[PF:171844] 2012 THE YEAR IN PICTURES

2012 was an eventful year, from big events like the London Summer Olympics and the U.S. presidential race, to regional conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, to smaller issues closer to home. Reverberations from last year's transformative Arab Spring still heavily affect Syria and Egypt; and the slow recovery from the recent global economic crisis brought bitter austerity measures to parts of Europe, leading to widespread protests. Here we had collected some of the best news photography of 2012 with the information of that events. 

The Costa Concordia, seen on January 14, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over off the Isola del Giglio. 32 passengers and crew members were killed after the Italian ship with some 4,200 people on board ran aground. The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it apparently hit a reef near the island of Giglio on Friday, only a few hours into its voyage, as passengers were sitting down for dinner. Captain Francesco Schettino, who reportedly abandoned the ship shortly after it sank, lost his job and still potentially faces manslaughter charges.

A man rides a horse through a bonfire on January 16, 2012 in the small village of San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain. In honor of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, horses are ridden through the bonfires on the night before the official day of honoring animals in Spain.

A leopard attacks and wounds Pintu Dey, an Indian laborer in a residential neighborhood of Silphukhuri area in Guwahati, India, on January 7, 2012. Three people were seriously injured in the leopard attack before the cat was tranquilized and taken to Assam state zoo. Pintu Dey, in his 40s, recovered completely, the leopard was reportedly tranquilized and released into a wildlife sanctuary.

Roger Federer plays a backhand in his quarter-final match against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, on January 24, 2012.

Members of United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan) care for pets which were rescued from inside the exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, at the group's pet shelter in Samukawa town, Kanagawa prefecture, on January 25, 2012. Dogs and cats that were abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone after the 2011 nuclear crisis had to survive high radiation and a lack of food, and were struggling with the region's freezing winter weather. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami on March 11, 2011 triggered the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years and forced residents around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to flee, with many of them having to leave behind their pets.

Overcrowded trains prepare to leave for the city after the final prayer ceremony of Bishwa Ijtema in Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 15, 2012. Thousands of Muslims joined the Akheri Munajat, the final supplication as the first phase of the Muslims congregation concluded by seeking forgiveness and blessings for mankind on Sunday, according to local media

Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer gestures during an intense conversation with President Barack Obama after he arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, on January 25, 2012, in Mesa, Arizona. Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer said: "He was a little disturbed about my book." Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes. Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her.

A Dutch resident stands in his house as high floodwaters reach up to his window, in Dordrecht, Netherlands, on January 5, 2012. Gale force winds reaching up to 110 kph (about 70 mph) as well as heavy rains hit along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.

A man injured in a bomb blast puts on a shoe before being taken to the hospital in the Khyber region, near Peshawar, Pakistan, on January 10, 2012. A bomb targeting a tribal militia opposed to the Pakistani Taliban exploded in a market close to the Afghan border, killing dozens of people in the deadliest blast in the country in several months, officials said.

Lampposts are covered in ice in the Adriatic coastal town of Senj, Croatia, on February 7, 2012. Europeans across the continent battled weeks of extreme winter weather, with thousands trapped by snow in remote, mountain villages in the Balkans.

Actress Angelina Jolie strikes a pose for photographers as she arrives before the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on February 26, 2012.

A black rhino is transported by helicopter in South Africa. The seventh black rhino population established by the WWF Black Rhino Range Expansion Project was released after an epic trip across the country. Nineteen of the critically endangered animals were moved from the Eastern Cape to a new location in Limpopo province.

A physically disabled woman in her wheelchair clashes with riot police in the center of La Paz, Bolivia, on February 23, 2012. Hundreds of physically disabled people arrived in La Paz after completing a protest march of some 1,600 km (994 mi) over a hundred days to demand that Bolivia's government offer support in the form of 3000 bolivianos ($434) payment to each physically disabled Bolivian, according to local media.

Julian, a two-month old pet monkey, bites the ear of Kan, a transvestite performer, backstage at the Tiffany's Show in Pattaya, 150 km (93 miles) east of Bangkok, Thailand, on February 10, 2012. The first Tiffany's Show was performed as a one-man show for friends on New Year's Eve in 1974. It has since become a world famous transvestite cabaret with dozens of artists performing every night.

A surfer practices prior to competition during the 2012 Australian Surfing Open on February 16, 2012 in Manly, Australia.

