The year 2012 began on a sad note with the Costa Concordia disaster on Jan 13. The ill-fated Italian cruise ship, which carried 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew members on board, had partially sunk after hitting a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

[CHECK OUT BEST PHOTOS OF THE YEAR 2012] 

Singer Whitney Houston, who was named the most-awarded female artist of all times by Guinness World Records, passed away in February at the age of 48, shocking music lovers around the world. Houston had six Grammys, 30 Billboard awards and 22 American Music Awards to her credit

The crisis in Syria in the first half of the year and Hurricane Sandy that hit the Northeast part of the United States just a few days before the Presidential elections are among the other events that shocked the world.

[CHECK OUT BEST PHOTOS OF THE YEAR 2012]

Costa Concordia, the largest Italian cruise ship with 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew aboard, was grounded on January 13 after hitting a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

A woman holds her malnourished child at a therapeutic feeding center at al-Sabyeen hospital in Sanaa May 28, 2012.

Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2012. Palestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who "were caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio.

Students hold on to the side steel bars of a collapsed bridge as they cross a river to get to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Indonesia's Banten village January 19, 2012. Flooding from the Ciberang river broke a pillar supporting the suspension bridge, which was built in 2001, according to Epi Sopian the head of Sanghiang Tanjung village.

Syrians jump over barbed wire as they flee from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, November 9, 2012.

Devotees try to form a human pyramid to break a clay pot containing curd during the celebrations to mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami in Mumbai August 10, 2012. Janmashtami, which marks the birthday of Hindu god Krishna, is being celebrated across the country.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt runs to win the men's 200m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 9, 2012.

Men use ropes to try and right a supply truck overloaded with wheat straw, used as animal feed, along a road in Dargai, in the Malakand district, about 165 km (100 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, April 13, 2012.

Fans of France kiss before their Group D Euro 2012 soccer match against Ukraine at Donbass Arena in Donetsk June 15, 2012.

(L-R) Fellow workers, a firefighter and doctors work together to cut steel bars which were pierced through a worker's body during an operation at a hospital in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, June 12, 2012. The worker was pierced by seven steel bars during his duty at a bridge construction site, local media reported.

Administrative segregation prisoners take part in a group therapy session at San Quentin state prison in San Quentin, California, June 8, 2012. San Quentin prison is California's oldest correctional facility and houses the state's only gas chamber.

A woman pushes her Fiat 500 car as her dog sits inside, in a neighborhood of Rome March 23, 2012.

A woman in traditional Korean costume watches as a student leaves a swimming pool of Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.

Indigenous people point their bows and arrows at a police helicopter flying over the occupied barrier of the Belo Monte Dam's construction site in Vitoria do Xingu, near Altamira in northern Brazil June 15, 2012. The area was occupied by around 300 activists, indigenous people, fishermen and coastal community members affected by the project as they protested against the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant, according to the activists.

A wrestler rubs his hands with mud to prevent slipping due to sweat, during a traditional mud wrestling (Kushti) bout at the Akhaara centre in Kolhapur, about 400 kms (250 miles) south of Mumbai, February 14, 2012. Fewer people are taking up Kushti, according to the sport's coaches, as young athletes turn instead to mat wrestling to gain access to top international sports competitions.

A bench engraved with the name of the grounded Costa Concordia cruise ship (seen at rear) is seen washed up on the shore of Giglio island, January 20, 2012.

The children of the Amor Divino family, (L-R) Dhones, Izabely and Samille, sit on their couch after their parents dressed them for a weekly physical therapy session, in the Brasilandia favela of Sao Paulo, before sunrise March 23, 2012. All three children suffer from a disease called Pelizaeus-Merzbacher, a rare genetic nervous disorder which affects coordination and intellect. Brazil's social security system INSS granted the family monetary assistance only for one of the three children, leaving the others to depend on the income from their father's job in a bakery.

An ethnic Rakhine man holds homemade weapons as he walks in front of houses that were burnt during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe June 10, 2012. Northwest Myanmar was tense after sectarian violence engulfed its largest city, with Reuters witnessing rival mobs of Muslims and Buddhists torching houses and police firing into the air to disperse crowds.

