The Greatest Photos of 2012

Reuters selects their top photos for this year. Here are their picks.

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a house in Aleppo August 14, 2012.

Administrative segregation prisoners take part in a group therapy session at San Quentin state prison in San Quentin, California, June 8, 2012. San Quentin prison is California's oldest correctional facility and houses the state's only gas chamber.

A woman pushes her Fiat 500 car as her dog sits inside, in a neighborhood of Rome March 23, 2012.

A woman in traditional Korean costume watches as a student leaves a swimming pool of Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.

A bench engraved with the name of the grounded Costa Concordia cruise ship (seen at rear) is seen washed up on the shore of Giglio island, January 20, 2012.

Students hold on to the side steel bars of a collapsed bridge as they cross a river to get to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Indonesia's Banten village January 19, 2012.

Indigenous people point their bows and arrows at a police helicopter flying over the occupied barrier of the Belo Monte Dam's construction site in Vitoria do Xingu, near Altamira in northern Brazil June 15, 2012. The area was occupied by around 300 activists, indigenous people, fishermen and coastal community members affected by the project as they protested against the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant, according to the activists.

A wrestler rubs his hands with mud to prevent slipping due to sweat, during a traditional mud wrestling (Kushti) bout at the Akhaara centre in Kolhapur, about 400 kms (250 miles) south of Mumbai, February 14, 2012

The children of the Amor Divino family, (L-R) Dhones, Izabely and Samille, sit on their couch after their parents dressed them for a weekly physical therapy session, in the Brasilandia favela of Sao Paulo, before sunrise March 23, 2012. All three children suffer from a disease called Pelizaeus-Merzbacher, a rare genetic nervous disorder which affects coordination and intellect.

Seventeen-year-old prostitute Hashi, embraces a Babu, her "husband", inside her small room at Kandapara brothel in Tangail, a northeastern city of Bangladesh, March 4, 2012.

Devotees try to form a human pyramid to break a clay pot containing curd during the celebrations to mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami in Mumbai August 10, 2012. Janmashtami, which marks the birthday of Hindu god Krishna, is being celebrated across the country.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt runs to win the men's 200m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 9, 2012.

Residents paddle their makeshift boat to safety as fire engulfs houses at a slum community in Manila May 11, 2012. At least 1000 houses were razed in the fire, leaving 5000 families homeless, local media reported.

Fans of France kiss before their Group D Euro 2012 soccer match against Ukraine at Donbass Arena in Donetsk June 15, 2012.

A woman eats clam chowder as media and supporters surround Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum at a campaign event at a restaurant in Florence, South Carolina, January 15, 2012.

Women, wearing nylon masks, rest on the shore during their visit to a beach in Qingdao, Shandong province July 6, 2012. The mask, which was invented by a woman about seven years ago, is used to block the sun's rays.

Syrians jump over barbed wire as they flee from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, November 9, 2012.

U.S. soldier Nicholas Dickhut from 5-20 infantry Regiment attached to 82nd Airborne points his rifle at a doorway after coming under fire by the Taliban while on patrol in Zharay district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan April 26, 2012.

Lightning is seen during a storm under the Memorial Center in Potocari the night before a mass burial, near Srebrenica July 10, 2012. The bodies of 520 recently identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre were buried on July 11, the anniversary of the massacre when Bosnian Serb forces commanded by Ratko Mladic slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys and buried them in mass graves, in Europe's worst massacre since World War Two.

The sun reflects off the club as Tiger Woods hits off on the seventh tee during the final round of the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland July 1, 2012.

An ethnic Rakhine man holds homemade weapons as he walks in front of houses that were burnt during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe June 10, 2012.

Local residents meet during sunset, with the Metallurgical Plant seen in the background, in the Southern Urals city of Magnitogorsk, July 13, 2012.

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.

The remnants of a roller coaster sit in the surf three days after Hurricane Sandy came ashore in Seaside Heights, New Jersey November 1, 2012.

