In this handout image supplied by the European Space Agency, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft is raised into vertical position on December 19, 2011 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Photo by Stephane Corvaja/ESA via Getty Images)

Jonathon Seed, Joint Master and Huntsman with the Avon Vale Hunt, leads the hounds and fellow riders for their traditional Boxing Day hunt, on December 26, 2011 in Lacock, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Brazilians celebrate at the annual New Year's Eve beach party on December 31, 2011 for the Copacabana Reveillon in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Konrad Fiedler/Getty Images)

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. Also known as the Millennium Wheel, its official name was originally the British Airways London Eye, then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye, and since January 2011, the EDF Energy London Eye.

A leopard seal feeds Paul Nicklen a penguin. (Photo by Paul Nicklen/National Geographic). Antarctic Peninsula, 2011

“When We're Gone... Memories Of Us Are All That Remain”, 2011. (Photo by: Trini61; Source: Flickr)

“Valentine Shmalentine”, 2011. (Photo by GillyFace)

A vendor (C) cuts slaughtered dogs for sale at his roadside stall in Duong Noi village, outside Hanoi December 16, 2011. While animal rights activists have condemned eating dog meat as cruel treatment of the animals, it is still an accepted popular delicacy for some Vietnamese, as well in some other Asian countries. Duong Noi is well-known as a dog-meat village, where hundreds of dogs are killed each day for sale as popular traditional food. Dog-eating as a custom is rooted in Vietnam and was developed as a result of poverty. One kilogram of dog meat costs about 130,000 dongs ($6.2). (Photo by Reuters/Kham)