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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2009 in 120 photos (take a deep breath...)

The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and it's time to take a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India and the United States, some wars wound down while others escalated, China turned 60, and the Berlin Wall was remembered 20 years after it came down. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2009.

1. Barack H. Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States as his wife Michelle Obama holds the Bible and their daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama look on, on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Chuck Kennedy-Pool/Getty Images)
2. Vertie Hodge, 74, weeps during an Inauguration Day party near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 after President Barack Obama delivered his speech after taking the oath of office, becoming the first black president in the United States. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)
3. A group of Common Cranes gather in dawn light, on their night-roost on a lake in the German state of Brandenburg, close to Berlin September 26, 2009. From September to November tens of thousands of Cranes use the rural area close to the German Capital for a stopover during their migration from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe to their wintering quarters in Spain. (REUTERS/Thomas Krumenacker)
4. Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry take defensive positions at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province, in this May 11, 2009 file photo. Spc. Zachery Boyd of Fort Worth, TX, far left was wearing "I love NY" boxer shorts after rushing from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members. From far right is Spc. Cecil Montgomery of Many, LA and Jordan Custer of Spokane, WA, center. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
5. Airline passengers wait to be rescued on the wings of a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner that safely ditched in the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York, after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines on January 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Steven Day, File)
6. A student receives a H1N1 vaccine injection at a hospital in Suining, Sichuan province November 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer)
7. A Iranian riot-police officer sprays tear-gas at a supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi attacking him with a police stick during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. (OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)
8. A frame grab from YouTube shows a woman identified as Neda Agha-Soltan lying on the ground after being shot in the chest in Tehran, Iran June 20, 2009. Iranians on social networking sites called for mourning for "Neda", a young woman shot dead on Saturday. (REUTERS/YouTube)
9. Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, China on June 19, 2009. China invested 51 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) towards the construction of 2,712 projects for the treatment of eight rivers and lakes in 2009, Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS/Jianan Yu)
10. The moon passes between the sun and the earth, nearing a total solar eclipse, as seen in Changsha, Hunan province, China on July 22, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer)
11. A girl displaced from her home by a huge tidal wave caused by Cyclone Aila, stands in front of her temporary shelter on a river dam in Satkhira in southwestern Bangladesh June 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Andrew Biraj)
12. A cone of moisture surrounds part of the Ares I-X rocket during lift off Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, on a sub-orbital test flight from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
13. Riot police contain supporters of Mozambique's national soccer team after their World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match against Kenya in Maputo, September 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Grant Lee Neuenburg)
14. Chicago White Sox pitcher Scott Linebrink delivers a pitch against the Chicago Cubs during the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game in Las Vegas, in this March 5, 2009 photo. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File)
15. A man walks his dog through Observatory Hill near Sydney on September 23, 2009 as Australia's biggest city is shrouded in an eerie blanket of red dust. Sydney's cars and buildings turned orange as strong winds blew desert dust across the city, snarling commuter and air transport and prompting a warning for children and the elderly to stay indoors. (GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)
16. Claire Williams, right, and Cori Giroux kiss as they wed at the stroke of midnight in South Burlington, Vermont, on September 1, 2009 - the first day that Vermont's marriage equality law went into effect. (AP Photo/Karen Pike)
17. Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Scuderia Ferrari is carried from his car after being struck in the head by a piece of bodywork that fell from another car during the qualifying session at the Hungaroring race track in Mogyorod near Budapest on July 25, 2009. Massa was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery on his fractured skull. (TAMAS KOVACS/AFP/Getty Images)
18. French aerobatic team "Cartouche Dore" flies in formation near Aix-en-Provence, southern France. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
