A mahout rides on an elephant in the city of Amritsar, India, 08 November 2015. Such elephants are often accompanied by their caretakers who ask for alms from people in the streets. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA)

Residents of the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek are searched by police before taking part in a memorial gathering to honour the victims of the recent deadly Paris attacks, in Brussels, Belgium, November 18, 2015. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Istanbul-based Ali Gulec is a graphic artist with a difference. His surreal illustrations are like identikit drawings aiming to prosecute the material arts. Working on the margins of what is possible with his medium, Gulec's forms, figures, and situations are remarkable for their clarity and strength of purpose, and maintain an iconographic intensity that would make any rock band bereft of an album cover salivate with admiration.

An internally displaced girl stands on an abandoned railway tracks beside a makeshift refugee camp in Sinjar town, in Idlib province, Syria November 20, 2015. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

German photographer Tanja Brandt has created a series which captures the absolutely heart-breaking friendship between Ingo, her two-year-old German Shepherd, and a tiny owl called Napoleon. "Ingo is not always the calmest dog, however when he is around the birds, and particularly Napoleon, he is very soft and gentle", said the photographer. "He seems very at peace with them".

People ride a motorcycle near Koudoukou Mosque where Pope Francis meets Imam Tidiani Moussa Naibi in Bangui, Central African Republic, November 30, 2015. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

A man smiles as he carries firewood he bought on a street amid ongoing fuel and cooking gas shortages in Yemen's capital Sanaa December 2, 2015. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

German KUKA Robotics' robot LBR iiwa demonstrates a flower arrangement at the International Robot exhibition in Tokyo, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)