From political crises in Syria and Ukraine, to three aircraft disasters, via the rise of Islamist terrorism and anti-police violence in the US, 2014 was a year of conflict.
IBTimesUK presents the year's most powerful and moving photographs.
7 January: Men help a wounded boy who survived an air strike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighbourhood of DamascusBassam Khabieh/Reuters14 February: A man holds a baby saved from under rubble after an air strike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Masaken Hanano in AleppoHosam Katan/Reuters18 February: 22-year-old beauty queen and opposition activist Genesis Carmona is carried away on a motorcycle after being shot in the head, during a protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Valencia, VenezuelaMauricio Centeno-Notitarde/Reuters20 February: Anti-government protesters clash with police and pro-Russian activists in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, during the Euromaidan protestsJeff J Mitchell/Getty Images22 February: People carry the coffin of a man who was killed during EuromaidanBulent Kilic/AFP23 February: People lay flowers and pay their respects at a memorial for anti-government protesters killed during the Euromaidan protests in the UkraineBrendan Hoffman/Getty Images24 March: A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 cries at the Lido hotel in BeijingJason Lee/Reuters26 March: An X-ray film shows a bullet lodged in 18-month-old Satrin Osinya's skull, at the Kenyatta hospital in Nairobi, three days after gunmen spraying bullets on the congregation killed six worshippers in MombasaSimon Maina/AFP16 April: The South Korean ferry Sewol sinks into the sea off Jindo, taking with her 304 passengers, mostly childrenKim Hong-Ji/Reuters29 April: Mark Wade looks for his belongings among the ruins of his home after the area was hit by a tornado in Vilonia, Arkansas. Deadly tornadoes ripped through the region, leaving at least 12 deadMark Wilson/Getty Images30 April: Women react during a protest demanding security forces search harder for 200 schoolgirls abducted from an all-girls secondary school in the Nigerian village of Chibok by Islamist militants from Boko HaramAfolabi Sotunde/Reuters5 May: Grief-stricken people wait for aid after a landslide engulfed their homes in the Argo district of Badakhshan province, AfghanistanMohammad Ismail/Reuters26 May: People react as a man attempts to revive another, wounded as a result of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops in the eastern Ukrainian city of SlavyanskViktor Drachev/AFP28 May: A South Sudanese child displaced by the fighting in Malakal and suffering from malnutrition, cries as he is washed by a nurse at a feeding centre run by Medicins sans Frontiers in Kodok, Fashoda countyAndreea Campeanu/Reuters3 June: A man carries a young girl who was injured in a reported barrel-bomb attack by government forces in Kallaseh district in the northern city of AleppoBaraa al-Halabi/AFP5 June: World War Two veteran Fred Holborn, from the Fleet Air Arm, salutes as he looks at Union flags carrying thank you messages planted in the sand on Gold beach near Asnelles, France, a day before the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landingsPeter Macdiarmid/Getty Images21 June: Fireworks are set off at a local party in the background as police patrol the area around a man who was shot in Naples, ItalyCiro de Luca/Reuters13 July: The son of one of 18 members of Tayseer Al-Batsh's family who were killed in an Israeli air strike, mourns during their funeral in Gaza CityMohammed Salem/Reuters18 July: Children's toys and books are seen among passengers' belongings strewn at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near Grabovo in the Donetsk region of UkraineMaxim Zmeyev/Reuters19 July: A body lies in a wheat field at the site of the crash of the Malaysia Airlines plane that was shot down in rebel-held eastern UkraineAlexander Khudoteply/AFP22 July: Zhang Yongli, whose daughter Zhang Qi was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on 8 March, looks at his daughter's toys at home in BeijingKim Kyung Hoon/Reuters24 July: A man holds a Dutch flag at half-mast as hearses carrying the remains of victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster arrive in the Netherlands from UkraineToussaint Kluiters/United Photos/Reuters26 July: A Palestinian woman cries amid destroyed buildings in Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip during a brief humanitarian truceMohammed Abed/AFP28 July: Palestinian mourners cry at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital after an explosion killed at least seven children in a public playground in the beachfront Shati refugee campMahmud Hams/AFP4 August: Mao Changxue changes his son's clothes after the boy's body was dug out from the debris of their home destroyed by an earthquake in Longtoushan town, Yunnan province, ChinaReuters11 August: Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar, walk towards the Syrian borderRodi Said/Reuters15 August: Umu Fambulle stands over her husband Ibrahim after he staggered and fell, knocking him unconscious in an Ebola ward in Monrovia, LiberiaJohn Moore/Getty Images21 August: Tarek al-Rifi, the father of one of three children killed in an Israeli military strike, reacts at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospitalRoberto Schmidt/AFP25 August: Michael Brown Sr yells out as his son's coffin is lowered into the ground at St Peter's Cemetery in St Louis, MissouriRichard Perry/Reuters10 October: A woman throws a handful of soil towards the body of her sister as Ebola burial team members take her for cremation in Monrovia, LiberiaJohn Moore/Getty Images16 October: A girl from the Pokot tribe cries after being circumcised in a village in Baringo County, rural Kenya. More than a quarter of girls and women in Kenya have undergone genital cutting, according to United Nations data, despite a government ban on the life-threatening practiceSiegfried Modola/Reuters22 October: A golfer hits a tee shot as African migrants sit on a border fence during an attempt to cross into Spanish territories between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of MelillaJose Palazon/Reuters3 December: Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke cries as he speaks in front of the Baggy Green and other caps belonging to cricketer Phillip Hughes, during his funeral service in the town of Macksville, north of SydneyCameron Spencer/Reuters16 December: Women mourn their relative Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taliban gunmen on the Army Public School in Peshawar, PakistanZohra Bensemra/ReutersDecember 30, 2014: A passenger's relative reacts after seeing an unidentified floating dead body during a search and rescue mission with Indonesian military personnel over the Java Sea for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501Juni Kriswanto/AFP
