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From the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris at the start of the year to the ongoing war in Syria and political uncertainty around the globe, 2015 has been a tense year.
As we wrap up 2015, here are 50 of the most unforgettable images of 2015.
A man holds a giant pencil as he takes part in a solidarity march in Paris on January 11, 2015. The march follows the horrific attacks by gunmen at the offices of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the killing of a police woman in Montrouge, and the hostage taking at a kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes.
Law enforcement officers stand, with some turning their backs, as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks on a monitor outside the funeral for NYPD officer Wenjian Liu in the Brooklyn borough of New York January 4, 2015. Tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from across the country gathered for the funeral of the second of two New York City policemen killed last month in an ambush that galvanized critics of Mayor de Blasio.
An activist kicks the shields of the military police officers during a demonstration in the military zone of the 27th infantry battalion in Iguala, Guerrero, January 12, 2015. Activists and relatives of 43 abducted trainee teachers from Ayotzinapa’s teacher training college broke into the military zone, located less than a mile from where the students went missing, in an attempt to look for the missing students. The remains of only one of the 43 students has been identified so far.
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo holds up his FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy prior in Madrid, on January 15, 2015. The award is given to the best male player of the year.
“This isn’t ISIS … no one’s dying,” New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says during a press conference on January 22, 2015, about under-inflated footballs used in the AFC Championship Game.
The Ukrainian government continued to battle Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east. In this photo, a wounded Ukrainian soldier looks through a window as he arrives at a hospital in Artemivsk on February 18, 2015.
Meanwhile, Russia was rocked by the still-unsolved murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov just outside the Kremlin’s walls. Here, a view shows Nemtsov’s covered body with St. Basil’s Cathedral seen in the background, in central Moscow on February 28, 2015.
President Obama walks as he holds hands with Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was beaten during “Bloody Sunday,” as they walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama for the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a landmark event of the civil rights movement, Saturday, March 7, 2015.
Last year, ISIS militants shocked the world after rampaging through Iraq and Syria. In this March 12, 2015 photo, a man looks at the rubble of buildings destroyed in the clashes between ISIS militants and Kurdish armed armed groups in the center of the Syrian town of Kobani.
President Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro shake hands at the end of their bilateral meeting during the Summit of the Americas in Panama City on April 11, 2015. The symbolically charged gesture came as the pair sought to restore tense Cold War ties.
A protester throws a tear gas canister back toward riot police after a 10 PM curfew went into effect in the wake of riots following the funeral for Freddie Gray on April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. Gray suffered a spinal injury in police custody and later died, sparking unrest in the city.
A protester carries a traffic sign during a protest against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza and his bid for a third term in Bujumbura, Burundi, on May 26, 2015.
The war in Syria continued to grind on in 2015, with little end in sight. In this photo, Ghazal, 4, Judy, 7, carrying 8-month-old Suhair, react after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad near the Syrian Arab Red Crescent center in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus on May 6, 2015.
Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, appear with their baby daughter outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, in London, Britain May 2, 2015. The Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to a girl the couple’s second child and a sister to one-year-old Prince George.
Called the ‘fight of the century,’ Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao box during their world welterweight championship bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 2, 2015. Mayweather won in the 12th-round on unanimous decision.
A file photo of B.B. King during the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California. The blues legend died on May 14, 2015 at age 89.
David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman on May 20, 2015 on CBS. After working 33 years in late night television, leading 6,028 broadcasts, hosting 20,000 total guest appearances, and earning 16 Emmy Awards, Letterman says goodbye to his audience.
Elsewhere in outsized political personalities, real estate magnate Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president in June and quickly skyrocketed to the top of GOP polls, where he has remained.
Jockey Victor Espinoza rides American Pharoah to win the 11th race of the 2015 Breeders Cup Championships at Keeneland. The team went on to win Triple Crown in June 6, 2015.
Misty Copeland made history when she became the first African-American principal ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre company in June.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter resigns on June 2, 2015 in the wake of a corruption inquiry. In this photo, a comedian throws dollar bills at Blatter during a press conference.
German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with president Obama in southern Germany during the G-7 summit, on June 8, 2015. Both Merkel and Obama insisted that more economic sanctions should be placed on Russia.
In one of the most surreal news stories of the year, animals from the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, including lions, tigers, bears, and wolves, escaped into the streets of the eastern European capital after a deadly flood. Here, a man shoots a tranquilizer dart to put a hippopotamus to sleep at a flooded street in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015.
“We have made our union a little more perfect,” president Obama said on June 26 when the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in all 50 states.
With 26.7 million people watching, the US women’s team beat Japan (5-2) in the final of the FIFA World Cup. US rookie Carli Lloyd made history by becoming the first woman to score a hat trick in the match’s first half. Lloyd received the international Golden Ball trophy for being the best player in the tournament.
