Here is a compilation of the Agence France Presse (AFP) most enduring images of 2012, We selected 40 of all topics issues in the world this year. Impressive, shocking, saddening, funny and some very touching (we left aside some more shocking ones) see below our 40 favorite images of the Year!
Left: New taxi cabs in a flooded car park in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in October. The superstorm devastated the Northwestern United States, costing an estimated $65 billion of damage. At least 250 people were killed in seven countries along the storm’s path.
Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi, 27, runs as he is engulfed in flames after he set himself on fire during a protest in New Delhi last march. Tibetans at the rally were protesting against an upcoming visit to India by Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to police. Self-immolation is common among Tibetans protesting against Chinese rule
Catholic priest Fabio Colindres (L) speaks with a member of Mara Salvatrucha gang during a mass at the prison of Ciudad Barrios, 160 km east of San Salvador, El Salvador on June 19, 2012. Inmates participated in a mass to celebrate 100 days after a truce was declared between gangs and the Salvadorean goverment.
A Dutch local resident, standing in his house, looks to high waters level through his window, in Dordrecht on January 5, 2012. Gale force winds reaching up to 110 kilometres (about 70 miles) an hour as well as heavy rains are expected along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.
In this photograph taken on July 10, 2012, 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. 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 tonnes. The multimillion-dollar ship-breaking industry contributes significantly to the national supply of steel to Pakistani industries. For a six-day working week of hard and often dangerous work handling asbestos, heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), employees get paid about 300 USD a month of which half is spent on food and rent for run-down rickety shacks near the yards, a labour representative told AFP.
US President Barack Obama does pushups during backetball shooting drills during the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 9, 2012 in Washington, DC. The First Family participated in the yearly event where the South Lawn is opened up to guests to participate in various egg rolls and other activities.
In July, visitors to central China’s Henan province gathered to watch giant gushes of water get released from the Xiaolangdi dam to clear up the Yellow river and prevent localized flooding. China is hit by downpours every summer, often causing fatalities – in 2010 the nation’s worst flooding in a decade left more than 4,300 dead or missing
A demonstrator holds a traffic sign during clashes between protesters and riot police near the Greek parliament in Athens on February 12, 2012. Greek police fired tear gas at petrol bomb-throwing protesters outside parliament, where tens of thousands had massed in a rally against austerity plans being debated by lawmakers.
A leopard (Panthera pardus) attacks and wounds Pintu Dey, an Indian laborer in a residential neighborhood of Silphukhuri area in Guwahati on January 7, 2012. Three people were seriously injured in the leopard attack before the feline was tranquilized and taken to Assam state zoo. Pintu Dey, in his 40s, is recovering in a hospital in India’s northeastern state of Assam after being badly mauled outside his house in the attack.
South Korea’s Hwang Woojin loses control of his horse Shearwater Oscar during the Show Jumping event of the Modern Pentathlon during the 2012 London Olympics at the Equestrian venue in Greenwich Park, London, on August 11, 2012.
Palestinian men gather around a crater caused by an Israeli air strike on the al-Dallu family’s home in Gaza City on November 18, 2012. Israeli air strikes killed at least 18 Palestinians in the bloodiest day so far of its massive air campaign on the Gaza Strip, as diplomatic efforts to broker a truce intensified.
A man walks past an ice covered car on the frozen waterside promenade at Lake Geneva in the city of Versoix, near Geneva in Switzerland, in early February. A vicious cold snap swept across Europe in the late winter, and the associated death toll soon rose to more than 260
Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, (C) Prince William (R) and Prince Harry (L) wave as they pass the Houses of Parliament aboard the Royal barge, ‘Spirit of Chartwell’ in central London, on June 3, 2012, during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Hundreds of rowing boats, barges and steamers filled the River Thames with a blaze of colour on Sunday as Queen Elizabeth II sailed through London as part of her spectacular diamond jubilee pageant.
A man with a Guy Fawkes mask takes part in a protest against the Spanish government’s latest austerity measures in Madrid, on July 19, 2012. Several hundreds government workers joined the protest after conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced, on July 13, the latest measures to lower Spain’s deficit, a 65-billion-euro (80 billion USD) austerity package involving among other things an increase in the VAT (TVA) tax and cuts in unemployment benefits.
