Flood
Water rushes down a stairwell during heavy rains in Chongqing, China in July.
Wildfire
Firemen watch a helicopter douse flames near Escondido, California. A series of blazes destroyed a half million acres and displaced thousands of residents in October
Child Labor
Sixteen-year-old Rubel works at an aluminum factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Killer Among Us
The class photograph of Seung-Hui Cho is isolated in the 2002 yearbook of Westfield High School in Falls Church, Virginia. Twenty-three-year old Cho went on a shooting rampage that claimed the lives of 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members.
Memorial
The day after the shooting, thousands of people gathered on the commons of the Virginia Tech campus to honor the victims.
Grief
Palestinian women mourn the death of Hamas supporter.
Defender
A member of the Afghan National Army engages in a skirmish with Taliban forces near an outpost at Gowardehs.
Displaced
Refugees from fighting in Mogadishu seek shelter at a camp in Baletwayne, Somalia.
Dealer
Black market gasoline is sold on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.
Scavenger
A Nigerian woman protects herself against a fire in a trash dump where she harvests garbage.
Street Fighting
Kenji Nagai, a Japanese photographer, falls to the ground after being shot in confrontations between Burmese protesters and government security forces. Kenji later died.
Back to Normal?
A monk winds his way through a crowded market in the days after the Burmese government’s crackdown.
Commander
A Kurdish rebel pauses on a roadside in Northern Iraq. PKK forces mounted incursions into Turkey through the spring and summer.
Man of the World
Former Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore works in his home office in Tennessee.
Candidate
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama waits to be introduced at a campaign event in Manning, South Carolina.
Checking In
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton checks her Blackberry before a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa in January.
Royal Guest
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth waits for the family of U.S. President George W. Bush to arrive at dinner at the British Embassy in May.
Hogwarts Bound
Harry Potter fans board a train to a secret location for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Sydney, Australia.
Pie Eyed
World Pie Championship judge John Young poses with two scotch pies at a competition in Dunfermline, Scotland.
Power Stroke
Tennis star Rafael Nadal poses underneath the surface of a pool in Monte Carlo, Monaco.