19. The sun shines on the skin of a hippo in its enclosure in the Zoo in Berlin, Friday, April 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns) 12natural
20. AP photographer Emilio Morenatti takes pictures as he is carried on a stretcher out of the University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to be transferred to the Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital in Baltimore, Tuesday Aug. 25, 2009. Morenatti, whose left foot was amputated after a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was transferred Tuesday to a rehabilitation hospital in Baltimore, where he will be fitted for a prosthesis. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)
21. A rescuer holding a two-year-old child tries to close a window on the girl's suicidal father who is trying to jump from the eighth floor of an apartment block in Chengdu, Sichuan province, July 7, 2009. Rescuers managed to distract the man while another snatched the girl and brought her to safety. The man, who later tested positive for drugs, was arrested and taken into custody, according to China Daily. (REUTERS/China Daily)
22. Blood and bullet holes are seen on a car door after an unidentified man was murdered in Tijuana, northern Mexico, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
23. Demonstrators charge through a street in London during protests to coincide with Thursday's G20 summit meeting April 1, 2009. Demonstrators clashed with riot police and smashed bank windows in Britain's financial centre on Wednesday ahead of a G20 meeting in protest against a system they said had robbed the poor to benefit the rich. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)
24. Australian surfer Mark Visser surfs an 11 m (36 ft) wave at Cow Bombie, near the West Australian town of Gracetown, 280km (174 mi) south of Perth, Australia in this photograph obtained September 28, 2009. The organisers claim that Visser had caught one of the biggest waves in Australia for 2009. (REUTERS/Calum Macauley/Handout)
25. Rows of 7.62 mm bullets are shown, ready to be shot by Afghan National Army recruits as part of their daily training at the Kabul Military Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 19, 2009. A massive effort is underway to train thousands of new troops to join the fight against the vicious Taliban-led insurgency. But the task is hobbled by the lack of mentors and high levels of illiteracy among the recruits. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
26. A woman shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote at a polling station in Sonapur, about 50 km (31 miles) from Guwahati, the major city of India's northeastern state of Assam April 23, 2009. Millions of Indians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, voted in the largest democratic election in the world. (REUTERS/Utpal Baruah)
27. Residents stand on electric wires to stay on high ground while others wade in neck-deep flood waters caused by Typhoon Ondoy in Cainta Rizal, east of Manila September 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Erik de Castro)
28. A Dog belonging to Rhonda O'Hearn of Sandown, New Hampshire waits before the start of a 60-mile race at the Can-Am Crown sled dog races in Fort Kent, Maine on Saturday, February 28, 2009. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
29. A view of Santa Maria del Suffragio church, severely damaged after an earthquake on April 7, 2009 in the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila, Italy. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
30. Handout picture released June 8, 2009 by the Brazilian Navy showing divers recovering a huge part of the rudder of the Air France A330 aircraft lost in midflight over the Atlantic ocean June 1st. At the time, seventeen bodies had been recovered from the Atlantic where an Air France jet came down. (AFP/Getty Images)
31. A Pakistani displaced boy from Swat valley sleeps under a mosquito net outside his tent at the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
32. Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sailors march pass Tiananmen Square during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 2009 in Beijing, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
33. The body of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran is carried on a stretcher through a group of Sri Lankan soldiers at Nanthikadal lagoon, near the town of Mullaittivu in northern Sri Lanka May 19, 2009. Sri Lanka's army chief said Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran's body was found on Tuesday, and Sri Lankan TV stations aired video of what appeared to be his corpse, with the top of its head blown off. (REUTERS/Stringer)
34. An explosion is seen as missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft fall towards a target in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
35. A mental patient named Totok reacts as he is given a shower at the Galuh foundation house in East Bekasi, outskirt of Jakarta, Indonesia on October 23, 2009. The Galuh foundation house has housed more than 285 underprivileged mental patients since it was founded in 1982 by Gendu Mulatip. (REUTERS/Beawiharta)
36. A recently constructed section of the controversial US-Mexico border fence expansion project crosses previously pristine desert sands at sunrise on March 14, 2009 between Yuma, Arizona and Calexico, California. The new barrier between the US and Mexico stands 15 feet tall and sits on top of the sand so it can lifted by a machine and repositioned whenever the migrating desert dunes begin to bury it. The almost seven miles of floating fence cost about $6 million per mile to build. (David McNew/Getty Images)
