Great global photos from 2024: These images delighted us, touched us, dazzled us

A picture, they say, is worth 1,000 words. So we will try to use as few words as possible in this introduction to a sampling of our favorite photo posts of 2024.

This year’s round up includes dramatic drone images of the world’s “foodscapes,” an intimate look at families striving to provide healthy meals for their kids and exuberant Bolivian women skateboarding in their traditional bowler hats.

Toyin feeds her 3-year-old daughter, Kudirat, while her husband, Saheed, tends to their other two children.
Toyin feeds her 3-year-old daughter, Kudirat, while her husband, Saheed, tends to their other two children. (Sope Adelaja for NPR)

How 9 families cope when they can’t afford 3 healthy meals a day for the kids

At a one-day workshop run by the Care School for Men in Bogotá, Colombia, male medical students at Sanitas University learn how to cradle a baby. This class of participants consists of medical students, but the usual enrollees are dads of all types.
At a one-day workshop run by the Care School for Men in Bogotá, Colombia, male medical students at Sanitas University learn how to cradle a baby. This class of participants consists of medical students, but the usual enrollees are dads of all types. (Ben de la Cruz/NPR)

Hey, guys, wanna know how to diaper a baby or make a ponytail? Try the School for Men

Bolivian skateboarders at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Bolivian skateboarders at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. (Ben de la Cruz/NPR)

Indigenous pride. Bowler hats. Meet an all-female Bolivian skateboarding crew

Paramedic Papinki Lebelo waits for a police escort before responding to an emergency call-out a Cape Town neighborhood. Due to a rise in attacks on paramedics, ambulance crews in large parts of the city will only go out when they have a police escort.
Paramedic Papinki Lebelo waits for a police escort before responding to an emergency call-out a Cape Town neighborhood. Due to a rise in attacks on paramedics, ambulance crews in large parts of the city will only go out when they have a police escort. (Tommy Trenchard for NPR)

‘There is no respect anymore’ as ambulances come under attack in South Africa

The African nation of Mauritania was a land of pastoral nomads when it gained independence from France in 1960, but it has since become a nation of fishermen as well, with hundreds of pirogues lining the beach of the capital of Nouakchott.
The African nation of Mauritania was a land of pastoral nomads when it gained independence from France in 1960, but it has since become a nation of fishermen as well, with hundreds of pirogues lining the beach of the capital of Nouakchott. (George Steinmetz)

A drone’s eye view of ‘foodscapes,’ from cattle to soybeans to shrimp

An aerial photo shows horses foraging on a section of the now-demolished Agbogbloshie Scrapyard site in Accra, Ghana.
An aerial photo shows horses foraging on a section of the now-demolished Agbogbloshie Scrapyard site in Accra, Ghana. (Muntaka Chasant)

Stunning photos of a vast e-waste dumping ground — and those who make a living off it

 

What a government shutdown could mean for your holiday travel plans

Millions of Americans are planning to travel in the coming days. Here's what a potential government shutdown could mean for flying, driving and more — and what you can do to prepare.

Once again, the debt ceiling is roiling Washington. Here are 4 things to know

Lawmakers will have to authorize additional borrowing to pay the government's bills, but there's no reason it has to be done right away — except for politics.

CFPB sues three top U.S. banks for failing to protect consumers from Zelle fraud

The consumer financial watchdog says customers of the top three banks lost more than $870 million over seven years due to a lack of safeguards against fraud on the Zelle network.

An Indiana man is sentenced to 130 years in prison for murdering 2 teenage girls

Richard Allen, who was convicted in the 2017 killings of two teens who vanished during a winter hike, received the maximum prison sentence in a case that's long cast a shadow over the town of Delphi.

‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Nickel Boys’ are 2 ambitious and captivating dramas

Nickel Boys is one of the most thrillingly inventive literary adaptations our critic has seen in years, while The Brutalist is a rare American films that feels genuinely worthy of the word "epic."

Alabama profits off prisoners safe enough to work at McDonald’s, deems them too dangerous for parole

No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. Best Western, Bama Budweiser and Burger King are among the more than 500 businesses to lease incarcerated workers from one of the most violent, overcrowded and unruly prison systems in the U.S.

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