โลกอาลัยเนลสัน แมนเดลาSouth African leader and anit-aparthied hero Nelson Mandela died December 5 at the age of 95. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting against apartheid and upon his release in 1990, continued to strive for peace and reconciliation as president of ANC and South African president in 1994. The country and the world mourns his death and celebrates his life. -Leanne Burden Seidel ( 34 photos total) 
Flowers left by mourners surround a portrait of Nelson Mandela in the Sandton district of Johannesburg on Dec. 6. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died on Dec. 5 aged 95. Mandela, who was elected South Africa's first black president after spending nearly three decades in prison, had been receiving treatment for a lung infection at his Johannesburg home since September, after three months in hospital in a critical state. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images) 
South African children hold placards showing the face of Nelson Mandela as they celebrate his life, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec. 6. Flags were lowered to half-staff and people in black townships, in upscale mostly white suburbs and in South Africa's vast rural grasslands commemorated Nelson Mandela with song, tears and prayers while pledging to adhere to the values of unity and democracy that he embodied. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) # 
A girl holds a South African national flag as people mourn the death of former President Nelson Mandela outside Cape Town City Hall, where Mandela made his first speech after his release from his 27-year incarceration, on Dec. 6. (Mike Hutchings/Reuters) # 
ANC supporters pray in front of the courthouse of Johannesburg, on Dec. 28, 1956, to support 152 anti-apartheid militants, including Nelson Mandela, during their trial. (AFP/Getty Images) # 
People comfort each other outside the residence of former South African President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg on Dec. 6. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters) # 
A young girl lays flowers in memory of Nelson Mandela in the Sandton district of Johannesburg on Dec. 6. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images) # 
Workmen unfurl a giant banner with a photo of the late South African President Nelson Mandela to cover the facade of the Quai d'Orsay Foreign Affairs Ministry in Paris, on Dec. 6. (Charles Platiau/Reuters) # 
Nelson Mandela, leaves the Pretoria synagogue, being used as a court, at the end of the day's proceedings in 1958 during his first treason trial. He and other defendants were acquitted on 1961 after a four and half year trial. The South Africa government said on Nov. 21 that it will not send the black leader back to prison when he completes his hospital stay but keep him under close guard at an unspecified location. (Associated Press) # 
South Africans hold pictures of former South African president Nelson Mandela as they pay tribute following his death in Johannesburg on Dec. 6. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images) # 
A picture of South African leader Nelson Mandela is taped to a wall beneath the Apollo Theatre marquee, on Dec. 5, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (John Minchillo/Associated Press) # 
Eight men, among them anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial leave the Palace of Justice in Pretoria with their fists raised in defiance through the barred windows of the prison car on June 16, 1964. The eight men were accused of conspiracy, sabotage and treason. (AFP/Getty Images) # 
A woman holding a candle and a rose cries outside the house of former South African president Nelson Mandela following his death in Johannesburg on Dec. 5. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images) # 
The UN Security Council observes a minute of silence upon the news of the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela, in New York on Dec. 5. UN leader Ban Ki-moon hailed Nelson Mandela as a "giant for justice" who had also left his mark with a profound sense of human decency. (Eskinder Debebe/AFP/Getty Images) # 
Schoolchildren hold candles and portraits of former South African President Nelson Mandela during a prayer ceremony at a school in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Dec. 6. (Babu/Reuters) # 
A man washes a 'Free Mandela' slogan off the side of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, UK. (Peter Dunne/Getty Images) # 
A well-wisher writes a message on a poster of Nelson Mandela on which he and others have written their messages of condolence and support, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa on Dec. 6. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) # 
Nelson Mandela, accompanied by his wife Winnie, walks out of the Victor Verster prison, near Cape Town, after spending 27 years in apartheid jails on Feb. 11, 1990. (Juda Ngwenya/Files/Reuters) # 
Keaton Anderson, 10, poses for a photograph for his father Dijon Anderson, of Bowie, Md., as they visit the statue of Nelson Mandela at the South African Embassy in Washington, which is currently under renovation, on Dec. 5. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press) # 
Mourners sing and dance to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec. 6. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) # 
An Iranian official of the South African embassy to Iran talks on her mobile phone as flowers a and condolence messages are seen at the gate of the South Africa embassy in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 6. (Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA) # 
ANC president Nelson Mandela is surrounded by young supporters after addressing residents at Phola Park, a squatter settlement east of Johannesburg, on May 31, 1992. (Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images) # 
