Reuters News Pictures of the Decade
As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, we have selected some of the most dramatic moments and striking imagery from Reuters global coverage of news from the past decade.
An American flag flies near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2001. Planes crashed into each of the two towers, causing them to collapse. REUTERS/Peter Morgan
Rescue workers carry fatally injured New York City Fire Department Chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, early September 11, 2001. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A man holding a baby uncovers the body of a dead man, suspected to have been sitting there for two days, outside the New Orleans Convention Center September 1, 2005. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
An Indian woman mourns the death of her relative (L) who was killed in a tsunami on Sunday in Cuddalore, some 180 kilometres (112 miles) south of the southern Indian city of Madras December 28, 2004. REUTERS/Arko Datta
A Russian police officer carries a released baby from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya, September 2, 2004. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev
Muslims attend prayers on the eve of the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Surabaya, East Java August 31, 2008. Muslims around the world congregate for special evening prayers called "Tarawih" during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas
Cardinals' cassocks are blown by a gust of wind as they arrive for the funeral mass of the Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican April 8, 2005. REUTERS/Max Rossi
An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen who were expelling the woman and some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from a privately-owned tract of land on the outskirts of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon March 11, 2008. REUTERS/Luiz Vasconcelos-A Critica/AE
A man rinses soot from his face at the scene of a gas pipeline explosion near Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos December 26, 2006. Up to 500 people were burned alive when fuel from a vandalised pipeline exploded in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye
Senegalese children run as locusts spread in the capital Dakar September 1, 2004. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned that the locust swarms infesting countries from Mauritania to Chad could develop into a full-scale plague without additional foreign aid. REUTERS/Pierre Holtz
A reporter talks on her phone as smoke is seen coming from Taj Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. Assailants had attacked the hotel, taking hostages, including Western tourists. REUTERS/Arko Datta
A Spanish policeman walks past a hole blasted through a train in an explosion at Madrid's Atocha train station after an explosion March 11, 2004. Simultaneous explosions killed at least 173 people on packed rush-hour trains in Madrid in pre-election attacks. REUTERS/Andrea Comas
Kenji Nagai of APF lies injured after police and military officials fired upon and then charged at protesters in Yangon's city centre September 27, 2007. Nagai, 50, a Japanese video journalist, was shot by soldiers as they fired to disperse the crowd. Nagai later died. REUTERS/Adrees Latif
A woman cries as she cannot find her four-year-old daughter and husband on top of the ruins of a destroyed school in earthquake-hit Beichuan county, Sichuan province, May 17, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Lee
A man carries two brothers who were killed when their home collapsed during an earthquake in Bam December 27, 2003. International rescue workers hacked desperately through flattened debris for survivors and cemeteries overflowed in Iran's ancient Silk Road city of Bam after an earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
Majid Kavousifar and his nephew Hossein Kavousifar hang from the cable of a crane in Tehran August 2, 2007. Iran hanged Majid and Hossein, the killers of a judge who had jailed several reformist dissidents, before a crowd of hundreds of people. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
A mourner wearing a mask to ward off SARS hides under an umbrella during the funeral of SARS doctor Tse Yuen-man in Hong Kong May 22, 2003. The deadly virus had infected 1,719 people and killed 255 since it swept into the congested territory. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
Somali refugees run from the dust at Ifo camp near Dadaab, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Liboi on the border with Somalia in north-eastern Kenya, January 8, 2007. Aid agencies are operating three large refugee camps in Dadaab where about 160,000 Somali refugees are held. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti
Severely malnourished Sadiki Basilaki, 9, receives a mug of milk at a catholic mission feeding center in Rutshuru, 70km (50 miles) north of Goma in eastern Congo, November 13, 2008. Malnutrition rates in Rutshuru, which has seen weeks of fighting between government soldiers and dissident Tutsi rebels, are almost double emergency thresholds and has worsened a humanitarian disaster that began in the 1990s. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
I am very surprised to read the caption of the picture from REUTERS/Andrea Comas of the the Madrid's Atocha train station after an explosion March 11, 2004.
As far as I know this terrible terrorist attack was not conducted by ETA but by some small groups related to Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Paco | 12/15/2009 at 06:11 AM
I'm so torn on which one to frame for the wall - NOT. As a photographer I'm amazed that there wasn't a bit more in the way of positive images selected for the entire decade.
Posted by: Mathew | 12/15/2009 at 08:25 AM
The 3-11 caption is incorrect. An investigation concluded that Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, not ETA, were to blame for the train bombings.
Posted by: Jody | 12/15/2009 at 09:04 AM
Im surprised that there was no warning that some of the pictures may be graphic.
