Another year has come and gone and with it hundreds of thousands of images have recorded the world's evolving history; moments in individual lives; the weather and it's affects on the planet; acts of humanity and tragedies brought by man and by nature. The following is a compilation - not meant to be comprehensive in any way - of images from the first 4 months of 2012. Parts II and III to follow this week. -- Paula Nelson ( 64 photos total) 
Fireworks light up the skyline and Big Ben just after midnight, January 1, 2012 in London, England. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames in central London to ring in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak leaves on a stretcher after a new session of his trial at the Police Academy, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 2 2012. The trial of Mubarak will resume Jan. 3, where the prosecution will give its closing argument over three days. (EPA) #
Protesters chant slogans as they march through Ikorodu road during a protest against a fuel subsidy removal in Lagos, Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets across Africa's top oil producing nation, launching an indefinite nationwide strike to protest against the axing of fuel subsidies. (Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters) #
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A man injured in a bomb blast puts on his shoe before being taken to the hospital in the Khyber region, near Peshawar, Pakistan. 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, Jan. 10, 2012. (Qazi Rauf/Associsted Press) #
Anti-riot police take cover behind shields after residents threw a Molotov cocktail during the demolition of shanties in Corazon De Jesus village in San Juan city, metro Manila, Jan. 11, 2012. At least 12 people were injured during clashes as a demolition team attempted to clear the area to make way for a new city hall. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters) #
People travel on an outdoor public escalator at Commune 13 in Medellin, Jan. 12, 2012. A huge, 384 metres (1,260 ft) long outdoor escalator, divided into six sections, has been erected in one of the poorest districts of Colombia's second largest city to help the 12,000 residents there get around. (Fredy Builes/Reuters) #
Internally displaced people in Pibor, Jan. 12, 2012. The World Food Programme (WFP) started distributing food to 60,000 internally displaced people in South Sudan, according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. (Isaac Billy/UNMISS/Reuters/Handout) #
An instructor from the Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant Ltd. Co, smashes a bottle over a female recruit's head during a training session for China's first female bodyguards in Beijing, Jan. 13, 2012. According to the company, the training session consists of 20 women, mostly college graduates, who will undergo 8-10 months of training to develop sufficient skills to become security guards. The company will then offer the best trainee a chance to attend the International Security Academy in Israel. (David Gray/Reuters) #
A man rides a horse through a bonfire, Jan. 16, 2012 in the small village of San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain. In honor of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, horses are riden through the bonfires on the night before the official day of honoring animals in Spain. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) #
A demonstrator wears a Guy Fawkes mask during an "Occupy Congress" rally at the West Front Lawn of the Capitol, Jan. 17, 2012 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of members of the "Occupy" movement from across the country participated in the Occupy Congress rally on Capitol Hill. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) #
The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia run aground off the coast of Giglio in this Jan. 17, 2012 DigitalGlobe satellite photograph. Eleven people are confirmed dead and at least 23 are still missing from more than 4,200 passengers and crew after the Concordia ran aground two hours into a week-long cruise of the western Mediterranean. (DigitalGlobe/Reuters/Handout) #
Authorities detained a man during a march in which hundreds of people participated pleading for their demands and called by the Association of Housing Debtors on the main avenue of downtown Santiago de Chile heading to the presidential palace La Moneda, in Santiago, Chile, Jan. 7, 2012. (Mario Ruiz/EPA) #
A Palestinian man reacts upon the arrival of the body of a man, killed by an Israeli strike, at a hospital in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 18, 2012. An Israeli aircraft and tank strike killed at least one Palestinian close to the border fence in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters) #
An Israeli homeless woman with her child warm themselves by the fire outside of the tents during a cold weather snap in Sacher Park in Jerusalem, Israel, Jan. 23, 2012. The homeless people staying at Sacher Park have lived in tents since the summer 2011 protest and have not been able to find a housing solution. (Abir Sultan/ EPA) #
Two Russian Orthodox priests lift a child from the ice-cold water to mark celebrations of the Epiphany Orthodox holiday, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Jan. 19, 2012. People believe that dipping into blessed waters during the holiday of Epiphany strengthens their spirit and body. (Anatoly Maltxev/EPA) #
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Mother of Palestinian Mohammed Abu Odah kisses his body during his funeral in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 18, 2012. Israeli forces attacked a group of suspected Palestinian militants believed to have been planting a bomb along Gaza's border with the Jewish state. (Ali Ali/EPA) #
Severely malnourished two-year-old girl, Rajni, is weighed by health workers at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre of Shivpuri district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Feb. 1, 2012. India has failed to reduce its high prevalence of child malnutrition despite its economy doubling between 1990 and 2005 to become Asia's third largest. A government-supported survey last month said 42 percent of children under five are underweight - almost double that of sub-Saharan Africa - compared to 43 percent five years ago. The statistic - which means 3,000 children dying daily due to illnesses related to poor diets - forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to admit last month that malnutrition was "a national shame" and was putting the health of the nation in jeopardy. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters) #
