nm) of torque with a dry weight of just 285.5 lb (129.5 kg), and you have a track bike that is almost too dangerous to own.

The hardware on board is all top-spec, as expected. Starting with the traditional Spondon-derived chassis, which features triple-section custom extrusions and a single shock rear swing-arm made of aluminum alloy.

Up front, you get Ohlins FGR 300 front race forks, with Brembo GP4-MS 108-mm brake calipers. Even the tires are Bridgestone race-spec rubbers.

The Crighton CR700W was first unveiled in 2021
The Crighton CR700W was first unveiled in 2021

MSG Racing Suzuki

At the rear, there’s a titanium and inconel exhaust that, according to Crighton, “utilizes the rotaries’ exhaust system to generate a high energy vacuum through the core of the engine.”. And the whole bike is dressed from head to toe in carbon fiber.

So, how much would a limited-edition superbike like this cost? Well, this one’s listed for £154,495 on the MSG Racing Suzuki Facebook page. That’s just a few thousand north of US$200,000 via direct conversion.

You’d better act fast if you have the cash (and the guts) to own one. Here’s a video of one of these bikes in action. Hear those revs?

Crighton CR700W rotary motorcycle start up. #rotarymotorcycle

Source: MSG Racing Suzuki via Facebook

Looking Back on a Year of Turbulence: The Visual Story of 2025

0

A president returned to power in America and rattled the global order. A wildfire, almost unfathomably, ravaged populated neighborhoods of Los Angeles. A fragile cease-fire took hold in the Gaza war, and a conflict in Sudan wore on.

Over the course of a turbulent year, photographers captured those and other events with intrepidness and determination — even as they so often put themselves at risk. Doggedly, they trailed a young mayoral candidate as he electrified his base in New York. In cities across the United States, they were on the front lines of an increasingly aggressive immigration crackdown.

In their bold photographs, they show their own neighbors eking out life amid the rubble of their destroyed homelands. Their diligence allows us to peek inside a quiet vigil for a coyote returning to its pups, and to observe a tender hug between a boy and a man with 100 years between them.

Looking back on the year ​through ​those fleeting moments gives us a chance to reflect on the world, ​and endeavor to understand it better.

Dionne Searcey

January

I noticed this woman frantically trying to get into her property. No help was coming. She had folks who were working nearby who started helping her. In that moment, it felt like they were family, fighting this encroaching fire together with whatever resources they had. This was after they took a break, almost in an emotional collapse.Mark Abramson

It was a surreal experience. These ordinary neighborhoods and landmarks I knew turned into cinematic scenes of orange balls and people carrying their lives in bags. There’s a mental calculation between the picture you want to take and the risk you want to take. That’s what was going through my head. I was watching the land and the escape routes.Philip Cheung

Usually when we enter, we come in through the colonnade in the Rose Garden, but for this one we came in from inside. We were at the side of the resolute desk and he was pensive, just listening a lot on a video call. I really hadn’t seen him in that position before.Eric Lee

Fishing was such a big part of the community, so I was trying to get a sense of what life was like for fishermen. It was so cold I could barely use my hands. It was a nice moment where I saw them gutting their catch, and every single seagull in the fjord arrived. A beautiful place.Ivor Prickett

I was struggling to find something that wasn’t just completely destroyed, something that showed human life and habitation. Besides maybe one house that didn’t burn, it was kind of hard to tell what you even were looking at. I thought the pool was something you could relate to. Times were had there.Kyle Grillot

February

Communication was a big problem. We wrote our WhatsApp numbers on big sheets of paper and left them on the sidewalk, but nobody was able to enter or leave the hotel. We managed to get some numbers and started chatting with people detained inside the building. After chatting with Artemis, we found that her room was facing my hotel. We found a way to be right in front of the room, and she came to the window.Federico Rios

It was a much-anticipated meeting. It was not expected to be contentious at all. Then it turned into a full-on yelling match. It became so bad. It was incredible to be in the room, to witness it all and to photograph it, and to see firsthand how foreign diplomacy is worked out.Doug Mills

When the city fell, we were stuck at home for two or three days. Then the Red Cross started going out and collecting bodies. They put them in the general hospital, but there were too many. They didn’t have any more space. Identification was complicated. Some had been dead for five or six days.Guerchom Ndebo

These were the first pictures of deportees being brought to Guantánamo Bay, where they were going to be housed. It was very rewarding that I was there to capture it, because people need to see what’s going on and to understand where they are going. Immigration is one of the No. 1 issues in the country.Doug Mills

