2015 has seen no lack of big news stories. In the past year, we saw the rise of Donald Trump on the campaign trail, a change in House leadership, major global events that ignited fierce debates back home, and civil unrest in communities across the nation.
Here's a look back on the biggest news events in 2015.
Jan. 7, 2015: People gather to pay respect for the victims of a terror attack against a satirical newspaper in Paris. Masked gunmen shouting "Allahu akbar!" stormed the Paris offices of a satirical newspaper, killing 12 people, including the paper's editor, before escaping in a getaway car. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Jan. 8, 2015: French riot officers patrol in Longpont, north of Paris. Scattered gunfire and explosions shook the city as its frightened yet defiant citizens held a day of mourning for 12 people slain at the Paris newspaper Charlie Hebdo. French police hunted down the two heavily armed brothers suspected in the massacre. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) March 3, 2015: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. In a speech that stirred political intrigue in two countries, Netanyahu told Congress that negotiations underway between Iran and the U.S. would "all but guarantee" that Tehran will get nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) March 8, 2015: A large crowd moves in a symbolic walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," a civil rights march in which protesters were beaten, trampled, and tear-gassed by police at the bridge. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) March 17, 2015: Robert Durst is transported from Orleans Parish Criminal District Court to the Orleans Parish Prison after his arraignment on murder charges in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) April 11, 2015: Cuban President Raul Castro, left, and President Obama meet at the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama. It was the first formal meeting between leaders of the two countries in more than half a century, clearing the way for a normalization of relations that had seemed unthinkable to both Cubans and Americans for generations. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) April 28, 2015: A protester throws a tear-gas canister back toward riot police after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect in the wake of riots following the funeral for Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Gray suffered a spinal injury in police custody and later died. (AP Photo/David Goldman) April 29, 2015: The Baltimore Orioles bat against the Chicago White Sox during a baseball game without fans in Baltimore. Due to security concerns in the wake of riots following the funeral for Freddie Gray, the game was closed to the public. (AP Photo/Gail Burton) May 13, 2015: Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment in Philadelphia. The Amtrak train had been headed to New York City. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) May 27, 2015: Activists of the international campaigning and advocacy organization ONE install illuminated balloons with portraits of the G7 heads of state in front of the Frauenkirche cathedral (Church of Our Lady) prior to the G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Dresden, Germany. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) June 4, 2015: Vice President Joe Biden, center, pauses alongside his family as they prepare to enter a visitation for his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, at Legislative Hall in Dover, Delaware. Beau Biden died of brain cancer on May 30 at age 46. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) June 8, 2015: German chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with Obama at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany during the G-7 summit. (Michaek Kappeler/Pool Photo via AP) June 9, 2015: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrives at the federal courthouse in Chicago for his arraignment on charges that he broke federal banking laws and lied about the money when questioned by the FBI. The indictment alleged Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to someone from his days as a high school teacher not to reveal a secret about past misconduct. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) June 19, 2015: Dylann Roof appears at a bond hearing court in North Charleston, South Carolina Roof was accused of killing nine people inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston on June 17. (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier) June 25, 2015: Obama walks with Biden back to the Oval Office after speaking in the Rose Garden after the Supreme Court upheld the subsidies for customers in states that do not operate their own exchanges under Obama's Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) June 25, 2015: Brandon Risher, left, is pulled away by a friend as he cries over the casket of his grandmother, Ethel Lance, following her burial service in Charleston. Lance was one of the nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church. (AP Photo/David Goldman) June 26, 2015: Balloons spell out the word "love" over the Supreme Court in Washington, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the U.S. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) June 28, 2015: Police stand over David Sweat after he was shot and captured near the Canadian border in Constable, New York. Sweat was the second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape from a maximum-security prison in northern New York. His capture came two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorities. (AP Photo, File) July 4, 2015: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton flexes her muscles with Miss Teen New Hampshire Allie Nault, center, and Miss New Hampshire Holly Blanchard, during a Fourth of July parade in Gorham, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) July 10, 2015: An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway patrol removes the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds in Columbia, ending its 54-year presence there. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) July 22, 2015: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie gets his microphone and makeup prepared for his appearance on "The Five" on the Fox News Channel, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) July 29, 2015: Protesters gather outside Dr. Walter James Palmer's dental office in Bloomington, Minnesota. Palmer killed Cecil, a black-maned lion, just outside Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, File) Aug. 12, 2015: Water flows through a series of retention ponds built to contain and filter out heavy metals and chemicals from the Gold King mine wastewater accident, in the spillway about 1/4 mile downstream from the mine, outside Silverton, Colorado. The Environmental Protection Agency took full responsibility for the mine waste spoiling rivers downstream from Silverton, but people who live near the idled and leaking Gold King mine say local authorities and mining companies spent decades spurning federal cleanup help. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Aug. 13, 2015: Migrants on a dinghy arrive at the island of Kos, Greece, after crossing from Turkey. Greece became a gateway to Europe for tens of thousands of refugees and economic migrants, mainly Syrians fleeing war, as fighting in Libya made the alternative route from north Africa to Italy increasingly dangerous. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) Aug. 19, 2015: Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle leaves the Federal Courthouse in Indianapolis following a hearing on child-pornography charges. Fogle agreed to plead guilty to allegations that he paid for sex acts with minors and received child pornography, in a case that destroyed his career at the sandwich-shop chain and sent him to prison for a 15-year sentence. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) Aug. 23, 2015: Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown in Plains, Georgia. The 90-year-old Carter gave one lesson to about 300 people filling the small Baptist church that he and his wife, Rosalynn, attend. It was Carter's first lesson since detailing the intravenous drug doses and radiation treatment planned to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) Aug. 25, 2015: Miami-based Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, left, asks Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a question about his immigration proposal during a news conference in Dubuque, Iowa. Ramos was later removed from the room. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Aug. 27, 2015: WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, second from right, and meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner, right, are joined by visiting anchor Steve Grant, second from left, and Dr. Thomas Milam, of the Carilion Clinic, as they observe a moment of silence during the early morning newscast at the station, in Roanoke, Virginia. The moment of silence was at the moment reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed during a live broadcast on Aug. 26 while on assignment in Moneta. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Sept. 1, 2015: Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, right, talks with David Moore following her office's refusal to issue marriage licenses at the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead, Kentucky. Although her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied, Davis still refused to issue marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) Sept. 16, 2015: Ahmed Mohamed, 14, thanks supporters during a news conference at his home, in Irving, Texas. The arrest and three-day suspension of Mohamed, whose teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb, led to widespread ridicule of school officials and accusations that Islamophobia may have played a part. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade) Sept. 24, 2015: Biden and House Speaker John Boehner listen to Pope Francis address a joint meeting of Congress, making history as the first pontiff to do so. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Sept. 25, 2015: First lady Michelle Obama and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan, reveal the name of the panda born Aug. 22 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. The name is Bei Bei, which means “precious treasure.” It was chosen by both the Chinese and American first ladies. They were assisted by students from Yu Ying Public Charter School, a Chinese-immersion, International Baccalaureate school. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Oct. 2, 2015: Obama pats Education Secretary Arne Duncan's back in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington as Duncan announced that he would be stepping down in December after seven years in the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Oct. 5, 2015: Faculty members embrace as they are allowed to return to Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The campus reopened to faculty for the first time since Oct. 1, when armed suspect Chris Harper-Mercer killed multiple people and wounded several others before taking his own life at Snyder Hall. (AP Photo/John Locher) Oct. 10, 2015: Neal Blair, of Augusta, Georgia, wears a hoodie which reads, "Black Lives Matter" as he stands on the lawn of the Capitol building during a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Black men from around the nation returned to the capital calling for changes in policing and in black communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Oct. 22, 2015: Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Oct. 25, 2015: A column of migrants moves through fields after crossing from Croatia, in Rigonce, Slovenia. Thousands of people were trying to reach central and northern Europe via the Balkans, but often had to wait for days in mud and rain at the Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian borders. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File) Oct. 29, 2015: Outgoing Speaker John Boehner stands with his successor Paul Ryan in the House chamber. Republicans rallied behind Ryan to elect him the House's 54th speaker as a splintered GOP turned to the youthful but battle-tested lawmaker to mend its self-inflicted wounds and craft a conservative message to woo voters in next year's elections. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Nov. 9, 2015: Members of the black student protest group Concerned Student 1950 raise their arms while addressing a crowd following the announcement that University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe would resign at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Wolfe resigned with the football team and others on campus in open revolt over his handling of racial tensions at the school. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) Nov. 13, 2015: A victim of a terrorist attack lies dead outside the Bataclan theater in Paris. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) Nov. 24, 2015: Police officers patrol the Grand Place in central Brussels, Belgium. The lockdown closed the capital's subways and schools. Officials recommended that popular shopping districts be shuttered and advised people to avoid public places since they could be targeted by terrorists. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) Nov. 27, 2015: An officer stands guard near a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A gunman opened fire at the clinic, killing three people. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Dec. 6, 2015: Obama addresses the nation from the Oval Office. The president announced no significant shift in U.S. strategy and offered no new policy prescriptions for defeating the Islamic State, underscoring both his confidence in his current approach and the lack of easy options for countering the extremist group. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP) Dec. 7, 2015: Gary Mendoza and his son Michael pay their respects at a makeshift memorial site honoring shooting victims in San Bernardino, California. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Dec. 9, 2015: Abigail Fisher, a Texan who challenged the use of race in college admissions, walks with her lawyer, Bert Rein, following oral arguments in the Supreme Court in a case that could cut back on or even eliminate affirmative action in higher education. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
