As the year comes to a close, The Malaysian Insight takes a look back at some of the most memorable events and images of 2017 around the globe. – December 23, 2017.
Hundreds of Rohingya enter Bangladesh from Budichong, Myanmar through the Palongkhali border in Coxsbazar, Bangladesh, on October 9, after crossing the Naf river. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since October last year. – EPA pic.A demonstrator catches fire during clashes with riot police during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s continued rule, in Caracas on May 3. Venezuela's angry opposition vow huge street protests should the president persist in rewriting the constitution to cling to power. – AFP pic.Tirtha Maya Rai, aged 100, laughs while out on a walk at Nepal's only government-run care home for the aged, Pashupati Briddhashram in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 20. By 2050, the number of people over 65 in Asia is predicted to triple, and while ageing populations are a global issue, Asian nations are at the visible forefront of the change. The burden of caring for the elderly has hit Asia especially hard as the concept of homes is not traditional in many Asian nations, as it is in the West. For those without a caring family, life can be harsh without a social system to fall back on. Tirtha Maya as a baby was left by her parents on the bank of Bagmati River. She has lived at the old age home since and has never married. – EPA pic.Palestinians run for cover as smoke rises following an Israeli air strike on a Hamas post, in northern Gaza Strip on February 6. Israel struck a number of Hamas positions in Gaza after a 'projectile' fired from the Palestinian enclave crashed in a border area, the Israeli army said. – AFP pic. A man waters herbs on the roof of the damaged building of his home in the rebel-held town of Arbin, in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on March 3. – AFP pic.Mohammed Mohiedin Anis, or Abu Omar, 70, smokes his pipe as he sits in his destroyed bedroom listening to music on his gramophone, in the al-Shaar neighbourhood in Aleppo formerly held by the rebels. – AFP pic. A rhino charges a Nepalese forestry and technical team after being released in a relocation project in Shuklaphanta National Park, some 510km from Kathmandu on April 4. Conservationists on April 3 captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal in an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers. Five rhinos, one male and four female are to released into a national park in Nepal's far west in the coming week in the hope of establishing a new breeding group. – AFP pic. French CRS anti-riot police officers are engulfed in flames in clash with protesters in a march for the annual May Day workers' rally in Paris on May 1. – AFP pic. Police man a security cordon as a fire consumes Grenfell Tower early June 14, in west London. The massive fire ripped through the 27-storey apartment block in the early hours, trapping residents inside as 200 firefighters battled the blaze. Months after the fire, police say the final death toll stands at 71. – AFP pic. A Libyan coast guardsman stands on a boat during a rescue of 147 illegal immigrants attempting to reach Europe, off the coastal town of Zawiyah, 45m west of the capital Tripoli, on June 27. More than 8,000 migrants have been rescued in waters off Libya in the preceding 48 hours in difficult weather conditions. – AFP pic.Dead Rohingya Muslim refugees lie on the shore of Inani beach, near Cox's Bazar on September 28. At least 10 children and four women were killed when a boat carrying Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized off Bangladesh. – AFP pic.A man covers a woman with his body as chaos breaks out at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after a shooter is reported, on October 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. A gunman opened fire on the music festival, killing 58 people and and injuring many more. – AFP pic.A woman cries as she looks at her house in Raqa on October 20, after a Kurdish-led force expelled the Islamic State group from the northern Syrian city. For three years, Raqa saw some of IS's worst abuses and served as a main governance hub, a centre for both its propaganda machine and its unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood. – AFP pic.Lanterns are released into the air as Thais celebrate the Yee Peng festival, also known as the festival of lights, in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on November 3. The occasion is held as a mark of respect to the Buddha. – AFP pic.Bulgarian men jump into the icy waters of a lake to recover a wooden cross during celebrations on Epiphany Fay in Sofia, Bulgaria, on January 6. Swimmers are competing to find a cross thrown into the water by an Eastern Orthodox priest. The tradition is believed to bring health and luck in the new ear. – AFP pic.Birds fly in the sky against a backdrop of the moon during a penumbral lunar eclipse, over the island of Petatan, in the municipality of Cojumatan, Michoacan State, Mexico, on February 10. The phenomenon of the penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when Earth, almost aligned in a straight line with