The first quarter of 2013 was a tough one for many people. It certainly was difficult for us here in Boston. Putting together the best photos of the year can be depressing. For the most part, the wire services move their most dramatic photos of the most significant events and many of those are violent. In this post, you will see photos from the horrific collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh, the Boston Marathon bombings and you will see a few light moments sprinkled within. It’s critical for us to document these tragic moments. Because of the images of the building collapse seen around the world, Bangladesh now has a new labor law that boosts worker rights. But after this edit, I'm going to start gathering some positive images for a future post. -- Thea Breite (28 photos total) See also: Part 2 
Tammy Holmes, second from left, and her grandchildren, two-year-old Charlotte Walker, left, four-year-old Esther Walker, third from left, nine-year-old Liam Walker, eleven-year-old Matilda, second from right, and six-year-old Caleb Walker, right, take refuge under a jetty as a wildfire rages near-by in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, Australia on Jan. 4, 2013 The family credits God with their survival from the fire that destroyed around 90 homes in Dunalley. (Holmes Family, Tim Holmes/AP)
Jimmy Greene, left, kisses his wife Nelba Marquez-Greene as he holds a portrait of their daughter, Sandy Hook School shooting victim Ana Marquez-Greene at a news conference at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn., Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. One month after the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the parents joined a grassroots initiative called Sandy Hook Promise to support solutions for a safer community. (Jessica Hill/AP) #
An Afghan security officer walks at the scene after an attack by militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Six militants wearing suicide vests including one driving a car packed with explosives attacked the gate of the Afghan intelligence in Kabul, setting off a blast that reportedly caused several deaths and wounded at least 30 civilians. (Ahmad Jamshid/AP) #
An Iranian officer lashes a man, convicted of rape, at the northeastern city of Sabzevar, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Rape, like murder and treason, can be punished by the death sentence in Iran, but sometimes judges imposed a sentence of lashes before execution or imprisonment. (Hossein Esmaeli/AP) #
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama share a dance during the Commander-In-Chief Inaugural ball at the Washington Convention Center during the 57th Presidential Inauguration Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP) #
Protesters flee from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes after protesters removed a concrete barrier at Qasr al-Aini Street near Tahrir Square in Cairo January 24, 2013. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/REUTERS) #
The outfit worn by the two-year-old Princess Anne at Britain's Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation on June 2, 1953, is seen during a photo opportunity at the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace in central London, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Summer 2013 marked the 60th anniversary the Coronation and a special exhibition at Buckingham Palace will bring together an array of the dress, uniform and robes worn on that occasion. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP) #
A man stands around coffins containing the remains of victims after the bodies were identified at a gymnasium in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in southern Brazil, within seconds filling the space with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked partygoers who gasped for breath and fought in a stampede to escape. (Felipe Dana/AP) #
A woman walks behind Belgian riot policemen during clashes with Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants demonstrating outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur January 29, 2013. Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel producer, plans to shut a coke plant and six finishing lines at its site in Liege, Belgium, which will affect 1,300 employees, the group said. (Yves Herman/REUTERS) #
Marching band members wait to perform during a procession walking to bathe on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, on the auspicious bathing day of Mauni Amavasya during the Maha Kumbh Mela on February 10, 2013 in Allahabad, India. The Maha Kumbh Mela, believed to be the largest religious gathering on earth, is held every 12 years on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. The Kumbh Mela alternates between the cities of Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The Maha Kumbh Mela celebrated at the holy site of Sangam in Allahabad, is the largest and holiest, celebrated over 55 days, and is expected to attract over 100 million people. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jokes with U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta after being presented the Department of Defense's highest award for public service at the Pentagon February 14, 2013 in Arlington, Virginia. Secretary Clinton recently retired from public service. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) #
"Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius awaits the start of court proceedings in the Pretoria Magistrates court February 19, 2013. Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was applying for bail after being charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend, 30-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria house. Standing behind Oscar (3rd L), wearing a scarf, is his sister Aimee, and his brother Carl (4th L). To his right in green, are members of the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League. (Siphiwe Sibeko/REUTERS) #