Afghan Border Police with 4th Tolai, 2nd Kandak, Helmand ABP, and U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, board a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter near Combat Outpost Torbert before the start of Operation Shahem Tofan (Eagle Storm), in Afghanistan, on February 10, 2012. After arriving in the Registan Desert on helicopters and an armored convoy, ABP and the Weapons Marines scoured dusty highways for smugglers and insurgents moving across the eastern desert into Helmand province.

A riot policeman is engulfed by flames during clashes with protestors in Athens on February 12, 2012. Greek police used tear gas on petrol bomb-throwing protesters outside parliament where lawmakers were debating a new austerity plan aimed at staving off bankruptcy.

Susan Clark of Santa Monica, California, who opposes health care reform, stands with a red hand painted over her mouth to represent what she said is socialism taking away her choices and rights, in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on March 28, 2012, on the final day of arguments regarding the health care law signed by President Barack Obama.

Police and soldiers, bottom, and journalists, top, take cover during clashes after a deadly prison fire in Comayagua, Honduras, north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, on February 15, 2012. At least 360 inmates and visitors were killed in the fire, according to authorities.

A man walks inside of the crumbling oval skeleton of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party on mount Buzludzha in central Bulgaria on March 14, 2012. Over two decades after the toppling of the regime they glorified, the megalomaniac monuments of the communist era are still standing, setting a quandary for Bulgarian authorities, who can neither maintain nor dismantle them.

Members of the Maasai Warriors cricket team take part in a practice session on the beach in Mombasa, on March 6, 2012. The group of young Maasai warriors from the Laikipia region formed a cricket team with big hopes: to promote healthy living, to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS and women's issues. On the right is team captain Nissan Jonathan Ole Meshami.

Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin, tears in his eyes, addresses a massive rally of supporters at Manezh square outside Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, on March 4, 2012. President Dmitry Medvedev stands behind him. Vladimir Putin claimed victory in Russia's presidential election, which the opposition and independent observers say was marred by widespread violations.

A Tibetan man screams as he runs engulfed in flames after self-immolating at a protest in New Delhi, India, ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the country, on March 26, 2012. The Tibetan activist lit himself on fire at the gathering and was rushed to hospital with unknown injuries, reports said.

Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik gestures as he arrives for his terrorism and murder trial in a courtroom in Oslo, on April 16, 2012. Breivik, who massacred 77 people last summer, lifted his arm in what he has called a rightist salute as his trial began. Breivik, 33, admitted setting off a car bomb that killed eight people at government headquarters in Oslo last July, then massacring 69 in a shooting spree at an island summer camp for Labour Party youths. He was later found guilty, and sentenced to preventive detention, a special form of prison sentence, with a term of 21 years and a minimum of 10 years, with the possibility of extension for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

US President Barack Obama sits on the famed Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum following an event in Dearborn, Michigan, on April 18, 2012.

Borussia Dortmund's Lukasz Piszczek (right) pours beer over his coach Juergen Klopp after winning the German Championship following their German first division Bundesliga soccer match against Borussia Moenchengladbach in Dortmund, on April 21, 2012.

A bear that wandered into the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, dorm complex Williams Village falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials, on April 26, 2012. Colorado University police spokesman Ryan Huff said the bear was likely 1-3 years old and weighed somewhere between 150-200 pounds.

U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, on Thursday, August 2, 2012.

Star trails, city lights, and lightning strikes appear in this composite of a series of images photographed from a mounted camera on the International Space Station, from approximately 240 miles above Earth. Expedition 31 Flight Engineer (and photographer) Don Pettit: "My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then 'stack' them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure." A total of 18 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera were combined to create this composite.

Half of a clock face on Modenesi's Towers of Finale Emilia, destroyed following a Magnitude 6.0 earthquake on May 20, 2012 in Ferrara, Italy.

Actor Bill Murray poses at the "Moonrise Kingdom" photocall during the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on May 16, 2012.

Wrangler Nate Cummins takes the opportunity to ride by moonlight, the night before the "Super Moon" during Montana Horses' final horse drive outside Three Forks, Montana, on May 4, 2012.

A police lieutenant swings his baton at an Occupy Wall Street activist on May 1, 2012 in New York. Hundreds of activists with a variety of causes spread out over New York City on International Workers Day, or May Day, with Occupy Wall Street members leading a charge against financial institutions.

