This year has been one of both despair and hope.
Americans died tragically, from Baltimore to San Bernardino, California. In Paris, a deadly shooting devastated the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January, and a series of terror attacks, for which the self-described Islamic State claimed credit, killed at least 130 in November. Civil wars and terrorist campaigns plagued the Middle East and North Africa, driving many to flee their homes in search of safety. Over 1 million people, many of them escaping the war in Syria, crossed Europe's borders.
But 2015 was also a year of hope. The people of Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and international leaders adopted a watershed agreement to try to mitigate climate change. In July, Iran and six world powers reached a historic deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lighter economic sanctions. And while European countries disagreed on how to resolve the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis, many individual Europeans stepped up to show solidarity with and support for the newcomers.
As the year draws to a close, just as we did in 2014, we've compressed 365 days into 52 stunning images, gathered from Getty's "News Pictures of the Week." Take a look at the photos below for a trip through 2015.
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Jan. 5 - 12Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesHundreds of thousands of people flood the streets of Paris to express support in the wake of two deadly terror attacks in the city. On Jan. 7, masked gunmen killed 12 people at the offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Several more people were killed at a Jewish supermarket two days after.
Following the tragedies, social media users around the world used the hashtags #JeSuisCharlie, or "I Am Charlie," and #JeSuisJuif, or "I Am Jewish," to show solidarity. -
Jan. 12 - 19Charles McQuillan/Getty ImagesA man takes a picture with his cell phone through heavy snow at the Dark Hedges in Antrim county, Northern Ireland, on Jan. 13. The site was a filming location in the popular TV series "Game of Thrones."
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Jan. 26 - Feb. 1Bulent Kilic/Getty ImagesArif, a 10-year-old Syrian Kurdish refugee, poses at the Rojava refugee camp in Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Feb. 1. As the Syrian civil war rages on and the self-described Islamic State grabs territory, millions of Syrians have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in other parts of the country or in neighboring states.
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Feb. 9 - 16Brendan Hoffman/Getty ImagesUkrainian soldiers play football on a road leading to the embattled town of Debaltseve on Feb. 15. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia continued to mount after fighting broke out between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists in the country's east. Some 8,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
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Feb. 16 - 23Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesRescuers save a woman whose car had rolled into the water in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 17. The two police officers who pulled the woman to safety said they were just doing their job.
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March 9 - 16Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty ImagesThe Russian Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft lands near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, as it ends a six-month tour of the International Space Station, on March 12.
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March 16 - 23Charles McQuillan/Getty ImagesHundreds of people made the St. Patrick's Day pilgrimage to the top of Slemish mountain in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, on March 17. According to Irish legend, Patrick tended herds on the mountain as a boy in the 5th century.
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March 23 - 30ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/Getty ImagesOn March 24, a Germanwings commercial flight carrying 150 people from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, crashed in the French Alps with no known survivors. Andreas Lubitz, one of the flight's pilots, had a history of mental illness, and prosecutors said he appeared to have crashed the plane deliberately. In this photo, an investigator passes by scattered debris at the crash site two days after the tragedy.
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April 20 - 27Omar Havana/Getty ImagesA man climbs on top of building debris after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal and triggered a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest on April 25. The earthquake, which killed over 8,500 people, was the worst to hit Nepal in over 80 years.
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April 27 - May 4Andrew Burton via Getty ImagesPolice secure Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall after protesters and police clashed violently at the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old who died in police custody on April 19. Following the protests at Gray's funeral, Maryland's governor activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency that lasted 10 days.
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May 11 - 18Win McNamee via Getty ImagesInvestigators work near the wreckage of an Amtrak Northeast Regional train from New York to Washington, D.C., that derailed in Philadelphia on May 13. At least seven people were killed and 200 injured.
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May 18 - 25Charles McQuillan/Getty ImagesA couple celebrates in Ireland's Dublin Castle Square after the majority of the country voted to change its constitution to legalize same-sex marriage in a May 23 referendum. The new marriage equality legislation went into effect on Nov. 16.
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May 25 - June 1Ed Jones/Getty ImagesNorth Korean defectors wearing the country's military uniforms dance at a "unification expo" in Seoul, South Korea, on May 29. The exposition commemorated the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 35-year-long colonial rule.
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June 1 - 8Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesA Turkish soldier carries a Syrian girl as she enters Turkey at the Akcakale border crossing on June 6. Over 4 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries to flee airstrikes and fighting in the country.
