Members of a cheerleading team warm- up during the Russian Cheerleading Championship of students in Moscow on November 20, 2016. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)
A boy poses for a photo as he plays with a homemade toy gun in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, November 22, 2016. For months, residents of the Iraqi town of Qayara have lived in the darkness from a cloud of toxic fumes released by oil fields lit by retreating Islamic State fighters. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)
Here are the bravest of the brave in 2016. Weve gathered some of the finest images showing daredevils taking their lives into their own hands and going to the very brink this year. Whether they are perched hundreds of feet up on a high wire, courageously clinging to a rockface or taking on a volcano, these adventurers take the breath away. Here: Morgane Choquet and Samuel Cobb relax in a vertical campsite on the slopes of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Alexandre Eggermont/Caters News)
Rob, a British man in his late 20's in Magaluf, Majorca on his stag party, kisses a participant in a wet t-shirt competition hosted at Mambo's Terrace on June 28, 2013. (Photo by Peter Dench/Getty Images Reportage)
“Danger in the mud” – a crocodile at Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. The grand prize winner. (Photo by Jens Cullmann/World Nature Photography Awards 2022)
Shi'ite fighters launch a rocket during clashes with Islamic State militants on the outskirts of al-Alam March 8, 2015. Thaier Al-Sudani: “It was me and a few other Iraqi journalists working for local outlets. We went to the frontlines in coordination with the Iraqi government forces and supporting militias. The press officer would come in the morning and take us to the frontline in a convoy. Whenever an area was won from Islamic State, the fighters would chant and pray and show victory signs. Most of the areas we were in didn't have residents, so after the battle they would resemble ghost towns; nothing but burnt cars and charred bodies of Islamic State fighters. Al-Alam was an exception as it had some residents who chanted for the government forces after their victory”. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)
“Festive preparation”. Baghnapara, Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. Two girls prepare for the Gajan festival. They will perform a play based on Indian mythology. (Photo by Krishnasis Ghosh)