"As a journalist, I've covered some dramatic events in the past -- natural disasters in China come to mind or the conflict in Ukraine. But I never thought I'd see a bloodbath in Paris, my home city," writes AFP's Marianne Barriaux. "Why was I - am I still - so shaken by Friday's siege at the Porte de Vincennes in Paris?"

On New Year’s Day, AFP photographer Dominique Faget joined France’s defence minister on a lightening visit to an army base in Niger's remote north. "The desert outpost lies at the gates of Libya, right on the route used by jihadists and arms smugglers to reach northern Mali and Niger from the violence-wracked state," he writes. "Near the gleaming new runway, I spot five or six trucks piled high with a mind-boggling load – at a standstill under the sun. I slip away from the group visit for a moment to investigate, and snap a few pictures."