What a year! Our gallery featuring the 100 best photos of 2017 kicks off with Barack Obama shedding a tear and ends with his successor inflaming the Middle East by declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. In between these two bookends, we see Theresa May's government going from strong and stable to weak and wobbly, and the quashing of popular rebellions in Venezuela and Catalonia.
10 January 2017: US President Barack Obama cries as he speaks during his farewell address in Chicago, IllinoisJoshua Lott/Getty Images11 January 2017: Migrants queue for food distributed by volunteers outside derelict warehouses in Belgrade used as a makeshift shelter, as temperatures dropped to -15 degrees Celsius overnightAndrej Isakovic/AFP13 January 2017: A block of ice with a fox encased in it is seen on the banks of the river Danube in Fridingen, southern Germany. The fox fell through thin ice on the river and drowned and was later cut out of the ice by a hunterJohannes Stehle/AFP20 January 2017: Donald Trump arrives on the West Front of the US Capitol to be inaugurated as the 45th president of the United StatesJoe Raedle/Getty Images20 January 2017: A protester takes a picture while holding a sign that reads 'IMPEACH' in Washington following the inauguration of President Donald TrumpSpencer Platt/Getty Images27 January 2017: US President Donald Trump prepares to sign executive orders in the Hall of Heroes at the Department of Defence in Arlington, VirginiaOlivier Douliery
27 February 2017: Displaced Iraqi women who fled their home rest in the desert as they wait to be transported to safety while Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in western MosulZohra Bensemra/Reuters1 March 2017: A man carries his baby as he flees his home while Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in western MosulZohra Bensemra/Reuters4 March 2017: A man carries his daughter while walking from an Isis-controlled part of Mosul towards an area controlled by Iraqi special forces soldiersGoran Tomasevic/Reuters7 March 2017: Children step over the dead body of Valien Mendoza, a suspected drug dealer, gunned down by unidentified assailants in Manila, the PhilippinesNoel Celis/AFP8 March 2017: New York Police Department officers arrest a woman who was taking part in a 'Day Without a Woman' march on International Women's Day in New YorkLucas Jackson/Reuters8 March 2017: Civilians flee Mosul as Iraqi forces advance inside the city during fighting against IsisAris Messinis/AFP9 March 2017: Mohammad Mohiedine Anis, 70, smokes his pipe as he listen to music on a wind-up gramophone in his destroyed bedroom in Aleppo's formerly rebel-held al-Shaar neighbourhoodJoseph Eid/AFP18 March 2017: Kate Middleton and Prince William look through the clock at Musee d'Orsay during an official two-day visit to ParisChris Jackson/Getty Images19 March 2017: An opposition fighter from the Failaq al-Rahman brigade fires a heavy machine gun in Jobar, a rebel-held district on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital DamascusAmer Almohibany/AFP22 March 2017: A woman assists an injured person after an incident on Westminster Bridge in LondonToby Melville/Reuters22 March 2017: Khalid Masood, the man who carried out the Westminster terror attack, is treated outside the Houses of ParliamentStefan Rousseau/PA22 March 2017: A member of the public is treated by emergency services near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament in London, after a police officer was stabbed near to the British Parliament and dozens were injured by a car on Westminster bridge. The alleged assailant shot by armed policeCarl Court/Getty Images10 April 2017: Police officers and well-wishers line the route in Southwark as the funeral procession of PC Keith Palmer makes its way to Southwark Cathedral, LondonDan Kitwood/Getty Images13 April 2017: An Iraqi federal policeman uses a helmet on a stick to try and draw fire from an Islamic State sniper in an attempt to make him reveal his position during the battle to recapture west MosulCarl Court/Getty Images16 April 2017: Residents view the first iceberg of the season as it passes the South Shore, also known as "Iceberg Alley", near Ferryland, Newfoundland, CanadaJody Martin/Reuters19 April 2017: A child sits on the deck of the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix as it arrives in Augusta, ItalyDarrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters29 April 2017: A rare five-year-old female albino orangutan is seen after it was rescued from captivity by authorities in Kapuas Hulu district, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, in this photo released by the wildlife conservation group Borneo Orangutan Survival FoundationBOSF/Indrayana/Reuters1 May 2017: A young girl scout stands up to a member of an extreme-far-right group taking part in a neo-Nazi rally in the city of Brno in the Czech RepublicFacebook/Vladimír Čičmanec1 May 2017: An opposition activist clashes with the police during a march against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro held on May Day, in CaracasFederico Parra/AFP2 May 2017: Prime Minister Theresa May eats chips as she meets with residents in Mevagissey, Cornwall, during a campaign visit ahead of the forthcoming electionDylan Martinez/Reuters3 May 2017: A demonstrator catches fire amid clashes with riot police during ongoing protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in CaracasRonaldo Schemidt/AFP13 May 2017: Jermain Defoe carries Bradley Lowery out onto the pitch prior to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Swansea City at Stadium of Light. Less than two months after this photo was taken, Bradley died at the age of six, after losing his long battle with cancerIan MacNicol/Getty Images14 May 2017: French President Emmanuel Macron kisses his wife Brigitte Trogneux during the handover ceremony in ParisPhilippe Wojazer/Reuters17 May 2017: House Democrats set up a photo of President Donald Trump welcoming Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the White House, during a news conference at the US CapitolChip Somodevilla/Getty Images20 May 2017: Wuilly Arteaga, a familiar figure at anti-Maduro protests in Caracas, plays a violin while opposition activists clash with riot policeFederico Parra/AFP20 May 2017: Kate Middleton stands with her daughter Princess Charlotte, and the other bridesmaids and pageboys, as they await Pippa Middleton to arrive for her wedding to James Matthews at St Mark's Church in EnglefieldJustin Tallis/AFP22 May 2017: Concertgoers wait to be picked up at the scene of a terrorist attack during a pop concert by US star Ariana Grande at the Manchester ArenaPaul Ellis/AFP23 May 2017: A Sikh man holds an 'I love Manchester' sign at a candlelit vigil held at Albert Square in Manchester to honour the victims of the terror attackJeff J Mitchell/Getty Images23 May 2017: An Indonesian man is publicly caned in Banda Aceh for having sex with another man. The pair, aged 20 and 23, were found guilty of having broken sharia rules in conservative Aceh province – the only part of Indonesia that implements Islamic law – and sentenced to 85 strokes of the cane eachChaideer Mahyuddin/AFP29 May 2017: A motorcycle is set on fire during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in San CristobalCarlos Eduardo Ramirez/Reuters5 June 2017: Construction workers react as they leave flowers on the south side of London Bridge near Borough Market after a terror attackClodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters6 June 2017: A rainbow appears above the stage as Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a campaign rally in BirminghamDarren Staples/Reuters10 June 2017: Displaced Iraqi children gather behind a fence at the Hasan Sham camp for internally displaced peopleMohamed el-Shahed/AFP11 June 2017: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates victory following the 2017 French Open men's singles final against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland at Roland Garros in ParisJulian Finney/Getty Images11 June 2017: A man wears a 'Make America Gay Again' T-shirt during the #ResistMarch at the 47th annual LA Pride Festival in Hollywood, CaliforniaRobyn Beck/AFP12 June 2017: Anti-government demonstrators participate in an attack on the administrative headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice in Caracas as part of protests against President Nicolas MaduroFederico Parra/AFP14 June 2017: Flames and smoke billow as firefighters deal with a huge fire at Grenfell Tower, a residential building in West LondonToby Melville/Reuters14 June 2017: Smoke and flames billow from Grenfell Tower in west London as firefighters attempt to control a huge blazeDaniel Leal-Olivas/AFP14 June 2017: Firefighters react as a huge fire engulfs Grenfell Tower in west LondonDaniel Leal-Olivas/AFP15 June 2017: A man and a girl on a bicycle carry flowers towards Grenfell Tower in LondonDan Kitwood/Getty Images19 June 2017: Burnt-out cars are seen along a road through a wooded area near Figueiro dos Vinho, during Portugal's deadliest year by far for forest firesRafael Marchante/Reuters27 June 2017: A Libyan coast guard stands on a boat during the rescue of 147 people who were attempting to reach EuropeTaha Jawashi/AFP4 July 2017: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un celebrates the successful test-fire of the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 at an undisclosed locationKCNA/AFP7 July 2017: A man checks a collapsed road near a damaged house following flooding caused by unprecedented volumes of rain in Asakura, Fukuoka prefecture, JapanKazuhiro Nogi/AFP17 July 2017: Vice President Mike Pence laughs as US President Donald Trump brandishes a baseball bat at a Made in America product showcase event at the White House in Washington, DCCarlos Barria/Reuters19 July 2017: Prince William, Kate Middleton and their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at Tegel airport in Berlin, GermanySteffi Loos/AFP25 July 2017: People sitting on a beach watch a forest fire in La Croix-Valmer, near Saint-TropezValery Hache/AFP26 July 2017: Andrew Roussos puts his arm around his son Xander as he carries the coffin of his daughter Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest victim of the bombing of the Manchester Arena, during her funeral at Manchester CathedralAndrew Yates/Reuters2 August 2017: Prince Philip, in his role as Captain General, Royal Marines, attends a parade at Buckingham Palace. This was the 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh's final official engagement before retiring from active public lifeHannah McKay/Reuters5 August 2017: US athlete Justin Gatlin kneels in front of Jamaica's Usain Bolt after Gatlin won the final of the men's 100m athletics event at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London StadiumAntonin Thuillier/AFP9 August 2017: Karsten Warholm of Norway reacts after winning the men's 400m hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships in LondonLucy Nicholson/Reuters9 August 2017: The mother of a man who was shot in the head – allegedly by Kenyan police – uses a blanket to cover her son's body in an alley in Narobi's Mathare slum as unrest broke out the day after general electionsMarco Longari/AFP11 August 2017: Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other members of the so-called Alt-Right march through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville and encircle a group of counter protesters at the base of a statue of Thomas JeffersonSamuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images12 August 2017: White nationalists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists are met by a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, VirginiaJoshua Roberts/Reuters12 August 2017: A woman receives first-aid after a car was driven into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, VirginiaPaul J Richards/AFP25 August 2017: Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr pose during the official weigh-in for their super welterweight boxing match in Las VegasEthan Miller/Getty Images27 August 2017: Residents of La Vita Bella assisted living facility sit in waist-deep floodwaters after Tropical Storm Harvey hit Dickinson, TexasSocial Media/Courtesy of Trudy Lampson/Reuters28 August 2017: Residents use boats to travel along along Tidwell Road in East Houston as they evacuate from an area that was flooded by Tropical Storm HarveyAdrees Latif/Reuters28 August 2017: Residents wade through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Houston, TexasJonathan Bachman/Reuters31 August 2017: An aerial view shows Muslim pilgrims gathering on Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca. Arafat is the site where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon about 14 centuries ago after leading his followers on the pilgrimageKarim Sahib/AFP10 September 2017: People wade through deep water on a street in Havana as huge waves crash over the seawall in the wake of Hurricane IrmaYamil Lage/AFP11 September 2017: 'Correfocs' (people dressed as devils and carrying fireworks) perform during a Catalan pro-independence demonstration in Vilafranca del Penedes on the eve of Catalonia's National DayDavid Ramos/Getty Images12 September 2017: A Rohingya man carries an elderly woman, after the wooden boat they were travelling on from Myanmar crashed into the shore in Dakhinpara, Bangladesh, and tipped everyone outDan Kitwood/Getty Images14 September 2017: Hamida, a Rohingya refugee woman, cries as she holds her 40-day-old son, who died as a boat capsized in the shore of Shah Porir Dwip, in Teknaf, BangladeshMohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters16 September 2017: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missileKCNA/Reuters17 September 2017: Rohingya refugee Sameera, 20, holds her seven-month-old baby as she looks out from a cement cylinder where the family are living in Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Over 400,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh since late August during the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state, MyanmarPaula Bronstein/Getty Images20 September 2017: A Rohingya refugee boy desperate for aid cries as he climbs on a truck distributing aid for a local NGO near the Balukali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, BangladeshKevin Frayer/Getty Images24 September 2017: Chris Carter of the Washington Redskins kneels with his hand over his heart during the national anthem before playing against the Oakland Raiders at FedExField in Landover, MarylandPatrick Smith/Getty Images24 September 2017: A man cycles along a damaged road in Toa Alta, west of San Juan, after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto RicoRicardo Arduengo/AFP26 September 2017: Kadri Gursel kisses his wife after he was released from Silivri prison in Istanbul, thanks to a Turkish court order to free the columnist and editorial director of Turkey's opposition newspaper CumhuriyetYasin Akgul/AFP27 September 2017: An albino Rohingya boy poses for a picture at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, BangladeshCathal