In a year of change, deep division and an unrelenting pandemic, tenuous signs of hope emerged. It might not be a year you want to remember, but 2021 is one you will never forget. Here is the top news photograpy from the past year:

Washington DC, USA, January 6: Trespassers faced off against police officers outside the Senate chamber. Hundreds of people were later arrested and charged in connection with the riot (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

Washington DC, USA, January 20: Joe Biden brings the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Agreement.

Rome, Italy, February 3: Designated Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks to media after having accepted from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the mandate to form a new Government, following the resignation of Giuseppe Conte (Roberto Monaldo/Am Pool/Getty Images).

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 4: Characteristic architecture of EXPO 2020 Terra Sustainability Pavilion for the postponed EXPO held in 2021 in Dubai.

Auckland, New Zealand, March 17: Team New Zealand retained the America’s Cup, defeating Luna Rossa from Italy in race 10 to win the Auld Mug in front of a packed crowd in Auckland (Gilles Martin-Raget/Afp)

Istanbul, Turkey, April 7: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is relegated to a sofa in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.

London, Great Britain, April 9: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-lived male member of the British royal family, died aged 99.

Kabul, Afghanistan, May 2: An American soldier sat aboard a Chinook helicopter as U.S. troops began their withdrawal from the country, loading up ammunition and supplies from Kandahar Airfield (Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times)

Beijing, China, June 29: Performers gather around the Communist Party flag during a gala show ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, China. June 2021 (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

London, Great Britain, July 11: Italy won the European Championship for the first time since 1968 as Gianluigi Donnarumma saved two England penalties in the Wembley final (Reuters)

Tokyo, Japan, august 1: Marcel Jacobs shocked the world as he claimed a stunning victory in the men's 100m at the Tokyo Olympics. It capped a glorious few minutes for Italy at the Olympic Stadium with Jacobs' victory coming shortly after Gianmarco Tamberi's gold medal in the high jump (Anderrsen/Afp/Getty Images)

Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15: Taliban fighters met little resistance as they entered the capital, effectively sealing control of the country as its president fled and a government backed by the United States collapsed (Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times)

Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20: Before the city fell, Khalil Haqqani appeared at a mosque to help establish Taliban authority. When the Taliban declared a caretaker government, they appointed many loyalists, including Mr. Haqqani, from their rule in the 1990s (Victor J. Blue for The New York Times)

Berlin, Germany, September 26: After 16 years beset by crises and critics, german cancellor Angela Merke, arguably the world’s most powerful woman, stepped down from the world stage (Georg Wendt / dpa via AP)

La Palma, Canary Islands, October 30: A house peeked through an ash-covered landscape more than a month after the Cumbre Vieja volcano first erupted, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people (Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press)

Roubaix, Belgium October 3: A mud-spattered Sonny Colbrelli won a three-way cat-and-mouse struggle to claim victory in the epic Paris-Roubaix bike race in dreadful conditions (Luca Bettini/BettiniPhoto)