37. Military and forensic experts inspect the body of a man who was killed outside a nightclub in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on August 31, 2009. A man was handcuffed to a fence and shot several times by drug hitmen outside a nightclub, according to local media. The assailants also left a warning message, known as "narco mensaje", at the site of the shooting. (REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas)
38. A view taken from the International Space Station of the Sarychev Volcano on the Kuril Islands in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. (AFP/Getty Images/NASA)
39. Sixteen-month-old Aubrey Melton reaches for her father SSG Josh Melton as she views his remains with her mother Larissa before his funeral service June 27, 2009 in Germantown, Illinois. SSG Melton, who was serving in Afghanistan with the Illinois National Guard, was killed in Kandahar during an IED attack June 19. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
40. Young revellers run from the "Fire Bull", a man carrying a metal structure loaded with fireworks, at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain on July 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Eloy Alonso)
41. Before the Iranian election, a supporter of main challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi forms a heart shape with her hands to indicate her support, while wearing green ribbons - the color of the party, amidst a festive atmosphere at an election rally rally in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
42. An Iranian supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi is beaten by Basiji (volunteer paramilitary militia) and government security members as supporters come to his aid during riots in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2009. Iranian youth opposed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad take to the streets Sunday, setting dumpsters and tires on fire, in a second day of clashes triggered by voter fraud claims. (AP Photo)
43. A supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured Iranian riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a crushing victory in Iran's hotly-disputed presidential vote, according to official results that triggered mass opposition protests. (OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)
44. A boy touches an ice sculpture of a polar bear as it melts to reveal a bronze skeleton in Copenhagen, Denmark, host city of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference, on December 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)
45. Smoke from the Station Fire rises over downtown Los Angeles Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. The Station Fire (caused by arson) lasted over a month, burning over 250 square miles, destroying 200 structures, and cost over $100 million (USD) and the lives of two Los Angeles County Firefighters. (AP Photo/Jon Vidar)
46. Spot fires glow after the Station Fire burned through August 30, 2009 in Acton, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
47. War-orphan Faustin Mugisa, 8, who has machete scars on his head and body, stands at the Kizito orphanage in Bunia in northeastern Congo February 24, 2009. Mugisa was left for dead in a pile of corpses when ethnic Lendu militiamen hacked to death his mother and seven siblings in 2003. Mugisa's father discovered him alive and took him to the bush to recover, but his father was later hacked to death by the same militia group. Ethnic violence has simmered for years in northeastern Congo, part of broader civil and regional conflict currently uprooting hundreds of thousands of Congolese fleeing massacres and reprisal killings by various armed groups roaming the country's vast and lawless wilds. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)
48. A burning Su-27 jet from the Russian air force elite aerobatic team Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights), dives just seconds after the aircraft collided with a two-seat Su-27, not seen, not far from the Zhukovsky airfield, east of Moscow, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. Two Russian air force jets rehearsing aerobatic maneuvers collided Sunday near Moscow, killing one stunt pilot and sending one fighter crashing into nearby vacation homes, a military official said. The Su-27 fighters were part of the elite Russian Knights flying group preparing to perform at the MAKS-2009 air show, the largest and most important showcase for Russia's aerospace industry. (AP Photo/Dmitry Karpov)
49. Snow-covered pine trees sit in flood water March 31, 2009 near Moorhead, Minnesota. A snowstorm slowed recovery efforts as residents of Moorhead and neighboring Fargo, North Dakota tried to return to their homes as the flooded Red River slowly receded. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
50. A bushman from the Khomani San community stands on a dry pan, in the Southern Kalahari desert on October 15, 2009 in the Kalahari, South Africa. One of the largest studies of African genetics by an international team from the University of Pennsylvania, published in April 2009, revealed that the San, the last indigenous people of South Africa, are the most genetically diverse on earth, and that the San homeland could be the spot where modern humanity began. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
