Most popular photos of 2016

A picture is worth a thousand words, but not all pictures are created equal. Some are inspirational and happy, and some are tragic and terribly graphic. we present the most popular pictures of 2016 on social media:
 

This photograph of President Barack Obama meeting President-elect Donald Trump in Oval Office on 10th November 2016, a day after the Presidential elections meant a lot to the world.
 

This heart wrenching image of five-year-old Syrian boy Omran Daqneesh who sits at the back of an ambulance after being rescued from airstrikes in Aleppo has saddened the world.
 

This image of Usain Bolt was captured during his semi-final race in the Rio Olympics 2016. It was his last ever Olympics and he won the gold medal in the final so the image was quiet an impactful for the year.
 
In July 2016, an attempted military coup by a group within the Turkish armed forces calling itself the Peace at Home Council was stifled in less than 24 hours, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on his supporters to take to the streets and repel the uprising. This photo shows the Turkish military standing in front of the Republic Monument at Taksim Square in Istanbul.
 
“I love the contrast of the ancient and the advanced between the Great Pyramids of Giza and the solar-powered monoplane, Solar Impulse 2, flying above on its around-the-world-trip. And that sunlight hitting the plane makes it stand out from the murky desert landscape and the silhouetted pyramids.” — Steve Cook (Jean Revillard/Solar Impulse2/AFP)
 
“I had seen many heartbreaking images of refugees crammed in boats, dying, trying to escape the horrors happening in Syria — but none moved me quite the way this photo did. The photo of Eritrean refugees swimming to a rescue boat off the coast of Libya made the crisis very real for me. Photographer Emilio Morenatti captured their desperation and struggle as they swam for their lives. At that moment, it felt as if they were swimming to me.” — Dee Swann
 
Giant sinkhole and restoration, Fukuoka, Japan (8 and 15 November) Marina Imasato, Hiroko Harima/AP - Two sinkholes had appeared in the main road of Hakata, the biggest city in Fukuoka – then joined to make one enormous hole, about 20m squared.
 
Supporters take selfies with Hillary Clinton (25 September) - Barbara Kinney/Hillary Clinton campaign- There were about 500 people that couldn’t fit in the main campaign event in Orlando, Florida, so Hillary went and visited them in an adjacent room afterwards. She suggested they could do a group selfie, and then she posed with the crowd for it. It was great fun.
 

A guardsman faints at the trooping the colour (11 June) - Dylan Martinez/Reuters - This image was taken at the Horse Guards Parade, to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday. There were about a dozen photographers stood with me. You’re just hoping to get nice pictures of the Queen, who turns up in a carriage, and the royal family – William and Charles are on horses, all dressed up, looking very spectacular. Obviously it’s not the first time that a guard has fainted, so it’s always in the back of your mind, but I didn’t expect it that day. It wasn’t a particularly hot day – I was wearing a jacket.

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