A woman is rescued from floodwaters by a resident standing on top of her car during heavy rain in the Chalandri suburb, north of Athens February 22, 2013. (John Kolesidis/REUTER) #
Mark Kelly leans his head on the shoulder of his wife and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords as they attend a news conference asking Congress and the Senate to provide stricter gun control in the United States on March 6, 2013 in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords and Kelly were joined by survivors of the Tucson shooting as they spoke outside the Safeway grocery store where the shooting happened two years ago where six people were killed. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images) #
An Afghan woman looks out from a helicopter window during a tour to mark International Women's Day at the International Airport in Kabul March 7, 2013. (Mohammad Ismail/REUTERS) #
Azra, 68, looks at her dead pet bird in a cage at her home, which was previously burnt by a mob, in Badami Bagh, Lahore March 11, 2013. Hundreds of Pakistani Christians took to the streets across the country demanding better protection after the Christian neighbourhood was torched in the city of Lahore in connection with the country's controversial anti-blasphemy law. (Mohsin Raza/REUTERS) #
Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan Coyer, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia March 11, 2013. Coyer died of complications from an injury sustained in Afghanistan. (Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS) #
Egyptian protesters drag a wounded Muslim Brotherhood supporter during clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood near the Islamist group’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, March 22, 2013. Egyptian protesters clashed with the president's Muslim Brotherhood backers and ransacked three offices nationwide as anger over allegations of beatings and power-grabbing boiled over into the largest and most violent demonstrations yet on the doorstep of the powerful group. (Khalil Hamra/AP) #
Farmer Donald O'Reilly searches for sheep or lambs trapped in a snow drift near weakened animals that had just been rescued, in the Aughafatten area of County Antrim, Northern Ireland March 26, 2013. At least 140,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland were left without power over the weekend following heavy snowfall, causing snowdrifts of up to 5 metres (18 feet). (Cathal McNaughton/REUTERS) #
The family of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, comfort each other during their funeral services at the First Baptist Church of Wortham Friday, April 5, 2013, in Wortham, Texas. The couple was found shot to death in their house near Forney, about 20 miles east of Dallas. (LM Otero/AP) #
Cherry blossoms bloom on the edge of the Tidal Basin after a colder than normal March and chilly April delayed the beginning of the cherry blossom season in the nation's capital April 8, 2013 in Washington, DC. Peak bloom was originally predicted between March 26 and March 30th, with the revised prediction moving to April 6-10. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) #
Amish boys watch a game of baseball outside the school house in Bergholz, Ohio, on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Many Amish families gathered following the final day of school for a celebration and farewell picnic. (Scott R. Galvin/AP) #
Police officers react to the second explosion at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. The two explosions killed three people and wounded many others severely. (John Tlumacki/BOSTON GLOBE) #
19-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, bloody and disheveled with the red dot of a rifle laser sight on his forehead, raises his hand from inside a boat at the time of his capture by law enforcement authorities in Watertown, Mass. According to State police spokesman David Procopio, Sgt. Sean Murphy, the state police photographer who released this photo and others of the bloodied Tsarnaev during his capture, retired Nov. 1, 2013, days after internal charges against him were upheld for releasing the images. (Sean Murphy/AP/Massachusetts State Police) #
A farmer puts baskets of newly hatched ducklings in a hatch room at a poultry egg trading market in Wuzhen town, Tongxiang, Zhejiang province April 18, 2013. China's poultry sector has recorded losses of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) since reports emerged of a new strain of bird flu, an official at the country's National Poultry Industry Association told Reuters. An elderly man in eastern China died of bird flu on April 23, 2013, bringing the death toll from a strain that recently emerged in humans to 22, a provincial health agency reported. (Stringer/REUTERS) #
A Bangladeshi man holds on to a woman, both victims of a building collapse, in the debris of Rana Plaza garment factory in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 25, 2013. The collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that killed 1,129 people. (Suman Paul/AP) #
A Carabiniere police officer lies on the ground after gunshots were fired in front of Chigi Palace in Rome April 28, 2013. Two police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian prime minister's office as Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in around a km (0.62 miles) away at the president's palace, RAI state television reported. (Giampiero Sposito/REUTERS) #
A rubber glove being used as a marker bobs in the water after flooding in Fox Lake, Illinois April 22, 2013. The Fox River is expected to crest after heavy rains brought flooding to the area the previous week. (Jim Young/REUTERS)#