Wakana Kumagai, 7, visits the spot where her house, which was washed away by the March 11, 2011 tsunami, used to stand in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture March 11, 2012, to mark the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis.

Khilnath Phuyal (R), husband of deceased Tara Sharma Phuyal, is comforted by a family member at Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu, August 21, 2012. Phuyal, 28, died after giving birth to a baby girl, according to family members and supporters of Phuyal who protested outside the hospital.

Dressed as a princess, Jennifer Knoepfel stands in the pits waiting for the next race during the Saturday night stock car races at Agassiz Speedway in Agassiz, British Columbia July 7, 2012.

Fencer Alexander Massialas poses for a portrait during the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit in Dallas, Texas May 13, 2012.

A Yawalapiti boy dips his head into the Xingu River in the Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, May 9, 2012. In August the Yawalapiti tribe held the Quarup, which is a ritual held over several days to honor in death a person of great importance to them.

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

Manolis Ouranos, a 30 year-old cook, poses for a picture in the Mavros Gatos (Black Cat) tavern in Psiri neighborhood in central Athens May 23, 2012. Manolis studied at Athens Technology University (TEI) for four years where he received a degree in civil engineering. He hoped to find a permanent job in public sector infrastructure but has been working as a cook for four months instead. He now takes cooking lessons which he funds with his salary as a cook.

A woman weeps after learning that a neighbor presumed missing is okay while cleaning out her home in a neighborhood heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in the New Dorp Beach neighborhood of the Staten Island borough of New York, November 1, 2012.

The skyline of lower Manhattan, as seen from Exchange Place, is mostly in darkness except for the Goldman Sachs building after a preventive power outage caused by giant storm Sandy, in New York October 30, 2012.

A Sudanese migrant sleeps under a slide as an Israeli girl slides down it at Levinsky park in South Tel Aviv June 16, 2012. About 60,000 Africans have crossed into Israel across its porous border with Egypt in recent years. Israel says the vast majority are job seekers, disputing arguments by humanitarian agencies that they should be considered for asylum.

A temple stands amid the waters of the flooded river Tawi after heavy rains in Jammu August 19, 2012.

An indigenous man stands in a subway train as he makes his way to the People's Summit at Rio+20 for Social and Environmental Justice in Rio de Janeiro June 20, 2012.

Staff members reflected off the window of the room where Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney works before a campaign rally in North Canton, Ohio October 26, 2012.

A man walks down Shore Front Parkway surrounded by debris pushed onto the streets by hurricane Sandy in the Queens borough region of the Rockaways in New York, November 6, 2012.

U.S. Army soldiers react after their comrade was wounded at patrol by an improvised explosive device (IED) in southern Afghanistan June 12, 2012.

A Palestinian man checks his damaged house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City November 15, 2012.

Israelis react and run for cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi November 15, 2012.

People travel on an outdoor public escalator at Commune 13 in Medellin January 12, 2012. A huge 384 meters (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.

A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, November 22, 2012.

An army tank fires during a firefight against militants linked to al Qaeda near the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar May 30, 2012.

A child looks on as she observes the Bisket festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu April 13, 2012. The nine-day festival takes place over the Nepalese New Year, during which the devotees try to pull the chariot to their respective locations and the winners are believed to be blessed for the coming year with good fortune.

A teleprompter obscures U.S. President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio August 21, 2012.

A man takes a photo as Space Shuttle Endeavour travels to the California Science Center in Inglewood, Los Angeles October 13, 2012.

A young man dressed as a punk with pictures of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his shirt, attends a punk show during the water festival at a music bar in Yangon April 11, 2012.

A firefighting helicopter fills a bucket of water in heavy smoke as the North Merna wildfire burns in the Bridger National Forest west of the town of Pinedale in Sublette County, Wyoming September 16, 2012.

A protester reacts as the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames September 11, 2012.

Audience members watch a model during the J. Mendel Spring/Summer 2013 show at New York Fashion Week, September 12, 2012.

