Dana Friedman, a trial lawyer who has spent 6 months of each year growing out his beard for his annual appearance as Santa Claus since 2001, greets children outside wearing masks as a precautionary measure at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Queens as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2020. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Raissa Floriano whose father is hospitalized with CCOVID-19, cries during a protest amid the new coronavirus pandemic outside the 28 Agosto Hospital, in Manaus, Brazil, Thursday, January 14, 2021. Scores of COVID-19 patients in the Amazon rainforest's biggest city will be transferred out of state as the local health system collapses and dwindling stocks of oxygen tanks begin to falter. (Photo by Edmar Barros/AP Photos)

A monolith placed in the Utah wilderness in November 2020. New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of the gleaming monolith that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the red-rock desert. A Colorado photographer told a TV station in Salt Lake City that he saw four men push over the hollow, stainless steel structure last Friday night. (Photo by Terrance Siemon/AP Photo)

Owners and their dogs take part in “HK Doggie Dash 2018”, an event held to raise money for for abandoned and surrendered dogs in Hong Kong on April 15, 2018. Dozens of pugs and dachshunds compensated for their modest speed with peppy spirits at Hong Kong’s inaugural “doggie dash” on April 15 that raised funds and awareness for the city’s abandoned and rescued dogs. (Photo by Isaac Lawrence/AFP Photo)

Two women jump from a platform over the water at La Concha beach during a hot summer day in the basque city of San Sebastian, northern Spain, Friday, August 3, 2018. Hot air from Africa is bringing a heat wave to Europe, prompting health warnings about Sahara Desert dust and exceptionally high temperatures that could peak at 47 degrees Celsius (117 Fahrenheit) in Spain and Portugal. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

As the world marks the International Day of the Girl Child, women's rights activists point to progress on a wide array of issues but say more needs to be done to protect girls from child marriage, sexual assault and other forms of exploitation. Here is a selection of pictures showing the daily lives of girls across the globe, all taken by female Associated Press photojournalists. Here: In this December 14, 2015, file photo, a young clown rides in the back of a car following a procession to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Hundreds belonging to various clown associations made their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Picture shows a mural painting in Ferrol, on September 2, 2018, during the annual street art festival “Meninas de Canido” set up in 2008 to breathe new life in a dying neighborhood. Angry at the announced death of his neighborhood, Canido, in Ferrol, Eduardo Hermida painted his version of Velazquez's “Meninas” on a wall. An act of protest that gave birth to a festival and gave new colors to this city of Galicia. (Photo by Miguel Riopa/AFP Photo)

Runner-up. “The City of London, looking towards the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England. The ever-changing London skyline provides many excellent opportunities for cityscape photography, none more exciting than the ebb and flow of traffic at night”. (Photo by Mark Caldon/The Guardian)