Pictures of the year

From the horror of war to the simple pleasures of family holidays, this newspaper was home to the distinctive images of the past 12 months. Here, on the next four pages, are some of the most striking

`It was quite simply devastation on an epic scale,' remembered David Rose of `The Independent', who photographed this astonishing scene at the Choluteca River in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch ripped through the Caribbean and Central America last month. Homes, hillsides and people were swept away as the hurricane tore apart the countryside. Mitch was the fourth worst hurricane on record and claimed up to 20,000 lives in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador