A woman reacts as she lays flowers outside the Perm State University following a campus shooting in Perm, about 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, September 21, 2021. A student opened fire at the university, leaving a number of people dead and injured, before being shot in a crossfire with police and detained. Beyond saying that he was a student, authorities offered no further information on his identity or a possible motive. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A performer and his son parade during a gathering of sapeurs in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on February 10, 2023. Flamboyant dandies paraded near the tomb of one of their icons in DR Congo's capital Kinshasa, flaunting coveted designer labels in stark contrast to the grinding poverty surrounding them. Dozens of extravagantly dressed dandies, known locally as sapeurs, turned up on February 10, 2023 to commemorate the death of Stervos Niarcos, a pop star and one of the most famous of Congo's legendary dandies. Niarcos, who died in 1995, epitomises the fanatical pursuit of elegance for many in the abysmally poor central African country. (Photo by Alexis Huguet/AFP Photo)

Members of the SubCielo company perform during the fifth annual Puerto Rico Circo Fest in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, March 10, 2018. The festival is held simultaneously in several spots on the streets of the Old San Juan city on March 10–11. (Photo by Ricardo Arduengo/AFP Photo)

A protester is covered in red paint during a demonstration against the government of Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and in support of the release of political prisoners outside Bangkok Remand Prison in Bangkok on October 13, 2021. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

A Ukrainian servicewoman fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun at a position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, on a frontline in Kherson region, Ukraine on November 9, 2022. (Photo by Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters)

A Lebanese man dressed with a Santa Claus outfit rides on a standup paddle in Lebanon's northern coastal city of Batroun on December 22, 2020. (Photo by Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP Photo)

Smoke and steam billow from Belchatow Power Station, Europe's largest coal-fired power plant powered by lignite, operated by Polish utility PGE, in Rogowiec, Poland on November 22, 2023. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)