Jan. 1, 2012. Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight in London. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames to ring in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display.Dan Kitwood—Getty Images
The year 2012 was a cyclone of news. The civil war in Syria grew bloodier and more desperate even as the rest of the Middle East was grappling with life after the so-called Arab Spring. Egypt’s democratic evolution at times seemed to verge on revolution again. Libya produced a bloody controversy for the U.S. on an inauspicious date, Sept. 11, with the death of the American ambassador amid an attack on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi. And as the U.S. itself marched toward the scheduled climax of a presidential election, what should slam into the country but superstorm Sandy, wrecking much of the northeast coast. The election itself, while it had many people holding their breath, produced another term for Barack Obama and the country promptly started to worry about falling off the fiscal cliff. And then another unexpected event occurred: the madness of mass murder in a quiet town in Connecticut. The death of children and teachers left the country breathless and in tears. The only news fizzle of the year was the predicted end of the world. No one needs to be concerned about that, just about dealing with what ails it as it goes on and on and on.
—Howard Chua-Eoan, News Director, TIME
Jan. 1, 2012. Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight in London. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames to ring in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display.Dan Kitwood—Getty ImagesJan. 2, 2012. Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak (C) is wheeled on a hospital stretcher into court for the resumption of his trial in Cairo, Egypt.Xinhua Press/CorbisJan. 3, 2012. A child sits next to a fire to warm herself on a cold winter morning in the old quarters of Delhi.Adnan Abidi—ReutersJan. 4, 2012. Young Geralda Cheristin views her reflection inside her family's home in Corail, Haiti.Patrick Farrell—Miami Herald/MCTJan. 5, 2012. Librada Martinez, member of the Ava Guarani ethnic group, resists arrest by police as she and others are evicted from Uruguay square in Asuncion, Paraguay.Jorge Saenz—APJan. 6, 2012. A young attendee stands on her toes to get a better view during a campaign rally for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the Peanut Warehouse in Conway, S.C.Logan Mock-Bunting—The New York Times/ReduxJan. 7, 2012. A leopard attacks and wounds an Indian laborer in a residential neighborhood in Guwahati, India.STRDEL/AFP/Getty ImagesJan. 8, 2012. Workers weld at a ship-building yard next to the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh.Andrew Biraj—ReutersJan. 9, 2012. A resident reads over her ballots before the stroke of midnight when she can cast her vote in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, at The Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville, N.H.Matt Rourke—APJan. 10, 2012. Iraqi citizen and British resident Bisher al-Rawi, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was arrested in Gambia, speaks during a press conference in central London to mark the 10-year anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the US military prison facility at Guantanamo Bay.Carl Court—AFP/Getty ImagesJan. 11, 2012. Slovenia's Sasa Golob is seen framed through the legs of another gymnast as she performs on the beam during the international gymnastics Olympics test and qualification event at the North Greenwich Arena in London.Matt Dunham—APJan. 12, 2012. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seen through a door before giving a press conference with the Algerian Foreign Minister at the State Department in Washington, DC.Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty ImagesJan. 13, 2012. A 14-year-old boy waits to get his calipers at the Delhi Council for Child Welfare (DCCW) Orthopaedics centre in New Delhi.Manan Vatsyayana—AFP/Getty ImagesJan. 14, 2012. The Italian cruise ship 'Costa Concordia', carrying more than 4,000 people, ran aground and keeled over off the Italian coast near the island of Giglio in Tuscany, Italy.Eric Vandeville—ABACA USAJan. 15, 2012. Beach-goers and lifeguards attend to a man attacked by a shark at Port St Johns on South Africa's east coast. Roger Bulbring—ReutersJan. 16, 2012. Light shines through a window onto a tank filled with goldfish inside an office at the Korean Central News Agency building in Pyongyang, North Korea.David Guttenfelder—APJan. 17, 2012. President Obama unexpectedly runs into the First Lady on her birthday in the basement of the White House.
Christopher Morris—VII for TIMEJan. 18, 2012. Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in action in the second round at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Australia.Jason O'Brien—Action Images/ZUMAJan. 19, 2012. People gather around a bath of ice cold water as they prepare to plunge into it at the Kolomenskoe park on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia.Mikhail Metzel—APJan. 20, 2012. The amorphous black blob, a group of performers huddled underneath stretched black material, makes its way among the Occupy Wall Street West protests in the financial district in San Francisco, Calif.Sarah Rice—Getty ImagesJan. 21, 2012. Candidate for Republican Nominee for the Presidential Race of 2012, Newt Gingrich and his wife Calista, leave a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Anderson, S.C. on Primary Day. Gingrich won the Primary. Peter van Agtmael—MagnumJan. 22, 2012. Supporters of a Kosovo nationalist opposition party gather around camp fires during a protest in the northern Kosovo town of Podujevo.Visar Kryeziu—APJan. 23, 2012. Water from a leaky fire hose rains down on neighborhood residents as they attempt to put out a fire that had already burned dozens of homes, in the New Building slum neighborhood in central Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.Rebecca Blackwell—APJan. 24, 2012. A child looks at a line of riot police from a passing car during an anti-government protest in Bucharest, Romania.Vadim Ghirda—APJan. 25, 2012. Lilly Earp, age 8, changes the diaper of her five-week-old sister Emily in their apartment at Hope Gardens Family Center, a shelter for homeless women and children, run by Union Rescue Mission, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Calif.Lucy Nicholson—ReutersJan. 26, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama walks to his car as he arrives in Romulus, M.I.Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty ImagesJan. 27, 2012. Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sits for an interview after appearing at the Latin Builders Association luncheon in Miami.Paul Sancya—APJan. 28, 2012. A wounded fighter with the FSA is helped by fellow comrades after he was shot by a government sniper in the town of Rankous, a restive city near the Lebanese border in Syria.Tomas Munita—The New York Times/ReduxJan. 29, 2012. Clergymen stand in front of a picture of Hildegard Burjan during the beatification ceremony for Hildegard Burjan at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.Andreas Pessenlehner—EPAJan. 30, 2012. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney carries a surprise birthday cake for Los Angeles Times reporter Maeve Reston on his campaign plane in Jacksonville, Fla.Brian Snyder—ReutersJan. 31, 2012. Supporters shake hands with Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she arrives in Bagan on her way to Pakokku in Bagan Township, Myanmar.Soe Zeya Tun—ReutersFeb. 1, 2012. The return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Tehran is reenacted in Tehran's Mehrabad airport. Khomeini, who was in exile, had refused to return to Iran until the Shah left.AY-Collection / SIPAFeb. 2, 2012. A woman looks out of a window covered in frost on a bus in Bucharest, Romania. Vadim Ghirda—APFeb. 3, 2012. Egyptian civilians clash near the interior ministry in downtown Cairo.Dar al Mussawir—Newspictures/ABACA USAFeb. 4, 2012. A Kashmiri village woman stands near the site of a gun battle in Woodder village, south of Srinagar, India.Dar Yasin—APFeb. 5, 2012. Firefighters climb a mountain to extinguish a wildfire in Jubrique, near Malaga, southern Spain.Jon Nazca—ReutersFeb. 6, 2012. Indian women cover their faces from clouds of dust kicked up by the arriving helicopter transporting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for a rally in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh state.Prakash Singh —AFP/Getty ImagesFeb. 7, 2012. Spectators gather on a balcony to watch the New York Giants victory parade in New York City.Todd Heisler—The New York Times/ReduxFeb. 8, 2012. Morgue workers remove the body of a man killed during a shooting in Salvador, Brazil.Felipe Dana—APFeb. 9, 2012. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton waits backstage before addressing the crowd at the Invest In Ireland forum at New York University, in New York. The Forum, hosted by Clinton, was also attended by Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Ireland's Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore and Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Jobs, and Innovation Richard Bruton.Andrew Kelly—ReutersFeb. 10, 2012. A transvestite performer cools herself with an electric fan before going on stage at the Tiffany's Show in Pattaya, Thailand. 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.Damir Sagolj—ReutersFeb. 11, 2012. Syracuse University photographer Michael Okoniewski takes a picture through the roof of the Carrier Dome before the start of a NCAA men's basketball game between Syracuse Orange and Connecticut Huskies in Syracuse, N.Y.Adam Fenster—ReutersFeb. 12, 2012. A horse falls down as it pulls a skier during the "Kumoterki" race in Bukowina Tatrzanska, southern Poland. The race, which marks the end of the annual Highlanders' Festival, is a competition involving riders, two on every sledge, pulled by horses. Every year in mid-February, hundreds of highlanders arrive at Bukowina to take part in the traditional event, which has become one of the main tourist attractions of the area.Kacper Pempel—ReutersFeb. 13, 2012. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a Get Out the Vote Rally in Mesa, Arizona. Romney spoke to a crowd of more than 2,000 people.Eric Thayer—Getty ImagesFeb. 14, 2012. A child mourns her father, who was kidnapped and tortured by the Syrian government's shabiha (the militia of the regime) during three days with other two men.Alessio Romenzi for TIMEFeb. 15, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish bride Nechama Paarel Horowitz enters the men's section in a wedding hall during her traditional Jewish wedding with Chananya Yom Tov Lipa, the great-grandson of the Rabbi of the Wiznitz Hasidic followers, in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv.Oded Balilty—APFeb. 16, 2012. Fireworks explode over the heads of North Korean soldiers lined up in formation at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang during a parade of thousands of soldiers commemorating the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il.David Guttenfelder—APFeb. 17, 2012. Supporters listen and wave flags as Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech in Pyar Pon, Irrawaddy delta region in the Irrawaddy division.Soe Than Win—AFP/Getty ImagesFeb. 18, 2012. Reflected in the window of a hearse, the casket of Bronx teenager Ramarley Graham, who was shot to death by police officers, is carried by family and friends following his funeral in the Bronx borough of New York City. Spencer Platt—Getty ImagesFeb. 19, 2012. Cardinals and Bishops during the ceremony of Concistory at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.AGF / Rex USAFeb. 20, 2012. A child stands with his father as they wait to receive blankets and winter jackets from Welthungerhilfe, a German NGO, during snowfall at a camp for internally displaced Afghans in Kabul.Musadeq Sadeq—APFeb. 21, 2012. An anti-government protestor carries another injured protestor during clashes with police in Senegal's capital, Dakar.Joe Penney—ReutersFeb. 22, 2012. A member of the Free Syrian Army rides in the back of a truck in Bab Amr.
