Images of January – Reuters Full Focus

This month tensions between Iran and the West escalated in a standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. The death toll rose in bloodshed touched off by protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Meanwhile in the U.S., Republican candidates faced off on the campaign trail and in a series of primaries as the GOP convention inched nearer. 60 PHOTOS

Image 1 of 60: A Syrian boy stands in front of a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian army in a street in Homs January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Image 2 of 60: An Iranian girl carries an anti-U.S. placard bearing an image of U.S. President Barack Obama during a funeral for Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran on January 11, in Tehran January 13, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl

Image 3 of 60: Firefighters aim colored water at a target during the annual fire drill competition in Mumbai January 9, 2012. Firefighters in Mumbai took part in the annual competition to enhance their emergency response during fire incidents. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 4 of 60: The Costa Concordia cruise ship which ran aground off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island lies on its side, half-submerged and threatening to slide into deeper waters January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Image 5 of 60: A wounded boy and his father lie for treatment at a hospital after bomb attacks occurred in Sadr city in northeastern Baghdad January 24, 2012. Two car bombs killed 10 people and wounded 38 others in Baghdad’s northeastern Shi’ite district of Sadr City, police and hospital sources said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem

Image 6 of 60: Students hold on to the side steel bars of a collapsed bridge as they cross a river to get to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Indonesia’s Banten village January 19, 2012. Flooding from the Ciberang river broke a pillar supporting the suspension bridge, which was built in 2001, according to Epi Sopian the head of Sanghiang Tanjung village. Sofiah, a student crossing the bridge, says she will need to walk for an extra 30 minutes if she were to take a detour through another bridge. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Image 7 of 60: An instructor from the Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant Ltd. Co, smashes a bottle over a female recruit’s head during a training session for China’s first female bodyguards in Beijing January 13, 2012. According to the company, the training session consists of 20 women, mostly college graduates, who will undergo 8-10 months of training to develop sufficient skills to become security guards. The company will then offer the best trainee a chance to attend the International Security Academy in Israel. REUTERS/David Gray

Image 8 of 60: An injured prison officer is carried by police officers after clashes between police officers and prisoners at Welikada prison in Colombo January 24, 2012. At least 20 inmates and four prison guards were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital following a clash at the prison, hospital sources said. Police used tear gas to control the situation in the prison, according to local media. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

Image 9 of 60: Police stand near a motorcycle helmet containing a human head and topped with a foam hat with the writing “Happy 2012″ placed outside a house in a residential area in Morelos January 16, 2012. More than 46,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon launched an army-led crackdown on drug cartels after taking office five years ago. REUTERS/Margarito Perez Retana

Image 10 of 60: Lilly Earp, 8, hugs her five-week-old sister Emily in their apartment at Hope Gardens Family Center, a shelter for homeless women and children, run by Union Rescue Mission on 77 acres (0.31 square km) of countryside away from Skid Row, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California January 25, 2012. One in 45 children, totaling 1.6 million, is homeless, the highest number in United States’ history, according to a 2011 study by the National Center on Family Homelessness. California is ranked the fifth highest state in the nation for its percentage of homeless children. Picture taken January 25, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 11 of 60: A boy loads bricks onto a wheelbarrow to transport them to a construction site in Kathmandu January 30, 2012. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Image 12 of 60: An elderly man hugs a boy in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain, January 18, 2012. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

Image 13 of 60: A man apprehended by police during anti-government protests is taken away in Sitra, southeast of Manama, Bahrain, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Image 14 of 60: A Cambodian riot police officer fires tear gas at residents during a forced eviction at the Borei Keila complex in Phnom Penh January 3, 2012. Local human rights group Licadho said that police officers and residents were injured in a face-off when hundreds of armed authorities tried to evict families from their homes in a long running dispute with a local real estate firm well-connected with the government. The firm, Phanimex, plans to convert the residential complex into a commercial building. Licadho said that at least 12 people had also been detained following the violent clashes. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Image 15 of 60: Tibetan exiles shout slogans after being detained by police during a protest outside the venue of a meeting between Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo and India’s National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon in New Delhi January 17, 2012. Dai is in India on a two-day visit for the 15th round of boundary talks. REUTERS/Parivartan Sharma

Image 16 of 60: A Sudanese girl from the war-torn Blue Nile state collects water from a muddy pond, in order to avoid a 12-hour wait at a water pump, in South Sudan’s Doro refugee camp December 10, 2011. More than 80,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in South Sudan from clashes between government forces and insurgents on the northern side of the poorly-marked and tense border, according to the United Nations. REUTERS/Hereward Holland

Image 17 of 60: A competitor exits the water during the Tough Guy event in Perton, central England, January 29, 2012. The annual event to raise cash for charity challenges thousands of international competitors in a cross country run followed by an assault course consisting of obstacles including water, fire and tunnels. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Image 18 of 60: William Mulhall poses for a photograph in his old curiosity shop in the small seaside village of Ardglass in Co.Down January 15, 2012. Despite the tiny population the shop stays open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, to cater for the fishermen who work round the clock. Mulhall, who is an acclaimed local artist, paints in his shop which doubles as his studio. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

Image 19 of 60: Actor Ashton Kutcher looks at his phone during the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets in Los Angeles, California January 3, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 20 of 60: Female cast members of “Modern Family” (L-R) Ariel Winter, Sarah Hyland, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara pose backstage at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, January 15, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 21 of 60: Child models wait backstage before a show at India Kids Fashion Week in Mumbai January 18, 2012. Around 500 children between 4 and 14 of age will take to the stage during the the three day staging of 24 shows, with eight designers displaying their collections each day, according to the organizers. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 22 of 60: William Temple waits for Republican presidential candidate Congresswoman Michele Bachmann at her Iowa Caucus night rally in West Des Moines, Iowa, January 3, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Frank

Image 23 of 60: A competitor takes a picture of herself with a mobile phone backstage before the Miss Brazil Plus-Size beauty contest in Sao Paulo January 29, 2012. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Image 24 of 60: A Carabinieri scuba diver inspects the Costa Concordia cruise ship which ran aground off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island January 19, 2012. REUTERS/Centro subacquei dei Carabinieri/Handout

Image 25 of 60: A spotted deer drinks water from a puddle on a foggy day in the Golan Heights, near Israel’s border with Syria January 17, 2012. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Despite the fact that the two countries have never made peace, the Golan frontier has largely been quiet. A U.N. force patrols the demarcation line between the Golan Heights and Syria. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Image 26 of 60: A destroyed kitchen is seen in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Rio de Janeiro January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Image 27 of 60: The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia is shown run aground off the coast of Giglio in this January 17, 2012 DigitalGlobe handout satellite photo obtained by Reuters January 18, 2012. REUTERS/DigitalGlobe

Image 28 of 60: Molly the dog walks around dead herring on a beach at Kvennes in Nordreisa, northern Norway December 31, 2011. REUTERS/Jan Petter Jorgensen/Scanpix

Image 29 of 60: Children dressed as Mahatma Gandhi arrive on a bus to take part in a peace march in Kolkata January 29, 2012. Four hundred and eighty-five children from the Training Resource and Care for Kids (T.R.A.C.K.S), a charity for single mothers and children living without support at railway stations, took part in a peace march on Sunday in an attempt to create a Guinness World Record for being the largest gathering of people dressed as Mahatma Gandhi. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Image 30 of 60: President Barack Obama greets students after delivering remarks on college affordability at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed

Image 31 of 60: Demonstrators pray at Tahrir square during a protest marking the first anniversary of Egypt’s uprising in Cairo January 25, 2012. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Image 32 of 60: A vendor selling donkeys waits for customers in his shop at the Souq al-Milh marketplace in the Old Sanaa city January 3, 2012. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Image 33 of 60: A frozen house is seen on a track of the Sedivackuv Long dog sled race in Destne v Orlickych horach, January 26, 2012. Each year, racers from all over Europe arrive to the village of Destne in Orlicke mountains in Czech Republic to take part in this race series. REUTERS/Petr Josek

Image 34 of 60: A young man stands weeping near a wall damaged by shrapnel from a bomb attack in Peshawar January 30, 2012. Residents standing nearby said the young man had lost his father in the bombing. Three people were killed and eight others wounded in a suspected suicide bombing at a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police officials said. The house belonged to the leader of a pro-government tribal militia fighting against militants in the nearby Khyber tribal region. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz

Image 35 of 60: A crow sits on a human corpse in the river Ganges in the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state, January 22, 2012. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Image 36 of 60: A pro-Assad policeman is beaten by protesters during the funeral of Mazen abou Dhahab, who was killed in a protest in Saqba, Damascus suburbs, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Image 37 of 60: A woman covers her face during a standoff with police after a mourning procession on the third day after the death of 14-year-old Yassin Al-Afsoor in the village of Mameer January 24, 2012. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Image 38 of 60: A woman wipes her tears with her partner’s scarf as they part at Beijing west railway station, January 19, 2012. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the biggest of two “Golden Week” holidays, giving migrant workers their only chance of the year to return to their home provinces with gifts for their families. More than 200 million people are expected to take to the railways over this year’s holiday, the biggest movement of humanity in the world. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Image 39 of 60: Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney sits with his grandson Parker on his campaign bus enroute to a rally in Pompano Beach, Florida January 29, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Image 40 of 60: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in their men’s singles final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 30, 2012. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