Seventeen-year-old prostitute Hashi, embraces a Babu, her "husband", inside her small room at Kandapara brothel in Tangail, a northeastern city of Bangladesh, March 4, 2012. Many young and inexperienced prostitutes have "lovers" or "husbands" who normally live outside the brothel occasionally taking money and sex from them in exchange for security in this male dominated society. She earns about 800-1000 taka daily ($9.75 - $12.19) servicing around 15-20 customers every day. Hashi is one of hundreds of mostly teenage sex workers living in a painful life of exploitation in Kandapara slum's brothel who take Oradexon, a steroid used by farmers to fatten their cattle, in order to gain weight and appear "healthier" and more attractive to clients.

Residents paddle their makeshift boat to safety as fire engulfs houses at a slum community in Manila May 11, 2012. At least 1000 houses were razed in the fire, leaving 5000 families homeless, local media reported.

A woman eats clam chowder as media and supporters surround Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum at a campaign event at a restaurant in Florence, South Carolina, January 15, 2012.

Women, wearing nylon masks, rest on the shore during their visit to a beach in Qingdao, Shandong province July 6, 2012. The mask, which was invented by a woman about seven years ago, is used to block the sun's rays. The mask is under mass production and is on sale at local swimwear stores.

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.

Lightning is seen during a storm under the Memorial Center in Potocari the night before a mass burial, near Srebrenica July 10, 2012. The bodies of 520 recently identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre were buried on July 11, the anniversary of the massacre when Bosnian Serb forces commanded by Ratko Mladic slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys and buried them in mass graves, in Europe's worst massacre since World War Two.

The sun reflects off the club as Tiger Woods hits off on the seventh tee during the final round of the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland July 1, 2012.

Local residents meet during sunset, with the Metallurgical Plant seen in the background, in the Southern Urals city of Magnitogorsk, July 13, 2012.

Wakana Kumagai, 7, visits the spot where her house, which was washed away by the March 11, 2011 tsunami, used to stand in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture March 11, 2012, to mark the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis. Kumagai's father Kazuyuki called his wife Yoshiko just after the March 11, 2011 earthquake to tell her to take the children to Omagari elementary school which was serving as a shelter. He was found near the shelter four days after the tsunami, Yoshiko said.

A puppy stands by remains of a dog local residents said was its mother, days after it was killed in an area burnt in violence at East Pikesake ward in Kyaukphyu November 6, 2012.

Khilnath Phuyal (R), husband of deceased Tara Sharma Phuyal, is comforted by a family member at Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu, August 21, 2012. Phuyal, 28, died after giving birth to a baby girl, according to family members and supporters of Phuyal who protested outside the hospital. Nepal in 2010 had a maternal mortality rate of 170 in 100,000 live births, according to data from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals project.

Dressed as a princess, Jennifer Knoepfel stands in the pits waiting for the next race during the Saturday night stock car races at Agassiz Speedway in Agassiz, British Columbia July 7, 2012. Jennifer wore the long gown and tiara as part of her duties presenting the trophies to the winners of the night's competition.

U.S. Army soldiers react after their comrade was wounded at patrol by an improvised explosive device (IED) in southern Afghanistan June 12, 2012.

Fencer Alexander Massialas poses for a portrait during the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit in Dallas, Texas May 13, 2012. Click here for a related gallery

A wounded Syrian man lies on a boat as he is transferred to Turkey over the Orontes River on the Turkish-Syrian border near the village of Hacipasa in Hatay province October 10, 2012. Scores of Syrian civilians, many of them women with screaming children clinging to their necks, crossed Orontes, a narrow river marking the border with Turkey as they fled the fighting in Azmarin and surrounding villages. Residents from the Turkish village of Hacipasa, nestled among olive groves, helped pull them across in small metal boats.

A Yawalapiti boy dips his head into the Xingu River in the Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, May 9, 2012. In August the Yawalapiti tribe held the Quarup, which is a ritual held over several days to honor in death a person of great importance to them. This year the Quarup honored two people - a Yawalapiti Indian who they consider a great leader, and Darcy Ribeiro, a well-known author, anthropologist and politician known for focusing on the relationship between native peoples and education in Brazil.

People travel on an outdoor public escalator at Commune 13 in Medellin January 12, 2012. A huge 384 meters (1,260 ft) long outdoor escalator, divided into six sections, has been erected in one of the poorest districts of Colombia's second largest city to help the 12,000 residents there get around.