the sun and the moon, blocks some of the sun's light from reaching the moon's surface. – EPA pic.Green algae thrive on a beach in Kuwait City, Kuwait on Feburary 28. The luxuriant growth is a yearly phenomenon on Kuwaiti shores. – EPA pic.People enjoy the cherry blossoms at Yuyuantan Park in Beijing, China, on March 27. The park with nearly 200,000 plants, including about 2,000 cherry trees of more than 20 species, is favoured by both tourists and locals. – EPA pic.Children bathe with the buffaloes in the Tawi River on the outskirts of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, India, on a hot April 27 afternoon. India is experiencing scorching heat as temperatures breach 40 degrees Celsius across the country. – EPA pic.Demonstrators and police clash in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 26, as thousands take to the streets in protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. – EPA picNepalese and Thai Buddhist monks attend evening prayer at Mayadevi temple to mark Buddha's birthday in Lumbini, Nepal, on May 9. Thousands of Buddhist monks and pilgrims from various countries are in Lumbini to celebrate the 2,561st birthday of Buddha at his birthplace. – EPA pic.A Palestinian protester uses his slingshot to shoot at Israeli troops during clashes following a protest marking the 69th anniversary of Nakba, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on May 15. According to medical reports, 23 Palestinians were wounded during the clashes. – EPA pic.Flowers and tributes are left for the London Bridge terror attack victims at the site of the attack, in London, Britain, on June 6. – EPA pic.People walk on the Europabruecke bridge, the world's longest suspended pedestrian bridge with a length of 494m, after the official inauguration of the construction in Randa, Switzerland, on July 29. The bridge is on the Europaweg that connects the villages of Zermatt and Graechen. – EPA pic.Rescue workers from Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force and police work to search for missing people in the mountain village of Toho, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on July 8. Rescue workers reached the site after an hour's trek after the roads leading to the village collapsed At least 16 people are dead and 15 more missing after torrential rains hit Kyushu island on July 5, causing river floods and landslides in the Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. About 12,000 members of the police, fire brigades and Self-Defence Forces were engaged in rescue efforts. – EPA pic.Syrians remove rubble at their destroyed homes after airstrikes on rebel-held Arbin in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on July 25. At least 10 people were killed and more than 50 people injured in the airstrikes. – EPA pic.The wreckage after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt, on August 11. Reports state at least 36 people were killed and many more injured when the two trains met head on. – EPA pic.A ferry boat travels under a blanket of fog below the Golden Gate Bridge with the South Tower in the background, viewed from the Marin Headlands scenic overlook in Marin County, California, USA, on August 1. – EPA pic.Israeli police use water cannon to disperse Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrators blocking a main junction as they protest against army recruitment in Jerusalem, Israel, on September 17, after the Israeli Supreme Court on September 12 rejected a government bill exempting the Haredi from army service. – EPA pic.Emergency personnel and volunteers continue rescue efforts in buildings that collapsed during an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, on September 20. At least 361 people are reported killed in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that shook central Mexico the day before. – EPA pic.Emergency personnel and volunteers continue rescue efforts in buildings that collapsed during an 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, on September 20. – EPA pic.Spanish National riot policemen form a security cordon around the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona, Catalonia, on October 1. National Police officers and Civil guards had been deployed to polling centres in Barcelona to prevent the people from voting in the unsanctioned Catalan independence referendum. Clashes between pro-independence Catalans and the police are reported around the city. – EPA pic.A doctor examines a 10-day-old Rohingya child in a medical centre at a camp in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on October 5. – EPA pic.Iranian earthquake victims gather near a fire in the city of Pole-Zahab in Kermanshah Province, Iran, on November 13, a day after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the region near the border between Iran and Iraq. – EPA pic.Maligcong Elementary School pupils climb a tree on a path overlooking the Maligcong Rice Terraces in Maligcong village in Bontoc, northern Philippines, on November 27. The school, which has 74 pupils, sits on a mountain overlooking the scenic rice terraces, more than 400km north of the Philippine capital of Manila. – EPA pic.
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