In Pictures: 2013 in review

A demonstrator confronts riot police as Turkish nationalists attempt to march on Taksim Square in Istanbul on November 8, 2013.

A woman looks at the street from her home in Masakn Otham, where more than one thousand Syrian families live, in the suburbs of Cairo, Egypt. Tensions between Syrians and Egyptians have been simmering.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford dances to a Reggae version of "Merry Christmas" performed by Jay Douglas during a break in the council meeting in Toronto. In 2013, the mayor admitted to using crack cocaine.

Ukrainian cossaks cross themselves during a service before taking their guarding duty at the camp of the pro-EU opposition during a protest at Kiev(***)s Independence Square.

A woman who had been hiding during the gun battle runs for cover after armed police enter the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, after gunmen threw grenades and opened fire.

A ferry passes the Sydney Opera House as thick smoke from bushfires blanketed the city November 2, 2013.

Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina (L) talk to the media in Moscow. The musicians were released after spending two years in a Russian prison.

A worker leaves the site where a garment factory building collapsed near Dhaka, Bangladesh killing 1,129 people.

Recently retired Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar looks on during a function announcing him as a UNICEF Regional Ambassador in Mumbai on November 28, 2013.

Severe drought in Namibia has devastated the country threatening the survival of people and animals.

Lebanese security forces and firefighters gather next to destroyed vehicles at the scene of an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 27. The blast killed several people, including Mohammed Chatah, a senior aide to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.