A lot of people were going back to their homes for the first time. This little boy had come back and stepped on a mine. Many people think of war as the dangers during active combat, but there are so many casualties after a war finishes. These are the quiet stories that speak volumes about how war has tentacles everywhere.Lynsey Addario

March

I took their pictures because I felt they were clinging to life, tending to their wounds and trying to rebuild their lives with the simplest of means. This was a year full of challenges, with none of the essential resources we need for our journalistic work. I worked under immense pressure, but I was committed to conveying images from Gaza.Saher Alghorra

We were gathering on the South Lawn for the president’s departure to Mar-a-Lago and, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Elon Musk. He had stopped short of the driveway, so he was out of the presence of the cameras. I felt like that lurking feeling was a summary of his role in the administration.Haiyun Jiang

This was President Trump’s first opportunity to address Congress, and the Democrats were clearly against everything he was saying. As the president was speaking, he had made a statement that the Democrats felt was very false, and so they all simultaneously held up these signs. It was a really intriguing and unusual scene.Kenny Holston

Just days later, those same troops we were with took over the river and presidential palace, and within two weeks it was all under the control of the Sudanese military. Declan Walsh [chief Africa correspondent] and I were some of the first journalists to set foot inside Khartoum proper. That was a huge moment and a privileged position.Ivor Prickett

May

Artillery positions are now completely underground and concealed, because they were being targeted by Russian drones. The entire landscape of war photography in Ukraine has changed in less than a year. It’s very difficult to see much anymore, because to try to fight out in the open, like in this photograph, would expose you to being targeted immediately.Tyler Hicks

The play was really an escape for some of these kids. Losing a school is traumatic, but some of these kids lost their homes as well. Their school had been an oasis in the hills. It had a yurt and an orchard, and the kids used to garden and take care of chickens. It was their own wonderland.Isadora Kosofsky

It was a small, intimate and tearful service. There are murals of Mr. Floyd around Houston’s Third Ward, where he grew up, and his old friends were out by them on the anniversary. They felt like progress had been made in how Black men were treated by the police, but that there was still a lot of work to do.Meridith Kohut

They were standing on the steps of the courthouse in protest before they went up to hear the verdict in the case. She was the face of quiet determination and fortitude. I’ve never met a group of people who were so unbelievably brave, focused and determined. I was proud to tell their story.Victor Blue

I was working with a wildlife ecologist. We set up a camera and immediately retreated. I stood in the forest hiding behind a tree on top of a stepladder. I waited for four or five hours until one of the coyote parents came back. I just started furiously clicking the remote trigger in my hand, hoping I had something good.Loren Elliott

June

Mahmoud Khalil had missed the birth of his son. So much rhetoric swirls around stories such as this that it tends to distract us from the real lives at the center of it. I always strive to find intimacy in my work. It’s especially meaningful when someone welcomes you to their home after such an ordeal.Todd Heisler

There was a little scuffle, and I saw the mounted police. They moved in really quickly and started pushing all the protesters out. It was this perfectly timed moment: The horse with his tongue out looking visibly stressed, and the intense focus of the police officer looking down the sight of his weapon. This image for me told the story.Philip Cheung

I kept my eye on what they would do after all the principals had gone into the palace. What were they going to do with this whole show? Sure enough, some of the palace guards started rolling up the red carpet that leads all the way to ‘the Beast.’ It was interesting to see them doing that in those outfits.Haiyun Jiang

He was greeting the residents there, and I could tell they already knew who he was. They looked at him with pride. I think this moment really shows who he is. When he greets people, he always greets with both hands. He smiles and is genuine and sincere. He makes sure he spends time with every person he speaks with.Shuran Huang

The hospital courtyard was filled with the dead, and the screams still echo in my mind. One woman’s screams caught my attention in this photo, but as soon as I looked through my camera, I found that in every corner there was a scene— a farewell, a story, a moment of grief.Saher Alghorra

July

There were belongings everywhere, even in the trees. If you went to camp as a child, you can remember this stuff your parents packed for you. In Texas, everybody buys a trunk, and my mom and I would decorate it and fill it with all of the things I needed. Seeing these trunks scattered around, broken — it was so moving.Callaghan O’Hare

Members of the community, who contacted us knowing we had been documenting recent Israeli expansion across the West Bank, stood together as the homes were razed. When we reached the site, families were gathered in solidarity, drinking tea and picking through the debris for whatever could still be saved.Daniel Berehulak

