People leave flowers beneath a mural of British singer David Bowie in Brixton, south London, painted by Australian street artist James Cochran, aka Jimmy C, on Jan. 11, following the announcement of Bowie’s death. The pop musician died of cancer at the age of 69.

Farmers clash with Greek anti-riot police officers in Thessaloniki on Jan. 28 during a protest against a controversial pension reform, part of the country’s tough economic bailout terms from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Dominican Air Force personnel fumigate against the Aedes aegypti mosquito — the main vector for the Zika virus — in Santo Domingo on Jan. 23. The country had just confirmed 10 cases of the virus, which can cause microcephaly in infants. The outbreak continued during the year.

Turkish gendarmes put a child’s corpse into a body bag on Jan. 30, after at least 33 migrants drowned when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. This year was the deadliest on record for migrants and refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean: At least 5,000 drowned, according to the U.N. In March, a deal between Turkey and the EU to halt asylum-seekers from leaving Turkey on rickety boats went into effect. Although the flow of people traveling from Turkey to Greece slowed, there was an increase in migrants taking the route from Libya to Italy.

Pope Francis wears a traditional Mexican sombrero given to him by a Mexican journalist on Feb. 12 aboard a plane to Havana, Cuba.

Displaced women who have lost their husbands in South Sudan’s civil war discuss their psychological problems in a group session on a protection of civilians site in Bentiu, South Sudan, on Feb. 16. The U.N. has repeatedly warned that the ongoing conflict risks devolving into genocide and mass atrocities.

An Iranian woman cheers during a reformists campaign meeting for the upcoming parliamentary elections at Hejab Hall in downtown Tehran on Feb. 20. Allies of Iran’s reformist president, Hassan Rouhani, won a landslide victory in the capital.

Opposition lawmakers release a tear gas device in Kosovo’s parliament in Pristina on March 10, in the latest eruption of a long-running protest against agreements made with Serbia to grant more powers to the Serb minority. Opposition members fear the plan will deepen Kosovo’s ethnic division and increase the influence of Serbia.

Demonstrators take part in a protest to demand the resignation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on March 13, in São Paulo. After a lengthy impeachment trial, Rousseff was found guilty of misconduct regarding the federal budget and removed from office on Aug. 31.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks to tourists and Cubans at his arrival to the Havana Cathedral on March 20. He was the first U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years.

An injured woman looks on as another speaks on her mobile phone following twin blasts at the Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, on March 22, as part of a series of coordinated attacks by Islamic State-affiliated militants at the city’s airport and in a metro station.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attend a campaign rally on March 23 in Los Angeles, California. Riding a wave of populist discontent, Sanders was a breakout force in the 2016 U.S. election and a serious challenger to the eventual Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Hundreds of protesters gather in front of Iceland’s parliament building in Reykjavik for a third day on April 6, after Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down following revelations in the Panama Papers leak that he had hidden his assets in a secret offshore shell company.

Syrian men carry a body on a stretcher amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported airstrike on a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo, on April 29. The renewed violence collapsed a fragile cease-fire deal brokered by the United States and the United Nations that had brought an unprecedented lull in fighting since Feb. 27.

Members of Venezuela’s opposition clash with anti-riot police during a demonstration in Caracas on May 11, demanding to accelerate the process of a recall referendum of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s mandate. The country suffered this year from a plummeting currency, mass shortages of basic products and medications, and a resurgence of malaria.

Crew members of China’s South Sea Fleet take part in a drill near the Paracel Islands, known in Chinese as Xisha, in the South China Sea on May 5. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, on the basis of a segmented line that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s, pitting it against several neighbors.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative town hall event in Ho Chi Minh City on May 25. He urged Vietnam to abandon authoritarianism, saying basic human rights would not jeopardize its stability, after Hanoi barred several dissidents from meeting him.

Men seen drinking in public after a 10 p.m. liquor ban are temporarily detained and made to do 40 push-ups at a police headquarters in Manila, Philippines, on May 28. Rodrigo Duterte was elected president that month on promises to root out criminality and soon after unleashed a brutal — but popular — war on drugs that killed at least 6,000 people by the end of the year.

A woman in New York holds flowers on June 13 during a vigil for the victims killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. The American gunman who launched the murderous assault is said to have been radicalized by Islamist propaganda.

A young couple painted as EU flags in support of the "Remain" campaign wait to hear the result of the Brexit referendum outside Downing Street, London, on June 24. Fifty-two percent voted to withdraw from the EU, surprising international observers and leading Prime Minister David Cameron to resign.

Protestor Ieshia Evans confronts law enforcement in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during a July 9 demonstration against the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling. The protest was one of many organized by the Black Lives Matter movement, pushing police brutality into the spotlight. According to the Guardian, 1,058 people in the United States have been killed by police in 2016.

As people protested against the attempted military coup in Istanbul on July 16, Turkish solders remained with weapons at Taksim Square and eventually opened fire on crowds. The coup attempt was quickly quashed and followed by a crackdown on people thought to be linked to the Gulenist movement, which Turkey’s government deems a terrorist organization.

Donald Trump formally accepts his party’s nomination for president on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people came to Cleveland for the event, including hundreds of protesters and thousands of members of the media.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt competes in the men’s 4-x-100 meter relay final during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 19.