William Daniels—Panos for TIMEFeb. 23, 2012. Mountains of clothes and household textiles that cannot be recycled in Rikuzentakata, Japan, following the massive tsunami a year before.James Nachtwey for TIMEFeb. 24, 2012. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Tunis to attend the "Friends of Syria" conference, at which representatives from over 60 countries discussed the crisis in Syria.Jason Reed—AFP/Getty ImagesFeb. 25, 2012. An Oscar statue remains covered in plastic before it is unveiled at the red carpet arrivals area during preparations for the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif.Lucy Nicholson—ReutersFeb. 26, 2012. Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is silhouetted against the setting sun as she arrives to deliver her speech during an election campaign rally in Thongwa village, Myanmar.Altaf Qadri—APFeb. 27, 2012. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspects units under the command of the Korean Peoples' Army 4th Corps, stationed in the southwestern sector of the front at an undisclosed location in North Korea.KCNA—AFP/Getty ImagesFeb. 28, 2012. Iranians walk past electoral posters for the upcoming parliamentary election on a street in Tehran.Ahmad Halabisaz—Xinhua/CorbisFeb. 29, 2012. Britain's Queen Elizabeth views the interior of the refurbished East Wing of Somerset House at King's College in London.Eddie Mulholland—ReutersMarch 1, 2012. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, waves as he enters his car surrounded by security staff in Bayonne, France.Bob Edme—APMarch 2, 2012. Ultra-orthodox Jewish children finish a snowman in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood. Israelis and Palestinians woke up to a rare sight in the usually temperate Holy Land: a thin blanket of snow.Bernat Armangue—APMarch 3, 2012. An Indian Hindu worshipper throws a bucket of colored water on others during Lathmar Holi at Nandagram Temple, in Nandgaon, India. According to tradition, which has its roots in Hindu mythology, men from Barsana arrive at the temple, where they are soaked in colored water by men from Nandgaon, believed to be Lord Krishna's village, and then beaten by the women of the village with wooden sticks as they depart the town.Kevin Frayer—APMarch 4, 2012. Russian soldiers hold their IDs at a polling station in Moscow during the presidential elections.Natalia Kolesnikova—AFP/Getty ImagesMarch 5, 2012. Snow covers a demolished house in Marysville, Ind., after a tornado ripped through the town.Nam Y. Huh—APMarch 6, 2012. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a baseball field after voting in the Massachusetts primary in Belmont, Mass.
Lauren Fleishman for TIMEMarch 7, 2012. Visitors brace against the rotor wash of the Marine One helicopter as President Barack Obama takes off from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.Charles Dharapak—APMarch 8, 2012. Ahmed, center, mourns his father Abdulaziz Abu Ahmed Khrer, who was killed by a Syrian Army sniper, during his funeral in Idlib, north Syria.Rodrigo Abd—APMarch 9, 2012. A girl dressed as a bride on Purim walks through the streets of Jerusalem.Loulou d'Aki—News Pictures/ABACA USAMarch 10, 2012. Aida cries as she recovers from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled her house in Idlib, northern Syria. Aida's husband and two children were killed in the shelling.Rodrigo Abd—APMarch 11, 2012. Buddhist monks offer prayers for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami at Kitaizumi beach in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.Yuriko Nakao—ReutersMarch 12, 2012. Israeli soldiers watch as a missile is launched from the Iron Dome defense system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva.Menahem Kahana—AFP/Getty ImagesMarch 13, 2012. The tour bus of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waits for his return outside a campaign event in Vestavia Hills, Ala.David Goldman—APMarch 14, 2012. Ultra Orthodox Jews gather around the body of Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, leader of the Hassidic Vizhnitz sect in Israel, at the Vizhnitz Synagogue during his funeral procession in Bnei Brak, Tel Aviv.Oded Balilty—APMarch 15, 2012. Relatives of the 22 school children and 6 adults who died in a bus crash visit the morgue in Sion, Switzerland.Jacopo Raule—Getty ImagesMarch 16, 2012. A portrait of a Free Syrian Army rebel mounted on horseback in Al-Shatouria village, near to the Turkish border in northwestern Syria.Giogos Moutafis—AFP/Getty ImagesMarch 17, 2012. The transfer case containing the remains of Army Spc. Daquane D. Rivers of Marianna, Fla., sits at the end of the loader ramp during a foggy night, upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del.Jose Luis Magana—APMarch 18, 2012. Large crowds gathered around the Christian Coptic cathedral of St. Marks in Cairo to mourn the death of Pope Shenouda III.Laurence Underhill—Eyevine/ZUMAMarch 19, 2012. A woman who practices "santeria" prays at the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.Tomas Munita for TIMEMarch 20, 2012. Suspended by wires, Chinese artist Li Wei performs in the sky at La Villette in Paris.Francois Mori—APMarch 21, 2012. Members of ZAKA rescue and recovery open the coffins of Toulouse shooting victims as they prepare the bodies for burial after they arrived to Israel at a morgue in Jerusalem.Oded Balilty—APMarch 22, 2012. During a campaign speech by Aung San Suu Kyi, children in the audience cheer her words, as a young Buddhist monk stands by in Kawhmu, Myanmar.James Nachtwey for TIMEMarch 23, 2012. A shattered family mourns 15-year-old Nadaa Showqi Abduallah Hussein, her body swathed in cloth. She was killed by a sniper in the southern port city of Aden during a March clash between gunmen and government forces. “What happened to her makes all people cry,” says her father, Showqi Abduallah Hussein (at right, in head scarf). “She had no enemies.”Stephanie Sinclair—VIIMarch 24, 2012. A tuberculosis patient Abdul Rasheed lies on a bed in an isolated ward at the Chest Disease Hospital on World Tuberculosis Day in Srinagar, India.Dar Yashin—APMarch 25, 2012. A girl wearing a ballet dress plays on the street in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.Ramon Espinosa—APMarch 26, 2012. Saleem al Harazi, who lost both eyes to a sniper, is cradled by his mother in Sana, Yemen. The 12-year-old was shot when he joined antigovernment protesters in Sana in March 2011.Stephanie Sinclair—VIIMarch 27, 2012. An aerial view of the Lower North Fork Wildfire near Denver Colo.Joe Amon—The Denver Post / PolarisMarch 28, 2012. U.S. platform diver Haley Ishimatsu trains for the London 2012 Olympics in Los Angeles, Calif.Lucy Nicholson—ReutersMarch 29, 2012. Two protesters are sprayed with water from an anti-riot vehicle at the University of Santiago de Chile. A group of young people clashed with police in the vicinity of the university following the Young Fighters' Day, which commemorates the death of two young brothers during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.Ariel Marinkovic—EPAMarch 30, 2012. Palestinians gather around the body of 20-year-old Mahmoud Zakot during his funeral in the northern Gaza Strip.Mohammed Salem—ReutersMarch 31, 2012. Children play on a gym set in a village in southern Turkey near the border with Syria.Tara Todras-Whitehill—PolarisApril 1, 2012. A supporter kisses Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), as she visits polling stations in her constituency as Burmese vote in the parliamentary elections in Kaw Hmu, Myanmar.Mikhail Galustov—Getty ImagesApril 2, 2012. Penitents from the "San Gonzalo" brotherhood take part in a procession before a storm in Seville, Southern Spain.Emilio Morenatti—APApril 3, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls wait for free potatoes to be distributed to large families in preparations for the upcoming Passover holiday in Jerusalem.Oded Balilty—APApril 4, 2012. Relatives assist an unidentified woman injured in an explosion at the national theater in Mogadishu, Somalia.Omar Faruk—ReutersApril 5, 2012. A Christian pilgrim prays inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the burial site of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's Old City during the Easter Holy Week.Bernat Armangue—APApril 6, 2012. The full moon rises over the Colosseum before the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession in downtown Rome.Giampiero