AFP Pictures Of The Year 2012

In addition to the Reuters Photos of the Year 2012 that we posted yesterday, here is a compilation of the Agence France Presse(AFP) most enduring images of 2012, We selected the most impressive, shocking, saddening, funny and some very touching 40 photos of all topics issues in the world this year.  see our gallery below our 40 favorite images of the Year!

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, 25th January 2012. Debate raged over whether the rally was a celebration or a second push for change.

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

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.

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.
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.

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.

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 demoted 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.”

See more in our gallery below.