From an emotional Theresa May announcing her resignation as Prime Minister to devastating damage caused by Storm Dorian in the Bahamas and haunting images of the civil war in Syria, AFP has published a selection of its best and most poignant photos of the year.
The spectacular images capture the historic events that shaped 2019 and set the stage for 2020.
The year saw an explosion of demonstrations across the world as people demanded an overhaul of entrenched political systems and action on climate change.
Incredible images show a leopard attacking an Indian man in Lamba Pind area in Jalandhar and rapper Cardi B arriving for the 2019 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mass anti-government protests broke out from Lebanon and Iraq to Hong Kong and Colombia as people stood up to their governments.
Young climate activist Greta Thunberg made waves on a global scale and helped to drag the climate emergency into the mainstream, helping to establish ‘Fridays for Future’ marches which saw school students skip school to march for the future of the planet and bring city centres to a standstill.
Other photos express the events that unfolded in the US political sphere, during a year in which Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Images show the damages wrought by climate disasters including Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas which killed at least 54 people, while Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique and also wrought damage in Zimbabwe and Malawi in March, unleashing hurricane-force winds and rains and claiming 750 lives.
Cardi B arrives for the 2019 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019, in New York. The Gala raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute. The Gala’s 2019 theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion’ inspired by Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay ‘Notes on Camp’
Police personnel fire tear-gas shells to disperse Pro-Democracy protestors in the Sham Shui Po Area of Hong Kong on August 14. Sometimes-violent demonstrations have wracked the semi-autonomous city since March 15, with millions taking to the streets to demand democratic reforms and police accountability
Russia’s Dina Averina competes in the Individual Multiple event of the Rhythmic Gymnastics at the 2019 European Games in Minsk on June 22
An emotional Theresa May pictured on May 24, 2019 as she announced her resignation outside 10 Downing street in central London. During her time as Prime Minister, May struggled and ultimately failed to pass a Brexit deal through parliament and the beleaguered leader announced her decision to step down following a Conservative Party mutiny over her remaining in power
Firefighters work to control flames from a backfire during the Maria fire in Santa Paula, California on Friday, November 1. The fast-moving Maria fire stretched to 9,000 acres and forced the evacuations of 8,000 people and 2,300 structures
A leopard attacks an Indian man as another one runs away from the animal in Lamba Pind area in Jalandhar on January 31. After a leopard was spotted in a house in Lamba Pind area of Jalandhar city, subsequent attempts to capture it led to the animal attacking at least six people, though none was injured seriously, local media said
A man evacuated a young bombing casualty after a reported air strike by regime forces and their allies in the jihadist-held Syrian town of Maaret Al-Noman in the southern Idlib province on May 26. On the day the photo was taken, regime air strikes killed 12 civilians including four at a market in a jihadist bastion in northwest Suria, a war monitor said
Young climate activist Greta Thunberg during the UN Climate Action Summit at the United Nations Headquarters on September 23, in a speech that made waves across the globe. During the event the teenager told world leaders: ‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.’ She accused politicians of ignoring the science behind the climate crisis and told them: ‘We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth – how dare you!’