Posted by: Ryan | 12/15/2009 at 10:03 AM
The WTC photo caption is misleading. Terrorists hijacked the planes that crashed into the buildings. The planes didn't do it on their own! Let's not forget that.
Posted by: SJ Geosits | 12/15/2009 at 10:40 AM
Why is there no warning before viewing pictures? Many of these pictures are deeply disturbing to the human psyche. Should we not celebrate the beauty of human existence over choosing to be blood thirsty one dimensional beings? Ignorance certainly isn’t bliss but I don’t see the value in desensitizing the population to death and destruction.
Posted by: J | 12/15/2009 at 11:25 AM
Wow. As a semi-professional photogrpaher myself, I am astounded by the stories these photos tell us. However....the last decade could not have been ALL bad. A little balance would have been appropriate...perhaps a celebration or two? I have to say, though, that those photos are superb.
Posted by: Judy Stone | 12/15/2009 at 12:05 PM
I'm rather upset and surprised there was no warning given for how graphic many of these pictures were going to be. If I'm going to be looking at photos of dead adults and children, I at least want to be able to brace myself.
Posted by: K. | 12/15/2009 at 12:10 PM
What a horrible horrible horrible world we must all live in. Death, destruction, pestilence, war, disease, famine, terrorism.....I understand that these are the realities of human existance, but surely there must be some examples of our other realities? I cannot believe that this accurately depicts the "double aught" decade!
Posted by: Ashley | 12/15/2009 at 01:43 PM
What happened to happy pictures? War and destruction is always the top news,huh.
Posted by: Leo | 12/15/2009 at 06:38 PM
Not a single positive picture.
The title of this article is clearly false.
Posted by: Sai | 12/15/2009 at 10:17 PM
Are people not looking at the same pictures I am? There are "happy pictures" including Madonna, George Bush, Paris Hilton. Fact is, a lot of negative things happened within the decade and they're being remembered. Stop complaining about everything you can possible nag about.
Posted by: Nicole | 12/16/2009 at 09:05 AM
Hey Nicole, These early posters were from yesterday, and no there were no Madonna photos there at that time. I agree with all of them. I was disappointed that it was all disaster and strife and death. Should have had a disclaimer.
Posted by: Bonnie | 12/16/2009 at 11:12 AM
Funny (although not surprising, I guess) you post pics depicting George Bush as a buffoon (which hardly qualify as "pictures of the decade") yet you fail to include the one of him standing on the rubble of the WTC with his arm around a firefighter, which is truly an iconic image. Would it kill you to be just a little bit objective?
Posted by: Lawrence | 12/16/2009 at 11:52 AM
What is wrong with our society? Really? Why is there such an out cry for a disclaimer?
The photos are brilliant, and tell a poignant story of the decade past. Do you ever see a disclaimer or a black censor bar on the cover of National Geographic?
Folks get a grip life is not always rosy and wonderful. But in tragedy there is a lesson to be learned and in many cases as a society it’s a lesson that we should never forget.
Posted by: Sean | 12/16/2009 at 12:35 PM
The best picture in my view is the execution of Iranian government. If people always look for happy times, how will the darkest side of humanity come out. In my view, the best pictures are the ones that ordinary people are not able to see or capture and only captured by a photographer who risked to be there or happened to be there at the right time and got the photo for the world to see.
Posted by: sv | 12/16/2009 at 01:00 PM
If you want "positive pictures", whatever that may mean, just go to the fairy tale books.
Posted by: Tim Heffernan | 12/16/2009 at 03:06 PM
I agree with you 100% that the photos are brilliant Sean, but I certainly did not expect to see corpses when I clicked through that link. I do not mind graphic photos, but usually when I am looking for them. I have never seen a photo like those two poor little boys in National Geographic. And while life is not always rosy and wonderful, it is not all tradegy and grief...where is the balance?
Posted by: Bonnie | 12/16/2009 at 04:23 PM
I think these are actually very interesting pictures. I do not understand why people think they are so graphic. These pictures are reality and people should want to be aware of what is going on in the world, within the past decade. I enjoyed looking at them all.
Posted by: Bronwynn | 12/16/2009 at 06:40 PM
I think that these photos are very eye opening. However, as dramatic as these photos may be they all relate to the worst thing that happened to us within this decade. That is why I dislike them - I prefer to look on the bright side of this decade.
Posted by: Jeremy Chan 12 | 12/23/2009 at 09:26 PM
Your pictures are beautiful. You captured the beginning of life, the end of life and the in between. Our world is full of pleasant and not so pleasant things. The pictures are a good reminder to love, cherish and be thankful.
Thank you.
Posted by: Angie | 12/27/2009 at 02:15 PM