Venus moves across the Sun in this image captured by Japan's satellite Hinode, on June 6, 2012. On that day, Venus passed directly between the sun and Earth, a transit that won't occur again until 2117.

A mother holds her malnourished child at a therapeutic feeding center at al-Sabyeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 28, 2012.

Revelers on the Mall in London watch Britain Queen Elizabeth II appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony as part of a four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II accession to the throne, on June 5, 2012.

The Orvillecopter by Dutch artist Bart Jansen (right) flies in central Amsterdam as part of the KunstRAI art festival, on June 3, 2012. Jansen said the Orvillecopter is part of a visual art project which pays tribute to his cat Orville, by making it fly after it was killed by a car. He built the Orvillecopter together with radio control helicopter flyer Arjen Beltman (left).

The space shuttle Enterprise is towed past the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower, on its way to permanent display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, on June 6, 2012.

Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on June 26, 2012.

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries an RPG launcher during clashes with Syrian troops near Idlib, Syria, on June 15, 2012.

A music group performs on a path amid fields to greet the farmers at Hwanggumpyong Island, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju and the Chinese border city of Dandong, on June 6, 2012.

Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, waves during a departure ceremony at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, on June 16, 2012. China sent its first woman taikonaut into outer space, prompting a surge of national pride as the rising power takes its latest step towards putting a space station in orbit within the decade. Liu, a 33-year-old fighter pilot, joined two other taikonauts aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft when it lifted off from a remote Gobi Desert launch site.

A placard depicting Muhammad Ali, left by street artists next to sleeping men in Cidadela Park during the second day of the San Fermin running of the bulls on July 8, 2012.

Fellow workers, a firefighter and doctors work together to cut steel bars which pierced through a worker's body during an operation at a hospital in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, June 12, 2012. The worker was pierced by seven steel bars during his work at a bridge construction site, local media reported.

Amelia Hempleman-Adams poses with the Olympic Flame on top of a London Eye pod on the Torch Relay leg through London, on July 22, 2012. CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

The full moon rises through the Olympic Rings hanging beneath Tower Bridge during the London 2012 Olympic Games, on August 3, 2012.

Actors portraying the Queen of England and James Bond arrive via parachute after jumping from a helicopter during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, on July 27, 2012.

United States' Michael Phelps poses with his gold medal for the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay swimming final at the Aquatics Center in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, on July 31, 2012. Over the course of this year's Olympics, Phelps won 4 gold and 2 silver medals, and became the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a career total of 22 medals.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's 100-meter final in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, on August 5, 2012.

McKayla Maroney of the U.S., with her silver medal in the women's vault victory ceremony in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games, on August 5, 2012.

The petals of the Olympic Cauldron are lowered during the Closing Ceremony, on August 12, 2012, in London.

A boat is surrounded by Japan Cost Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat onto Uotsuri Island, one of several disputed islands (Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese), in the East China Sea, on August 15, 2012. Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea usedthe occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities. The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to the disputed islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

A man carries puppies back inside their house as other dogs stay on the roof at a flooded area in Marikina City, east of Manila, Philippines, on August 8, 2012.

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An image from a video screen from NASA TV shows members of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team celebrating inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory after receiving the first few images from the Curiosity rover (seen at top left), in Pasadena, California, on August 5, 2012. Mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said they received signals relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-or-break descent and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact crater.

Policemen keep watch over striking miners after they were shot outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, on August 16, 2012. South African police opened fire on thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, leaving many bloodied corpses lying on the ground. Police had set up barricades of barbed wire, but were outflanked by an estimated 3,000 miners massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine. A total of 34 miners were killed that day, another 78 wounded.

A squirrel, trapped in a manhole cover in Isenhagen, Germany, on August 5, 2012. After they were called by neighbors, police managed to free the animal by using olive oil. CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

A swimmer warms up in the Aquatic Center during a swimming training session ahead of the 2012 Paralympics in London, on August 29, 2012.

People run for cover as smoke rises from the site of a fire at a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Sivakasi, about 500 km (310 mi) southwest of Chennai, India, on September 5, 2012. Police in southern India said they arrested six employees of the fireworks factory for a massive blaze that killed 40 workers and injured 60 others.