People and students hold placards and a banner showing 16-year-old Swedish political activist Greta Thunberg, who seeks to stop global warming and climate change, as they take part in a protest against global warming in central Rome on March 15
Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg sits next to a placard reading ‘school strike for climate’ on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, on January 25 in Davos, eastern Switzerland
Iraqi protesters gather at Tahrir square during ongoing anti-government demonstrations in the capital Baghdad on October 31. Iraq’s president vowed today to hold early elections in response to a month of deadly protests, but demonstrators said the move fell far short of their demands for a political overhaul. At least 400 people have died since the leaderless uprising shook Iraq on October 1, with thousands of Iraqis taking to the streets in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite southern Iraq decrying corruption, poor services, lack of jobs and calling for an end to the political system that was imposed after the 2003 U.S. invasion
A Yellow Vest protester wearing a mask depicting the French President on which is written ‘psycho’, gestures behind flames rising from barricades, in Paris on March 16, during the 18th consecutive Saturday of demonstrations called by the ‘Yellow Vest’ (gilets jaunes) movement. Nationwide protest denounced the French President’s policies and his top-down style of governing, high cost of living, government tax reforms and called for more ‘social and economic justice’
People demonstrate at Plaza Italia on the fifth straight day of street violence which erupted over a now suspended hike in metro ticket prices, in Santiago on October 22. The protests were also in response to increased cost of living, privatisation and inequality in the country. On 28 October, President Piñera changed eight ministries of his cabinet in response. On November 15, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new constitution
A demonstrator is hit by a riot police water cannon during a protest against the government in Santiago on November 18. Chileans have been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues
Kurdish demonstrators hurl rocks at a Turkish military vehicle on November 8 during a joint Turkish-Russian patrol near the town of Al-Muabbadah in the northeastern part of Hassakah on the Syrian border with Turkey. On 6 October 2019, Trump ordered American troops to withdraw from northeastern Syria, effectively pulling the plug on US support for the Kurds situated there. The move resulted in Turkey launching a military offensive in the region, resulting in the displacement of over 300,000 people and the deaths of more than 70 civilians in Syria and 20 civilians in Turkey
A man suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group walks past members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) just after leaving IS’ last holdout of Baghouz, in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on March 4
Women and children evacuated from the Islamic State (IS) group’s embattled holdout of Baghouz arrive at a screening area held by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, on March 6. Veiled women carrying babies and wounded men on crutches hobbled out of the last jihadist village in eastern Syria on March 6 after US-backed forces pummelled the besieged enclave. The Syrian Democratic Forces leading the assault expected more fighters to surrender with their families in tow before moving deeper in the Islamic State group’s last redoubt
Smoke and fire billow after shelling on the Islamic State group’s last holdout of Baghouz, in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province on March 3. Kurdish-led forces backed by US warplanes rained artillery fire and air strikes on besieged and outgunned jihadists making a desperate last stand in a Syrian village
Turkish soldiers and Turkey-backed Syrian fighters gather on the northern outskirts of the Syrian city of Manbij near the Turkish border on October 14 as Turkey and its allies continue their assault on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria
A woman stands along the side of a road on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16 with the smoke plumes of tire fires billowing in the background to decrease visibility for Turkish warplanes during the continuing deadly cross-border Turkish offensive against Syria’s Kurdish forces that sparked an international outcry
Men walk towards an area controlled by fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF,) after leaving the Islamic State (IS) group’s last holdout of Baghouz, in Syria’s northern Deir Ezzor province on February 22
A man holds a boy during clashes with police outside the refugee camp of Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos, on September 29. At least one migrant died on September 29, 2019, after a fire broke out in Moria, the over-crowded refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece’s Health Ministry said. Police were firing tear gas to control crowds who started rioting after the fire ignited inside the camp
Protesters clash with riot police near the Greek Parliament in Athens on January 20 during a demonstration against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia. The proposal faced resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great’s conquests
A woman covers her face with the national flag, as Algerian protesters demonstrate in the capital Algiers against ailing president’s bid for a fifth term on March 8. Tens of thousands protested across Algeria in rallies against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term, despite the defiant leader’s warning of the risk of ‘chaos’
