Here are reflections from five correspondents on the stories behind the videos they shot.

Baghdad bureau chief Tamer El-Ghobashy traveled to Raqqa, Syria, a city devastated by the war between U.S.-allied forces and the Islamic State.

The Islamic State had been defeated in a grueling campaign five months earlier, a fight that left buildings crumbled, explosives undetonated and bodies unburied.

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It was El-Ghobashy’s first time in Raqqa but far from his first brush with areas ravaged by conflict. Even so, he says he wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

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“It really didn’t compare to anything I’ve seen before in terms of physical destruction,” El-Ghobashy said. “I’ve covered natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, San Diego wildfires. And still this one was just shocking and striking in that it was a near-total destruction.”

He followed a small band of civil defense workers who dug out corpses moldering under toppled buildings.

“Whether they could identify the remains of the subject or not, they gave them this respectful burial,” in accordance with Islamic tradition, he said.

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One image stuck with El-Ghobashy:

“A mom … wedged in between two massive concrete slabs that used to be a whole story of building … nestling what appeared to be a very small child in her arms or what remains of her arms. A child probably no more than a year old or so.”

He said the people of Raqqa felt forgotten by the Western governments that drove out the Islamic State and, in doing so, decimated their city.

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Would 2019 be a better year for those people?

“There is no reason,” he said, “to think Raqqa is going to see any kind of relief in 2019.”

As Russia’s capital prepared to host the 2018 World Cup, Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski decided to take a ride.

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A long ride, actually, on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The train originates at the Russian Pacific coast and stretches across Siberia and over the Ural Mountains, running more than 5,770 miles to Moscow.

Why take this multiday, 50-hour journey? “How are people who are coming to Russia for the first time discovering this country?” Troianovski said he wanted to know. “And how are the people in this country — many of whom have never traveled abroad and have had very limited experience with foreigners — interacting with this sudden influx of visitors?”

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His video showcased interactions between everyday Russians, taking the train home from working on gas pipelines or oil platforms, and tourists from abroad headed to the games. It also captured the pristine forests, big rivers, several cities and the world’s deepest freshwater lake, all as the train rolled past.

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What didn’t the video show?

“I didn’t film people sleeping,” Troianovski said. “Obviously, people sleep. Sleeping is a pretty core part of the Trans-Siberian experience.”

He arrived in Moscow to find that the World Cup spirit had transformed the normally gruff Russian police.

“The opposite of heavy-handed,” he said. “They were smiling. … They were totally fine with people drinking on the street, which technically isn’t allowed. There were impromptu dance parties in the middle of Moscow with the cars stopping and blasting dance music or people bringing boomboxes.”

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But after the soccer fans left? “That spirit went away pretty quickly,” he said, with police quickly shutting down public demonstrations and detaining dissidents.

It was July, and students in Managua had been protesting the authoritarian measures of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for months.

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As correspondent Joshua Partlow was on his way back to the capital with a Nicaraguan journalist, he heard a radio report about shooting at the National Autonomous University, where protesters had occupied the student center.

When Partlow and his colleague arrived near the campus, they couldn’t tell who was shooting, and police had closed off several streets. They headed to the Church of the Divine Mercy, where the protesters were bringing their wounded. While they interviewed those who had come from the front lines, a paramilitary group closed in and trapped them.

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Partlow wouldn’t leave for several more hours.

He continued his interviews, including of a medical student who was shot in the leg. Partlow could hear gunfire outside but couldn’t tell how close it was or who was shooting. People pressed themselves to the floor, keeping away from windows and staying low.

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At some points, Partlow recalls, “we cut off all of the lights, and we were trying to hide the lights from … cellphones, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, basically.”

He later saw that “there were bullet holes all over the facade of the church.”

And the woman who was shot in the leg while caring for wounded students? She was arrested in August but has since been released.

Britain spent much of 2018 embroiled in Brexit negotiations, but there was one bright spot: a love story.

In May, Britain’s Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle, and fans of the royals descended on Windsor to share in their bliss. London correspondent Karla Adam stood among them in the crowds along the parade route.

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“The weather was glorious,” Adam said. “It's so rare in Britain that people were joking that the Californian had brought the California sunshine with her.”

Well-wishers camped out overnight for a chance to witness the royal couple whisking by in a horse-drawn carriage. Dropped cell signals prevented them from watching the marriage ceremony as it unfolded. But “they could hear it on the loudspeakers,” Adam said.

Those anticipating the nuptials were dressed for the occasion: little girls sporting princess outfits, dogs wearing Union Jack scarves.

They waited — some all day and all night — for the moment a biracial American actress and her real-life Prince Charming graced the crowd with their presence.

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“It was a very fast moment,” Adam said. “You didn’t want to blink, because you could possibly miss it.”

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But there’s another event fans have to look forward to in 2019: a royal baby.

Kensington Palace says Markle and Harry will welcome their first child in the spring.

Hunger and violence characterized 2018 in Yemen.

Kareem Fahim flew to the city of Marib on a press tour offered by the Saudi-led coalition in March. It took two tries for the group to land there; on the first attempt, a never-explained threat forced their helicopters to turn around.

The trip was meant to highlight Saudi humanitarian work and blunt criticism that coalition tactics — including an air, sea and land blockade and indiscriminate airstrikes — were primary reasons for civilian suffering during the conflict.

Fahim found Saudi-controlled Marib to be more peaceful than the rebel-held territories he had visited earlier. Under the coalition’s protection — and spared its airstrikes — a building boom even appeared to be underway.

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“It had become a destination for lots of people displaced from other areas of Yemen,” Fahim said, including business executives looking for investment opportunities.

Marib also had access to supplies such as food and medicine that were more scarce in rebel-controlled regions. But even here there was suffering.

On the outskirts of the city, Fahim saw “ramshackle camps for displaced people.”