CaptionThe fingers of malnourished Alassa Galisou (1) are pressed against the lips of his mother Fatou Ousseini at an emergency feeding center. One of the worst droughts in recent times, together with a particularly heavy plague of locusts that had destroyed the previous year's harvest, left millions of people severely short of food. Heavy rains promised well for the 2005 crops, but hindered aid workers bringing supplies. Relief had been slow to come. Accusations were leveled variously blaming the United Nations, Western governments, the international aid community and officials in Niger itself for failing to respond early enough to an imminent crisis.
CaptionA man shouts for help at the scene of the truck-bomb explosion that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Twenty other people were killed in the blast, which appeared aimed at the politician's motorcade. Hariri had resigned as premier to join the opposition four months earlier, and was aiming at making a comeback in May elections. Opposition leaders blamed the Lebanese and Syrian governments for the killing, calling for the government's resignation and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
CaptionSamar Hassan cries seconds after US troops shot and killed her parents. Soldiers opened fire after the car driven by Samar's father failed to stop as it approached their dusk patrol. A US military statement said troops trying to halt the car used hand signals and fired warning shots before firing directly at the car, killing the driver and front-seat passenger. The town had only days before been the scene of a gun battle between US forces and local insurgents. As a defense against car bombs in many cities in Iraq, it had become standard practice for foot patrols to stop oncoming vehicles, particularly after dark. Five of Samar's siblings were in the car with her. All six survived, although her brother Racan was seriously wounded. US soldiers gave the children first aid before taking them to a nearby hospital.
CaptionA commuter, still clutching his morning newspaper, leaves Edgware Road Underground Station after a suicide bomb attack. The bomber blew himself up on a train at the station, killing seven passengers - one of four coordinated attacks on London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. The bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other on London Underground trains, and the fourth bomb occurred on a bus less than an hour later. The explosions resulted in some 56 deaths (including those of the four bombers) and 700 injuries. Surveillance video footage showed that the four men had been working together, but the motivation for the bombings remains unclear. Some believe the attacks had been planned by Islamist paramilitary organizations based in the United Kingdom. Intelligence services have claimed links between the bombers and al-Qaeda.
CaptionA soldier aims a kick to the head of a rioter suspected of looting. Faure Gnassingbe, the son of Africa's longest-reigning dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, was elected president in April. According to the United Nations, up to 500 people were killed and 40,000 Togolese fled to neighboring countries in violence surrounding the elections. The military had installed Gnassingbe as president after his father's death in February, in a move described by the opposition and some other African leaders as a military coup. Under strong international pressure, Gnassingbe stepped down and called an election. Opposition members alleged the polls were rigged and organized protests. Within minutes of Gnassingbe being declared winner they rampaged through the streets of the capital Lome, burning barricades and clashing with security forces.
CaptionSurvivors wait for a helicopter to evacuate them from a field hospital, at the epicenter of the October 8 quake in the Kashmir region near the India-Pakistan border. Helicopters played a crucial relief role in inaccessible areas, but struggled to keep up with the demand. The earthquake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale. Over 73,000 people in Pakistan were killed and around three million made homeless, with another 1,400 deaths in Indian-administered Kashmir. Many roads were so damaged by the quake that they were impassable for months. Accusations were leveled at both the Pakistani and the Indian governments for a disorganized early response to the disaster, and at Western nations for slowness in coming forward with financial aid. Eventually relief efforts did become more coordinated. International donors eventually pledged some US$ 5.4 billion towards recovery, and India and Pakistan cooperated in unprecendented ways in territory that the two nations had long held in dispute.
CaptionA stranded Quintella Williams holds her nine-day-old baby girl, Akea, outside the superdome. Hurricane Katrina, the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, hit the US Gulf Coast on August 29 causing severe destruction across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Levees protecting New Orleans were breached, flooding 80 percent of the city. Rescue efforts were delayed and disorganized. One-fifth of the population remained trapped in the city without power. Some 25,000 people made their way to the city's Superdome, which with insufficient food and water and with no air-conditioning or working toilets became increasingly uninhabitable.
CaptionBystanders take cover from the blast and try to push unaffected cars away from the flames during a suicide car bombing. The car bomb, targeting a passing civilian contractor convoy, killed 22 people and wounded more than 35 in a crowded Tahrir Square. January elections in Iraq did not stem countrywide insurgency, which became increasingly sectarian. Predominantly Sunni insurgents targeted Shiite and Kurdish civilians in suicide bombings.
CaptionSmoke rises over the downtown area after Hurricane Katrina. When Katrina made landfall on August 29 it took 1,836 lives and caused over US$ 75 billion damage, making it the deadliest hurricane for nearly a century and the most expensive natural disaster in US history. More than 1.5 million people were displaced in what became an humanitarian crisis on a scale not experienced in the US since the Great Depression in 1930s. Katrina also caused a political storm, as the chaotic reaction to the catastrophe highlighted inadequate planning and an absence of cooperation between local, state and federal bodies. President Bush, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security, Louisiana's governor, as well as the New Orleans police force and mayor's office all came in for considerable criticism.
CaptionSabir Hussein Shah holds his son Zeeshan (9), who is being treated after having his arm amputated in a field hospital. The regional capital was close to the epicenter of an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, which had shaken the area three weeks previously. Around 70 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed. It was estimated that more than half of those injured throughout the region were children, crushed in their classrooms and homes.
Organization / PublicationPanos Pictures for The New York Times
CategoryGeneral News
Prize2nd prize
Date11-07-2008
CountryBosnia-Herzegovina
PlacePotocari
CaptionA Bosnian boy prays over one of the 610 coffins stored at a factory in preparation for their burial on July 11, the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, when Serbs killed more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys in ambushes and mass executions. The bodies in the coffins laid to rest in the commemoration ceremony ten years later had been exhumed from mass graves and identified by DNA testing. The search for mass graves is ongoing. Some 1,300 bodies had already been buried at the two-year-old memorial site.
CaptionA wounded woman waits for medical help outside her collapsed home, in Indian-administered Kashmir. All of the houses in the village had been damaged by the earthquake, which struck near the Indian-Pakistan border the previous day, causing immense destruction across the region. Emergency services struggled to reach many remote villages in the mountainous terrain, and landslides caused by aftershocks made the situation even more difficult. Early relief efforts were spasmodic, with civilians assisting in efforts by government, the military and aid organizations.
CaptionSoldiers arrest a settler as activists try to prevent the entry of removal containers into Neve Dekalim, the largest settlement in the Gaza Strip. In August, Israel brought an end to its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip. Under Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, some 8,500 settlers were withdrawn from land seized during the 1967 Six-Day War. About half the settlers left voluntarily. Those who remained were given until midnight on August 16 before facing forcible eviction by the Israeli army. The hard-liners were joined by supporters from Israel and the West Bank.
Organization / PublicationThe Sunday Times Magazine
CategoryGeneral News stories
Prize2nd prize
Date00-05-2005
PlaceGaza Strip
CaptionA Palestinian man lowers himself into a 12m-long shaft leading to a network of tunnels. Palestinians use a system of tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egyptian border for travel and arms smuggling. Both the Israeli Defense Force and the Palestinian police have moved to uncover tunneling activity.
Organization / PublicationRedux Pictures for U.S. News & World Report
CategoryGeneral News stories
Prize3rd prize
Date10-01-2005
CountryIndonesia
PlaceAceh
CaptionThe province of Aceh was one of the areas worst affected by the tsunami that followed a massive undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. Over 70 percent of the inhabitants of some coastal villages in Aceh lost their lives. In Indonesia as a whole, more than 130,000 people were killed, and over 500,000 made homeless. Aid agencies faced almost insurmountable logistical problems in their efforts to reach those affected over washed-out roads and bridges.
CaptionGrieving relatives surround the corpse of five-year-old Vani Vamuliya, who died of dysentery in March. Vani's last days were spent in a camp for internally displaced persons in Tche. Nearly four million people are believed to have perished over six years of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in one of the bloodiest conflicts since World War II. Government forces, supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe were pitted against rebels supported by Uganda and Rwanda. Most of the casualties were women and children, and most died from starvation or disease. Although a peace deal was signed in 2003, militia violence continued, especially in the east of the country. In the weeks before Vani died, some 13,000 people sought refuge in the camp at Tche.
CaptionThe fingers of malnourished one-year-old Alassa Galisou are pressed against the lips of his mother Fatou Ousseini at an emergency feeding center. One of the worst droughts in recent times together with a particularly heavy plague of locusts had destroyed the previous year's harvest, leaving millions of people severely short of food. Heavy rains promised well for the 2005 crops, but hindered aid workers bringing supplies. Relief had been slow to come. Accusations were leveled variously blaming the United Nations, Western governments, the international aid community and officials in Niger itself for failing to respond early enough to an imminent crisis.
CaptionSameena Qureshi mourns the death of her son Naseem (16) in the earthquake that devastated the Kashmir region in October. Naseem was one of 300 pupils who were killed when their school building collapsed. Three weeks later Sameena, who was living in a camp just 30m away from her former home, collected food from different humanitarian organizations for a memorial meal she could share with neighbors. In the moments before her guests arrive, she prays for her son.
CaptionMajor Steve Beck prepares for the final inspection of 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey's body. Since the start of the Iraq War, Marines based at Buckley Air Force base in Colorado have honored the memory of 16 fallen comrades, and had the difficult duty of helping the families to bear their loss.
CaptionMen wait for help some 60km from the epicenter of the massive October earthquake in Kashmir. After walking for days in the mountains, they reached the helipad only to find that supplies of tents and blankets had run out. The earthquake affected one of the highest and most remote regions on earth. Difficult terrain slowed relief work, and later snow would disrupt efforts even further. Over three million people were left homeless by the quake. By December the harsh Himalayan winter was closing in. Most tents distributed by aid workers were not designed to cope with the extreme cold.
CaptionThe severed head of a gang member lies in the exercise ground after a prison riot. Youth gangs (known as 'maras') in Guatemala City were originally formed by the children of indigenous farmers, who fled the countryside in the 1980s during ongoing civil war and squatted on the outskirts of the capital. The youths imitated the style of Guatemalans deported from the US for gang activity and soon became involved in organized crime, murder, extortion and drug trafficking. Gang violence has now become part of everyday life in Guatemala. In August, gang rivalries erupted in a coordinated series of battles in four prisons across the country, leaving at least 30 prisoners dead and dozens more injured.
CaptionChelsea Davis (US) strikes her face on the diving board while attempting an inward two-and-a-half somersault in the preliminary round of the women's three-meter springboard competition at the FINA World Championships. She required three stitches but otherwise sustained no serious injury. The championships showcase five disciplines: water polo, open water swimming, diving, swimming and synchronized swimming.
CaptionSello Hanong's gumguard goes flying following a punch from Sidney Maluleka during a featherweight match at the Epo Centre. Maluleka went on to win the fight on points over six rounds.
CaptionAndy Roddick (US) hits a backhand during a quarter-final match against Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) at the Australian Open Tennis Championships. Roddick went on to the semi-finals after Davydenko was forced to retire with breathing problems. He was then beaten by home favorite Lleyton Hewitt.
CaptionSports Portfolio: World-record holder Aaron Peirsol streamlines off the wall after the 200m backstroke preliminary heats during the Santa Clara Grand Prix. Peirsol did not qualify for the finals, but went on to break his own record two weeks later at the World Championships.
CaptionSports Portfolio: Aljaz Pegan (Slovenia) on his way to a gold medal on the horizontal bar, during the apparatus finals of the World Gymnastics Championship.
Organization / PublicationEl Mundo / Sahara Marathon
CategorySports Action stories
Prize3rd prize
Date27-05-2005
CountryAlgeria
PlaceTindouf
CaptionSpectators await the arrival of runners during the Sahara Marathon beneath a Sahrawi flag. The marathon is an international sports event organized to show support and raise funds for the Sahrawi people. The Sahrawis have been living in refugee camps in southwestern Algeria for 30 years, following post-colonial conflict in the region. The marathon has been run annually since 2000 along a route between three of the camps, and attracts hundreds of participants from all over the world. In addition to a standard-distance marathon there are shorter races and one for children. Runners sometimes have to battle against sandstorms of up to 120km per hour, and at times cannot easily see where they are going.
CaptionA bull attacks a matador Cesar Rincon's horse during a corrida at La Macarena bullring. Picadors mounted on horses play a role early on in a bullfight, stabbing the bull with lances to weaken it through loss of blood before its final confrontation with the 'torero'. The bull weighed around 500kg. The horse received a blow to one of its legs, but was not gored and was taken from the ring.
CaptionBoys play soccer inside an empty swimming pool dating from the Soviet occupation. The hilltop pool was damaged by shelling during the country's civil war and is now a favorite place for youth to congregate and play games.
CaptionJames Lilly (in water) and Alejandro Albor (diving) go for a swim after the Sadler's Ultra Challenge, a six-day wheelchair race that covers the 440km between Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska. The competition is the longest wheelchair and handcycle race in the world, attracting athletes from around the globe. James finished third in the wheelchair division and Alejandro second in the handcycle C division.
CaptionThe hands of a lifelong punter. Horse-racing is an important part of the Australian sports scene. It is the third most attended spectator sport after Australian Rules football and rugby league. Racing carries an appeal that crosses age and class barriers. It attracts both professional punters and those out to gamble just a few dollars.
