United States President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago, Illinois on January 10, 2017.

In an emotional address to around 18,000 people who had gathered and to a nation, the 'beloved' president pledged that his social and civic activism will continue -- as a citizen.

Obama -- the son of a Kenyan goat herder and self-described "skinny kid with a funny name" who grew up to become America's first black president -- dismissed talk of post-racial America, defended the rights of immigrants and Muslim Americans, lambasted those who refuse to accept the science of climate change and warned of the threat posed by "the rise of naked partisanship", with people retreating into their own self-confirming bubbles.

Snow covers Kandy Freeman's hair as she participates in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York on January 14.

Days before Trump's inauguration, there was a small Black Lives Matter march in Harlem. The photographer Stephanie Keith says, "Just as the sun was setting, about 40 protesters arrived. The snow started falling with big heavy flakes. Almost immediately I saw this woman. I thought she was so beautiful. I noticed that there were snowflakes in her hair and they were not melting. I thought, what a perfect metaphor since the right wing has named liberals 'snowflakes', saying they are weak and easily take offence. I loved the contrast of the black and white colours and the contrast of her strength and the fragility of the snowflakes.

A rebel fighter carries an injured boy after a car bomb explosion in Jub al Barazi east of the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria in January. In its sixth year, the Syrian war has claimed countless lives, many of which are children.

The war has also caused as many as a million children to be orphaned, says the United Nations.

And for the children who live, survival is tough beyond imagination. They suffer from acute hunger, vulnerability to disease and a risk of recruitment into armed groups.

On January 20, the United States received its 45th president -- Donald Trump.

This is the day Trump was sworn into office in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

But, all of America didn't celebrate this moment. Several Democrats and anti-Trump supporters came out on this day to protest the swearing-in of the new president. Over 200 of them were later arrested for carrying out protests.

And if that wasn't enough, the inauguration ceremony itself was mired in controversy when the National Park Service released images from Trump's inauguration and also some from the swearing-ins of former president Barack Obama, which led to the question of which president had a bigger audience.

A man takes a photograph of his friend as thick smoke rises from a fire, which broke out at oil wells set ablaze by Islamic State militants before they fled the oil-producing region of Qayyara, Iraq in January.

In the first month of 2017, the Islamic State lost control of the oil wells in Iraq. The loss of the oil wells was a huge blow to the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group as this also meant a huge loss in income.

The loss of the oil wells also was an indication of the Islamic State losing its grip over the region. According to senior US officials, the Islamic State has lost over 60,000 fighters and its grip is now reduced to small pockets in Syria.

People gather to pray in baggage claim during a protest against the travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump's executive order, at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas, Texas.

After coming to power, Trump signed an executive order halting all refugee admissions and temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The move sparked numerous protests and legal challenges. A week later a federal judge in Seattle suspended it nationwide, allowing banned visitors to travel to the US pending an appeal by the administration.

On March 6, Trump unveiled a new travel order – excluding Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority countries whose citizens were temporarily blocked.

The travel ban has been one of the contentious issues – with Trump defending it vociferously, saying it is necessary to fight terrorism, while others protest against it.

Steam rises from chimneys of a heating power plant near a monument of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, with the air temperature at about minus 17 degrees Celsius, during sunset in Moscow, Russia. (January)

A Palestinian barber uses fire to straighten the hair of a customer in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Syrian refugee Baraa Haj Khalaf kisses her father Khaled as her mother Fattoum cries after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois in February.

After sweating and sleeping together in a single cloth tent at a Turkish refugee camp, the Khalaf family was finally reunited in America.

However, their reunion wasn't a cakewalk; Trump's travel ban, restricting foreigners from seven Muslim majority nations (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen) was a huge impediment, almost crushing their American dream.

A girl walks amidst a dust storm on the banks of the river Ganga in Allahabad.

The holy river is dying, despite decades of government efforts to save it.

The Modi government has pledged to build more treatment plants and move more than 400 tanneries away from the river, but his $3 billion clean-up plan is badly behind schedule.

Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington in February.

While the image doesn't seem controversial, it raised several eyebrows for the way Conway was seen seated in the photograph. Many accused her of being disrespectful in the Oval Office.

She later defended herself saying that she was asked to snap pictures of Trump with the educators "to chronicle this significant event." She knelt down on an Oval Office couch to snap a photo of the group.

The image also raised the larger question of Trump and his team of being disrespectful and not understanding the significance of being seated in the Oval Office.

A pro-settlement activist climbs onto a rooftop of a house to resist evacuation of some houses in the settlement of Ofra in the occupied West Bank, during an operation by Israeli forces to evict the houses in February.

In February, Israeli security forces began to evacuate the unauthorised Amona settlement, despite resistance from residents.

The Amona outpost, some 20 kilometres north of Jerusalem, has been the subject of an eight-year legal tussle over whether the settlement homes had been built on private Palestinian land.

A Supreme Court ruling, which sided with the Palestinian claimants, ended months of attempts by government hardliners to legalise the outpost, instead ordering it to be evacuated by February 8.

Around 600,000 Israelis currently live in more than 200 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The settlements are considered by most countries to be a major obstacle to a peace agreement with the Palestinians. But Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests.

Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano spews lava as it erupts on the southern island of Sicily, Italy in February.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is greeted by US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC.

Trump's handshakes with world leaders has managed to make headlines and his meeting with Trudeau in February was no different. Trudeau gave Trump a side-eye before responding and kept himself from being drawn in.

A foreign activist argues with an Israeli soldier during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron in February.

These activists, who form Youth Against Settlements, have been using nonviolent tactics, civil disobedience, and direct action to challenge Israel's occupation.

The work of these activists has gone nearly unrecognised, with most of the international media attention focusing on rockets launched from Gaza and the increasing dominance of the right wing in Israeli politics.

But for the past eight years, the group has been working to instill the principles of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience in the hearts of Hebron's Palestinian youth, even if no one is watching.

Jordan Horowitz of 'La La Land' holds the card announcing 'Moonlight' as the winner of the Best Picture Oscar as presenter Warren Beatty and show host Jimmy Kimmel stand behind.

This year's awards in March witnessed a moment like never before when Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced the winners of the Best Picture to La La Land.

However, the award wasn't won by the musical and in fact had been won by Moonlight, making this the biggest goof-up in Oscar history.

A golden eagle grabs a flying drone during a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan French Air Force base, southwestern France in February.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and planted trees with its students in Pyongyang, North Korea.

The North Korea dictator has had a busy year in 2017. He has stepped up his nuclear ambitions – launching several missiles -- and also waged a war of words with United States President Donald Trump.

A man cries as he carries his daughter while walking from an Islamic State-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Mosul, Iraq on March 4, 2017.

Both screaming in terror, they fled through the rubble-strewn streets of Wadi Hajar, transformed in a flash into a battleground between Islamic State fighters and Iraqi special forces.

They and their neighbours - some wearing rubber sandals, some barefoot - were running from an IS counter-attack in this part of Mosul, dodging gunfire as the terrorists closed in.

When they reached the special forces lines, males were ordered to lift their shirts to prove they weren't suicide bombers. Some had to take off their clothes or show their belts, though not those carrying children. The father was so beside himself, so panicked. It was obvious because he had a short shirt on and was carrying a child that he wasn't Islamic State

A woman poses for a photograph during Holi celebrations in the town of Barsana in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

A woman assists an injured person after a terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge in London.

On March 22, a 52-year-old Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally.

After the car was crashed into the perimeter fence of the Palace grounds, Masood abandoned it and ran into New Palace Yard where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. He was then shot by an armed police officer and died at the scene.

This was the first of the four attacks that Britain saw this year, all allegedly perpetrated by the Islamic State.

Lifeguards from the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms collect the body of a dead migrant in central Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast.

According to a study by the International Organisation for Migration, more than 22,500 migrants have reportedly died or disappeared globally since 2014 -- more than half of them perishing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

A clampdown on Europe's eastern borders has forced migrants to choose more dangerous routes as the death toll in the Mediterranean continues to rise despite a drop in the overall number of arrivals, data compiled by the UN's migration agency shows.

Men share an ice-cream in Pyongyang, North Korea.

These are one of the few images from inside the secretive nation which few people have access to. North Korea has been shut off to the rest of the world for a long, long time and amid the nuclear tests it has been carrying out, this image gives people an idea of the lives of the citizens in the impoverished country where blackouts and food shortages are commonplace.

An injured demonstrator is been helped by another protester after clashing with riot police during the so-called "mother of all marches" against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela.

2017 has been a volatile and violent year for Venezuela.

The tipping point came in March when the pro-Maduro Supreme Court essentially took over functions of the opposition-led National Assembly.

Though the controversial ruling was later modified, it was a trigger and rallying cry for the opposition, which began a campaign of street protests that ran from April to July.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Venezuela, decrying economic hardship, demanding a presidential election, urging a foreign humanitarian aid corridor, and seeking freedom for scores of jailed activists.

Slogans that read "Maduro, murderer!" and "Maduro, dictator!" began appearing on roads and walls around the country and in the chaotic months that followed, at least 125 people died, thousands were injured and thousands were jailed.

Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche! and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, gestures to supporters after the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France.

On May 14, at the age of 39, he became France's youngest president since Napoleon.

Since coming to power, he has weathered many a diplomatic storm, but one that remains etched in people's mind is his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The two when they met at the end of May shared a white-knuckled prolonged handshake, which ended only after Trump made two attempts to disengage from it.

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives with the pageboys and flower girls for the wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark's Church in Englefield, west of London on May 20.

Though Pippa's wedding wasn't a royal one, the Duchess' sister's nuptials were one spoken of in great length. Guests included the Duke of Cambridge, Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry and even tennis superstar Roger Federer and his wife Mirka.

An Indonesian man is publicly caned for having gay sex, in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia.

Although homosexuality is legal in Indonesia, with the exception of the conservative province of Aceh, there has been a steady rise in homophobic attacks, often with religious undertones, since last year.

Extensive damage is seen to the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a disastrous fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain.

London was left in shock when a fire broke out on June 14 at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of public housing flats.

The blaze caused 71 deaths and over 70 injuries. It also caused hundreds to be homeless, with many losing all of their lives' possessions in the fire.

Police and fire services believe the fire started accidentally in a fridge-freezer on the fourth floor.

The rapid growth of the fire is thought to have been accelerated by the building's exterior cladding, which is of a common type in widespread use.

People gather for Iftar (breaking fast), organised by Adaleh Foundation, amidst damaged buildings during the holy month of Ramadan in the rebel held besieged Douma neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria on June 18.

After six years of civil war, the capital resembles a ghost town.

However, a glimmer of hope arises as some people who fled the civil war years ago are contemplating a return. The Syrian war is likely to drag on for years, sustained largely by the intervention and rivalries of foreign powers. But in the seat of President Bashar Assad's government, there is a general feeling that the six-year conflict is winding down.

A banner depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in prison is seen at a protest against the introduction of Goods and Services Tax at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

The Goods and Services Tax, or as Modi called it Good and Simple Tax, was launched in July this year. However, the rollout of this tax was met with several protests, mostly carried out by the Congress, which claimed that the implementation of this new tax would break the back of small businessmen and was harmful the nation's economy.

A couple kisses each other in front of water cannon during clashes between German police and anti-G20 protesters in Hamburg, Germany.

As every G20 summit witnesses protests, this year was no different. According to Reuters, at least 75 police officers were injured in the July protests, out of which three were admitted in hospitals for treatment.

European citizens believe the international organisation has largely failed to contain and find solutions to many of the issues that threaten world peace.

The protests largely circle around the concern that the topic of discussion between the nations remains largely focused on "capitalist" agendas of the nations, and does not take immediate issues of public in its purview.