Many of the detentions I photographed were so abrupt that we were unable to glean any information about the person. Often nearby family members were left reeling, sobbing, unable or unwilling to speak. Sometimes we could barely get a person’s country of origin as they were whisked off. Throughout the day, this tableau plays out over and over.Todd Heisler

What shocked me while taking this photo was that, before capturing it, I had tried to play with him to make him feel at ease. But I found the child like something without a soul — extremely frail, unresponsive to any of my attempts. His eyes stared, barely able to open. Taking this photo tore me apart.Saher Alghorra

August

I saw all those people trying to get in those trucks, full of hope. But we later went to that camp where Sudanese refugees were being relocated, and many of them didn’t find good living conditions. Instead, they were just surviving. Whenever we went to this transit center, there was always something new and sad we found.Arlette Bashizi

Everyone told us he had one of the worst times there. He didn’t want to talk about his experience. He was traumatized by it. They put him in an isolation cell with another guy who had a horrible time there, and they both thought they were dying. The bond they made in isolation was pretty strong.Adriana Loureiro Fernandez

This was a day or so after the strike. A few people were looking into the pit of the basement. As so often happens in these locations, life goes on around it. These girls were playing and circling the building, running up and down exposed stairwells. It was a combination of destruction and reflection.Finbarr O’Reilly

I rolled up and saw a bunch of different agencies searching a car. I noticed a bus coming by. There were these kids on board filming the scene. Their faces were so shocked seeing that level of law enforcement. We’re used to seeing Secret Service and the police, but these were federal agencies we’d never seen before.Eric Lee

I followed the ventriloquist from her house to her performance. The whole train was looking at her. She was doing a little performing, doing her voices and things. People were coming back from work, everybody was tired, and you could see how delighted everybody was. They probably came home and told everybody about it. It was a fun train ride.Dina Litovsky

September

This was almost like a Rembrandt when you looked out and saw all of this high-brass military sitting as stiff and straight and proper as you can. Never had that many generals been assembled in one location to hear the president speak. It was so striking to see them sitting in chairs like they were at the movie theater.Doug Mills

Being in Saudi Arabia and photographing something like this is difficult to begin with. I was worried for myself and wasn’t so sure how this would be received. The stories themselves were sensitive. The kids made things a bit easier; they were cute and innocent and playful.Iman al-Dabbagh

I had just taken the name of a person and was standing there looking down. Kirk was shot, and I heard the sound. I was right up next to the barricade, and I was swept down with everyone. I was on the ground, and I was next to people screaming, ‘Stay down.’ Some people started running away. It was chaotic.Tess Crowley

It was an early morning and the mood was joyful. The swimmer in this photo, Heather Hempel, saw it after it was published and emailed me to say, ‘That photo captures one of the most magical moments of my life. I had just swum the race of a lifetime.’ I loved getting to hear her perspective on the moment.Erin Schaff

October

This building had been hit multiple times. But really, very little is done at these places. It’s unfortunately a common occurrence. If a building is hit now, with no reports of possible injuries, they often won’t respond because the fire department gets attacked when they go. If people are involved, then they’ll go out and do what they can.Tyler Hicks

I had spent time with another hostage who had been released, and Ziv Berman was her friend. I had heard all about him, so it was a meaningful moment for me to photograph him. To see him standing in a strong and powerful way after two years in captivity, taking his body almost outside the airplane, was really special.Avishag Shaar-Yashuv

I took this photo three days after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, and floodwaters were continuing to rise in New River. It can be difficult to communicate the scale of a disaster from ground level, which is why I flew a drone to get an aerial perspective. It was shocking to see how much of the area was underwater.Erin Schaff

At that specific rally, the vibe was super energized but also had a feeling in the air of, we can’t let up and have to keep pushing until the very last minute. It was pretty electric. The crowd was very in tune with him. I wanted to try to show the vastness of his base, and the strength of it.Vincent Alban

Most of the people there were families, and people out watching. I saw the tear gas, and I ducked and put on my gas mask. They were throwing canisters. That was right at the end, when the agents were trying to leave. It was like the grand finale at the fireworks show, like, ‘We’ll just throw it all out there.’Jamie Kelter Davis

Curation

Tanner Curtis, Jeffrey Henson Scales

Interviews

Dionne Searcey

Editing

Natasha King

Digital Design

Matt Ruby, Tina Zhou

Print Design

Mary Jane Callister, Felicia Vasquez

Production

Sarah Bahr, Peter Blair, Eric Dyer, Ilaria Parogni

Additional Production

Justin Baek

New York Times Director of Photography

Meaghan Looram