55 Famous Pictures of Time Magazine

Hard Working Man

Barack Obama works on the speech that we would deliver after his strong showing on Super Tuesday in February 08.

Security

John McCain gets patted down before boarding a plane in March, after a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas.

Reflection

President Barack Obama takes in a view of the Great Wall of China during his recent trip to Asia.

Pomp and Circuitry

Televisions in an electrical store in Edinburgh, Scotland display images of the Queen as she delivers her speech during the State Opening of Parliament.

Conflict

The Chilean government allegedly used these tear gas canisters in their attempt to subdue Mapuche Indians who have been burning farms and equipment and violently seizing land from timber companies and other large property owners.

Bacchanalia

Visitors taste Beaujolais Nouveau at the open air wine spa in Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan.

Meeting

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates shakes hands with a reporter before a television interview in Baghdad, Iraq.

Prehistoric Crocodile

In a newly published paper, scientists have described five crocodile species who once lived in present-day Niger and Morocco. The scientists gave their discoveries names that evoke each species’ unique physical attributes. The meat-eating “BoarCroc,” above, measured 20 feet, with an armored snout and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs.

Take The Puck, Just Don’t Eat Me

A circus bear wearing ice skates plays ice hockey with its handler during a demonstration by the Russian Ice Circus in Jihlava, Czech Republic.

Search

A list of names of high school students who survived the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan, China in May is scanned at a stadium housing people made homeless by the tragedy.

Ruin

Residents try to recover belongings from their charred houses after a fire in Mandaluyong City, Philippines.

Susan Boyle’s Road to Fame

I Dreamed a Dream

Boyle first surfaced during the initial round of auditions for the third season of Britain’s Got Talent, a British talent-competition show created by American Idol judge Simon Cowell. The self-described “never been kissed” woman wowed the judges and the audience with a rendering of “I Dreamed a Dream,” the popular song from Les Miserables.

The Eve of Stardom

This photograph was taken the day before Boyle first appeared on Britain’s Got Talent.

The Phelps Surge

In pursuit of his seventh gold medal, US Swimmer Michael Phelps (left) races Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100M Butterfly. Phelps would push past his opponent in the final meter of the race, miraculously beating him by .01 second.

Line in the Sand

The border fence between the United States and Mexico stretches across the Arizona desert, part of a US project to slow illegal immigration.

Sorrow

Major William McKnight wipes away tears during a vigil for the victims of the Fort Hood shooting.

Grim Numbers

A man watches the financial news at NASDAQ’s studio on Times Square in New York.

Emergency

Medics assist a man who was injured by a Taliban suicide bomb blast in Charsadda, Pakistan.

Freedom

An Indian man tries out an artificial limb donated by Dow Chemical and the charity Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti in New Delhi.

Busy Man

Investor Warren Buffett checks his watch while waiting for members of the media at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders’ conference.

Severe Floods Hit the U.K.

Unhappy Holidays

Emergency rescue workers float past a ‘Merry Christmas’ sign as they try and rescue residents stranded by floods in Cockermouth, in Cumbria, northwest England. Water levels reached just over 8 ft. (2.5 m) as more than 200 people have been evacuated. The Environment Agency said the scale of the flooding was unprecedented.

Floody Hell

Residents of Cockermouth are rescued in dinghies from their homes. More than 1,200 people were left without electricity overnight while the Armed forces were drafted in to help with the rescue operation.

Closed for Business

A man views the devastation from his shop in the Whitesands area of Dumfries, Scotland. Whitesands is usually flooded about twice a year but according to many locals and emergency officials, this is the worst seen since the early 1980s.

Michael Jackson Memorabilia Goes Up for Auction

Lot 354: Crystal-Covered Glove

Julien’s Auctions has gathered more than 80 items from Michael Jackson’s fans, associates and family members. Two of the singer’s “fantasy gloves” are being offered for sale. This one, like the second, created by Bill Whitten, was originally intended to take Michael’s single-glove concept to a new level before he settled on the iconic single white glove. It is estimated to sell for $10,000 to $20,000.

Lot 284: Jackson 5 Costume

Also designed by Bill Whitten, this costume is similar to those seen on the cover of the compilation CD Skywriter / Get It Together. It includes a collarless shirt, bell-bottom pants (with the Jackson 5 logo on the left pant leg) and a Velcro closure belt. It is estimated to go for $600 to $800.

