People sit near a fully loaded in Madama near the border with Lybia on January 1, 2015. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a surprise visit to northern Niger on January 1, to visit a base being built to combat the growing flow of weapons and jihadists from neighbouring Libya. Le Drian travelled from Chad to Madama, a desert outpost about 100 kilometres from Libya, where he saw in the New Year with troops at a French base. Madama is situated on the route used by jihadists and arms smugglers in southern Libya to reach northern Mali and Niger. (Photo by Dominique Faget/AFP Photo)

Winner, photojournalism. Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia Zoo. Visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners. (Photo by Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A waitress of The Palais de Tokyo restaurant wears a protective face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus in Paris, Saturday, September 5, 2020. New French cases of COVID-19 jumped in 24 hours to nearly 9,000, health officials said Friday. The 8,975 new cases were the highest number of infections since France successfully grappled with the spread of the coronavirus during a strict two-month lockdown. There were some 1,800 cases less a day earlier and more than for European neighbors. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

People perform Chinese Lion dance in Chinatown during the Chinese Lunar New Year in Lima, Peru on February 5, 2019. (Photo by Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters)

Chile's Mary Dee Vargas (L) reacts after defeating Brazil's Larissa Farias compete in their Judo Women's –48 kg Bronze Medal contest during the Lima 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima on August 8, 2019. (Photo by Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters)

Eli Hanneman of Hawaii surfs in Heat 2 of the Round of 64 at the Ballito Pro on July 3, 2023 at Ballito, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. (Photo by Pierre Tostee/World Surf League via Getty Images)

Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina competes during the long jump in the women's heptathlon at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou in China's eastern Zhejiang province on October 1, 2023. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A model poses at Checkpoint Charlie, a historic place in the German capital to promote the fashion magazine “Sous” on June 12, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini)