2018: The year in photos

Thomas Mukoya took this photo of a major fire in Nairobi's Kijiji slum on January 28. The entire settlement burned to the ground as fire fighters ran out of water and struggled to access the area. Four residents died in the flames and more than 6,000 lost their homes.

American porn star Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, goes through security at a New York court. She claims to have had a sexual affair with Donald Trump and says she received $130,000 from Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen to keep the encounter secret — though she later went ahead and spilled the beans anyway.

Members of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) perform a Nazi ritual somewhere in the state of Georgia. The image was captured by photographer Go Nakamura, who was allowed to attend the ceremony. The NSM was part of the notorious far-right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. American civil rights activists fear right-wing extremists and white supremacists could gain ground in the US.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands at the "Truce Village" of Panmunjom in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Both reiterated their willingness to cease hostilities against one another. Relations between both countries are beginning to thaw, but the North's nuclear program remains an issue.

This picture was taken by Reuters photographer Omar Sobhani in Kabul, Afghanistan seconds after a suicide bomber detonated his explosive device amid a crowd of people. Sobhani was injured in the right shoulder, and eight other journalists were killed. They had flocked to area to report on a terror attack that had occurred just half an hour earlier.

The French national football squad celebrate their manager Didier Deschamps after winning the 2018 World Cup. "Les Bleus" beat Croatia 4:2 in a thrilling final that had fans on the edge of their seats. The German side, which won the previous World Cup in 2014, were knocked out in the group phase.

In 2018 Germany experienced its driest summer on record, which left farmers seriously worried about their crops and caused many rivers and lakes to dry up. The Rhine River, pictured here near Düsseldorf, was partly closed to shipping traffic, causing gasoline shortages. No wonder then that "Heisszeit" (which roughly means "hot age") was voted the 2018 Word of the Year in Germany.

On August 1, Ayah wore a niqab on the streets of Copenhagen to protest the Danish government's ban on face veils. Instead of arresting her for breaking the law, this police officer instead gave her a hug. Danes reacted both positively and negatively to the picture, with some lauding the policewoman while others demanded she be sacked.

When it comes to the so-called family photo at EU summits, like this one in Salzburg, British Prime Minister Theresa May is the odd (wo)man out — and it's not just because most European heads of government are male. Rather, it's because May is leading the UK out of the EU. With Brexit just months away, May is increasingly finding herself facing mounting domestic criticism and a united EU bloc.

A stuffed bunny rabbit and a bucket of clothes: Those were the only possessions this woman still had after a tsunami struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in September. The woman's house was wrecked, and her three children were missing. The natural disaster took the lives of more than 2,000 people, with many thousands more missing.

A Palestinian man and Israeli soldier argue over Israel's decision to close a Palestinian school near Nablus in the West Bank. Their dispute symbolizes the wider political conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli leadership, with both sides unwilling to make concessions or compromise.

Luis Acosta holds 5-year-old Angel Jesus as they cross Suchiate River, which separates Guatemala and Mexico. They are part of the migrant caravan that set off from Central America with the aim reaching the US, no matter the obstacles in their way. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, lambasted the migrants, called it an "invasion."

US President Trump is not particularly fond of journalists, either. One day after the US mid-term elections on November 6, he angrily refused to take CNN journalist Jim Acosta's questions at a White House press conference. A White House aide grabbed Acosta's microphone, and the journalist's press pass was temporarily suspended afterwards.

In early November 2018, a major fire swept across the gorgeous Californian beach town of Malibu, which many celebrities call home. At least 85 people died and many luxury homes were burned to the ground. German television host Thomas Gottschalk, too, lost his Malibu house. But he took the bad news reasonably well, saying, "There is far greater suffering elsewhere in the world."

This image shows Saleh Hassan al-Faqeh holding the hand of his 4-month-old daughter Hajar, who died of malnutrition at a hospital in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Yemen has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2014, fueled in part by Saudi-Arabia and Iran. Statistics show that a child dies in Yemen every ten minutes.

"It was an honor." Those were the last words of Angela Merkel's final speech as the party leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). After 18 years in charge of the party, Merkel was replaced at the CDU helm by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Observers have now begun speculating if Merkel, who remains Germany's chancellor, will relinquish her government leadership before her tenure is up.

Life for most Europeans is comparatively good. They've been spared the violent conflict and catastrophically destructive natural disasters that plague people elsewhere. And yet people in Germany, France, Belgium (pictured) and elsewhere have worries, including low wages, rising rents, falling pensions and price inflation, and have taken to the streets in anger over government policy.