A protester prepares to shoot an arrow with a bow as riot police fire tear gas towards the bridge protesters attempt to climb down to a road below, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus and from police, in Hung Hom district in Hong Kong on November 18. Dozens of Hong Kong protesters escaped a besieged university campus on November 18 by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists
A woman holds up an umbrella and license plates, one that reads ‘love’, during violent protests between riot police and demonstrators in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on October 1. Police fanned out across Hong Kong on October 1 in a bid to deter pro-democracy protests as the city marked communist China’s 70th birthday, with local officials attending a closed door flag-raising ceremony behind closed doors
The elusive chief of the IS group al-Baghdadi appeared for the first time in five years in a propaganda video released on April 29 by the jihadist organisation. It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, IS’s final bastion in eastern Syria. Baghdadi, an Iraqi from Samarra, blew himself up in a US raid in the nearby province of Idlib on October 26. The raid was a major blow to the group, which has lost territories it held in Syria and Iraq in a series of military defeats by the U.S-led coalition and Syrian and Iraqi allies. The group named a successor to Baghdadi days later, but little is known about him or how the group’s structure has been affected by the successive blows
An aerial view taken on October 27 shows the site that was hit by helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the Idlib province along the border with Turkey, where ‘groups linked to the Islamic State (IS) group’ were present, according to a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria. The helicopters targeted a home and a car on the outskirts of Barisha, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, after US media said IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was believed to be dead following a US military raid in the same province. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the helicopters likely belonged to the US-led military coalition that has been fighting the extremist group in Syria
Riot police fire tear gas to disperse supporters of Bolivian ex-President Evo Morales and locals discontented with the political situation during a protest in La Paz on November 13
Brazilian former president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is carried on the shoulders through the crowd of supporters during a gathering outside the metalworkers’ union building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 9. Brazil’s leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva walked free from jail after a year and a half behind bars for corruption following a court ruling that could release thousands of convicts
Riot police are reached by a petrol bomb during clashes with demonstrators protesting against the economic policies of the government of President Sebastian Pinera, in Santiago, on November 4. Unrest began in Chile last October 18 with protests against a rise in transport tickets and other austerity measures and descended into vandalism, looting, and clashes between demonstrators and police. Protesters are angry about low salaries and pensions, poor public healthcare and education, and a yawning gap between rich and poor
Police detain protesters and students after they tried to flee outside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus in the Hung Hom district of Hong Kong on November 19. A dwindling number of exhausted pro-democracy protesters barricaded inside the Hong Kong university defied warnings on November 19 to surrender, as a police siege of the campus stretched through a third day and China sent fresh signals that its patience with nearly six months of unrest was running out
A protester defaces the Hong Kong emblem after protesters broke into the government headquarters in Hong Kong on July 1, on the 22nd anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain to China. Anti-government protesters stormed Hong Kong’s parliament building late on July 1 after successfully smashing their way through reinforced glass windows and prizing open metal shutters that were blocking their way
Protesters lower themselves down with a rope down from a bridge to a highway, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus and from police, in Hung Hom district in Hong Kong on November 18. Dozens of Hong Kong protesters escaped a besieged university campus on November 18 by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists
Protesters gather for a rally in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on August 18 in the latest opposition to a planned extradition law that morphed into a wider call for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city
A pro-democracy protester is held by police outside Tsim Sha Tsui Police station during a demonstration against the controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong on August 11. Months of protests in Hong Kong took a major toll on the city’s economy
Pro-democracy activists hold up LED lit letters which read ‘Free HK’ as others shine torch lights, lights from their phones and lasers while forming a human chain on Lion Rock in Hong Kong on September 13. Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists used torches, lanterns and laser pens to light up two of the city’s best-known hillsides on September 13 night in an eye-catching protest alongside an annual festival. The evening of September 13 marks the start of the mid-autumn festival, one of the most important dates in the Chinese calendar, and is traditionally a time for thanksgiving, spending time with family and praying for good fortune