Manolis Ouranos, a 30 year-old cook, poses for a picture in the Mavros Gatos (Black Cat) tavern in Psiri neighborhood in central Athens May 23, 2012. Manolis studied at Athens Technology University (TEI) for four years where he received a degree in civil engineering. He hoped to find a permanent job in public sector infrastructure but has been working as a cook for four months instead. He now takes cooking lessons which he funds with his salary as a cook.

Israeli border police officers use pepper spray as they detain an injured Palestinian protester during clashes on Land Day after Friday prayers outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City March 30, 2012. Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up groups of Palestinian stone-throwers as annual Land Day rallies turned violent.

A woman weeps after learning that a neighbor presumed missing is okay while cleaning out her home in a neighborhood heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in the New Dorp Beach neighborhood of the Staten Island borough of New York, November 1, 2012.

The skyline of lower Manhattan, as seen from Exchange Place, is mostly in darkness except for the Goldman Sachs building after a preventive power outage caused by giant storm Sandy, in New York October 30, 2012.

A Sudanese migrant sleeps under a slide as an Israeli girl slides down it at Levinsky park in South Tel Aviv June 16, 2012. About 60,000 Africans have crossed into Israel across its porous border with Egypt in recent years. Israel says the vast majority are job seekers, disputing arguments by humanitarian agencies that they should be considered for asylum.

A temple stands amid the waters of the flooded river Tawi after heavy rains in Jammu August 19, 2012.

A Free Syrian Army fighter screams in pain after he was injured in a leg by shrapnel from a shell fired from a Syrian Army tank in the Salaheddine neighbourhood of central Aleppo August 7, 2012.

An indigenous man stands in a subway train as he makes his way to the People's Summit at Rio+20 for Social and Environmental Justice in Rio de Janeiro June 20, 2012.

Staff members reflected off the window of the room where Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney works before a campaign rally in North Canton, Ohio October 26, 2012.

A man walks down Shore Front Parkway surrounded by debris pushed onto the streets by hurricane Sandy in the Queens borough region of the Rockaways in New York, November 6, 2012.

A Palestinian man checks his damaged house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City November 15, 2012.

Israelis react and run for cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi November 15, 2012.

The full moon rises through the Olympic Rings hanging beneath Tower Bridge during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 3, 2012.

A woman hits a man with a stick after he is accused of theft along with three other men at Tactic, in the Alta Verapaz region, about 189 km (117 miles) from Guatemala City, September 13, 2012. The local community tied up and beat four men who were accused of theft in the aftermath of a school killing. The man, who had entered a classroom and killed two children, ages 8 and 13, with a machete, was lynched and burnt alive by a mob, local media reported.

A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, November 22, 2012. An elderly couple refused to sign an agreement to allow their house to be demolished. They say that compensation offered is not enough to cover rebuilding costs, according to local media. Their house is the only building left standing on a road which is paved through their village.

An army tank fires during a firefight against militants linked to al Qaeda near the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar May 30, 2012.

A child looks on as she observes the Bisket festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu April 13, 2012. The nine-day festival takes place over the Nepalese New Year, during which the devotees try to pull the chariot to their respective locations and the winners are believed to be blessed for the coming year with good fortune.

A teleprompter obscures U.S. President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio August 21, 2012.

A man takes a photo as Space Shuttle Endeavour travels to the California Science Center in Inglewood, Los Angeles October 13, 2012.

A policeman (R) fires at protesting miners outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, August 16, 2012. South African police opened fire against thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, leaving several bloodied corpses lying on the ground.

A young man dressed as a punk with pictures of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his shirt, attends a punk show during the water festival at a music bar in Yangon April 11, 2012. Myanmar celebrates the New Year Water Festival of Thingyan during the month of Tagu, which usually falls around mid-April.

Yuri Kudryavtsev, 18, student of the Krasnoyarsk choreographic college, does leg-splits while reading a book in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, October 4, 2012. Kudryavtsev, accompanied by his fellow student, Marina Volkova, 16, prepared before taking part in a professional one-week-long ballet contest, dedicated to the 85th anniversary of a well-known Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, along with actors from opera and ballet theatres and graduates of choreographic colleges from different Russian cities. Kudryavtsev and Volkova are winners of the 2011 Grand Prix of the St.-Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theatre all-Russian ballet schools competition.

