Sports have the ability to transform groups of strangers into a united community. In the celebratory spirit surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Sony and the World Photography Organisation present UNITED – a contest honouring the passion of football fans around the world. Seven inspirational photographers have been selected by Sony and WPO to capture the atmosphere and celebration of the World Cup across the globe. Photo: France – French fans cheering for their team. (Photo by Anthony Lepinay)

A boy walks past boats docked at the entrance gate of the fishermen's village in the El Max area of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria September 12, 2014. El Max, where hundreds of boats dart through the canals, has been called the “Venice of Egypt” for its waterways and relaxed atmosphere. Its fishermen, however, worry about how they will make ends meet on meagre earnings they say are being reduced further by polluted waters that are making fishing more difficult. While the government has tried to fix the state's bloated finances by cutting subsidies and reining in spending, some argue the reforms hurt Egypt's most vulnerable who have long relied on a generous system of fuel and food subsidies to supplement low incomes. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

The best man in a wedding party, who all declined to be identified, stands near the bride and groom as he holds an AR-10 rifle he was handed while the party was having their pre-wedding portraits taken on the steps of the capitol before a rally nearby by gun-rights advocates to protest a new expanded gun background check law in Washington state Saturday, December 13, 2014, in Olympia, Wash. The wedding party was not part of the protest, but posed for pictures with it after being handed it by gun activist Brandon Lyons, who said “we've all just broken the law”, by handing the gun over. Saturday's protest was called the “I Will Not Comply” rally, and those attending said they will openly exchange firearms in opposition to the state's new voter-approved universal background check law, Initiative 594. The law, which took effect on December 4, requires background checks on all sales and transfers, including private transactions and many loans and gifts. (Photo by Elaine Thompson/AP Photo)

A woman holds Kalashnikov assault rifle during a training session with members of the Georgian Legion, a paramilitary unit formed mainly by ethnic Georgian volunteers to fight against Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, February 19, 2022. Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have ordered a full military mobilization amid growing fears in the West that Russia is planning to invade the neighboring country. The announcement on Saturday came amid a spike in violence along the line of contact between Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russia rebels in recent days. (Photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)

Police memebers stand guard as a group of women protest in front of the police headquarters after knowing that the body of María Belen Bernal was found murdered in a police officers' school and which main suspect – Bernal's husband police lieutenant German Caceres – is at large, in northern Quito, on October 1st, 2022. According to the prosecutor's office, at least 573 femicides have been registered in Ecuador's population of 17.7 million since 2014. In the first months of 2022 there had been 206 murders of women, according to Geraldine Guerra from the Aldea NGO that tracks femicides in the country. (Photo by Rodrigo Buendia/AFP Photo)

A boy plays at a flooded street in front of a passing bus as tropical storm Fung-Wong battered the Philippine capital Manila September 19, 2014. Heavy rain in the Philippine capital, Manila, caused flooding in many areas on Friday, shutting schools, government offices and financial markets as a tropical storm made landfall to the north. Thousands of residents in low-lying areas were moved to higher ground, officials said, as flood waters rose quickly after the equivalent of half a month's usual rain fell in six hours. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A file photograph dated 07 January 2006 and released by Greenpeace, showing the Yushin Maru, a factory ship in a Japanese whaling fleet, injuring a whale with it's first harpoon attempt. A UN court in The Hague on 31 March 2014 halted Japan's much-criticized whaling programme, ruling that it contravenes a 1986 moratorium on whale hunting. Japan must end its 'research whaling' programme, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said. Japan said the programme was for scientific research and permitted under international conventions. Australia had brought the case to the ICJ in 2010, charging that Japan was breaching international law by killing hundreds of whales every year for commercial purposes. Japan was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, an unnamed government official was quoted by the Kyodo News agency as saying. But the official said Japan would stand by the ruling. (Photo by Kate Davison/EPA)

Will Burrard-Lucas takes a photo while a Meerkat perches on his lens on January 2014 in Makgadikgadi, Botswana. These adorable Meerkats used a photographer as a look out post before trying their hand at taking pictures. The beautiful images were caught by wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas after he spent six days with the quirky new families in the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. Will has photographed Meerkats in the past and was delighted when he realised he would be shooting new arrivals. (Photo by Will Burrard-Lucas/Barcroft Media)

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