Image 41 of 60: People walk at the financial district of Pudong in Shanghai January 17, 2012. China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in 2-1/2 years in the latest quarter and it appeared headed for an even sharper slowdown in the coming months as export demand fades and the housing market falters. The fourth-quarter year-on-year growth of 8.9 percent, although slightly stronger than the 8.7 percent that economists polled by Reuters had predicted, may give Beijing yet another reason to gently ease monetary policy, most likely by reducing the amount of reserves that large banks must hold. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Image 42 of 60: A Syrian soldier who defected to join the Free Syrian Army poses as he stands guard at their base outside the town of Qusair on January 11, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 43 of 60: Members of the Mashco-Piro tribe observe an expedition of the Spanish Geographical Society from across the Alto Madre de Dios river in the Amazon basin of southeastern Peru, as photographed through a telescope by Spanish explorer Diego Cortijo on November 16, 2011, and distributed by Survival International on January 31, 2012. Survival International has the Mashco-Piro tribe listed as one of around 100 uncontacted indigenous tribes in the world. REUTERS/Diego Cortijo-Spanish Geographic Society via Survival International

Image 44 of 60: A general view of the aurora borealis near the city of Tromsoe in northern Norway January 25, 2012. REUTERS/Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/Scanpix

Image 45 of 60: A man injured in an accident rests at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince January 17, 2012. A truck loaded with rubble from Haiti’s earthquake two years ago killed at least 26 people and injured 57 others after its driver lost control of the vehicle on Route Delmas in the impoverished Caribbean nation’s capital, authorities said. REUTERS/Swoan Parker

Image 46 of 60: A woman eats clam chowder as media and supporters surround Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum at a campaign event at a restaurant in Florence, South Carolina, January 15, 2012. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Image 47 of 60: A Great Dane plays with its companion during a dog exhibition in Ljubljana, Slovenia, January 14, 2012. 1250 dogs from 31 countries participated in the exhibition. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic

Image 48 of 60: A girl awaits the release of her relative, a political prisoner in Pa-an prison, in front of the prison in Pa-an January 13, 2012. Myanmar freed at least 200 political prisoners in an amnesty that could embolden the opposition and put pressure on the West to lift sanctions as one of the world’s most reclusive states opens up after half a century of authoritarian rule. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Image 49 of 60: Members of Congress applaud Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) (C), who was shot in the head during a shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, in January, 2011, prior to U.S. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 24, 2012. REUTERS/Saul Loeb/Pool

Image 50 of 60: Madonna and Matthew Badger (L) cry as one of their daughters’ casket arrives for their funeral service at Saint Thomas Church in New York January 5, 2012. A raging Christmas-morning house fire that killed Madonna Badger’s elderly parents and her three young daughters, Lily, Grace, and Sarah, in Stamford, Connecticut, appears to have been caused by embers from a fireplace and was accidental, city officials said. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Image 51 of 60: Protesters chant slogans as they march through Ikorodu road during a protest against a fuel subsidy removal in Lagos January 9, 2012. Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets across Africa’s top oil producing nation on Monday, launching an indefinite nationwide strike to protest against the axing of fuel subsidies. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Image 52 of 60: A member of law enforcement directs Democratic presidential candidate Vermin Supreme (R) toward the sidewalk as Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a Hispanic Town Hall Meeting at a restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire January 8, 2012. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Image 53 of 60: A member of Occupy London poses for media outside the High Court in London January 18, 2012. A court ruled that a protest camp denouncing economic inequality should be removed from its site outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Dozens of protesters from the Occupy London movement have been camping outside St Paul’s, one of London’s top tourist attractions, since October. Their original target was the nearby London Stock Exchange but police did not let them camp there. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Image 54 of 60: Members of United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan) care for pets which are rescued from inside the exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, at the group’s pet shelter in Samukawa town, Kanagawa prefecture January 25, 2012. Dogs and cats that were abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone after last year’s nuclear crisis have had to survive high radiation and a lack of food, and they are now struggling with the region’s freezing winter weather. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami on March 11 triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years and forced residents around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to flee, with many of them having to leave behind their pets. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Image 55 of 60: Actress Angelina Jolie is seen in the Oval Office during a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama (not pictured) before he departs for a day trip to Chicago, from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, January 11, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Image 56 of 60: Preschooler Nuranisya Alihasdi, 6, refuses to join her classmates as her mother quietly watches her during the first day of school in Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur January 4, 2012. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad

Image 57 of 60: Australia’s Ricky Ponting looks up after diving across the crease to reach a century during the second cricket test against India, at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 4, 2012. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

Image 58 of 60: A journalist checks on a man who was beaten by the police during a riot against Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade in the capital Dakar January 31, 2012. Rock-throwing protesters clashed with Senegalese security forces who fired tear gas as thousands gathered in Dakar to protest against President Abdoulaye Wade’s decision to seek a third term in the Feb. 26 presidential election. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Image 59 of 60: President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One and walks to his limousine upon his arrival on a rainy and foggy night in Romulus, Michigan, January 26, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed

Image 60 of 60: An aerial view shows the snow covered church of the village of Jenisberg near the Swiss mountain resort of Davos January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

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Photographer notebook: Zohra Bensemra – Reuters Full Focus

Born in Algiers in 1968, Zohra was recruited as a stringer photographer for Reuters by Mallory Langsdon in 1997 during the last years of the conflict in Algeria. In 2000, Zohra was sent on her first assignment abroad for Reuters to Macedonia where ethnic Albanians were taking refuge from Serbian forces. In 2003 she went to Iraq while Saddam was still on the run. In Najaf, Iraq, in 2004 Zohra was made staff photographer from Reuters. Zohra won the European Union prize for the best African press photographer in 2005. Still based in Algiers she continues to cover some African and Middle East countries. Last year she documented Sudan’s referendum, Tunisia’s uprising and Libya’s revolution. In the following showcase, Zohra recounts her experience as an Arab woman photographer. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 75 PHOTOS

Image 1 of 75: “When I was about 6 years old, I watched one of my six brothers who was an amateur photographer. He played with colors at home and I would watch him for hours. I started to imitate him. When he was out of the house I would take his cameras. When he discovered it, of course he shouted at me and then he offered me a small camera, a medium format 120 camera. I started to take pictures of my classmates at school. My love for photography grew up with me. I didn’t know when I was young that one day I would be a photographer. “

Caption: Three women cool off on the beach at Algiers, June 4, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 2 of 75: “I didn’t go to Egypt but I went to Libya and Tunisia. I am really happy for Tunisia but I have a bad feeling about Libya. For me, the picture of the soldier was really a great moment because the army in Arab countries is always on the government’s side. I had just arrived from Sudan when I saw this man screaming at the police to stop. He stood in between the police and the protesters. It was amazing. I was expecting the soldiers to beat people so this was really new for me. You can’t see this in Arab countries.

I think Tunisia will provide a good lesson to all Arab countries because they reached freedom without a lot of violence. The same day at a mall not far from the soldier, a small group went and tried to break windows. A crowd ran toward them saying “Don’t do it!” In Algeria you can’t see anything like that. If one person starts to break something, many people will help him.”

Caption: A Tunisian soldier screams as he tries to calm down rioters during clashes with the police in downtown of the capital Tunis January 14, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 3 of 75: “Arab countries are not like Europe or America, when you are a woman and you are in the middle of men, the men start to touch you. But in Tunisia, it never happened. I was in the middle of hundreds of men and not one touched me – no one – not like in Egypt or Libya.”

Caption: A boy jumps from the ledge along a beach near the courthouse in Benghazi May 18, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 4 of 75: “On October 5, 1988 we, Algeria, had our revolution. Before that we had one political party and no freedom. I saw police beating men. I wasn’t a press photographer at the time. I don’t know why but I wanted to take pictures. My friends asked me what I was doing as press photographers couldn’t even take pictures, it was like a dictatorship. Of course, I didn’t take any photos. It’s like I was discovering myself. It was the first time I had this desire to take pictures. My parents were against the idea but I continued to go to school and take photography courses. A small training centre opened that provided basic courses when I was 18. I had two years of really basic training. We would take pictures on the street and in the old city.

In 1990, I was photographing for a museum where I worked for six months. Before the October 5 revolution we had just one state newspaper. From the early ‘90’s, it was freer with multiple political parties and the press was more open. I left the museum because I wanted to try working for a newspaper. For two years I worked as a stringer. The owners of the newspapers didn’t trust me because I was really new. I worked at several newspapers; going from one to the other. In 1992, I started as a professional photographer at El Watan, an Algerian French language newspaper. For seven years I covered all the bloody things in Algeria. For nearly ten years we had massacres and bomb explosions everywhere. Journalists were targeted and it was hard to stay safe. Sometimes when you saw your shadow, you were afraid.”

