The best of 2019 in photos: Cardi B, Hong Kong protests, leopard attack

These pictures narrate the tale of the world's journey through a myriad of issues in the year 2019. (All photos: AFP)

Updated On: 2019-12-29 08:00 AM IST

A demonstrator is hit by a riot police water cannon spray during a protest against the government in Santiago on November 18, 2019. President Sebastian Pinera condemned on Sunday for the first time what he called abuses committed by police in dealing with four weeks of violent unrest that have rocked Chile and which has left 22 people dead and more than 2,000 injured. Chileans have been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues.

Brazilian former president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is carried on the shoulders through the crowd of supporters during a gathering outside the metalworkers' union building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 9, 2019. Brazil's leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva walked free from jail Friday after a year and a half behind bars for corruption following a court ruling that could release thousands of convicts.

A camel performs during a "dance competition" held during the Pushkar Camel Fair in Pushkar, in the western state of Rajasthan, on November 5, 2019. Thousands of livestock traders from the region come to the traditional camel fair where livestock, mainly camels, are traded. The annual camel and livestock fair is one of the world's largest camel fairs.

An aerial view taken on October 27, 2019, shows the site that was hit by helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the Idlib province along the border with Turkey, where "groups linked to the Islamic State (IS) group" were present, according to a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria. The helicopters targeted a home and a car on the outskirts of Barisha, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, after US media said IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was believed to be dead following a US military raid in the same province. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the helicopters likely belonged to the US-led military coalition that has been fighting the extremist group in Syria.

A leopard attacks an Indian man as another one runs away from the animal in Lamba Pind area in Jalandhar on January 31, 2019. After a leopard was spotted in a house in Lamba Pind area of Jalandhar city, subsequent attempts to capture it led to the animal attacking at least six people, though none was injured seriously, local media said.

A boy walks out of the sea while removing oil spilt on Itapuama beach located in the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco state, Brazil, on October 21, 2019. Large blobs of oil staining more than 130 beaches in northeastern Brazil began appearing in early September and have now turned up along a 2,000km stretch of the Atlantic coastline. The source of the patches remains a mystery despite President Jair Bolsonaro's assertions they came from outside the country and were possibly the work of criminals.

This undated picture released by Korean Central News Agency on October 16, 2019, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un riding a white horse amongst the first snow at Mouth Paektu.

US President Donald Trump arrives for a "Keep America Great" rally at Sudduth Coliseum at the Lake Charles Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on October 11, 2019.

A dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet performs during the dancing show "Degas Danse" on the sidelines of the exhibition "Degas at the Opera" at the Orsay Museum in Paris on October 9, 2019.

A woman holds up an umbrella and license plates, one that reads 'love', during violent protests between riot police and demonstrators in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on October 1, 2019. Police fanned out across Hong Kong on October 1 in a bid to deter pro-democracy protests as the city marked communist China's 70th birthday, with local officials attending a closed-door flag-raising ceremony behind the closed door.

Pro-democracy activists hold up LED-lit letters which read "Free HK" as others shine torch lights, lights from their phones and lasers while forming a human chain on Lion Rock in Hong Kong on September 13, 2019. Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists used torches, lanterns and laser pens to light up two of the city's best-known hillsides on September 13 night in an eye-catching protest alongside an annual festival. The evening of September 13 marks the start of the mid-autumn festival, one of the most important dates in the Chinese calendar, and is traditionally a time for thanksgiving, spending time with family and praying for good fortune.

Police personnel fire tear-gas shells to disperse Pro-Democracy protestors in the Sham Shui Po Area of Hong Kong on August 14, 2019. More than 10 weeks of sometimes-violent demonstrations have wracked the semi-autonomous city, with millions taking to the streets to demand democratic reforms and police accountability.

This aerial photo shows the boat of Captain Edward Kean passing an iceberg in Bonavista Bay on June 29, 2019, in Newfoundland, Canada. The abundance of icebergs, which continue to venture further into Canadian waters, has created a new form of tourism, iceberg sightseeing. In 2018, more than 500,000 tourists visited the province of Newfoundland, contributing nearly 570 million Canadian dollars (389 million euros) to the local economy, according to the estimates of the provincial government.

A stray polar bear walks on a road on the outskirts of the Russian industrial city of Norilsk on June 17, 2019. A hungry polar bear has been spotted on the outskirts of Norilsk, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat, authorities said on June 18, 2019.

A June 13, 2019 hand out image photographed by Steffen Olsen of the Centre for Ocean and Ice at the Danish Meteoroligical Institute shows sled dogs wading through standing water on the sea ice during an expedition in North Western Greenland. The ice in the area forms pretty reliably every winter and is very thick which means that there are relatively few fractures for meltwater to drain through. Last week saw the onset of very warm conditions in Greenland" wrote the Danish Meteorological Institue in a email and Olsen tweeted that his team relied on traditional knowledge from local hunters and their dogs as they searched for dry spots on the ice. The team also used satellite images to plan their trip. He said the photos documented an “unusual day” and that the image was “more symbolic than scientific to many”.

A child swims in a pool filled with plastic bottles during an awareness campaign to mark the World Oceans Day in Bangkok on June 8, 2019.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May reacts as she announces her resignation outside 10 Downing street in central London on May 24, 2019. Beleaguered British Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Friday that she will resign on June 7, 2019, following a Conservative Party mutiny over her remaining in power.

Cardi B arrives for the 2019 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019, in New York. The Gala raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The Gala's 2019 theme is “Camp: Notes on Fashion" inspired by Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on Camp".

Marius Radoi keeps his balance as he walks on the edge of Lake Michigan's shoreline as temperatures dropped to -20 degrees F (-29C) on January 30, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois. Frostbite warnings were issued for parts of the US Midwest on January 30, 2019, as temperatures colder than Antarctica grounded flights, forced schools and businesses to close and disrupted life for tens of millions.

This picture taken on January 3, 2019, shows a Vietnamese woman collecting incense sticks in a courtyard in the village of Quang Phu Cau on the outskirts of Hanoi. In Vietnam's 'incense village', hundreds of workers are hard at work dying, drying and whittling down bamboo bark to make the fragrant sticks ahead of the busy lunar new year holiday.

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