Runner-up. “The heavens opened and the streets around Shibuya, Tokyo, were suddenly drenched in even more colour and movement. I was taking photos (my friend was holding the umbrella) when I noticed this woman at the crossing. I’m pleased with the futuristic feel of the image”. (Photo by Katherine Bridgestock/The Guardian)

A Flemish demonstrator, one of thousands who gathered for a march through Brussels to protest against what the Flemings call their subjucation by the French-speaking Walloons, draws back as he is jeered by a crowd of Walloons on the pavement in a Brussels Street, on October 14, 1962. The Flemish demonstrators clashed with Walloon counter demonstrators as riot police sought to maintain order. The Flemings claim that although they form 60% of the population in Belgium, they are inadequately represented in the government, and they say, the Walloons get most of the top jobs in the armed forces and the diplomatic service. (Photo by AP Photo)

Dancers wait backstage during a dress rehearsal for the new “THE ONE Grand Show” at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany, September 21, 2016. From silver body suits with giant mohawks to revealing fishnet tops with huge feathers, colourful, extravagant costumes take centre stage at a new theatrical show in Berlin. French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier has swapped the Paris runway for the German stage to create some 500 costumes for “THE ONE Grand Show”, an 11-million euro ($12.2 million) production showcasing plenty of singing, dancing and acrobatics. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A Hypsiboas crepitans frog is pictured at a terrarium in Caracas November 30, 2015. Venezuelan frogs and toads are in critical danger due to climate change as rising temperatures complicate reproduction and spread a deadly fungus, say scientists, who liken the species to canaries in a coalmine warning of imminent danger. The survival of a group of nearly 20 frog and toad species, which top Venezuela's list of endangered species, may rest on a small group of academics in a Caracas laboratory attempting to recreate the amphibians' natural reproductive conditions. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

These tiny worlds created in a tiny glass bottle, literally, are the work of Akinobu Izumi. Akinobu uses paper, clay, wax and resin among other materials to create these intricate miniature worlds.

People crowd together in an attempt to buy chickens at a Mega-Mercal, a subsidized state-run street market, in Caracas January 24, 2015. President Nicolas Maduro shook up complex currency controls on Wednesday and also prepared Venezuelans for a rise in the world's cheapest fuel prices in response to a recession worsened by plunging oil revenue. The socialist-run OPEC member's economy shrank 2.8 percent in 2014 while inflation topped 64 percent, the socialist leader announced in a speech to parliament, in what is almost certainly the worst performance in Latin America. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

At this year’s Venice Bienniale in Italy, the Korean pavilion has a curious exhibit called “Commissions for Utopia”. It includes renderings from North Korea’s top architects and artists (all anonymous), many of whom studied at the Paekho Institute of Architecture, North Korea’s state-run architectural college, and none of whom have ever left the country. They were asked to create a vision of North Korea’s future sustainable architecture for its expanding tourism industry. Their final products are a glimpse into what it would be like to envision the future after being entirely cut off from the present for almost 70 years. (Photo by Nick Bonner/Kyle Vanhemert/Venice Architecture Biennale)

Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)