Blazing swastikas, dancing prime ministers, ghostly lanterns, slingshots facing state-of-the-art weaponry, sporting triumphs against the odds: this is our selection of the most arresting photographs taken in 2018
British prime minister Theresa May dances to the strains of ABBA’s Dancing Queen as she walks out onto the stage to deliver her leader’s speech on the final day of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on October 3 Pic: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
CIUDAD TECUN UMAN, GUATEMALA - OCTOBER 19: A child takes cover as Mexican riot police clash with the migrant caravan on the border of Mexico and Guatemala on October 19, 2018 in Ciudad Tecun Uman, Guatemala. The clash occurred when the caravan of thousands tried to enter Mexico, crossing over the international bridge after pushing past Guatemalan security forces. The caravan opened the gate into Mexico but was pushed back by Mexican riot police. Some immigrants threw stones at the police who then fired tear gas into the crowd. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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PINGXI, TAIWAN - MARCH 2: Tourists release sky lantern during the Pingxi lantern festival on March 2, 2018 in Pingxi, Taiwan. Pingxi, a Taiwanese district known for its old train tracks and lantern launchings, hosts the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival annually to celebrate the last day of the Lunar New Year by releasing thousands of lanterns which each carrying its flame into the night. The former coal-mining town is lined with workshops which helps visitors build lanterns with paper and glue but critics have said the event is has become unsustainable and angered the locals as up to 600,000 half-burnt lanterns crashes back to earth into surrounding mountains. Sky lanterns were invented in ancient China between AD 220-265 by military strategist Zhuge Liang to transmit information and first introduced in Taiwan in the 19th century. They were originally released as prayers for the coming year at the beginning of the spring planting season but currently only allowed by the government to release of sky lanterns at the rural district in New Taipei. (Photo by Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 29: Captain Gary Rattray from the Royal Regiment of Scotland attends the annual Opening Ceremony of the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance, at the Scott Monument, Princes Street Gardens on October 29, 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans attended the event which marks the start of the traditional two-week Remembrance period. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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DRAKETOWN, GA - APRIL 21: Members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally on April 21, 2018 in Draketown, Georgia. Community members had opposed the rally in Newnan and came out to embrace racial unity in the small Georgia town. Fearing a repeat of the violence that broke out after Charlottesville, hundreds of police officers were stationed in the town during the rally in an attempt to keep the anti racist protesters and neo-Nazi groups separated. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
Firefighters watch as the 18,137 acre Holy Fire burns around them for the fourth day in Lake Elsinore, California in the early morning on August 10, 2018. (Photo by Christian Monterrosa / Sipa USA)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
TOPSHOT - A boy holds a partially submerged branch as he plays in a swollen river caused by heavy rains under a bridge in Manila on June 11, 2018. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP) (Photo credit should read NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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NASHVILLE, TN - MAY 29: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a rally at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, May 29, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier in the day, President Trump held a fundraising event in support of Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is running for a U.S. Senate seat against former two-term Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat. They are competing for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who declined to run for a third term. Recent polling indicates a close race between Blackburn and Bredesen. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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MCALLEN, TX - JUNE 12: A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The asylum seekers had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants' country of origin would no longer qualify them for political asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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STALYBRIDGE, ENGLAND - JUNE 26: The full moon rises behind burning moorland as a large wildfire sweeps across the moors between Dovestones and Buckton Vale in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester on June 26, 2018 in Stalybridge, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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GAZA CITY, GAZA - JULY 13: A Palestinian uses slingshot during the "Great March of Return" demonstration with ''Fidelity to Khan Al-Ahmar'' near Israel-Gaza border at Al-Bureyc refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza on July 13, 2018. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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A time exposure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it launches at 5:42 AM from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 29, 2018. On board the Dragon spacecraft was nearly 6 tons of supplies and experiments including mice and the first robot with Artificial Intelligence. Photo by Joe Marino/Bill Cantrell/UPI
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
dpatop - 10 December 2018, North Rhine-Westphalia, Duisburg: A blast furnace operator takes a sample at blast furnace 2 in the Schwelgern plant of Thyssenkrupp. This is where pig iron is produced. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, HI - MAY 15: People play golf as an ash plume rises in the distance from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island on May 15, 2018 in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The U.S. Geological Survey said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano's Halemaumau crater 'has raised the potential for explosive eruptions' at the volcano. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
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A children worker drink water plastic bottles in a recycling factory at Mohammadpur in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 01 October 2018. Recycling plastic bottles has become a growing business over the last couple of years as well as helping to protect the environment. According to the Bangladesh PET Flakes Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPFMEA), Bangladesh exports on an average nearly 30,000 tons of PET bottle flakes mainly to China, South Korea and Taiwan worth $14 million dollars per year. (Photo by Kazi Salahuddin Razu/NurPhoto/Sipa USA)
Photo by
Eoin O'Hara