Holy Man

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for a general audience on St. Peter’s Square in November.

Small Triumph

A Palestinian demonstrator scales the Israeli separation barrier, moments after knocking down one of its segments, during a protest in the West Bank village of Nilin.

Dispersed

A Pakistani lawyer runs away from tear gas fired by police officers during a protest in front of the residence of the country’s deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mahmood Chaudhry.

Closing In

Cows and vehicles are stranded on a piece of land surrounded by flood water in Jeram Perdas, Malaysia.

Silvio Berlusconi and the Politics of Sex

Sex Appeal

The shows on Berlusconi’s stations are known for their prominent use of velina or showgirls.

Riot

Protesters set the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on fire in February 08.

Pastoral Playing

Taiwanese pianist Chen Kuan-yu performs in the middle of a rice paddy in Chishang, Taiwan.

Guantánamo’s Last Days

On the Fence

An American guard walks along the exterior of the prison. President Obama has vowed to shutter it by 2010.

Before Dawn

Detainees kneel during an early-morning Islamic prayer. A civilian trial will be held for the 9/11 conspirators in New York City, and plans have surfaced to house suspected terrorists and detainees at the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in rural Illinois.

Forced Feeding

Nasal feeding tubes, like those used to nourish detainees on a hunger strike, are on display in a hospital wing.

On the Inside

A detainee stands by an interior fence in the prison.

Victim

A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, near South Ossetia, Georgia. Five people were killed in the attack.

Don’t See That Every Day

A Bengal tiger named Kingda Ka romps with a pumpkin at Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in Jackson, New Jersey.

The Velvet Revolution 20 Years Later

Pre-President

Vaclav Havel (center), the dissident playwright, who led the revolution before becoming president, addresses the crowd of demonstrators celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights back in December 1988 in Prague. At the end of the following year, Havel was elected the first president of the then Czechoslovakia.

Lighting the Way

People light candles at the memorial for the Velvet Revolution in Prague’s city centre on November 17, 2009. Tuesday marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Communist government of the then-Czechoslovakia.

Deadheads

Performers fill the streets during the Day of the Dead parade in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Untended

Coffins belonging to Georgian soldiers lie in a field awaiting burial.

Heavenly

A model gets prepared before appearing on the catwalk at China’s Fashion week in Beijing.

Grief

Parents hold portraits of their children, killed by the collapse of a primary school in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan, China.

Reliving History

Russian servicemen wearing historical uniforms rehearse on Red Square in Moscow in preparation for a parade on November 7 to mark the anniversary of the day in 1941 when Soviet soldiers marched through Red Square en route to the front lines of World War II.

President Obama Visits Asia

The Brave Day Sinks

President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Osan Air Base in Seoul en route back to Washington, DC, after an eight-day four-nation journey to Asia.

Taking Part

A voter gets a sticker after voting in Augusta County, Virginia, where Republicans subsequently wrested the Virginia governor’s seat from Democrats.

Inside the Apartment of Nidal Malik Hasan

Prayer Rug

Hasan is said to have lived frugally, though he made a good salary.

Concession

Afghanistan’s presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah walks towards podium to address media in Kabul, where he announced he would not participate in next weekend’s runoff election because his demands for new measures to prevent fraud were rejected.

Fashion Week in Pakistan

Models Hit the Runway

Pakistan has been trying to land a spot on the international fashion scene since 2007. Its first planned event was derailed by a terrorist bombing and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, while the 2009 event was delayed after militants attacked a military base in Islamabad days before the shows were scheduled to begin.

Ready

On Nov. 4, 2009, the first of 32 designers took center stage at the Marriott Hotel in Karachi. These models are preparing to display clothes by Nomi Ansari, one of the more well-known designers.

The Looks

Many of the designs highlighted Pakistan’s tradition of rich embroidery and elegant textiles.

Accessories

Designer Deepak Perwani’s collection was inspired by fabrics and embroidery from Baluchistan.

The Fashionistas

On the final night, there were more than 700 attendees.

Student Day Protests in Iran

Counter Protest

On the day that Iranians normally commemorate the storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1989, anti-government protesters staged a demonstration on the sidelines of the state-sanctioned rallies.

A Bin Laden Family Album.

Bin Laden in Afghanistan, 1984

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up its Marxist government, Osama bin Laden joined the Islamist resistance movement.