Best of Photojournalism

President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea today for the first time since the Russian annexation for Victory Day celebrations.

Between the mid-1970s and early-’80s hundreds of concrete skateparks popped up in almost every state throughout the U.S.

An American runner, Meb Keflezighi, won The Boston Marathon for the first time since 1983. A year after the bombs exploded near the finish line killing three people and injuring hundreds of others, runners reclaimed the race.

Photos from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Spain and China.

Yesterday was the vernal equinox, the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, despite continued wintry conditions in a few places.

The Sochi Winter Olympics concluded yesterday, after 16 days of competition on the ice and snow. Host nation Russia won the most medals overall, taking home 33, followed by the U.S. with 28, and Norway with 26.

After all the preparation and the opening ceremony, the 2014 Winter Olympics are well under way.

Whether in the real world, the movies or in great works of fiction, most people experience Christmas as a winter holiday. We are surrounded with season-appropriate images of Santa donning a heavy coat and boots, pine trees flourishing in the cold and, whether it be natural or machine-made, lots and lots of snow. It’s a time of the year that is understood, and remembered, as bitterly cold.

In another part of the world, however, lies Australia—a place where fewer people live than in the northern climes and where Christmas is spent not sledding but grilling, often on the beach. Because Down Under’s in the southern hemisphere, Christmas falls in the summer.

Born and raised in Newcastle, Australia, Trent Parke, a World Press Photo-award winning photographer and a member of Magnum, began photographing at age 12. “When I was younger,” he recalls, “I was actually a Santa Claus photographer while working at a Kodak store after school, and shot pictures of people with Santa at the mall.”

A massive storm swept across the Midwest and parts of Canada yesterday, encasing everything in thick ice, downing trees and power lines, and making travel nearly impossible just before Christmas.

At the end of the year, many parts of the world are brightened by glittering displays. Holidays and festivals bring people out at night for a visual treat and interiors are bathed in festive lights.

Time is running out to enter this year's National Geographic photo contest, the deadline for submissions is Saturday, November 30.

Tornadoes ripped through the south-central United States Monday morning. Arkansas was the hardest hit, with at least 16 people dead. The storm system produced the first fatalities of this year's U.S. tornado season.

Last Saturday, at 10:45 am, part of a hillside above Oso, Washington -- known by some locals as "Slide Hill" -- collapsed after weeks of heavy rain, sending a wall of mud and debris across a small valley of the Stillaguamish River.

From the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to the succession of Crimea to Russia, to the celebration of colors for Holi in India and twin polar bear cubs in Germany, TIME presents the best pictures of the week.

Photos from Ukraine, China, Afghanistan and Israel.

Flames engulfed the main anti-government protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square as riot police tried to force demonstrators out following the bloodiest clashes in three months of protests.

Syria's civil war is nearly 3 years old now, claiming the lives of more than 120,000 people, forcing nine million to flee their homes, and causing a humanitarian crisis on a record scale.

A snowstorm in the Middle East, 95 degree temperatures in Buenos Aires, flooding in Gaza, ice storms in Canada. It’s a typical December around the world. Or is it?

The first quarter of 2013 was a tough one for many people. It certainly was difficult for us here in Boston. Putting together the best photos of the year can be depressing. For the most part, the wire services move their most dramatic photos of the most significant events and many of those are violent. In this post, you will see photos from the horrific collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh, the Boston Marathon bombings and you will see a few light moments sprinkled within. It’s critical for us to document these tragic moments. Because of the images of the building collapse seen around the world, Bangladesh now has a new labor law that boosts worker rights. But after this edit, I'm going to start gathering some positive images for a future post. --Thea Breite (28 photos total)

In 2013, TIME sent photographers on assignment to dozens of countries all over the world — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Russia, The Philippines, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Pakistan, Myanmar, Central African Republic, Egypt, Dagestan, India —...