Sposito—ReutersApril 7, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI holds a candle during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday at St Peter's basilica at The Vatican.Vincenzo Pinto—AFP/Getty ImagesApril 8, 2012. Pablo Leal Requejo plays the role of an angel during the 'Bajada del Angel' Eastern Holy Week celebration in Penafiel, Spain.Daniel Ochoa de Olza—APApril 9, 2012. A North Korean woman cleans a portrait of the late North Korean leaders Kim Jong Il, right, and Kim Il Sung at an office in Pyongyang.Ng Han Guan—APApril 10, 2012. An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish girl prays at the Tel Aviv port during the Jewish Passover.Oded Balilty—APApril 11, 2012. Trayvon Martin's mother Sybrina Fulton listens during a news conference at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.Jacquelyn Martin—APApril 12, 2012. Students wait for the arrival of Mexico's President Felipe Calderon before the inauguration of the Small Brothers school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.Ramon Espinosa—APApril 13, 2012. A giant American flag is unfurled on the field during ceremonies for the New York Yankees home opener against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y.Justin Lane—EPAApril 14, 2012. A Pakistani girl enters her home in a slum in Islamabad, Pakistan. Some of Pakistan's poorest women are eligible for something many have never experienced: a little bit of help from the government. It comes in the form of a debit card that is topped up with the equivalent of 30 dollars every three months.Muhammed Muheisen—APApril 15, 2012. A handout photo provided by Gerry Hofstetter Marketing shows a projection of the 'Titanic' on a 500-meter-long iceberg in the Northern Polar sea of Greenland. Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter projected pictures of the Titanic on a giant iceberg to mark the 100th anniversary of its maiden voyage.Mike Kessler—EPAApril 16, 2012. The feet from dead Taliban insurgents are seen after they were killed inside a building in Kabul. Heavy street fighting between militants and security forces in the center of the Afghan capital after 18 hours of intense gunfire, rocket attacks and explosions.Mohammad Ismail—ReutersApril 17, 2012. Pakistani boys, who make a living by collecting recyclable materials and selling them to a recycling factory, shower in a pool of water created by a broken water pipe following their daily work, on a roadside on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APApril 18, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama sits on the famed Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum following an event in Dearborn, M.I.Pete Souza—The White HouseApril 19, 2012. Olympic Gymnast Gabby Douglas eats breakfast while stretching on the stairs of her host family's home in Des Moines, Iowa.Martin Schoeller for TIME
April 20, 2012. George Zimmerman comes down off the witness stand during a bond hearing in front of a judge at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Fl.Gary W. Green—EPAApril 21, 2012. Spanish matador Jose P. Prados "El Fundi" performs a pass to a bull during the last bullfight of his career at the Maestranza bullring in Seville.Marcelo del Pozo—ReutersApril 22, 2012. An Indian boy takes a dip in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, India. April 22 is observed as Earth Day every year as a tool to raise awareness of the environment.Mustafa Quraishi—APApril 23, 2012. The burnt body of a boy killed during an air strike by the Sudanese air force is covered with sheets in a market in Rubkona near Bentiu, South Sudan.Goran Tomasevic—ReutersApril 24, 2012. North Korea's new commander in chief, Kim Jong Un, is displayed on a giant screen during a concert on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army in Pyongyang, North Korea.Ng Han Guan—APApril 25, 2012. People mourn the death of a bomb blast victim in Lahore, Pakistan. A bomb went off at a railway station, killing and wounding a number of victims.K.M. Chaudary—APApril 26, 2012. A victim watches the trial of Liberian ex-leader Charles Taylor (on screen) taking place in the Hague, inside the Special Court in Freetown. Liberian ex-leader Charles Taylor was convicted of arming rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war in return for blood diamonds, in an historic verdict for international justice.Issouf Sanogo—AFP/Getty ImagesApril 27, 2012. First lady Michelle Obama reacts to remarks made by her husband, U.S. President Barack Obama, as he addresses a group of soldiers from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Ga.Stephen Morton—PolarisApril 28, 2012. Young performers wearing costumes and make up participate in the Bun Festival parade in Hong Kong's Cheung Chau Island.Aaron Tam—AFP/Getty ImagesApril 29, 2012. France's opposition Socialist Party (PS) candidate for the 2012 French Presidential election, Francois Hollande, arrives on stage prior to a speech during a campaign meeting at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy (POPB) in Paris.Martin Bureau—AFP/Getty ImagesApril 30, 2012. Spanish teacher Yolanda Zamora leads sixth graders at Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, Md. through a game of Simon Says conducted entirely in Spanish.Katherine Frey—The Washington PostMay 1, 2012. Children play cricket on the demolished site of a compound of Osama bin Laden's in Abbottabad, Pakistan.Mian Khursheed—ReutersMay 2, 2012. Honor guards stands beside a wreath laid by British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond at the memorial to honor German soldiers killed in action prior to talks with his German counterpart Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere at the defense ministry in Berlin.Markus Schreiber—APMay 3, 2012. This handout photograph released by the Ministry of Defence shows a view from the gunner's cockpit of an Indian Air Force Mi-35 attack helicopter during the Shoor Veer military exercise near Hanumangarh, located near the India-Pakistan border.Ministry of Defence/AFP/Getty ImagesMay 4, 2012. Two men on a scooter ride near soldiers on military vehicles at Abbasiya square near Egypt's Defence Ministry in Cairo.Amr Abdallah Dalsh—ReutersMay 5, 2012. First lady Michelle Obama exits the stage as President Barack Obama begins to speak at a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio.Stephen Crowley—The New York Times/ReduxMay 6, 2012. Socialist Party (PS) supporters celebrate after French TV announced the victory of the PS candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, Francois Hollande (not pictured), at Bastille Square, in Paris.Yoan Valat—EPAMay 7, 2012. President-elect Vladimir Putin heads for St. Andrew's Hall at the Kremlin for his inauguration as the President of Russia.ITAR-TASS/LandovMay 8, 2012. A boy cries as he holds his sister in his lap after a confrontation with squatters and police personnel, who arrived to demolish houses that were built illegally in Kathmandu.Bikash Dware—ReutersMay 9, 2012. A priestess holding a lit cauldron performs in the final dress rehearsal for the lighting of the flame held in Ancient Olympia, Greece.Petros Giannakouris—APMay 10, 2012. A lone tree grows by the site of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Joplin, Mo. On May 22 last year, a devastating tornado virtually wiped out the sleepy Midwestern town.Greg MillerMay 11, 2012. Boxer Fabian Marimon of Colombia leaves the locker room to fight against Marcelino Lopez of Argentina for the international lightweight title in the so-called "Night of Champions" at Orfeo Superdome stadium in Cordoba, Argentina. Sebastian Salguero—LatinContent/Getty ImagesMay 12, 2012. The family and loved ones of Ahmad Mussa Shamseddin gather in their family home to mourn over his body after his brutal and sudden death. Ahmad Mussa Shamseddin was killed by a Syrian sniper while walking in the streets of Al Qusayr.Robert King—PolarisMay 13, 2012. Supporters of German soccer champions Borussia Dortmund celebrate their team during a parade through the streets of Dortmund, western Germany.Ina Fassbender—AFP/Getty ImagesMay 14, 2012. Photographs of people murdered during the 1994 genocide are displayed at Kigali Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda.Dai Kurokawa—EPAMay 15, 2012. Paralympic swimmer Xavi Torres, 37, of Spain stretches before a training session on the Balearic island of Palma de Mallorca.Enrique Calvo—ReutersMay 16, 2012. Students study religious law on the grounds of Kabul University.