2012: The Year in Pictures
![January 18: The cruise ship Costa Concordia lays on its side off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, after striking a rock. At least 30 people were killed and the ship's captain was charged with manslaughter and abandoning the ship.](https://gdb.voanews.com/54ac5035-0006-4163-afb0-555ab95af32c_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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January 18: The cruise ship Costa Concordia lays on its side off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, after striking a rock. At least 30 people were killed and the ship's captain was charged with manslaughter and abandoning the ship.
![February 12: Singer Adele holds her six Grammy Awards at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California.](https://gdb.voanews.com/0e110ad9-cefa-4bcf-a406-f505a873d15a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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February 12: Singer Adele holds her six Grammy Awards at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
![February 26: Actress Angelina Jolie poses at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California.](https://gdb.voanews.com/c0042371-b563-49d0-9ead-2913272314c9_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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February 26: Actress Angelina Jolie poses at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California.
![March 9: A boy who fled a war across the border in Sudan's Blue Nile state waits outside a clinic in Doro refugee camp, South Sudan.](https://gdb.voanews.com/40bf2228-154a-48cf-ae00-67d59711abc9_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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March 9: A boy who fled a war across the border in Sudan's Blue Nile state waits outside a clinic in Doro refugee camp, South Sudan.
![March 15: Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge plays hockey with the Team GB hockey teams at Riverside Arena in the Olympic Park in London.](https://gdb.voanews.com/6634c64b-5a49-46b5-a411-3cf550648431_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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March 15: Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge plays hockey with the Team GB hockey teams at Riverside Arena in the Olympic Park in London.
![March 26: Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi screams as he runs after setting himself on fire at a protest in New Delhi, India.](https://gdb.voanews.com/77a9860a-9efc-4365-b661-87151d8d1ce2_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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March 26: Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi screams as he runs after setting himself on fire at a protest in New Delhi, India.
![March 29: Mireia Arnau sits behind the broken glass of her shop which was stormed by demonstrators during a general strike in Barcelona to protest Spanish labor reforms.](https://gdb.voanews.com/07bfcef6-0987-4bb3-b3d0-dc6f7e70f7ba_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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March 29: Mireia Arnau sits behind the broken glass of her shop which was stormed by demonstrators during a general strike in Barcelona to protest Spanish labor reforms.
![April 8: A soldier stands guard in front of the Unha-3 rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, northwest of Pyongyang, North Korea.](https://gdb.voanews.com/39584cd7-f53d-4b1a-8395-e960e1509864_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 8: A soldier stands guard in front of the Unha-3 rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, northwest of Pyongyang, North Korea.
![April 11: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves during the Fourth Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang. ](https://gdb.voanews.com/775af90b-91c6-4c1e-b66c-f22d73c33655_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 11: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves during the Fourth Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang.
![April 12: George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is directed by a Seminole County Deputy and his attorney Mark O'Mara during a court hearing in Sanford, Florida.](https://gdb.voanews.com/3c9bcad4-1eda-43cd-a1e1-ec0a3d54dcb3_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 12: George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is directed by a Seminole County Deputy and his attorney Mark O'Mara during a court hearing in Sanford, Florida.
![April 13: A child looks up during the Bisket festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu. The nine-day festival takes place over the Nepalese New Year.](https://gdb.voanews.com/cf4cd504-8862-42c5-be81-1efb7ae7d2f3_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 13: A child looks up during the Bisket festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu. The nine-day festival takes place over the Nepalese New Year.
![April 17: The Space Shuttle Discovery cruised over the U.S. Capitol in Washington as a part of its tour before being retired to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy center in Virginia. (Alison Klein for VOA)](https://gdb.voanews.com/7360775b-1904-4953-90ff-4f2449576a36_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 17: The Space Shuttle Discovery cruised over the U.S. Capitol in Washington as a part of its tour before being retired to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy center in Virginia. (Alison Klein for VOA)
![April 28: A Nuba woman, wounded during a raid by Sudan's air force, sits in a makeshift hospital in South Kordofan, Sudan.](https://gdb.voanews.com/3e411391-4ebc-4c0d-b5ed-31b768d016c3_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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April 28: A Nuba woman, wounded during a raid by Sudan's air force, sits in a makeshift hospital in South Kordofan, Sudan.
![May 24: Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident and legal advocate who was granted visiting scholar status in the United States, gives an interview in New York.](https://gdb.voanews.com/25edde63-10f9-41ed-8dae-86cd78fc0151_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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May 24: Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident and legal advocate who was granted visiting scholar status in the United States, gives an interview in New York.
![May 30: A Syrian woman cries as she carries her son who was shot in the hand by a Syrian border guard when they were crossing a river from Syria to Lebanon, at the northern border town of Wadi Khaled, north Lebanon.](https://gdb.voanews.com/be397dcb-8d2d-47aa-859f-16cc4723a540_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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May 30: A Syrian woman cries as she carries her son who was shot in the hand by a Syrian border guard when they were crossing a river from Syria to Lebanon, at the northern border town of Wadi Khaled, north Lebanon.
![May 31: Jake Beaudoin, a U.S. Army Private, takes cover during a controlled detonation in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.](https://gdb.voanews.com/55b3a30f-5de8-42ef-a60d-807628437468_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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May 31: Jake Beaudoin, a U.S. Army Private, takes cover during a controlled detonation in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.
![June 2: Britain's Queen Elizabeth after the Derby horse race in Epsom, England during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.](https://gdb.voanews.com/c0e9daa5-b8ae-42cd-9477-bfc1ac99d81b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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June 2: Britain's Queen Elizabeth after the Derby horse race in Epsom, England during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
![June 5: Revelers in London watch Britain's Queen Elizabeth appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony as part of Diamond Jubilee celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.](https://gdb.voanews.com/170e7f82-365e-4396-ab1f-a86849ba5c4c_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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June 5: Revelers in London watch Britain's Queen Elizabeth appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony as part of Diamond Jubilee celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
![June 10: An ethnic Rakhine man with homemade weapons walks in front of houses that were set on fire during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe, Burma.](https://gdb.voanews.com/fee6c80c-abfd-48c0-b5b4-e6866304fc81_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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June 10: An ethnic Rakhine man with homemade weapons walks in front of houses that were set on fire during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe, Burma.
![June 26: The Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colorado.](https://gdb.voanews.com/c1c19504-385b-49f0-96d7-b0d0da248a05_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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June 26: The Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
![July 23: James E. Holmes appears at a Colorado court. He was charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting rampage at a theater showing the latest Batman movie.](https://gdb.voanews.com/10ee613e-a4af-474a-9965-a3da78ffcd06_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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July 23: James E. Holmes appears at a Colorado court. He was charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting rampage at a theater showing the latest Batman movie.
![August 3: Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia.](https://gdb.voanews.com/18b3806e-a21f-40d3-b19e-cc6b5707d529_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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August 3: Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia.
![August 3: Runners pass by the Olympics flame on the first day of the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.](https://gdb.voanews.com/25191ded-5828-4182-a413-4a95ac2e499a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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August 3: Runners pass by the Olympics flame on the first day of the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
![August 5: Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's 100-meter final during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.](https://gdb.voanews.com/7254c6d2-4774-42db-82df-f4576225eff4_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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August 5: Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's 100-meter final during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
![August 5: McKayla Maroney of the U.S. with her silver medal in the women's vault victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games.](https://gdb.voanews.com/7a95fae5-7ed6-415e-8be0-22f637c87311_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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August 5: McKayla Maroney of the U.S. with her silver medal in the women's vault victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games.