1. The 2016 presidential race — Amid the squabbling, name-calling, and debating, the 2016 presidential election has dominated headlines this year as those in the crowded Republican field seek to stay competitive against front-runner Donald Trump. Across the aisle, the Democratic group has been whittled down to three candidates led by Hillary Clinton. (Combo top: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images ; Bottom: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
2. ISIS crisis — This undated image made from a video released by Islamic State militants in April shows a group of captured Ethiopian Christians taken to a beach before they were killed by Islamic State militants in Libya. The terrorist organization grew this year, not only with its official cells but with its influence as more and more "lone wolfs" adopted radical ideologies and plotted their own attacks. (Video screengrab via AP)
3. Donald Trump mania— Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets supporters after his rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on August 21, 2015, in Mobile, Alabama. The billionaire businessman has virtually led the Republican field since he first announced his candidacy over the summer, though his run has been controversial to say the least. To date, Trump's proposals have included deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, and sentencing those who have killed police officers to the death penalty. (Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)
4. Hillary's emails — Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Select Committee on Benghazi October 22, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Clinton's email habits took center stage this year after it was revealed that she used a private server and address to handle her official secretary of state communications instead of her State Department account. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
5. Kentucky clerk Kim Davis — Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis pauses as she speaks after being released from the Carter County Detention Center on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015, in Grayson, Kentucky. Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, was released after five days behind bars. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
6. Pope Francis visits America — In this photo provided by World Meeting of Families, Pope Francis kisses and blesses 10-year-old Michael Keating of Elverson, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, after arriving at Philadelphia International Airport. The trip marked the pontiff's first time in the United States. (Joseph Gidjunis/World Meeting of Families via AP)
7. Paris terrorist attacks — In this Nov. 13, 2015, file photo, a victim of an attack in Paris lays dead outside the Bataclan theater. The carnage was part of a coordinated terrorist attack on the city that killed 130 people, injured more than 300, and caused the French president to declare his nation at war with Islamic State extremists. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
8. San Bernardino shooting — People visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of the shooting in San Bernardino, California. Husband-and-wife duo Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, went on a rampage in early December, shooting up a holiday luncheon for Farook's Department of Public Health colleagues at the Inland Regional Center and then fleeing in a black SUV. Fourteen people were killed and 21 injured. The suspects, who had been radicalized, were killed in a gunfight with police hours after the deadly attacks. (Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters)
9. Bill Cosby's mountain of sexual assault allegations — Bill Cosby arrives at court to face a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault on Dec. 30, 2015, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Cosby, who this year has faced sexual assault allegations from dozens of women, was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home 12 years ago. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
10. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage — People gather in Lafayette Park to witness the White House being lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage on Friday, June 26, 2015, in Washington. The ruling put an end to same-sex marriage bans in the 14 states that still maintained them. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
11. Charlie Hebdo attacks — A man holds a giant pencil as he takes part in a solidarity march in the streets of Paris after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in January. The terrorist shooting killed 12 people and injured 11 others at the office of the satirical weekly newspaper. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)
12. Syrian refugee crisis — Syrian refugees walk through the mud as the cross the border from Greece into Macedonia, near the Greek village of Idomeni on September 10, 2015. Most of the people flooding into Europe are refugees fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. How the United States should handle these people has been a major issue in the 2016 presidential election. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
13. Drowned Syrian boy — A Turkish police officer stands next to a migrant child's dead body (Aylan Shenu) off the shores in Bodrum, southern Turkey, on September 2, 2015, after a boat carrying refugees sank while reaching the Greek island of Kos. Thousands of refugees and migrants arrived in Athens on September 2, as Greek ministers held talks on the crisis, with Europe struggling to cope with the huge influx fleeing war and repression in the Middle East and Africa. (Nilufer Demir/AFP/Getty Images)
14. Cecil the lion — Protesters call attention to the alleged poaching of Cecil the lion in the parking lot of Dr. Walter Palmer's River Bluff Dental Clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, in July. According to reports, the 13-year-old lion was lured out of a national park in Zimbabwe and killed by Dr. Palmer, who had paid at least $50,000 for the hunt. After an investigation, Zimbabwe declined to file charges against the American dentist. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)
15. Cuba-U.S. relations restored — This July photo shows the Cuban flag being raised in front of the country's embassy in Washington, D.C., for the first time in 54 years. The embassy was closed in 1961 when U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties with the island nation after Fidel Castro took power in a Communist revolution. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
16. Charleston church shooting — Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, on June 18, 2015. Roof, a 21-year-old with a criminal record, is accused of killing nine people at a Bible-study meeting in a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, in an attack U.S. officials are investigating as a hate crime. (Jason Miczek/Reuters)
17. Confederate flag flap — An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway patrol removes the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds on Friday, July 10, 2015, in Columbia, South Carolina. The banner, widely seen as a symbol of racism and white supremacy, became a point of contention in the U.S. after the Charleston church shooting. Suspect Dylann Roof reportedly posed on a car with an ornamental Confederate flag license plate in social media photos. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
18. "Call me Caitlyn" — Formerly known as Olympian Bruce Jenner, Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself to the world in 2015 via the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. (Vanity Fair)
19. Freddie Gray protests — Demonstrators climb on a destroyed Baltimore Police car in the street near the corner of Pennsylvania and North avenues during violent protests following the funeral of Freddie Gray on April 27, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland. According to his attorney, 25-year-old Gray was arrested for possessing a switchblade knife and died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. Six police officers were ultimately charged in his death. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
20. Hungarian journalist trips migrants — Camerawoman Petra Laszlo, working on behalf of Hungary's nationalist N1TV news station, was captured on video in September tripping migrants, including a man and young boy, as they fled a holding camp. The clip ignited a major scandal and Laszlo was fired. She later apologized, first saying she "panicked" and then insisting that she was only trying to help police because the migrants had broken through a
cordoned-off area, according to RT.com. (Twitter/@RT_America)
21. Chicago unrest — Lamon Reccord, right, stares at a Chicago police officer as he and others march through Chicago's Loop on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, one day after murder charges were brought against police officer Jason Van Dyke in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. After a series of fatal police shootings, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Justice is opening a federal civil rights investigation involving the Chicago Police Department. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, himself facing calls for resignation, also fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
22. New York manhunt — Police stand over David Sweat after he was shot and captured near the Canadian border on Sunday, June 28, 2015, in Constable, New York. Sweat is the second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape from a maximum-security prison in northern New York. His capture came two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorities. (AP Photo, File)
23. Tunisia beach attack — Tourists and Tunisians take part in a ceremony on July 3, 2015, in memory of those killed the previous week by a jihadist gunman in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, on the outskirts of Sousse south of the capital Tunis. A total of 38 people, including 30 Britons, were killed. (Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)
24. Obama "manspreads" Angela Merkel? — Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures while chatting with U.S. President Barack Obama sitting on a bench outside the Elmau Castle after a so-called outreach meeting at a G7 summit near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, on June 8, 2015. Obama's seemingly wide-seated stance inspired many social media jokes about "manspreading," a violation of seating etiquette in which a person spreads their legs so as to take up more than one seat. (Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images)
25. Greek debt crisis — People read the front pages of the Greek newspapers in Athens on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015. "After several contentious months of negotiations between the country and its creditors, Greece received its third bailout in five years. Terms of the bailout including commitments by the country to implement austerity measures and economic reforms, which Greek lawmakers
recently approved," The New York Times reported last month. (AP Photo/Fotis Plegas G.)