People look at floral tributes placed on a sculpture of Nelson Mandela next to The Royal Festival Hall on Dec. 6, in London, England. Mandela was a leader that helped conquer apartheid in racially divided South Africa after being jailed for his activism for decades. He was South Africa's first black president. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) # 
People release paper lanterns after lighting them outside Madiba, a restaurant named in honor of former South African President Nelson Mandela, in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Dec. 5. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) # 
College students put flowers before a photo of Nelson Mandela to pay tribute to him on their campus in Hengyang, central China's Hunan province on Dec. 6. The death of South Africa's liberation leader Nelson Mandela has unleashed a chorus of awed respect from across the worlds of politics, religion, sport and culture. (AFP/Getty Images) # 
A businessman has his shoes shined while reading a newspaper featuring news of the death of South African leader Nelson Mandela, on Dec. 6, in New York. (John Minchillo/Associated Press) # 
A mourner sings the South African National anthem and hymn Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica during a mass at St. Georges Cathedral in Capetown on Dec. 6. (Jennifer Bruce/AFP/Getty Images) # 
A young girl with a placard showing the face of Nelson Mandela and referring to his clan name "Madiba," marches with others to celebrate his life, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec. 6. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) # 
African National Congress (ANC) president Nelson Mandela salutes the crowd, on Feb. 24, 1994, as he enters Roodepan township in Kimberley during an electoral meeting. South Africans will vote on April 27, 1994 in the country's first democratic and multiracial general elections. (Guy Tillim/AFP/Getty Images) # 
A man wears key-rings showing the face of Nelson Mandela taped to his ears to mimic earrings as he and others celebrate his life, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa on Dec. 6. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) # 
A long line of people wait outside the polling station in the black township of Soweto, in the southwest suburbs of Johannesburg, to vote in South Africa's first all-race elections on April 27, 1994. Nelson Mandela, who became one of the world's most beloved statesmen and a colossus of the 20th century when he emerged from 27 years in prison to negotiate an end to white minority rule in South Africa, died at 95 years of age on Dec. 5. South African President Jacob Zuma made the announcement at a news conference late on Dec. 5, 2013, saying "we've lost our greatest son." (Denis Farrell/Associated Press/File) # 
People take pictures with their phones of a statuette of former South African President Nelson Mandela with a sign in front of it reading in Italian "Ciao Madiba" (Goodbye Madiba), referring to Mandela's clan name, displayed amongst other statuettes of famous personalities in the shop of an artisan of nativity scenes, in Naples' San Gregorio Armeno street, Italy, on Dec. 6. (Salvatore Laporta/Associated Press) # 
A woman pays tribute to Nelson Mandela outside the South African embassy near Trafalgar Square on Dec. 6, in London, England. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images) # 
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who turned 89 years old on July 18, 2007, laughs while celebrating his birthday with children at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund in Johannesburg on July 24, 2007. (Denis Farrell/Associated Press/File) # 
A woman holds a poster outside the house of former South African President Nelson Mandela after news of his death in Houghton, Dec. 6. Mandela was hailed as a "hero of our time" as tributes poured in from world leaders on the death of the man who led the triumphant fight against apartheid in South Africa and became that country's first black president. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters) #
December 20, 2013
Our collection of the best photojournalism of 2013 concludes with a look at the months of September, October, November, and December. News as always dominated the period with Typhoon Haiyan battering the Philippines, the attack on the mall in Kenya, the funeral for Nelson Mandela, unrest in Ukraine and the conflict in Syria continuing. Here is just a glimpse of what stood out to me in the final months of the year. For the rest of the year, see part I and part II. -- Lloyd Young [Editor's note: The Big Picture will not publish during the week beginning December 23. We will return posting December 30.] ( 35 photos total ) 
Typhoon survivors play a game called "Sungka" inside the bathroom of a house, toppled by Super Typhoon Haiyan that battered Tacloban city nearly two weeks ago, in central Philippines on Nov. 21. (Erik De Castro/Reuters) 
A man fans flames on a fire Tanauan on Nov. 19, in Leyte, Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan, which ripped through Philippines, has been described as one of the most powerful typhoons ever to hit land, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. Countries all over the world have pledged relief aid to help support those affected by the typhoon however damage to the airport and roads have made moving the aid into the most affected areas very difficult. With dead bodies left out in the open air and very limited food, water and shelter, health concerns are growing. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) # 
People take cover behind a counter at the Westgate shopping mall after a shootout in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 21. (Kabir Dhanji/EPA) # 
