From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

“Taking the lead in this year’s Calendar is beautiful Oscar winning actress, Penelope Cruz, whilst noted fashion photographer, Kristian Schuller, shot the intense imagery”. (Photo by Kristian Schuller)

P.S. Very bad photoset. Penelope Cruz – the beautiful woman and the characteristic actress. Also that as a result? ANYTHING.

Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Girls ride an improvised motorbike public transport along with bicycles they received from their school under a government scheme in Malancha, South 24 Pargana district, India, Wednesday, October 20, 2021. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

A child dressed as an Ewok character participates in a Star Wars parade in Mexico City, Saturday, October 15, 2022. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

A Santa hangs down the facade of the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, with the help of the Charity Firemen of Barcelona, as he visits children admitted to the medical center, in Barcelona, Spain, 19 December 2022. (Photo by Alejandro Garcia/EPA/EFE)

A local resident rescues a baby owl after Cyclone Mocha's crashed ashore, in Kyauktaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 14, 2023. Cyclone Mocha crashed ashore in Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh on May 14, 2023, uprooting trees, scattering flimsy homes in Rohingya displacement camps and bringing a storm surge into low-lying areas. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

A man carrying vegetables is stopped by police at a barricade on a road during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Chennai, India, March 25, 2020. (Photo by P. Ravikumar/Reuters)