As the end of the year approaches, here is a look back at some of the major news events and moments of 2022. Russian troops invaded Ukraine and were met with stronger resistance than they had expected, leaving thousands dead or injured, and sparking an ongoing brutal conflict. Countries around the world grappled with the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Dramatic droughts, floods, and wildfires offered further evidence of our changing climate. The right to abortion was struck down in the United States, setting off massive protests. NASA took its next steps toward human exploration of the moon with its Artemis program, and much more. Here, we present the top 25 news photos of 2022. Be sure to check back throughout the week for more comprehensive stories, presented as “2022: The Year in Photos, Parts 1–3.”
Top 25 News Photos of 2022
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This image posted on Twitter reportedly on October 26, 2022, shows an unveiled woman standing on top of a vehicle as thousands make their way toward Aichi Cemetery in Saqez, Mahsa Amini's hometown in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan. To mark 40 days since Amini's death, the crowd defied heightened security measures that were part of a bloody crackdown on women-led protests. A wave of unrest rocked Iran after the death of 22-year-old Amini on September 16, following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the country's strict rules on headscarves and modest clothing. #
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One of the first images from NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope: a view of the edge of a nearby young, star-forming region called NGC 3324, in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on JWST, this image reveals previously obscured areas of star birth. Called the "Cosmic Cliffs," the region is actually the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, roughly 7,600 light-years away. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. #
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team -
Vehicles rest on a bridge in Frick Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, following its collapse on January 28, 2022. Rescuers had to rappel nearly 150 feet (45 meters), while others formed a human chain to help rescue people from a dangling bus. #
Gene J. Puskar / AP -
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The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, part of the Tongan archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, seen from the Himawari 8 weather satellite, on January 15, 2022. The violent volcanic eruption spewed ash 24 miles into the sky, triggered a tsunami, and sent shock waves through the atmosphere that circled the globe. #
Japan Meteorological Agency -
People mourn at a makeshift memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022. Texas police faced months of angry questions over why it took an hour to neutralize the gunman who murdered 19 small children and two teachers in Uvalde, as video emerged of desperate parents begging officers to storm the school. #
Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty -
From left: Tyler Johnston; his fiancé, Keenan Mestas-Holmes; and Altas Pretzeus embrace while paying their respects at a memorial for the victims of the mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on November 20, 2022. #
Jason Connolly / AFP / Getty -
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U.S.A. coach Andrea Fuentes swims to rescue U.S.A.'s Anita Alvarez from the bottom of a pool during an incident in the women's Artistic Swimming Solo Free Finals, during the Budapest 2022 World Aquatics Championships, at the Alfréd Hajós Swimming Complex, on June 22, 2022. Alvarez had fainted in the pool but recovered after her rescue. #
Oli Scarff / AFP / Getty -
Noah Lyles of Team U.S.A. celebrates winning gold in the men's 200-meter final on day seven of the 2022 World Athletics Championships, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on July 21, 2022. #
Steph Chambers / Getty -
A military instructor teaches civilians holding wooden replicas of Kalashnikov rifles, during a training session at an abandoned factory in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on January 30, 2022. At the time, fears were growing about a potential invasion by Russian troops that had massed on Ukraine's border. #
Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty -
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Helena, a 53-year-old teacher, stands outside a hospital after the bombing of the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv on February 24, 2022, as Russian armed forces attempt to invade the country from several directions, hours after President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a major offensive. #
Aris Messinis / AFP / Getty -
The body of a Russian serviceman lies in the snow near destroyed Russian military vehicles on the roadside on the outskirts of Kharkiv on February 26, 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Estimates of the total number of soldiers and civilians killed or injured in the months-long invasion range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. #
Sergey Bobok / AFP / Getty -
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A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street on April 6, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has accused Russian forces of committing a "deliberate massacre" as they occupied and eventually retreated from Bucha, 15.5 miles northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies were found in the days after Ukrainian forces regained control of the town. #
Chris McGrath / Getty -
Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Moscow on February 24, 2022. Thousands of protesters were detained as security forces cracked down on anti-war demonstrations across the country. #
Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty -
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People hold up blank sheets of paper in protest over COVID-19 restrictions in Beijing, China, on November 28, 2022. In a country where citizens are closely monitored and censored, blank sheets of paper have become a silent anti-government protest. #
Thomas Peter / Reuters -
A pro-abortion-rights demonstrator stands in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2022, a day after the Court released the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision striking down the right to abortion. Abortion-rights defenders fanned out across America on June 25 for a second day of protest against the Court's ruling, as conservative states moved swiftly to ban the procedure. #
Stefani Reynolds / AFP / Getty -
Exposed rock is seen near intake tubes at Hoover Dam, in Boulder City, Nevada, on April 17, 2022. Water levels there have declined dramatically—to lows not seen since the Lake Mead reservoir was filled after its construction—as climate change and growing demand for its water shrink the Colorado River and create many challenges. #
Caitlin Ochs / Reuters -
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Flames engulf a chair inside a burning home as the Oak Fire burns in Mariposa County, California, on July 23, 2022. The Oak Fire was one of more than 7,300 wildfires in California this year, and it burned nearly 20,000 acres. #
Noah Berger / AP -
An aerial picture taken on September 30, 2022, shows the only access to the Matlacha neighborhood destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida. #
Ricardo Arduengo / AFP / Getty -
A son and daughter embrace their father, a COVID-19 patient in the ICU, before his intubation procedure at Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California, on January 25, 2022. #
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters -
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A view of the Earth and the moon is seen on November 28, 2022, by NASA's Orion spacecraft as it reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission, about 268,550 miles away from our home planet. Orion has now traveled farther than any other spacecraft built for humans. #
NASA -
Serena Williams celebrates after defeating Montenegro's Danka Kovinić during their 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament women's-singles first-round match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, on August 29, 2022. Williams was set to take center stage as the competition began; the 23-time Grand Slam winner was preparing to bid an emotional farewell to tennis. #
Corey Sipkin / AFP / Getty -
Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge holds his ears as he stands next to Queen Elizabeth II to watch a special flyover from the Buckingham Palace balcony following the Queen's Birthday Parade, Trooping the Colour, as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in London on June 2, 2022. #
Daniel Leal / AFP / Getty -
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