2015: The year in pictures

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January 1: New Year's fireworks explode over Big Ben in London.

January 4: Law enforcement officers stand outside the funeral of fallen New York police officer Wenjian Liu. Some officers turned their backs while New York Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke on a monitor. The mayor's critics believed his comments after the death of Eric Garner contributed to an anti-police sentiment that led to the shootings of Liu and his partner, Rafael Ramos.

January 6: NASA releases a stunning new image of the so-called Pillars of Creation, one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. See other wonders of the universe

January 7: A masked gunman runs toward a victim during a terrorist attack at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. From January 7 to January 9, a total of 17 people were killed in attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a kosher grocery store, and the Paris suburb of Montrouge. Three suspects were killed by police in separate standoffs. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attacks.

January 7: Anacleto Escobar and his wife, Cayetana Roman, laugh at a ceremony commemorating his 100th birthday in Neembucu, Paraguay. Escobar, a veteran of the Chaco War that was fought between Paraguay and Bolivia in the 1930s, was given a house as a gift. He and his wife had never owned their own home before.

January 11: The eyes of Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier appear at an anti-terrorism rally in Paris. More than a million people took part in the demonstration, a gesture of unity just days after Charbonnier and 16 others were slaughtered

January 17: Comedian Bill Cosby performs at the Buell Theatre in Denver. For more than 50 years, Cosby has been one of America's leading entertainers: a noted comedian, an Emmy-winning actor and an innovative producer. But over the past year his reputation has been tarnished by allegations of rape. More than 40 women have spoken out to various media outlets about allegations of sexual misconduct. Cosby has vehemently denied most of the accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted young women seeking career guidance, but the stories have taken their toll on his reputation and bankroll.

January 17: Pope Francis wears a plastic poncho as he waves to well-wishers after a Mass in Tacloban, Philippines. During his five-day trip to the country, the Pope visited areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

January 20: An Afghan security officer aims his weapon at a man who was allegedly planning a suicide bomb attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

January 24 : Women prepare to get into the pool at the Cold Water Swimming Championships, which were held in London.

January 26: Ebola survivor and nurse's aid Benetha Coleman comforts an infant girl with Ebola symptoms in the high-risk area of the Doctors Without Borders, Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Liberia. Ebola survivors have immunity to the strain of the disease which infected them. The baby's blood test later came out as negative.

January 27:Lemurs eat at Qingdao Forest Wildlife World in Qingdao, Shandong province, China

January 29: In this still image taken from video, a gunman storms NOS, a Dutch television station, and demands to be put on air. The unidentified man wanted 10-15 minutes to "tell his story," said Jan de Jong, the director of the state broadcaster. De Jong said the man put a gun to the head of a guard, who took him to a studio that was not in use. In video from inside the studio, police can be heard shouting before the man drops his weapon and is arrested. No shots were fired, and there were no injuries reported.

January 31:North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, inspects an army drill in Pyongyang, North Korea.

January 31: ESA's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft made this four-image mosaic of images taken from a distance of 28 kilometers from the center of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

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February 2: Starlings fly together before sunset in Rahat, Israel.

February 4: In this still image taken from video, TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 clips a bridge in Taipei, Taiwan, shortly after takeoff. The twin-engine turboprop airplane then plunged into the Keelung River. There were only 15 survivors among the 58 people on board. Pilots had grappled with engine problems before the crash, Taiwan's aviation safety agency said.

February 9: People watch as the Mount Sinabung volcano shoots ash into the air during an eruption in Karo, Indonesia. See other recently active volcanoes

February 10: An employee from the Tama Zoo in Tokyo pretends to check a tranquilizer's effectiveness on an employee wearing a snow leopard suit. The annual drill practiced what to do in the event of an animal escape.

February 10: An activist from the Ukrainian feminist group Femen is arrested by police in Lille, France, after protesting in front of the convoy of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund, was on trial for aggravated pimping charges. He was acquitted in June.

February 11: A woman cries during a vigil as she sees photos of the three people who were killed at an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Three Muslim students -- Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19 -- were found shot to death a day earlier. A 46-year-old suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, was charged with murder.

