Donald Trump emerged in the summer as the front-runner in the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination and remained atop the polls into December.

Jan. 1 | Vietnam legalizes same-sex marriage.

Jan. 2 | Turkey grants permission to construct the first church building in the country in nearly a century.

Jan. 3 | Boko Haram militants attack residents of Baga and other Nigerian towns, killing as many as 2,000 and sending thousands of survivors fleeing.

Jan. 6 | The price of crude oil drops below $48 per barrel, the lowest price since April 2009.

Same-sex couples can begin obtaining marriage licenses in Florida.

Jan. 7 | Islamist gunmen storm the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 persons. Two more days of terror attacks ensue.

Jan. 9 | A New York judge sentences radical imam Abu Hamza al-Masri to life in prison on federal terrorism charges.

Jan. 11 | Millions (including many foreign presidents and prime ministers, but not Barack Obama) march down the Boulevard Voltaire in Paris to protest the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Jan. 12 | Underdog Ohio State, led by quarterback Cardale Jones, upsets Oregon 42-20 to win the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship.

Jan. 13 | A rocket attack on a passenger bus kills 12 civilians in pro-Russian separatist-held Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Jan. 14 | Flash flooding in Malawi displaces 100,000 persons and kills at least 175.

Jan. 16 | The U.S. Department of Defense announces plans to send troops to train supposed moderate Syrian rebels.

Jan. 18 | Boko Haram militants kidnap 80 persons, including 50 children, in northern Cameroon.

Jan. 21 | U.S. diplomats arrive in Havana (for the first time since the 1970s) for two days of talks aimed at normalizing relations with Cuba.

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Source: Kristen Chapman, http://www.worldmag.com