Artist Pyotr Pavlensky, a supporter of jailed members of female punk band "Pussy Riot", looks on with his mouth sewed up as he protests outside the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, July 23, 2012.

A Jewish boy lifts his hand to prevent a Palestinian from taking his picture near a police barrier cordoning off a building the day after Israeli police evicted Jewish settlers who occupied it in the West Bank city of Hebron April 5, 2012.

Bavarian farmers transport their cows on a boat over the picturesque Lake Koenigssee at dusk October 3, 2012. Before the winter season approaches the farmers have to drive their cattle down from their Alpine meadows to a narrow valley that can only be reached by boat.

An Afghan man takes a shortcut by climbing a wall, at a hilltop in Kabul May 11, 2012.

Marietta Perkins prays during a vigil for victims behind the theater where a gunman opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado July 20, 2012.

A woman runs along a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona near Bentiu April 23, 2012. Sudanese warplanes carried out air strikes on South Sudan, killing three people near the southern oil town of Bentiu, residents and military officials said, three days after South Sudan pulled out of a disputed oil field.

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 June 6, 2012.

Delegates sit at the stage before the opening ceremony of 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, November 8, 2012.

Gabrielle Douglas of the U.S. competes in the balance beam during the women's individual all-around gymnastics final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 2, 2012.

A physically disabled woman on her wheelchair clashes with riot police in the centre of La Paz, February 23, 2012.

Members of "Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi," a group consisting of official and police guards, try to ride a military police vehicle after a funeral for soldiers who were killed during an attack at a checkpoint along the Sinai border with Israel by unknown gunmen, at the tomb of the late President Anwar al-Sadat and the Unknown Soldier monument in Cairo August 7, 2012.

Residents push lawn mowers on a street in Nanjie village of Luohe city in China's central Henan province September 24, 2012.

Cyrus Fakroddin and his pet goat Cocoa take a taxi ride in New York, April 7, 2012.

Parker Roos, who suffers from Fragile X, rolls around on the floor after getting into an argument with his sister as his mother Holly looks on at their home in Canton, Illinois, April 4, 2012.

A woman uses a shaft of sunlight to see her ballot as she votes in a polling site built to service residents of the Queens borough neighborhoods of Breezy Point and the Rockaways, whose original site was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, during the U.S. presidential election in New York, November 6, 2012.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident and legal advocate who recently sought asylum in the United States, is lit by a studio light during an interview in New York May 24, 2012.

Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry board a waiting CH-47 Chinook helicopter as they begin a helicopter assault mission at Combat Outpost Herrera in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province July 15, 2012.

A police officer pretends to hang himself in front of the parliament during a rally in Athens September 6, 2012. About 4,000 Greek police, coastguards and firemen protested in Athens on Thursday, staging faked suicides on gallows they placed outside the finance ministry and parliament to symbolise the pain of budget cuts.

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.

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. embassy in Cairo September 11, 2012.

Poland's Lukasz Mamczarz starts his run up during the men's high jump F42 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London September 3, 2012.

Festival goers are pictured during the Hackney Weekend festival at Hackney Marshes in east London June 24, 2012.

Greek parliament employees raise a mast after they replaced torn-off Greek flag with a new one atop the parliament in Athens Syntagma (Constitution) square April 18, 2012.

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with Syrian Army in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo August 7, 2012.

Deontae Mobley looks in the mirror after having his hair cut by his father, "Haircut" Joe Mobley, in the neighborhood of Goldsboro, once an incorporated all-black city during the segregation era that has been absorbed by the town of Sanford, Florida April 3, 2012.

Confetti obscures the stage as U.S. President Barack Obama celebrates after winning the U.S. presidential election in Chicago, Illinois, November 7, 2012.

Juan Carlos Castano, 43, turns on the TV in his emptied-out bedroom as he waits for the judicial commission to carry out his eviction in Madrid September 28, 2012.

A view of the Yawalapiti village is seen before the start of this year's 'quarup,' a ritual held over several days to honor in death a person of great importance to them, in the Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, August 12, 2012.




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