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June 8 - 15Beso Gulashvili/Getty ImagesA hippopotamus walks along a flooded street in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 14. Tigers, lions, jaguars, bears and wolves escaped from a zoo after heavy flooding destroyed their compounds that day. At least 10 people, including three zoo workers, were killed.
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June 15 - 22Getty ImagesParishioners attend a service after a gunman killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17. Investigators found that the shooter, Dylann Roof, posted photos of himself wearing symbols of white supremacy, including a Confederate flag, on social media.
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July 20 - 27WANG ZHAO, Getty ImagesChinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of New Zealand Governor-General Jerry Mateparae at a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 21.
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Aug. 3 - 10Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesA rainbow appears over Beijing on Aug. 3. Air pollution levels in and around the city progressively worsened throughout the year, to the point that the government had to issue two "red alerts" for pollution within weeks of each other in December 2015.
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Aug. 17 - 24Michael B. Thomas/Getty ImagesPolice officers Greg Casem and Dominica Fuller console a child at a candlelight vigil held in honor of Jamyla Bolden in Ferguson, Missouri. Nine-year-old Jamyla was killed in her bed on Aug. 19 when someone fired several rounds into her home.
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Aug. 24 - 31MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP/Getty ImagesA Spanish Civil Guard officer helps villagers during a fire in Cabreiro, Spain, on Aug. 30.
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Aug. 31 - Sept. 7Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesPeople commemorate the lives of 12 Syrians, including 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who died crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece and whose bodies washed ashore in Mugla, Turkey, on Sept. 2. The image of Alan's body sparked outrage and expressions of solidarity across the world.
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Sept. 14 - 21Scott Barbour/Getty ImagesHigh-wire artist Kane Petersen walks a tightrope 300 meters (984 feet) above ground in Melbourne, Australia. The walk was the highest tightrope walk ever attempted in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Sept. 21 - 28Win McNamee/Getty ImagesPope Francis addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, during his first papal visit to the country. Francis was the first pope to address a joint meeting of Congress, and his historic speech "touched on everything that quite frankly we need to work on," Montana Sen. Jon Tester said.
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Oct. 5 - 12Sasha Mordovets/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday at an ice hockey game in Sochi, Russia, on Oct. 7.
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Oct. 12 - 19Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesTeens cool off before boarding a ferry from Lesbos island to Athens on Oct. 16. Over 1 million migrants and refugees entered Europe in 2015, the International Organization for Migration noted in December. Almost all came by sea. More than 3,600 people died while trying to reach Europe.
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Oct. 19 - 26The Korea Press Photographers' Association/Getty ImagesA South Korean woman cries as she bids farewell to her North Korean relative after a family reunion in Mount Kumgang, North Korea, on Oct. 22. Separated for decades following the Korean War, South Koreans were allowed to cross the border into North Korea to reunite with family members for a few hours.
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Nov. 2 - 9WPA Pool/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II looks at a cabinet of medals during a Nov. 5 visit to the Ministry of Defense's Joint Casualty and Compassionate Center in Innsworth, United Kingdom. On Sept. 9, Queen Elizabeth became the country's longest reigning monarch, having surpassed Queen Victoria's 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes on the throne.
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Nov. 9 - 16Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe Eiffel Tower is illuminated in the colors of the French flag after at least 130 people from 15 countries were killed in terror attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the tragedy.
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Nov. 16 - 23STR/AFP/Getty ImagesPeople gather around a flooded residential area following a series of heavy rains in Chennai, India, on Nov. 18. At least 150 people died as a result of the floods, and thousands were forced to flee their homes.
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Nov. 23 - 30Patrick Aventurier/Getty ImagesThe Place de la Republique in Paris is covered with empty shoes on Nov. 29, symbolizing a rally in support of the COP21 climate talks. The French government had canceled the rally for security reasons following the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris. After two weeks of high-level climate discussions, countries adopted a historic agreement, in which they pledged to take steps to limit and adapt to climate change.
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Nov. 30 - Dec. 7Borja Sanchez Trillo/Getty ImagesThai policemen take part in a candlelight ceremony celebrating King Bhumibol's 88th birthday in Bangkok on Dec. 5. Three months prior, a deadly bomb attack took place outside a popular religious shrine in Bangkok. Twenty-two people were killed.
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Dec. 7 - 14Marcus Yam/Getty ImagesPallbearers stand guard over a casket at a memorial service in Santa Ana, California, honoring Tin Nguyen, a victim of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terror attack. A man and a woman killed 14 people and injured more after a holiday party at a social services center.
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Dec. 21 - 28Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesDruids, pagans and other revelers take part in a ceremony marking the winter solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, on Dec. 22.