McNaughton/Reuters27 September 2017: Prince Harry sits with David Henson's wife Hayley and plays with their daughter Emily during the Sitting Volleyball Finals at the Invictus Games 2017 in TorontoChris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation1 October 2017: A man gives a carnation to a Spanish Guardia Civil officer in Sant Julia de Ramis during the referendum on independence for CataloniaLluis Gene/AFP1 October 2017: A woman is removed by police at a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis where the Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont was due to voteDavid Ramos/Getty Images1 October 2017: People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after a gunman opened fire from the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las VegasDavid Becker/Getty Images3 October 2017: US President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto RicoJonathan Ernst/Reuters4 October 2017: US Air Force One, with President Donald Trump aboard, departs Las Vegas past broken windows at the Mandalay Bay hotel, from where Stephen Paddock conducted his mass shootingMike Blake/Reuters4 October 2017: Comedian Simon Brodkin, aka prankster Lee Nelson, hands Prime Minister Theresa May a P45 during her keynote speech to delegates and party members on the last day of the Conservative Party Conference in ManchesterCarl Court/Getty Images11 October 2017: An aerial view shows how the Coffey Park neighbourhood of Santa Rosa in California was destroyed by wildfires: house after house, block after block has been obliterated, leaving smouldering piles of ash dotted by brick chimneys and the skeletons of burned-out carsElijah Nouvelage/AFP16 October 2017: A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces looks out from a building as the battle to reclaim the city of Raqqa from Isis militants draws to a closeBulent Kilic/AFP17 October 2017: Rojda Felat, a Syrian Democratic Forces commander, waves her group's flag at Al-Naim square in Raqqa after recapturing the city from IsisBulent Kilic/AFP19 October 2017: A man wearing a T-shirt covered in swastikas walks with a bloody lip as demonstrators yell at him outside the location where Richard Spencer, white nationalist and spokesperson for the so-called alt-right movement, was delivering a speech on the campus of the University of Florida in GainesvilleShannon Stapleton/Reuters20 October 2017: British Prime Minister Theresa May sits alone in Brussels as she waits for for a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AFP21 October 2017: A Syrian infant suffering from severe malnutrition struggles for life at a clinic in the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria, in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus. With her mother too undernourished to breastfeed her and her father unable to afford milk and supplements, one-month-old Sahar, weighing less than two kilograms (just over four pounds), breathed her last shortly after this photo was takenAmer Almohibany/AFP26 October 2017: A protester brandishing a machete and a knife prepares to take cover from incoming tear gas canisters during clashes with police forces in Nairobi's Kibera slum, as Kenyans trickled into polling stations for a repeat election that was boycotted by the oppositionMarco Longari/AFP2 November 2017: An exhausted Rohingya woman who collapsed cries out to other refugees for help as they continue on their way after crossing from Myanmar into BangladeshHannah McKay/Reuters11 November 2017: People hold Catalan pro-independence Estelada flags and flash their mobile phones during a demonstration in Barcelona calling for the release of jailed separatist leadersJosep Lago/AFP21 November 2017: Zimbabweans celebrate after President Robert Mugabe resigns in HarareMike Hutchings/Reuters27 November 2017: US First Lady Melania Trump walks through Christmas decorations in the East Wing as she tours holiday decorations at the White House in Washington, DCSaul Loeb/AFP2 December 2017: Rohingya refugee Mumtaz Begum, 30, becomes emotional as she touches the wounds she says she received when the Myanmar military set her house on fire after raping herAllison Joyce/Getty Images4 December 2017: Leaves cover the face of 11-month-old Rohingya refugee Abdul Aziz, after his body was brought back to the family shelter, at the Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Aziz, whose family fled Myanmar some two months ago, died at local clinic after suffering from high fever and severe cough for ten days, his mother saidDamir Sagolj/Reuters4 December 2017: A Houthi militant sitting on a tank celebrates the death of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'aKhaled Abdullah/Reuters5 December 2017: A fire crew passes a burning home in Ventura, CaliforniaMike Blake/Reuters11 December 2017: A masked Palestinian protester throws a Molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Hebron as demonstrations continue to flare in the Middle East and elsewhere over US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capitalHazem Bader/AFP
