Dec. 19 Photo Brief: The safest place on Earth when the world ends, TIME magazine’s Person of the Year, 72 hours in Beijing, mass casualty incident drills in the Philippines
The safest place on Earth when the world ends, Barack Obama named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year, 72 hours in Beijing without a visa, mass casualty incident drills in the Philippines and more in today’s daily brief.
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- South Korea’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye waves to her supporters as she leaves from the headquarters of the ruling Saenuri party in Seoul, December 19, 2012. The daughter of a former military ruler took a commanding lead in South Korea’s presidential election on Wednesday, putting her on track to become the country’s first woman head of state. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
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- Indian commandos from the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police (JKAP) march in a parade at the Sheeri training center, some 65 km northwest of Srinagar, on December 19, 2012. Anger at Indian security forces runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where a separatist insurgency against Indian rule that began in 1989 has claimed more than 47,000 lives, according to official figures. Seperatists put the toll twice as high. (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)
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- The Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome December 19, 2012. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)
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- A woman holds a child during a visit by Unicef and WHO program personnel to Merka for an assement of the facilities and to respond to reported cases of cholera and dengue fever. (Tobin Jones/AU-UN IST via AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Chinese man plays with his pet bird on a frozen lake in Beijing on December 19, 2012. China will allow transit passengers from 45 countries including the US, Canada and all members of the EU to spend up to 72 hours in Beijing without a visa from January 2013, city authorities said. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Passengers sit in a ferry at the Marina station in Lagos on November 28, 2012. Over a million Lagosians now uses ferry service yearly as an alternative means of transportation to overcome the chaotic traffic challenges on Lagos roads. (Pius Utomi Expei/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A boy slaps his donkey for not obeying his orders at a brick factory in Lalitpur December 19, 2012. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)
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- A man walks past floral tributes next to the Hillsborough Memorial outside Liverpool Football Club as the High Court quashes the ‘Accidental Death’ verdict on December 19, 2012 in Liverpool, England. An application presented by the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve to Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge has resulted in the quashing of the original accidental death verdict and an order for fresh inquests. The Hillsborough disaster occurred during the FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs in April 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, which resulted in the deaths of 96 football fans. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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- Afghan policewomen aim their guns at targets during shooting exercises at the Afghan National Police Academy shooting range in Kabul. Women in the police force were held up as a showcase for Afghan-Western efforts to promote rights in the new Afghanistan, born from the optimism that swept the country after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. Picture taken December 9, 2012. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)
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- A member of a rescue unit of the Philippine Army gestures as he arrests a mock terrorst during a mass casualty incident drill in a university in Quezon City, Metro Manila December 19, 2012. The drill aims to train and prepare different rescue units to react to similar incidents, after a lone gunman in the United States killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)
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- The galaxy cluster PKS 0745-19 is shown in this NASA composite image containing X-rays from Chandra (purple) and optical date from the Hubble Telescope (yellow) released December 19, 2012. The black hole at the center of this galaxy is part of a survey of 18 of the biggest known black holes in the universe. Researchers found that the black holes in the survey may be about ten times more massive than previously thought. (NASA/CXC/Stanford/Handout via Reuters)
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- French photographer Jean-Louis Socquet-Juglard shows the postcard he created, a combo of a flying saucer above the Bugarach peak. The 1,231 meter high peak of Bugarach is one of the few places on Earth some say will be spared when the world reportedly ends on December 21, the end of an era that lasted over 5,000 years, according to the Mayan “Long Count” calendar. French authorities have pleaded with New Age fanatics, sightseers and media crews not to converge on the tiny village. Photo taken December 19, 2012. (Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A protester holds a placard during a rally demanding the state government to ensure the safety of women in the capital city, outside the residence of Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dixit in New Delhi December 19, 2012. (Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)
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- A picture taken on July 31, 1978 shows Mustapha Ould Mohammed Salek (C) surrounded by militaries in Nouakchott, three weeks after he led a military putsch. The former Mauritanian leader died on December 19, 2012, aged 76. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A seagull and Eurasian coots swim on the Baltic Sea in Rostock-Warnemuende, northeastern Germany, on December 19, 2012. (Jens Buettner/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Cambodian soldiers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) salute as they march during a send-off ceremony at Pochentong Air Base in Phnom Penh December 19, 2012. (Samrang Pring/Reuters)
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- The TIME magazine Person of the Year edition features U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama was named the magazine’s Person of the Year for 2012, citing his historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation’s changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges. (TIME Magazine Handout/Reuters)
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- Iberdrola’s power generating wind turbines are seen at Moranchon wind farm in central Spain. Spanish utility Iberdrola may have to step up asset sales and cut its dividend if the country’s cash-strapped government fails to pay it back in full for years of selling power at regulated prices that do not cover costs. Picture taken December 17, 2012. (Sergio Perez/Reuters)
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- A woman paints a Christmas tree bauble in a small workshop in the town of Dobrich on December 19, 2012. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
Obama named Time magazine’s Person of the Year
Susan Heavey
Reuters
8:32 a.m. EST, December 19, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama was named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2012, citing his historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation’s changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.
TIME editor Rick Stengel announced the choice on NBC’s “Today” program on Wednesday.
“He’s basically the beneficiary and the author of a kind new America – a new demographic, a new cultural America that he is now the symbol of,” he said.
“He won re-election despite a higher unemployment rate than anybody’s had to face in basically in 70 years. He’s the first Democrat to actually win two consecutive terms with over 50 percent of the vote. That’s something we haven’t seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” Stengel said, citing the president who served during the Great Depression and World War Two.
Obama edged out Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, for the honor, Stengel said.
Other finalists included Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and scientist Fabiola Gianotti, he added.
(Reporting By Susan Heavey)
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