Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s new leader, would like better relations with Moscow, Qatar said.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Syria’s new leader is keen to build ties with Moscow.

At talks in the Russian capital on Thursday, Al Thani assured the Russian leader that interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa was seeking to build relations with Russia, after the removal of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was a close ally of Moscow.

“As for Syria, a few days ago President al-Sharaa was in Qatar, and we spoke with him about the historical and strategic relationship between Syria and Russia,” Al Thani told Putin.

The talks come as Putin attempts to retain Russia’s use of two military bases in Syria to maintain its influence in the region after al-Assad fled the country in December as opposition fighters led by Ahmed al-Sharaa closed in on the capital.

Putin said Syria’s situation, rocked by sectarian violence in recent weeks, was of serious importance.

“We would like to do everything to ensure that Syria, firstly, remains a sovereign, independent and territorially integral state, and we would like to discuss with you the possibility of providing assistance to the Syrian people, including humanitarian assistance,” the Kremlin leader told the emir.

The two men also discussed the situation in Gaza, where Qatar played a key role in brokering a January ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas for a three-phase ceasefire.

Israel restarted its offensive in the besieged enclave in March, and talks to try to restore the ceasefire have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough.

“We reached an agreement regarding Gaza a few months back, but Israel has not adhered to the agreement,” Al Thani said.

“Qatar, in its role as a mediator, will strive to bridge differing perspectives in an effort to reach an agreement to end the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

Putin told the emir, “We know that Qatar is making very serious efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Unfortunately, the initiatives put forward, including by you, have not been implemented. Peaceful people continue to die in Palestine, which is an absolute tragedy of today.”

Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying there was no substantive discussion of the war in Ukraine, but Putin expressed thanks for Qatar’s involvement in arranging the return of children from both countries who were separated from their parents during the war.

The 2025 World Press Photo of the Year has been awarded to Samar Abu Elouf, a Doha-based Palestinian photographer, for her poignant image of Mahmoud Ajjour, a young boy severely injured while fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza.

Captured for The New York Times newspaper, the photograph powerfully conveys Mahmoud’s suffering and resilience after an explosion in March last year left one of his arms severed and the other mutilated.

Since her evacuation from Gaza in December 2023, Abu Elouf has been documenting the experiences of individuals like Mahmoud, who sought medical treatment abroad.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, an Amsterdam-based organisation, described the image as “quiet” yet deeply impactful, capturing the intimate suffering of one child while also speaking to the wider repercussions of global conflict.

The winner and two finalists were announced on Thursday, during the press opening of the World Press Photo Exhibition in Amsterdam. The exhibition will travel to more than 60 locations worldwide, showcasing some of the year’s most compelling and visually striking stories.

For 70 years, the World Press Photo Contest has honoured the best in photojournalism. This year’s contest received at least 59,000 submissions from photographers in 141 countries, featuring powerful stories of struggle, defiance, warmth and courage.

Here are some of the top images of this year:

The winning photo depicts nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour, whose arms were severed in an Israeli attack in Gaza last year.

The solemn portrait of a nine-year-old Palestinian boy, whose arms were severed and mutilated during an Israeli attack on Gaza City, has won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year award.

The picture, given the accolade on Thursday, was taken by Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times newspaper, and depicts Mahmoud Ajjour.

“One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how when Mahmoud first came to the realisation that his arms were amputated, the first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you’?” said Abu Elouf.

Ajjour was evacuated to Doha, Qatar, following the Israeli explosion in March last year, an attack in the continuing war that has killed at least 51,025 Palestinians, wounded about 116,432 others and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.

The photographer is also from Gaza and was herself evacuated in December 2023. She now takes photos of badly wounded Palestinians based in Doha.

“This is a quiet photo that speaks loudly. It tells the story of one boy, but also of a wider war that will have an impact for generations,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, World Press Photo’s executive director.

The jury praised the photo’s “strong composition and attention to light” and its thought-provoking subject matter, especially questions raised over Mahmoud’s future.

It also lauded how the photo depicts “the dehumanisation of a region, and about the relentless targeting of journalists in Gaza alongside the continued denial of access to international reporters seeking to expose the realities of this war”.

The boy is now learning to play games on his phone, write, and open doors with his feet, but still needs special assistance for most daily activities, such as eating and dressing, the jury said.

“Mahmoud’s dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child,” said the World Press Photo organisers in a statement.

The statement cited the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA)’s recent estimation that by December last year, Gaza had more child amputees per capita than anywhere else in the world.

“Children are disproportionately impacted by the war,” the jury stated.

Runner-up prize

The jury also selected two photos for the runner-up prize.

The first, entitled “Droughts in the Amazon” by Musuk Nolte for Panos Pictures and the Bertha Foundation, shows a man on a dried-up river bed in the Amazon carrying supplies to a village once accessible by boat.

The second, “Night Crossing” by John Moore shooting for Getty Images, depicts Chinese migrants huddling near a fire during a cold rain after crossing the US-Mexico border.

The jury sifted through 59,320 photographs from 3,778 photojournalists to select 42 prize-winning shots from around the world.

Nairobi-based Luis Tato won in the “Stories” category for the Africa region for a selection of photos depicting Kenya’s youth uprising.

Jerome Brouillet won in the “Singles” category Asia Pacific and Oceania for his iconic picture of surfer Gabriel Medina seemingly floating above the waves.

Clarens Siffroy won in the “Stories” category North and Central America for his coverage of the gang crisis in Haiti.

Finally, Anselmo Cunha won in the “Singles” category for South America for his photo of a Boeing 727-200 stranded at Salgado Filho International Airport in Brazil.