An aerial view of the damage at Pescara del Tronto on Aug. 24 after central Italy was struck by a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake that killed nearly 300 people and devastated dozens of mountain villages.

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attend the opening ceremony of the 10th National Guerrilla Conference at a camp in Llanos del Yarí, Colombia, on Sept. 17. After 52 years of armed conflict, FARC rebels hoped it would be their last conference as a guerrilla army before a historic peace deal with the Colombian government. Colombian voters rejected the deal on Oct. 2, but after revisions the country’s Congress passed it in November.

Members of forces loyal to Libya’s U.N.-backed Government of National Accord guard a lookout point in the coastal city of Sirte, east of Tripoli, during their military operation to clear Islamic State jihadis from the city on Sept. 19. With the help of U.S. airstrikes, Sirte was fully recaptured by December, though operations around the city are ongoing.

Students from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa are injured by a police grenade during a protest against university fee increases on Sept. 21 in Johannesburg. Demonstrations protesting for the “decolonization” of the education system have been ongoing this year and were marked by violence.

A wounded Syrian child sits inside a vehicle following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held area of eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, on Sept. 30.

A woman waves a black flag as thousands of people dressed in black take part in a nationwide strike and demonstration to protest against a legislative proposal for a total ban of abortion on Oct. 3, in Warsaw, Poland. After winning elections in 2015, Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party has moved to gain control over civic institutions like public media and the country’s highest court. But it walked back the draconian abortion ban after widespread outcry.

An African migrant waiting to be rescued hangs from a boat as it drifts in the Mediterranean Sea, some 12 nautical miles north of Libya, on Oct. 4.

A girl walks past debris left by Hurricane Matthew, in Les Cayes, Haiti, on Oct. 9. The U.N. estimated that 1.4 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance after winds of 145 miles per hour slammed into the island’s southwest.

Supporters of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej cry on Oct. 13 as they gathered at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, where the monarch died. He had reigned for 70 years, the longest-serving head of state in the world.

A man takes a selfie in front of an oil fire in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, on Oct. 19, during an operation by Iraqi forces to retake the city from the Islamic State.

A migrant runs next to a makeshift shelter in flames on Oct. 26, as France conducted a massive operation to clear the “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais, where up to 8,000 people had been living in squalid conditions.

A newly displaced Iraqi woman who fled from the city of Mosul, the country’s last major Islamic State stronghold, is reunited on Oct. 26 with relatives who fled two years before at a refugee camp near Erbil. At least 80,000 people have been internally displaced since the start of the Mosul military operation, and the U.N. is racing to prepare for a potential exodus of 700,000.

An aerial view of ice near the coast of West Antarctica from the window of a NASA Operation IceBridge plane on Oct. 27. Researchers have used the IceBridge data to observe that the West Antarctic ice sheet may be in a state of irreversible deterioration directly contributing to rising sea levels.

Iraqis bathe in a sulphur pond in Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, on Nov. 7, after recapturing it from the Islamic State during an ongoing operation to regain control of the area.

Supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump react to early results during election night at the New York Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 8.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accompanied by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, pauses as she concedes the presidential election at the New Yorker Hotel on Nov. 9 in New York City. Though she ended up winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million, her defeat in key Democratic states like Wisconsin and Michigan came as a surprise to many.

Indian villagers line up outside a bank as they wait to deposit and exchange 500 and 1000 rupee notes in Hanuman Ganj village on Nov. 18. In a bid to tackle widespread tax evasion, India’s government had suddenly announced that it would move to withdraw 85 percent of currency in circulation, sparking a rush to the banks.

Tens of thousands of protesters hold candles and banners in central Seoul on Nov. 19, calling for the resignation of South Korean President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal.

Members of a separated family hug each other at the gate of the U.S.-Mexico border fence opened for a few minutes on Nov. 19, in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. The door opening was organized by pro-immigration nonprofits and local authorities in coordination with the U.S. Border Patrol.

A man is pictured in his house in Havana next to a portrait of Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro on Nov. 28. Castro died on Nov. 25 at age 90 after surviving 11 U.S. administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. Though reviled in the United States as a communist dictator, many Cubans still see Castro as an inspirational figure.

A Palestinian protester throws stones at Israeli security forces following a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kafr Qaddum, in the occupied West Bank, on Dec. 9.

Former astronaut and senator John Glenn’s coffin lies under a U.S. Marine honor guard in the Ohio Statehouse rotunda on Dec. 16. Glenn, who died at age 95, was the first American to orbit the Earth.

The body of Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, lies on the floor after he was fatally shot by Mevlut Mert Altintas, an off-duty Turkish police officer, during a public event in Ankara on Dec. 19.

A man wearing a face mask visits a park amid heavy air pollution in Beijing, China, on Dec. 20.

A policeman surveys the damage on Dec. 20, the day after a truck plowed into a Christmas market in central Berlin. The suspected perpetrator, a Tunisian asylum-seeker who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, was later killed in a shootout with Italian police.

A massive explosion guts Mexico’s biggest fireworks market in Tultepec on Dec. 20. The explosion killed at least 31 people and injured 72, authorities said.