CaptionThe Philly Roller Girls formed their all-girl, skater-owned and operated roller derby league in March. Their premier exhibition brought roller derby back to Philadelphia for the first time in 30 years. Roller derby is a team sports entertainment based on formation roller-skating around a track. It is very much a contact sport, as team members crash into walls and get into fights. The girls flaunt their tattoos and bruises, and have names like Darth Hater and Violet Temper.
Organization / PublicationYours Gallery / Focus Photo und Presse Agentur for Pozytyw
CategorySports Feature stories
Prize3rd prize
Date2005
CountryIndia
PlaceMysore
CaptionNada kusti is a traditional form of Indian wrestling that goes back thousands of years, employing methods used to train ancient warriors. Wrestlers attend twice daily practice sessions at a traditional garadi (gym). Contests take place in an arena covered with a red clay dust, which coats the wrestlers and is thought to have curative properties.
CaptionYoung Abu (7) buttons his father's collar in their shelter in a camp for amputees near Freetown. Abu Bakarr Kargbo had both arms cut off by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front when they attacked Freetown in 1999. Some 50,000 people were killed and thousands more had their bodies mutilated in a civil war between government and rebel forces that lasted from 1991 to 2002. Hacking off hands or arms of civilians was a rebel trademark, designed to sow terror among their enemies. In 2004 a peaceful settlement was finally reached and a war crimes tribunal opened. Former combatants from both sides benefited from social reintegration programs, but little was directed at amputees.
CaptionInmates of the Maula Prison sleep on the floor. They are so tightly packed that they turn over only when a designated prisoner wakes them to do so en masse. Malawi prisons do not have a bad human rights record, but are overcrowded as many of those incarcerated have been on remand for several years as a result of a lack of financial and legal resources. The nation's 12 million citizens have 28 legal-aid attorneys and eight prosecutors with law degrees among them. The situation is repeated across the continent in countries where judicial systems are under-financed and understaffed.
CaptionJiten Sakhari (74) drinks water from a tubewell contaminated by arsenic. Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment in varying degrees. Although it is not certain where the contamination in West Bengal originates, it is thought that the arsenic seeps from rocks into underground water supplies. Levels of the chemical are particularly high in West Bengal and Bangladesh, where as many as 40 million people are believed to be at risk. Long-term consumption of even small amounts of arsenic can be fatal, and studies have linked prolonged exposure with cancer, diabetes and liver disease. Deep tubewells are particularly affected. From the 1970s onwards both the United Nations and the World Bank advocated the digging of such wells as an alternative to surface water bodies that had become polluted by industrial effluents and sewage.
Organization / PublicationSipa Press for Paris Match
CategoryContemporary Issues stories
Prize1st prize
Date25-05-2004
CountryCameroon
PlaceLimbe
CaptionKingsley (22) tells his parents of his decision to leave for Europe. The short distance across the sea from northern Africa to mainland Spain or the Canary Islands is a popular route for illegal immigrants looking for a better life in Europe. Kingsley, a Cameroonian, was one who attempted the passage. In his hometown, Kingsley earned just US$ 30 a month as a lifeguard at a hotel. He had already tried to reach Europe once before, but turned back in Nigeria having run out of funds. On his second trip, he managed to raise more than US$ 1,000 to pay for the trip, for smuggler fees, and to finance his first weeks in Europe.
Organization / PublicationAgence Vu for NIZA / Vrij Nederland
CategoryContemporary Issues stories
Prize2nd prize
Date00-02-2004
CountrySierra Leone
PlaceKoidu
CaptionThe diamond industry draws its materials from some of the poorest and most troubled regions in the world. In the past, warlords and rebel groups in countries including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone have used profits from the mines they control to buy arms and fund wars. The industry has attempted to prevent the spread of these 'conflict diamonds' by setting up the Kimberly Process to document and certify all exports. But conflict diamonds persist, smuggled out of strife-torn areas to neighboring countries and then sold on the black market or mixed with certified stones.
CaptionMary Ann Nilan shaved her head on her 40th birthday, before chemotherapy, as she didn't want to lose her hair bit by bit. Mary Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 39. She asked a photographer to record the process of her chemotherapy, double mastectomy and reconstruction implant surgery. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. In 2005 over 41,000 died from the disease in the US alone, but earlier diagnosis and improved treatment would appear to be driving death rates down.
Organization / PublicationFocus Photo und Presse Agentur for Newsweek
CategoryDaily Life
Prize1st prize
Date10-06-2005
CountryNorth Korea
PlacePanmunjeom
CaptionNorth Korean border guards stand watch at frontier between North and South Korea. The concrete Military Demarcation Line, separating sand from asphalt areas, marks the divide between the two countries. The blue buildings straddling the line were the scene of discussions that lead to the 1953 armistice, ending the Korean War. Relations between capitalist South Korea and communist North Korea, one of the most secretive nations on earth, remain tense - but in 2005 the countries jointly celebrated the 60th anniversary of their independence from Japan. A four-day inter-Korean festival in August included a football match and cultural events and the countries linked fiber-optic cables to allow families separated for decades to take part in video reunions. In a White Paper on defense earlier in the year, South Korea had dropped its reference to North Korea as its 'main enemy'.