51. Spanish matador Israel Lancho is gored by a Palha's ranch bull during a bullfight at the San Isidro's fair in Las Ventas bullring in, Madrid, on May 27, 2009. Lancho was hospitalized with an eight-inch wound below his ribcage. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
52. Pakistani men pray next to a bullet-ridden vehicle parked in the compound of radical Lal Masjid or Red mosque as the chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, not seen, talks to his supporters during Friday prayers, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
53. Gigantic puppets The Big Giant and the Little Giantess, part of France's Royal de Luxe street theatre company production titled "The Berlin Reunion". The two sleep, reunited once again, in each others' arms in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Maya Hitij)
54. Romain Grosjean (left) and Adam Khan (right) test Renault F1 cars in the desert in Dubai, April 9, 2009. The testing was part of the Renault F1 Roadshow taking place in Dubai. (REUTERS/ Eric Vargiolu)
55. Chinese military singers take part in a chorus performance of patriotic songs involving 10,000 participants held at a gym in Beijing, China, Wednesday Aug. 26, 2009. More than 80 chorus groups from various units in Beijing sang patriotic songs to celebrate China's 60th national day. (AP Photo)
56. Pakistani Imran Zargul, 71, from the tribal region of Bajur wait to get donated food during a distribution at the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
57. Stars in the night sky rotate above the distinctive chimney stack on the top of Cape Cornwall near St Just on April 12, 2009 in Cornwall, England. The landmark, originally built for the Cape Cornwall Mine in 1850 and was recently damaged when it was struck by lightning, was bought, along with the rest of Cape Cornwall, for the nation by Heinz in 1987 and given to the National Trust to mark Heinz's centenary. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
58. A boy suffering from malnutrition is cradled in the arms of his mother at a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP) on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia on July 11, 2009. More than 200,000 people had been displaced in the previous two months, while hundreds of civilians were believed to have been killed and wounded, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In an effort to escape the fighting, thousands of families relocated to refugee camps outside the city where they faced extremely harsh living conditions. (MOHAMED DAHIR/AFP/Getty Images)
59. People sunbathe as Ferrari Brazilian's driver Felipe Massa drives at the Monaco racetrack on May 21, 2009 in Monte Carlo, during the second free practice session of the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix. (PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images)
60. An old car dropped in an industrial trash bin advertising the Cash for Clunkers program at Battlefield Ford in Culpepper, Virginia, August 1, 2009. "Cash for Clunkers", or the Car Allowance Rebate System was a $3 billion U.S. federal scrappage program to allow U.S. residents to trade in older cars for newer, more fuel-efficient models. Nearly 700,000 cars were traded under the program. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
61. Pro-democracy protesters carrying a mock coffin try to cross a police line during a demonstration demanding China improve its human rights record, outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong October 1, 2009 as China celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu)
62. Norway's Anders Jacobsen competes in the first jump during the third stage of the Four Hills FIS ski jumping championship (Vierschanzentournee) on January 04, 2009 in Innsbruck. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
63. Michael Jackson's daughter Paris (center) is comforted by family members at a memorial service for the music legend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
64. From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini's wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings, and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun's disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, at a distance of approximately 847,000 km (526,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
65. A leopard walks with a tranquilizer dart hanging from its neck, in the residential area of Jyotikuchi in Guwahati, the capital city of the northeastern state of Assam, India on March 15, 2009. Three people were mauled by the leopard after the cat strayed into the city before it was tranquilized by forestry department officials. The full grown male leopard was wandering through a part of the densely populated city when curious crowds startled the animal, a wildlife official said. (BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images)
66. The sun sets behind the London eye on March 16, 2009 in London, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
67. Palestinian civilians and medics run to safety during an Israeli strike over a UN school in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip early on January 17, 2009. A woman and a child were killed early today in the Israeli strike on the UN-run school in northern Gaza where civilians were sheltering from the fighting, medics and witnesses said. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)
68. Thousands of scrapped taxis are abandoned at a yard in the center of Chongqing city on March 4, 2009. Traffic congestion and pollution have worsened dramatically in Chinese cities as the country's long-running economic expansion has allowed increasing numbers of consumers to make big-ticket purchases such as cars. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
