Nation and World photos of the year 2012

A selection of the top photography from around nation and world in 2012.

An Aurora borealis is pictured near the city of Tromsoe, northern Norway, late on January 24, 2012. (Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/AFP/Getty Images)

In this undated handout photo provided by Ufficio Stampa Gruppo Carabinieri Subaquei, Carabinieri frogmen dive on the cruise ship Costa Concordia, January, 2012 in Giglio Porto, Italy. The rescue operation to find 21 people still missing aboard the Costa Concordia has resumed on January 20, 2011 after being suspended for the third time, as conditions caused the vessel to shift on the rocks on which it is resting. (Photo by Ufficio Stampa Gruppo Carabinieri Subaquei via Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, walks away from the stage after a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Annie Blagojevich, daughter of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, watches as her father is surrounded by the media in front of their home Wednesday, March 14, 2012 in Chicago. The 55-year-old Democrat is due to report to a prison in Colorado on Thursday to begin serving a 14-year sentence, making him the second Illinois governor in a row to go to prison for corruption. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

In this photo provided by Red Bull, Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen before his jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos on March 15, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico. In this test he reach the altitude 21800 meters (71500 ft) and landed safely near Roswell. Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of the earths atmosphere, where upon reaching altitude of 120,000 feet by helium balloon, pilot and base jumper Felix Baumgartner will then free fall to the ground in an attempt to break the speed of sound. (Photo by Jay Nemeth/Red Bull via Getty Images)

A portrait of a Free Syrian Army rebel mounted of his steed in Al-Shatouria village near to the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, on March 16, 2012, a year after a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted. (Giorgos Moutafis/AFP/Getty Images)

Workers use combines to harvest soybeans in Tangara da Serra, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Brazil is the world's second largest soy producer after the United States and the crop is one of the nation's principal exports. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A crowd of North Korean military members look up to a stadium podium and applaud the country's leader Kim Jong Un and senior military and government officials during a meeting of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling party in Pyongyang on Saturday April 14, 2012. North Korea will mark the 100-year birth anniversary of the late leader Kim Il Sung on Sunday April 15. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

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. REUTERS/Baz Ratn

Members of Congolese Women's Association, who have been widowed by conflict, are reflected in a window during their meeting in the town of Rutshuru in North Kivu, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, May 23, 2012. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola

Space Shuttle Enterprise is carried by barge underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on June 3, 2012 in New York City. Enterprise is on it's way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will put on permanent display. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

In this handout image provided by NASA, the SDO satellite captures a ultra-high definition image of the Transit of Venus across the face of the sun at on June 5, 2012 from space. The last transit was in 2004 and the next pair of events will not happen again until the year 2117 and 2125. (Photo by SDO/NASA via Getty Images)

This picture taken on July 6, 2012 shows visitors gathering to watch giant gushes of water being released from the Xiaolangdi dam to clear up the sediment-laden Yellow river and to prevent localized flooding, in Jiyuan, central China's Henan province. China is hit by big downpours every summer often causing fatalities as seen in 2010, which saw the nation's worst flooding in a decade leaving more than 4,300 people dead or missing. (STR/AFP/GettyImages)

Participants run in front of Fuente Ymbro's bulls during the fifth San Fermin Festival bull run, on July 11, 2012, in Pamplona, northern Spain. The festival is a symbol of Spanish culture that attracts thousands of tourists to watch the bull runs despite heavy condemnation from animal rights groups. (PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/GettyImages)

The balloon carrying Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria lifts off during the second manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos on July 25, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico.†Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of space to an altitude of 37.000 meters to break several records including the sound of speed in freefall. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/Red Bull via Getty Images)

A firefighter 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. (PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/GettyImages)

A humpback whales lunges out of the water to feed near a gathering of spectators just off a beach at San Luis Obispo, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. The whale fed on a school of bait fish for more than an hour, often breaching close to nearby boats, kayakers and stand up paddle boarders. (AP Photo/Bill Bouton)

Former President Bill Clinton bows as President Barack Obama walks on stage after Clinton's address to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Surfers wait for waves as dolphins jump around at Bondi Beach in Sydney September 25, 2012. Dolphins are a common sight along Sydney's world famous beaches, as they venture close to shore in search of small fish. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

A man walks under the wreckage of a fair ride after a tornado ripped through a fun fair in Gandia, near Valencia on September 29, 2012. Ten people, including a young girl and an elderly woman, have died in Spain as a result of floods brought on by downpours, regional officials said. (PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/GettyImages)

A tiger cub rests at a nursery room at the Shanghai Zoo in Shanghai, China, Thursday Oct. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

US Army soldiers attached to 2nd platoon, C troop, 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st U.S Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team operating under NATO sponsored International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) protect a wounded comrade from dust and smoke flares after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast during a patrol near Baraki Barak base in Logar Province on October 13, 2012. The soldier, 21 year-old Private Ryan Thomas from Oklahoma suffered soft tissue damage and after surgery in Afghanistan was scheduled to be evacuated to Germany. After 11 years of war, 2,135 US soldiers dead, their Afghan colleagues turning on them, and widespread predictions the conflict will end in failure, coalition forces could be forgiven for suffering a dip in morale. But commanders and soldiers on the ground insist the challenges are bringing them closer together, even if the outcome of the war is uncertain and the perception of what constitutes success has changed. (MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Rising water, caused by Hurricane Sandy, rushes into a subterranian parking garage on October 29, 2012, in the Financial District of New York, United States. Hurricane Sandy, which threatens 50 million people in the eastern third of the U.S., is expected to bring days of rain, high winds and possibly heavy snow. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the closure of all New York City will bus, subway and commuter rail service as of Sunday evening (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

The view of storm damage over the Atlantic Coast from the helicopter behind Marine One with US President Barack Obama and Governor Christie as they view the Hurricane Sandy damage in New Jersey, on October 31, 2012. Americans sifted through the wreckage of superstorm Sandy on Wednesday as millions remained without power. The storm carved a trail of devastation across New York City and New Jersey, killing dozens of people in several states, swamping miles of coastline, and throwing the tied-up White House race into disarray just days before the vote. (DOUG MILLS/AFP/Getty Images)

Boats are strewn among buildings amid wreckage from Superstorm Sandy on October 31, 2012 in Sea Bright, New Jersey. At least 50 people were reportedly killed in the U.S. by Sandy with New Jersey suffering massive damage and power outages. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

Four Air Force Black Hawk helicopters, one with Vice President Joe Biden onboard, approaches Seaside Park, N.J., Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Vice President is in New Jersey to tour the damage and thank first responders from Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

A Palestinian man reacts at the scene of an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City November 18, 2012. Ten Palestinian civilians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza, Palestinian medics said, the highest civilian death toll in a single incident during five days of fighting. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

During the last hour of hostilities, militants launch rockets from Gaza City as an Israeli bomb explodes on the horizon on November 21, 2012 on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. An official ceasefire started at 9pm local time between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement after a week of conflict resulting in the deaths of 150 Palestinians and five Israelis and many hundreds injured (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Indians feed birds from a boat on the River of Yamuna as it is enveloped by winter morning fog in New Delhi, India, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Men performance as they beg for charity in a street in Madrid, Spain, Monday, May 14, 2012. Spain got caught up in the uncertainty surrounding the European single currency and the electoral stalemate in Greece Monday as it saw its borrowing costs rise and stock prices fall at alarming rates. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)