A protester with tear gas cartridges shot by the riot police during clashes between protesters and riot police near the interior ministry, Feb. 3, 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. The protest follows the deaths of 74 football fans who were killed in clashes between rival fans following the match between al-Masry and al-Alhy in Port Said, Egypt. Three-days of mourning have been announced and marches are scheduled to protest at the lack of protection provided by police who were at the stadium when the violence occurred. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images) #
Two people stand in front of the Colosseum during a snowfall in Rome, Italy, Feb. 10, 2012. Schools and public offices were closed and snow-removal crews were in place as Rome was on high alert for a second winter blast. (Massimo Percossi/EPA) #
A child, with eyelashes covered with hoarfrost, along a street in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk in Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Feb. 10, 2012. The air temperature in Yakutsk is about minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit). (Viktor Everstov/Reuters) #
Demonstrators throw fire bombs toward riot police during violent protests in central Athens, Feb. 12, 2012. Thousands of demonstrators clashed with police as the Greek parliament prepared to vote on a new and deeply unpopular EU/IMF austerity deal, to secure a 130 billion euro bailout, aimed at saving Greece from bankruptcy and what Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned would be "uncontrollable economic chaos". (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images) #
A picture combo shows a sightseeing boat on the roof of a guesthouse in Otsuchi, northern Japan, May 7, 2011, and a view of the same guesthouse, Feb. 15 2012. March 11, 2012 marked the first anniversary of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. (Kimimasa Mayama/EPA) #
An Afghan shows a copy of the holy Koran that was allegedly burnt by US soldiers during a protest in Bagram, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 21, 2012. Thousands of Afghans took to the street in a Bagram to protest the 'burning of the Koran' by NATO-led troops. (S. Sabawoon/EPA) #
Afghan children who lost their parents in a land mine blast in volatile Helmand province, sit near a stove in a refugees camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 24, 2012. At least 24 children have died in refugee camps in Afghanistan as a result of freezing temperatures over the past two weeks. (Jawad Jalali/EPA) #
A physically disabled woman clashes with riot police in the centre of La Paz, Feb. 23, 2012. Hundreds of physically disabled people arrived in La Paz after completing a protest march of some 1600 km (994 miles) 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. (David Mercado/Reuters) #
Bodies of two who were killed after a heavy shelling by government forces are covered with a mat in Sermeen near the northern city of Idlib, Feb. 28, 2012. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) #
A man confronts hooded protesters who were vandalizing a bank facility during a protest against spending cuts in public education in Barcelona, Feb. 29, 2012. (Albert Gea/Retuers) #
Steve McDonald stands in the debris from the home of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman, who was killed after a tornado touched down, Feb. 29, 2012 in Harrisburg, Illinois. At least nine people died in tornadoes across the Midwest. (Whitney Curtis/Getty Images) #
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The body of a man killed in a suspected drug-related execution lies along the path where he was shot, March 1, 2012 in Acapulco, Mexico. Drug violence surged in the coastal resort in the last year, making Acapulco the second most deadly city in Mexico after Juarez. One of Mexico's top tourist destinations, Acapulco has suffered a drop in business, especially from foreign tourists. Toursim accounts for some 9 percent of Mexico's economy and about 70 percent of the output of Acapulco's state of Guerrero. (John Moore/Getty Images) #
Men wait to buy bread in front of a bakery shop during winter weather in Al Qusayr, a city in western Syria about 4.8km (3 miles) southwest of Homs, March 1, 2012. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters) #
Students embrace after leaving the burial of Chardon High school student Daniel Parmertor in Chardon, Ohio, March 3, 2012. Three students were killed and two others wounded by suspect TJ Lane in a shooting rampage at Chardon High school. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) #
A doctor at a makeshift hospital displays a bullet removed from the hand of a young girl wounded during what protesters said was an attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, at the Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs, March 8, 2012. (Reuters) #
A pro-reform protester performs prayers using the Bahraini flag on a blocked highway during clashes with police following a march along Budaiya Highway, north of the Bahraini capital Manama, March9, 2012. Thousands of opposition supporters marched on the outskirts of Manama, demanding democratic reforms, in one of the largest rallies to be witnessed by the Gulf island since last year's pro-reform protests. (Mazen Mahdi/EPA) #
Buddhist monks offer prayers for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami at Kitaizumi beach in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, some 25 km (15 miles) from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant March 10, 2012, a day before the disaster's one-year anniversary. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, last year, unleashed a tsunami that killed about 16,000 and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. About 326,000 people are still homeless and nearly 3,300 remain unaccounted for. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters) #
A girl with hearing challenges cries after her ears were cleaned at an event held by Starkey Hearing Foundation at St. Monica in Gulu, 364 km (226 miles) north of Uganda's capital Kampala, March 13, 2012. (Xavier Toya/Reuters) #
