Pictures of the year - December

Pictures of the year - December

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Nelson Mandela died in December 2013 and people around the world paid tribute to the anti-apartheid hero who emerged from 27 years of imprisonment to become the first black president of South Africa.

December was also a month of unrest, with huge anti-government demonstrations raging in Thailand, and hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in Ukraine to call for closer integration with Europe.

. MTHATHA, South Africa. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Former South African President Nelson Mandela's flag-draped coffin arrives at the Mthata airport as family members look on.

Siphiwe Sibeko: "I had selected a spot where I made sure I would get a clean shot, since it was important to get the image of the coffin being carried off the plane. The image of the coffin arriving in Qunu, Mandela’s ancestral village, was a last chapter in his life.

We were a team of about 12 photographers; myself and my other colleagues had to drive down to the Eastern Cape a few days before the funeral. We had to position ourselves and make sure we had most angles covered.

Every assignment is important; this was a big story all over the world. Being selected to represent other newswire agencies on such an important story was a challenge on its own.

The assignment had a huge impact on me since it was a very difficult and emotional story. Mandela meant a lot not only to South Africans but to the whole world. I have been covering his hospitalisation for a long time. I used to see his family arriving and spending time with him at the hospital. I felt their pain.

People from all different walks of life would come to the entrance of the hospital with placards and offer prayers. We were sometimes getting updates on his condition, it was very worrying. We all knew that he was old and not feeling well but getting news about his passing was not easy.

After he travelled all over the world, influenced a lot of people and contributed positively in many ways, arriving home in a coffin meant he had played his role, but death was final."

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV,Lens (mm): 212,f4.5 , Shutter: 1/1000 ,ISO:250

. BANGKOK, Thailand. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

A Thai Buddhist monk puts on a gas mask as riot police use water cannon and tear gas, while anti-government protesters attempt to remove barricades outside Government House in Bangkok.

Thailand has been gripped by protests seeking to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who enjoys support among the rural poor in the populous north and northeast but is opposed by demonstrators mainly from Bangkok's middle class and elite.

Dylan Martinez: "What do you say when your boss calls and asks if you want a trip to Bangkok? Simple, say yes.

It was my youngest daughter's birthday so I couldn't leave until the next day - an understanding boss and equally understanding family is essential.

A long flight and an inability to sleep in a chair is not a great mix when you have to walk off a plane and start working, but I guess that's why we are blessed with adrenaline.

I took a tuk-tuk to the nearest demo and then began clicking away. A couple of long but basically peaceful days followed during which everyone seemed to consolidate positions.

Then protesters started attacking police lines. Stones, rocks, rubber bullets, the odd live round, water bottles, molotov cocktails, sling shots, water cannon and teargas, my goodness so much teargas followed.

Taking pictures in this environment is not necessarily always the easiest thing to do. To the left they are throwing teargas, to your right they are launching molotov cocktails, behind you someone is using a sling shot and then a guy is adjusting his gas mask as water cannon is being fired. The voice in your head is saying: 'it's a Buddhist monk, stupid, take a picture'. Oh yeah, remember to take a picture. Best advice ever."

Camera: Nikon D4, 70-200 lens, 400 ISO, 1/250, f4.5

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Slideshow

Students attend a class at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School, a institution in a remote area of China's Henan province. Students at the school still learn to recite quotations from former chairman Mao's "Little Red Book".
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Students attend a class at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School, a institution in a remote area of China's Henan province. Students at the school still learn to recite quotations from former chairman Mao's "Little Red Book".

Students hold each other for warmth as they sleep during a break from high intensity training at Tianjiao, an academy to train bodyguards in China.
. BEIJING, China. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Students hold each other for warmth as they sleep during a break from high intensity training at Tianjiao, an academy to train bodyguards in China.

People crowd around bodies killed in fighting, which were gathered at a mosque in Bangui. Rival militia forces fought fierce battles in the city as Muslim-Christian sectarian violence raged in Central African Republic.
. BANGUI, Central African Republic. REUTERS/Emmanuel Braun

People crowd around bodies killed in fighting, which were gathered at a mosque in Bangui. Rival militia forces fought fierce battles in the city as Muslim-Christian sectarian violence raged in Central African Republic.

Residents carry an injured man who survived shelling after what activists said was an air strike from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
. ALEPPO, Syria. REUTERS/Saad AboBrahim

Residents carry an injured man who survived shelling after what activists said was an air strike from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Qassam and Ahlam, both Syrian refugees from Latakia, wait on opposite sides of a fence at a refugee centre in Spain's north African enclave of Melilla.
. MELILLA, Spain. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Qassam and Ahlam, both Syrian refugees from Latakia, wait on opposite sides of a fence at a refugee centre in Spain's north African enclave of Melilla.

U.S. President Barack Obama greets Cuban President Raul Castro before giving his speech at the memorial service for late South African President Nelson Mandela. Obama shook hands with Castro, the second of just two known handshakes between U.S. and Cuban presidents since the island's 1959 revolution.
. Johannesburg, South Africa. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

U.S. President Barack Obama greets Cuban President Raul Castro before giving his speech at the memorial service for late South African President Nelson Mandela. Obama shook hands with Castro, the second of just two known handshakes between U.S. and Cuban presidents since the island's 1959 revolution.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich gives a wink to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow. Russia agreed a $15 billion bail-out for Ukraine, drawing anger from protesters who wanted to see a closer relationship between Ukraine and Europe, rather than a move back towards the country's old Soviet master.
. MOSCOW, Russia. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich gives a wink to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow. Russia agreed a $15 billion bail-out for Ukraine, drawing anger from protesters who wanted to see a closer relationship between Ukraine and Europe, rather than a move back towards the country's old Soviet master.

Members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, a winter swimming group, warm up at the beach before taking a dip.
. New York, United States. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, a winter swimming group, warm up at the beach before taking a dip.

Roads cuts across the landscape of Western Australia's Pilbara region, an area the size of Spain which has the world's largest known deposits of iron ore.
. PORT HEADLAND, Australia. REUTERS/David Gray

Roads cuts across the landscape of Western Australia's Pilbara region, an area the size of Spain which has the world's largest known deposits of iron ore.