The Year 2014's Biggest Stories in Pictures

A disappearing plane and Ebola's sudden spread. Malala's moment and Peshawar's sorrow. These are some of the stories that grabbed headlines around the world.

The US side of the Niagara Falls is pictured in Ontario during the 'polar vortex', January 8, 2014. – REUTERS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a basketball game between former US NBA players and North Korean players with Dennis Rodman at Pyongyang Indoor Stadium, January 9, 2014. – REUTERS

Four out of five Olympic rings are seen lit up during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, February 7, 2014. – REUTERS

Director and producer Steve McQueen celebrates after accepting the Oscar for best picture for his film '12 Years a Slave' at the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood, March 2, 2014. – REUTERS

A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she talks on her phone at the Beijing Capital International Airport, March 8, 2014. – REUTERS

Supporters of former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi, standing trial on charges of violence that broke out in Alexandria last year, react after two fellow supporters were sentenced to death, in a court in Alexandria, March 29, 2014. – REUTERS

A fighter jet flies above as Ukrainian soldiers sit on an armoured personnel carrier in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, April 16, 2014. – REUTERS

The South Korean ferry Sewol is seen sinking at the sea off Jindo, as lighting flares are released for a night search, April 16, 2014. – REUTERS

Islamic State fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, June 30, 2014. – REUTERS

Germany's players lifts the World Cup trophy as they celebrate their 2014 World Cup final win against Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, July 13, 2014. – REUTERS

An Emergencies Ministry member walks at a site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. – REUTERS

Palestinians walk past a fire following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City, July 24, 2014. – REUTERS

A man stands in his backyard and looks at the wreckage of a TransAsia Airways turboprop plane that crashed on Taiwan's offshore island Penghu, July 24, 2014. – REUTERS

A person is seen lying on the ground after a gas explosion in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, August 1, 2014. – REUTERS

A girl from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishkhabour, Dohuk province, Iraq, August 13, 2014. – REUTERS

Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare to carry an abandoned dead body presenting with Ebola symptoms at Duwala market in Monrovia, August 17, 2014. – REUTERS

Supporters of Tahir ul-Qadri cover their faces to avoid tear gas fired by the police to disperse them while marching to the Prime Minister's house during the Revolution March in Islamabad, August 30, 2014. – REUTERS

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts during judgement at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, September 11, 2014. – REUTERS

A US Secret Service agent with an automatic rifle hurries people to evacuate the White House complex over a security alert moments after President Obama and his family left for the presidential retreat, Camp David, in Maryland, September 19, 2014. – REUTERS

Residents inspect damaged buildings in what activists say was a US strike, in Kfredrian, Idlib province, Syria, September 23, 2014. – REUTERS

A protester raises his umbrellas in front of tear gas which was fired by riot police to disperse protesters blocking the main street to the financial Central district outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong, September 28, 2014. – REUTERS

George Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin arrive at Venice city hall for a civil ceremony to formalize their wedding in Venice, September 29, 2014. – REUTERS

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, the joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, stands with her father Ziauddin after speaking at Birmingham library in Birmingham, central England, October 10, 2014. – REUTERS

Paula and Ed Kassig, parents of US aid worker Peter Kassig who was beheaded by Islamic State militants, walk toward microphones before reading a statement to the press in Indianapolis, Indiana, November 17, 2014. The parents asked for prayers for other captives in Syria and Iraq in a brief public statement at their Indianapolis church. – REUTERS

A demonstrator sits in front of a street fire during a demonstration following the grand jury decision in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown, in Oakland, California, November 25, 2014. – REUTERS

A hostage runs towards a police officer outside Lindt cafe, where other hostages are being held, in Martin Place in central Sydney, December 15, 2014. – REUTERS

Shoes lie in blood on the auditorium floor at the Army Public School, which was attacked by Taliban gunmen, in Peshawar, December 17, 2014. At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed when Taliban gunmen broke into the school and opened fire, the bloodiest massacre the country has seen for years. – REUTERS