A Balinese man carries the body of a flash flood victim at Pinggan village in Kintamani, Bali, Indonesia, March 14, 2012. Flash floods and landslides swept through a village. Six people are reported killed. (Made Nagi/EPA) #
U.S. President Barack Obama accidentially steps on First lady Michelle Obama's dress as they walk onto the North Portico before the arrival of British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron at the White House, March 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. Cameron is on a three-day visit to the U.S. and he was expected to have talks with Obama on the situations in Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) #
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews of the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty stand on ladders as they follow the funeral procession of their rabbi Moshe Yhoshua Hager's body wrapped in a prayer Shawl before his funeral, March 14, 2012 in Bnei Brak, Israel. Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, who was the head of Israel's second largest Hasidic community, died aged 95 and was buried beside his father's grave in the Tel Aviv suburb of Brei . (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #
An Afghan police helicopter flies over Hazrat Ali (Kart-i-Sakhi) shrine where Afghans celebrate the Afghan New Year (Nawroz) in Kabul, March 20, 2012. Afghanistan uses the Persian calendar which runs from the vernal equinox. The calendar takes as its start date the time when the Prophet Mohammad moved from Mecca to Medina in 621 AD. The current Persian year is 1391. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) #
Military police restrain mourners surrounding the ambulance carrying the coffin of Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, upon its arrival for burial at St Bishoy Monastery in Wadi al-Natrun, 100km (62 miles) north of Cairo, March 20, 2012. Thousands of mourners dressed in black gathered in Cairo for the funeral of Egypt's Orthodox Christian Pope Shenouda, who spent his final years trying to comfort a community disturbed by the rise of political Islam. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters) #
Huang Sufang reacts as she sees a part of her house being taken down by demolition workers at Yangji village in central Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, March 21, 2012. Huang, who is a resident of Yangji village, clashed with demolition workers as they mistakenly took down a part of her home, which is not included in the demolition project. (Reuters) #
Myanmar pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, returns after giving a speech to her supporters during the election campaign at Kawhmu Township, March 22, 2012. (Reuters) #
A boy stands near the coffins of some of the victims of a bus crash in Switzerland, during a ceremony at the Saint Pieters church in Leuven, March 22, 2012. A bus carrying a Belgian school party home from a ski trip crashed into the wall of a tunnel in Sierre in the Valais region of Switzerland, killing 28 people, 22 of them children. The bus transported 52 people, mostly school children from Heverlee and Lommel in Belgian Flanders. (Benoit Doppagne Yorick Jansens/BELGA/Reuters) #
Faithful pray in an evangelical church "The light of world" before the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Leon, March 22, 2012. The Pope will arrive on March 23 for a three-day visit to the Mexican state of Guanajuato. (Edgard Garrido/Reuters) #
A coach scolds a young gymnastics student during a training session at a gymnastics school in Shanghai, March 23, 2012. More than 30 children, aged between 5 and 9, were chosen from local kindergartens or elementary schools to attend training courses five times a week. (Aly Song/Reuters) #
A beer bottle is thrown at Italian Police as Alcoa aluminium company workers protest against dismissals from employment in front of the Ministry of Employment building in Rome, March 27, 2012. Alcoa is the world's leading integrated aluminium company, providing jobs to 61,000 employees across 31 countries. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters) #
Pope Benedict XVI and Cuban President Raul Castro wave to the media after a meeting at the Consejos de Estado on the second day of his three day visit, March 27, 2012 in Havana, Cuba. Fourteen years after Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, Pope Benedict is making his first trip to the communist country. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Afghan security forces escort Taliban militants clad in Afghan women dresses at the Afghan intelligence department in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 28, 2012. Afghan Intelligence forces arrested seven Taliban militants in Qarghayi district of Laghman province. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press #
Sebahat Tuncel, a Kurdish member of parliament, runs for cover as riot police disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara, March 29, 2012. Members of teachers' union and opposition supporters gathered in the Turkish capital of Ankara to protest against a government attempt to railroad the new education bill through parliament which secular parties say is designed to promote Islamic schooling. The government wants to overturn a 1997 law imposed with the backing of the military which extended compulsory education from five to eight years, but also stopped under-15s attending religious "imam hatip" schools. (Umit Bektas/Reuters) #
Israeli border police officers use pepper spray as they detain an injured Palestinian protester during clashes on Land Day after Friday prayers outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, March 30, 2012. Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up groups of Palestinian stone-throwers as annual Land Day rallies turned violent. Police said they made five arrests at Damascus Gate. Land Day commemorates the killing by security forces of six Arabs in 1976 during protests against government plans to confiscate land in northern Israel's Galilee region. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) #
A Yemeni man learns to walk with a prosthetic limb at a prosthetics center in Sana'a, Yemen, April 3, 2012. According to official statistics, landmines and explosive remnants of war remain a significant problem in Yemen due to the fact that it does not have accurate mapping of the landmine-affected areas. In 2009 only 37,111 landmines and explosives were discovered. (Yahya Arhab/EPA) #