Documenting the power of humans and nature resulted in images that depict great achievements and horrible destruction. Here is a selection of images from May - August 2013 from around the world (and here's Jan.-April and Sept.-Dec.). -- Leanne Burden Seidel ( 32 photos total) 
Rescuers pull out a female survivor, Reshma, alive on the 17th day after the Rana Plaza building collapsed, in Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 10. (EPA)
A view of the activity of volcano Tungurahua, seen from the village of Cotalo, Ecuador, May 8. (Jose Jacome/EPA) #
A man falls from a high floor of a burning building in central Lahore, May 9. Fire erupted on the seventh floor of the LDA plaza in Lahore and quickly spread to higher floors leaving many people trapped inside the building. At least three people fell from the high floors trying to avoid the fire that engulfed the building. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) #
LaTisha Garcia carries her 8-year-old daughter, Jazmin Rodriguez, near Plaza Towers Elementary School after a massive tornado carved its way through Moore, Okla., May 20. leaving little of the school and neighborhood. (Sue Ogrock/Associated Press) #
M23 rebel recruits stand at attention during a training session at the Rumangabo military camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo May 16. (James Akena/Reuters) #
Rescue workers break away bits of a pipe to remove a newborn baby boy stuck inside a sewage pipe in the city of Jinhua, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The newborn baby boy was rescued in a Chinese apartment building after being flushed down a toilet, state media said, provoking online outrage on May 28. (AFPTV/AFP/Getty Images) #
Vincent Autin (R) and Bruno Boileau kiss on a balcony in front of the crowd after their marriage, France's first official gay marriage, in the city hall in Montpellier on May 29. France is the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage, an issue that has also divided opinion in many other nations. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images) #
Men play soccer between the shadows of buildings on Boa Viagem Beach in Recife, Brazil, June 14. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters) #
Lightning strikes the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) on June 12, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #
A submerged statue of the Hindu Lord Shiva stands amid the floodwaters of the Ganges river at Rishikesh in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand June 17. Early monsoon rains have swollen the Ganges, India's longest river, swept away houses, killed at least 60 people and left tens of thousands stranded. (Reuters) #
A protestor is hit by water sprayed from a water cannon during clashes in Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey, June 11. (Kerum Okten/EPA) #
A supermoon rises next to the ancient Greek temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, some 65 kilometers south of Athens, on June 23. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Egyptians wave national flags as fireworks light the sky over Tahrir Square, where hundreds thousands opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi celebrate in Cairo, Egypt, July 3. Egyptian military announced it was ousting Morsi, who was Egypt's first freely elected leader but drew ire with his Islamist leanings. The military says it has replaced him with the chief justice of the Supreme constitutional Court, called for early presidential election and suspended the Islamist-backed constitution. (Amr Nabil/Associated Press) #
An excavator is used to move villagers away from a flooded area during heavy rainfall in Yingxiu, Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, July 10. More than 300 hundred people were evacuated in Yingxiu after roads connecting the township to the outside world were cut off by floods and landslides. (Reuters) #
Trayvon Martin supporters rally in Times Square while blocking traffic after marching from a rally for Martin in Union Square in Manhattan on July 14 in New York City. George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of Martin July 13 and many protesters questioned the verdict. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #
A nun reacts as the tide comes in fast on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 27. Pope Francis was to preside over an evening vigil service on Copacabana beach that was expected to draw more than 1 million young people. (Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press) #
Russia's team competes at the synchro free combination preliminary round as part of 15th FINA World Championships at Palau Sant Jordi pavilion in Barcelona, Spain, July 21. (Alberto Estevez/EPA) #
A Filipino resident tries to salvage his belongings from a burning building as a fire engulfs a shanty town in Makati's financial district, Philippines, July 11. (Francis R. Malasig/EPA) #
Andy Murray of Britain holds the winner's trophy up to spectators after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in their men's singles final tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 7. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters) #
Tourists and inhabitants find shelter in the sea as a wildfire approaches the village of Megalo Livadi in Serifos island at the Aegean sea, Greece, July 27. Major wildfires raged at the island of Rhodes and Crete as the one in Serifos was brought under control on early July 28. (Chloe Kritharas/EPA) #
