A physically challenged girl looks at her brother as she is kept in a basin to seek alms from people on the street in Kano, Nigeria December 30, 2015. The girl has suffered from her condition since birth. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

Show promoters for Motolite batteries sit on a jeepney as they pose for photographers during the Manila International Auto show in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines on April 4, 2013. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

These two young siblings appear to cling on to a tree for dear life and even hold hands as they learn the ropes of climbing, on June 25, 2013. (Photo by Tim Fitzharris/Minden/Solent)

Guinness World Records declared Afshin Ghaderzadeh 20 years old as world’s shortest man with the height of 65.24 cm in Dubai on December 15, 2022. The Iranian citizen takes the title from previous record-holder Edward Hernandez, from Colombia, who stands at 72cm tall. (Photo by Pawan Singh/The National)

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

A worker applies colour to strings which will be used to fly kites, by a roadside in Ahmedabad, India, November 23, 2017. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Eighty one-year-old Sakon Haba (L) wearing loin cloth walks past a police station after he bathed in ice-cold water at the Teppozu Inari shrine in Tokyo January 11, 2015. According to organizers, about 100 participants took part in the Shinto ceremony to purify their souls and wish for good health in the new year. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)