Reuters year in pictures.
China ... three-year-old Yang Yang kisses a beluga whale during a publicity photo call at the Qingdao Polar Ocean World
Netherlands ... naked volunteers pose for US photographer Spencer Tunick on an "invisible" bridge constructed for the photoshoot in Amsterdam,
South Africa ... surfers in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the highest number of riders on a single wave at Muizenberg in Cape Town.
Austria ... women dressed as clowns in front of a work by British artist Damien Hirst titled "Iodomethane 13C" at the Kunsthaus in Bregenz
Indonesia ... all that can be seen of a passenger on board a train at a station in Jakarta.
USA ... the space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Belgium ... a young member of the folkloric brotherhood of Blancs Moussis adjusts his mask during a carnival celebrating its 60th anniversary in Stavelot,
Poland ... kayakers in the Rospuda nature reserve near Augustow.
China ... a worker cleans the windows of an apartment block in Beijing's central buisiness district,
South Korea ... members of the South Korean Marine Corps scrub their bodies with snow during an annual winter season drill in Pyongchang
China ... paramilitary recruits practice goose-stepping in Nanjing,
USA ... students hold their candles aloft during a vigil after a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech
Indonesia ... children play on a railway track in a slum area in Jakarta,
United Kingdom ... a reveller slides in the mud during the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset,
Guatemala ... a giant sinkhole that swallowed several homes in Guatemala City.
USA ... boots representing Corporal Timothy D. Ross sit among more than 3400 pairs of combat boots, one pair for every US soldier killed in the Iraq War
Roelof.