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMay 17, 2012. Mejra Dzogaz touches the graves of her two sons before the television broadcast of the court proceedings of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic's in Potocari, near Srebrenica. Mejra's husband, three sons and a grandson were killed during the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 by a Serbian army unit commanded by Mladic.Dado Ruvic—ReutersMay 18, 2012. Afghan National Army soldiers pray at their base in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan. Anja Niedringhaus—APMay 19, 2012. Israeli soldiers try to disperse Palestinian protestors from the village of Asira al-Qibiliya as clashes broke out with Israeli settlers from the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, south of the West Bank city of Nablus. The Israeli army fired tear gas to dispel the clashes, in which two Palestinians were wounded by stones, a Palestinian witness said.Jaafar Ashtiyeh—AFP/Getty ImagesMay 20, 2012. A damaged old tower is seen after an earthquake in Finale Emilia, Italy. A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy, killing at least three people and causing serious damage to the area's cultural heritage.Giorgio Benvenuti—ReutersMay 21, 2012. Internally displaced Congolese carry their belongings as they flee to safety, fearing renewed clashes between the Congolese government forces and rebels in Kabindi, DRC.Siegfried Modola—ReutersMay 22, 2012. A girl passes by a graffiti depicting former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and several presidential candidates, at Tahrir Square in Cairo.Asmaa Waguih—ReutersMay 23, 2012. A woman carries baked bricks to be stacked at a brick making facility in a village near Jaipur, India. Brick making is an unorganized industry and one of the largest employers in India. The laborers usually work eight to nine hours a day, earning between $50 to $100USD a month. Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesMay 24, 2012. The lower bow section of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford is lowered into position at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va.Steve Helber—APMay 25, 2012. FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi from Argentina celebrates with his teammates after the final Copa del Rey soccer match against Athletic Bilbao at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid.Andres Kudacki—APMay 26, 2012. Mentor Carolyn Horton speaks with grieving child Caden Lawton at the TAPS "Good Grief Camp" in Arlington, Va. Caden's father, U.S. Marine Cpt. Garrell Lawton, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2008. Five hundred military children, most of whom lost a parent or sibling in the Afghan and Iraq wars, attended the four-day event.John Moore—Getty ImagesMay 27, 2012. A member of a dance group wearing a colored contact lens takes part in the "Karneval der Kulturen" (carnival of cultures) street parade through Berlin's Kreuzberg district. The annual festival is organized to celebrate the German capital's ethnic and cultural diversity.Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty ImagesMay 28, 2012. A woman holds her malnourished child at a therapeutic feeding center at al-Sabyeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen.Mohamed al-Sayaghi—ReutersMay 29, 2012. Xiang Xiang's masks are seen at home in Fenyang, Shanxi Province of China. Xiang, 6, was disfigured by a fire in October 2010 that left his right eye blind and hands stiff.ChinaFotoPress/ZUMAPRESS.comMay 30, 2012. A Syrian woman cries as she carries her injured son, who was shot in his hand by the Syrian border guard when they were crossing a river from Syria to Lebanon, at the northern Lebanese-Syrian border town of Wadi Khaled, north Lebanon.Hussein Malla—APMay 31, 2012. Boys play soccer with balloons after attending a dance recital about water shortage in the town of Kaedi, Mauritania.Susana Vera—ReutersJune 1, 2012. Michael Kelvington (R), a U.S. Army Captain, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and Haji Lala, on of the local elders, sit on a carpet as they share dinner in the town of Senjaray, southern Afghanistan.Shamil Zhumatov—ReutersJune 2, 2012. Buvaysar Eskaev, 16, does a backflip against the wall of his gym in Khasav-Yurt, Russia.
Yuri Kozyrev–NOOR for TIMEJune 3, 2012. Space Shuttle Enterprise is carried by barge underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. Enterprise traveled to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will be put on permanent display.Michael Nagle—Getty ImagesJune 4, 2012. Students watch video footage of the crackdown of the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square at the June 4 Memorial Museum run by pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.Vincent Yu—APJune 5, 2012. The planet Venus is seen at the start of its transit of the Sun. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.NASA/SDO/ZUMAJune 6, 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.Jacky Chen—ReutersJune 7, 2012. A worker washes his face at the Antillana de Acero, Cuba’s biggest steel plant, in the suburb of Cotorro in Havana, Cuba. Sven Creutzmann—Mambo Photo/Getty ImagesJune 8, 2012. Artists perform during the Euro 2012 soccer championship opening ceremony in Warsaw, Poland.Gero Breloer—APJune 9, 2012. Medical volunteers treat wounded Free Syrian Army soldiers inside a home after the field hospital reached capacity. The Syrian Army attacked the city with heavy artillery and tank fire. The volunteer doctors and nurses of this and many other field hospitals face arrest, torture, and certain death if they are captured by the Syrian regime.Robert King—PolarisJune 10, 2012. Smoke and flames encroach upon homes and ranches on the eastern front of the High Park fire near Laporte, Colo.Marc Piscotty—ReutersJune 11, 2012. Bride Nurasatilah Masae stands in front of her bridegroom who was shot dead during their wedding in the Muslim majority province of Pattani, southern Thailand.The groom was shot dead in the presence of his bride and more than 100 guests and the gunman fled, police said.EPAJune 12, 2012. Revelers from a typical Lisbon neighborhood, Alfama, gather before going to the Saint Anthony's Parade on Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon. The city celebrates Saint Antony's day, its protector, with a parade that gathers participants from several typical neighborhoods of the city.Patricia de Melo Moreira—AFP/Getty ImagesJune 13, 2012. Workers put the final touch to set up "Le Monte-meubles - l'ultime demenagement" (The furniture lift, the ultimate moving out) by Argentinian Leandro Erlich in Nantes, western France.Frank Perry—AFP/Getty ImagesJune 14, 2012. Handlers work to control a camel at a market in the village of Berkash, Giza, Egypt. Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesJune 15, 2012. Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda walks the high wire from the U.S. side to the Canadian side over the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario.Mark Blinch—ReutersJune 16, 2012. A Polish boy fetches a ball from a field during a game of soccer at a pitch in Lisewo, a village near Spain's Euro 2012 training base in Gniewino.Juan Medina—ReutersJune 17, 2012. Explosives seized from positions of al Qaeda-linked militants are detonated by the army in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan.Yemen's Defence Ministry/ReutersJune 18, 2012. Boots hang in a changing room in the partially abandoned and closed Santiago mine, as a result of the coal crisis, near Mieres, Oviedo, Spain. Spanish coal mining unions waged a general strike as 8,000 mineworkers at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain protested against government action to cut coal subsidies.Emilio Morenatti—APJune 19, 2012. Team SKY rider Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain trains in the mountains of Mallorca in preparation for the 2012 Tour de France in Alcudia, Spain. Bryn Lennon—Getty ImagesJune 20, 2012. Vacationers bask in front of the wreckage of capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia near the harbor of Giglio Porto, Italy.Max Rossi—ReutersJune 21, 2012. A Panama border police officer dressed as a clown rests on a cot before entertaining residents of the Darien province, on the border with Colombia, Panama.
