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Image:
AP

The Year in Pictures for 2009

Experience an audio slide show of the best news and sports images from around the world and close to home.

Picture stories
Afghanistan
Gamma
A Georgian man cries near the body of his relative after a bombardment  in Gori
Reuters
Alaska Fire Service - BLM
Image: Ready to Launch: Summer Jobs
msnbc.com
msnbc.com
Image:  Soldiers with the Indiana National Guard 1538th Transportation Company
John Makely
BLOODSHED IN JUAREZ
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News photos

U.S., world, and environment
Image: Walter Cronkite
AFP/Getty Images
Newsmaker Farewells 2009

From Walter Cronkite (above) to Sen. Ted Kennedy, remembering newsmakers and intriguing personalities who died in the past year.

Image:
AP
Image: A column of ash shoots up to the sky from the Mayon volcano
Reuters
Image: Memorial day homage
Getty Images
Image: Evicting Harvey Lesser in Boulder, Colo.
Getty Images
Image: Christmas at the White House
AP
Image: Young Afghan villagers
Reuters
Image: -
AFP - Getty Images
Image: Major Shannon Cole
PANOS
Celebrity, music, movie, TV and fashion
Image: Bea Arthur
AP
Curtain calls of 2009

Some big names in entertainment bid us farewell this year, including Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Patrick Swayze.

Image: Actress Brittany Murphy dead at 32
EPA file
Image: -
AFP - Getty Images
Portrait Of Marlon Brando
Getty Images
Image: George Clooney in 'Up in the Air'
Paramount Pictures
Image: Leighton Meester
Getty Images
The Colbert Report In Iraq
Getty Images
Image: Avatar
20th Century Fox
Image: Media Preview Of The Museum Of Modern Art: Tim Burton
Getty Images
Image: Movie, Independence Day
20th Century Fox

Sports photos

Big matchups, sports stars and history
Image:
AP
South Africa on center stage

Images: Big names show up for 32-team draw for 2010 World Cup.

Image: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v New York Yankees, Game 6
Getty Images
AP
New Orleans Hornets v Denver Nuggets, Game 5
Getty Images
Terrell Owens, Brandon Meriweather
AP
Cincinnati v Pittsburgh
Getty Images
AP
PGA Championship - Final Round
Getty Images
US golfer Tom Watson chips onto the 18th
AFP - Getty Images
AP
Atlanta Thrashers v New York Islanders
Getty Images
Stanley Cup Finals - Pittsburgh Penguins v Detroit Red Wings - Game Seven
Getty Images

Travel photos

U.S. and worldwide destinations
Image: Deep powder at Heavenly Ski Resort
Courtesy of Heavenly Ski Resort
Hit the lifts

Take a visual tour of some of the most popular ski and snowboard playgrounds in America — and beyond.

Image: Christmas Lights in Barcelona
EPA
Image: Oasis of the Seas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Image: The Empire State Building at night
Getty Images
Image: Reflection of Autumn Trees in Vltava River
EPA
A reveler of Grande Rio samba school per
AFP/Getty Images
AP file
Image: Vancouver
Tourism British Columbia via AP
Image: Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland
Disneyland
Las Vegas Strip Exteriors
Getty Images
Revellers from Salgueiro samba school dance during the second night of the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome
Reuters
Image: The Myrtles Plantation
The Myrtles Plantation
Space, technology, gadgets and science
NASA astronaut Mike Massimino is pictured as he peers through a window on the aft flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis during the mission's fourth spacewalk to refurbish and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope
Reuters
Year in Space 2009

Click to see images of Hubble's revival and other outer-space highlights from 2009.

Image: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, First Commercial Spacecraft, Unveiled In CA
Getty Images
NASA astronaut Mike Massimino is pictured as he peers through a window on the aft flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis during the mission's fourth spacewalk to refurbish and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope
Reuters
Image: US Department of Energy hosts the 2009 Solar Decathlon at the National Mall in Washington DC
EPA
Image: Cat Ba leopard gecko, Vietnam
WWF via EPA
Image: Hubble
NASA / ESA / Hubble SM4 ERO
Trifecta
Image: Hubble view
NASA

More photos

Pets, health and business slide shows
Image: A Malayan tiger is seen at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur
Reuters
Animal Tracks

A leaping squirrel, a yawning tiger, a playful panda pair, a baby beluga whale – plus many more images of cute critters.

Image: Emperor penguin feeding chick
IUCN
Image: Controversial Body Worlds Exhibition
Getty Images
Image: A boy gzaes through a window during a nap session at the Mai Hoa orphanage in An Nhon Tay, Vietnam.
Redux Pictures
Image: 'Black Friday' Across The USA
Zuma Press
GERMANY-ANIMALS-WILD-BOAR-DOG-OFFBEAT
AFP - Getty Images
2009 Mountain Workshops
Image: Tuffy, sports a mohawk while competing in the fifth annual Times Square Dog Day Masquerade, in New York
Reuters
Image: Madoff's Palm Beach home
AP
Image: BHS-ENTERTAINMENT-MISS UNIVERSE
AFP - Getty Images
US Playboy Magazine publisher Hugh Hefne
AFP/Getty Images
Image:
AP
Image: A cat during the Pets Fashion Week Russia in Moscow
Reuters
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