Another concern regarding the annual global summit is the overall transparency of the closed-door meetings between world leaders.

Some parts of the protests this year focused on environmental issues, with many expressing concerns that G20 countries are responsible for approximately 75 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

People who were stranded and rescued by a helicopter following heavy rain in southwestern Japan arrive in the city of Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.

The heavy downpour in July forced the evacuation of almost 400,000 people in Japan.

A rare white moose is seen in Gunnarskog, Varmland in Sweden.

A jet plane flies by the total solar eclipse in Guernsey, Wyoming US on August 21.

This was the first time in 99 years that a total solar eclipse was visible from coast to coast in the United States.

The solar eclipse was also one of the few moments in recent American past that people from all walks of life, irrespective of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation came together to witness the rare phenomenon, which will occur again only after seven years.

A rescue helicopter hovers in the background as an elderly woman and her poodle use an air mattress to float above flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey while waiting to be rescued from Scarsdale Boulevard in Houston, Texas in August.

Hurricane Harvey was the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting nearly $200 billion in damage, primarily from widespread flooding in the Houston metropolitan area. It also caused at least 91 confirmed deaths.

Revellers play with tomato pulp during the annual Tomatina festival in Bunol near Valencia, Spain.

Each year in August, the Spanish town of Bunol turns red when around 22,000 people gathered to throw 150 tonne of ripe tomatoes at each other during the Tomatina festival -- the world's biggest annual tomato fight.

The tomato fest began back in 1945 when a participant in Spain's Giants and Big-Heads parade went into a fit of rage and began pelting people with vegetables from a nearby stand.

Afghan policemen try to rescue four-year-old Ali Ahmad at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents after an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 25, 2017.

The photographer, recollecting the moment says, "It was a Friday afternoon when I got a message about an attack by Islamic State fighters on a Shi'ite mosque that had killed and wounded a great many people. I drove to the site where dozens of security forces had already arrived.

"When I saw the three armed policemen at the main entrance shouting at someone, I rushed to a safe place and saw Ali Ahmad, the boy in the picture. He had been playing while his grandfather was praying inside when the attack happened and he seemed completely confused by the sound of gunshots and police shouting. I had time to get a few shots before security forces told me to leave the area but I was sure it was a top shot and I uploaded it quickly.

"It didn't take long before the picture began to be shared widely on social media. I think people reacted to the picture of a little child who didn't know what was happening with all this brutality going on around him. Ali's grandfather was killed inside the mosque but I learned later that the boy was rescued by security forces."

A Burning Man participant evades a chasing firefighter and falls into the flames of the 'Man Burn' after evading the attempted tackles of multiple rangers and law enforcement personnel at the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Every year in the month of September, thousands gather for seven days of radical self-expression atop tricked out vehicles at the Burning Man festival.

However, this year the festival was marred when a man, later identified as 41-year-old Aaron Joel Mitchell, died after running into the towering blaze for which Burning Man is named.

Mitchell broke through two levels of security guards protecting the area where the "Man" was burning. Fire personnel attempted to pull him out but falling portions of the burning structure hindered their efforts. Rescuers had to wait until the structure fell before they could go back into the flames and safely extract him from the debris, the sheriff said.

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, Bangladesh.

Hamida, her husband Nasir Ahmed and their young children were among 18 Rohingya refugees on a small fishing boat crossing the Bay of Bengal to the Bangladesh village of Shah Porir Dwip.

As the family touched shore in Teknaf, Bangladesh, the boat capsized. Hamida survived, but Abdul Masood, her 40-day-old child, drowned.

Reuters Photographer Mohammad Ponir Hossain was taking photographs of exhausted refugees on the beach when he heard an autorickshaw driver shouting that a boat had capsized.

"I rushed to the spot and found people crying over the dead body of a child," Ponir was quoted as saying.

Around 500,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine, risking death over land -- the Myanmarese army has been accused of planting land mines to prevent the Rohingya from fleeing -- and on the ocean, to live in inhuman conditions in refugee camps on their arrival in Bangladesh.