Firefighters try to put out a fire that erupted at a Fruit market in Karachi, Pakistan, on Oct. 16. More than 200 shops were gutted and stock of worth hundreds of thousands was destroyed in the incident. (Shahzaib Akber/EPA) # 
A woman suffers from an asthma attack due to tear gas during a demonstrations held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sept. 30, against the Sept. 30, 1991 coup against former president Jean Bertrand Aristide. (Jean Jacques Augustin/EPA) # 
A Russian Orthodox pilgrim enters the water on the West Bank side of the Jordan River for the baptismal ceremony at the site known as Qasr el-Yahud on the the Jordan River near the city of Jericho, Israel, on Oct. 21. Many Orthodox pilgrims visit the site where they believe that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. (Abir Sultan/EPA) # 
A Syrian man with more than half his body burnt from an air strike leaves a field hospital to go back home at a village turned into a battlefield with government forces in Idlib province, northern Syria, on Sept. 22. (Associated Press) # 
A survivor is rescued from the rubble after four-story residential building collapsed in Mumbai, India, on Sept. 27. (Divyakant Solanki/EPA) # 
Former French hostage Daniel Larribe is greeted by family members and French President Francois Hollande (unseen) upon his arrival at Villacoublay military airport outside Paris, France, on Oct. 30. The four Frenchmen, who worked for French nuclear energy company Areva, were kidnapped on Sept. 16, 2010, from a uranium compound in Arlit, north-central Niger and held hostage for three years by an Al Qaeda-linked group (AQMI) in the Sahara desert. They were released on Oct. 29 and left Niger on a government airplane in the early hours of Oct. 30, with details how their liberation came about still unclear. (Ian Langsdon/EPA) # 
People sit in a caravan as they watch the TV election debate between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor candidate of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) Peer Steinbrueck at a camping ground in Hagen-Vorhalle, Germany, on Sept. 1. (Jonas Guettler/EPA) # 
A protester is removed as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies in the House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Potential Changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, on Oct. 29. (Shawn Thew/EPA) # 
Members of the Tokyo bid committee celebrate as Jacques Rogge President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announces Tokyo as the city to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Game during a ceremony in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7. (Marcos Brindicci/Reuters) # 
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford responds to the Toronto police investigation dubbed "Project Brazen 2" to the media at City Hall in Toronto, on Oct. 31. Ford, a player in a video that police say matches one that allegedly shows him smoking crack cocaine, said then that he had no reason to resign. (Mark Blinch/Reuters) # 
A girl hugs her brother, a recruit from the presidential regiment, as he takes the oath at a military base in Kiev on Nov. 16. President Viktor Yanukovich has declared that Ukrainian Armed Forces will call the last conscript this autumn. One of the largest post-Soviet republics, Ukraine says goodbye to the conscription inherited from the Soviet Union by focusing on a high-tech professional army based on a western model. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) # 
The leader of ultra-right wing Golden Dawn party Nikos Michaloliakos is escorted by masked police officers to the prosecutor from the police headquarters in Athens on Sept. 28. Greek police swooped on the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, arresting its leadership and hunting for dozens of members across the country in a crackdown sparked by the murder of a leftist musician. The arrests came a day after Golden Dawn threatened to pull its lawmakers out of parliament, a move that could spark a political crisis in the recession-hit country. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images) # 
A woman looks on as Mount Sinabung spews ash, as pictured from Sibintun village in Karo district, Indonesia's north Sumatra province on Nov. 18. Mount Sinabung continued to spew volcanic ash throwing a plume 8,000 meters into the atmosphere as thousands of residents remained in temporary shelters fearful of more eruptions, according to local media. (Roni Bintang/Reuters) # 
A vehicle sits on a pile of debris from the destruction caused by a tornado that touched down in Washington, Illinois, on Nov/ 17. A fast-moving storm system triggered multiple tornadoes, killing at least five people, injuring about 40 and flattening large parts of the city of Washington, Illinois as it tore across the Midwest, officials said. (Jim Young/Reuters) # 
Belgian riot police are covered with foam sprayed by Belgian firefighters during a protest for better work conditions in central Brussels on Oct. 7. (Yves Herman/Reuters) # 
Children look at the Olympic flame torch held by torchbearer Segrey Menshikov during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch relay near the ancient Russian city of Vladimir, 200 km (120 miles) south of Moscow on Oct. 16. (Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee via AFP/Getty Images) # 
A makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, the one-year anniversary of the shootings. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press) # 
Residents flee as winds whip flames from the Morgan fire along Morgan Territory Road near Clayton, California in unincorporated Contra Costa County on Sept. 9. The blaze, burning in dense, dry scrub, grass and timber in and around Mount Diablo State Park, had scorched some 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares), forcing the evacuation of about 100 homes at the edge of the town of Clayton. (Noah Berger/Reuters) # 