Arnulfo Franco—AP
June 22, 2012. Ashton Eaton runs in the 400m during the decathlon competition at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.Charlie Riedel—APJune 23, 2012. Syrian anti-regime fighters and civilians are reflected in the window of a car during the funeral of one of the victims of the previous day's shelling on the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, outside the flashpoint Syrian city of Homs.AFP/Getty ImagesJune 24, 2012. A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood overcome by emotion is carried out of the crowd as Egyptians celebrate the election of their new president Mohamed Morsi in Tahrir Square in Cairo.Daniel Berehulak—Getty ImagesJune 25, 2012. Members of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines watch as the door closes on three fallen soldiers during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. U.S. Army Major Paul Voelke, U.S. Marine Eugene C. Mills III, and U.S. Marine Steven P. Stevens II, were killed while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan.Mark Wilson—Getty ImagesJune 26, 2012. Britain's Queen Elizabeth waves to members of the public as she arrives in Enniskillen on the first day of a two day tour of Northern Ireland.Cathal McNaughton—ReutersJune 27, 2012. Members of the junior national team watch Jazzy Kerber, foreground, compete during the rhythmic all-around finals at the USA Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, Calif.Jae C. Hong—APJune 28, 2012. A competitor dives into the water during the GE Canary Wharf Triathlon Men's Heat Two.Peter Cziborra—Action Images/ZUMAJune 29, 2012. A polar bear cub and its mother swim through the Arctic Ocean in Svalbard, Norway.Kevin Schafer—Barcroft Media/LandovJune 30, 2012. A reveler participates in the Gay Pride parade in Madrid.Daniel Ochoa de Olza—APJuly 1, 2012. Dejected Italian supporters at a public viewing in the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome watch the UEFA EURO 2012 final between Spain and Italy taking place in Kiev, Ukraine.Guido Montani—EPAJuly 2, 2012. A helicopter throws water trying to extinguish a fire in Liria, near Valencia, eastern Spain.Kai Forsterling—EPAJuly 3, 2012. New arrivals wait in long lines for hours to register with the UNHCR at the Yida refugee camp along the border with North Sudan. Yida refugee camp grows by each day and now has swollen to well over 60,000, as the refugees flee from South Kordofan in North Sudan. The numbers of refugees arriving from north Sudan varies from 500 to 1,000 a day.Paula Bronstein—Getty ImagesJuly 4, 2012. A member of the Libyan special forces performs after completing his training for the upcoming election, in Tripoli.Anis Mili—ReutersJuly 5, 2012. Visitors look at a re-creation of Jill Masterson's golden body in the film 'Goldfinger' on display in the exhibition 'Designing 007 - Fifty Years of Bond Style' at the Barbican Centre in London.Sang Tan—APJuly 6, 2012. Syrian Army soldiers captured by Free Syrian Army fighters are seen inside a historical site temporarily used as prison.Alessio RomenziJuly 7, 2012. A woman walks by a ballot booth during the National Assembly election at a polling station in Tripoli.Zohra Bensemra—ReutersJuly 8, 2012. Switzerland's Roger Federer ducks under a shot to avoid being hit during his men's singles final match against Britain's Andy Murray on day 13 of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament at the All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London.Paul Gilham—AFP/Getty ImagesJuly 9, 2012. A member of the community police throws a stone at a riot policeman during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria. About 12,000 members of the community police gathered in the capital to demand more benefits from the government.Louafi Larbi—ReutersJuly 10, 2012. A soldier digs a grave for those who died during floods in Krymsk, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow. Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed nearly 170 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs.Sergey Ponomarev—APJuly 11, 2012. Participants run in front of Fuente Ymbro's bulls during the fifth San Fermin Festival bull run in Pamplona, northern Spain. The festival is a symbol of Spanish culture that attracts thousands of tourists to watch the bull runs despite heavy condemnation from animal rights groups.Pedro Armestre—AFP/Getty ImagesJuly 12, 2012. The hands of an Afghan man are seen as he is detained by paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry, on a mission to improve the biological database of men living in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province.Lucas Jackson—ReutersJuly 13, 2012. In Yemen's capital, Sanaa, a sprawling tent city that was home to thousands of protesters for more than a year is beginning to be dismantled. Some refuse to leave Change Square, while others say it's time to get on with building the country.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEJuly 14, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks in the rain during a campaign rally in Glen Allen, Va.Brooks Kraft—Corbis for TIMEJuly 15, 2012. Family members gather around the coffins carrying the bodies of Pakistani Omar Dawlat, 7, right, and his sisters Nadia, 1, center, and Hameedah, 2, who were killed in a stray mortar bomb in Peshawar, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APJuly 16, 2012. Four rows of corn left for insurance adjusters to examine are all that remain of a 40-acre cornfield in Geff, Ill. Over ten days of triple digit temperatures with little rain this summer caused many farmers to call 2012 a total loss.Robert Ray—APJuly 17, 2012. Young divers attend a training session at a gymnasium in Hefei, Anhui province, China.ReutersJuly 18, 2012. Children listen to the history of former president Nelson Mandela at the Melville Primary School as they join in celebrations of Mandela's 94th Birthday in Johannesburg.Denis Farrell—APJuly 19, 2012. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh look up as they watch performers descend into the stage area during a visit to the Leeds Arena.UPPA/ZUMAPRESS.comJuly 20, 2012. Police examine the car of James Eagen Holmes behind the theater where a gunman opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado A total of 71 people were shot in Friday's rampage at the Denver-area movie theater that has left 12 people dead.John Wark—ReutersJuly 21, 2012. Two children walk on Tottori sand dunes in Tottori, Japan. The dunes are are decreasing in size as a result of the reforestation program following World War II.Buddhika Weerasinghe—Getty ImagesJuly 22, 2012. This is site where the statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno stood in State College, Pa. The famed statue of Joe Paterno was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium, eliminating a key piece of the iconography surrounding the once-sainted football coach accused of burying child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant.Gene J. Puskar—APJuly 23, 2012. A flock of 500 sheep were burned during a wildfire in Darnius, near La Junquera (Girona), and close to the Spanish-French border. Three people were killed as winds whipped up a wildfire that raged out of control in northeastern Spain, forcing thousands of people to take refuge indoors.Lluis Gene—AFP/Getty ImagesJuly 24, 2012. Ronika Massie, 25, right center, and Francesca Johnson, 27, right, put down flowers at a makeshift memorial across the street from the Century Aurora 16 movie theater on Tuesday morning in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve people were killed last Friday during a shooting attack at the movie theater.Matt McClain—The Washington PostJuly 25, 2012. Veins are seen on the horse Clifton Promise while mounted by New Zealand rider Jonathan Paget during training for the equestrian eventing competition in Greenwich Park at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.David Goldman—APJuly 26, 2012. Democratic People's Republic of Korea top leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju, visits the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in Pyongyang, North Korea.KCNA/Xinhua/LandovJuly 27, 2012. Chantel Blunk, wife of Jonathan Blunk, waits as the flag-draped casket bearing her husband's remains is loaded onto a plane bound for Reno for a full military funeral, at Denver International Airport. Blunk, a five-year U.S. Navy veteran, was killed in the July 20 Century 16 shooting massacre in Aurora, Colo.RJ Sangosti—The Denver PostJuly 28, 2012. Russia's Kamilla Gafurzianova's epee (L) against Poland's Martyna Synoradzka during the London 2012 Olympic Games Womens Foil Individual Fencing competition at the Excel Centre, London.Jonathan Brady—EPAJuly 29, 2012. A woman gestures during the Holi festival in Berlin. Holi, also known as the festival of colors, is a festival celebrated in India and other Hindu countries that in its original form heralds the beginning of spring.Thomas Peter—ReutersJuly 30, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend Siyum HaíShas, a celebration marking the completion of the learning cycle of the Babylonian Talmud.Oded Balilty—APJuly 31, 2012. Jamel Herring of the United States reacts after being defeated by Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yelessinov in their men's 64-kg boxing match at the 2012 Summer Olympics.Ivan Sekretarev—APAug. 1, 2012. Imported coal is stockpiled at the Onahama port of Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.Tomohiro Ohsumi—Bloomberg/Getty ImagesAug. 2, 2012. Samantha Arevalo Salinas of Ecuador starts in a women's 800-meter freestyle swimming heat at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.David J. Phillip—APAug. 3, 2012. Three members of the Russian political punk band Pussy Riot—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (left), 22, Maria Alyokhina (center), 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich (right), 30—sit in the defendants' cage of a courtroom in Moscow during their trial on charges of felony hooliganism.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAug. 4, 2012. An aerial view of New Yorkers taking in the sun on Manhattan rooftops in New York City.Mario Tama—Getty ImagesAug. 5, 2012. One of the first views from NASA's Curiosity rover of Mars, taken through a "fisheye" wide-angle lens on one of the rover's Hazard-Avoidance cameras. These engineering cameras are located at the rover's base.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Sipa USAAug. 6, 2012. A Hiroshima a-bomb survivor offers a prayer for a-bomb victims by the world's first atomic bombing in 1945 at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan.Kimimasa Mayama—EPAAug. 7, 2012. Ultra-Orthodox Jews listen to their rabbi speaking as they celebrate the completion of Shas (seven years of studying the Talmud) at the ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, located south of Jerusalem.Abir Sultan—EPAAug. 8, 2012. A Congolese woman stands in a growing camp of newly arrived internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Kibati, Democratic Republic of Congo.Marc Hofer—Sipa USAAugust 9, 2012. Usain Bolt of Jamaica kisses the finish line as he celebrates after winning gold in the Men's 200m Final on Day 13 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium in London, England.Offside/Rex USA
Aug. 10, 2012. A young Indian girl is reflected in a mirror as she gets ready to perform during Janmashtami festival celebrations in Mathura, India. Janmashtami is the festival that marks the birth of Hindu God Krishna.Rajesh Kumar Singh—APAug. 11, 2012. Iranian residents try to rescue a child from the rubble in Sourmah village, near the town of Varzaqan, after two earthquakes hit northwestern Azarbaijan province in Iran that killed more than 250 people.Farshis Tighehsaz—ParsPix/Abaca USAAug. 12, 2012. Iranian women mourn after a deadly earthquake in northwest Iran. The death toll of the strong twin quakes in Iran has risen to some 300, the Fars News Agency cited an official as saying.Ahmad Halabisaz—Xinhua/ZUMAAug. 13, 2012. A light shines behind President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, during a three day campaign bus tour through Iowa.Carolyn Kaster—APAug. 14, 2012. A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a house in Aleppo. Goran Tomasevic—ReutersAug. 15, 2012. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama embrace on a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa. The Obama campaign tweeted this photo on November 7, 2012 after his re-election as President. The post was his most re-tweeted—472,000 shares in three hours—according to Twitter's politics account. It was also the most popular ever, topping a message from singer Justin Bieber.Scout Tufankjian—Obama for AmericaAug. 16, 2012. Police surround the bodies of striking miners after opening fire on a crowd at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa.APAug. 17, 2012. A Russian police officer chases a supporter of the political punk
collective Pussy Riot over the fence of the Turkish embassy in Moscow,
across the street from the courthouse where three members of Pussy
Riot were on trial for hooliganism.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAug. 18, 2012. After a long day, President Obama waits in a tent before a rally at the Rochester Commons.
Callie Shell for TIMEAug. 19, 2012. An Iranian woman prays with her praying beads during Eid al-Fitr prayer in Olympic Village neighborhood, in western Tehran, to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.Behrouz Mehri—AFP/Getty ImagesAug. 20, 2012. Party balloons sit on the floor of the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington in preparations for the Kids' "State Dinner," hosted by first lady Michelle Obama.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—APAug. 21, 2012. Embers from a wildfire glow on the ground in Tabuyo del Monte, near Leon. Numerous wildfires have broken out across Spain in the sweltering heat, an extra headache for authorities struggling to get the country out of its financial crisis and recession.Cesar Manso—AFP/Getty ImagesAug. 22, 2012. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney works on his iPad before attending a fundraising event in Little Rock, Ark.Evan Vucci—APAug. 23, 2012. Sergeant Major Eric Stockton (R) presents to Chelsea Linnabary (L), widow of U.S. Marine Cpl. Daniel L. Linnabary, the flag that draped her husband's coffin during his burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.Jim Lo Scalzo—EPAAug. 24, 2012. A Syrian boy receives treatment after he was wounded when shells, released by a helicopter from regime forces, hit his house in Syria's northern city of Aleppo.Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty ImagesAug. 25, 2012. A man pushes through a guide rope to prostrate himself in grief on the steps in front of the coffin of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, at the prime minister's official residence, the national palace, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Rebecca Blackwell—APAug. 26, 2012. Visitors of the Holi Open Air throw powdered color at each other at the riverside of the Elbe in Dresden, Germany.Arno Burgi—DPA/LandovAug. 27, 2012. Zach Orndorff, 18, competes in his first heat during the demolition derby at the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, Va.Matt McClain—The Washington PostAug. 28, 2012. A Syrian tombstone sculptor works at his workshop in Damascus.Joseph Eid—AFP/Getty ImagesAug. 29, 2012. A swimmer warms up in the Aquatic Center during a swimming training session ahead of the 2012 Paralympics in London.Lefteris Pitarakis—APAug. 30, 2012. Syrian refugees, mostly women and children, in the Zaatari refugee camp north of Amman in Jordan. As many as 25,000 Syrians poured across the border from the province around Dara'a, the birthplace of the Syrian uprising, to live in tents that offer little protection from the desert winds.Moises Saman—The New York Times/ReduxAug. 31, 2012. Lonmin mineworkers pay their respects at the coffin containing the body of Mpuzeni Ngxande, one of the 34 striking miners that were killed by police on August 16, in front of the rocky outcrop where the men were shot near the Lonmin mine in Marikana, North-West Province.Rodger Bosch—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 1, 2012. A villager offers flowers to a female adult elephant lying dead on a paddy field in Panbari village, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Gauhati, India. The elephant was hit by a train and killed while crossing railway tracks with a herd of wild Asiatic elephants.Anupam Nath—APSept. 2, 2012. A girl with curly red hair is seen amongst others from all over the world gather on Redhead Day, or 'Roodharigendag' in Dutch, in the Dutch city of Breda, The Netherlands.Bas Czerwinski—EPASept. 3, 2012. First Lady Michelle Obama finishes an interview during preparations for the Democratic National Convention at the Time Warner Cable Arena Charlotte, N.C.Alex Wong—Getty ImagesSept. 4, 2012. A helicopter drops water over a forest fire in Alvaiazere, near Ourem, Portugal.Rafael Marchante—ReutersSept. 5, 2012. Former President Bill Clinton arrives on stage to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.Brendan Hoffman—Prime CollectiveSept. 6, 2012. Palestinians gesture next to the body of a militant at a hospital in Gaza Strip after he was killed allegedly trying to launch short-range rockets into Israel.Ali Jadallah—Demotix/CorbisSept. 7, 2012. Tens of thousands of protesters gesture to show their refusal for the launch of national education in schools as they take part in a demonstration outside government headquarters in Hong Kong.Lam Yik Fei—ReduxSept. 8, 2012. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Va.Brian Snyder—ReutersSept. 9, 2012. One World Trade Center stands tall on the skyline of New York's Lower Manhattan as a boy stands on a pier in Hoboken, N.J.Gary Hershorn—ReutersSept. 10, 2012. Palestinian protesters throw shoes at a banner of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad during a demonstration against high living costs and the government in the West Bank city of Hebron.Darren Whiteside—ReutersSept. 11, 2012. Visitors lay roses over the names of the first responders at the South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial, ahead of the 11-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center at Ground Zero in New York.Adrees Latif—ReutersSept. 12, 2012. An interior view of the U.S. consulate, which was attacked and set on fire by gunmen in Benghazi. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three embassy staff were killed as they rushed away from the consulate building, stormed by al Qaeda-linked gunmen. Esam Al-Fetori—ReutersSept. 13, 2012. Demonstrators hold up a Quran during a protest outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Hundreds of Iranian demonstrators gathered outside of the Swiss embassy, which handles U.S. interests in the absence of U.S.-Iran diplomatic ties, to protest against a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Mohammad.Ahmad Halabisaz—Xinhua/LandovSept. 14, 2012. A Syrian man carrying grocery bags tries to dodge sniper fire as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syria Army in Aleppo.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 15, 2012. A reenactor portraying a Union soldier helps other reenactors light over three thousand six-hundred candles during an illumination to commemorate the deaths of Antietam, during the 150th Anniversary Reenactment of the Civil War battle, at Legacy Manor Farm in Boonsboro, Md.Michael Reynolds—EPASept. 16, 2012. A dancer waits to go on stage at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria.Jon Gambrell—APSept. 17, 2012. Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, smiles to locals through the car window as she departs the cultural village in Honiara in the Solomon Islands.Daniel Munoz—ReutersSept. 18, 2012. A Pyrrhocorax graculus (Bergdohle) flies above Wildhaus in the Grisons, Switzerland.Arno Balzarini—EPASept. 19, 2012. Space shuttle Endeavour makes its departure atop a modified jumbo jet from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.John Raoux—APSept. 20, 2012. A wounded Pakistani protester is helped by others during clashes with riot police that erupted as protestors tried to approach the U.S. embassy, in Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APSept. 21, 2012. The shadow of a puppet hangs under a gallow next to the main Calvinistic church, at the main square in Debrecen, 230 km east from Hungarian capital Budapest prior to a press conference to promote the restoration of the death penalty in Hungary.Attila Kisbenedek—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 22, 2012. Jazmin Lopez and Miguel Osorio dance during the First Regional Dance Competition on Wheelchair Sports in Cancun. Jazmin was hit by a car when she was two years old, and Miguel was born with a congenital disability. Both dance for recreation and as a form of expression.Victor Ruiz Garcia—ReutersSept. 23, 2012. Dust lifts off the ground during an operation at dawn by U.S. Army soldiers attached to the 2nd platoon, C-Coy. 1-23 Infantry based at Zangabad foward operating base in Panjwai district.Tony Karumba—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 24, 2012. The shadow of Air Force One carrying U.S. President Barack Obama flies over a golf course while on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, N.Y.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 25, 2012. A Japan Coast Guard vessel (R) sprays water against Taiwanese fishing boats, while a Taiwanese coast guard ship (L) also sprays water in the East China Sea near Senkaku islands.Yomiuri Shimbun—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 26, 2012. Afghan policemen take part to an exercise under the supervision of the Eurogendfor in the National Police Training Center (NPTC) in Wardak province, Afghanistan.Jeff Pachoud—AFP/Getty ImagesSept. 27, 2012. A West Bank Palestinian man gets some sleep on a mattress in a field outside the Zufim Checkpoint, near Kochav Yair, Israel after crossing the checkpoint. He is among the tens of thousands who have permits from Israel to cross from the West Bank and work inside Israel. Jim Hollander—EPASept. 28, 2012. Construction cranes are seen from Jersey City, N.J., as they rise above clouds and rain at 1 World Trade Center in New York.Mel Evans—APSept. 29, 2012. Women from the Mennonite community in Buenos Aires stand together in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Over 80,000 Mennonites live in Mexico after they established themselves for the first time in the 1920s.Jose Luis Gonzalez—ReutersSept. 30, 2012. Europe's Rory McIlroy celebrates after winning the Ryder Cup PGA golf tournament at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.Chris Carlson—APOct 1, 2012. An Afghan refugee girl stands next to her family's sheep in a field next to a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APOct. 2, 2012. Smoke billows over shelled and destroyed buildings in Saif al Dawle district, Aleppo, Syria.Maysun—EPAOct. 3, 2012. A Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria.Manu Brabo—APOct. 4, 2012. Raindrops glide off a Brown Pelican's feathers at the zoo in Hanover, Germany.Jochen Luebke—EPAOct. 5, 2012. A member of the ''New Mexico Sunrise'' crew lets a child touch the balloon as it starts to inflate at Bellehaven Elementary School in Albuquerque at the start of the 2012 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The Balloons Aloft program lets balloons take off from elementary schools around the area.Jim Thompson—Albuquerque Journal/ZUMAOct. 6, 2012. A giant inflatable doll representing President Hugo Chavez stands on top of a building in Caracas, Venezuela.Ramon Espinosa—APOct. 7, 2012. A view of the R Premadasa stadium at sunset through a hole in the scoreboard before the world Twenty20 final between Sri Lanka and the West Indies at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka.Philip Brown—ReutersOct. 8, 2012. A Pakistani child, her face covered with flies, whose family was displaced from their village in Pakistan's Sindh province by flooding in 2010, waits for her sister to dress her, at their makeshift home, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APOct. 9, 2012. A wounded Pakistani girl, Malala Yousufzai, is moved to a helicopter to be taken to Peshawar for treatment in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. A Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley Tuesday and shot and wounded a 14-year-old activist known for championing the education of girls and publicizing atrocities committed by the Taliban.Sherin Zada—APOct. 10, 2012. A wounded Syrian man lies on a boat as he is transferred to Turkey over the Orontes river on the Turkish-Syrian border near the village of Hacipasa in Hatay province.Osman Orsal—ReutersOct. 11, 2012. This NASA handout shows an optical image of NGC 6543 from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighbourhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant and then sheds most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. NASA/ReutersOct. 12, 2012. Spectators gather to watch the space shuttle Endeavour make its way down Manchester Blvd. in Los Angeles. Chris Carlson—APOct. 13, 2012. A man points a flashlight towards the body of a Syrian man killed from Syrian Army shelling at a graveyard, in Aleppo, Syria.Manu Brabo—APOct. 14, 2012. In this handout image supplied by Red Bull Stratos, pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria jumps out of the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos in space. Austrian Felix Baumgartner broke the world record for the highest free fall in history after making a 23-mile ascent in a capsule attached to a massive balloon.Red Bull Stratos via Getty ImagesOct. 15, 2012. Pakistani Faqir Zada, 31, stands next to his camels displayed for sale in preparation for the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice", on a roadside on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. According to Faqir, he painted the camels to make them beautiful and to attract customers.Muhammed Muheisen—APOct. 16, 2012. A general view of the set of the 2012 Presidential Debate, held between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.Michael Reynolds—EPAOct. 17, 2012. Afghan National Police line up after an official ceremony to take down the flag at the end of the day at the base in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, Afghanistan.Anja Niedringhaus—APOct. 18, 2012. Afghan boys play on a destroyed car at a hilltop in Kabul.Mohammad Ismail—ReutersOct. 19, 2012. A Chinese opera actress is reflected in a mirror before performing outside a shrine during the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand. The festival celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.Damir Sagolj—ReutersOct. 20, 2012. Free Syrian Army fighters carry a civilian away from the line-of-fire after he was shot twice, in his stomach and back, by a Syrian army sniper while walking near the front line in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APOct. 21, 2012. Rebel fighters belonging to the Javata Harria Sham Qatebee watch over enemy positions during skirmishes at the front line in Aleppo.Narciso Contreras—PolarisOct. 22, 2012. President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney participate in the final Presidential debate with moderator Bob Schieffer on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.Win McNamee—UPI/LandovOct. 23, 2012. A jaguar swims towards his food that was dropped in the water during feeding time at Taman Safari Indonesia in Bogor, Indonesia.Beawiharta—ReutersOct. 24, 2012. A Palestinian activist is arrested by Israeli border police as dozens of Palestinians block the entrance to branch of the Rami Levy supermarket opened in the Shaar Binyamin Jewish settlement close to the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.Ahmad Gharabli—AFP/Getty ImagesOct. 25, 2012. Shackled inmates play cards at a yard in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes State, South Sudan. Built in 1948 by the British colonial government, Rumbek Central Prison houses some 600 prisoners who live in overcrowded cells with virtually no access to the basic health care, sanitation or adequate food and nutrition.Dai Kurokawa—EPAOct. 26, 2012. Enatorama Jalloh, 36, Baindu Mansaray, 32, and Mamie Kamara, 26 are in labor and deliver their babies with the help of Nurse Florence Lahai, 42, at the Gondama Government Clinic in Bo District, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, with only three OB/GYNs working in government hospitals around the country.Lynsey Addario—VIIOct. 27, 2012. A red-clad Romney supporter clutches two American flags during a rally in Land O’ Lakes, Fla.Christopher Morris—VII for TIMEOct. 28, 2012. A street of shattered buildings is viewed partially through a mirror used by rebel fighters to keep an eye on their enemy's positions in the Karm al-Jabel battlefield in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APOct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy hits the Brooklyn borough of New York City.Misha Gulko—ABACA USAOct. 30, 2012. The aftermath of a massive fire caused by Superstorm Sandy in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York. The fire destroyed over 100 homes in the area.
Benjamin Lowy—Reportage by Getty Images for TIMEOctober 31, 2012. An aerial view shot at night shows Manhattan in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, including the blackout from the powercut south of 39th street on in New York City. Iwan Baan/Reportage by Getty ImagesNov. 1, 2012. Dancers from the Russian Bolshoi ballet practice before their performance during the Russian cultural festival in New Delhi.Manish Swarup—APNov. 2, 2012. Afghan border policemen patrol during an operation near Walli Was in Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan.Goran Tomasevic—ReutersNov. 3, 2012. A rebel fighter takes cover as he looks back up at a warplane attacking rebel positions during heavy clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APNov. 4, 2012. The rollercoaster from Seaside Heights Boardwalk now sits partially submerged in the ocean after Hurricane Sandy.Stephen Wilkes—For TMENov. 5, 2012. President Barack Obama speaks, as a tear streams down his face, at his final campaign stop on the evening before the 2012 presidential election, in Des Moines, Iowa.Carolyn Kaster—APNov. 6, 2012. Obama supporters celebrate his re-election victory outside the White House in Washington, D.C.Riccardo Savi—PolarisNov. 7, 2012. President Barack Obama speaks at his election night party in Chicago. President Obama defeated Republican challenger former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.M. Spencer Green—APNov. 8, 2012. Damon Rasinya carts debris from his family home past the fire-scorched landscape of Breezy Point after a Nor'easter snow in New York. The beachfront neighborhood was devastated during Superstorm Sandy when a fire pushed by the raging winds destroyed many homes.Mark Lennihan—APNov. 9, 2012. Strong winds and waves ripped several homes from their foundation, like this one in the Oakwood neighborhood of Staten Island, N.Y.