February 15: A pro-Russian rebel rests in Debaltseve, Ukraine, one day after a skirmish with Ukrainian troops. Fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels has left more than 6,000 people dead since April 2014, according to the United Nations. A recent ceasefire, the so-called Minsk Agreement, has been repeatedly violated.

February 16: Philadelphia firefighters work at the scene of an overnight blaze. The cold weather made icicles out of their water.

February 20: A Russia-backed rebel rests as a dog eats from a can in Debaltseve, Ukraine. After weeks of relentless fighting, the embattled Ukrainian rail hub of Debaltseve fell to Russian-backed separatists, who hoisted a flag in triumph over the town. The Ukrainian president confirmed that he had ordered troops to pull out and the rebels reported taking hundreds of soldiers captive

February 21: A woman reacts as she walks to a cemetery to attend the funeral of Carnival stampede victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At least 16 people were killed during an accident involving an electrical shock on a float, government officials said. Video from the scene appeared to show a power line striking a man atop a float. Chaos erupted, and revelers ran in all directions. Officials canceled Carnival activities and declared three days of national mourning.

February 23: People run from an explosion at a gas station and storage facility near the Bakara market in Mogadishu, Somalia.

February 24: A U.S. soldier salutes while jumping out of an aircraft in Germany.

February 25: Singer Madonna falls as she performs "Living for Love" at the Brit Awards in London.

February 25: The body of a Ukrainian serviceman is removed from rubble after a battle over the airport in Donetsk, Ukraine.

February 26: Children stand next to a Banksy mural on the remains of a destroyed house in Beit Hanoun, Gaza. The house was destroyed last year during fighting between Israel and Hamas. See more work from Banksy, the anonymous street artist

March 2: A weasel hitches a lift on the back of a woodpecker near London. The image, credited to amateur photographer Martin Le-May, went viral on Twitter after it was posted by photographer Jason Ward. Le-May told British television channel ITV that he had been walking with his wife in Hornchurch Country Park when they heard "a distressed squawking" noise and spotted the woodpecker. "Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera, the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life," Le-May said. Eventually, Le-May told ITV, the weasel lost its grip and the bird flew away.

March 3: A dog looks out of a car at an army checkpoint near Kurakhove, Ukraine.

March 10: Police hit a student protester in Letpadan, Myanmar. According to multiple media reports and international watch groups, students were met with violence as they marched to Yangon, the nation's largest city, to protest an education bill they said limits academic freedom.

March 17: An iceberg in Antarctica, one of the most remote places on Earth.

March 20: A total solar eclipse forms over Svalbard, Norway. The rare event was visible from parts of Europe.

March 29: An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man throws matzo into the air at a bakery in Jerusalem. Matzo, or unleavened bread, is traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Passover.

March 31: A supporter of Nigerian presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari is hit by another supporter on a motorbike during celebrations in Kano, Nigeria. Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

March 31: The eye of Super Typhoon Maysak is photographed from the International Space Station. The storm was churning over the Pacific Ocean, days away from making landfall in the Philippines.

April 4: Jillian Nguyen, 3, stands with others as they are baptized into the Catholic faith in Philadelphia.

April 4: A bystander's video shows Michael Slager, a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, fatally shooting an unarmed man, Walter Scott, as Scott runs away. The graphic footage sparked outrage and reignited a national conversation around race and policing. Slager was charged with murder and fired from his job after the video was released. A grand jury indicted Slager in June, and he was denied bond in September. Slager told investigators Scott did not comply with his demands and tried to grab his stun gun.

April 4: Police in Melbourne try to break up a fight between two sets of protesters. "Rally against racism" protesters were clashing with "Reclaim Australia" protesters. The "Reclaim Australia" protesters were rallying against what they called the "Islamization" of the country.

April 6: An infant boy suffering from acute malnutrition is covered by his mother's scarf as he is treated at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. Malnutrition, according to the hospital staff, is a chronic problem in the country.

April 7: Honor guards march in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside Greece's Parliament in Athens.

April 8: A mass grave is seen near the Abattoir in Gwoza, Nigeria. It hadn't been determined who these people were or how they were killed, but they were presented to the media as victims of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group waging a campaign of violence in northern Nigeria.

April 14: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talks with people during a surprise stop in Le Claire, Iowa. The former first lady and U.S. secretary of state has been the front-runner in the Democratic race.