A tornado touches down in Lancaster, Texas, south of Dallas. Tornadoes tore through the Dallas area, peeling roofs off homes, tossing big-rig trucks into the air and leaving flattened tractor trailers strewn along highways and parking lots. (Parrish Velasco/The Dallas Morning News) #
Children sit in front of a tombstone waiting for their relatives at a public cemetery during the Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, in Jinjiang, Fujian province, April 4, 2012. The festival marks a day for the Chinese to remember and honor one's ancestors. Chinese experts have called for legislative efforts to standardize funeral services, in an attempt to regulate the country's unscrupulous funeral service providers who siphon huge profits from the relatives of the dead. (China Daily/Reuters) #
A soldier stands guard in front of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities in the northwest of Pyongyang, April 8, 2012. (Bobby Yip/Reuters) #
Dorothy Jackson and others pray together for Trayvon Martin at the Allen Chapel A.M.E. church after the Florida Special Prosecutor, Angela Corey, announced to the media that George Zimmerman has been charged with second degree murder in the death of Martin, April 11, 2012 in Sanford, Florida. Martin was killed by Zimmerman on February 26th while Zimmerman was on neighborhood watch patrol in the gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waves during the Fourth Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, April 11, 2012. WPK named Kim as "first secretary," the official KCNA news agency said. (KCNA/Reuters) #
Smoke plumes are seen above the Popocatepetl volcano, viewed from the Dolores chappel in San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, April 18, 2012. (Francisco Guasco/EPA) #
Men use ropes to try and right a supply truck overloaded with wheat straw, used as animal feed, along a road in Dargai, in the Malakand district, about 165 km (100 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, April 13, 2012. (Mian Khursheed/Reuters) #
A soldier from 16 Air Assault Brigade take part in Exercise Joint Warrior at West Freugh Airfield, April 16, 2012 in Starnraer, Scotland. The exercise will involve more than 1600 troops, and be supported by Apache, Chinook, and Royal Navy Sea King Helicopters from the Joint Helicopter Force. RAF Fast Jets and support aircraft, as well as several US and French aircraft will also support the exercise. This year the ABTF will be joined by a number of French personnel from 11 Parachute Brigade. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #
Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik gestures as he arrives for his terrorism and murder trial in a courtroom in Oslo, April 16, 2012. Breivik, who massacred 77 people last summer, arrived under heavy armed guard at an Oslo courthouse, lifting his arm in what he has called a rightist salute as his trial began. Breivik, 33, has 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. (Heiko Junge/Reuters) #
A young boy wears an astronaut costume in the parking lot of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, April 17, 2012 in Chantilly, Virginia. Hundreds of people gathered at the museum early in the morning to watch the arrival of the space shuttle Discovery, teathered to the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet. The oldest and most traveled vehicle in NASA's space shuttle program, Discovery will be placed on permanent display at the museum. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #
Ayesha Ishaque, sister of Mohammad Saud Ishaque who was killed in a Boeing 737 airliner crash, cries over his casket at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital (PIMS) in Islamabad, April 21, 2012. The Pakistani airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors. The Boeing 737, operated by local airline Bhoja Air, was flying to the capital from Pakistan's biggest city and business hub Karachi. (Rebecca Conway/Reuters) #
A pedestrian walks past a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century on Pademba Road in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, April 27, 2012. Scattered across Sierra Leone's capital Freetown stand aging wooden houses, some of which look more like they belong on the east coast of 18th century America than in a steamy west African city. Others look like they may have been built hundreds of years ago in the islands of the Caribbean, another reflection of Sierra Leone's history as a colony established for freed slaves. (Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters) #
A Nuba woman, injured during a raid by Sudan's air force, sits in a makeshift hospital in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, April 28, 2012. Fleeing aerial bombardment by the Sudanese air force thousands of people have abandoned their homes and made make-shift shelters between the rocks and boulders. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)#
The second collection of images from 2012 once again brought us nature at its full force and beauty along with news and daily life coming from countries like Russia, Syria, Egypt, England, India and Italy. The following is a compilation - not meant to be comprehensive in any way - of images from the second 4 months of 2012. Please see part 1 from Monday and here's part 3. -- Lloyd Young ( 47 photos total) 
Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda walks the high wire from the United States side to the Canadian side over the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on June 15. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
An image provided by NASA, the SDO satellite captures a ultra-high definition image of the Transit of Venus across the face of the sun at on June 5 from space. The last transit was in 2004 and the next pair of events will not happen again until the year 2117 and 2125. (NASA) #
An Indian barber holding a candle, gives a haircut for a customer on July 31 at his shop in Kolkata, India. India's energy crisis cascaded over half the country when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity for several hours in, by far, the world's biggest blackout. (Bikas Das/Associated Press) #
