Some of the most important images taken the past year.

80,408 pictures have been submitted by 5,034 photographers from 125 different countries. From these pictures, the World Press Photo Contest chose 129.

These pictures are taken at the most breathtaking scenes, and from the most significant events the world has seen in the past year. The images were published worldwide in the World press photo exhibitions.

In case you missed out on that, here are 18 powerful award-winning images from the contest:

The photo of the year: Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş shouts after killing Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, at an art gallery in Ankara, Turkey.

A 7 year-old giant panda Min Min had a baby girl at Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan Province, China.

A group of monarch butterflies covers the forest floor of El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary, in Michoacán, Mexico.

Edilane and three of her seven children rest on a mattress on the floor. “Copacabana Palace” in Brazil houses more than 300 homeless families.

Activist Ieshia Evans offers her hands for arrest as riot police charge towards her during a protest against police brutality in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A sea turtle tangled in a fishing net swims off the coast of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. 

An elephant under the African starry sky.

Hunters in a small village near Nizhnyaya Tunguska River in Russia's extreme cold north.

Fidel Castro's funeral ceremony in Santa Clara, Cuba.

Cheerleaders Melissa Bernadt and Jennifer Burnedt prepare for the evening’s homecoming game in Table Rock, Nebraska, a small rural town where nothing really changes.

Inhabitants of an isolated and silent community they call the "Isle of Salvation," which is hidden near a busy road that leads from Moscow to Yaroslavl, Russia.

Jockey Nina Carberry flies off her horse, as they fall at The Chair fence during the Grand National steeplechase in Liverpool, England.

A wild leopard strolls through Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a protected area in the northern part of Mumbai, India.

A family escape the fighting in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as oil fields burned in Qayyara, Iraq.

Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt smiles as he looks back at his competition and wins the 100-meter semi-final sprint at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A chess player expresses his emotions during a game at a youth chess tournament in the Czech Republic.

Gaël Monfils of France dives for a forehand in his fourth round match against Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia during the 2016 Australian Open. 

A man is treated with milk of magnesia after being pepper sprayed by police while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in the U.S.