Caption: Algerian policemen stand guard at the damaged customer service office of mobile telephone company Djeezy, part of Egyptian telecommunications group Orascom, in Algiers November 16, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 5 of 75: “Several of my friends left the country but I didn’t want to leave because of my career. All the journalists who left Algeria didn’t do their job – they left their job. But I stayed here to do mine and I’m proud of that. It’s difficult because now I need a visa to go anywhere. “

Caption: Burqa-clad Afghan women travel in a taxi in Kabul, December 31, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 6 of 75: “In Algeria, this is Algiers. I like the contrast. You can find women who are completely covered and you can find also women in jeans, like me, and smoking. This is the life and you have to live with all of us. You are not like me; I am not like you, even if we are both women. Each of us has our own life, own style and we have to respect it. For me, this is Algeria.”

Caption: A young woman wearing a bikini walks along the beach with a friend dressed in traditional clothes at the Palm Beach Club in Algiers July 25, 2003. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 7 of 75: “I don’t want to be cliché. In all Arab countries you can find both of these types of women. Some photographers think that a certain type of picture will be published more than others. To be honest, some newspapers don’t like to show certain types of things, models for example. It’s like because you are Arab, you have to put a hijab on. To be veiled you have to be submissive. But no, I want to show that there are both types of women. This is the reality.”

Caption: Models prepare for a hairdressing competition at a beauty fair in Algiers March 5, 2007. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 8 of 75: “When I was in some Arab countries, they wouldn’t believe I am Arab because there are a lot of European and American women who speak Arabic. They would say – “No, no, no. You are European and you learned Arabic”. I would reply “No, I’m Arab”. “No, you live in Europe” they insisted. “No, I live in Algeria, an Arab country”. When I arrived in Misrata, Libya, they would start talking to me in English and I responded in Arabic. They kept saying that I was not Arabic but then they became my friends. Every morning when I would go to the front lines, when people saw me in the car everyone would call out “Zohra, Zohra”. “

Caption: A Tunisian woman holds her child as she crosses the border into Tunisia at the border crossing of Ras Jdir after fleeing unrest in Libya February 23, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 9 of 75:

Caption: Libyan rebel fighters keep watch as smoke rises from an explosion at Misrata’s western front line June 11, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 10 of 75:

Caption: A U.S army soldier from Task Force Denali 1-40 CAV prays during a Christian worship service at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Clark in Khowst province, Afghanistan, December 13, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 11 of 75:

Caption: Protesters try to roll over a burnt bus during a protest against an overnight police crackdown on people living in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, February 20, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 12 of 75:

Caption: An Egyptian man fleeing the unrest in Libya receives help from his compatriots after he fainted as they wait at the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Ras Jdir March 1, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 13 of 75:

Caption: Supporters of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi show pieces of shrapnel from what the government said was a western missile attack on a building inside Bab Al-Aziziyah, Gaddafi’s heavily fortified Tripoli compound March 21, 2011. The sign reads, “Long live the leader!” REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 14 of 75: “In these places, when you are a woman, whether you are Arab or European it doesn’t matter. You are a woman. For this, it is the same everywhere. “

Caption: Hadda Lacherrab, 42, a visually impaired Shawia woman, shows her work at her home in Belkitane on the outskirts eastern city of Khenchela, some 600 km (373 miles) from Algiers, May 31, 2010. Lacherrab, who was blinded by a disease at the age of 18, learned to mold clay and sew sheepskin from her mother, and recently held an exhibition as part of a cultural week in Algiers. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 15 of 75:

Caption: A girl stands in the doorway of a home destroyed in battles between rebel fighters and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on Tripoli street in central Misrata May 29, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 16 of 75: “I want to talk about my first picture – when I saw bodies for the first time in my life and in my career. In 1995 there was a car bombing in the centre of the Algerian capital close to the police station. The station wasn’t far from the newspaper where I was working. We heard the explosion. Of course, when you hear an explosion and you live in a country like mine, you take your equipment and you go outside and try to find the place. When I arrived, there was fire on the right and smoke on the left. I went inside the smoke and saw the body of a woman lying on the ground. She was completely burnt. I started crying because it was the first time I had seen a body. I cried and asked myself how can they do that? I started taking pictures and I cried while taking them. I didn’t stop crying. I think I cried for 24 hours. When I went back to my newspaper, I was afraid to develop my film. I told my colleague and he said, ‘Come on – you’ve been doing this for a long time.” It was like I’d never done it before. I felt that if I lost this film, my career would stop there. He said, “You are crazy. Give me your film and I will develop it.” The film was in the fixer for 10 minutes. When he opened the film he called me “ZaZa”. I said I didn’t want to see and he told me it was ok – my film was ok. I was still crying. This is why I remember this day because I cried like a child. The next day I woke up like another person. I was ready to face everything. From this day, I changed. I became a photographer.

I went to the newspaper’s chief editor and I said “I want this picture on the front page. I want the world to see what happened today. I want them to see what happened to me today.” I didn’t leave the building until I saw that the front page had gone to print like I wanted. I was only four years into my career; it wasn’t like I had been 20 years in the business.”

Caption: The body of a woman lies at the bomb blast site in front of a police station in the Algerian capital Algiers January 30, 1995. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 17 of 75: “I like strong women. When you are Arab, you start your battle when you are young because it’s not easy. When you are a woman, it’s the same for many things everywhere but especially in Arab countries. You have to fight all the time – all your life – to get something. Sometimes it’s really small but you have to fight too. In the end, that’s why I like strong women. I don’t like it when women start crying. I like to be close to strong women. I want to transmit the message to other women – you have to be like this to get what you want. Don’t cry. Don’t stay in your place and say you are a woman without power. You have power – you just have to go and do what you want to do. Nobody will give it to you – you have to take it. “

Caption: A woman carries a piece of furniture after a fresh fight between Kikuyu and Kalenjin tribes at Mao Summit in the outskirts of Molo, 180 km (110 miles) west of Nairobi February 28, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 18 of 75:

Caption: Somali evacuees walk by their tents at a refugee camp near the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Ras Jdir, after fleeing unrest in Libya, March 10, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 19 of 75:

Caption: Tuareg women clap their hands during the official visit of Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the southern city of Tamanrasset January 7, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 20 of 75: “There are three pictures of this same woman. It was on my first trip to Baghdad in 2003. It was still safe for foreigners so the team of Reuters photographers decided to go out to a good restaurant for dinner where they had belly dancing. As they started to dance I took some pictures and thought I would make a photo story about her, as a woman.”

Caption: Milad Siri, 27, an Iraqi belly dancer rehearses with Raed a colleague at a Baghdad theatre, May 27, 2003. Siri who is divorced and has a 12-year-old boy has been performing since 1996. The war did not only disrupt her work, it also deprived her of a client or two: Saddam’s sons Qusay and Uday who are on the run. Siri seens no contradiction between religion and her work. “Dancing is only a means to earn money” she says. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 21 of 75: “. I went with her to her house. I followed her as she prepared for her show. And I thought, “Wow, it’s happening in Baghdad”. She was strong. At that time, and still now, there were tribal problems between Shi’ites and Sunnis. She had to protect herself as it’s not easy to be a belly dancer in an Arab country.”

Caption: Milad Siri, 27, an Iraqi belly dancer checks her hand gun before leaving her Baghdad home, May 27, 2003. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 22 of 75:

Caption: An Iraqi man smoking a water pipe enjoys the performance of a belly dancer in a Baghdad cafe May 4, 2003. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 23 of 75:

Caption: A woman, who has recently given birth, sits next to her baby at a hospital in south Sudan’s capital Juba September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 24 of 75: “Libya has big problems with its tribes, it has hundreds and each has its own mind. The situation for women in Libya is really tough – we didn’t see many during the conflict. Even during Gaddafi’s time, you couldn’t see women in bikinis on the beach. If you are a smoker, men think that they can come to your hotel and knock on your door at night. To them, you look free for everything and if you are free, that means you are easy too. This is the problem; they think it’s easy to play with you. It’s like in the Stone Age.

I’m a foreigner. I’m not Libyan so they have to respect me. But for women inside Libya, they are not free like in Tunisia or Algeria.”

Caption: A Libyan rebel fighter walks during a reconnaissance patrol near Zlitan after Dafniyah’s western front line, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the city center of Misrata May 24, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 25 of 75: “How freely can we work now? Let’s say around 60 percent. This is why I don’t shoot much in Algeria these days. When you go on the streets people don’t like to be photographed. They don’t let you take pictures easily. You have to bargain with them but if you bargain, the picture is gone. When you have to talk to them you lose the moment. I prefer to take their picture first and then talk to them to analyze their mentality – to see if they are open enough or not to tell them that I took their photograph.”

Caption: An unemployed man stands at the old city of la Casbah in Tunis December 31, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 26 of 75: “You can’t forget what happened in your own country because it is a part of you. It was difficult to be neutral. Now when I go on assignment, I’m really neutral. I’m just a witness. I used to only go to conflict areas and I realize the pain is the same whatever the story. But when it happens in your country it’s different because you are a part of the story.”

Caption: Sudanese dancers perform during the arrival ceremony of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in south Sudan’s capital Juba September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 27 of 75: “When I would arrive at the newspaper, they would say there was a massacre last night in this village – you have to go. As we drove toward the place, we didn’t talk. We were afraid because we would say to ourselves that maybe we would meet the terrorists on our way and they would kill us. There used to be full barrage, like checkpoints but manned by terrorists dressed in army uniforms. If we had bad luck, we would meet them and they would kill us. This is how it was.”

Caption: People from the Kikuyu tribe displaced during post-election violence rest at a temporary shelter in Nairobi’s Mathare slum February 25, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 28 of 75: “In 1996, there was a big massacre with more than 500 people killed in one night. The terrorists used to kill during the night. They would only kill journalists during the day as they left from their house. But in the villages they would go out during the nights because they knew the army wouldn’t.”

Caption: Displaced Sudanese Fatna Adam Hamed (R), 11, who was raped last Friday by unidentified armed men, leans on her mother’s shoulder at her shelter at Otash Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Nyala, southern Darfur March 18, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 29 of 75: “One of my friends was working for Algerian State TV, one of the few television journalists who would go to the massacre sites, and they killed her when she went out of her house as she left for work. Journalists are no longer targeted by the terrorists, now they are targeted by the government. They don’t kill them of course.

Sometimes when I’m in a difficult situation, I feel like I’m back in my country. You are a witness, it’s true, but at the same time you are human. You are not part of the story because it’s not your country but it’s painful when you see people crying. I have the same reaction inside me, like in Algeria, but I have to continue to do my work. First of all, I am a witness and I want to stay one.”

Caption: A woman who was abused by her husband tidies her room at an abused women’s center in Algiers November 3, 2007. With nearly a quarter of Algerians living below the national poverty line and 70 percent of adults under 30 without a job, frustration and insecurity are widespread — and women are most often the victims. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 30 of 75: “In Iraq we saw people suffering after the country was liberated from the Saddam dictatorship. There weren’t bodies but it was almost like seeing bodies when we would go to the hospital and see people suffering. I didn’t cry like I did in Algeria after the bombing but it affected me. I wanted to help but at the same time it’s not my job. My job is to be a witness. I wanted to do something, to free people from their pain, but I couldn’t do it. It’s difficult for me when I want to do something but can’t.”

Caption: Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21th Infantry question the wife of one of two men suspected of transporting explosives during a night raid in Mosul, Iraq, January 12, 2005. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 31 of 75:

Caption: A Tunisian protester grabs hold of a soldier’s leg for safety as shots are fired in the air in front of the headquarters of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali during a demonstration, in downtown Tunis January 20, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 32 of 75:

Caption: A man sits near a building destroyed in battles between rebel fighters and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on Tripoli street in central Misrata May 29, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 33 of 75: “I don’t want to be called a conflict photographer because that doesn’t mean anything for me; I just want to be a photographer. I’m able to capture both funny and painful moments.”

Bullets casings are seen where a sniper loyal to Muammar Gaddafi took position during a fierce battle with rebels on Tripoli street in central Misrata May 22, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 34 of 75:

Caption: An internally displaced woman uses a pick-axe to chip off clay to make bricks at Abu Shouk IDP’s camp in Al Fasher, northern Darfur April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 35 of 75:

Caption: Members of the Sahab el Baroud fire their ceremonial muskets during the last day of the festival of Sboue near the town of Timimoun about 1,200 km south of Algiers, March 26, 2008. Sboue is a centuries old religious celebration that lasts seven days and celebrates the birth of the Prophet Mohammad. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 36 of 75:

Caption: A Tunisian riot policeman takes shelter behind a door while protesters throw stones during clashes in Tunis January 28, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 37 of 75: “I love the picture of the policewomen with the guns. It’s funny – it’s like they are carrying their handbags.”

Caption: Law-and-order enforcement officers attend their graduation day at the Ain Benian police school in Algiers, January 27, 1999. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 38 of 75: Caption: Malak Al Shami, 6, who had a leg amputated after her house was hit by a Grad rocket, plays a game on a laptop at a hospital in the west Libyan city of Misrata June 3, 2011. Malak’s house was hit by a rocket belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on May 13, 2011. She lost her sister Rodaina, 1, and her brother Mohamed, 3, on the same day of the incident. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 39 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan holds a poster of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi at a naval military facility damaged by coalition air strikes last night in eastern Tripoli March 22, 2011. Picture taken on a guided government tour. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 40 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan rebel fighter fires his machine gun toward a sniper as they make a final push to flush out pro-Gaddafi forces from the Bab al Aziziya compound in Tripoli August 24, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 41 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan refugee who fled unrest in Libya walks at a refugee camp in Dehiba, near the southern Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Wazin, May 9, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 42 of 75: “I would like to move some time to see how it is in other countries – not only in Arab countries but in other African countries. I love African countries. I want to unblock my mind. When you travel, you always learn. I would never stop learning.”

Caption: Anjeline Were Musikoyo from divisional office mediates for peace between people from Kalenjin and Kikuyu tribes after a fresh fight at Mao Summit in the outskirts of Molo, 180 km (110 miles) west of Nairobi February 28, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 43 of 75:

Caption: A medic and Libyan rebel fighter carry the body of a comrade during a fight for the final push to flush out Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Abu Salim district in Tripoli August 25, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 44 of 75:

Caption: A protester from Tunisia’s marginalized rural heartlands sits on a mattress during a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s office in Tunis, January 27, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 45 of 75:

Caption: Egyptians carry their belongings by the gate at the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Ras Jdir, after fleeing unrest in Libya March 1, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 46 of 75: “I was in Misrata, Libya, where every day there was some fighting. But on this day, it was quiet so I decided to do a story about the market. I did it deliberately because people were saying people are dying because they don’t have food. I wanted to show that no – it’s not true. To show that life continues.”

Caption: A Libyan check-out assistant sorts out her cash register at a supermarket in the Libyan rebel-held city of Misrata, where rebels trying to advance on the capital Tripoli are fighting forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, June 20, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 47 of 75:

Caption: An anti-Gaddafi fighter walks inside the living room of a house belonging to Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal in Tripoli August 30, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 48 of 75:

Caption: An anti-Gaddafi fighter sits in a vehicle mounted with an anti-aircraft gun as he operates a checkpoint near the airport in Tripoli September 1, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 49 of 75:

Caption: Libyan rebel fighters mourn for comrades killed during clashes with forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi at a field hospital near Misrata’s western front line June 10, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 50 of 75:

Caption: A young ethnic Albanian refugee is seen arriving by bus in Blace after crossing the border between Kosovo and Macedonia May 22, 1999. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 51 of 75:

Caption: A girl chants slogan during a closing campaign rally of the Islamist Ennahda movement in Tunis October 21, 2011. The Arabic words read “I chose Ennahda”. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 52 of 75:

Caption: Protesters demonstrate against Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis January 14, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 53 of 75:

Caption: An Afghan woman is seen through a mirror at her house in Kabul August 20, 2005. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 54 of 75:

Caption: Mannoubiya Bouazizi, mother of Mohamed Bouazizi cries at her home in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid January 19, 2011. Bouazizi, a vegetable seller, set himself alight on December 17, igniting nationwide protests that forced ex-president Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali to flee the country. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 55 of 75: “Our president calls me by my nickname, ZaZa. During his first campaign in 1999, one day I went with him because he was already very famous and a lot of people loved him. I had to do an assignment with him while he was campaigning. I approached him and said “Excuse me, Mr. President” – joking with him. But, I was sure he would be President. I said “Mr. President, I just want to take a normal picture”, because we had many of him waving and I wanted to take portraits. He said ok but we’ll share them – he was joking with me. I said no problem. He gave me some pictures and then we started talking. I was the first woman that he had seen in Algeria taking pictures. I told him I worked for Reuters and he asked if I was based in Algeria. I said yes. “Are you Algerian?” I said yes. After that, when he would see me he started calling me ZaZa. I remember when he was sick he went to France for treatment. When he returned a lot of cameramen, photographers and journalists were at the airport. As he walked from the plane I called out to him “Mr. President!” I wanted to have his face in the photograph. He turned and said “Comment ca va ZaZa?” When you are a woman, it helps sometimes, to be honest.”