69. Bengal Tiger Kingda Ka smashes pumpkins during Fall at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, November 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Six Flags Great Adventure)
70. A Palestinian demonstrator uses a tennis racket to return an empty tear gas canister at Israeli soldiers during a protest against the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah October 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)
71. Ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to the Vishnitz Hassidic sect dance on their benches as they celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim late on March 9, 2009 in Bnei Brak, a religious town near Tel Aviv. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
72. A ring of water vapour is created around pilot Lt. Justin Halligan (left) and Lt. Michael Witt (right) as they fly their F/A-18F Super Hornet airplane while performing at New York Air Show at Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York, May 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Christopher Pasatieri)
73. SC Braga's goalkeeper Eduardo Carvalho pulls his shirt over his head at the end of their Portuguese First league football match against FC Porto at the AXA Stadium in Braga, on September 19, 2009. Braga won the match 1-0. (MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP/Getty Images)
74. Supporters of former South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun gather during a funeral ceremony in downtown Seoul on May 29, 2009. Thousands of weeping mourners packed the streets to pay their last respects to former President Roh Moo-Hyun amid a massive outpouring of grief and tight security. (KOREA POOL/AFP/Getty Images)
75. Belgian milk producers pour about 3 million liters (793,000 gallons) of milk onto a field near the Belgian city of Ciney September 16, 2009 in protest over a growing industrial dispute over low prices. Support is growing among European Union member states for a new regulatory set-up for milk farmers struggling with depressed prices, France's agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, said on Tuesday. (REUTERS/Yves Herman)
76. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse in southern Siberia's Tuva region August 3, 2009. Putin, a judo black belt who has flown in a fighter aircraft and shot a Siberian tiger in the wild, plunged into the depths of Lake Baikal aboard a mini-submersible on Saturday in a mission that added a new dimension to his macho image. (REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Pool/Alexei Druzhinin)
77. Debris hangs on a destroyed building next to a giant statue and restaurant boat swept away along the Marikina river on September 29, 2009, outside Manila. Hundreds of thousands of exhausted Philippine flood survivors endured squalor in schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift shelters on September 29 as the death toll from Typhoon Ketsana (known in the Phillippines as "Ondoy") eventually climbed to over 650. (TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
78. A strange light phenomenon is sighted in the night sky above parts of northern Norway early December 9, 2009. Russia's new submarine-based intercontinental missile suffered the latest in a series of test failures, newspapers reported on Thursday, as unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site. (REUTERS/Anita Olsen/Scanpix Norway)
79. A local performer dressed in traditional costume sings during the celebrations for the lantern festival in the city of Tianjin, located 100 km (62 miles) east of Beijing February 9, 2009. The lantern festival marks the last day of the two-week Chinese lunar new year celebrations. (REUTERS/David Gray)
80. An empty wheelchair belonging to quadriplegic Patrick Ivison, 15, sits idle on the beach while Ivison, his mother, and friends prepare for another surf ride at the Cardiff State Beach in San Diego, California on October 6th, 2009. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
81. Fireworks illuminate the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin November 9, 2009, during celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay)
82. The new PS20 solar tower at the Solucar Platform in Sanlucar la Mayor, southern Spain, seen on Sept. 23, 2009. PS20, one of the most powerful commercial solar tower in the world, consists of a solar field made up of 1,255 mirrored heliostats aimed at the tower, producing steam which is converted into electricity generation by a turbine. (AP Photo/Miguel Angel Morenatti)
83. A reveler of Leandro de Itaquera samba school parades at the Sambadrome, as part of Carnival celebrations in Sao Paulo, Brazil, late on February 21, 2009. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)
84. Supporters of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya clash with soldiers near the presidential residency Tegucigalpa, Monday, June 29. 2009. Police fired tear gas to hold back thousands of Hondurans outside the occupied presidential residency as world leaders from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez appealed to Honduras to reinstate Zelaya as president. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
85. Ted Kennedy Jr. kisses the casket of his father in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica during a funeral mass in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston on August 29, 2009. President Barack Obama, three former presidents and a nation's elite gathered in the rain to attend a grand Catholic funeral for Ted Kennedy, America's legendary political patriarch. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