US President Barack Obama is picked up by Scott Van Duzer, owner of Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant during a visit to the restaurant in Fort Pierce, Florida, on September 9, 2012, during the second day of a 2-day bus tour across Florida.

Three-year-old actor Christian Haupt throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers' baseball game against the San Diego Padres, on September 4, 2012, in Los Angeles.

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. embassy in Cairo September 11, 2012. Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy on Tuesday, tore down the American flag and burned it during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad.

A police officer stands in a mock gallows outside the Finance Ministry during a protest against budget cuts in Athens, Greece, on September 6, 2012. Nearly 2,000 policemen, coast guards and firefighters protested against planned salary cuts. The measures reportedly include a 3.5-billion-euro slash to pensions, health cuts worth 1.47 billion euros and a 517-million-euro cut to defense. CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

EBU (European) Heavyweight champion Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria connects with a punch thrown at Alexander Ustinov of Belarus, during the fight for Pulev's heavyweight title and IBF eliminator for the top spot in the rankings in Hamburg, Germany, on September 29, 2012. Pulev knocked out Ustinov in the eleventh round.

Astronaut Andre Kuipers watches a bubble in a drop of water as he enjoys his last days of weightlessness aboard the International Space Station, on June 24, 2012.

A crowd watches an F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft of the Swiss Air Force performing a flight demonstration over Axalp in the Bernese Oberland, on October 11, 2012 CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

A man, who was accused of theft, is tied up and beaten by villagers of Tactic, in Alta Verapaz region, of Guatemala, on September 13, 2012. The local community tied up and beat four men who were accused of theft in the aftermath of a school killing, which had occurred the day before. The man, who had entered a classroom and killed two children, ages 8 and 13, with a machete, was lynched and burnt alive by a mob, local media reported.

On Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover, newly landed on the red planet, used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture a set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait, on October 31, 2012. The mosaic shows the rover at "Rocknest," the spot in Gale Crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover.

South Korean singer Psy performs during his concert in central Seoul, on October 2, 2012. Psy jumped to the top of the worldwide pop charts with his quirky catchy dance track "Gangnam Style", an Internet phenomenon that has clocked up nearly 900 million views on YouTube. CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria jumps from a capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos on Sunday, October 14, 2012. In a giant leap from more than 24 miles up, Baumgartner shattered the sound barrier Sunday while making the highest jump ever -- a tumbling, death-defying plunge from a balloon to a safe landing in the New Mexico desert.

A Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, on October 3, 2012. Three suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives in a government-controlled area of the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, killing at least 34 people, leveling buildings and trapping survivors under the rubble, state TV said. More than 120 people were injured, the government said.

Superstorm Sandy left a swath of destruction at the end of October, causing at least 250 deaths in seven countries, and $65.6 billion in damages. Here, Seawater pours into the Ground Zero construction site in New York, as Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012. CLICK HEAR TO JOIN  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ younique_group/

An image of New York City's blackout, caused by Sandy's high winds and flooding, taken from a rooftop in Chelsea, on October 29, 2012.

Near totality is seen during the solar eclipse at Palm Cove, Australia, on November 14, 2012. Thousands of eclipse-watchers gathered in part of North Queensland to enjoy the solar eclipse, the first in Australia in a decade.

Newly re-elected President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are showered with confetti after his acceptance speech in Chicago, on November 7, 2012.

A man and woman swim in flooded Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) in Venice, Italy, on November 11, 2012. High tides have flooded Venice, leading Venetians and tourists to don high boots and use wooden walkways to cross Piazza San Marco and other areas under water.

A bomb is pictured in mid-drop, part of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City, on November 21, 2012. For a week in mid-November, Gaza militants intensified rocket fire into Israel and Israeli forces struck hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip in the latest flare-up of violence in the region. A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was mediated by Egypt, and has held so far.

A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, November 22, 2012. An elderly couple refused to sign an agreement to allow their house to be demolished. They said that compensation offered was not enough to cover rebuilding costs, according to local media. Days later, the couple accepted a modestly higher offer, and the structure was quickly demolished.

Anti-Mursi protesters gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on November 27, 2012. Opponents of President Mohamed Mursi clashed with Egyptian police on Tuesday as thousands of protesters stepped up pressure on the recently-elected Islamist to scrap a decree they say threatens the nation with a new era of autocracy.

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