An Indian street child plays in a dry river bed after flood waters receded in Allahabad on Oct. 25. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images) # 
A girl shakes a young tree to make the yellow leaves fall in a park among seasonal colored trees on an autumn day in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Oct. 14. (Sergei Grits/Associated Press) # 
Nick Vujicic, an Australian motivational speaker who was born without limbs, swims with sharks at the Marine Life Park in Singapore on Sept. 5. Vujicic dived with sharks in a customized acrylic enclosure that takes in a 360-degree view of the shark habitat at the aquarium. Vujicic is in Singapore to give a motivational talk to a 5,000 strong audience. (Edgar Su/Reuters) # 
A Pakistani man carrying a child rushes away from the site of a blast shortly after a car exploded in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Sept. 29. A car bomb exploded on a crowded street in northwestern Pakistan, killing scores of people in the third blast to hit the troubled city of Peshawar in a week. (Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press) # 
Protesters use tear gas and throw stones during clashes with riot police in front of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine during a rally in Kiev on Nov. 24. Thousands of pro-Europe protesters in Ukraine attempted to storm the government building in the capital of Kiev, clashing with police who fired tear gas to keep them back. Protesters tried to break through police ranks surrounding the building, with some throwing stones and hitting officers with the signs they were carrying, as police fought back with batons, an AFP correspondent reported. (Genya SavilovAFP/Getty Images) # 
A US Capitol Police Officer walks past a statue of Gerald Ford, who was US president during the 1976 shutdown of the federal government, in the Rotunda while the building was closed to tours on Capitol Hill on Oct. 1, in Washington, DC. The group of healthcare reform supporters and politicians gathered to celebrate the implementation of the Affordable Care Act's online insurance markets which opened today. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) # 
Dave Jackson closes a mailbox with his foot after delivering the mail to a home surrounded on three sides by a flooded Cheyenne Creek Friday, Sept. 13, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coffee-colored floodwaters cascaded downstream from the Colorado Rockies, transforming normally scenic rivers and creeks into fast, unforgiving torrents and forcing thousands more evacuations from water-logged communities beset by days of steady rain. (Michael Ciaglo/The Colorado Springs Gazette via Associated Press) # 
Malian campaign workers look through electoral lists at a polling station in the Badalabougou neighborhood of Bamako, Mali, on Nov. 24. Malians voted for legislative elections amidst concerns over security following attacks in the northern city of Gao and the kidnapping and killing of two French journalists in the desert city of Kidal. Some 1,080 candidates, including 135 women, are competing for 147 seats in the elections, which will go to a second round on Dec. 15 unless one party wins an absolute majority. (Tanya Bindra/EPA) # 
Afghan schoolchildren take lessons in an open classroom at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province on Dec. 1. Afghanistan has had only rare moments of peace over the past 30 years, its education system being undermined by the Soviet invasion of 1979, a civil war in the 1990s and five years of Taliban rule. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images ) # 
Syrian fighters of the YPG (Kurdish Popular Protection Units) man a guard post at a building near the frontline, in Ras al-Ayn (Seri Kanye in Kurdish), al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, on Oct. 22. The YPG is composed of youths from communities across the Kurdish region of Syria. Kurds, the largest ethnic minority group in Syria, reportedly make up nine percent of the country's population. (Mauricio Morales/EPA) # 
Demonstrators march on Nov. 6, under the rain in Athens during a 24-hour general strike. A general strike hit Greece on Nov. 6, paralyzing public services and disrupting transport as EU-IMF auditors worked to finalize the recession-hit country's next budget, looking to eliminate a fiscal shortfall that could bring more unpopular cuts. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) # 
Residents look at a collapsed Holy Trinity parish church at Loay, Bohol on Oct. 17, after an earthquake struck central Philippines. The Philippines started to clear roads blocked by debris on Oct. 17 as it reckoned up the cost of the Oct. 15 powerful earthquake, with the death toll rising to at least 158. Tens of thousands of residents of Bohol island, which took the brunt of the 7.2 magnitude quake, remained living outdoors, for fear of aftershocks bringing down damaged homes. (Erik De Castro/Reuters) # 
A man walks through the 9/11 Empty Sky memorial at sunrise across from New York's Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Sept. 11. Americans will commemorate the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with solemn ceremonies and pledges to not forget the nearly 3,000 killed when hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters) # 
A man wraps his body with a Nelson Mandela tapestry outside Mandela's home on Dec. 7, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela, also known as Madiba, passed away on the evening of Dec. 5th, at his home in Houghton at the age of 95. Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in jail for his activism against apartheid in a racially-divided South Africa. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #
