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2015 In Review Fast Facts
January 1: New Year's fireworks explode over Big Ben in London.
REX/Shutterstock
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.
SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters/Landov
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
Nasa
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.
From Youtube.com
January 8: U.S. President Barack Obama reaches out to shake hands with someone after he had just spoken in Phoenix about the housing market and the economy.
ART FOXALL/UPI/Landov
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.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
January 13: U.S. Sen. John McCain fools around with colleagues upon arriving at a news conference in Washington.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/getty images
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.
Reuters/Landov
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.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images
January 20: An Afghan security officer aims his weapon at a man who was allegedly planning a suicide bomb attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
GHULAMULLAH HABIBI/EPA/LANDOV
January 27: An animatronic polar bear visits the London Underground to mark the launch of "Fortitude," Sky Atlantic's new TV drama.
David Parry/PA Wire/ZUMA PRESS
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.
Michel Porro/Getty Images
February 2: Starlings fly together before sunset in Rahat, Israel.
Omer Messinger/Sipa USA
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.
TVBS TAIWAN/AFP/Getty Images
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
ANTARA FOTO/Reuters/Landov
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.
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
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.
Michel Spingler/AP
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.
Max Avdeev
February 16: Philadelphia firefighters work at the scene of an overnight blaze. The cold weather made icicles out of their water.
Jacqueline Larma/AP
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.
Reuters/Landov
February 23: People run from an explosion at a gas station and storage facility near the Bakara market in Mogadishu, Somalia.
ISMAIL TAXTA/Reuters/Landov
February 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin, seen through a red flag, attends a wreath-laying ceremony in Moscow on Defender of the Fatherland Day.
MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA/LANDOV
February 24: A U.S. soldier salutes while jumping out of an aircraft in Germany.
U.S. Army
February 25: Singer Madonna falls as she performs "Living for Love" at the Brit Awards in London.
Samir Hussein/Redferns/Getty Images
February 25: The body of a Ukrainian serviceman is removed from rubble after a battle over the airport in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Vadim Ghirda/AP
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
ISMAEL MOHAMAD/UPI/Landov
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.
Martin Le-May/Rex USA
March 3: A dog looks out of a car at an army checkpoint near Kurakhove, Ukraine.
Vadim Ghirda/AP
March 4: A Ukrainian coal miner waits for a bus after exiting the Zasyadko mine, where he helped search for the bodies of his colleagues in Donetsk, Ukraine. Thirty-three workers were killed after an early morning explosion at the mine.
Vadim Ghirda/AP
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.
SOE ZEYA TUN/Reuters/Landov
March 14: A man dressed as the Incredible Hulk uses the restroom during the London Super Comic Convention.
REX USA
March 17:Robert Durst, a wealthy New York real-estate heir, is transported to Orleans Parish Prison after his arraignment in New Orleans. Durst faces felony firearm and drug charges in New Orleans, and he has been charged with first-degree murder in Los Angeles. Investigators say they believe Durst was behind the slaying of Susan Berman, his longtime friend. Durst is also the focus of the HBO documentary series "The Jinx," which explores his wife's 1982 disappearance and investigators' suspicions that Berman was killed because she knew what happened to her. Durst has long maintained he didn't kill Berman or have anything to do with his wife's disappearance.
Gerald Herbert/AP
March 17: An iceberg in Antarctica, one of the most remote places on Earth.
JUSTIN HOFMAN/SN/Landov
March 20: A total solar eclipse forms over Svalbard, Norway. The rare event was visible from parts of Europe.
Haakon Mosvold Larsen/AP
March 26: A trumpeter falls off his horse as the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment parades in London's Hyde Park. The British Army regiment was undergoing its annual inspection.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
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.
ABIR SULTAN/EPA/LANDOV
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.
GORAN TOMASEVIC/Reuters/Landov
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.
Nasa
April 3: A housing development meets the edge of undeveloped desert in Cathedral City, California. California Gov. Jerry Brown imposed mandatory water restrictions on residents, businesses and farms in the drought-ravaged state, ordering cities and towns to reduce their usage by 25%.
DAMON WINTER/The New York Times/Redux
April 4: Jillian Nguyen, 3, stands with others as they are baptized into the Catholic faith in Philadelphia.
Matt Rourke/AP
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.
Associated Press
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.
Fairfax Media/Getty Images
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.
Andrew Quilty/Oculi
April 7: Honor guards march in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside Greece's Parliament in Athens.
Chris Stowers/PANOS
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.
Benedicte Kurzen/NOOR
April 10: The mummified body of Peder Winstrup, former bishop of Lund, Sweden, is exhibited to the press after it had been examined by experts in Lund. The research team said the body from the 1600s is one of the best-preserved in Europe, according to Radio Sweden.
OLA TORKELSSON/TT/Sipa USA
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.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
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.
James Oatway/Colour/PANOS
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.
Mary Ellen Mark for CNN
April 18: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is reflected by glass before speaking at a leadership summit in Nashua, New Hampshire. Walker was seeking the Republican Party's nomination for President, but he dropped out of the race in September.
Ron Haviv/VII
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.
ALEX VIDAL BRECAS/EFE/EPA/LANDOV
April 24: Gordon Satterly, left, kisses his husband, Richard Brand, at a party held in Little Rock, Arkansas, by the International Gay Rodeo Association.
LUCY NICHOLSON/Reuters/Landov
April 26: A Sphynx cat touches noses with a judge during a feline beauty competition in Bucharest, Romania.
Vadim Ghirda/AP
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.
Altaf Qadri/AP
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.
Bishop Cromartie
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.
Andres Kudacki/AP
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.
DENNIS M. SABANGAN/EPA/LANDOV
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.
Kevork Djansezian/Reuters/Landov
April 30: A girl practices gymnastic exercises on Mikhailovskaya Square in Kiev, Ukraine.
Iva Zimova/PANOS
May 1: People in Kathmandu, Nepal, hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the earthquake that hit the country a week before.
SANJOG MANANDHAR/UPI/Landov
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.
Kemal Aslan/Reuters/Landov
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.
Hossein Fatemi/Panos
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.
Andres Kudacki/AP
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."
LUCAS JACKSON/Reuters/Landov
May 4: A giraffe with a broken neck is photographed during a safari in the Serengeti region of Africa. A guide told South African photographer Mark Drysdale that the giraffe hurt his neck fighting with another giraffe. Despite the injury, the animal has survived for at least five years.
Mark Drysdale/Caters News Agency
May 6: People watch a shadow play performance at Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul, South Korea.
THOMAS PETER/Reuters/Landov
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.
Jerome Delay/AP
May 10: A common kingfisher plucks a fish in the English county of Suffolk.
Paul Sawer/FLPA/REX Shutterstock
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.
Ayman Oghanna/Corbis
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.
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images
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.
Joseph Kaczmarek/AP
May 15: A funeral is held for Lt. Kevin McRae, a 44-year-old Washington firefighter who died in the line of duty.
Linda Davidson/The Washington Post/Getty Images
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.
Anupam Nath/AP
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.
Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters
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.
Joshua Roberts/REUTERS/LANDOV
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.
DAI KUROKAWA/EPA/LANDOV
May 26: Prisoners sit in an overcrowded cell in Blantyre, Malawi. Overcrowding is a major problem in Malawian jails.
Luca Sola/STIMELA
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.
Rick Wilking/REUTERS/LANDOV
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.
Cpl. Ricky S. Gomez/U.S. Marine Corps/Sipa USA
June 1: The detached face of a life-sized doll made by Realbotix sits on a desk in San Marcos, California. Matt McMullen, the creator of the RealDoll line of sex dolls, assembled a team of engineers to work on animating the dolls.
Zackary Canepari/The New York Times/Redux
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.
Soe Zeya Tun/REUTERS/LANDOV
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.
Andres Kudacki/AP
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.
Michael Kappeler/Pool Photo via AP
June 8: Britain's Prince Philip unveils a plaque at the end of his visit to Richmond Adult Community College, a school in southwest London that was opening its new art, drama and dance facilities.
Matt Dunham/AP
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.
Lee Jin-man/AP
June 19: During the holy month of Ramadan, a Palestinian boy reads the Quran at a mosque in Gaza City.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/REX Shutterstock
June 19: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during the "Road to Majority" conference in Washington. Conservatives gathered at the annual event held by the Faith & Freedom Coalition and the Concerned Women for America.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
June 20: A participant of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade rests in New York. The annual parade celebrates the start of summer.
