The world in 2012 in pictures

New Delhi: Leap year 2012 was another eventful year across the world with the Olympics held in London, violent changes of regime in Egypt and Libya, and a new leadership ushered in China.However, here, we bring you some of the best pictures across the world in 2012 taken by the Associated Press; U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, on Thursday, August 2, 2012. Homes crowd the Rocinha shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, photographed on May 22, 2012. Local officials and human rights groups are working to give legal title to tens of thousands of residents of shantytowns like Rocinha, a process that increases their wealth and gives them greater access to credit, as well as peace of mind. The programs so far are just a start at tackling a widespread problem: A third of the people in Rio state, nearly 5 million people, don't have title to their homes, an uncertainty shared by most of the approximately 1 billion people who living in slums globally. A police lieutenant swings his baton at an Occupy Wall Street activist on May 1, 2012 in New York. Hundreds of activists with a variety of causes spread out over New York City on International Workers Day, or May Day, with Occupy Wall Street members leading a charge against financial institutions. A Free Syrian Army fighter carries an RPG launcher during clashes with Syrian troops near Idlib, Syria, on June 15, 2012.Kailyn Vigil, the second cousin of Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting victim Micayla Medek, cries as the door to the hearse is closed following Medek's funeral in Denver, on July 26, 2012. Micayla Medek was one of 12 people killed when a gunman opened fire in a movie theater last Friday.Police identified the suspected shooter as James Holmes, 24. During a break from the campaign, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, at right next to his wife Ann, drives his boat out of his vacation home with his grandchildren seated on the bow on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, on July 5, 2012. Amelia Hempleman-Adams poses with the Olympic Flame on top of a London Eye pod on the Torch Relay leg through London, on July 22, 2012. Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's 100-meter final in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, on August 5, 2012.The petals of the Olympic Cauldron are lowered during the Closing Ceremony, on August 12, 2012, in London.A boat is surrounded by Japan Cost Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat onto Uotsuri Island, one of several disputed islands (Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese), in the East China Sea, on August 15, 2012. Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea usedthe occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities. The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to the disputed islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. A man carries puppies back inside their house as other dogs stay on the roof at a flooded area in Marikina City, east of Manila, Philippines, on August 8, 2012.A light shines behind President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on August 13, 2012, during a three day campaign bus tour through Iowa.American tourist Ella uses an iPad while riding a Wi-Fi-outfitted donkey led by her brother Aaron, in Kfar Kedem, a biblical reenactment park in the village of Hoshaya in the Galilee, Israel, on August 22, 2012. Visitors riding donkeys through the Old Testament landscape can now also surf the web while being transported across the land of the Bible. Organizers are hoping to connect the younger generation to ancient Galillee life while allowing them to like, share, tweet and snap it instantly to their friends. A squirrel, trapped in a manhole cover in Isenhagen, Germany, on August 5, 2012. After they were called by neighbors, police managed to free the animal by using olive oil. Surfers attempt to break the Guinness world record for the largest amount of surfers on a wave at one time, in Muizenberg on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, on September 30, 2012.