The Year in Pictures

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attend the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center on January 20.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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Former U.S. President George W. Bush looks out over Washington as his helicopter departs on January 20. Bush was heading to Andrews Air Force Base following the inauguration ceremonies for U.S. President Barack Obama.

Eric Draper / The White House

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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 of its engines.

Steven Day / AP Photo

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Israeli soldiers mourn during the funeral of their comrade Alex Mashavisky at a cemetery in Beersheba on January 7. Mashavisky was killed during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Eric Gaillard / Reuters

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Slumdog Millionaire lead actor Dev Patel and supporting actress Freida Pinto arrive at the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood on February 22.

Robyn Beck, AFP / Getty Images

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Financier Bernard Madoff passes the gathered press as he arrived at federal court on March 12 in New York City.

Chris Hondros / Getty Images

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Josef Fritzl covers his face as he arrives at the second day of his trial at the country court of St. Poelten on March 17 in Austria. The 73-year-old was on trial for murder, rape and incest after allegedly imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.

APA / Getty Images

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A Sri Lankan boy performs during a Muslim religious festival just as a bomb exploded in Akuressa on March 10. A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed 14 people and wounded 35, including Sri Lanka's telecommunications minister.

Reuters

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Women stand with their Afghan hound before going into the parade ring during the Crufts dog show in Birmingham, England, on March 5.

Darren Staples / Reuters

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Armed pirates took control of the French sailboat Tanit, including hostages Florent and Chloe Lemacon with their son Colin, off the coast of Somalia.

Sipa / Newscom

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A man wears a decorated protective mask in hopes of avoiding the swine-flu outbreak in downtown Mexico City on April 27.

Eduardo Verdugo / AP Photo

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G-20 leaders Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, U.S. President Barack Obama, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and New Partnership for Africa's Development Meles Zenawi pose for a family photo during the G-20 summit at the ExCel Centre in London, on April 2.

Eric Feferberg, AFP / Getty Images

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Michelle Obama walks with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at the reception at Buckingham Palace on April 1.

Daniel Hambury / AP Photo

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Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry, take defensive positions after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province on May 11. Spc. Zachery Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas, far left, was wearing "I love NY" boxer shorts after rushing from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members.

David Guttenfelder / AP Photo

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Hundreds of thousands of supporters of leading opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims there was voting fraud in Iran's election, turned out to protest the results at a mass rally in Azadi (Freedom) Square in Tehran, on June 15.

Ben Curtis / AP Photo

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Janet Jackson, Paris Michael Katherine, La Toya Jackson, Jermaine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson attend a memorial service for their brother and father, music legend Michael Jackson, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7.

Reuters

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President Barack Obama's daughter Sasha hides behind the sofa as she sneaks up on him at the end of the day in the Oval Office on August 5.

Pete Souza / The White House

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Family members gather around the coffin of Senator Edward Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery on August 29. Democratic lion Kennedy was laid to rest in the burial grounds overlooking the U.S. Capitol, close to the graves of his slain brothers.

Paul J. Richards, AFP / Getty Images

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The freed Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 57, is surrounded by his sons and grandsons and hugged by his mother and daughter at home in Tripoli, Libya, the day after his release from Scotland

Newscom

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is met with protesters with signs as he arrives to testify before the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP on Capitol Hill on September 10.

Hyungwon Kang / Reuters

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Kanye West takes the microphone from Taylor Swift during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13.

Kevin Mazur, WireImage / Getty Images

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Residents stand on electric wires to stay on high ground while others wade in neck-deep floodwaters caused by Typhoon Ondoy in Cainta Rizal, east of Manila on September 27. Nearly 60 people were killed, Manila was blacked out, and airline flights were suspended as the powerful typhoon battered the main Philippines island of Luzon.

Erik de Castro / Reuters

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Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason lands on his head after catching a touchdown pass as New England Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather looks on during the first quarter of an NFL game on Oct. 4 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Winslow Townson / AP Photo

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Six-year-old Falcon Heene is carried by his father, Richard, second from right, who encourages his 10-year-old son, Bradford, and wife Mayumi to step outside the family's home in Fort Collins, Colo., after Falcon was found hiding in a box in a space above the garage on Oct. 15. The "balloon boy" at first had been reported to be aboard a flying-saucer-shaped balloon fashioned by his father and then carried by high winds on to the plains of eastern Colorado.

David Zalubowski / AP Photo

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On Nov. 24, President Barack Obama greets White House gatecrashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi at a State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Samantha Appleton / The White House

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President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama share a laugh as they wait for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's motorcade to depart the State Dinner.

Pete Souza / The White House

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American murder suspect Amanda Knox is accompanied by penitentiary police officers as she leaves the court after a final hearing before the verdict, in Perugia, Italy, on Dec. 4. Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate.

Pier Paolo Cito / AP Photo

The Year in Pictures

From the Miracle on the Hudson to the murder of Neda to Kanye vs. Taylor, The Daily Beast looks back at the most memorable moments of 2009.