Photos of the year: Picks from around the world

RNZ has picked out the photographs which best captured this chaotic year around the world. Warning: graphic content.

Firefighters watch as flames from the County Fire climb a hillside in Guinda, California, on 1 July, 2018.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in at the Military Demarcation Line that divides their countries, in April.

A two-year-old Yemeni boy suffering from malnutrition has his weight measured at a hospital in the northern district of Abs. The United Nations aid chief said agencies were losing the fight against famine in the country which has been invaded by a Saudi-led coalition.

Sotheby's employees pose with the newly completed work by artist Banksy entitled "Love is in the Bin", a work that was created when the painting "Girl with Balloon" was passed through a shredder in a surprise intervention by the artist, at Sotheby's auction house in London.

Thai Navy soldiers in the flooded Tham Luang cave during rescue operations for the 12 boys and their football team coach trapped in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park.

A group of Central American migrants climb the border fence between Mexico and the United States, near El Chaparral border crossing, in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump attend a meeting in Helsinki.

A Syrian paramedic carries an injured child following reported bombardment by Syrian and Russian forces in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the Eastern Ghouta.

Australia's outgoing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks at a press conference in Canberra after Scott Morrison was sworn in as the new leader.

A lorry stands on the edge of the collapsed Morandi motorway bridge in the northwestern city of Genoa. About 30 people were killed in what the government called an "immense tragedy" after the bridge collapsed in heavy rain in the Italian city.

Another angle of the collapsed bridge in Italy shows rescuers scouring through the wreckage and people gathered around the scene.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hugs a supporter during her victory celebration at La Boom night club in Queens on November 6, 2018 in New York City. With her win against Republican Anthony Pappas, Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to Congress.

A truck carrying mostly Honduran migrants taking part in a caravan heading to the US, passes by a wind farm on their way from Santiago Niltepec to Juchitan, near the town of La Blanca in Oaxaca State, Mexico.

A burned neighborhood is seen in Paradise, California following the deadliest and most destructive fire in state history.

Indonesian soldiers burying quake victims in a mass grave in Poboya in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area on September 28.

French President Emmanuel Macron reacts during the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match between France and Croatia.

The remainder of the year did not pan out well for Macron. The Gilet Jaunes - Yellow Jackets - are still taking to the streets protesting his government as of writing.

Members of the "Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls" human tower team form a "castell" (human tower) winning the XXVII 'castells' competetion in Tarragona on October 7, 2018. These human towers, built traditionally in festivals within Catalonia, gather several teams that attempt to build and dismantle a human tower structure.