2012: The Year In Photos
The newly built Ada Bridge over the Sava River is illuminated in Belgrade, Serbia, early on January 1. (AFP/Andrej Isakovic)
An Afghan artist and his students display an oversized page from the Koran at the opening ceremony of the Naser Khusro Balkhi Library in Kabul on January 12. (AFP/Shan Marai)
A soldier of Russia's presidential regiment guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just outside the Kremlin walls in Moscow on January 12. (AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev)
Mourners carry the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan during his funeral in Tehran on January 13. Roshan was killed the previous day when two men on a motorbike slapped a magnetic bomb on his car while it was stuck in Tehran traffic. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
The partially submerged "Costa Concordia" cruise ship lies in the harbor of the Isola del Giglio in Italy on January 16 after it ran aground and keeled over on January 13. (AFP/Filippo Monteforte)
Kazakh opposition leaders burn an election poster of the ruling Nur-Otan party, a winner of the recent parliamentary elections, in Almaty on January 17. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov)
Believers plunge into the ice-cold water of a lake in Minsk on January 18 to celebrate the Orthodox holiday of Epiphany. (AFP/Victor Drachev)
Members of the Russian radical feminist group Pussy Riot sing a song at Lobnoye Mesto, the site where Russian tsars once issued their decrees, on Red Square in Moscow on January 20. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
Muslim Brotherhood supporters celebrate outside Egypt's parliament in Cairo on January 23. Lawmakers were holding their first session since an election put Islamists in charge of the assembly following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. (Reuters/Suhaib Salem)
A Syrian boy stands in front of a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian army in a street in Homs on January 23. (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)
A detained illegal migrant from Uzbekistan stands behind the bars of his jail cell at the Kazan railway station in Moscow on January 24. Police detained about 30 illegal migrants during a routine check at the station. In an article published earlier on his campaign website, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged to toughen up immigration legislation. (AFP/Andrey Smirnov)
The aurora borealis lights up the sky near the city of Tromsoe in northern Norway on January 25. Reuters/Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/Scanpix
A villager transports wood in the village of Jezerc, west of Kosovo's capital Pristina, on January 31, as temperatures in Kosovo reached minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Reuters/Hazir Reka
Iraqi supporters of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City in northern Baghdad wave the national flag during a celebration marking the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq on February 9. (AFP/Ali Al-Saadi)
A traffic light displays the image of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 10. Images of Putin were stuck onto traffic lights in different parts of the city ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for March 4. The sign reads: "Stop." (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)
Russian billionaire and presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov (right) watches a performance staged by students from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow on February 14. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
Veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan stand with their backs turned to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as he attends a flower-laying ceremony in Kyiv on February 15. The veterans publicly snubbed Yanukovych during the ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov (center) is inaugurated for a second term in the capital Ashgabat on February 17. Berdymukhammedov won more than 97 percent of the vote held on February 12.(AFP/Igor Sasin)
Afghan men shout anti-U.S slogans during a demonstration in Jalalabad Province on February 22. Gunfire wounded at least 26 people during protests in several cities across the country over the burning of copies of the Koran at NATO's main base in Afghanistan. (Reuters/Parwiz)
Opposition supporters take part in a protest rally called The White Ring by forming a human chain along the Garden Ring Road in Moscow on February 26. Thousands of Russians joined the protest against Vladimir Putin's expected return to the presidency in the upcoming election. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
A woman waits beside the ballot box as election officials register her to vote in Iran's parliamentary elections in Tehran on March 2. (Reuters)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addresses his supporters with tears in his eyes on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow on March 4. Putin won a resounding victory in Russia's presidential election, securing a new six-year term in the Kremlin and a mandate to deal with opposition protests after a vote that opponents said was marred by fraud. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
The bodies of an elderly Afghan man and a child are pictured in the village of Alkozai in Kandahar Province on March 11. An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a U.S. soldier walked off his base and began shooting civilians. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier "in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province," without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (AFP/ Mamoon Durrani)
An honor guard's face is covered by Turkmenistan's national flag during an official ceremony welcoming Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 13. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)
A portrait of Uladzislau Kavalyou is seen among candles and flowers at the entrance of a metro station in central Minsk on March 17. Belarus executed the two men convicted for the fatal 2011 metro bombing, despite protests from European human rights groups and calls for a retrial. (Reuters/Aleksander Vasukovich)
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)
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)
Iraqi Kurds hold torches as part of Norouz celebrations in Irbil, northern Iraq, on March 20. (epa/Kamal Akrayi)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Models wear creations by young Kyrgyz designers during Fashion Week in Bishkek on April 4. (Reuters/Vladimir Pirogov)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
New Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic (left) embraces former President Boris Tadic as he takes his oath of office at the National Assembly building in Belgrade on May 31. Nikolic said he wanted Serbia to join the EU, but stressed that Belgrade would never give up its claim to Kosovo. (AFP/Andrej Isakovic)
An Afghan child in Kabul climbs on the barrel of a tank on May 31, the eve of International Children’s Day. (RFE/Sabawoon)
A Kosovo Serb gestures to troops in a German KFOR armored vehicle guarding a bridge in the village of Rudare, near the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan, on June 1. A NATO soldier and three Kosovo Serbs were wounded in clashes that erupted as NATO units moved to dismantle Serb-held barricades in northern Kosovo. (AFP)
Supporters of deposed President Hosni Mubarak react after a court sentenced him to life in prison in Cairo on June 2. Mubarak was charged with ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that swept him from power in 2011. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem)
Britain's Prince Charles kisses the hand of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, during the Diamond Jubilee concert in front of Buckingham Palace in London on June 4. Pop royalty including Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John performed at the celebrations of the queen's 60 years on the throne. (Reuters/David Moir)
Defendants accused of participating in the December 2011 clashes in the Kazakh oil town of Zhanaozen react behind a glass barrier while Interior Ministry officers block the audience during a court session in Aktau on June 4. Relatives of 37 protesters accused of rioting in Zhanaozen crammed into a makeshift courtroom to await the verdicts in the largest trial relating to the deadly clashes. (Reuters/Olga Yaroslavskaya)
Ukrainian opposition protesters clash with riot police on June 5 in front of the parliament in Kyiv. The demonstrators were protesting against legislation expanding the use of the Russian language in courts and hospitals in the country's eastern regions, which have close ties to Moscow. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
Venus, seen from Russia's Ivanovo region, transits in front of the sun early on June 6. This rare astronomical event won't happen for another 105 years. (Itar Tass/Vladimir Smirnov)
Dancers perform under a giant inflatable logo of the Euro 2012 football championships during the opening ceremony at the National Stadium in Warsaw on June 8. (AFP/Christof Stache)
Female supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Muhammad Morsi hold campaign fliers bearing his portrait during celebrations on Cairo's Tahrir Square on June 18. Islamist candidates claimed victory in Egypt's first free presidential vote since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. (AFP/Patrick Baz)
Young Salafi women spend time at a women-only beach in downtown Makhachkala, Daghestan, on July 8. (Reuters/Maria Turchenkova)
Lightning strikes near the Memorial Center in Potocari on July 10, the night before a mass burial. The bodies of 520 recently identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre were buried on July 11, the anniversary of the killing of some 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
The members of the Rolling Stones -- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts -- pose in front of The Marquee Club in London on July 11. The picture was taken to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones' first-ever live performance, on July 12, 1962, at the iconic venue on London's Oxford Street. (Reuters/Rankin)
Chinese artist and democracy activist Ai Weiwei waits for his lawyer to return from a court hearing at his compound in Beijing on July 20. The artist lost his appeal against a multi-million-dollar tax fine on a company he founded. (AFP/ Ed Jones)
Afghan women march in Kabul on July 11 to protest against the recent public execution of a young woman for alleged adultery. The execution was captured in a shocking video. (RFE/Sabawoon)
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft is transported to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 12. An International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams took off for the space station on July 15. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov)
Three girls jump in Lake Ohrid in Macedonia on July 12. A heat wave in Macedonia with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius forced residents to seek relief in the rivers and lakes. (AFP/Robert Atanasovski)
People hold hands as they pray outside the Aurora Municipal Center in Aurora, Colorado, during a memorial service on July 22 for victims of a mass shooting at a movie theater two days earlier. Twelve people were killed and many more wounded in the attack by a lone gunman. (AFP/Joshua Lott)
A supporter of jailed members of Russian punk collective Pussy Riot stages a protest with his lips sewn together outside the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg on July 23. (Reuters/Trend Photo Agency)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron as they attend a judo competition at the Olympic Games in London on August 2. (AFP/Franck Fife)
South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane dances to African music with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a gala dinner in Pretoria, South Africa, on August 7. (AFP/Jacquelyn Martin)
U.S. singer Madonna performs in St. Petersburg during her MDNA tour on August 9. Defying a Russian law that forbids public endorsements of homosexuality, Madonna demanded tolerance for gays and lesbians during her St. Petersburg concert. (AFP/ Olga Maltseva)
Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko (back) gets into a police truck after a court session in Kyiv on August 17. Lutsenko, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was sentenced to two years in prison for negligence in his second trial this year, according to local media. (Reuters/Anatolii Stepanov)
A wildfire is seen from the air near the Serbian village of Dubovo on August 22. An unprecedented drought and soaring temperatures in the Balkans caused a string of forest fires and serious damage to agriculture in the region. (AFP/Nebojsha Markovic)
Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover after Syrian government forces fired a mortar in the northwestern city of Aleppo on August 30. (Reuters/Youssef Boudlal)
Competitors are seen through the Paralympic flame as they race in the women's 5000-meter heats at the Olympic Stadium on August 31 during the 2012 Paralympic Games. (Reuters/Toby Melville)
Children go to school on September 1, the first day of the new school year in the Chechen village of Dishny-Vedeno. (RFE/RL, North Causacus Service)
A U.S. flag is seen at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 12, a day after the consulate was attacked by gunmen and set on fire. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three embassy staff were killed in the attack as they tried to flee. (Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori)
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (center) is escorted out of his home by Los Angeles County police in Cerritos, California, on September 15. Nakoula is thought to be behind a controversial anti-Islamic film, "The Innocence of Muslims," that sparked violent protests in Muslim countries, but it was suspected bank fraud that led to his arrest. (Reuters/Bret Hartman)
