T errorism dominated world events in 2015, as Australia joined the US-led coalition air strikes on Islamic State. But Paris was not the only place where terrorism raised its head. Tourists visiting Tunisia were targeted twice. First in   March when 19 people, including one Australian, were shot dead in the national museum.
 A lone jihadist then gunned down 38 people at a Tunisian seaside resort in   June. In   April, Islamist terrorists murdered 148 people at a university in Nairobi, Kenya. 
Islamic State released a video in   January purporting to show a young boy executing two men accused of working for Russian intelligence services. In   September, Russia began its air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria. Tens of thousands more civilians died in Syria and Iraq this year as conflict continued in the Middle East.
 The tide of refugees, who left the region for the safety of Europe, increased and led to disturbing scenes as some countries closed their borders.
 Their desperation cost many refugees their lives, with hundreds drowning in overcrowded boats. Almost 700 people died in   April when their boat capsized north of Libya as they tried to get to Italy.
There were more gun crime tragedies in the US, prompting President Barack Obama to again call on the Senate to pass gun control legislation. Dylann Roof, 21, is accused of shooting dead nine parishioners at a South Carolina church in   July.
 A gunman killed two people, then himself, when he opened fire in a cinema in Louisiana.
 In   August, TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were shot at close range by a former colleague during a live broadcast in Virginia. A year of aviation disasters continued when in   March pilot Andreas Lubitz programmed his Germanwings A320 to fly into the French Alps, killing 150 people including two Australians.
 A plane wing part found on a remote Indian Ocean island in   July was later confirmed to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared in   March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people including six Australians aboard.
After 10 years on death row, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in   April by firing squad in Indonesia for drug-trafficking.
 The Bali Nine ringleaders died despite worldwide calls for mercy and the Australian Government's requests for clemency because of the pair's remorse and rehabilitation.
Ireland's citizens voted to legalise gay marriage in   April, with 62.1 per cent of Irish voters saying yes to changing the nation's constitution to define marriage as a union of two people regardless of their sex. More than $834 million  of diamonds, jewels and cash were stolen from the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company in London in   April in what was believed to be biggest heist in British history. Some of the haul has been recovered and three men, in their late 60s and 70s, have pleaded guilty to plotting the heist.
Mother Nature, and climate change, continued to remind us in 2015 that we are at their mercy. Category five Cyclone Pam ravaged Vanuatu in   March, with 250kmh winds that killed 11 people and destroyed entire communities, leaving 75,000 people in need of emergency shelter. Nepal was devastated by a huge earthquake in   April that killed more than 8000 people.
In a bid to reduce global warming, world leaders made a historic pledge to reduce emissions at climate talks in Paris this month.