April 18: Mozambican Emmanuel Sithole, left, was walking down a street in Johannesburg's Alexandra Township when four men surrounded him. Sithole pleaded for mercy, but it was already too late. The attackers bludgeoned him with a wrench and stabbed him with knives, killing him in broad daylight. Photographer James Oatway was nearby and captured it all on his camera. It was the morning after a night of unrest that saw foreign-owned shops looted and destroyed. At least seven people were killed in xenophobic violence against poorer immigrants.

April 18: Thom Schulingkamp -- shown with his mother, Miriam -- lives with 4p- syndrome, a condition that causes delayed development. He was a teenager when Hurricane Katrina struck and his family moved to Michigan. They stayed there for eight years, waiting for a school to open to accommodate Thom's special needs. He's now enrolled at St. Raphael Academy in New Orleans' Irish Channel. This CNN Photos special assignment was taken by legendary photographer Mary Ellen Mark, whose reflection can be seen on the right. She captured the recovery of New Orleans 10 years after Hurricane Katrina. This was her final assignment. She died on May 25 at the age of 75.

April 22: Smoke rises from the Calbuco volcano near Puerto Montt, Chile. It was the volcano's first eruption in more than 40 years, and nearby residential areas were evacuated.

April 24: Gordon Satterly, left, kisses his husband, Richard Brand, at a party held in Little Rock, Arkansas, by the International Gay Rodeo Association.

April 26: A Sphynx cat touches noses with a judge during a feline beauty competition in Bucharest, Romania.

April 27: The shadow of an Indian Air Force plane is cast on clouds as it carries relief material in Kathmandu, Nepal. A magnitude-7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal two days earlier, killing and injuring thousands.

April 28: A boy in Baltimore offers water to a police officer. Riots broke out throughout the city less than a week after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died in police custody. Gray, a black man, was arrested on April 12. According to his attorney, he died a week later from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. The case raised long-simmering tensions between police and residents, and six police officers were eventually charged in connection with Gray's death.

April 28: Juan Montiel suffers an epileptic seizure as his wife and sister attend to him in Madrid. The family was being evicted from their apartment despite protests by housing rights activists. Evictions in Spain have soared since the country's economic crisis began in 2008, and protesters regularly try to prevent them.

April 29: A mother carries her children while their house burns at a residential slum area in Manila, Philippines. The Manila Fire Department said the fire left more than 30 families homeless.

April 29: Ropes weighted down with water bottles are used to apply traction to the legs of an injured girl after she fractured them during the recent earthquake, at a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal.

April 30: Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight appears in court for his arraignment hearing in Los Angeles. He was ordered to stand trial for murder and other charges stemming from a hit-and-run confrontation that left one man dead and another injured earlier this year. Knight has pleaded not guilty.

May 1: People in Kathmandu, Nepal, hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the earthquake that hit the country a week before.

May 1: A masked protester runs away as police use water cannons on May Day demonstrators in Istanbul. Clashes erupted between police and protesters who defied a government ban on marching to Taksim Square. May Day is referred to as International Workers' Day in many countries.

May 1: Riot police in Baltimore enforce a 10 p.m. curfew, clearing the streets of protesters and media in the aftermath of Freddie Gray's death. In response to an outbreak of violence, authorities imposed a citywide curfew from April 27 to May 3.

May 1: A bull reacts after a bullfighter nailed a "banderilla" on his back during a bullfight in Madrid. Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle in Spain, and the season runs from March to October.

May 4: Singer Rihanna arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala in New York. The high-fashion event raises money in support of the museum's costume institute. The theme of this year's Met Gala, also called the Met Ball, was "China: Through the Looking Glass."

May 7: Jean Claude Niyonzima pleads with soldiers to protect him from a mob after he came out of hiding in a sewer in Bujumbura, Burundi. Niyonzima was a suspected member of the ruling party's Imbonerakure youth militia. Animosity against President Pierre Nkurunziza boiled over in April when he expressed his intention to run for a third term. There were protests and a failed coup attempt. Nkurunziza was re-elected in July.

May 10: A common kingfisher plucks a fish in the English county of Suffolk.

May 10: A member of the Iraqi Army fires mortars on ISIS positions in Ramadi, Iraq, days before the city fell to the militant group.