Water is seen on part of the glacial ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of the country is seen on July 17 on the Glacial Ice Sheet, Greenland. As the sea levels around the globe rise, researchers affilitated with the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the phenomena of the melting glaciers and its long-term ramifications. The warmer temperatures that have had an effect on the glaciers in Greenland also have altered the ways in which the local populace farm, fish, hunt and even travel across land. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai is greeted by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (2nd L), Vuk Jeremic (R), President of the UN General Assembly, and Gordon Brown (L, back to camera), United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education July 12, at UN headquarters in New York during the UN Youth Assembly. Yousafzai became a public figure when she was shot by the Taliban while travelling to school last year in Pakistan -- targeted because of her committed campaigning for the right of all girls to an education. The UN has declared July 12 "Malala Day", which is also Yousafzai's birthday, and will host the UN Youth Assembly. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) #
A runner gets gored by a bull on Estafeta Street during the sixth running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 12. The runner, a 31-year-old man from Castellon, Spain, identified by local media as Diego Miralles, was gored three times. (Susana Vera/Reuters) #
An injured man sits next to the body of a victim covered with a blanket following a train accident near the city of Santiago de Compostela. A train hurtled off the tracks on July 24 in northwest Spain killing at least 78 passengers and injuring more than 140, the country's deadliest rail disaster in more than 40 years. (Xoan A. Soler/AFP/Getty Images) #
A woman carrying her baby and wrapped with a shawl walks through a sandstorm in Timbuktu July 29. (Joe Penney/Reuters) #
Song Xuxia, 19, receives treatment at a hospital after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Minxian county, Dingxi, Gansu province, July 23. The death toll from two earthquakes in China's western Gansu province has climbed to 95, with more than 1000 people injured, after around 51,800 buildings collapsed and tens of thousands more were badly damaged. Song's leg, waist and face were injured during the earthquake when she was stuck in a collapsed house. Fortunately the villagers heard her cry and managed to pull her out from the debris in time. (Reuters) #
Fire-fighters spray water near a burning house in the Twin Pines Road area where the Silver Fire is raging, near Banning, California August 7. The fire broke out near a back-country road south of Banning, about 90 miles (145 km) outside Los Angeles in Riverside County, and within hours had blackened more than 5,000 acres. (David McNew /Reuters) #
Urs Huber from Switzerland falls to the ground celebrating his victory after the Swiss Mountain Bike Marathon 'Grand Raid' from Verbier to Grimentz, Southwestern Switzerland, August 24. (Valentin Flauraud/EPA) #
A man holds the body of a dead child among bodies of people activists say were killed by nerve gas in the Ghouta region, in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus August 21. Syrian activists said at least 213 people, including women and children, were killed in a nerve gas attack by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on rebel-held districts of the Ghouta region east of Damascus. (Bassam Khabieh/Reuters) #
Locals combat a forest fire at Satao, near Viseu, Portugal, August 11. About 200 firemen were dispatched to tackle the blaze. (Nuno Andre Ferreira/EPA) #
Students with the Dupont Park Adventist School take part in a march 'For Jobs and Justice' on Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, USA, August 28. The march and ceremony commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington led by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., where he famously gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA) #
A protester comforts a wounded colleague after Egyptian security forces began to clear a sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Aug. 14. (Ahmed Gomaa/Associated Press)#
Our collection of the best photojournalism of 2013 concludes with a look at the months of September, October, November, and December. News as always dominated the period with Typhoon Haiyan battering the Philippines, the attack on the mall in Kenya, the funeral for Nelson Mandela, unrest in Ukraine and the conflict in Syria continuing. Here is just a glimpse of what stood out to me in the final months of the year. For the rest of the year, see part I and part II. -- Lloyd Young [Editor's note: The Big Picture will not publish during the week beginning December 23. We will return posting December 30.] ( 35 photos total ) 
Typhoon survivors play a game called "Sungka" inside the bathroom of a house, toppled by Super Typhoon Haiyan that battered Tacloban city nearly two weeks ago, in central Philippines on Nov. 21. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)
A man fans flames on a fire Tanauan on Nov. 19, in Leyte, Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan, which ripped through Philippines, has been described as one of the most powerful typhoons ever to hit land, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. Countries all over the world have pledged relief aid to help support those affected by the typhoon however damage to the airport and roads have made moving the aid into the most affected areas very difficult. With dead bodies left out in the open air and very limited food, water and shelter, health concerns are growing. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #
People take cover behind a counter at the Westgate shopping mall after a shootout in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 21. (Kabir Dhanji/EPA) #