Eduardo Munoz/REUTERS/LANDOV
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.
David Goldman/AP
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.
Markus Schreiber/AP
June 26: The White House is lit up in rainbow colors to commemorate the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage.
REX Shutterstock
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.
Jawhara FM via AP
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.
Noah Berger/AP
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.
Guillaume Binet/MYOP
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.
Roni Bintang/REUTERS/LANDOV
July 5: Britain's Prince George peeks into the carriage holding his sister, Princess Charlotte, after her christening in Norfolk, England.
Matt Dunham/AP
July 8: A gull flips a herring in order to swallow it whole in Rockland, Maine. The gull had just taken the fish from a delivery truck.
Robert F. Bukaty/AP
July 10: A bear falls from a tree after being hit with a tranquilizer dart by wildlife officers in Boulder, Colorado. The bear didn't appear to be injured in the fall, rangers told the Boulder Daily Camera. He had to be relocated because he was in the middle of campus at the University of Colorado.
Cliff Grassmick/The Daily Camera via AP
July 11: A homeless man tries to sleep on a wet street during monsoon rains in New Delhi. Tens of thousands of impoverished people live on the streets of New Delhi, where they struggle with constant hunger and extreme weather while sleeping next to busy intersections and roads. Many come from countryside villages in hopes of finding better economic opportunities.
Bernat Armangue/AP
July 14: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this enhanced-color view of Pluto before flying by the icy world and its moons. The mission completed what NASA calls the reconnaissance of the classical solar system, and it made the United States the first nation to send a space probe to every planet from Mercury to Pluto.
July 20: FIFA President Sepp Blatter is showered by dollar bills during a news conference in Zurich, Switzerland. The money was thrown at Blatter by British comedian Simon Brodkin, who was then ushered away from the stage. Blatter has led soccer's governing body since 1998, but he decided to stand down as FIFA battles corruption scandals.
Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP
July 20: A beluga whale sprays water toward young visitors at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, an amusement park in Yokohama, Japan.
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
July 21: Delegates, some in traditional dress, attend the opening of a climate summit in Paris. French President Francois Hollande called for an ambitious accord ahead of a United Nations conference to address the threat of global warming.
Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP
July 21: Cathy Wells, mother of Lance Cpl. Squire K. "Skip" Wells, is given flowers by a U.S. Marine at her son's vigil in Marietta, Georgia. Wells, a 21-year-old reservist, was one of five service members killed during a shooting at a Navy reserve center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The shooter, Mohammad Abdulazeez, died in a gunfight with law enforcement. He had also shot up a military recruiting center before driving to the reserve center.
Chris Aluka Berry/REUTERS/LANDOV
July 31: A mourner reacts next to the body of Ali Saad Dawabsha, an 18-month-old Palestinian who was killed after his family's house in Duma, West Bank, was set on fire by suspected Jewish extremists. Authorities found the words "price tag" on the walls of the house, said Luba Samri, a spokeswoman for Israeli police. A "price tag" attack is a term used by radical Israeli settlers to denote reprisal against Palestinians in response to moves by the Israeli government to evacuate illegal West Bank outposts, according to officials. Both Israelis and Palestinians described it as a terrorist attack, but the latter said it blamed Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "shocked over this reprehensible and horrific" attack.
AMMAR AWAD/Reuters/Landov
August 2: Shoppers load groceries as smoke from the Rocky Fire billows over Clearlake, California. California has been battling numerous wildfires as its historic drought reaches a fourth year.
NOAH BERGER/EPA/LANDOV
August 4: The vacation home of Walter J. Palmer is vandalized in Marco Island, Florida. Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, was in the public crosshairs after he killed a popular lion, Cecil, from Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Cecil was lured out of the animal sanctuary and killed. Cecil was also skinned and beheaded, the conservation group said, and he was wearing a GPS collar as part of research backed by Oxford University. Two Zimbabweans were charged with poaching. "I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt," Palmer said in a statement. "I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt."
Corey Perrine/Naples Daily News
August 8: A man fires a weapon as he dances during a traditional celebration near Taif, Saudi Arabia.