Revelers on the Mall in London watch Queen Elizabeth II appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony on June 5 as part of a four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II accession to the British throne. (Sang Tan/Associated Press) #
Muslims attend a mass prayer session "Tarawih" marking the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in a mosque in Makassar of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province on July 20. The Indonesian government set Ramadan to fall on July 21. (Yusuf Ahmad/Reuters) #
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (center) enters Andreyevsky (St.Andrew's ) Hall at the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow’s Kremlin, on May 7 during his inauguration ceremony. Putin took his oath of office today to become Russia's president for a historic third mandate at a glittering ceremony inside the Kremlin. (Alex Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Egyptians celebrate the election of their new president Mohamad Morsi in Tahrir Square on June 24 in Cairo, Egypt. Official election results today confirmed that Mohamed Morsi is to be the next president of Egypt. Morsi received over 13 million or 51.7% of the votes, while his main rival, former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, received 48.27 percent. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sits inside a cage in a courtroom during his verdict hearing in Cairo on June 2. A judge sentenced Mubarak to life in prison after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year. (AFP/Getty Images) #
A police lieutenant swings his baton at Occupy Wall Street activists in New York on May 1. 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. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press) #
A double rainbow appears after heavy storms pass over Nipton Road in Searchlight, Nevada, on July 13. (Gene Blevins/Reuters) #
An attendee with rainbow-colored lips pauses during the annual gay pride parade in Sao Paulo on June 10. About three million people took part in the parade under the theme of "Homophobia has a cure". (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/GettyImages) #
Wrangler Nate Cummins takes the opportunity to ride by moonlight, the night before the "Super Moon" during Montana Horses' annual horse drive outside Three Forks, Montana, on May 4. The Mantle family, who own Montana Horses, held their last horse drive where they rounded up approximately 300 horses and drove the herd 35 miles from their winter range to the Mantle ranch. The horses will be picked up by leasers to be used as pack and trail horses at dude ranches and national parks. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters) #
Hikers watch an annular eclipse from Papago Park in Phoenix on May 20. The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible to wide areas across China, Japan and elsewhere in the region before moving across the Pacific to be seen in parts of the western United States. (Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic via Associated Press) #
The old tower is seen collapsed after an earthquake in Finale Emilia on May 20. A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy early on Sunday, killing at least three people and causing serious damage to the area's cultural heritage. The epicentre of the 6.0 magnitude quake, the strongest to hit Italy in three years, was in the plains near Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of the Po River Valley. (Giorgio Benvenuti/Reuters) #
An Iranian resident from the village of Baje-Baj, near the town of Varzaqan sits on top of the rubble of his home destroyed by an earthquake on August 12. (Atta Kenare/AFP/GettyImages) #
Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside Gateway High School on July 20 where he had been searching franticly for his son Alex Sullivan who celebrated his 27th birthday by going to see "The Dark Knight Rises," movie where a gunman opened fire in Aurora, Colo. (Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press) #
A policeman chases a supporter of a jailed female punk band while climbing on a fence enclosing the Turkish embassy near a court building in Moscow on Aug. 17. Three women from the Russian punk band were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for their protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, an outcome supporters described as the Kremlin leader's "personal revenge". (Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters) #
A protester, with blood on his face after a strike to the head with a police baton, screams during an anti-NATO protest march in Chicago on May 20. Baton-swinging police officers clashed with anti-war protesters at the start of the NATO summit on Sunday, beating some and dragging others away. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) #
Rescuers and relatives stop a woman from committing suicide by jumping off a building in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on Aug. 14. The woman was rescued as she tried to commit suicide after killing her nephew following a family dispute, local media reported. (Reuters) #
The Thunderbirds perform a fly past as graduates celebrate at the Air Force Academy commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 23. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) #
First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama hug after delivering remarks during a campaign event at the Alliant Energy Amphitheater in Dubuque, Iowa, on Aug. 15 during his three-day campaign bus tour across the state. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images) #
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Govermor Mitt Romney, right, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) speak to an overflow crowd during a campaign rally at Randolph Macon College on Aug. 11 in Ashland, Va. Mitt Romney kicked off a four day bus tour with an announcement of his running mate. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #
Commuters disembark from crowded suburban trains during the morning rush hour at Churchgate railway station on World Population Day in Mumbai on July 11. According to a 2011 census conducted by the government of India, Mumbai has a population of more than 12 million with an estimated population density of about 20,482 persons per square kilometer. (Vivek Prakash/Reuters) #
Runners pass the Olympic flame on the first day of competition in the Olympic Stadium, on Aug. 3. (Daniel Ochoa De Olza/Associated Press) #
