From oil spills, wildfires, and floods to Victory Day and the World Cup, these photos tell the stories that defined 2010.
2010: The Year In Photos
18
A gull is covered in heavy oil on June 4 on the banks of East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana. Millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over several months after an explosion in April at BP's "Deepwater Horizon" oil rig, causing massive environmental and economic damage.
Photo by Win McNamee for Getty Images/AFP
Photo by Win McNamee for Getty Images/AFP
19
A South African soccer fan blows a mini vuvuzela before the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg on June 11.
Photo by AFP
Photo by AFP
21
A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft before its launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 14.
Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko for AFP
Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko for AFP
22
An Afghan girl sits outside a temporary shelter at a refugee camp in Kabul on July 8. Nearly 300,000 Afghans remain displaced within their own country, and nearly 3 million more are refugees abroad, mainly in Pakistan and Iran.
Photo by RFE/RL
Photo by RFE/RL