86. A Hindu woman devotee offers prayers after taking a holy dip in the waters of river Ganga in the northern Indian city of Allahabad May 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash)
87. A young girl and her dog looks out from a vehicle as she and her family wait for security clearance at a checkpoint on the outskirt of Bannu, a town on edge of the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 as they flee a military offensive in South Waziristan. Pakistani troops and the Taliban fought fierce battles in Waziristan, a militant sanctuary near the Afghan border, with both sides claiming early victories in an army campaign that could shape the future of the country's battle against extremism. (AP Photo/Ijaz Muhammad)
88. An eruption of Mt. Redoubt seen at sunset from the cockpit of a DC-6 flying over Cook Inlet near Anchorage, Alaska on March 31, 2009. Photograph kindly provided by Bryan Mulder - pilot and photographer. (© Bryan Mulder)
89. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employees work on the last-pre cast segments (rings) of the Phase-II underground tunneling project between neighborhoods Jangpura and Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi on October 12, 2009, part of a larger project to have metro lines to cover the entire National Capital Region for the 2010 Commonwealth Games (MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)
90. A local couple canoes through Atlanta's famous Krog Tunnel on September 21st, 2009, after flooding followed heavy rains throughout the region. (© Caroline Smith)
91. A US Marine of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand Province in Afghanistan on July 13, 2009. Two US Marine soldiers were killed when the explosion occurred as they tried to clear a route into the Taliban heartland of southern Helmand province. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images)
92. A US Marine from Fox Company 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines rests as his platoon finishes searching houses for the day during day two of Operation Germinate into the restive Bhuji Bhast Pass in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan, on October 8, 2009. The Bhuji Bhast Pass is effectively a Taliban corridor, mined with IEDs from one end to the other, and lined with villages that are hostile to the Western troop presence. (DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty Images)
93. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is unveiled in Mojave, California December 7, 2009. Billionaire Richard Branson on Monday unveiled the first commercial passenger spaceship, a sleek black-and-white vessel that represents an expensive gamble on creating a commercial space tourism industry. (REUTERS/Phil McCarten)
94. A North Korean woman carries water she collected from the Yalu River in the North Korean city of Hyesan, which borders China's Changbai county, April 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause)
95. A competitor crosses the Start/Finish line during the Northern Ireland Bog Snorkeling Championships in Peatlands Park, Dungannon, County Tyrone July 26, 2009. (REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton)
96. Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic watches a shot during Game 1 of their NBA Finals basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, June 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
97. Wadee Daoud, a five-year-old visually impaired Palestinian boy, reacts to light after a teacher opened the window blinds in his classroom at the Helen Keller Center for blind and visually impaired children in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina September 10, 2009. The Center was founded as a home for blind girls by English missionary, Mary Lovell, in the 1890s. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)
98. A local woman on a crutch shouts at Chinese soldiers wearing riot gear as a crowd of angry locals confront security forces on a street in the city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 7, 2009. Hundreds of Uighur protesters clashed with riot police in the capital of China's Muslim region of Xinjiang on Tuesday, two days after ethnic unrest left 156 dead and more than 800 injured. (REUTERS/David Gray)
99. Owen Rabago (left) wipes a tear from the face of his father, Specialist Sheldon Rabago, as his mother Nancy wraps her arms around both of them during a candlelight vigil at Hood Stadium on the Fort Hood Army Post in Fort Hood, Texas November 6, 2009. The day before, An Army psychiatrist opened fire at the post, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)
100. A scene from the annual Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake was held near Gloucester, England. After this notoriously dangerous race for the cheese, the man upside down was taken away to the hospital. (© Will De Freitas)
101. A section of the Rocky Mountain News newsroom sits empty on February 27, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The edition on Friday the 27th was the last one for the nearly 150-year-old daily, Colorado's oldest newspaper. The owner E.W. Scripps Co. announced the day before that the paper was closing down after efforts to sell the money-losing newspaper failed. (John Moore/Getty Images)
102. Police officials detain a suspected militant from the site of a shooting at a police training center in Lahore March 30, 2009. Pakistani security forces took control of the police academy in Lahore on Monday after militants rampaged through the complex, killing at least eight cadets and wounding scores before holing up inside for hours. (REUTERS/Mohsin Raza)