Gabrielle Douglas of the United States performs on the balance beam in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team final on Day 4 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on July 31. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images) #
Spain's Marina Alabau celebrates after winning the rs:x women's gold medal on Aug. 7. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press) #
The pack of riders cycles past a woman on a horse during the 13th stage of the 99th Tour de France cycling race between Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and Cap d'Agde, on July 14. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters) #
Workers wear panda costumes as they carry a box to transport Giant Pandas back to the wild, at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wolong, southwest China's Sichaun province on May 3. The bears will be left to fend for themselves to learn crucial survival skills, and scientists plan to gradually reduce human interactions until they can live in the wild without any assistance, and while there have already been 10 attempts at setting pandas free over the past 30 years, and only two are thought to have been successful as the bears find it very hard to survive on their own. (AFP/Getty Images) #
A squirrel is trapped in a manhole cover in Isenhagen, northern Germany, on Aug. 5. After they were called by neighbors, police managed to free the animal by using olive oil. (Associated Press via Police Hanover) #
Wrestlers perform during the Lucha Va Voom's Cinco de Mayan show at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on May 4. Lucha Va Voom is the mixture of elements of Lucha libre, or masked Mexican professional wrestling, with comedy and striptease. Since 2002, the company has toured the United States for the annual Cinco De Mayo show, they have added some more “traditional” Mexican elements like Folklorico dancers, mariachis, Aztec dancers, tequila, and something called “tamales from outer space.” (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images) #
Ginger Buchanan,left, wears her wedding dress as she and her husband Doug participate in the Mud pit Bellyflop, the marquis event during the Summer Redneck Games at Buckeye Park in East Dublin, Ga., on May 26. The Summer Redneck Games were first held in 1996 as a spoof on the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. (Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency) #
A lone Russian World War II veteran with flowers sits in a trolleybus in Moscow, Russia, on May 9 after a traditional meeting in Gorky Park for the Victory Day celebrations marking the 67-year anniversary of victory over nazi Germany. (Maxim Shipenkov/European Pressphoto Agency) #
A girl rubs her eyes as smoke rises from a burning effigy of the demon Ghantakarna, symbolizing the destruction of evil, during the Ghantakarna festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur, Nepal, on July 17. According to legend, the demon is believed to "steal" children and women from their homes and localities. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters) #
A Syrian boy who was injured when a shell, released by regime forces, hit his house on Aug. 24 waits to be treated at a hospital in Syria's northern city of Aleppo. Syrian forces blitzed areas in and around the Aleppo , activists said, as Western powers sought to tighten the screws on embattled President Bashar al-Assad. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Jake Beaudoin, a US Army Private of 508 BSTB, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, takes cover during a controlled detonation to clear an area for setting up a check point in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on May 31. (Shamil Zhumatov /Reuters) #
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. (Jacky Chen/Reuters) #
Orthodox Christian pilgrims pray by a wall at Bet Medhane Alem rock church in Lalibela on Aug.19. (Siegfried Modola/Reuters) #
An Indian cadet from the National Cadet Corps gestures towards her colleague on the occasion of 65th anniversary of India's independence from British rule in Srinagar, India on Aug. 15. (Mukhtar Khan/Associated Press) #
Cori Walters hugs her daughter Hannah, 6, at the California Institute for Women state prison in Chino, Calif., on May 5. An annual Mother's Day event, Get On The Bus, brings children in California to visit their mothers in prison. Sixty percent of parents in state prison report being held over 100 miles from their children. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) #
Competitors work to pull a woman up an obstacle where competitors must jump to the top of a half pipe during the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow in West Dover, Vt., on July 15. The Tough Mudder is a nine mile endurance event which runs competitors through a military style obstacle course complete with mud, water and fire. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters) #
Space Shuttle Enterprise is carried by barge underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on June 3 in New York City. Enterprise is on its way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will put on permanent display. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images) #
A Pakistani worker pulls on a wire he will connect to a thick chain that will in turn be used to peel away a slab of the outer structure of a beached vessel in one of the 127 ship-breaking plots in Geddani, some 40Kms west of Karachi on July 10. Geddani's ship-breaking yards employ some 10,000 workers including welders, cleaners, crane operators and worker supervisors. The yards are one of the largest ship-breaking operations in the world rivaling in size those located in India and Bangladesh. It takes 50 workers about three months to break down a midsize average transport sea vessel of about 40,000 tons. The multimillion-dollar ship-breaking industry contributes significantly to the national supply of steel to Pakistani industries. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) #
Police try to help remove a car surrounded by water on Aug. 28 after its owner parked it on the bank to watch waves brought on by Typhoon Bolaven in Qingdao, in northeast China's Shandong province. Typhoon Bolaven, the strongest storm to hit South Korea for almost a decade, left a trail of death and damage in southwestern and south-central regions of the Korean peninsula on Aug. 28, and crossed into China early on Aug. 29. (AFP/Getty Images) #