Stephen Wilkes for TIMENov. 10, 2012. Kingsley Ihim, 12; Markeya Ihim, 15 mos.; Jazzamia Ihim, 7; Martin Ihim, 4; and Shaun Ihim, 5 watch as Kebion, 6 practices his karate moves in the family’s 4th floor kitchen in the Redfern housing complex in New York.Finlay MacKay for TIMENov. 11, 2012. Security cameras are attached to a pole in front of the giant portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, near the Great Hall of the People.David Gray—ReutersNov. 12, 2012. A novice Buddhist monk of the Drukpa Tibetan Buddhist lineage enters the temple for prayers during the annual festival of sacred dances at the Hemis monastery, near Leh, Ladakh, northern India.Kevin Frayer—APNov. 13, 2012. A Syrian child sits on a sidewalk as he sells cigarettes along a main road in the Bab Al-Nayrab neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APNov. 14, 2012. A man holds a flare as thousands of people from France and Belgium demonstrate during an anti-austerity protest in Lille.Philippe Huguen—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 15, 2012. Israelis react and run for cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi.Nir Elias—ReutersNov. 16, 2012. The mother of a 10-month-old Palestinian girl, Hanen Tafesh, killed the day before in an Israeli air strike, is comforted by her husband and relatives as she mourns before her funeral in Gaza City.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 17, 2012. People attend a demonstration against same-sex marriage in Lyon, central eastern France.Jeff Pachoud—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 18, 2012. A Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.Bernat Armangue—APNov. 19, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama and Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi kiss after speaking to the media during a brief joint presser at her residence in Yangon.Nicolas Asfouri—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 20, 2012. Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City.Suhaib Salem—ReutersNov. 21, 2012. Shorek Mohamed Al-Masri, who left her home for the first time in a week, is disheartened by the destruction she sees in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah.Andrea Bruce—The New York Times/ReduxNov. 22, 2012. The Kung Fu Panda balloon floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.Charles Sykes—APNov. 23, 2012. Congolese people carrying their children and belongings flee from Sake on a road linking Goma and Bukavu to escape a rebel advance in eastern DR Congo.Tony Karumba—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 24, 2012. A French riot gendarme secures the area while a demonstrator hangs among the trees, as evacuation operations continue on land that will become the new airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, western France.Stephane Mahe—ReutersNov. 25, 2012. A Kashmiri Muslim woman looks at the debris after a fire accident at Fraslan Village, south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. A total of 46 structures, including residential houses and cow sheds, were gutted in a fire, but no casualties have been reported.Javed Dar—Xinhua/LandovNov. 26, 2012. Police officers are sprayed with milk by European milk farmers during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels.Geert Vanden Wikngaert—APNov. 27, 2012. A hunter walks a snowy trail through Michaux State Forest during the second day of firearms deer season near South Mountain, Pa.Markell DeLoatch—Public Opinion/APNov. 28, 2012. A model showcases a wedding dress that lights up by Japanese designer Yumi Katsura in Singapore during the Japan Couture 2012 Singapore fashion show.Wong Maye-E—APNov. 29, 2012. Runners are reflected in the water as they clear the water jump in The Burges Salmon Novices' Limited Handicap Steeple Chase at Newbury racecourse in Newbury, England. Alan Crowhurst—Getty ImagesNov. 30, 2012. M23 rebel fighters walk as they withdraw near the town of Sake, some 35 km (22 miles) west of Goma.Goran Tomasevic—ReutersDec. 1, 2012. Smoke rises from buildings due to heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 2, 2012. Palestinian men repair a bombed smuggling tunnel, which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Ali Ali—EPADec. 3. 2012. A boy dances to celebrate the return of government army FARDC soldiers to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Goran Tomasevic—ReutersDec. 4, 2012. Internally displaced Afghan children play inside a mud shelter at a makeshift camp as winter approaches in Kabul, Afghanistan.Shah Marai—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 5, 2012. Free Syrian Army fighters aim their weapons inside an abandoned building during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 6, 2012. A bird flies over pieces of wood in an area near Jerusalem known as E1, where there are plans for construction of some 3,000 settler homes.Baz Ratner—ReutersDec. 7, 2012. Palestinian children watch as Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal arrives in Gaza City.Ezz Al-Zaanoun—APA Images/PolarisDec. 8, 2012. A Free Syrian Army fighter offers evening prayers beside a damaged poster of Syria's President Bashar Assad during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 9, 2012. Flowers bloom on trees in Nanjian Yi Autonomous County, in southwest China's Yunnan Province.Qin Qing—Xinhua/LandovDec. 10, 2012. Syrian army solider defectors sit in a temporary prison as Free Syrian Army fighters investigate their identity in the village of Azaz, Syria.Manu Brabo—APDec. 11, 2012. Egyptian soldiers form a line in front as protestors against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi stand atop barricades erected by the army to protect the Presidential Palace in Cairo. Demonstrators gathered for rival rallies over a deeply disputed constitutional referendum proposed by President Morsi.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 12, 2012. A groom gets ready to take part in a mass wedding ceremony with eleven other couples in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The day saw a worldwide surge in marriages to mark the once in a century date of 12/12/12.Ulet Ifansasti—Getty ImagesDec. 13, 2012. Swedish children take part in a Lucia concert in a church at the open air museum of Skansen in Stockholm.Jonathan Nackstrand—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 14, 2012. Connecticut State Police lead a line of children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. after a shooting at the school. Shannon Hicks—Newtown Bee/AP Dec. 15, 2012. A woman cries during a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal church near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Conn.Eric Thayer—ReutersDec. 16, 2012. Twenty-seven wooden angel figures are seen placed in a wooded area beside a road near the Sandy Hook Elementary School for the victims of a school shooting in Newtown, Conn.Mike Segar—ReutersDec. 17, 2012. Raindrops rest on a Jesus painting at a memorial for victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.Mario Tama—Getty ImagesDec. 18, 2012. A girl looks out from the entrance door of a temple as her mother offers daily prayers inside the temple in Lalitpur, Nepal.Navesh Chitrakar—ReutersDec. 19, 2012. Confiscated weapons hang from a magnet before being destroyed at a foundry in Santiago, Chile.Ivan Alvarado—ReutersDec. 20, 2012. The casket of Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) lays in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.Joshua Roberts—ReutersDec. 21, 2012. Revellers dance and chant incantations as the sun rises during the winter solstice at Stonehenge on Salisbury plain in southern England.Kieran Doherty—ReutersDec. 22, 2012. Shaban, 13, a homeless boy who lives in a tent, makes a fire to keep warm in the Mokattam Hills after sunset in Cairo. Amr Abdallah Dalsh—ReutersDec. 23, 2012. Afghan men guide firefighters after a huge fire swept through a market in Kabul. Massoud Hossaini—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 24, 2012. Pakistani children enjoy jumping on a trampoline, at a Christian neighborhood for Christmas holiday in Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—APDec. 25, 2012. Ornaments hang on a burned tree in the Breezy Point neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Residents are still struggling to recover from a massive fire that destroyed over 100 homes during Superstorm Sandy. Andrew Burton—Getty ImagesDec. 26, 2012. A Free Syria Army fighter watches from his position during a fight with forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad at the front line in Aleppo. Ahmed Jadallah—ReutersDec 27, 2012. Indian protesters shout slogans while demonstrating against the recent gang-rape of a young woman in a moving bus in New Delhi.Altaf Qadri—APDec. 28, 2012. A Palestinian protester waits to throw stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes that erupted following a march organized by residents of the West Bank village Nabi Saleh to protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land.Abbas Moman—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 29, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to attend a meeting with members of the Taize Community in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.Tony Gentile—ReutersDec. 30, 2012. Members of the West Webster fire department load the casket of slain firefighter Michael Chiapperini onto a fire truck following his funeral service in West Webster, New York. Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were killed by William Spengler, 62, who wounded two others in an ambush in upstate New York. Carlo Allegri—ReutersDec. 31, 2012. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097, a Seyfert galaxy. This face-on galaxy, lying 45 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), is particularly attractive for astronomers. Lurking at the very centre of the galaxy, a supermassive black hole 100 million times the mass of our Sun is gradually sucking in the matter around it. The area immediately around the black hole shines powerfully with radiation coming from the material falling in. The distinctive ring around the black hole is bursting with new star formation due to an inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy. These star-forming regions are glowing brightly thanks to emission from clouds of ionised hydrogen. The ring is around 5000 light-years across, although the spiral arms of the galaxy extend tens of thousands of light-years beyond it. NASA/ESA/Hubble/Reuters