Pakistani lawyers take cover as police stop them from reaching the U.S. Embassy during a protest against the controversial film "The Innocence of Muslims" in Islamabad on September 19. Up to 500 Pakistani lawyers managed to enter the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in a fresh wave of protests denouncing the film. (AFP/ Aamir Qureshi)
Soldiers with painted faces march during a military exercise at the Marshal Bagramian training grounds in Armenia near the border with Turkey on September 19. Around 2,000 troops from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan held five days of exercises under the flag of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). (AFP/Karen Minasyan)
Iranian women attend a demonstration outside the French Embassy in Tehran on September 20 to denounce a French weekly's publication of a cartoon of a naked Prophet Mohammed. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
Chinese singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping, performs at the debut of the music and dance epic "Road to Revival" at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (AFP/Imaginechina)
An officer watches a candidate do push-ups during the selection process for a professional contract in the Russian army at a recruitment center in the southern city of Stavropol on September 25. (Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko)
Chinese women pose in front of a painting on the Berlin Wall depicting Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev on October 3, the 22nd anniversary of Germany's reunification. (Reuters/Lisi Niesner)
A naked protester runs past the parliament in Syntagma Square in Athens during a violent protest against a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 9. Tens of thousands of demonstrators defied a ban on protests to voice their displeasure with the German leader, who many blame for forcing painful austerity measures on Greece. (Reuters/John Kolesidis)
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (left) approaches to shake hands with Georgian Dream coalition leader and incoming Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili at the Presidential Palace in Tbilisi on October 9. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner leaps from a capsule at the edge of space more than 39 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Baumgartner reached a speed of 1,135 kilometers per hour, breaking the sound barrier, before he opened his parachute and landed in the New Mexico desert. (AFP/www.redbullcontentpool.com/Jay Nemeth)
A crowd watches workers take down the last bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, on October 14 after Mayor Bat-Uul Erdene denounced the communist leader as a "murderer." For decades, Vladimir Lenin was worshipped by Mongolian schoolchildren as Teacher Lenin. (AFP/Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir)
Former Taliban fighters display their weapons during a ceremony in Herat on October 22 after they joined the Afghan government forces. Afghanistan is bolstering its military in preparation for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. (AFP/Arif Karimi)
Muslim pilgrims wait for the start of prayers at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on October 22. (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)
South Korean singer Psy (right) shows UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the dance moves to Psy's worldwide pop hit "Gangnam Style" during a photo opportunity at the UN headquarters in New York on October 23. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Men lead recently purchased camels by car and motorcycle ahead of Eid al-Adha celebrations in Lahore, Pakistan, on October 26. Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha at the end of the hajj by slaughtering sheep, goats, cows, and camels to commemorate the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son at God's command. (Reuters/Mohsin Raza)
Women check a ballot in the village of Rusaki, some 110 kilometers from Kyiv, during Ukraine's parliamentary elections on October 28. (AFP/Viktor Drachev)
A statue stands among homes destroyed by fire and the effects of Hurricane Sandy in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York City on October 30. The storm knocked out power to huge swathes of the East Coast, swamped New York's subway system, and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
A Sudanese man points at the Iranian replenishment ship "Kharg" docked in the Red Sea town of Port Sudan on October 31. The visit of two Iranian naval ships to Sudan reflected strong ties between the countries. (AFP/Ashraf Shazly)
U.S. President Barack Obama hugs his daughters Malia (right) and Sasha as First Lady Michelle Obama looks on during an election night victory rally in Chicago on November 6. (Reuters/Larry Downing)
Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai reads a card as she recuperates at a hospital in Birmingham in northern England on November 8. Malala, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, was flown from Pakistan to Britain for specialist treatment after the October 9 attack. (Reuters/Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Handout)
A woman stands on a bench above a flooded street in Venice, Italy, on November 11. The water level in the canal city rose to 149 centimeters above the normal level, according to a monitoring institute. (Reuters/Manuel Silvestri)
Turkish soldiers stand guard in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar after Syrian aircraft bombed the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain, killing and wounding many people, on November 12. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
A man touches a picture of Ante Gotovina, next to a picture of Mladen Markac, as people celebrate in Zagreb after an appeals court overturned the convictions of the two men on November 16. Gotovina, a former Croatian army commander and Markac, a former Croatian police commander, had been convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes during the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia. Judges ordered their immediate release. (Reuters/Antonio Bronic)
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on an alleged Hamas site in the southeast of Gaza City on November 17. (epa/Mohammed Saber)
Indian women walk past a 30-meter-long sand sculpture in the shape of a ribbon in Konark on November 30, created as part of an awareness campaign on the eve of World AIDS Day. (AFP)
An ash cloud rises from the Plosky Tolbachik volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula on December 3. (Itar-Tass/Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
Nobel laureates and guests attend the Nobel Banquet at City Hall in Stockholm on December 10. This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union. (Reuters/Jessica Gow/Scanpix)