May 11: Palestinians ride their donkey carts past destroyed buildings in Gaza City. The buildings were destroyed in 2014 during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.

May 12: Emergency personnel help a passenger at the scene of an Amtrak crash in Philadelphia. At least eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured when the train derailed on its way from Washington to New York.

May 15: A funeral is held for Lt. Kevin McRae, a 44-year-old Washington firefighter who died in the line of duty.

May 21: Visitors in Gauhati, India, stand near part of a statue of Lachit Borphukan, a 17th-century army general. The full statue was set to be installed on a podium.

May 24: Lions nap in a tree in Tanzania. Photographer Bobby-Jo Clow said the animals were trying to escape flies in the long grass.

May 25: Christian Jacobs, 4, lies on the grave of his father, Christopher James Jacobs, during a Memorial Day event at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

May 26: A young boy tries to cover himself as police officers beat him at an anti-government demonstration in Bujumbura, Burundi. Police fired shots to disperse people protesting against President Pierre Nkurunziza and his bid for a third term.

May 26: Sandstone sculpted by water and wind erosion is seen in a slot canyon, one of hundreds that surround Lake Powell near Page, Arizona.

May 29: A U.S. Marine fires an anti-tank missile during a training exercise in Hawaii. The photo was taken by Marine Cpl. Ricky S. Gomez.

June 4: Migrants who were found at sea collect rainwater at a temporary shelter in Myanmar. Myanmar, which had previously disavowed responsibility for Rohingya migrants stranded at sea, said it would provide search and rescue for "boat people" in its territorial waters. Thousands of Rohingya -- minority Muslims in Myanmar -- and economic migrants from Bangladesh had taken to sea in recent weeks, hoping to settle elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

June 6 : Britain's Queen Elizabeth II watches horse racing in Epsom, England.

June 7: A "moss man" marches during the Corpus Christi procession in Bejar, Spain. The annual procession commemorates Christians who used moss as camouflage to hide from Muslim guards and re-conquer the town in the 12th century.

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June 8: German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with U.S. President Barack Obama near the Bavarian Alps. Obama and other world leaders were in Germany for the annual G-7 Summit.

June 12: As a precaution against the spread of the MERS virus, workers spray antiseptic solution at an art hall in Seoul, South Korea. A few dozen people were killed in an outbreak that started in May.

June 17 : The Tootsie Rollers, an all-girl band from London, attend the Royal Ascot horse races in Ascot, England.

June 19: During the holy month of Ramadan, a Palestinian boy reads the Quran at a mosque in Gaza City.

June 20: A participant of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade rests in New York. The annual parade celebrates the start of summer.

June 21: People join hands in Charleston, South Carolina, as thousands march on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Marchers joined hands to show unity after a church shooting killed nine black parishioners in Charleston several days earlier. Suspect Dylann Roof was captured in North Carolina the day after the attack. He confessed in interviews with the Charleston police and FBI, two law enforcement officials told CNN. He also told investigators he wanted to start a race war, one of those officials said. Roof pleaded not guilty to 33 federal charges in July.

June 22: A man with tape over his mouth attends a demonstration in Berlin. The demonstration was held to support Ahmed Mansour, a senior journalist with Al Jazeera who was detained in Germany at the request of the Egyptian government. He was later released.

June 26: The White House is lit up in rainbow colors to commemorate the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage.

June 26: Dead bodies lie near a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia, after a gunman opened fire. At least 38 people were killed in the terrorist attack.

June 26: Sweepee Rambo, a 16-year-old Chinese Crested dog, competes in the World's Ugliest Dog Contest in Petaluma, California. She finished as runner-up.

June 27: A child is seen through a car window in Aden, Yemen. The port city has been under siege since March, when Houthi rebels forced out President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. "People in the city center have been shelled for a few months," photographer Guillaume Binet said.

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June 30: Security forces and rescue teams examine the wreckage of a military transport plane after it crashed into a residential area in Medan, Indonesia. At least 135 people were killed. The plane was carrying military personnel and their family members, as well as students and other civilians.

July 1: The Best Seat in Yosemite. Under a blanket of stars, a man takes in the landscape of Yosemite National Park from the edge of the Diving Board, a rock formation at Glacier Point. Photograph by Christian Fernandez, National Geographic Your Shot

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