Police chase down a couple wearing facemasks in the central district in Hong Kong on October 5, a day after the city’s leader outlawed face coverings at protests invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century
Pro-democracy protesters react as police fire water cannons outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 15
The steeple and spire of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15. A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven into Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, before being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012. Assange had taken refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition and was arrested on April 11. His arrest caught media attention, and news of it went viral on social media, and the whistle-blower now faces extradition to the US. On May 23, a grand jury added 17 new espionage charges against him bringing a total of 18 federal charges against Assange in the US
Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn is escorted as he walks out of the Tokyo Detention House following his release on bail in Tokyo on April 25. Ghosn left his Toyko detention centre after winning bail on April 25 to prepare his defence against multiple charges of financial misconduct
Elizabeth, a South Sudanese Refugee, poses inside a refugee transition camp in Aru for South Sudanese who have just arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 12. A recent increase in fighting between South Sudanese government forces and rebels groups along the South Sudan and DRC border has cause thousands to seek refuge in DRC since the beginning of the year
Brazilian farmer Helio Lombardo Do Santos and a dog walk through a burnt area of the Amazon rainforest, near Porto Velho, Rondonia state, Brazil, on August 26. The fires led to a global uproar and a diplomatic spat between France and Brazil
Smokes rises from forest fires in Altamira, Para state, Brazil, in the Amazon basin, on August 27. Brazil accepted foreign aid to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest on the condition the Latin American country controls the money
A stray polar bear walks on a road on the outskirts of the Russian industrial city of Norilsk on June 17. The hungry polar bear has been spotted on the outskirts of Norilsk, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat
Vehicles buried in hail are seen in the streets in the eastern area of Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on June 30. The accumulation of hail in the streets of Guadalajara buried vehicles and damaged homes, but there were no reports of injuries. The strange hailstorm left the Mexican city buried in up to 2 meters of ice in the middle of summer
US President Donald Trump steps into the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, as North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un looks on, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) on June 30
United States’ forward Megan Rapinoe celebrates scoring her team’s first goal during the France 2019 Women’s World Cup quarter-final football match between France and United States, on June 28, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris
Palestinian men perform fire breathing on the beach as an entertainment for children during the summer vacation in Gaza City on August 1
Tatiana Weston-Webb from Brazil rides the swell on August 24, 2019, in Teahupoo, Tahiti, during a freesurf session at the 2019 Tahiti Pro event. Watson-Webb is a Brazilian/American surfer from Kauai, Hawaii
American and Mexican families play with a toy called ‘up and down’ (Seesaw swing) over the Mexican border with US at the Anapra zone in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico on July 28. The pink seesaws were installed at the border fence separating Sunland Park, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico and united children from either side of the border. The scheme was devised by Ronald Rael, an architecture professor at the University of California, and San Jose State design associate professor Virginia San Fratello
A worker stands near victims’ bones recovered from pits which were used as mass grave during 1994 Rwandan genocide and hidden under houses in Kabuga, in the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda on April 9. This April the nation of Rwanda marked 25 years since the genocide that killed 800,000 people and shocked the world. Rwandans mourned for 100 days, the time it took in 1994 for about a tenth of the country to be massacred
Enia Joaquin Luis, 11, wakes up beside her sister Luisa, 6, under plastic sheets for protect themselves from rain as they stay in shelter at the stands of Ring ground in Buzi, Mozambique, on March 23. The death toll in Mozambique on March 23, 2019 climbed to 417 after a cyclone pummelled swathes of the southern African country, flooding thousands of square kilometres, as the UN stepped up calls for more help for survivors. Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique in March, unleashing hurricane-force winds and rains that flooded the hinterland and drenched eastern Zimbabwe leaving a trail of destruction
An aerial view of damage from Hurricane Dorian on September 5, in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas
Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser shows US President Donald Trump his socks after the President arrives at Chennault International Airport May 14 in Lake Charles, Louisiana