MOHAMED AL HWAITY/Reuters/Landov
August 9: Riot police clear the streets in the Oldpark area of Belfast, Northern Ireland, after a controversial anti-internment rally was stopped by police.
Peter Morrison/AP
August 9: A protester shouts at police in Ferguson, Missouri, during a rally held on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Brown's killing last year sparked outrage and protests against what some described as racial bias by the police. A grand jury didn't indict Officer Darren Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department also declined to bring criminal charges, but the feds did issue a report that found the Ferguson Police Department and the city's municipal court had engaged in a "pattern and practice" of discrimination against African-Americans, targeting them disproportionately for traffic stops, use of force and jail sentences.
Kris Trgovich/Demotix/Corbis
August 14: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, releases a bird during an opening ceremony for a new mosque in Rize, Turkey.
August 15: A refugee, holding his son and daughter, cries tears of joy after their boat arrived on the Greek island of Kos. The island in the Aegean Sea has been overwhelmed by refugees.
Daniel Etter/The New York Times/Redux
August 15: Protesters hit a police officer with a torch during a rally in Kathmandu, Nepal. There were violent clashes over the country's proposals for a new constitution, and some police officers were killed or injured. The officer in this photo was injured, according to the photographer, but he survived.
Niranjan Shrestha/AP
August 16: Fireworks explode in Figueretas, Spain, as lightning flashes over the sea.
Justin Gardner
August 17: A migrant in Gevgelija, Macedonia, tries to sneak on a train bound for Serbia. Migrants entered Macedonia from Greece, heading north through the Balkans on their way to more prosperous countries in the European Union. Europe is in the midst of a migration crisis. Desperate men and women, often with children in tow, are fleeing wars and poverty in places like Libya and Syria to find a better life on the continent. But their voyages, both on land and on sea, can be dangerous and sometimes deadly.
Boris Grdanoski/AP
August 23: A seal rides on a humpback whale off the coast of Eden, Australia.
Robyn Malcolm/Diimex.com
August 26: Dachshunds race at an Oktoberfest celebration in Melbourne.
Jake Nowakowski/Newspix/REX Shutterstock
August 27: People jump out of a plane during the Mountain Gravity skydiving competition in Quinto, Switzerland.
SAMUEL GOLAY/EPA/LANDOV
September 1: Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, right, talks with David Moore after she refused him a marriage license in Morehead, Kentucky. Davis was eventually jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She said same-sex marriages violated her Christian beliefs. After her release, she said she would not issue any marriage licenses that go against her religious beliefs. But she left the door open for her deputies to give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples as long as those documents do not have her name or title on them.
Timothy D. Easley/AP
September 2: Officers in Bodrum, Turkey, stand near the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian refugee who washed up on shore. The 2-year-old was one of 12 refugees who drowned that day during a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos. This photo went viral around the world, often with a Turkish hashtag that means "Flotsam of Humanity."
DOGAN NEWS/EPA/LANDOV
September 6: The Arctic Sunrise, a Greenpeace ship, is surrounded by drift ice as it travels off the northeast coast of Greenland.
Christian Aslund/Greenpeace
September 10: Supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gather at a campaign rally in Demoso, Myanmar. The Nobel laureate's party won a historic majority in November. It was the nation's first freely held elections in 25 years.
Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP
September 17:A fight breaks out between Japanese lawmakers in Tokyo as they prepare to vote over controversial security legislation that would allow Japanese troops to be deployed overseas.
KIMIMASA MAYAMA/EPA/LANDOV
September 24: Rihana Shekh Dhafali rests in a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. She was allegedly set on fire over a dowry demand, according to the human rights organization INSEC. She lost the baby she was carrying at the time.
Poulomi Basu/VII Mentor
September 24: A person sits by the road near Sela Pass, a mountain pass in India's Arunachal Pradesh state.
Poulomi Basu/VII
September 27: The International Tattoo Convention takes place in Quito, Ecuador.
Franklin Jacome/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press
September 28: NASA scientists announce that water still flows across the surface of Mars from time to time. In the photo above, dark, narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae are seen on the slopes of the Gami Crater. Scientists have inferred that they were formed by contemporary flowing water.
