It’s never been easier to keep up with what’s going on in the world. The news is everywhere – in our Facebook feeds, on the morning commute, during that lazy half hour before you switch off the TV and go to bed. But the tide of global affairs is often more upsetting than uplifting and it can be tempting to bury our heads in the sand. As the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words, so to offer a different perspective we've rounded up some of the most memorable images of the week's events, captured by the best photojournalists on the planet.
Fireworks explode around the London Eye during New Year's celebrations in central London just after midnight on 1st January 2018.
Photo: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images
A Palestinian writes in the sand at Gaza beach in Gaza City on 30th December 2017. The sculpture reads: "Jerusalem is our revolution 2018."
Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A family looks on as a wave crashes over the tidal wall of the New Brighton Promenade on 3rd January 2018 in New Brighton, United Kingdom. A yellow warning is in place as Storm Eleanor brings winds of up to 100mph to parts of the UK and Ireland.
Photo: Jan Hendrik Kruger/Getty Images
Chinese people dance during a New Year celebration on 31st December 2017 in Heihe, China.
Photo: VCG/Getty Images
Revellers watch fireworks launched from barges explode over Copacabana beach on 1st January 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fireworks were launched in cities worldwide to ring in 2018.
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
A plane flies in front of a 'super moon' or 'wolf moon' on its approach to London Heathrow Airport on 1st January 2018.
Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images
Palestinian children warm up in front of a fire during the cold and rainy weather in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on 1st January 2018.
Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A room in Aoluguya Ice Hotel is seen on 2nd January 2018 in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous region of China. Covering approximately 1,000 square metres and consuming about 1,500 tons of ice and snow, Aoluguya Ice Hotel opens from December to late February. The ice and snow melts at the end of May, and Aoluguya Ice Hotel won't appear until next winter.
Photo: VCG/Getty Images
Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary on 2nd January 2018 in Cliffe, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste line areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. In December 2017, Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the ocean, plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain.
Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
A 'Galejador' fires his musket during 'la Festa del Pi' (The Festival of the Pine) on 30th December 2017 in Centelles, Spain. Early in the morning, men and women born in Centelles, who are named 'Galejadors', wear their traditional costume with the Catalan red hat known as a 'barretina' and carry their shooting muskets as they walk into the forest to chop down a pine tree, load it on an ox cart and take it to the church in the village. The pine tree is decorated with five bouquets of apples and wafers and hung inside a church until 6th January. The tradition has been documented since 1751 and it is believed its origins are related to the trees and the pagan worship of fertilisation related to the winter solstice.
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
A baby Borneo orangutan is seen clinging to a tree in Jakarta, Indonesia on 3rd January 2018. The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) is working hard to build an orangutan haven in North Sumatra to accommodate disabled orangutans and orangutans that cannot be released to their natural habitat. Beginning construction four years ago, with a $2 million budget, the 48-hectare facility in Sibolangit, Deli Serdang regency, is expected to be ready by early 2019 to give long-term protection and provide improved living conditions for these arboreal mammals. Five orangutans, including a female, will be placed in the facility by the end of 2018, which will be open for public visits. They no longer have the ability to survive in the wild, posing a risk to themselves as well as other populations. Nine artificial islands measuring between 600 and 800 square metres are being prepared by the SOCP in the orangutan haven, which is the first such facility in the world.
Photo: Afriadi Hikmal/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Camels walk across the Liwa desert, some 250 kilometres west of the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi, during the Liwa 2018 Moreeb Dune Festival on 4th January 2018. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a variety of races (cars, bikes, falcons, camels and horses) and other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore.
Photo: KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images
Young people sing and dance on an ice-shaped stage floating in the sea near Sanya Yazhou Central Fishing Port on 2nd January 2018 in Sanya, Hainan province of China. The 13-metre-long, 8-metre-wide and 3-metre-tall floating stage can carry dozens of people.
Photo: VCG/Getty Images
A woman reacts with flour over her face while playing a game with cake-making ingredients as part of local festivities marking Myanmar's 70th Independence Day in Yangon on 4th January 2018. The country is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its declaration of independence from British colonial rule.
Photo: YE AUNG THU/AFP/Getty Images
Participants write Japanese calligraphy during the annual New Year calligraphy contest in Tokyo on 5th January 2018.
Photo: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty ImagesLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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