Caption: Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika comforts an injured woman at a hospital in Algiers April 15, 2007. Suicide bombers killed 33 people and wounded more than 200 in two bomb attacks in Algiers on April 11. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 56 of 75:

Caption: Supporters of the Islamist Ennahda movement celebrate outside Ennahda’s headquarters in Tunis October 25, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 57 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan woman, Eman al-Obaidi (C), reacts as she is grabbed by a Libyan official (2nd L) preventing members of the foreign media from reaching her, at a hotel in Tripoli March 26, 2011. The weeping Libyan woman made a desperate plea for help, slipping into the Tripoli hotel full of foreign journalists to show bruises and scars she said had been inflicted on her by Muammar Gaddafi’s militiamen. As reporters gathered to hear her story, security guards grabbed the woman, bundled her into a car and drove her away following a brawl in which several journalists were beaten. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 58 of 75:

Caption: A Tunisian anti-terrorism soldier throws water to Egyptian fleeing the unrest in Libya, as they wait at the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Ras Jdir March 1, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 59 of 75: “I’m still the only woman working for international media, a big agency like Reuters, in Algeria.”

Caption: Saudi make-up artist Zizi Badar (R), who runs a beauty company, talks on the phone in Jeddah February 21, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 60 of 75: “The problem in Algeria is different. We had our revolution; we had 10 years of terrorism. Algerians are not ready yet to live through another revolution. It was a very bad 10 years. More than 100,000 people were killed over those 10 years. They don’t want another revolution but at the same time they are asking for their lives to improve. Sometimes we have riots because the people want an apartment. I think we are the only country in the world where people ask for apartments for free. Last year, the government had a project to destroy all the slums. They started to destroy them and to give houses to the people who lived in the slums. When others saw that, they started building another slum to get an apartment from the government. When they didn’t get an apartment, they started demonstrating.”

Caption: A United Nations Development Program (UNDP) staff (L) cries next to his injured colleague Carla Rouida at a hospital in Algiers December 13, 2007. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 61 of 75:

Caption: A girl from Wau, a town in southern Sudan, gestures as she waits for the Government of southern Sudan (GOSS) to transport her back before the secession referendum, in Mayo, 25 km (15 miles) south of Khartoum January 4, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 62 of 75:

Caption: Sudanese people displaced from Muhajiriya eat at their shelter in Zam Zam IDP’s camp in Al Fasher, northern Darfur March 12, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 63 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan rebel fighter prepares anti-aircraft ammunition as he wears the cap of a pro-Muammar Gaddafi officer at Misrata’s western front line, some 25 km (16 miles) from the city center, June 4,2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 64 of 75:

Caption: A boy holds on to the door as he shouts slogans during an anti-government demonstration in central Tunis January 25, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 65 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan rebel fighter fires his weapon during a fight for the final push to flush out Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Abu Salim district in Tripoli August 25, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 66 of 75:

Caption: A Libyan woman shows a photograph of her son Farid Chatouni as she sits in his room in Misrata June 1, 2011. Chatouni, who was a rebel fighter, was killed on April 20, six months after his marriage, during a battle between Libyan rebel fighters and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Misrata’s Tripoli street. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 67 of 75:

Caption: An Afghan girl watches U.S. Army soldiers from Task Force Bravo 2/151 infantry during a patrol at Alo Khil village in Khowst province, Afghanistan, December 26, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 68 of 75:

Caption: A boy eats a lollipop near a tank belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, that was captured by rebel fighters, in the city center of Misrata June 2, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 69 of 75:

Caption: Libyan rebel fighters celebrate near a golf buggy belonging to Muammar Gaddafi at the entrance of Bab al Aziziya compound in Tripoli August 23, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 70 of 75:

Caption: Under a sign jokingly charging $100 per visit, Sgt Ramirez Ricardo, a soldier with the fourth Infantry division, poses December 21, 2003 in the spider hole in which Saddam Hussein was found hiding when he was captured by U.S troops near Tikrit. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 71 of 75:

Caption: Afghan singer Meriam Murad (L) from the group Arian attends a concert organized by the Joint Electoral Management Body in Kabul September 16, 2005. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 72 of 75:

Caption: Survivors are led away from the scene of a violent attack on families belonging to a self-defence group in the quarter of Bensallah, Oued Alleug, in Blida, 50 km from Algiers, November 14, 1996. The assailants left 14 people with their throats slashed. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 73 of 75:

Caption: A Lebanese woman searches for her belongings at her destroyed apartment in a southern suburb of Beirut August 18, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 74 of 75:

Caption: An anti-Gaddafi fighter sits during a sandstorm as he mans a checkpoint north of the besieged city of Bani Walid September 14, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image 75 of 75: “Of course, we need to improve a lot. We have a lot of poverty and they have to find a solution. The government in Algeria doesn’t build factories to hire people – they just build highways and apartments for free. They have to change and find a solution to improve the life of Algerians.”

Caption: A woman waits for transport in Ouled Said, on the outskirts of the oasis town of Timimoun, about 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Algiers March 24, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus

Editor’s choice – Reuters Full Focus

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Our best photos from the last 24 hours. 24 PHOTOS

Image 1 of 24: A school student is escorted as he leaves the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse, southwestern France, March 19, 2012 after a man on a scooter opened fire outside the school killing two children and one adult, a police source said. Five people were injured in the attack, which occurred as students were arriving for morning classes at the Ozar Hatorah school, a city official said. REUTERS/Jean-Philippe Arles

Image 2 of 24: Joe Calavita (C) stands on a fire truck during the March of Brides parade through downtown San Francisco March 18, 2012. People don wedding clothes and stroll through the center of San Francisco during the annual event. REUTERS/Jana Asenbrennerova

Image 3 of 24: A man spits water onto the street from the doorway of his small dwelling, which has a bird cage hanging outside, located on the outskirts of the Forbidden City in Beijing March 19, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray

Image 4 of 24: Seventeen-year-old prostitute Hashi, embraces a Babu, her “husband”, inside her small room at Kandapara brothel in Tangail, a northeastern city of Bangladesh, March 4, 2012. Many young and inexperienced prostitutes have “lovers” or “husbands” who normally live outside the brothel occasionally taking money and sex from them in exchange for security in this male dominated society. She earns about 800-1000 taka daily ($9.75 – $12.19) servicing around 15-20 customers every day. Hashi is one of hundreds of mostly teenage sex workers living in a painful life of exploitation in Kandapara slum’s brothel who take Oradexon, a steroid used by farmers to fatten their cattle, in order to gain weight and appear “healthier” and more attractive to clients. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj

Image 5 of 24: Student protesters demonstrate during a rally against the government’s plan to raise fuel prices in Makassar, part of Indonesia’s south Sulawesi province, March 19, 2012. Indonesia’s government is considering hiking up fuel prices, which are currently subsidized, by as much as 44 percent this year to reduce the burden of subsidies on the state’s budget so that they can use these funds on roads instead, the deputy energy minister told Reuters. REUTERS/Yusuf Ahmad

Image 6 of 24: An Afghan woman walks with her daughter during a wind storm in Kabul March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

Image 7 of 24: Riot police clear road blocks set up by anti-government protesters during a protest after the funeral procession of Sabri Mafooz in the village Sarakan south of Manama, Bahrain, March 19, 2012. Mafooz died from the inhalation of tear gas fired by riot police last week during anti-government protest in a village, according to the opposition party al Wafaq. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Image 8 of 24: A veterinarian conducts sterilization surgery on a cat in a pets clinic near Calvia on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca March 19, 2012. Many local governments pay part of the costs of sterilization to control the population of stray animals. REUTERS/Enrique Calvo

Image 9 of 24: Police kick a protester during a rally against the government’s plan to raise fuel prices in Yogyakarta, central Java, March 19, 2012. Indonesia’s government is considering hiking up fuel prices, which are currently subsidized, by as much as 44 percent this year to reduce the burden of subsidies on the state’s budget so that they can use these funds on roads instead, the deputy energy minister told Reuters. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 10 of 24: A bodyguard trainee steps on the thighs of other trainees during a training session in Sanya, Hainan province March 18, 2012. A total of 36 trainees, mostly college graduates and special forces, participated in the training session. All trainees will have to undergo 28 days of training to develop sufficient skills to serve their clients, according to Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant Ltd. Co. The company will then offer the best trainee a chance to attend further study at the International Security Academy in Israel. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Image 11 of 24: Nour al-Houda Idriss, a 4-year-old Syrian girl, lies on a bed as she is surrounded by her father and a doctor, in a hospital in Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, March 19, 2012. Houda Idriss was wounded by shrapnel on Sunday while playing with her sister near their house in the Syrian town of Qusair, during fighting between Syrian troops and anti-government forces, according to hospital workers. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

Image 12 of 24: French police conduct their investigation outside the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse, southwestern France, March 19, 2012 after a man on a scooter opened fire outside the school killing two children and one adult, a police source said. Five people were injured in the attack, which occurred as students were arriving for morning classes at the Ozar Hatorah school, a city official said. REUTERS/Jean-Philippe Arles

Image 13 of 24: Retired Brazilian police officer Andre Luiz Pinheiro, 50, dressed as super-hero Batman, poses for a picture at home in Taubate city in Sao Paulo March 11, 2012. Pinheiro has been called to help police patrol the crime-ridden streets of Taubate, in Brazil. He was officially presented on March 17 in the districts with the highest crime rates in Sao Paulo state. Police captain Warley Takeo, one of the policemen who decided to bring in the character to help them fight drug traffickers, said the measure would bring long-term benefits. Takeo said making a connection between the police and Batman would help children have a clearer idea of good and bad. REUTERS/Roosevelt Cassio