CaptionStreet children enjoy a shower in a care center. Food and lodging, as well as basic schooling, are offered to the children in exchange for light labor. Conflict, internal displacement, HIV/Aids and poverty contribute to the rising number of children who live and work on the streets. An estimated 30,000 street children live in Kinshasa, with tens of thousands more in other urban areas around the country. Many of them have been cast out of home by their parents, having been accused of witchcraft. They are blamed for the family's economic ills or the death of a relative from an Aids-related illness. Once in the streets, children face physical and sexual abuse from older children, adults and sometimes also from police and the military.
CaptionA child worker is punished for not completing his work on time. UNICEF estimates that some 3.3 million children, one-fifth of the country's labor force, are employed in Bangladesh. This is despite efforts in the 1990s to curb child labor in the garment industry. Many children are forced into hazardous occupations in painting or engineering workshops, or in tanneries that use dangerous chemicals. On average a child laborer gets 60 taka (less than US$ 1) a day, about one third of the adult rate. In addition, factory owners prefer child workers because they are able to keep the workplace free from trade unionism. Early employment also deprives the children of opportunity for education, thus preventing them from finding a way out of low-paid occupations.
CaptionViktor Popovichenko (32), takes a tumble after one too many shots of samegun, a homemade vodka that sells for US$ 1 a liter. Viktor drinks a bottle a day. Orane is a nearly deserted village just 30km from Chernobyl, scene of the nuclear disaster of 1986. With no work and few other activities to keep them busy, many residents resort to alcohol to pass the time. A recent World Mental Health survey in Ukraine found that 38.7 percent of men were heavy alcohol users.
CaptionThe Gomez Brito family have a single lemon tree on their land. The family are Ixil Mayans living near the village of Nebaj in a remote mountain region, inaccessible to outsiders until modern times. As a result of their isolation the Ixil Mayans long maintained their traditional beliefs and way of dress, but in the late 1970s and 1980s the region was engulfed in a civil war and many indigenous people were displaced. When peace returned in the 1990s the family, like many others, were able to return to their traditional ways. Mother Juanita and father Andrés live with their nine children. They work on small plots of land that have belonged to their family for generations. From sunrise to sunset the family collect fruit and berries, cultivate corn and beans, and tend their animals.
CaptionBoys kick-boxing on the main street of a village where rich gypsies build grand houses. The houses are simply a display of their wealth, often left standing empty. Dictatorship and nationalism isolated Romania from Western Europe for decades. The country missed the first round of European Union expansion into Eastern Europe in 2004, as it had failed to implement sufficient democratic and market reforms. The European Commission later noted an improvement but wanted to see tighter controls on standards of food hygiene and a rooting out of corruption. Romania faced natural disasters as well as economic hardship, as it was struck by avian flu and by floods that affected some two-thirds of the country.
CaptionThe chief of a lepers' community in eastern Liberia. Liberia's long-running civil war and subsequent political turmoil finally gave way to elections and relative stability in 2005. In the aftermath of the conflict, disabled people comprised some 16 percent of the population. There are an estimated 77,000 blind people, many of whom have lost their sight as a consequence of malnutrition, or through conditions that might easily not have led to blindness if tackled in time. Local attitudes are changing from the traditional perception of blindness being seen as the result of sorcery.
CaptionMallam Galadima Ahamadu with the hyena Jamis. Mallam is part of a troupe that travels around northern Nigeria with three hyenas, two rock pythons and four monkeys. They work as entertainers and sell the fetishes and herbal medicines that are much in demand. The hyenas are trained to mock-attack, which draws the crowds. The handlers capture the hyenas from caves in the wild, subduing them with traditional potions, then subjecting them to up to two months training. The creatures are then taught to interact with humans and other animals without attacking them. Mallam and his colleagues feed the hyenas a goat every three days or so, which also helps to keep them calm, and sprinkle water on them as they dislike excessive heat.
CaptionMia (26) stands behind the central station, the area that houses the city's red-light district. She is a drug addict and sex worker. Mia has lost her boyfriend to an overdose, her own addiction is worsening, and she seldom sees her six-year-old daughter, who is in foster care. Despite these difficulties, Mia tries to lead as decent a life as possible.