A Hindu devotee with his neck pierced with a knife attends the "Chadak" ritual at Krishanadevpur village, north of Kolkata April 13, 2012. Hundreds of Hindu devotees attend the ritual, held to worship the Hindu deity of destruction Lord Shiva, on the last day of the Bengali calendar year. The photographer was unable to check the veracity of the action of this devotee.

Reuters photographer Joseba Etxaburu is knocked down by a wild cow during festivities in the bullring following the sixth running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 12, 2012. Etxaburu suffered some scratches on his right elbow but was able to continue shooting afterwards.

A firefighting helicopter fills a bucket of water in heavy smoke as the North Merna wildfire burns in the Bridger National Forest west of the town of Pinedale in Sublette County, Wyoming September 16, 2012.

A protester reacts as the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames September 11, 2012.

Audience members watch a model during the J. Mendel Spring/Summer 2013 show at New York Fashion Week, September 12, 2012.

Artist Pyotr Pavlensky, a supporter of jailed members of female punk band "Pussy Riot", looks on with his mouth sewed up as he protests outside the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, July 23, 2012.

Unidentified people beat Svyatoslav Sheremet (L, bottom), head of Gay-Forum of Ukraine public organization, in Kiev, May 20, 2012. Sheremet was attacked after meeting with members of the media to inform them that a scheduled gay parade was cancelled. The attackers ran off when they realized members of the media were documenting the attack.

A Jewish boy lifts his hand to prevent a Palestinian from taking his picture near a police barrier cordoning off a building the day after Israeli police evicted Jewish settlers who occupied it in the West Bank city of Hebron April 5, 2012.

Actor Tom Cruise carries his daughter Suri past a group of photographers as they make their way from a hotel in New York, July 17, 2012.

Bavarian farmers transport their cows on a boat over the picturesque Lake Koenigssee at dusk October 3, 2012. Before the winter season approaches the farmers have to drive their cattle down from their Alpine meadows to a narrow valley that can only be reached by boat.

An Afghan man takes a shortcut by climbing a wall, at a hilltop in Kabul May 11, 2012.

Marietta Perkins prays during a vigil for victims behind the theater where a gunman opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado July 20, 2012.

A woman runs along a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona near Bentiu April 23, 2012. Sudanese warplanes carried out air strikes on South Sudan, killing three people near the southern oil town of Bentiu, residents and military officials said, three days after South Sudan pulled out of a disputed oil field.

A music group performs on a path amid fields to greet the farmers at Hwanggumpyong Island, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju and the Chinese border city of Dandong June 6, 2012.

Delegates sit at the stage before the opening ceremony of 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, November 8, 2012.

Gabrielle Douglas of the U.S. competes in the balance beam during the women's individual all-around gymnastics final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 2, 2012.

A physically disabled woman on her wheelchair clashes with riot police in the centre of La Paz, February 23, 2012. Hundreds of physically disabled people arrived in La Paz after completing a protest march of some 1600 km (994 miles) over a hundred days to demand that Bolivia's government offer support in the form of 3000 bolivianos ($434) payment to each physically disabled Bolivian, according to local media.

Members of "Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi," a group consisting of official and police guards, try to ride a military police vehicle after a funeral for soldiers who were killed during an attack at a checkpoint along the Sinai border with Israel by unknown gunmen, at the tomb of the late President Anwar al-Sadat and the Unknown Soldier monument in Cairo August 7, 2012.

Residents push lawn mowers on a street in Nanjie village of Luohe city in China's central Henan province September 24, 2012. Nanjie village, with more than 3,100 residents, is touted to be one of the remaining models of communist China, where the principles of morality and collectivism of the late Chairman Mao still strictly guide the people's daily lives. Aside from free housing, healthcare, food rations and education, locals working in the village's factories receive an average salary of 2500 yuan, about 400 dollars. The village's return to communism came at the same time as the rest of the country opened up to the capitalist market in the mid 1980s. Mao is still highly revered in Nanjie, enjoying a god-like status.

Cyrus Fakroddin and his pet goat Cocoa take a taxi ride in New York, April 7, 2012. Cocoa is a 3-year-old Alpine Pygmy mixed goat who lives with its owner Fakroddin in Summit, New Jersey. They frequently take trips into Manhattan to enjoy the city. Fakroddin raised Cocoa since she was 2 months old and treats her like a human. "She doesn't like goats, she doesn't like farms, she likes the people and the city." Fakroddin said.