Firefighters try to put out a fire that erupted at a Fruit market in Karachi, Pakistan, on Oct. 16. More than 200 shops were gutted and stock of worth hundreds of thousands was destroyed in the incident. (Shahzaib Akber/EPA) #
A woman suffers from an asthma attack due to tear gas during a demonstrations held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sept. 30, against the Sept. 30, 1991 coup against former president Jean Bertrand Aristide. (Jean Jacques Augustin/EPA) #
A Russian Orthodox pilgrim enters the water on the West Bank side of the Jordan River for the baptismal ceremony at the site known as Qasr el-Yahud on the the Jordan River near the city of Jericho, Israel, on Oct. 21. Many Orthodox pilgrims visit the site where they believe that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. (Abir Sultan/EPA) #
A Syrian man with more than half his body burnt from an air strike leaves a field hospital to go back home at a village turned into a battlefield with government forces in Idlib province, northern Syria, on Sept. 22. (Associated Press) #
A survivor is rescued from the rubble after four-story residential building collapsed in Mumbai, India, on Sept. 27. (Divyakant Solanki/EPA) #
Former French hostage Daniel Larribe is greeted by family members and French President Francois Hollande (unseen) upon his arrival at Villacoublay military airport outside Paris, France, on Oct. 30. The four Frenchmen, who worked for French nuclear energy company Areva, were kidnapped on Sept. 16, 2010, from a uranium compound in Arlit, north-central Niger and held hostage for three years by an Al Qaeda-linked group (AQMI) in the Sahara desert. They were released on Oct. 29 and left Niger on a government airplane in the early hours of Oct. 30, with details how their liberation came about still unclear. (Ian Langsdon/EPA) #
People sit in a caravan as they watch the TV election debate between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor candidate of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) Peer Steinbrueck at a camping ground in Hagen-Vorhalle, Germany, on Sept. 1. (Jonas Guettler/EPA) #
A protester is removed as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies in the House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Potential Changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, on Oct. 29. (Shawn Thew/EPA) #
Members of the Tokyo bid committee celebrate as Jacques Rogge President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announces Tokyo as the city to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Game during a ceremony in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7. (Marcos Brindicci/Reuters) #
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford responds to the Toronto police investigation dubbed "Project Brazen 2" to the media at City Hall in Toronto, on Oct. 31. Ford, a player in a video that police say matches one that allegedly shows him smoking crack cocaine, said then that he had no reason to resign. (Mark Blinch/Reuters) #
A girl hugs her brother, a recruit from the presidential regiment, as he takes the oath at a military base in Kiev on Nov. 16. President Viktor Yanukovich has declared that Ukrainian Armed Forces will call the last conscript this autumn. One of the largest post-Soviet republics, Ukraine says goodbye to the conscription inherited from the Soviet Union by focusing on a high-tech professional army based on a western model. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) #
The leader of ultra-right wing Golden Dawn party Nikos Michaloliakos is escorted by masked police officers to the prosecutor from the police headquarters in Athens on Sept. 28. Greek police swooped on the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, arresting its leadership and hunting for dozens of members across the country in a crackdown sparked by the murder of a leftist musician. The arrests came a day after Golden Dawn threatened to pull its lawmakers out of parliament, a move that could spark a political crisis in the recession-hit country. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
A woman looks on as Mount Sinabung spews ash, as pictured from Sibintun village in Karo district, Indonesia's north Sumatra province on Nov. 18. Mount Sinabung continued to spew volcanic ash throwing a plume 8,000 meters into the atmosphere as thousands of residents remained in temporary shelters fearful of more eruptions, according to local media. (Roni Bintang/Reuters) #
A vehicle sits on a pile of debris from the destruction caused by a tornado that touched down in Washington, Illinois, on Nov/ 17. A fast-moving storm system triggered multiple tornadoes, killing at least five people, injuring about 40 and flattening large parts of the city of Washington, Illinois as it tore across the Midwest, officials said. (Jim Young/Reuters) #
Belgian riot police are covered with foam sprayed by Belgian firefighters during a protest for better work conditions in central Brussels on Oct. 7. (Yves Herman/Reuters) #
Children look at the Olympic flame torch held by torchbearer Segrey Menshikov during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch relay near the ancient Russian city of Vladimir, 200 km (120 miles) south of Moscow on Oct. 16. (Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee via AFP/Getty Images) #
A makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, the one-year anniversary of the shootings. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press) #
Residents flee as winds whip flames from the Morgan fire along Morgan Territory Road near Clayton, California in unincorporated Contra Costa County on Sept. 9. The blaze, burning in dense, dry scrub, grass and timber in and around Mount Diablo State Park, had scorched some 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares), forcing the evacuation of about 100 homes at the edge of the town of Clayton. (Noah Berger/Reuters) #
