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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Rediff.com brings you some of the award-winning pictures from bestselling Reuters Our World Now collector's series. This is the second part of the series

A model stumbles as she presents a creation from the J Mendel Fall/Winter 2012 collection during New York Fashion Week February 15, 2012.

Also see: The most POWERFUL photos over the past year

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A woman plays drums during a rally, in support of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, in Sydney August 17, 2012.

A Russian judge delivered a verdict against three members of the Pussy Riot punk band whose trial for staging an anti-Kremlin protest in a church provoked an international outcry against President Vladimir Putin.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A girl smokes a cigarette before the arrival of Greek Socialist PASOK party leader Evangelos Venizelos during a rally in Athens May 4, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A Syrian refugee stands on mattresses inside a school where he temporarily lives with his family in Wadi Khaled town, near the Syrian border, in north Lebanon July 24, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Xiao Cao, a 57-year-old gay man, performs as an ancient Chinese fairy at Fuxing park in Shanghai March 13, 2012. China's gay community has long been on the edges of society but it is gradually becoming more accepted.

Cao, who is an unemployed drag queen, is one whose life lifts the curtain on a less romanticised view of Chinese homosexuals. Living in an eight-square-metre apartment behind a public toilet and with a monthly income of 500 yuan ($79) from social insurance, he passes his days dancing in public and spending time with friends at gay clubs.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Maria Delgado (C) who lost three children, all victims of violence, poses next to volunteers holding a picture of her in front of their faces, during a protest in Caracas July 28, 2012. The protest was part of a project called 'Esperanza' (hope) that through art makes a call for peace.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Mandy Ellis wears a hat decorated with Union flags as she looks towards the London Eye June 2, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Visitors walk through the "infinity room" before a public memorial service for United States astronaut Neil Armstrong at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio August 29, 2012. 

Armstrong, who took a giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to walk on the moon, died at the age of 82.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

An artisanal gold miner peers into a small-scale mine where his colleague is working in Kalana August 26, 2012. Nearly 10,000 annual tourists visited Djenne, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed town, in previous years.

Since Mali's coup d'etat in March last year, after which Islamist rebels took control of the country's northern two-thirds, less than 20 tourists have come to Djenne, according to the local tourism board.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Palestinian youths practice their parkour skills in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip September 12, 2012. Some youths, aged between 12 and 23 years old, in Gaza are training in parkour which was developed in France.

Parkour is a physical discipline of movement focused on overcoming obstacles. Training is held in cemeteries, and in former Israeli settlements.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

Leona, seven, poses inside a labyrinth installation made up of 250,000 books titled 'aMAZEme' by Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo at the Royal Festival Hall in central London July 31, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A resident talks on a public phone amidst floodwaters in the neighbourhood of Barquita, after days of heavy rain in Santo Domingo, October 26, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic storm unlike anything seen in more than two decades, slogged slowly toward the US East Coast.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

French employers' body MEDEF union leader Laurence Parisot speaks with the MEDEF delegation after a major Labour Conference with labour unions representatives and employers at the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council headquarters in Paris July 10, 2012. France's new Socialist government aimed to reform the way welfare protection is financed, Ayrault said.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A meteor streaks past stars in the night sky above medieval tombstones in Radmilje near Stolac, 180 km south from Sarajevo, August 12, 2012. The Perseid meteor shower is sparked every August when the Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A single woman looks at a bachelor's profile as a man poses in a glass box at the French dating site 'adopt-a-guy' (adopte-un-mec) store in Paris September 12, 2012. The boutique, with a short-term lease promised a high-end shopping experience for women searching for Mr Right.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A man searches for food in a container outside a supermarket in central Bilbao June 12, 2012. The man found an orange and some grapes. According to Caritas, a Catholic church charity, more than eleven million people live below the poverty line in Spain.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A tribal fighter jumps off a truck on a road linking the Yemeni capital Sanaa with the oil-producing province of Marib June 26, 2012. The road was opened for the first time in more than a year, after the army and tribal fighters agreed to withdraw from positions along the route. Yemen's Republican Guard had skirmished with tribal groups in the area, blocking deliveries of gas and other products from Marib to the capital.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

People travel on an outdoor public escalator at Commune 13 in Medellin January 12, 2012. A huge 384 metres long outdoor escalator, divided into six sections, has been erected in one of the poorest districts of Colombia's second largest city to help the 12,000 residents there get around.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A participant has tanning lotion applied on his body during a regional bodybuilding and fitness competition in Minsk April 27, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A boy watches fireworks as part of Chinese new year celebrations in Shanghai January 22, 2012.

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The most POWERFUL photos over the past year: Part II

A physically disabled woman on her wheelchair clashes with riot police in the centre of La Paz, February 23, 2012.

Hundreds of physically disabled people arrived in La Paz after completing a protest march of some 1600 km over a hundred days to demand that Bolivia's government offer support in the form of 3000 bolivianos ($434) payment to each physically disabled Bolivian, according to local media.

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