An explosion goes off at the start of the night shoot on the main firing line at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun show in Bullitt County near West Point, Kentucky on April 12. The Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun show attracts thousands of visitors from across the country and around the world for the two day event featuring machine gun owners firing millions of rounds. Machine gun owners can reserve spots on the main firing line, but the waiting list is up to 10 years. On a secondary firing line other vendors rent out machine guns to anyone willing to pay for a few rounds. Started in 1965 by Biff Sumner and friends having a cookout and shooting machine guns it grew into the biggest machine gun shoot in the world
Relatives mourn during a burial ceremony of bomb blast victim at a cemetery in Colombo on April 24, three days after a series of suicide attacks targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s government on April 24 acknowledged ‘major’ lapses over its failure to prevent the horrific Easter attacks that killed more than 350 people, despite prior intelligence warnings
Moruti Mthalane of South Africa is punched by Masayuki Kuroda of Japan during their IBF flyweight title boxing bout in Tokyo on May 13. Moruti Mthalane is a South African professional boxer. He is a two-time IBF flyweight champion having held the title since 2018 and previously from 2009 to 2014
Ahmad Sayed Rahman, a five-year-old Afghan boy who lost his right leg when he was hit by a bullet in the crossfire of a battle, dances with his prosthetic leg at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital for war victims and the disabled, in Kabul on May 7. With his hands in the air and an infectious grin spreading from ear to ear, a young Afghan boy whirls around a Kabul hospital room on his new prosthetic leg. The boy, five-year-old Ahmad Sayed Rahman, has become a social media star in Afghanistan and beyond after a short video of him effortlessly dancing on his new limb was published on Twitter
Jose, 27, with his son Jose Daniel, 6, is searched by US Customs and Border Protection Agent Frank Pino, May 16, in El Paso, Texas. Father and son spent a month trekking across Mexico from Guatemala. About 1,100 migrants from Central America and other countries were crossing into the El Paso border sector each day. US Customs and Border Protection Public Information Officer Frank Pino, said that Border Patrol resources and personnel are being stretched by the ongoing migrant crisis, and that the real targets of the Border Patrol are slipping through the cracks
Health workers carry a coffin containing a victim of Ebola virus on May 16 in Butembo. The city of Butembo was at the epicentre of the Ebola crisis, causing over 1000 deaths. The Red Cross warned that critical underfunding could force it to cut vital work to rein in the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a time when case numbers are soaring
Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida during their wedding ceremony in Bangkok. Thailand announced on May 1 that King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s long-time consort had become his fourth wife, bestowed with the title Queen Suthida – a surprise move just days before his coronation
MSC Magnifica is seen from one of the canals leading into the Venice Lagoon on June 9, 2019 in Venice. Thousands of people took to the streets in Venice on June 8, calling for a ban on large cruise ships in the city following a collision between a massive vessel and a tourist boat
A child swims in a pool filled with plastic bottles during an awareness campaign to mark the World Oceans Day in Bangkok on June 8
An Italian Venitian couple dressed in period costumes pose as they take part in the ‘Fetes Galantes’ fancy dress evening at the Chateau de Versailles on May 27
Football fans line the streets to see the Liverpool football team take part in an open-top bus parade around Liverpool, north-west England on June 2, after winning they won the UEFA Champions League final football match between Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool’s celebrations stretched long into the night after they became six-time European champions with goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi to beat Tottenham – and the party was set to move to England on Sunday where tens of thousands of fans awaited the team’s return. The 2-0 win in the sweltering Metropolitano Stadium delivered a first trophy in seven years for Liverpool, and – finally – a first win in seven finals for coach Jurgen Klopp
In a photo taken on June 16, swimmers rest beside a wave pool at the Munsu water park in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea
In a photo taken on September 9, 2019 a child drives a miniature electric toy car across Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang. North Korea was marking the 71st anniversary of its foundation, with a public holiday
This aerial photo shows the boat of Captain Edward Kean passing an iceberg in Bonavista Bay on June 29 in Newfoundland, Canada. The abundance of icebergs, which continue to venture further into Canadian waters, has created a new form of tourism, iceberg sightseeing. In 2018, more than 500,000 tourists visited the province of Newfoundland, according to the estimates of the provincial government
Explosive charges blow up the eastern pylons of Genoa’s Morandi motorway bridge on June 28 in Genoa. Some of the remains of Genoa’s Morandi motorway bridge were destroyed on June 28 almost eleven months after its partial collapse during a storm killed 43 people and injured dozens
A June 13 hand out image photographed by Steffen Olsen of the Centre for Ocean and Ice at the Danish Meteoroligical Institute shows sled dogs wading through standing water on the sea ice during an expedition in North Western Greenland. The ice in the area forms pretty reliably every winter and is very thick which means that there are relatively few fractures for meltwater to drain through
