From civil war and natural disasters to punk protests, space jumps, and Olympic triumphs, these photographs tell the stories that defined 2012. (113 PHOTOS)
2012: The Year In Photos
27
Afghans gather at the Sakhi Shrine in Kabul on March 20 during festivities marking the start of Norouz, the New Year's holiday celebrated throughout the region. (AFP/Massoud Hossaini)
28
Horsemen take part in a Kok-boru, or goat-dragging, competition as part of Norouz celebrations in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on March 20. Considered Kyrgyzstan's national sport, Kok-boru is a traditional Central Asian game in which riders grab a goat carcass from the ground and try to score by placing it in their opponent's goal. (Reuters/Vladimir Pirogov)
29
Iraqi Kurds hold torches as part of Norouz celebrations in Irbil, northern Iraq, on March 20. (epa/Kamal Akrayi)
30
Orthodox priests of the Russian Airborne Forces undergo practical training before parachute jumps at the Ryazan Higher Airborne School outside Moscow on March 20. (AFP/Andrey Smirnov)
31
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, U.S. President Barack Obama, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak find their places for the group "family photo" at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit at the COEX Center in Seoul on March 27. (AFP/Jewel Samad)
32
Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is kissed by a voter as she visits a polling station to observe voting in her constituency of Kawmhu township in parliamentary by-elections in Burma (also known as Myanmar) on April 1. Voters flocked to greet the democracy icon running for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. (epa/Nyein Chan Naing)
33
A picture taken through icicles shows people sunbathing on the wall of the Saint Peter and Paul fortress in central Saint Petersburg on April 2 as the temperature reached 2 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit). (AFP/Olga Maltseva)
34
Models wear creations by young Kyrgyz designers during Fashion Week in Bishkek on April 4. (Reuters/Vladimir Pirogov)
36
Children place flowers and balloons on small chairs symbolizing children killed during the Siege of Sarajevo on April 6. The display of 11,541 large and small chairs symbolizing civilian deaths marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian war. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
37
Extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in twin attacks in Norway last July, makes a right-wing salute as he enters a court in Oslo on April 16 for the beginning of his trial. (AFP/Heiko Junge)
38
The U.S. space shuttle "Discovery" catches a ride on NASA's 747 shuttle carrier over the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on April 17. The shuttle was brought from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum. (AFP/Mladen Antonov)
40
An Afghan man sprays his rooster's beak with water during a break between rounds of a weekly cockfight in Kabul on April 20. (AFP/Johannes Eisele)
41
Jailed Ukrainian former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko shows what she says is a bruise on her forearm on April 25 at the Kachanivska penitentiary colony for women in Kharkiv. Tymoshenko, who was sentenced in October 2011 to seven years for abuse of power while she was premier, accused "three strong men" of throwing a sheet over her and punching her in the stomach before taking her to a state hospital. (AFP/Ukrayinska Pravda)
42
A man uses a mobile phone to take a photograph at the site of Osama bin Laden's demolished compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2. Osama bin Laden was killed at the site one year earlier, on May 2, 2011, by a U.S. special operations unit. (Reuters/Mian Khursheed)
43
An Afghan soldier inspects the scene of a deadly suicide bombing outside a Kabul guest house on May 2. The bombing took place hours after U.S. President Barack Obama left the country after signing a 10-year strategic partnership agreement between the United States and Afghanistan. The Taliban condemned the pact. (RFE/Sabawoon)
44
Supporters of Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece's conservative New Democracy party, wave flags during a pre-election speech in Athens on May 3. (AFP/Aris Messinis)
46
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande waves as his companion Valerie Trierweiler looks on in Tulle, southwestern France, after the second round of the presidential election on May 6. Hollande was elected France's first Socialist president in nearly two decades, defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics. (AFP/Jeff Pachoud)
47
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) kisses his wife, Lyudmila, as former President Dmitry Medvedev kisses his wife, Svetlana, during Putin's inauguration ceremony on Sobornaya Square at the Kremlin on May 7. Putin took the oath of office to become Russia's president for a historic third term. (AFP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
48
Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin (right) shows off a security banner alongside television host and opposition activist Ksenia Sobchak. Opposition activists tried to set up their own security operations at a protest camp in central Moscow on May 10. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
49
Officials and mourners pray over the coffin of Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, a former Taliban official who became a senior member of the High Peace Council and top peace negotiator, in Kabul on May 14. Rahmani was shot dead on May 13, dealing a fresh blow to the country's attempts to negotiate with Taliban insurgents. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail)
50
Tanker trucks used to transport fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan are seen parked near oil terminals in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on May 15. Islamabad shut its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies after U.S. air strikes in Pakistan killed 24 soldiers last November. (AFP /Asif Hassan)
51
Young Turkmens take part in the unveiling of a 47.6-meter (156-foot) Ferris wheel called Alem (The Universe) in the capital, Ashgabat, on May 18. The ride sets a record as the world's largest Ferris wheel in an enclosed space. (AFP)
52
Unidentified people beat Svyatoslav Sheremet, head of the Gay Forum of Ukraine, in Kyiv on May 20. Sheremet was attacked after meeting with members of the media to inform them that a scheduled gay-rights parade had been cancelled. The attackers ran off when they realized members of the media were documenting the attack. (Reuters/Anatolii Stepanov)
54
A Kurdish man walks between coffins containing the remains of victims during a reburial ceremony in Sulaimaniya, 260 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. More than 700 Kurds killed by the regime of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were honored in a ceremony on May 28. (Reuters)
55
People walk past a giant model of Tango 12, the official ball of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, at the Central Railway Station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 29. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)