An Indian street child plays in a dry river bed after flood waters receded in Allahabad on Oct. 25. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images) #
A girl shakes a young tree to make the yellow leaves fall in a park among seasonal colored trees on an autumn day in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Oct. 14. (Sergei Grits/Associated Press) #
Nick Vujicic, an Australian motivational speaker who was born without limbs, swims with sharks at the Marine Life Park in Singapore on Sept. 5. Vujicic dived with sharks in a customized acrylic enclosure that takes in a 360-degree view of the shark habitat at the aquarium. Vujicic is in Singapore to give a motivational talk to a 5,000 strong audience. (Edgar Su/Reuters) #
A Pakistani man carrying a child rushes away from the site of a blast shortly after a car exploded in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Sept. 29. A car bomb exploded on a crowded street in northwestern Pakistan, killing scores of people in the third blast to hit the troubled city of Peshawar in a week. (Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press) #
Protesters use tear gas and throw stones during clashes with riot police in front of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine during a rally in Kiev on Nov. 24. Thousands of pro-Europe protesters in Ukraine attempted to storm the government building in the capital of Kiev, clashing with police who fired tear gas to keep them back. Protesters tried to break through police ranks surrounding the building, with some throwing stones and hitting officers with the signs they were carrying, as police fought back with batons, an AFP correspondent reported. (Genya SavilovAFP/Getty Images) #
A US Capitol Police Officer walks past a statue of Gerald Ford, who was US president during the 1976 shutdown of the federal government, in the Rotunda while the building was closed to tours on Capitol Hill on Oct. 1, in Washington, DC. The group of healthcare reform supporters and politicians gathered to celebrate the implementation of the Affordable Care Act's online insurance markets which opened today. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) #
Dave Jackson closes a mailbox with his foot after delivering the mail to a home surrounded on three sides by a flooded Cheyenne Creek Friday, Sept. 13, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coffee-colored floodwaters cascaded downstream from the Colorado Rockies, transforming normally scenic rivers and creeks into fast, unforgiving torrents and forcing thousands more evacuations from water-logged communities beset by days of steady rain. (Michael Ciaglo/The Colorado Springs Gazette via Associated Press) #
Malian campaign workers look through electoral lists at a polling station in the Badalabougou neighborhood of Bamako, Mali, on Nov. 24. Malians voted for legislative elections amidst concerns over security following attacks in the northern city of Gao and the kidnapping and killing of two French journalists in the desert city of Kidal. Some 1,080 candidates, including 135 women, are competing for 147 seats in the elections, which will go to a second round on Dec. 15 unless one party wins an absolute majority. (Tanya Bindra/EPA) #
Afghan schoolchildren take lessons in an open classroom at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province on Dec. 1. Afghanistan has had only rare moments of peace over the past 30 years, its education system being undermined by the Soviet invasion of 1979, a civil war in the 1990s and five years of Taliban rule. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images ) #
Syrian fighters of the YPG (Kurdish Popular Protection Units) man a guard post at a building near the frontline, in Ras al-Ayn (Seri Kanye in Kurdish), al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, on Oct. 22. The YPG is composed of youths from communities across the Kurdish region of Syria. Kurds, the largest ethnic minority group in Syria, reportedly make up nine percent of the country's population. (Mauricio Morales/EPA) #
Demonstrators march on Nov. 6, under the rain in Athens during a 24-hour general strike. A general strike hit Greece on Nov. 6, paralyzing public services and disrupting transport as EU-IMF auditors worked to finalize the recession-hit country's next budget, looking to eliminate a fiscal shortfall that could bring more unpopular cuts. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Residents look at a collapsed Holy Trinity parish church at Loay, Bohol on Oct. 17, after an earthquake struck central Philippines. The Philippines started to clear roads blocked by debris on Oct. 17 as it reckoned up the cost of the Oct. 15 powerful earthquake, with the death toll rising to at least 158. Tens of thousands of residents of Bohol island, which took the brunt of the 7.2 magnitude quake, remained living outdoors, for fear of aftershocks bringing down damaged homes. (Erik De Castro/Reuters) #
A man walks through the 9/11 Empty Sky memorial at sunrise across from New York's Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Sept. 11. Americans will commemorate the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with solemn ceremonies and pledges to not forget the nearly 3,000 killed when hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters) #
A man wraps his body with a Nelson Mandela tapestry outside Mandela's home on Dec. 7, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela, also known as Madiba, passed away on the evening of Dec. 5th, at his home in Houghton at the age of 95. Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in jail for his activism against apartheid in a racially-divided South Africa. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #
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