Britain's Prince Harry arrives with actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in September.

This was the first time we saw the British royal with his girlfriend in public. Later in November, Kensington Palace announced that the two were engaged and would get married in May 2018 at Windsor Castle.

Meghan, better known to play the role of Rachel Zane in the TV drama Suits, also met the Queen and other royals for Christmas, a break in royal protocol. In the past the Queen's Christmas lunch is reserved for members of the royal family only.

Artists dressed as Hindu gods Rama and Laxman act as fireworks explode during Dussehra festival celebrations in Chandigarh. (September)

A pair of cowboy boots is shown in the street outside the concert venue after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, leaving 58 people dead and 546 injured.

The shooter, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, fired more than 1,100 rounds from his suite on the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel. About an hour after Paddock fired his last shot into the crowd of 22,000, he was found dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the United States. The shooting reignited the debate about gun laws in the US.

Anfisa, a 12-year-old female chimpanzee, picks its nose at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in a suburb of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Actor Rose McGowan raises her fist after addressing the audience during the opening session of the three-day Women's Convention at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan in October.

After the New York Time report outing the Harvey Weinstein scandal, McGowan emerged as one of the more outspoken women talking about sexual harassment in the industry.

In fact, it was reported that she was part of a settlement involving movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in an alleged sexual harassment case.

On October 10, 2017, McGowan stated that Harvey Weinstein had behaved inappropriately with her. She accused actor Ben Affleck of lying after Affleck said in a statement that he was "angry" over Weinstein's alleged abuse of women, but did not indicate whether he knew about it.Via Twitter, she also attacked other men in the movie industry, tweeting, "All of you Hollywood 'A-list' golden boys are LIARS....You all knew."

Pro-unity supporters take part in a demonstration in central Barcelona in Spain.

Barcelona witnessed some violent protests in October when the Spanish region of Catalonia held a controversial referendum on independence. Spain's highest court ruled the vote illegal under the Spanish constitution.

A firefighter is seen near flames from a forest fire in Cabanoes, near Lousa, Portugal.

The October fires, second in the year, was a series of more than 7,900 forest fires affecting Northern Portugal and Northwestern Spain between October 13 and 18. The wildfires claimed the lives of at least 49 individuals, including 45 in Portugal and four in Spain, and dozens more were injured.

US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania visit the Forbidden City with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China.

In the first week of November, the US president and First Lady were shown the rare honour of spending hours in the ancient enclave on a personal tour with Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan, sipping tea, and inspecting rare Chinese cultural treasures.

China is seeking to build on the personal friendship that Trump perceives has developed since his first meeting with Xi at Mar-a-Lago in April, and in subsequent phone calls.

The flattery was interpreted by some analysts as a tactic to blunt the calls of China hawks in the White House administration, as the US investigates alleged China trade and intellectual property violations, and explores a new Indo-Pacific strategic grouping in the region to balance or contain China's rise.

Trump's visit to Beijing came on the back of successful trips to Tokyo and Seoul, where he was lavished with praise by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Moon Jae-in.

A dead whale is seen on the shore of Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 15.

According to marine scientists, 103 whales have died on Brazilian shores this year.

Rahul Gandhi, newly elected president of the Congress party, kisses the forehead of his mother and leader of the party Sonia Gandhi after taking charge as the president during a ceremony at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on December 16.

Rahul is the fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to be the president of the 132-year-old party. Before him, his mother, Sonia, was the president of the party for 19 years.

A woman prays as she touches the carcass of an elephant, who according to forest officials was electrocuted early morning in a paddy field at Kuruabahi village, in Nagaon district in Assam. (December)

According to data available, 40 elephants have died in the last 100 days in Assam. All of them have been killed due to unnatural causes, with the primary reasons being mowing down by moving train, electrocution, poisoning and accidentally falling in ditches especially in tea garden areas.

Conservationists point out that elephant reserves in the state do not enjoy the same level of protection as national parks. They fear the large-scale deforestation of elephant habitats, which lie outside protected areas, has endangered the survival of elephants.