France’s opposition Socialist Party (PS) candidate for the 2012 French presidential election Francois Hollande (C) receives flour, thrown by a woman (R) while he was signing a pact on French housing crisis with representatives of the Abbé Pierre Foundation on February 1, 2012 in Paris.
Sunset on January 16, 2012, over the cruise liner Costa Concordia aground in front of the harbor of Isola del Giglio after hitting underwater rocks on January 13. Pier Luigi Foschi, head of the Costa Crociere line, said the company had commissioned several firms to look at the best way to salvage the 114,500-ton vessel lying on its side. The 290-metre (950-feet) long Costa Crociere, which is 17 decks high, has a large gash in its hull from running on to rocks before it capsized on Friday night. Coastguards said the half-submerged giant ship had now stabilized as weather conditions off the Tuscan coast improved but added that there was still a risk the hulk could slip off a rocky shelf into the open sea and sink entirely.
A child looks out from a make-shift tent as under heavy rain during a visit by Under-Secretary General of United Nation for Humanitarian affairs Valery Amos to the refugee camp of Kibati in Goma on August 8, 2012. Unrest in the country has led to the displacement of some 250,000 people.
Firefighters of Alcoy and Elda try to extinguish a fire in Torre de Macanes near Alicante, on August 13, 2012. One person was killed and three injured Sunday as firefighters battled wildfires across Spain, authorities said, the latest victims in a sweltering summer of forest blazes.
Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a 72-year-old Nepali, the world’s shortest man at 56 centimetres in height, walks near his home in Reemkholi village in the Dang district, some 540 kilometres southwest of Kathmandu, last February. Dangi was on his way the capital city to meet Guinness World Records experts who awarded him the world title.
Egyptian protesters carry an obelisk with the names of those killed during last year’s uprising at a huge rally in Tahrir Square in January. It marked the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Debate raged over whether the rally was a celebration or a second push for change.
The Israeli military launch a missile from the Iron Dome air defence system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells from the Gaza Strip in November. The Israeli operation against Gaza militants began on November 14 with the killing of a top Hamas chief along with ten other Palestinians.
A woman looks at an installation of fishes made of recycled plastic bottles in Botafogo beach, in Rio de Janeiro in June. The artwork was put in place to coincide with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. The conference was the largest ever organized, with 50,000 delegates.
People board the NY Waterways ferry to Manhattan after the storm. On October 26, three days before the storm made landfall, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for every county in the state of New York. The storm left parts of the state without power, including much of lower Manhattan south of 34th Street.
Supporters of Antonis Samaras, leader of the Greek conservative party New Democracy, wave flags during a pre-election speech in Athens last May. Mr Samaras was elected Prime Minister of Greece in June this year as the country rebelled against strict austerity policies imposed by EU and IMF leaders.
Two women kiss in front of people taking part in a demonstration called by the “Alliance VITA” association against gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples on October 23, 2012 in Marseille, southeastern France. France on October 10 named October 31 as the date when a draft law authorizing gay marriage will be approved by government ministers, amid mounting opposition to the proposed legislation.
This photo provided by NASA shows space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), flying near the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in June.
A demonstrator clashes with riot police during a 24-hour strike in Athens on October 18, 2012. Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse protesters at an anti-austerity rally in Athens held during a national general strike as EU leaders were to tackle the eurozone crisis at a summit. The protesters had broken through a police line outside luxury hotels on central Syntagma Square and scattered groups of youths later attacked police with stones and firebombs, an AFP reporter said.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) enters Andreyevsky (St.Andrew’s ) Hall at the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow’s Kremlin, on May 7, 2012, 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.
A Syrian man holds his robe while walking in the partially destroyed Salaheddin neighborhood of Aleppo, under the control of the Syrian army on September 3, 2012. Syrian troops backed by artillery and warplanes fought rebels on multiple fronts on September 5 as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi described the death toll as “staggering” and destruction “catastrophic.”
This picture taken on August 28, 2012, shows police trying to help remove a car surrounded by water 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 August 28, and crossed into China early on August 29.
All images credits to AFP.
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