Image 14 of 24: Palestinians wave flags during a rally calling on the Egyptian authorities to supply the Gaza Strip with fuel and electricity, near Rafah crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip March 19, 2012. Gaza’s top political leader blamed Egypt earlier this month for causing a power crisis that has triggered lengthy blackouts in the Palestinian enclave, laying bare tensions between his Islamist group Hamas and Cairo. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Image 15 of 24: A child, son of Zeng Lingjun, sleeps on a bed next to urinals at his home inside an unused toilet of a hotel in Shenyang, Liaoning province March 18, 2012. Zeng, who is a shoe repairer, rented the unused toilet of the hotel since 2006 as his home, and made up his family by marrying Wang Zhixia in 2010, local media reported. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 16 of 24: Firefighters and police officers stand near a pick-up truck that rolled on its side after the driver lost control along Interstate-17 in Yavapai County, Arizona, March 18, 2012. The late winter storm kept temperatures well below normal in California on Sunday and generated heavy snow fall in several states, including Arizona, where several highways in the northern part of the state were temporarily closed, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. REUTERS/Joshua Lott

Image 17 of 24: A Haitian runs across the border as the gates open in Dajabon March 19, 2012. The Dominican Republic and Haiti together make up the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Trade between the two countries last year totalled about $1.2 billion. On Mondays and Fridays, Haitians are permitted to temporarily cross the bridge to trade goods. REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas

Image 18 of 24: An Yanshi (R), wearing a panda costume, stands in a truck as he unloads panda droppings which are used as fertiliser at his tea farm during a media event in Ya’an, Sichuan province March 17, 2012. China’s national treasure, the giant panda, will become even more precious if one businessman succeeds in using their dung to grow organic green tea he intends to sell for over $200 a cup. An, an entrepreneur in southwest China, grows the tea using tonnes of excrement from panda bears living at nearby breeding centers. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 19 of 24: Libyan army personnel take part in a military display to commemorate victims of an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces on Benghazi a year ago, inside a stadium in Benghazi March 19, 2012. The Libyan army created a memorial to commemorate those who died, including military pilots, during the attack on March 19, 2011. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Image 20 of 24: A man, suspected of Peruvian origin, holds a placard while he is whipped by residents of Chua, near the shores of Lake Titicaca, about 80 km (50 miles) north of La Paz March 18, 2012. Residents of the town applied what they termed as “Community Justice” on three Peruvians, who are suspected of stealing from their community, according to local media. Bolivia and Peru share the border at Lake Titicaca. The placard reads: ” I’m a thief from Peru”. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 21 of 24: India’s boxer MC Mary Kom punches a bag during a training session at Balewadi Stadium in Pune, about 190 km (118 miles) from Mumbai, March 12, 2012. Mary Kom was the face of the campaign to get women’s boxing into the Olympics and the Indian mother of two will be competing at the world championships in China in May aiming to book her spot at the London Games in the 51kg category. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 22 of 24: Buddhist monks pray during a ceremony for the defeat of a U.N. resolution calling on Sri Lanka to probe wartime human rights abuses in Colombo March 19, 2012. Religious leaders led by thousands of Buddhist priests march in procession, as Sri Lanka faces a major setback in its effort to defeat a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council recommending prosecution of soldiers guilty of misconduct in the final phases of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels. REUTERS/Stringer

Image 23 of 24: Commuters walk past an “Occupy” sticker placed on a pillar in the subway system in New York March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Image 24 of 24: Several inches of snow cover a bicycle in Flagstaff, Arizona March18, 2012. The late winter storm kept temperatures well below normal in California on Sunday and generated heavy snow fall in several states, including Arizona, where several highways in the northern part of the state were temporarily closed, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. REUTERS/Joshua Lott

Images of February – Reuters Full Focus

Pressure mounted on the Assad regime in Syria as the crackdown continued in February. The death of Whitney Houston overshadowed the Grammy awards and Brazil celebrated the annual Carnival festival. 65 PHOTOS

Image 1 of 65: A wrestler rubs his hands with mud to prevent slipping due to sweat, during a traditional mud wrestling (Kushti) bout at the Akhaara centre in Kolhapur, about 400 kms (250 miles) south of Mumbai, February 14, 2012. Fewer people are taking up Kushti, according to the sport’s coaches, as young athletes turn instead to mat wrestling to gain access to top international sports competitions. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 2 of 65: A girl waves a Syrian opposition flag during a protest against Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Al Qusayr February 27, 2012. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Image 3 of 65: Flo Watson, 61, (R) and her daughter Nina Watson, 34, (C) view Flo’s late postal service co-worker Robert Sanders, 58, at the Robert L. Adams drive-through funeral parlor in Compton, Los Angeles, February 8, 2012. The funeral parlor has been in business since 1974, and is thought to be the only drive-through funeral home in southern California, according to office manager Denise Knowles-Bragg. Knowles-Bragg said the parlor offers a convenient alternative to older people who find it hard to walk, those who want to make a quick stop during the lunch hour, and the families of well-known deceased people who expect many visitors. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 4 of 65: A Ninjutsu practitioner swings from a rope to attack as members of various Ninjutsu schools showcase their skills to the media in a gym at Karaj, 45 km (28 miles) northwest of Tehran February 13, 2012. Currently about 3000 to 3500 women train in Ninjutsu in independently run clubs throughout Iran working under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports’ Martial Arts Federation. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Image 5 of 65: A groom leads his horse in the equine pool after working out on the track, during early morning workouts for the upcoming Derby race in Mumbai, February 2, 2012. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 6 of 65: A migrant woman stands with her daughter and nephew outside their shelter on the outskirts of Moscow July 26 2011. Russia’s demographic situation is one of the many factors that contributes to uncertainty in understanding the future of the country. Not only is Russia one of the only developing countries with a decreasing population, also the chaos of the 1990′s has produced a hole in the demographic curve meaning there are fewer young adults now than should be expected in a standard population. The result is a small indigenous labor pool and a large influx of migrant workers to fill this gap. These workers are mainly from former Soviet countries in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, places with their own economic problems which contribute to migration. The migrants generally do low-skilled and heavy work on building sites, in markets or on the streets. Official statistics put the number at just under a million, but unofficial estimates there are several million, mostly concentrated in and around Moscow. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

Image 7 of 65: Trapped passengers from a commuter train that crashed into the Once train station at rush hour are seen in a coach in Buenos Aires February 22, 2012. A packed commuter train plowed into the buffers at a Buenos Aires station during Wednesday’s morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600 in Argentina’s worst rail accident in more than 30 years, officials said.Passengers told of chaos and panic as the impact of the collision propelled the second train car into the first carriage, trapping dozens of people as others looked on from the busy platforms at the central Once station. REUTERS/Julio Sanders

Image 8 of 65: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth views the interior of the refurbished East Wing of Somerset House at King’s College in London February 29, 2012. The Queen is celebrating her sixtieth anniversary as Regent in 2012. REUTERS/Eddie Mulholland/POOL

Image 9 of 65: A policeman pours fuel before setting drugs on fire in Herat province, February 29, 2012. Officials set fire to 4,200 kg (9,259 lbs) of narcotics on Wednesday, which included opium and hashish, in Herat province. REUTERS/Mohmmad Shoib

Image 10 of 65: Pedestrians walk past artist Ben Wilson as he paints on a piece of discarded chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge, in London February 28, 2012. Wilson has painted miniature works of art on discarded chewing gum in various parts of London and Europe over the past seven years in an effort to “turn something some people would find disgusting into something artistic and beautiful,” he said. He chooses gum splatters with unusual shapes “to allow art to happen in a random way.” REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly

Image 11 of 65: A physically disabled woman on her wheelchair clashes with riot police in the centre of La Paz, February 23, 2012. Hundreds of physically disabled people arrived in La Paz on Thursday after completing a protest march of some 1600 km (994 miles) over a hundred days to demand that Bolivia’s government offer support in the form of 3000 bolivianos ($434) payment to each physically disabled Bolivian, according to local media. REUTERS/David Mercado

Image 12 of 65: A man carries an injured woman during anti-government protests in Senegal’s capital Dakar, February 15, 2012. Senegal riot police used teargas, truncheons, and a water cannon on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of people in the capital Dakar protesting at President Abdoulaye Wade’s decision to seek a third term in office. The clashes in the West African state erupted after demonstrators shouting “Wade step down” gathered at a downtown square near the presidential mansion, shrugging off a state ban on protests in the run-up to the Feb. 26 vote. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Image 13 of 65: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis, Indiana, February 5, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 14 of 65: A child plays with police tape at a crime scene in Apodaca on the outskirts of Monterrey February 26, 2012. Five suspected drug dealers were executed on Sunday morning by gunmen inside a house, according to local media. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

