Ava Cheptoo Cheruiyot, 11, a member of the Dance Centre Kenya (DCK), performs on stage during The Nutcracker at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi on December 7, 2024. The Nutcracker is a beloved Christmas ballet, first performed in 1892, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Known for its enchanting score and festive themes, it has become a holiday tradition worldwide. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

Women wearing bikinis and Santa Claus hats participate in a promotional event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas at a ski resort in Xuchang, Henan province, December 23, 2014. Ten women wore Santa Claus-themed bikinis to welcome the coming Christmas in temperatures below zero Celsius. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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)

Cattle keepers from the Dinka tribe perform a traditional dance after a prayer session for peace and good health along the route to Rajaf Payam outside the capital Juba October 18, 2014. (Photo by Jok Solomon/Reuters)

A homeless girl asks for alms outside a coffee shop in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

World medieval jousting champion Rod Walker poses before next month’s St Ives Medieval Faire, the only solid wood lance joust tournament in the southern hemisphere in Sydney, Australia on August 26, 2016. (Photo by Dan Himbrechts/AAP)

Eighty one-year-old Sakon Haba (L) wearing loin cloth walks past a police station after he bathed in ice-cold water at the Teppozu Inari shrine in Tokyo January 11, 2015. According to organizers, about 100 participants took part in the Shinto ceremony to purify their souls and wish for good health in the new year. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

President Joe Biden holds a baby as he visits a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Church of the Holy Communion Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in Washington. (Photo by Evan Vucci/AP Photo)