An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway patrol lowers the Confederate battle flag as it is removed from the Capitol grounds on July 10, 2015. The removal of the flag followed a horrific attack on members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17.
Mexico’s Attorney General looks into the entrance of a tunnel connected to the Altiplano Federal Penitentiary that was used by drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman to escape on July 12, 2015.
The death of Cecil the lion, a male Southwest African lion that lived in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, sparked outrage in 2015. Cecil was shot by 55-year-old Walter Palmer, an American recreational big-game hunter in July. Since then, the Obama administration has placed African lions under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
Iran and a US-led group of six nations completed a controversial nuclear agreement in July of 2015. Here, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stands on the balcony of Vienna’s Palais Coburg, the venue for the final round of nuclear talks, on July 13, 2015.
The world first knew her as Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner, but in 2015 Jenner revealed that she had undergone a transgender surgery in order to become Caitlyn Jenner. In this July 15 photo, Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the ESPY Awards.
WDBJ-TV7 news crew observe a moment of silence during a newscast for reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward who were killed during a live broadcast on August 27, 2015.
The human cost of the refugee crisis was painfully driven home on September 2, 2015 in this immediately iconic image. A paramilitary police officer approaches the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, whose boat capsized near the Turkish resort of Bodrum. The tides also washed up the bodies of the boy’s 5-year-old brother Ghalib and their mother Rehan on Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula. Their father, Abdullah, survived the tragedy.
A refugee carrying a child falls after a camerawomen tripped him while he was trying to escape from a collection point in Roszke village, Hungary on September 8, 2015.
European countries tried to impose border controls to prevent refugees from entering in the first place. In this photo, a migrant girl holds her toys as Macedonian policemen block refugees at the Greek-Macedonian borders on November 20, 2015.
Juxtaposed among thousands of heartbreaking photos from the ongoing refugee crisis, is this photo of a Danish police officer and a Syrian refugee girl on the border German-Danish border. The police officer hid his wedding ring in one hand and asked a Syrian refugee girl to find it. The photo of this simple gesture immediately went viral on the internet.
Serena Williams was going for a sweep to win all four major tournaments in 2015, when an unseeded Italian tennis player named Roberta Vinci derailed her Grand Slam bid at the US Open.
Pope Francis along with House and Senate leadership as well as local clergy gather on the balcony of the Speaker of the House on the west front of the US Capitol on September 24, 2015. It was the pontiff’s first visit to the US.
The supermoon rises behind the UK’s Glastonbury Tor on September 27, 2015. The closest full moon coincided with a lunar eclipse, a combination that has not happened since 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033.
Despite longstanding tensions over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama shared a perhaps-awkward toast during a luncheon at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2015.
On September 22, former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who won three MVPs and 10 World Series, passed away. In this file photo from October 9, 2010, Berra throws out the ceremonial first pitch to Ramiro Pena before Game 3 of the MLB American League Division Series baseball playoffs against the Minnesota Twins in New York.
Hardest hit from relentless rains in October was South Carolina, where at least 19 people died from flash floods. After the giant storm complex swept across the southeastern states, the rains traveled up the Atlantic coast.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughs as she stands up at the end of her testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
An Egyptian military helicopter flies over debris from a Russian airliner which crashed at the Hassana area in Arish city, north Egypt, November 1, 2015. The plane is thought to have been brought down by a bomb smuggled aboard by ISIS after it took off from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Pope Francis visited the Central African Republic, one of the poorest and least stable countries on earth, in an attempt to heal the rift between the country’s Christian and Muslim communities. In this photo, a crowd greets the pope as he visits residents in the mostly Muslim neighborhood of PK5 in the capital of Bangui on November 30, 2015.
People mourn outside “Le Petit Cambodge” and “Le Carillon” restaurants a week after the Paris attacks.
People observe a minute of silence at the Trocadero in front the Eiffel Tower to pay tribute to the victims of the series of deadly attacks on Friday in Paris on November 16, 2015.
Martin Shkreli, former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is escorted by law enforcement agents on December 17, after being taken into custody following a securities probe.
Star Wars was everywhere in late 2015. In this photo, A Start Wars Stormtrooper gives a thumbs up as White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest speaks from the rostrum after US President Barack Obama finished his end of the year news conference at the White House in Washington, DC on December 18, 2015.
The Miss Universe 2015 crown is removed from Miss Colombia after host Steve Harvey mistakenly named her as the winner instead of first runner-up on December 20, 2015 in Las Vegas. Miss Philippines was crowned a few moments later.
The private aerospace company SpaceX hit a number of milestones in 2015, including the successful launch and landing of a reusable rocket on December 21st.
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