A baby sleeps in a sheet made into a hammock on Aug. 12 in Manila, Philippines after relentless rains submerged at least a third to one half of the sprawling capital triggering a landslide that killed nine people and sent emergency crews scrambling to rescue tens of thousands of residents. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #
An area lies scorched by a wildfire near Mt. Pleasant, Utah on June 25. (Scott G. Winterton/The Deseret News via Associated Press) #
Visitors of the Holi Open Air, throw powdered color at each other at the riverside of the Elbe in Dresden, Germany, on Aug. 26. (Arno Burgi/European Pressphoto Agency) #
A full moon as seen from West Orange, N.J., rises over the skyline of Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on May 6. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters) #
Our collection of the best photojournalism of 2012 concludes with a look at the months of September, October, November, and December. While hurricane Sandy devastated the American northeast coast, numerous powerful typhoons wreaked havoc on several Asian nations. The battle for Syria further devolved into a bloody abyss as the conflict dragged on well into its second year. Protests against austerity measures roiled Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and other European countries, China picked a new leader during their once-a-decade power transition, and a new burst of violence scarred relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Through it all, the ordinary lives of people in our multifaceted cultures shined bright. [Editor's note: The Big Picture will not publish during the week beginning December 23. We will return on December 31.]-- Lane Turner ( 43 photos total) 
A woman, dressed in a Halloween costume, takes a rope jump from an old water pipe bridge 144 feet high in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia on October 28, 2012. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)
A child jumps on the waste products used to make poultry feed as she plays in a tannery at Hazaribagh in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 9, 2012. Luxury leather goods sold across the world are produced in a slum area of Bangladesh's capital where workers, including children, are exposed to hazardous chemicals and often injured in horrific accidents. None of the tanneries packed into the Hazaribagh neighborhood treat their waste water, which contains animal flesh, sulphuric acid, chromium and lead, leaving it to spew into open gutters and eventually the city's main river. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters) #
Jorge Lorenzo falls during the Valencia Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo racetrack in Cheste, Spain on November 11, 2012. (Heino Kalis/Reuters) #
A multiple exposure photograph shows Britain's Andy Murray as he serves to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their men's singles tennis match at the ATP World Tour Finals in the O2 Arena in London on November 7, 2012. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters) #
People celebrate as a balloon carrying fireworks takes off during the hot-air balloon festival in Taunggyi, Myanmar. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images) #
A woman escapes from a cloud of tear gas thrown by the police during the second day of skirmishes in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi on November 19, 2012. Police dispersed Kenyans raging against ethnic Somalis in the Somali-dominated neighborhood in protest against a bomb attack in the district. (Noor Khamis/Reuters) #
A Palestinian firefighter tries to extinguish a fire after an Israeli air strike in a building that also houses international media offices in Gaza City on November 19, 2012. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters) #
A riot police officer is engulfed by petrol bomb flames in front of parliament during clashes in Athens on November 7, 2012. (Dimitri Messinis/Associated Press) #
A Red Deer stag roars in the early morning light in Richmond Park on October 10, 2012 in London. Autumn sees the start of the 'rutting' season where the large stags can be heard roaring and barking in an attempt to attract females and can also be seen clashing with rival males. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #
A Pakistani Hindu girl holds an earthen lamp while decorating an area of her house to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu “festival of lights” on November 13 in Karachi. (Shakil Adil/Associated Press) #
A participant performs a re-enactment of the rise of the Chinese Communist Red Army in a theatrical production in Jinggangshan, China on October 15, 2012. (How Hwee Young/EPA) #
Indian herders and their camels gather at the annual Pushkar Fair in Pushkar, India on November 22, 2012. The annual camel and livestock fair attracts thousands of livestock dealers who bring thousands of camels, horses, and cattle. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #
Models mingle at the bar prior to the Bodyspectra body painting event in Cape Town, South Africa on October 26, 2012. (Nic Bothma/EPA) #
A bus driver waits for passengers in Jinggangshan, China on September 20, 2012. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) #
Medical workers help a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York University's Tisch Hospital on October 29, 2012, in New York. The hospital was moving out more than 200 patients after its backup generator failed after superstorm Sandy. (John Minchillo/Associated Press) #
An Afghan man smokes a cigarette in a tea house at dawn in Kabul on September 24, 2012. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/GettyImages) #
Tahera Begum, who survived a devastating fire in a garment factory, lies inside her room in Savar on November 30, 2012. Begum, an operator at Tazreen Fashions garment factory, escaped the fire which killed more than 100 workers on November 24. According to Begum's husband, she became mentally ill and lost her memory after escaping the fire. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters) #
Indonesian mental patient Ujang takes a bath at a small mental rehabilitation center run by the Jamrud Biru foundation in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia on October 10, 2012, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Day. (Mast Irham/EPA) #