103. Miss USA, Kristen Dalton, applies lipstick while posing for photographers on the "Top of the Rock" observation deck at the Rockefeller Center in New York September 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)
104. Chinese parents gather to sleep at an auditorium after they accompanied their children to a university to start their first semester in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on September 7, 2009. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
105. An injured girl cries during an evacuation after an earthquake hit Padang, Indonesia's Sumatra island September 30, 2009. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island on September 30, 2009, killing at over 1,000 people and trapping thousands under rubble. (REUTERS/Muhammad Fitrah/Singgalang Newspaper)
106. Burnt out trees outside Kinglake that were destroyed by fire are viewed from this aerial shot on February 8, 2009. Over 170 people were killed and entire towns razed in one of the worst wildfire disasters in Australian history, sending thousands fleeing in scenes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd compared to "hell". (MARK SMITH/AFP/Getty Images)
107. Maldivian Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Ibrahim Didi signs a declaration calling on countries to cut down carbon dioxide emissions ahead of a major U.N. climate change conference in December, in the Maldives, October 17, 2009. The Maldivian president and ministers held the world's first underwater cabinet meeting, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the tropical archipelago's existence. (REUTERS/Maldives Government)
108. A rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the northern Gaza Strip flies towards an Israeli target Friday, Jan. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
109. An Israeli boy takes cover under a desk in a bomb shelter at a school in Jerusalem June 2, 2009, after a siren was sounded during a nationwide civil defense drill simulating a rocket attack. (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
110. A Jewish settler (right) and a Palestinian demonstrator shout at each other during a protest against an illegal outpost near the Israeli settlement of Kharsina in the West Bank city of Hebron on May 22, 2009. (HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images)
111. The NASA space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope are seen in silhouette, side by side during solar transit on May 13, 2009, from west of Vero Beach, Florida in this image released by NASA May 14. The two spaceships were at an altitude of 600 km (375 miles) and they zipped across the sun in only 0.8 seconds during a risky but successful mission to rescue the Hubble telescope. (REUTERS/Thierry Legault/NASA/Handout)
112. A girl dives in a lake 100 km (62 miles) west of St. Petersburg, Russia, in this Aug. 7, 2009 photo. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
113. Scientists at CERN's control center celebrate after the successful restart operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on November 20, 2009 near Geneva, Switzerland. The world's biggest atom-smasher had shut down after its inauguration in September 2008 amid technical faults, and restarted on November 20, 2009. CERN spokesman James Gillies said the injections lasted a fraction of a second, enough for "a half or even a complete circuit" of the Large Hadron Collider built in a 27-kilometer (17-mile) long tunnel straddling the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)
114. Seven-time Tour de France winner and Kazakh cycling team Astana (AST)'s Lance Armstrong of the United States rides in the pack under heavy rains on July 17, 2009 in the 200 km and thirteenth stage of the 2009 Tour de France cycling race run between Vittel and Colmar. Armstrong went onto finish the tour in third place, behind winner Alberto Contador. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
115. A car plows into a parade that included Queen Beatrix and the royal family on the national Queen's Day holiday in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn April 30, 2009. Ten people were injured and eight killed in the attack, including the 38-year-old driver, who narrowly missed the open-top bus carrying Queen Beatrix and the royal family. (REUTERS/Robin Utrecht/Pool)
116. A gymnast balances on the beam during a practice session for the World Gymnastics at the O2 arena in London, Monday, Oct. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
117. Militants from Hizbul Islam haul the bloodied body of Mohamed Ibrahim, 48, from a chest-deep pit after stoning him to death for illicit sexual intercourse with a woman in the Afgoye district, Somalia on December 13, 2009. Ibrahim was sentenced to death by a local Islamic court after he was found guilty of infidelity. (REUTERS/Stringer)
118. A hunter holds his hawk during an annual hunting competition in Chengelsy Gorge, some 150 km (93 miles) east of Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)
119. U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn-in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base January 20, 2009 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley-Pool/Getty Images)
120. Supporters cheer during the opening ceremony of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Alexandria, Egypt on September 24, 2009. Host Egypt played against Trinidad and Tobago in the opening soccer match, winning the match 4-1 . (REUTERS/Marko Djurica)


bye bye... two thousand nine...