2009 IN PHOTOS - PART 3

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.

. 2.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

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.

3.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.

4.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.

5.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.

6.Spot fires glow after the Station Fire burned through August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

7.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.

8.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.

9.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.

10.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.

11.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.

12.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.

13.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.

14.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.

15.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.

16.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.

17.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.

18.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.

19.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.

20.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.