Top 50 UPI photos of 2012 (51 images)

Meryl Streep takes a photo of herself with United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton following a dinner honoring the seven 2012 recipients of the Kennedy Center honors at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, December 1, 2012. The 2012 honorees are Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, late-night host David Letterman, dancer Natalia Makarova, and the British rock band Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones). UPI/Ron Sachs/Pool

A man carries 2 dogs through the flooded streets one day after Hurricane Sandy hits the north east section of the United States in Hoboken, New Jersey on October 31, 2012. The effect of the Sandy left large parts of New York City and New Jersey with out power and mass transit and officials at Consolidated Edison said it could be up to a week before power is fully restored. UPI/John Angelillo

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum holds up a block of shale as he speaks to supporters at a primary election night rally on February 28, 2012 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. UPI/Brian Kersey

Vehicles burn after armed Libyan demonstrators stormed the headquarters of the Raf Allah al-Sahati Brigade, a local militia, located at a farm in the Hawari region 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the centre of Benghazi, in Libya, on September 22, 2012. Hundreds of Libyan protesters forced members of a hardline Islamist militia out of their base in the second city of Benghazi, setting fire to and wrecking the military compound. UPI/Tariq AL-hun.