From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Wang Jiayun, born June 18 1993. Wang’s height is 164cm, her weight 42kg. Wang Jiayun says she was born in Kowloon of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and presently lives in Shenzhen City of Guangdong province in China. Identity: High school student. Wang's large eyes, pale face, perfectly structured nose and extremely slim figure resemble a brand of human-sized blow-up doll popular with Korean men. This cute and s*xy barbie doll look a like is hot property. She recently became the No.1 searched name in the country's top search engine, Naver.com. Photo: Wang Jia Yun (王嘉韻 or 왕지아인). (Photo by Wang Jia Yun)

An animation artist has thrown a group of Disney characters into the real world – and it's not pretty. Jeff Hong, from New York, has taken the childhood favourites and turned their lives upside down. In a series of nightmarish pictures on his Tumblr, the cartoons who once lived happily ever after are now facing up to reality. And judging from these images they're not adjusting well. Photo: Beauty is everything for this belle of the ball. (Photo by Jeff Hong)

Crowds supporting the Same Sеx Marriage Survey listen to politicians and advocates at Taylor Square in the heart of Sydney's gay precinct on November 15, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. Australians have voted for marriage laws to be changed to allow same-sеx marriage, with the Yes vote claiming 61.6% to to 38.4% for No vote. Despite the Yes victory, the outcome of Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey is not binding, and the process to change current laws will move to the Australian Parliament in Canberra. (Photo by James Alcock/Getty Images)

France s first brothel featuring sеx dolls opened on January 29, 2018 in Paris, France. The brothel has several rooms where customers can purchase the services of a silicone sеx doll instead of a prostitute. Several models of dolls are available. (Photo by Christophe Bertolin/IP3/Getty Images)

This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker trimming the skin imperfections of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. With China facing a massive gender gap and a greying population, a company wants to hook up lonely men and retirees with a new kind of companion: “Smart” sеx dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)