Palestinian families break their fast next to a building destroyed in recent confrontations between Hamas and Israel, in the Gaza Strip on May 18, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan
A group of Fulani militiamen pose for a picture with their weapons on July 6 at an informal demobilisation camp in Sevare run by Sekou Bolly, a local Fulani businessman whose goal is to take away young Fulani from the morse of jihadism
A vendor shows a shirt depicting a portrait of Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman at a store next to the narco-saint Jesus Malverde chapel in Culiacan, Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico, on July 15
Richard Tyler Blevins , aka Ninja, speaks to the crowd at the start of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals – Round Two on July 27 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, in New York City
Journalists gather around the ancient Egyptian mummy of Sennedjem, an official who lived during the reigns of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II in the 19th dynasty (13th-12th century BC), after being removed from its coffin for fumigation at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in the capital Cairo’s Old Cairo district on September 21
The peleton rides past the pyramid of The Louvre Museum designed by Ieoh Ming Pei during the twenty-first and final stage of the 106th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Rambouillet and Paris Champs-Elysses in Paris on July 28
A trailer walks past an Alpine ibex as he competes in the 170 km Mount Blanc Ultra Trail (UTMB) race around the Mont-Blanc crossing France, Italy and Swiss, on August 31, in the Tete aux Vents near Chamonix
Spectators refresh themselves in a swimming pool as they watch cyclists riding during the fourth stage of the 106th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Reims and Nancy, eastern France, on July 9
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on during a meeting in New York on September 25, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly
US President Donald Trump arrives for a ‘Keep America Great’ rally at Sudduth Coliseum at the Lake Charles Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on October 11
An ankle monitor is seen on Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou as she leaves her Vancouver home to appear in British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver on September 30. The 47-year-old Huawei chief financial officer was detained during a stopover at the Vancouver airport last December on a US warrant. The US wants to put Meng on trial for fraud for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks – accusations her lawyers dispute
Guinea-Bissau’s Braima Suncar Dabo (R) helps Aruba’s Jonathan Busby to the finish line during the Men’s 5000m heats at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha on September 27
People queue to say a final farewell to former French President Jacques Chirac as the coffin lie in state at the Saint-Louis-des-Invalides cathedral at the Invalides memorial complex in central Paris on September 29
Former French President Jacques Chirac’s daughter Claude Chirac lays her hand on her father’s coffin as relatives attend a private burial for the late president at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris on September 30
This undated picture released by Korean Central News Agency on October 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un riding a white horse amongst the first snow at Mouth Paektu
This multi-exposure picture shows USA’s Simone Biles performing on the beam during the women’s team final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on October 8
South Africa’s flanker Siya Kolisi (centre) lifts the Webb Ellis Cup as they celebrate winning the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup final match between England and South Africa at the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama on November 2
A room in the flooded Gritti Palace is pictured during an exceptional ‘Alta Acqua’ high tide water level on November 12, 2019 in Venice. Powerful rainstorms hit Italy on November 12, with the worst affected areas in the south and Venice, where there was widespread flooding
School students perform the haka during a vigil in Christchurch on March 18, three days after a shooting incident at two mosques in the city that claimed the lives of 50 Muslim worshippers. New Zealand tightened gun laws in the wake of its worst modern-day massacre
A camel performs during a ‘dance competition’ held during the Pushkar Camel Fair in Pushkar, in the western state of Rajasthan, on November 5. Thousands of livestock traders from the region come to the traditional camel fair where livestock, mainly camels, are traded. The annual camel and livestock fair is one of the world’s largest camel fairs
A girl cries during her father’s funeral organised by government opposition in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on October 16. he Haitian opposition on October 9 rejected President Jovenel Moise’s appeal for dialogue, as the country’s main cities remained paralyzed after more than a month of often violent protests. Over the past year, Haiti has sunk deeper into political crisis as anti-corruption protests demanding Moise’s resignation roil the destitute Caribbean nation
A boy walks out of the sea while removing oil spilled on Itapuama beach located in the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco state, Brazil, on October 21. arge blobs of oil staining more than 130 beaches in northeastern Brazil began appearing in early September and have now turned up along a 2,000km stretch of the Atlantic coastline. The source of the patches remain a mystery despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s assertions they came from outside the country and were possibly the work of criminals