Parker Roos, who suffers from Fragile X, rolls around on the floor after getting into an argument with his sister as his mother Holly looks on at their home in Canton, Illinois, April 4, 2012. Fragile X is the most common known genetic cause of autism. Both of Holly Roos' children have Fragile X. Parker has the most severe symptoms, compared to his sister Allison but they play together like normal brothers and sisters, enjoy the same cartoons on television, and even play the drums and video games together. Both are enrolled in a clinical trial of a drug to help treat Fragile X.

A woman uses a shaft of sunlight to see her ballot as she votes in a polling site built to service residents of the Queens borough neighborhoods of Breezy Point and the Rockaways, whose original site was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, during the U.S. presidential election in New York, November 6, 2012.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident and legal advocate who recently sought asylum in the United States, is lit by a studio light during an interview in New York May 24, 2012.

Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry board a waiting CH-47 Chinook helicopter as they begin a helicopter assault mission at Combat Outpost Herrera in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province July 15, 2012.

A police officer pretends to hang himself in front of the parliament during a rally in Athens September 6, 2012. About 4,000 Greek police, coastguards and firemen protested in Athens on Thursday, staging faked suicides on gallows they placed outside the finance ministry and parliament to symbolise the pain of budget cuts.

A police officer pretends to hang himself in front of the parliament during a rally in Athens September 6, 2012. About 4,000 Greek police, coastguards and firemen protested in Athens on Thursday, staging faked suicides on gallows they placed outside the finance ministry and parliament to symbolise the pain of budget cuts.

Huang Sufang reacts as she sees a part of her house being taken down by demolition workers at Yangji village in central Guangzhou city, Guangdong province March 21, 2012. Huang, who is a resident of Yangji village, clashes with demolition workers as they mistakenly take down a part of her home, which is not included in the demolition project, local media reported.

Poland's Lukasz Mamczarz starts his run up during the men's high jump F42 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London September 3, 2012.

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. embassy in Cairo September 11, 2012. Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy, tore down the American flag and burned it during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad.

Festival goers are pictured during the Hackney Weekend festival at Hackney Marshes in east London June 24, 2012.

Greek parliament employees raise a mast after they replaced torn-off Greek flag with a new one atop the parliament in Athens Syntagma (Constitution) square April 18, 2012.

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with Syrian Army in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo August 7, 2012.

Deontae Mobley looks in the mirror after having his hair cut by his father, "Haircut" Joe Mobley, in the neighborhood of Goldsboro, once an incorporated all-black city during the segregation era that has been absorbed by the town of Sanford, Florida April 3, 2012. Sanford is the Florida town where George Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch volunteer, fatally shot Trayvon Martin, 17, on the night of February 26, saying he had acted in self defense.

A crow sits on a human corpse in the river Ganges in the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state, January 22, 2012. When India launched reforms to open up its state-stifled economy 20 years ago, many states surged ahead, leaving behind the 3.5 percent "Hindu rate of growth" that had plagued the decades after the country's independence from Britain in 1947, and with it Bihar.

Confetti obscures the stage as U.S. President Barack Obama celebrates after winning the U.S. presidential election in Chicago, Illinois, November 7, 2012.

Juan Carlos Castano, 43, turns on the TV in his emptied-out bedroom as he waits for the judicial commission to carry out his eviction in Madrid September 28, 2012. Castano, a Spanish national who came from his native Colombia to Spain in 2000, stopped making mortgage payments after becoming unemployed in late 2009. Spain announced a detailed timetable for economic reforms and a tough 2013 budget based primarily on spending cuts in what many see as an effort to pre-empt the likely terms of any international bailout. A quarter of all Spanish workers are unemployed and tens of thousands have been evicted from their homes since a housing bubble burst in 2008 and plummeting consumer and business sentiment tipped the country into a four-year economic slump.

A view of the Yawalapiti village is seen before the start of this year's 'quarup,' a ritual held over several days to honor in death a person of great importance to them, in the Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, August 12, 2012. This year the Yawalapiti tribe honored two people - a Yawalapiti Indian who they consider a great leader, and Darcy Ribeiro, a well-known author, anthropologist and politician known for focusing on the relationship between native peoples and education in Brazil.

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a house in Aleppo August 14, 2012.