Doris, a supporter of Sierra Leone opposition presidential candidate Julius Maada Bio, poses for a picture at Bio's final campaign rally in Freetown on November 15, 2012. (Joe Penney/Reuters) #
A farmer walks through a paddy field to his home in the village of Khokana, Nepal on September 4, 2012. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/GettyImages) #
A scientist delegate yawns on stage during the closing session of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China inside the Great Hall of the People on November 14, 2012 in Beijing. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #
People are attracted by a luminous carnival ride in the evening of day one of the Oktoberfest beer festival on September 22. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images) #
A worker breaks bedrock by sledge hammer as a rotary dredge rips the coal face of the Borodinsky opencast colliery near the Siberian town of Borodino on November 15, 2012. The Borodinsky colliery is the biggest opencast coal mine in Russia, built from 1945 to 1949 by gulag prisoners and now produces about 20 million tons of coal annually. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters) #
A man walks under the wreckage of a fair ride after a tornado ripped through Gandia, Spain on September 29, 2012. (Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images) #
A person passes by an equestrian statue of King Johannes created by Johannes Schilling in Theaterplatz Square on a foggy morning in Dresen, Germany on November 23, 2012. (Arno Burgi/EPA) #
Internally displaced children walk through flood waters next to makeshift shelters at a camp in southern Mogadishu on December 1, 2012. Heavy rains in Mogadishu caused floods which have affected the entire capital but hit internally displaced persons and their camps hardest. (Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar/AFP/Getty Images) #
Palestinian schoolchildren walk in debris by a damaged school in Gaza City on November 24, 2012. A truce came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years. The school was damaged when Israeli forces struck on a nearby building. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press) #
A man carries a woman from her destroyed home in the Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo on October 13, 2012. (Zac Baillie/AFP/GettyImages) #
Residents look over the remains of burned homes in the Rockaways section of New York on October 30, 2012 after Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast. (Keith Bedford/Reuters) #
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A hand of a flash flood victim protrudes from the debris of Typhoon Bopha in New Bataan township in Philippines on December 7, 2012. (Bullit Marquez/Associated Press) #
Shackled inmates accused of murders sit in their cell in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan on October 24, 2012. 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. Arbitrary detention is rife in South Sudan, says a 2012 report by Human Rights Watch, which also states that access to legal aid is just one of several human rights laws being broken at the prisons in South Sudan, which 'clearly do not comply with international or domestic law and standards on prisoners' welfare'. (Dai Kurokawa/EPA) #
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Palestinian gunmen drag the body of a man suspected of working for Israel in Gaza City on November 20, 2012. Palestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who "were caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio. (Yasser Gdeeh/Reuters) #
A riot police officer is dragged by protesters after being knocked from his horse with rocks thrown by workers of 'La Parada' wholesale market in Lima on October 25, 2012 during clashes between the wholesale market workers and police officers. (Alessandro Currarino/Diario El Comercio/Reuters) #
Riot police detain a protestor in Athens during a demonstration against the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 9, 2012. (Aris Messinis/AFP/GettyImages) #
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A local scout reacts as he inspects the body of a Congolese government soldier who was killed in fighting with M23 rebels near Sake, Democratic Republic of Congo on November 23, 2012. Tens of thousands of residents fled Sake and surrounding areas after heavy fighting. (Dai Kurakawa/EPA) #
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A Palestinian man carries the dead body of a child of the al-Dallu family out from the rubble after an Israeli missile struck a family home, killing at least seven members of the same family in Gaza City on November 18, 2012. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A father cries while holding his dead child in front of Dar al Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria on October 3, 2012 after the Syrian army shelled rebels in the city. (Maysun/EPA) #
A girl looks at a body inside a coffin during a wake for seven earthquake victims in El Recreo town, Guatemala on November 8, 2012. (Saul Martinez/EPA) #
A teddy is measured at the Teddy Bear Hospital in the AMC Hospital in Amsterdam on November 6, 2012. The Teddy Bear Hospital aims to make children comfortable with hospitals and doctors. (Lex Van Lieshout/EPA) #
A Greenpeace activist, dressed as a polar bear, sits inside a police car after being detained outside Gazprom's headquarters in Moscow on September 5, 2012. Russian and international environmentalists are protesting against Gazprom's plans to pioneer oil drilling in the Arctic. (Misha Japaridze/Associated Press) #
A cow is washed before entering the slaughterhouse of the Frigorifico San Jacinto, a meat processing plant in San Jacinto, Uruguay on October 31, 2012. (Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images) #
A North Korean traffic coordinator stands on a roadside near portraits of the late leaders Kim Il Sung (left) and Kim Jong Il during a foggy morning on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on December 17, 2012, the first death anniversary of the former leader Kim Jong Il. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #
A woman cries near a makeshift memorial close to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on December 16, 2012 after a mass shooting at the school. (Eric Thayer/Reuters) #
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