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts as he leaves from 10 Downing Street in central London on October 23, before heading to the House of Commons for Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQS)
Men, suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, gather in a prison cell in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on October 26. Kurdish sources say around 12,000 IS fighters including Syrians, Iraqis as well as foreigners from 54 countries are being held in Kurdish-run prisons in northern Syria
Mexican National Guard members prevent Central American migrants from crossing the Rio Bravo, in Ciudad Juarez, State of Chihuahua, on June 21. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador suggested Friday he and US counterpart Donald Trump should hold their first meeting in September to review progress on the countries’ recent migration deal
US paratroopers walk back after jumping over Le Mont-Saint-Michel, north-western France on May 18, less than three weeks before the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings
Migrants queue upon their arrival at the harbour of Malaga on August 29 after an inflatable boat carrying 132 migrants was rescued by the Spanish coast guard, off the Spanish coast
A devotee of a Chinese shrine with multiple skewers pierced through his cheeks takes part in a procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket on October 3. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days, with many religious devotees slashing themselves with swords, piercing their cheeks with sharp objects and committing other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community
A dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet performs during the dancing show ‘Degas Danse’ on the sidelines of the exhibition ‘Degas at the Opera’ at the Orsay museum in Paris on October 9
A Syrian boy on his bicycle looks at a convoy of US armoured vehicles patrolling fields near the northeastern town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey, on October 31. US forces accompanied by Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrolled part of Syria’s border with Turkey, in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier in October
Marius Radoi keeps his balance as he walks on the edge of Lake Michigan’s shore line as temperatures dropped to -20 degrees F (-29C) on January 30 in Chicago, Illinois
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, sheds a tear during a press conference calling on Congress to cut funding for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and to defund border detention facilities, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 7
This picture taken on January 3 shows a Vietnamese woman collecting incense sticks in a courtyard in the village of Quang Phu Cau on the outskirts of Hanoi. In Vietnam’s ‘incense village’, hundreds of workers are hard at work dying, drying and whittling down bamboo bark to make the fragrant sticks ahead of the busy lunar new year holiday
Peugeot’s British driver Harry Hunt and Dutch co-driver Wouter Rosegarr compete during Stage 1 of the Dakar 2019 between Lima and Pisco, Peru, on January 7
An indigenous woman from the Pataxo Ha-ha-hae community cries while looking at the Paraopeba river covered in mud, on the sixth day after the collapse of a dam at an iron-ore mine belonging to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale near the town of Brumadinho, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, on January 30
A demonstrator gestures on a burning barricade on January 5 in Paris during an anti-government demonstration called by the yellow vest ‘Gilets Jaunes’ movement
Kenyan security forces help people to escape after a bomb blast at DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15. A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2018, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group
enezuela’s National Assembly head Juan Guaido shouts as he speaks to the crowd during a mass opposition rally against leader Nicolas Maduro in which he declared himself the country’s ‘acting president’, on the anniversary of a 1958 uprising that overthrew a military dictatorship, in Caracas on January 23. ‘I swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting president of Venezuela to end the usurpation, (install) a transitional government and hold free elections,’ said Guaido as thousands of supporters cheered. Moments earlier, the loyalist-dominated Supreme Court ordered a criminal investigation of the opposition-controlled legislature
People raise their hands during a mass opposition rally against President Nicolas Maduro in which Venezuela’s National Assembly head Juan Guaido (out of frame) declared himself the country’s ‘acting president’, on the anniversary of a 1958 uprising that overthrew a military dictatorship, in Caracas on January 23. ‘I swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting president of Venezuela to end the usurpation, (install) a transitional government and hold free elections,’ said Guaido as thousands of supporters cheered. Moments earlier, the loyalist-dominated Supreme Court ordered a criminal investigation of the opposition-controlled legislature
US President Donald Trump speaks alongside fast food he purchased for a ceremony honoring the 2018 College Football Playoff National Champion Clemson Tigers in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, January 14. Trump said the White House chefs were furloughed due to the partial government shutdown