Surfing in Rio’s Slums

Photos by Felipe Dana

Eric Marques walks down a steep labyrinth of dark alleyways on this hillside slum long controlled by drug gangs and off-limits to outsiders.

Black Police Recruit Hopes to Shatter Perceptions

Photos by Jae C. Hong

Renata Phillip was 11 years into a satisfying teaching career when she shocked her friends and family last August by deciding to make a drastic career change: become a police officer.

August 15, 2016

Pictures of the Week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

August 12, 2016

Fidel Castro at 90

White-haired, thin and bent at nearly 90, Fidel Castro in person is a faint echo of the man who remade his country, defied the United States and fueled socialist uprisings around the world.

August 11, 2016

Bangladeshis Travel Far From Home For $10-A-Day Jobs

Photos by A.M. Ahad

Mohammad Jamal last saw his now-4-month-old daughter when she was 2 days old. He doesn’t know when he will see her next.

August 10, 2016

August 9, 2016

Fans Converge on Rio to Celebrate the 2016 Summer Olympics

During the first week of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, fans from all over the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro to cheer on their countries, favorite sports and top athletes. 

India’s Fasting Activist Irom Sharmila

One of India’s most prominent political activists ended a 16-year hunger strike Tuesday, licking honey from her hand and declaring “I will never forget this moment.”

August 8, 2016

International Cat Day

To mark International Cat Day, we looked through our photo archive and put together a gallery of cats from around the world. 

Pictures of the Week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

Africa’s Yellow Fever Outbreak

Photos by Jerome Delay

The World Health Organization and its partners shipped more than 6 million yellow fever vaccines to Angola in February to quash an emerging epidemic, yet when they asked country officials the following month what happened to the vaccines, they discovered that about 1 million doses had mysteriously disappeared.

August 4, 2016

Gaza Strip Wedding

Photos by Khalil Hamra

Like dozens of other couples who got married this summer in the isolated Gaza Strip, for Saed and Falasteen Abu Aser, their wedding was an elaborately planned celebration, complete with a procession through the streets of their neighborhood.

Mexico’s Physically Challenged ‘Charro’ Cowboys

Photos by Nick Wagner 

Salvador Espinoza spends his days in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. When he mounts his horse and tightens the back brace that helps him keep upright in the saddle, he transforms into a charro, or Mexican cowboy.

In Brazil’s Amazon, Worship with Psychedelic Tea

Photos by Eraldo Peres

Canoes slide through a narrow river, dodging branches and trees for more than four hours to reach a tiny village deep in the Amazon jungle of western Brazil.

Cuban Cattle Country Keeps Up Rodeo Traditions

Photos by Ramon Espinosa

In the Cuban countryside, many children learn to ride a horse before they tackle a bicycle.

August 1, 2016

Expert to Rio Athletes: ‘Don’t Put Your Head Under Water’

Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.

3 Sisters Go From Homeless Shelter to Junior Track Stardom

Every morning, three young sisters wake up together with their mom in one bed in a Brooklyn homeless shelter. Every afternoon, they train in a sport that they hope will put them on a path to a better life.

Pictures of the Week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

July 29, 2016

Scenes From a City Under Siege in Indian-Controlled Kashmir

Photos by Bernat Armangue

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, where violence has come in grim cycles for more than two decades, people know what to expect when tempers rise.

Lebanon Shiite Tattoos

Photographs by Hassan Ammar

Hamada Bayloun is not particularly religious, but across his entire upper back spreads a large tattoo of the most revered saint in Shiite Islam, Imam Ali.

July 28, 2016

July 27, 2016

Divided America: Women in Office

Hillary Clinton and Mary Thomas have little in common, except for this: They both hope to add to the meager ranks of America’s female elected officials come January.

Mexico’s Firefly Sanctuary

Photos by Rebecca Blackwell

In the village of Nanacamilpa, tiny fireflies are helping save the towering pine and fir trees on the outskirts of the megalopolis of Mexico City.

July 26, 2016

Sri Lanka To Protect Mangroves

Photos by Eranga Jayawardena

Sri Lanka’s government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests — the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, absorb carbon from the environment and reduce the impact of natural disasters like tsunamis.

July 25, 2016

Pictures of the Week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

July 22, 2016

In Rio’s Slums, Gangs, Drugs, Murders Carry the Day

July 21, 2016

In Peru’s Andes, Bitter Cold Devastates Alpaca Farmers

Photos by Rodrigo Abd

After three days of heavy snowfall and bone-chilling temperatures, Mateo Mullisaca watches as one of his alpacas falls to the ground in agony on his farm almost 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) high in Peru’s Andes.

July 20, 2016

500 Elephants Relocated in Malawi

Photos by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Half a dozen African elephants lay strewn on a riverside plain in Malawi, immobilized by darts fired from a helicopter in a massive project to move 500 elephants, by truck and crane, to a sanctuary for the threatened species.

Uruguay’s Pot Club

Photos by Matilde Campodonico

Uruguay is home to the world’s first government-regulated national marketplace for pot, so it’s not surprising that growers have a competition for best marijuana.

July 19, 2016

AP Monthly Staff Photo Contest

Each month The Associated Press management honors photographers for outstanding coverage while on assignment.

July 18, 2016

Britain May be Yearning for a Country That Never Was

Photos by Emilio Morenatti

Across Britain, from dilapidated Welsh coal mining towns to English beach resorts frozen in time, people say they voted to leave the European Union and plunge into the unknown to get their country back.

Pictures of the Week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

July 15, 2016

Divided America: Images of American’s Dealing With Issues

This story is part of Divided America, AP’s ongoing exploration of the economic, social and political divisions in American society.