Image 15 of 65: Challenger Steve “USS” Cunningham of the U.S. takes a heavy punch from Yoan Pablo Hernandez of Cuba during their IBF cruiserweight World Championship title re-match in Frankfurt February 4, 2012. Hernandez won the fight after 12 rounds by a 3-0 judge decision. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Image 16 of 65: A woman reacts as relatives of the victims of the February 14 Comayagua prison blaze clash with riot police as they try to enter a morgue to identify bodies in Tegucigalpa February 20, 2012. Honduras came under international pressure on February 17 to fix its broken prison system and allow an independent inquiry into the jailhouse blaze in Comayagua, 75 km (47 miles) north of the capital of Tegucigalpa, that killed more than 350 inmates, many burned alive in their cells. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez

Image 17 of 65: A model has dye rinsed out of his hair over a garbage bin backstage before the Custo Barcelona show Fall/Winter 2012 collection show during New York Fashion Week, February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Image 18 of 65: Agustin Gabarri (L) talks to his grandson Israel before they sleep at Gabarri’s home for the last time before its demolition the following day at the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood outside Madrid February 14, 2012. Some Spanish gypsy families settled in the area of Puerta de Hierro, near the Palace of Moncloa, in the 1960s and have built brick houses and raised their children and grandchildren there ever since. The settlers are registered with the town hall and have access to public services, but for the past two years have been subject to several evictions under Madrid’s town planning board orders, on the grounds that the dwellings are illegal. Members of some families, mostly the eldest, have been relocated to public housing flats in the city, but often their children and grandchildren have been denied the same right to relocation, resulting in many families refusing to go to the rental flats assigned to them because they do not want to leave their children and grandchildren homeless. Out of more than 50 homes that used to stand in the neighborhood, there are only six left now, as well as the debris of the ones already demolished. Leston and her husband Gabarri have been living at Puerta de Hierro for over 30 years and all their children were born in the neighbourhood. They had been assigned a public housing flat but as the order to demolish their home came before their flat was ready for their relocation, they will have to share their children’s already overcrowded houses. REUTERS/Susana Vera

Image 19 of 65: A boy plays soccer on a beach in Gabon’s capital Libreville February 9, 2012. REUTERS/Louafi Larbi

Image 20 of 65: A woman begs as shoppers walk by in central Athens February 21, 2012. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Image 21 of 65: Severely malnourished two-year-old girl Rajni is weighed by health workers at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre of Shivpuri district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh February 1, 2012. India has failed to reduce its high prevalence of child malnutrition despite its economy doubling between 1990 and 2005 to become Asia’s third largest. A government-supported survey last month said 42 percent of children under five are underweight – almost double that of sub-Saharan Africa – compared to 43 percent five years ago. The statistic – which means 3,000 children dying daily due to illnesses related to poor diets – forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to admit last month that malnutrition was “a national shame” and was putting the health of the nation in jeopardy. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Image 22 of 65: Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, who claims to be the world shortest man standing at a height of 22 inches (56 centimeters), washes his face at a hotel in Kathmandu February 23, 2012. Dangi is scheduled to be verified as the world shortest man by the Guinness World Records committee on February 26 in Kathmandu, according to local media. If certified, Dangi will beat Junrey Balawing of Philippines, the current Guinness World who stands at a height of 23.5 inches (60 cm). REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Image 23 of 65: Du Jianguo, a protester claiming to be an independent economist and demonstrating against the World Bank’s “China 2030 Report”, is taken away by a security guard during a news conference by World Bank’s President Robert Zoellick at its Beijing office February 28, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Image 24 of 65: A boy wearing a uniform similar to usually worn by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavas, and two girls, play during a carnival parade in Caracas February 21, 2012. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Image 25 of 65: A man confronts hooded protesters who were vandalising a bank facility during a protest against spending cuts in public education in Barcelona February 29, 2012. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Image 26 of 65: New York Police Department officers arrest a member of the Occupy Wall St movement during a “national day of action” demonstration by the movement in New York February 29, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Image 27 of 65: An audience member looks out a window while waiting for Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada February 2, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Image 28 of 65: Family members of inmates pick up stones during a protest outside the prison of Apodaca on the outskirts of Monterrey February 21, 2012. Family members started a fire outside the fence and gunshots were heard from inside the prison, according to local media, three days after members of the Zetas drug cartel plotted with prison guards to orchestrate an elaborate escape and kill 44 of their rivals. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

Image 29 of 65: An anti-government protestor holds a Muslim prayer bracelet as he gestures on his knees to the riot police during clashes in Dakar, Senegal, February 17, 2012. Senegalese police sealed off a main square in the capital Dakar and fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who gathered in protest against incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid to seek a third term in a Feb. 26 poll. The police fought running battles with protesters who hurled stones, burned trash and set up barricades along avenues in the city centre, forcing businesses to close for the afternoon. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Image 30 of 65: Keriell Williams, 5, who is homeless, is taken outside by her School on Wheels’ after-school program tutor to make her feel refreshed after she kept on falling asleep in class in Los Angeles, February 9, 2012. School on Wheels provides tutoring and educational mentoring to homeless children. A recent report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness found that California’s population of homeless families increased by five percent between 2009 and 2011. It is estimated that there are over 300,000 homeless children in California. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 31 of 65: The daughter of Abed Kareem Zaytoneya mourns next to his body during his funeral in Gaza City February 12, 2012. An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian civilian, Zaytoneya, on Sunday, hospital officials said, and the military described the operation as retaliation for a cross-border rocket launch. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Image 32 of 65: A cadet of the Fuerza Civil (Civil Force) is embraced by his girlfriend after a graduation ceremony at the 7th military zone on the outskirts of Monterrey February 11, 2012. Some 215 members of the Civil Force, a police unit trained by the army in areas such as intelligence and tactics, joined the state police on Saturday to reinforce the war against organised crime as part of a government-run program, local media reported. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

Image 33 of 65: Nine-year-old Rahul gets his make-up done to look like a demon before the start of a religious procession ahead of the Mahashivratri festival in Jammu February 18, 2012. Hindu women across the country celebrate Mahashivratri, better known as Lord Shiva’s wedding anniversary, so that their husbands will be blessed with long lives. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

Image 34 of 65: A monk reacts as he participates in a debate as part of Tibetan New Year celebrations at a temple in Langmusixiang, Sichuan Province February 22, 2012. A teenage Tibetan Buddhist monk has set himself on fire and died in southwestern China, a rights group said, in the latest reported self-immolation by a monk denouncing Chinese policies in Tibet and demanding the return of the Dalai Lama. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Image 35 of 65: A woman drinks water while having lunch inside a workshop in an industrial area in Mumbai, February 29, 2012. India’s economic growth slowed to its weakest annual pace in almost three years in the three months to December, as high interest rates and rising input costs constrained investment and manufacturing. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 36 of 65: A participant wears a sticker with the word “Obey!” during an opposition protest on Revolution square in central Moscow February 26, 2012. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

Image 37 of 65: Catalina rides a two-wheelsskateboard outside her home in the Mennonite community of Buenos Aires in the northern state of Chihuahua February 16, 2012. Over 80,000 Mennonites live in Mexico after they established themselves for the first time in the 1920s. Mennonites arrange their lives according to their religious beliefs; they have their own educational system and do not participate in the government or serve in the military. Their origins date back to Switzerland in the 16th century as part of the Reformation until a movement was founded by the Dutch priest Menno Simon who believed in a different interpretation of the scriptures, hence the name Mennonites, meaning “Followers of Menno”. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Image 38 of 65: A Palestinian activist (L) argues with an Israeli border police officer during a protest in West Bank village of al-Janiya near Ramallah February 8, 2012. About 40 Israeli and Palestinian activists arrived at the village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to plant trees in response to what they said was the defacing of a Palestinian house by Jewish settlers earlier this week. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Image 39 of 65: Julian, a two-month old pet monkey, bites the right ear of Kan, a transvestite performer, backstage at the Tiffany’s Show in Pattaya, 150 km (93 miles) east of Bangkok, February 10, 2012. The first Tiffany’s Show was performed as a one-man show for friends on New Year’s Eve in 1974. It has since become a world famous transvestite cabaret with dozens of artists performing every night. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Image 40 of 65: Japanese college students watch a cheerleader at a rally wishing for success in their job search in Tokyo February 8, 2012. More than 1,000 students from business schools took part in the rally to boost their morale before their job search. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Image 41 of 65: A streaker runs on the pitch as Aston Villa play Manchester City in their English Premier League soccer match at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England, February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Image 42 of 65: Suspect TJ Lane is escorted into the Geauga County Courthouse Annex by Sheriff deputies for his court appearance in Chardon, Ohio February 28, 2012, after shooting and killing three students and wounding two others at Chardon High School. Another student has died from wounds suffered in Monday’s shooting rampage at an Ohio high school, authorities said on Tuesday, as the shaken suburban Cleveland town prepared for a vigil for the teenage victims of the attack. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk

Image 43 of 65: An anti-government protestor carries another injured protestor during clashes with police in Senegal’s capital Dakar, February 21, 2012. Hundreds of opposition supporters clashed with Senegalese security forces in the capital on Tuesday as European Union observers criticized a ban on protests and an African envoy jetted in to try and stem rising violence. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Image 44 of 65: Activists scuffle during an opposition protest on Revolution square in central Moscow February 26, 2012. Thousands of Russians joined hands to form a ring around Moscow city center in protest against Vladimir Putin’s likely return as president in an election next week. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

Image 45 of 65: Soldiers of the 1st German paratroop battalion 331 sit onboard an Air Force C-130J transport plane for a training flight at the air base in Ramstein February 23, 2012. The joint Germany – US training exercise was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. REUTERS/Alex Domanski

Image 46 of 65: A campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney hangs in the window of a cafe in Mesa, Arizona February 27, 2012. Arizona registered Republicans will vote on February 28 during the presidential primary. REUTERS/Joshua Lott

Image 47 of 65: The body of a dead man, with a rifle next to him, lies in a field after a shootout with police on the outskirts of Monterrey February 28, 2012. According to local media, 11 people were killed in different violent incidents in the city. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

Image 48 of 65: Miguel Paludo in his number 32 Chevrolet crashes during the NASCAR Camping World Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 truck race at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, February 24, 2012. REUTERS/Pierre Ducharme

Image 49 of 65: Hussain, a 34 year old Muslim convert, helps an elderly lady with her bags at a train station in London, December 5, 2011. Hussain, formerly Jason Thomas, whose family are Christians and originate from the Caribbean, adopted the religion after a troublesome upbringing saw him end up homeless and eventually imprisoned. “I got involved in robbing shops and business people and stealing designer clothes from the West End’s expensive shops. My life consisted of waking up in the morning, smoking weed, hanging out on the council estate and doing crime,” he said. “But when I was in prison, I thought there must be more to life than just robbing and stealing.” Thomas, who now visits socially deprived areas and counsels troubled youths against committing crime, was taken to the Brixton Mosque in South London by his cousin, who introduced him to Islam. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 50 of 65: Mofeed Jarar (R), 21, a Palestinian garbage collector, gathers recyclable plastic bottles at a dump site in the West Bank village of Kfar Rai, near Jenin February 28, 2012. A group of Palestinian garbage collectors earn 35 NIS (New Israeli Shekel) per day for collecting recyclable plastic at the site in Jenin. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Image 51 of 65: The dog Uggie, featured in the film “The Artist”, sits during a ceremony where the cast and crew received the inaugural “Made in Hollywood” commendation at Red Studios in Los Angeles, California January 31, 2012. Red Studios substituted for Kinograph Studios in the film. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Image 52 of 65: A man uses a sword to practice Tai Chi, a traditional form of Chinese martial arts, in a public park in Kolhapur February 14, 2012. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Image 53 of 65: Actress Milla Jovovich smiles as she arrives at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 26, 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Image 54 of 65: Meryl Streep, Best Actress winner for “The Iron Lady,” and French actor Jean Dujardin, Best Actor winner for “The Artist,” pose backstage at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, February 26, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Image 55 of 65: England’s captain Andrew Strauss waits with teammates, Jonathan Trott (R), Graeme Swann (3rd R) and Ian Bell (L) for the presentations after Pakistan won the third cricket test match at Dubai International cricket stadium in Dubai February 6, 2012. REUTERS/Philip Brown

Image 56 of 65: Protesters try to scale an apartment building to put out a fire that began when a tear gas canister was thrown into the building during clashes betwen police and protesters, near the Interior Ministry in Cairo, February 3, 2012. Egyptians incensed by the deaths of 74 people in soccer violence staged protests in central Cairo as the army-led government came under fire for failing to prevent the deadliest incident since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Image 57 of 65: Singer Adele holds her six Grammy Awards at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 12, 2012. Soul singer Adele triumphed in her return to music’s stage, scooping up six Grammys and winning every category in which she was nominated including album of the year for “21″ and best record with “Rolling In the Deep.” REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Image 58 of 65: European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn presents the EU Commission’s interim economic forecast during a news conference at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels February 23, 2012. The European Union’s top economics official said on Thursday that recent economic surveys showed that an expected slowdown in the euro zone would be mild. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Image 59 of 65: A vehicle transporting a body of an earthquake victim tries to pass through a destroyed road in La Libertad, Negros Oriental in central Philippines February 7, 2012. Local media reports said 29 was killed and 71 still missing in a 6.7 magnitude quake that severely hit Negros island. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Image 60 of 65: Greg Hall of Carrier attempts to ride “Big Boy” during the Silver Spurs Monster Bull rodeo event held at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee February 11, 2012. Bull riders from across the country compete for a chance to win $2,000. REUTERS/Octavian Cantilli

Image 61 of 65: President Barack Obama reacts as Joey Hudy of Phoenix, Arizona, launches a marshmallow from his Extreme Marshmallow Cannon in the State Dining Room of the White House during the second White House Science Fair in Washington February 7, 2012. The fair celebrates the achievements of student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Image 62 of 65: Revelers from the Grande Rio samba school participate in the second night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome February 21, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Image 63 of 65: Octavia Spencer, cries after winning the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in “The Help” at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, February 26, 2012. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Image 64 of 65: Jennifer Hudson reacts after performing “I Will Always Love You” as a tribute to the late Whitney Houston at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Image 65 of 65: A model falls as she presents a creation from designer Miguel Palacio’s Fall/Winter 2012 collection during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Madrid February 2, 2012. REUTERS/Juan Medina

New York artist turns passionate sex into art

‘I tell them to take the paint, lay on top of the canvas and pour it on each other’: New York artist turns passionate sex into art

If you are looking for a way to express your love, turn to art.

A New York-based artist has been inviting amorous couples to make creative magic on his canvas by covering themselves in paint and letting their impulses get the better of them.

Alexander Esguerra leaves the couples in a completely private setting – no Andy Warhol-style voyeurism here – with low-lighting, candles and even a heated canvas.

Make art not war: New York-based artist Alexander Esguerra invites couples to cover themselves in paint and lie on canvases while having sex in a private, candle-lit room – the canvases are even heated

‘Love is a powerful creative force,’ says the 30 year-old, who came up with the idea after a night of passion.

‘I woke up one morning after a sexual encounter and my normally organized room was a mess,” he told the New York Daily News.

Creative force: The thirty-year-old Parson’s graduate says that ‘love is a creative force’ and tells the couples (nearly 50 have signed up so far) to ‘have fun with the paint, but don’t make it all about the paint’

Red hot: The project has become so popular that Mr Esguerra has turned it into a business. He now sells ‘Love and Paint’ experiences, where the couple will create the art in a luxury hotel

‘I wanted to artistically capture those moments through the act of sex that our bodies interacted and affected the space around us without bringing in that whole played-out porn spiel.’

Nearly fifty couples have been inspired to sign up for the project.

They cover themselves in non-toxic, water-based paint and set up the canvas on a floor covered in plastic.There’s nothing smutty about it.

Inspired events: The artist came up with the idea after a night of passion when he woke up to find his room a mess and wanted to ‘artistically capture’ the moment when two individuals interact in the most private way

No barriers: Mr Esguerra likens the idea to couples therapy but encourages his clients not to take it too seriously

‘I tell them to take the paint, lay on top of the canvas and pour it on each other. Look in your partner’s eyes and make love as you would normally.’

Any one can take part.

‘Sex is basically the great equaliser,’ said Mr Esguerra.

Bodies as art: Streaks of colour capture moments between couples as bodies are turned into works of arts

Love as art: Never let go, left, and Her & Her, right, by Alexander Esguerra are full of slapped paint, finger and hand marks, streaks of passion and blurred action

Bright young things: Forever Young, left, and Head Over Heels, right, continue the messy, beautiful, boundless and passionate theme

No restrictions: The project celebrates the limitless possibilities of love and sex – age, race, gender and sexuality is not evident when it comes to the art

‘You look at these paintings and you can’t tell if the couple was gay or straight or old or young or married or cheating.’

He likens the idea to couples therapy but encourages his clients not to take it too seriously.

‘Have fun with the paint, but don’t make it all about the paint,’ the Parson’s graduate tells them.

Tender moment: The artist captured many a tender moment in the love and sex-driven project

War paint: Love, not war, is celebrated in the upbeat, bright and humour-laden experiment

Alone, but smiling: Bodies emerge covered in paint, colourful works of art in themselves

The project has become so popular with his friends and customers that Mr Esguerra has turned it into a business.

He now sells ‘Love and Paint’ experiences, where the couple will create the art in a luxury hotel, packages – including ample body paint, of course, start at $2,500.

Mr Esguerra is now preparing for his seventh exhibition of Love and Paint, launching next Tuesday at famously wild New York nightclub, The Box.

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