Seventeen-year-old prostitute Hashi, embraces a Babu, her "husband", inside her small room at Kandapara brothel in Tangail, a northeastern city of Bangladesh. 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.

The picture was taken by Andrew Biraj on Mar 4, 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, which marks the birthday of Hindu god Krishna, in Mumbai.

The picture was taken by Danish Siddiqui on Aug 10, 2012.

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.

The picture was taken by Stringer on Nov 9, 2012, at the Turkey/Syria border.

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.

The picture was taken by a Reuters staff on June 10, 2012, in Myanmar.

The remnants of a roller coaster sit in the surf three days after Hurricane Sandy came ashore in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

The picture was taken by Steve Nesius on Nov 1, 2012.

(L-R) Fellow workers, a fire-fighter 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. The worker was pierced by seven steel bars during his duty at a bridge construction site.

The picture was published by China Daily on June 12, 2012.

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. 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.

The picture was taken by Ammar Awad on Mar 30, 2012.

A child looks on as she observes the nine-day-long Bisket festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, Nepal.

The picture was taken by Navesh Chitrakar on April 13, 2012.

A protester reacts as the US Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames on Sept 11, 2012.

The picture was taken by Esam Al-Fetori in Libya

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.

The picture was taken by Jacky Chen at the North Korea/China border on June 6, 2012.

A police officer pretends to hang himself in front of the Parliament during a rally in Athens. 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.

The picture was taken by John Kolesidis on Sept 6, 2012 in Athens, Greece.

Confetti obscures the stage as US President Barack Obama celebrates after winning the US Presidential election in Chicago, Illinois.

The picture was taken by Philip Scott-Andrews on Nov 7, 2012.

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

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a family living room at a house in Aleppo, Syria while several other fighters took position around him.

The picture was taken by Goran Tomasevic on Aug 14, 2012.