/ 21 December 2017

2017: The year in pictures

Watchful: Zimbabweans watch a broadcast of a state address by Robert Mugabe. In that address Mugabe stressed he was still in power when his authoritarian 37-year reign was rocked by a military takeover
Watchful: Zimbabweans watch a broadcast of a state address by Robert Mugabe. In that address Mugabe stressed he was still in power when his authoritarian 37-year reign was rocked by a military takeover

Exclusion: Mary Segwegwe Langa, whose husband was killed by striking miners on his way to work in 2012, sits alone in her home near the Mozambican border while the families of the fallen commemorate the fifth anniversay of the Marikana massacre. Photo: Paul Botes

Distressed: The Nombewu family are overwhelmed after seeing murder-accused Tshepo Manyiki appear in the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court for killing Nombuyiselo Nombewu. Photo: Oupa Nkosi

Warrior woman: This 27-year-old woman from Qumbu village in the Eastern Cape was raped by three men. Her mother was charged with the murder and attempted murder of the men for going to her daughter’s defence. The charges were later dropped. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Toxic: Men feed seagulls along the Yamuna River on a smoggy November morning in New Delhi, India. Illegal crop burning on state farms, vehicle exhaust emissions and construction dust caused the crisis, which arises every year. Photo: Saumya Khandelwal/Reuters

Beached: A dead humpback whale floated on to the sands of Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Pilar Olivares/Reuters.

Anti-capitalist: A man up against a police wrecker is sprayed by a water cannon during protests that turned violent at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters.

Floating: In Texas, a woman and her poodle on an air mattress wait to be rescued after Tropical Storm Harvey caused flooding. Photo: Adrees Latif/Reuters.

Replay: A protester prepares to take cover from incoming tear gas canisters during clashes with police forces in Nairobi, Kenya. The repeat election, which polarised the nation, was marked by sporadic clashes between the two sides. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP

Relief: A Rohingya woman and a baby are helped from a boat when refugees arrived exhausted on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River after fleeing Myanmar. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images.

Punished: A man is caned publicly in Indonesia, where homosexuality is not illegal but the police crack down on it. Photo: Beawiharta/Reuters

Provocation: In a picture released by North Korea’s official new agency on September 16, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un watches a launching drill of a strategic ballistic rocket. It has the capability to reach Guam, an island that houses United States military bases

Light: Katty Malang Mikunug has a selfie taken before her wedding in Lanao del Sur, Philippines. Her betrothed is a resident of Marawi, which saw a five-month military crackdown and allegations of human rights violations. Photo: Jes Aznar/Getty Images