NASA/Getty Images
September 28: U.S. President Barack Obama reaches out to shake the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a U.N. summit in New York. The two, bitterly at odds over Ukraine and Syria, also had a closed-door meeting that day.
REX Shutterstock
October 1: Community members attend a candlelight vigil for those killed during a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The massacre left nine people dead. The gunman, Chris Harper-Mercer, apparently committed suicide after exchanging gunfire with officers, a sheriff said.
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard/ZUMAPRESS.com
October 7: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, aboard the International Space Station, shared this photo of Earth with his Twitter followers. "The daily morning dose of #aurora to help wake you up. #GoodMorning from @Space_Station!" he tweeted.
NASA/ZUMAPRESS.com
October 7: Pope Francis kisses a child at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.
Giuseppe Ciccia/Pacific Press/Sipa USA
October 8: A low-flying jet zooms through a picturesque valley in Wales, leaving a vapor cloud in its wake.
BOB SHARPLES/Caters
October 8: People sit in their car as a Barbary macaque rummages through their unlocked luggage compartment in Scotland's Blair Drummond Safari Park.
Sipa USA/PA Images
October 10: People try to help an injured woman after multiple explosions at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey. There were two explosions during the rally, which called for an end to the renewed conflict between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Turkish government. At least 99 people were killed, officials said, and more than 240 were injured.
STR/DEPO PHOTOS/EPA /LANDOV
October 10: Baynazar Mohammad Nazar lies dead on an operating table inside the Doctor's Without Borders Trauma Center in Kunduz, Afghanistan. He was killed during a U.S. airstrike that killed 30 people, including hospital staff, patients and possibly members of their families visiting the facility at the time of the attack. His was one of several bodies that remained in the hospital for more than a week as ongoing fighting between Taliban and Afghan government forces prevented access to the center.
Andrew Quilty for Foreign Policy
October 12: Rice terraces reflect the colors of twilight in Yuanyang, China.
Alex Goh Chun Seong/Mediadrum/ZUMA PRESS
October 15: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, foreground, talks to a guest at the University of Surrey, where she officially opened a state-of-the-art veterinary school in Guildford, England.
PETER NICHOLLS/X03508/Reuters /Landov
October 16: An Israeli soldier runs to help another who was just stabbed by an alleged Palestinian assailant, seen on the ground holding a knife, during clashes in Hebron, West Bank. In recent weeks, there has been a spike in violence across Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israelis have been targeted in attacks where they've been "run over, stabbed, or even hacked to death," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Palestinians report, meanwhile, that dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.
Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP
October 17: A man and girl use a banana leaf to cover themselves from the rain as they wade in the sea on the outskirts of Colon, Panama.
CARLOS JASSO/Reuters /Landov
October 19: A young boy is seen through a bus window as refugees and migrants arrive at the port of Pireaus, Greece.
ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS/Reuters /Landov
October 19: A dead man hangs from the waist under a Mexico City overpass. This is the first time a body has appeared on a bridge or overpass in Mexico's capital. It is a common practice among gangs fighting for turf in other regions of Mexico.
Jair Cabrera/AP
October 20: A mounted police officer leads a group of migrants near Dobova, Slovenia. Thousands of migrants flooded into the country from Croatia after Hungary sealed off its border.
SRDJAN ZIVULOVIC/Reuters /Landov
October 20: An Israeli man is run over by a truck near the West Bank city of Hebron. He later died. Israel's Channel 2 identified him as Avraham Asher Hasano, 54. According to the Times of Israel, Hasano was hit as he was examining his own car after Palestinians had pelted it with rocks. The driver surrendered to Palestinian security forces and said it was an accident, Army Radio reported.
MUSSA QAWASMA/Reuters /Landov
October 21: New York City police officers salute as the body of Officer Randolph Holder, 33, is taken away in an ambulance. Holder had been fatally shot in the line of duty.
KARSTEN MORAN/The New York Times/Redux
October 30: A boy receives first aid at a field hospital after a reported airstrike in the rebel-held area of Douma, Syria. Local activists said the airstrike came from forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since civil war began in April 2011.
MOHAMMED BADRA/EPA/LANDOV
November 6: Storm clouds move in over Bondi Beach in Sydney.
